Essays
Based on a talk delivered on July 18, 2005 during the Summer Workshop for Staff of Sudbury Schools and Startup Groups held on the campus of Sudbury Valley School.
The subject of this paper is central to any Sudbury school – indeed, to any community… Read more ›
November is the time of year that I always feel is least adventuresome, so I tried to add a little challenge to mine this year.
Dan and I are studying the judicial system at SVS, something some of us have been calling “the heart of the school” for… Read more ›
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of my first entry into the world of education, as a teaching assistant in the Physics Department of Columbia University (where I was a graduate student). I wanted to share some of my ruminations about my half… Read more ›
One day in late summer Danny came home from school with a very grim face. I knew that he had bad news for me and he indeed said that something terrible happened. Of course, being me, I thought that someone I cared about died. Danny said, “Yes, it’s… Read more ›
What a Classic Children’s Parable Tells Us About Sudbury Valley
Delve into it, delve into it; the more you delve, the more you find in it. ~Ancient Rabbinic Saying
I
Everyone knows the story of the emperor’s new clothes; it is a classic among… Read more ›
From a speech delivered at Spring Valley School’s Fifteenth Anniversary Celebration, in February 2012.
Strangers coming to our campus often say, “When I got out of my car in the parking lot, I could feel that this was a joyous or a beautiful or a… Read more ›
There is a book on my desk: “Wanderlust” . . . . This book is about peripatetics! While reading it, I thought about the two little girls walking side by side, on a road leading to Sudbury [Valley], talking about something very important. Sudbury has… Read more ›
For years and years every Wednesday the upstairs piano room is taken over by Sharon Kane and her students. When I glance through the door’s window I see kids of all ages working with Sharon, but I have always wondered what is really going on in… Read more ›
We have a lot to muse about as we struggle to make ourselves comfortable in a world that seems to be mainly for people whose brains are more advanced than ours.
Who is we? Well, it is my generation, for sure. It is in no sense today's generation,… Read more ›
This article was adapted from a talk presented at Sudbury Valley School to the school community and others on April 6, 2011.
Do Children Need Guidance?" Most people who see that title would answer, "of course they do". It's a subject I've been… Read more ›
I'm here because this group of young adults, about to move on in their lives from Sudbury Valley School, has asked me to say a few words. They might have chosen someone else; but, although they don't see much of me--I'm not part of their staff, nor… Read more ›
Editor’s Note: This article is based on a day long symposium given by Daniel Greenberg at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Educational Leadership, to superintendents of schools in Pennsylvania, on October 20, 2009.
I’d like to share a… Read more ›
I am frequently asked, "Can students in Sudbury schools get sufficient exposure to different ideas?"
Exposure in Sudbury Schools
In a Sudbury school there are scores of different people, with different interests, from all walks of life, together in… Read more ›
This is what we are like. …There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history. How much do you love me? And Who’s in charge? …These two questions of love and control undo us all, trip us up, and cause war,… Read more ›
A new parent, whose child is in a Sudbury School (but not Sudbury Valley) wrote the following message on the discuss-sudbury-model message list. We thought the responses would be interesting for a lot of people.
Post #1, from a parent at another… Read more ›
This article is based on a talk delivered at Sudbury Valley School on January 15, 2013.
When I looked at the announcement for this talk, I thought: when this arrives at somebody's home, they're probably going to be a little puzzled. 21st century… Read more ›
A recently empty-nested father looks back on the frustrations, foibles, and unexpected outcomes of far-reaching educational decisions made by a young family in its formative years.
We never intended, at the beginning, to give our children a… Read more ›
A reissue of an article published in the March 1993, issue of the Journal.
Few concepts have caused us more trouble than "interest" at Sudbury Valley. We use it all the time in our literature and in our daily conversations. It comes up in interviews… Read more ›