I thought the section in the Pursuit of Happiness reading about how much control each former student had was a particularly intriguing section. Many of the students in their responses to the survey said they had a great deal of control over their own lives. They gave examples and explanations about why they thought so. This began to paint the picture that the students, as a result of going to the school, became individuals who eagerly took control over their own lives. Then I noticed that a couple even said that they chose to go to the Sudbury Valley School all on their own. I began to wonder if it was the role of the school that made them take control of their lives, or if it was the type of school that attracted certain personalities, strong and independent ones. So there were at least some students who chose to attend the school and perhaps the students that were sent there by their parents were removed from traditional schools because their personalities did not fit well into a place where they were told what to do. As the charts show, many students entered the school at various age groups, not just at grades equivalent to starting middle school, maybe because they were having problems elsewhere. Also, for those that entered in high school, they may have had problems in the public school system all along and finally were able to take control.
There were also the former students who responded that they did not feel in control of their lives, perhaps these students were not the type to seek out a free school, but it was their parents who had heard about it and thought it would be good. Some people like direction and others do not, I would argue that most of the positive responses came from people who did not like being told what to do and that may have been a factor in why they were at the Sudbury Valley School in the first place. In one of the responses a former student said that at the school you could take control or sit there, with that attitude I think they were one of the students that took control. They seem to not be understanding of the students who did not have the ability to take control, who perhaps did not belong at the school in the first place.
Students at Sherman Institute, 1919. Courtesy Sherman Indian High School, Riverside CA.
1 comment:
I really like this point you bring up about how the Sudbury school may actually be attracting students who were strong and independent. I think of Kozol in the light that maybe these students are already assuming their power and desire for control. If these type of people will go on to control the country and their attitudes represent, as Juliann mentions in her post, the justification to deny social services, we see what Kozol is trying to argue.
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