The above picture has nothing to do with the blog – I just like to post cute pictures of my kids. This blog is actually about the book I’m reading, Summerhill School by A.S. Neill. I’ve been reading parenting book s for a while, now I’m reading education books so I can figure out where to send the wee-tikes when the time comes. Apparently Summerhill School is the original Free School – the idea is that children learn best with “freedom rather than coercion”. Seems like a good idea – I mean after all who remembers liking the rules of school right? You don’t have to go to class if you don’t want, you can smoke, cursing is acceptable, basically anything that the students vote on goes – everyone has one vote regardless of age or rank, including teachers and administration. I’ve started this project to figure out what kind of school I want to send the kids to – and I’ve just started – don’t know where I’ll land, but I know it’s not going to be a Free School – it’s just too naive about human nature. I know that my children haven’t reached the age at which they would be eligible to attend Summerhill, but from what I know about them at this point we’ve got a ways to go before our votes are all equal. After all, these are the kids that think it’s a good idea to take eggs out of the fridge and break them on the kitchen floor.
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