It is very challenging to critique a school without having visited and witnessed first-hand how it is being run. Having stated this, there are some aspects of the Free School model that I feel have not “convinced” me…
To begin with, there is the obvious concern: what if students do nothing? Although this is a very probable outcome of freedom, proponents of the school claim that boredom, anger, and loitering are all states of being (or consequences) that must be lived out by the child to the fullest. According to them, even such feelings are valuable learning experiences! However, I am not ready to accept that my child may spend the entirety of his/her days doing ‘nothing’.
After giving this school model a lot of thought, I have concluded that my biggest problem with it is that it seems difficult for the children to continue on to higher education. It is not impossible, and surely many have gone on, but taking exams is optional, and most children may prefer not to (I think I would have declined such an offer, had I been ever given the choice!). Although I do recognize that university is not for everyone, it would be a shame to have some students miss out on an educational experience that would open many doors, only due to the fact that they were not accustomed to taking exams, or studying for them!
Finally, I think a major disadvantage in the freedom found in such schools is that it (unfortunately) does not reflect the reality in which we live. Regardless of family or employment, there are certain things in life that leave us no choice; we must adjust to the demands of a working environment, for example. Although I’ve previously mentioned positive traits that could be fostered in such a school, I think certain negative characteristics can also be picked up, namely a lack of responsibility. The best example of this was witnessed first-hand by myself.
Over a month ago, I sent the Free School a questionnaire I had devised for students and staff. I did not specify when I would need it back, only asked them to let me know if they could commit to having some people fill it out for my project. I received the following response:
Hi Helen,
Sorry I’ve been slow checking my email, but i checked out the questions, and i will start circulating them to other staff and see which students want to answer. Is there a time frame that you would like us to have in mind for when you need the responses? If so let us know, and we’ll be in touch.
I answered that ASAP would be best, but within a couple of weeks would be fine. When I heard nothing in two weeks, I sent this e-mail:
I hope all is well… I’m just wondering if you know when the responses will be ready. It would be really great if I could receive them by Monday, but I understand if it may take another couple of days. Would it be alright if you let me know? Thanks so much! I am really looking forward to reading them!
Helen
I received this e-mail back:
I think we will need till the end of the week, it that okay?
I assured him that this would be fine, but that I would really need the responses by end of week!
When I heard nothing five days later (yesterday), I sent this e-mail:
How are you? Just wanting to check that everything is alright with the questionnaires… I don’t want to put any pressure on you guys, but I will need them back within the next couple of days…
I received this response:
Hi Helen,
I have to be honest, we have been extremely busy the past week or two, we have a benefit show for the school we are organizing, as well as spring outings and activities happening practically everyday. I will do my best to send them via email tomorrow, and i apologize for the delay.
When I heard nothing (again!), I sent this e-mail:
I completely understand how busy you must all be! Unfortunately, my project is due on Friday evening, so I really do need to receive the responses before then! I do hope this can be done, as I’ve included a special section for it, and I am really counting on it!
Thanks again,
Helen
At 6:50pm on Friday, I received this e-mail with one attached set of responses:
Hi Helen,
Here are my responses, i apologize for the delay and the lack of response from others, hope this will help you with the project.
My purpose in transcribing this e-mail correspondence is to emphasize the complete frustration on my part! In working with individuals who prefer to freely do things their way, I have no trust or faith in them delivering what they promised me, even though I gave them ample time to do it in! Unfortunately, I work with deadlines… I fear that the Free School model may be making students unreliable and unaccountable, for anything and to anyone!
Misha Gale said,
June 3, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
As a former Summerhill pupil, I have to say that much of what you seem to see as weaknesses, I tend to see as strengths.
It is not unusual for parents to be afraid that their children won’t do anything, that they will be “idle,” will end their school career having taken no qualifications. This is pretty rare, but it does very occasionally happen that a child leaves a free school having attended almost no lessons at all. What I think you should consider in this case is the alternative. If a child is so antipathetic to academic learning that they would rather pass over it entirely, what might be the emotional consequences of compelling that child to attend classes that make him/her miserable? Is an unhappy childhood really worth the qualifications they will receive? Don’t forget, many children who are compelled to attend classes every day still fail their exams, so for the price of forcing your child into something which makes them miserable, you aren’t even guaranteed a result.
It seems to be conventional wisdom that anyone who leaves school without GCSEs, a High School Diploma or whichever is applicable in your country will be an automatic failure, doomed to menial unskilled jobs. But there are many people without formal academic qualifications who have gone on to be highly successful business people, artists, writers, actors and more. People also tend to forget that it’s no great hardship to return to academic study later in life, if an adulthood without qualifications proves too difficult; you are never too old to learn new things.
This is an argument I’ve often had with opponents of free schools (not that I’m suggesting you are such a person), and I think it comes down to a fundamental difference of opinion. People who are concerned that a child without qualifications will be a failure have rather different ideas about what constitutes success or failure than I do. I would say someone who makes minimum wage in a job they enjoy is far more successful than a millionaire who is miserable and stressed. To paraphrase the words of Neill “I’d rather be a happy street sweeper than a neurotic Prime Minister.”
I’m not certain why you believe children from Free Schools are less able to attend highter education, I can only say that it hasn’t been my experience – I have many friends from Summerhill who have gone on to attend prestigious universities, and very few of my contemporaries chose not to attend any university. I would agree that university is not for everyone, and a free education helps one decide whether university is for you.
To your last point, that a free school fosters a lack of responsibility, I’d say that’s also at odds with my own experience. Conventional schools hardly teach responsibiity, rather they concentrate all responsibility on the teachers; students are only responsible for doing what they are told. Free schools on the other hand, encourage children to take on responsibility for the running of their own lives, and of the community they live in.
As to your tardy questionnaire responses, it hardly seems fair to criticize the lateness of work which was being done, in peoples free time, as a favour to you. It’s not as if you contracted someone to do a job of work, you asked people to share personal information with you without offering remuneration. If many people chose not to share that information, or a busy staff member had other priorities, it’s surely their right. It’s also worth pointing out that if you attend a famous free school, this sort of request from academics, journalists and other interested parties is not uncommon, and can get pretty tiresome!
I hope you won’t take these comments as an attack, I just want to offer my point of view, and perhaps try and change yours through reasoned argument. I’ve always felt very passionately about Summerhill and schools like it, and I’m afraid I can’t resist arguing back when people suggest it is less than perfect
If I’ve been a bit overheated in my response, I apologise.
Regards,
Misha Gale
Former Summerhill pupil and trustee of the A.S. Neill Summerhill Trust.