Chapter 12. Starting a Free School
Throughout my first year teaching – either through our Antioch-Putney classes, or through our own reading and research -- both Joel Denker and I had become interested in “alternative education” and what were then termed “free schools." Many of these free schools were roughly based on the work of A. S. Neil, founder of the Summerhill School in England. These schools generally offered an unstructured approach and in some cases, the teachers let the kids do pretty much whatever they wanted to do.
Having visited a few of those schools, just about every one of them was missing one key ingredient – A. S. Neill. Neill, an intuitive genius who knew how to read children and situations, was well-suited to running a school where kids had that much leeway. Most other teachers were not. I remember one school out in the country – well, it reminded me of Lord of the Flies.
However, that was the extreme.
The main legitimate complaint about the education system is that it was – and still is -- based on a 19th century Prussian model designed to turn out obedient workers. Teacher in the front lecturing to a group of pupils sitting in rows. Memorization, repetition, and well-cultivated boredom.