Talk:Sudbury school

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Any problems with this model of school? - AmishThrasher 14:14, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Not as widespread as it should be. ;) Michael%Sappir 18:11, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] External links and See also

I have removed the recently added links to Katuah Sudbury School's website. There are quite a few Sudbury schools with websites not linked to at the bottom of this article. I'm frankly unsure even SVS's website should be linked to here. Maybe the external links area for this article should only contain links to external articles about the model. Meanwhile, it would at least make sense not to add links to just any other school's website (or list of Sudbury schools) unless there is some good reason for that. If there is such a reason for the inclusion of the Katuah links then by all means, tell me off. Meanwhile, a general idea for this section should be discussed. Michael Sappir • (Talk) 19:07, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree that we do not need to have lists to other schools' websites at this article, considering the aforementioned list. If nothing else, it would just unnecessarily lengthen the article. I'm neutral about the inclusion of the Sudbury Valley School's web site, except that it serves as a reference point. Aaronwinborn 13:46, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

As an afterthought, I've added a See also section, with the following links:

• Sudbury Valley School
• List of Sudbury Schools
• Democratic school
• Free school

I do not think this is an absolutely necessary addition, but I put it out there so that the possibility will be considered and discussed. At any rate, if an external link to the SVS website is here, we should probably also include an internal link to the article about SVS. Michael Sappir • (Talk) 14:12, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

That's a good idea. I did a quick search on google, and didn't find any articles about the model that weren't specifically hosted on a Subury school's web site. So for now, considering there's now an internal link to Sudbury Valley School, I'll remove the external link to that school. It makes more sense to add links to articles discussing the model. I just don't know of any good, neutral links off-hand. Of course, the best source may be hosted on a sudbury school's site; I just don't want to arbitrarily pick one or two over any others. Probably the best for now would be something right off of sudval.org's website, since they are at least the original sudbury school. -- Aaronwinborn 21:08, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article name

My main confusion over this page is why it is under "sudbury school" and not directly linked to under "sudbury model" where it seems, it would belong. One vote to move it over. Any disagreement? ZuG 14:21, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

I generally agree, although I know there are some prominent voices in Sudbury schools in the States against considering anything to constitute the "Sudbury model". I personally believe there is a very real set of concepts that constitute the Sudbury model, and I agree the article should be moved. I'm just not strongly opposed to the way things are right now. Michael Sappir • (Talk) 13:07, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Classes? What classes?

There's a lot of talk in this article about "classes."

I visited our local Sudbury school, and there are hardly any "classes" at all- just kids doing their thing. Maybe they have 1 or 2 of what we would think of as "classes" at all. But for the most part, it's like when you take a "class" by ... ...taking up a hobby, or something like that.

I'd like to know if my local Sudbury school is an exception or not. And I'd like to see some support for the idea that there are Classes at Sudbury schools.

So far, I have not seen it.

LionKimbro 21:23, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

My experience with the schools is that when you have several students interested in studying a similar thing at the same time, then it sometimes becomes efficient to have a class for the subject. This is probably more common in larger Sudbury schools than in smaller ones, where a "class" might resemble tutoring when it occurs. Of course, each school is unique, and some may have a formal process for creating a "class", while others may disdain anything resembling a traditional class. - Aaronwinborn 15:02, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Broadly and generally speaking, classes really aren't a very central thing in Sudbury schools, but they do exist to some extent. In my experience it does depend on size but even more on the cultural environment of the school. Basically, when the students get the feeling - for whatever reason - that classes are a good way to learn things, you get more classes. Size matters because you usually only call it a class if there are a few people involved, but classes are not purely a function of size. False labeling can be misleading as LionKimbro suggests; I have met people in democratic education (but not from the Sudbury movement) who like to label as "class" everything kids do, in order to make kids realize that whatever they do is important and meaningful. This practice seems to me rather manipulative and I believe I am not alone in the Sudbury movement in feeling so (because I have never heard of a Sudbury school doing such a thing). Michael Sappir • (Talk) 20:54, 7 November 2006 (UTC)