Leeway Sudbury School

Stephanie Hardman _{on Google}

Oct 9th, 2014

You know when you hear of something so wonderful it restores your faith in humanity and makes you EXCITED for the youth of today!? I get that feeling over and over when I experience the happy children who participate in this exemplary school. "Five stars" hardly begins to describe this community.
I am a student of the public school system. The bullies. The teachers saying "NO, stay with the class". The tests, tests, tests.. that prove nothing but that tests have the ability to stress and categorize. I wanted to study philosophy, religion, ballet, music, mathematics, international politics.. these were my interests in elementary school. I don't recall ever being nurtured in these pursuits. I know this is a story that resonates with many people.
This is why I applaud Leeway Sudbury School . . . for doing something different. Students at Leeway are trusted to direct their own learning. If they want to read all day, they can. If they want to play outside all day, they can. The human is allowed the space and time to unfold naturally. .. To experience their senses in a changing world; to grow towards the light.
Thank you to the beautiful people of Leeway for being real, for honoring dialogue, human agency and the genuine, unencumbered curiosity of the human.
Meeting you and learning about your school is one of the best parts of my life.
Your greatness is as infinite as the stars.
Further reading: look up Sudbury Valley School in wikipedia, you can find info on the core philosophy and a directory of schools.
A soap box aside:
I worked at High Tech High International and witnessed the unfortunate fact that no matter how innovative a curriculum, students will still feel the ennui of a contrived experience. The wonderful charter schools of San Diego are still just that - an experiment on adjusting the common curriculum.. but its just an adjustment and still an imposed curriculum. Unfortunately the current system accepts that students suffer a great deal of stress for attaining an ideal of "success" that we all know is somewhat of a hoax. . I mean, who among us reach the greatest heights of achievement? Oh.. the drop-outs.
Don't buy into the "pay the price" dream, you don't have to sacrifice health and well-being to continue the status quo. Be the change!