Sudbury: Schools That Work, Part One

[This is the third post of Bruce Smith, founding director of the Center for Advancing Sudbury Education (www.sudburyschooling.com). CASE promotes awareness of the Sudbury model and provides support to Sudbury schools around the world. Bruce's first post is here, his second here. The video below is from a Sudbury documentary, Voices from the New American Schoolhouse. You can view the whole film here.]

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My initial posts for this site offered broad arguments for why we must radically overhaul education and enable the widest possible range of experimentation. Yet education reform is already drowning in verbiage, and what's sorely needed is not more rhetoric, but more concrete, innovative proposals. Substantive change depends on our remembering the old writing adage, "show, don't tell."

With this in mind, I want to start showing you the educational model near and dear to my heart: Sudbury schooling. One short essay couldn't possibly do justice to this rich world, so for now I'll limit myself to what you'd see if you set foot in a Sudbury school. Next time I'll address why this model works; from there, my plan is to illustrate these principles in action. (If you'd like more background now, www.sudburyschooling.com and www.sudval.org are good places to start.)

At Sudbury schools, students ages 5 to 18 (roughly) direct their own learning - all day, every day - in democratic communities where students and staff (blending the roles of teacher, administrator, and counselor) have an equal voice. Sudbury students decide for themselves how to spend their time, limited only by considerations of safety, respect, and responsibility. These general expectations are interpreted privately, in countless meetings and conversations, and by elected clerks, several of whom are students. Thus, the Sudbury model is grounded in bedrock American principles like the rule of law, consent of the governed, and due process; Sudbury students enjoy "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

(Click "read more" for the rest....)

What this means on the ground is that Sudbury schools constantly buzz with activity. In particular, play and conversation of all sorts abound, contributing to the superficial first impression that a Sudbury education is perpetual recess. This view, however, overlooks the intensity and depth of students' pursuits, as well as the evolutionary underpinnings of learning itself. Play and conversation are essential tools provided to us by Nature for exploring our world, making sense of what we find and tapping into others' knowledge. Doesn't it make sense, then, to give free rein to the natural mechanisms that have allowed us to learn and thrive over several millennia?

Woven through all the imaginative play and deep conversation at Sudbury schools is a regard for the welfare of the community. A weekly School Meeting oversees day-to-day affairs, while a Judicial Committee convenes as needed to hear complaints of rule violations. Various clerks and committees handle other areas of school business. Essentially, Sudbury schools provide students with a scaled-down version of real life: a world where individuals determine their own course but exist in communities, navigating among diverse personalities and social structures. Meetings happen frequently, and students are prominent in leading them, keeping records, managing money and formulating policies. Instead of being segregated by age and force-fed lectures and exercises, Sudbury students practice the lives of capable, responsible citizens now. Immersed in school management (including making and enforcing rules, spending the school's funds, and hiring its staff), their learning is highly contextualized-and, therefore, highly relevant.

In this scaled-down model of the world, Sudbury students from the youngest age develop the abilities they will need as adults. They are constantly honing their time management, decision-making and communication skills, as well as enhancing their self-discipline and judgment. They are reminded daily that they can influence their environment, and that their choices have consequences. The Judicial Committee provides ongoing, intensive practice in critical thinking, problem solving, and ethics. Empowerment, respect, and responsibility are everyday lessons in an education ideally suited to building character.

If you set foot in a Sudbury school, you would notice the conspicuous absence of some common features of conventional schools. For one thing, you wouldn't see students holed up in classrooms the vast majority of the time. While academics have their place, Sudbury students take classes only when they choose-that is, when they have reasons and desire to do so-and a great deal of their learning happens in the course of their daily school lives rather than in planned lessons. (A side benefit is that Sudbury classes tend to be quite small, and thus better suited to the needs and abilities of participants.)

Mostly, what you would observe is a tone of deep respect and genuine engagement. Without arbitrary divisions of age or power getting in the way, students and staff can relate to each other as equals. Staff in fact must follow the same rules as students, and students of all ages can be teachers and learners, depending on the situation. Allowed to search for meaning and fulfillment, Sudbury students develop stunning levels of maturity and confidence. Regardless of age, they retain their childlike playfulness while also exhibiting wisdom beyond their years.

If you set foot in a Sudbury school, you might be somewhat disoriented at first. But the enthusiasm of happy, healthy young people responsibly pursuing their passions would soon convince you that something very right is going on here.