The Meeting at Summerhill serves two functions. It decides on the Laws that govern the community and it resolves problems between people. Anyone can bring a law for approval to the meeting or suggest an alteration to an existing one; anyone can bring up another member of the community in a Tribunal case. There is…
Summerhill protects your right to be how you want to be. You choose; the Meeting does not. The purpose of the Meeting is to sort out the inevitable boundary disputes in a community of nearly one hundred people who are all trying to live vibrantly individual lives.
We need more democratic meetings. Here is a way of setting up a meeting similar to the Summerhill Meeting. It can be used at work, in clubs, societies, and committees. The more democratic we are the better, in my opinion.
Some people find the system of fining people at the Meeting in Summerhill problematic. This post describes how a typical meeting case might go and discusses what kind of punishment the fine might really be.
Have you ever been in a situation that you cannot resolve and wished there was an impartial onlooker with the authority to help you resolve it? Ombudsmen at Summerhill are these impartial witnesses. The way ombudsmen work is perhaps more impressive than the Meeting itself, even though all their authority comes from the Meeting. Ombudsmen…
