Talk:Democratic school

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Contents 1 Merge 2 Number of schools that identify themselves as democratic 3 Funding of Summerhill 4 Why does DE redirect here?

[edit] Merge

Should this article be considered for merging with Free school? --CharlesC 23:57, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Number of schools that identify themselves as democratic

The worldwide number should be way, way higher than the stated 70. Here in Israel alone I know there are 20-40, depending on who you ask. And the population in this country is pretty tiny (6 million). I know the democratic schools per capita ratio here is extremely high, but we can't possibly have about half of the world's democratic schools. Does anyone have a more updated number? Michael%Sappir 18:15, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

70 is probably a bit low, but Israel has considerably more democratic schools than most countries, thanks to pioneering work of Israelis like Yakov Hecht. Britain has a population of around 60m, but very few democratic schools: Summerhill, Sands, St Christophers are the only ones I know of still extant. Mishagale 14:17, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Funding of Summerhill

Are you sure that Summerhill receives government funds? As far as I know, they don't get any money from the government. 80.185.190.216 09:21, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

I was also surprised to read this. Summerhill's website speaks of "a 'free school' though this does not mean, alas, that it is state funded". The FAQ from the same site says "We receive no help financially from outside the school and must rely entirely upon our fees..." Bluewave 13:47, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Summerhill does not recieve public funding, and never has, although some other Democratic Schools in other countries (Tamariki, Hadera [I think]) do. However, a recently founded charity, the A.S. Neill Summerhill Trust, does provide bursaries, funds permitting. The note about Sands is also incorrect. Private schools are accountable to the UK government, even if they recieve no public money. However, the standards for private schools are slightly different to state schools, for instance, the National Curriculum is only required in state schools. Mishagale 12:12, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Tamariki definitely gets some funding. There are at least a few democratic charter schools (publically funded, operate under a charter which I think includes something similar to a "special character" elsewhere, and may use similar terminology) in the US, though the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Blue Mountain in Cottage Grove, OR. Brennen 19:19, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

The more I dig the more stupid shit I find on wikipedia...holy cow! And your even using Kozal as a source!!!! (Gibby 07:01, 5 February 2006 (UTC))

Any specific complaints about the article you'd like to see addressed, or is this more of a drive-by flame kind of thing? Brennen 19:19, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why does DE redirect here?

As a webmaster for the Democratic Education at Cal program (DeCal.org), there are healthy Democratic Education programs outside purely democratic schools. Our program, for instance, is 150 strong. Others exist at Oberlin College, UCLA, and elsewhere. Why roll democratic education into democratic schools? Jeff Bowman 21:48, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I suspect because it was easier at the time, and nothing had been written for democratic education yet. It certainly seems like a separate democratic article would be warranted, and I'd be glad to help. It would be cool if someone with a better big-picture grasp of the historical background & theoretical framework than me would frame the whole thing, but I'll eventually tackle it if I can scrape together the time. Brennen 19:19, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Education programs are not enough Jeff. Democracy Must be Experienced to be Learned 80.178.205.228 14:55, 2 October 2007 (UTC)