Sudbury education?

[Anonymous]

If you want to call it that.

Do these kids actually learn anything? Website says kids can come in when they want and leave when they wish, as long as they are there at least 5 hours. The KIDS make the rules, choose what they want to do, etc. website said the "kids can be found playing Minecraft...Legos...gardening outdoors" but there is no real curriculum.

Anyone have any experience on this?

[Anonymous]

Oh my gosh, I read the book Free At Last and was totally (and temporarily) obsessed with this model.

Don't know anyone who has done it. I am generally a believer that alternative and unschooling can work with the right kids and right format, and reading Free At Last made me feel like Sudbury certainly had the right pieces in place. That book is quite old though, and of course a pro-Sudbury book.

Hope we hear from someone with real-world experience!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh my gosh, I read the book Free At Last and was totally (and temporarily) obsessed with this model.

Don't know anyone who has done it. I am generally a believer that alternative and unschooling can work with the right kids and right format, and reading Free At Last made me feel like Sudbury certainly had the right pieces in place. That book is quite old though, and of course a pro-Sudbury book.

Hope we hear from someone with real-world experience!

Interesting. I'll check out that book!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Interesting. I'll check out that book!

It's a very short read, if you can find it. A library might be able to get it for you through Inter-library loan, or maybe you can find a PDF. A weird boyfriend gave it to me like 10 years ago. Didn't stay with him, but he was an interesting guy.

[Anonymous]

I am not familiar with this model although I theorize that kids that are driven to such an environment are probably extremely smart to begin with - and thrive.

[Anonymous]

My cousin's sons went to a Sudbury school and the oldest one has worked in fast food since he finished. No desire or drive to do anything at all. They took the younger one out and sent him to a public HS.

[Anonymous]

I think for the right kid and the right family it can probably be amazing. But it's pretty easy to see how it could be a catastrophe as well.
As with most things in education, it's great that there are options so that people can find what works best for them.

[Anonymous]

There's a Sudbury school in the area. Fairhaven school: http://www.fairhavenschool.com/
I know quite a few people who send or have sent their kids there. It's great for the right kid; for others it's a disaster. Not many go on to college but those who want to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My cousin's sons went to a Sudbury school and the oldest one has worked in fast food since he finished. No desire or drive to do anything at all. They took the younger one out and sent him to a public HS.

That's very sad. How does a child's education go so off the rails? I'm not trying to be judgmental, it just alarms me as a parent of young children.

[Anonymous]

I had something similar and most of my friends and I turned out just fine and with regular careers etc. I don't know anyone from my school who didn't go on to college and I think only two from my class didn't continue to advanced degrees. When done well, it's fantastic. We had fabulous, free childhoods and learned to love learning. A friend who went to my school years didn't learn to read until he was 9. He's now a Ph.D. and highly respected in his field.

[Anonymous]

We have some friends in Takoma Park (of course!) who sent their kids to Fairhaven near Bowie. It was the right choice for a couple years.

Honestly, I think most DCUM parents would be terrified of this option (he'll work in fast food forever!). So glad that we have so many options in the Washington area - well, if you have money, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin's sons went to a Sudbury school and the oldest one has worked in fast food since he finished. No desire or drive to do anything at all. They took the younger one out and sent him to a public HS.

That's very sad. How does a child's education go so off the rails? I'm not trying to be judgmental, it just alarms me as a parent of young children.

You do realize the majority of people you see working in fast food went to public school, right? It's really not about the school, although certainly some types of education are better suited to different personalities than others. Don't let one story about a kid ending up working in fast food alarm you -- when you go through that drive through, most have public educations.

By the way, there's no shame in working in fast food. It isn't the life any of us want for our children, but it's honest work.

[Anonymous]

It seems like a child lead education would result in tremendous gaps in a person's education. If you had asked me as a kid what I wanted to do all day at sudbury type school I probably would have spent a lot of time reading novels or doing arts and crafts or playing games. I don't think I would have gotten enough of an education in science, math or grammar.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine is all-in on Sudbury education, and is trying to get a group started in our town. It's practically all she talks about. I finally told her the other day that it's not my cup of tea, but that I'm happy to be a sounding board.

I'm an arts educator, and I believe I giving children agency in their learning...but I also believe that kids don't always know what's best for them, and that adults have to direct learning. If it had been up to me when I was a child, I never would have done math. What a disservice that would have done me as an adult!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like a child lead education would result in tremendous gaps in a person's education. If you had asked me as a kid what I wanted to do all day at sudbury type school I probably would have spent a lot of time reading novels or doing arts and crafts or playing games. I don't think I would have gotten enough of an education in science, math or grammar.

Wouldn't you have started to work on learning those things once you realized you needed them? It's not a problem to not know something until the lack of knowledge is causing an issue, right?