Public or Private
Public schools or private schools? What do you think? Here I argue that paying for education yourself gives you freedoms the state would never allow.
Do schools have to be so expensive?
Schools are expensive. It is not just the buildings. The staffing, maintenance and resourcing all cost money and, if you do not have the financial clout of the state, you have to pass that cost along to the parents of the children you serve. This means that a decent alternative school is always out of…
New Privacy Law: What it Means
There is a new law in Europe about digital privacy. We have looked at it. Here is some information for you so that you can decide what you want to do. We do not keep files on our followers, either here or on Facebook. We do not collect any personal information. When you follow us,…
Scale and Democracy: the Rule of 100
The rule of 100: Scale and Democracy The school I went to was not democratic. It never could have been. It was too big. In this post I want to talk about the effect of scale on democracy. I want to talk about why this is important and what consequences it might have for your…
A Democratic School Critic
Working Within the System “Democratic schools are just groups of privileged kids playing at equality,” says Ted. “That’s not really democracy. You can’t learn about good governance by shutting yourself away from the world.” “What do you mean?” I ask. “What’s wrong with giving children choices?” Children Born Into a World of Choices “Ha,…
Anarchy
Anarchy Rules… um… OK? Democratic schools flirt with anarchism. Anywhere you have a small democratic community that turns its face away from Socialist central planning on the one side and Capitalist manipulation of the market on the other, anarchy is bound to be mentioned. Anarchists look at Summerhill in confusion. “Why didn’t Neill come right out…
Sunday Basics: Free Choice
Giving Choices: the Invisible Teacher It doesn’t matter how nice you are, how exciting you are, or how well-meaning you are, if your basic instinct is to reduce choices you shouldn’t be working in a democratic school. This is a tricky issue. You might be a real believer, for example, convinced that you have the…
Thursday Thoughts: Boarding
“The English have boarding schools because they do not love their children,” says José. “That just won’t work here.” I can’t really argue with him because there is a profound cultural chasm between us. I don’t find the closeness of his Mediterranean family heart-warming; I find it suffocating. Summerhill is a boarding school of another…
Give Me a Massage: Touch at Summerhill School
Touch is problematic in most schools. Summerhill is different. Sometimes it seems like a troop of monkeys, but there are safeguards to ensure that touch does not become something it shouldn’t. In this post I ask if something can be learnt from the way things are done at Summerhill.
This is depressing but stick with me!
Suicide, self-harm and depression are huge problems for our schools. What is the solution? Continuing to deprive children of their childhood by an absurd reverence for schoolwork seems to be counter-productive.
