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,…
Do you know what is good for children? You are wrong! I have heard people say things like, “children love structure” or “routine is good for children” or, on the other side, “children need to be left alone” and “freedom is the best tonic for children.” I don’t believe any of this because I don’t…
Party Time! Today I am going to describe how parties at Summerhill help the democratic community to work. If you are starting a democratic school or democratising an exisiting school, you want to give as much attention to the festive cycle of the year as to the academic cycle. I described before how the “book…
