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Legacy of Trust
This is a comprehensive study of the personal and professional histories of 188 former students. Included is a great deal of anecdotal information about their lives after they left the school, along with extensive comments on how they feel the school influenced them. Also included are the results of three earlier studies. “There is no way for this or any similar study to provide a definitive answer to the questions of how a Sudbury Valley education influences the future course of a student’s life. But it is possible to answer the more limited does a person’s attendance at Sudbury Valley, whether for a short or long time, have an adverse effect on the options available to that person? The data presented in the study leaves no doubt that the answer is ‘No’; former students enjoy the full range of life choices available to every other group of young people going out into the world. And they enjoy a childhood of freedom, respect, and trust
- GenresEducationNonfiction
334 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1992
44 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Greenberg
19 books16 followersDaniel A. Greenberg (born c. 1934), one of the founders of the Sudbury Valley School, has published several books on the Sudbury model of school organization, and has been described by Sudbury Valley School trustee Peter Gray as the "principal philosopher" among its founders. He is a former physics professor at Columbia University, and is described by Lois Holzman as the school's "chief 'philosophical writer'".
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 13, 2016
Sudbury Valley is a school in Massachusetts where kids are free to direct their own learning. It may sound outrageous, but the truth is, kids already do this naturally. Sudbury Valley School simply allows them more time and space to do it more and better. The school teaches democracy by practicing it: students vote for staff and school rules. The kids are literally in charge of the school.
Of course, the first and obvious questions parents would ask is, how do they do in college? Will colleges even accept them? Do they learn what they actually need in life? Will employers frown on their attendance of this school? What if they don't learn certain things on time? This book answers all this question, and more, with tons of data and anecdotes on students who have attended this school.
It wasn't the enormous rate of college attendance and success these numbers shows, impressive though this was. What I was most impressed with was the attitude and confidence these people had compared to so many young people. They didn't doubt that they could do whatever they wanted with their lives. Whatever they wanted to learn, whatever they wanted to do, they did whatever it took to do it. This kind of confidence is rare and valuable. Whatever they felt lacking, they didn't feel embarrassed by. They simply went and learned it, without shame. They have nothing to prove. There was no question why employers and top universities accepted them so readily.
And it makes sense why these kids exhibit these character traits. Rather than sitting in desks and having every minute of their lives decided for them, Sudbury kids spend all their time in an open space of inquiry and exploring other perspectives, and forming their own. When they find something that engaged them, they just poured themselves into it. After years of this, of course they're good at it. They simply applied the same attitude to everything else in life.
It reminds me of when I flunked most classes in school, and started attending college with high scores on algebra. From there on, I used a calculator for number crunching. I never actually needed all math chores I never bothered learning. Then one weekend as a math tutor, I had some down time and decided to take that time to teach myself long division. Here I was, taking classes on mulivariable calculus and differential equations, and I still didn't know long division! So I looked through a textbook and did some exercises, and in a couple hours, I knew everything I needed. I didn't really need it for anything, and I haven't needed it for anything ever since, but I learned it anyway because I wanted to know what all the fuss was, all the teachers who spend years trying punish students into learning these things, and so few actually do. Just a few hours on my own. Why all the fuss?
What I think is missing, is essentially beyond the scope of this book is what these doubts overlook and assume: that "normal" public school kids all do fabulously in college, all accepted to their first choice of college, and learn everything they need in life. Obviously, the answer to this is no, they do a pretty lousy job at all of these. The failure of these schools is so palpable that I never ceased to be amazed that parents don't demand better for their kids. I guess it's the educational equivalent of the institutional imperative. This is the way things are, the way they've always been done, so it must be right. We just need to tweak this and that and THEN we'll finally fix the schools. Why not just let the kids choose for themselves how to spend their time, and direct their own lives the way they see fit?
Of course, the first and obvious questions parents would ask is, how do they do in college? Will colleges even accept them? Do they learn what they actually need in life? Will employers frown on their attendance of this school? What if they don't learn certain things on time? This book answers all this question, and more, with tons of data and anecdotes on students who have attended this school.
It wasn't the enormous rate of college attendance and success these numbers shows, impressive though this was. What I was most impressed with was the attitude and confidence these people had compared to so many young people. They didn't doubt that they could do whatever they wanted with their lives. Whatever they wanted to learn, whatever they wanted to do, they did whatever it took to do it. This kind of confidence is rare and valuable. Whatever they felt lacking, they didn't feel embarrassed by. They simply went and learned it, without shame. They have nothing to prove. There was no question why employers and top universities accepted them so readily.
And it makes sense why these kids exhibit these character traits. Rather than sitting in desks and having every minute of their lives decided for them, Sudbury kids spend all their time in an open space of inquiry and exploring other perspectives, and forming their own. When they find something that engaged them, they just poured themselves into it. After years of this, of course they're good at it. They simply applied the same attitude to everything else in life.
It reminds me of when I flunked most classes in school, and started attending college with high scores on algebra. From there on, I used a calculator for number crunching. I never actually needed all math chores I never bothered learning. Then one weekend as a math tutor, I had some down time and decided to take that time to teach myself long division. Here I was, taking classes on mulivariable calculus and differential equations, and I still didn't know long division! So I looked through a textbook and did some exercises, and in a couple hours, I knew everything I needed. I didn't really need it for anything, and I haven't needed it for anything ever since, but I learned it anyway because I wanted to know what all the fuss was, all the teachers who spend years trying punish students into learning these things, and so few actually do. Just a few hours on my own. Why all the fuss?
What I think is missing, is essentially beyond the scope of this book is what these doubts overlook and assume: that "normal" public school kids all do fabulously in college, all accepted to their first choice of college, and learn everything they need in life. Obviously, the answer to this is no, they do a pretty lousy job at all of these. The failure of these schools is so palpable that I never ceased to be amazed that parents don't demand better for their kids. I guess it's the educational equivalent of the institutional imperative. This is the way things are, the way they've always been done, so it must be right. We just need to tweak this and that and THEN we'll finally fix the schools. Why not just let the kids choose for themselves how to spend their time, and direct their own lives the way they see fit?
July 18, 2011
This one was due back at the library before I finished it but I'm not sure whether I'll bother to check it out again. It was useful to see a breakdown of exactly where a Sudbury education might lead, but at the same time it was almost too granular to make up a useful bigger picture. I kept thinking to myself, "Wow, these kids haven't really done anything," and had to think back to my own immediately-post-high-school-and-college years to see that, oh yeah, they're really doing all the same things that most kids do as young adults. Perhaps later in the book there was some greater summary analysis that would have been useful, but I didn't make it that far.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews