Blog Archives

The Importance of Boredom

5/29/2015

One day, one of our students walked into the office and announced “I’m bored.” You may expect that the story ended there. Instead, it ended with him saying, “So I downloaded a public domain book on the Greek alphabet. I’m going to try to learn it.”

Sure, sometimes the newer kids come to us and tell us they’re bored, implicitly looking for direction from us. We don’t fall for the trap. We give them time to be bored. We give them time to think about what they value and what they want to do. We give them time to take charge of easing their own boredom. Soon enough, they only tell us that they’re bored coupled with what they’ve decided to do about it. How else would they learn to manage their own free time as an adult?

Sudbury schools let kids be bored, and we do it on purpose. We wish more schools did.

Sean Vivier, MLSS Staff

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Safe to Be Unpopular

5/22/2015

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Adlai Stevenson said a free society is one where it’s safe to be unpopular.

Let’s put that quote to the test. In compulsory schools, unpopularity is dangerous. Bullying is rampant. The first sign of difference or dislike, and that person is in for constant struggle against verbal and physical abuse, which the authorities are hard-pressed to stop.

Now compare that to a Sudbury school. You're far less likely to find bullying. You likely won’t even find much teasing beyond the friendly variety. The culture won’t allow it. And in those rare cases where it happens, we have tools that allow the kids to report it and put a stop to it themselves. But in most cases, at worst, people who don’t like each other just won’t spend much time together.

At a Sudbury school, it’s safe to be unpopular.

Sean Vivier, MLSS Staff

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Early Academic Training Produces Long-Term Harm

5/22/2015

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A number of well-controlled studies have compared the effects of academically oriented early education classrooms with those of play-based classrooms (some of which are reviewed here (link is external), in an article by Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Geralyn McLaughlin,and Joan Almon). The results are quite consistent from study to study: Early academic training somewhat increases children’s immediate scores on the specific tests that the training is aimed at (no surprise), but these initial gains wash out within 1 to 3 years and, at least in some studies, are eventually reversed. Perhaps more tragic than the lack of long-term academic advantage of early academic instruction is evidence that such instruction can produce long-term harm, especially in the realms of social and emotional development.

Read the rest of this important article by Peter Gray, Ph.D. here.

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Sugar

5/14/2015

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Sometimes you can get parents who completely agree with everything we say, until they discover that the kids are allowed to eat sugar if they like. Their faces widen in shock, as if we’d admitted we let them drink poison. Don’t we know how bad sugar is for you? Don’t we know how sugar makes kids hyper and uncontrollable?

Well, actually, the effect on children’s behavior is an urban legend. Research has found that activity levels for the same child are constant with or without sugar. We should know. Sugar doesn’t turn any of us into rampaging monsters, so why would a child’s physiology be any different?

There may be long-term health issues with eating a great deal of sugar. But, like most food items, anything in moderation likely won’t hurt you. And how can anyone learn to take sugar in moderation except by choosing whether or not to eat it and how often? Children who judge their own sugar consumption will be very different adults than those for whom sugar has always been forbidden and, suddenly in adulthood, can have as much sugar as they want.

When we say that the children are free to make their own choices, we mean it. Like anything else, what they eat is a free choice. Our children can eat sugar or not. It’s their lives. It’s their choice.

Sean Vivier, MLSS Staff

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Little Tyrants

5/8/2015

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There are a number of parenting manuals where the hatred of children shines through. One of the ways is by calling children “little tyrants.” They’re tyrants, these manuals say, because they demand things. They must be forcibly told no on many occasions so they understand they can’t give orders and thus shouldn’t become tyrants.

It’s a strange definition of tyranny. After all, a rude demand may be something to discourage, but not a hallmark of abused power. What power does the child have? The parent won’t be arrested or executed or tortured for their refusal. Rather, it is the parent who has the power to punish, and those who call children tyrants are more likely to demand a vicious form.

Children learn much more from example than from forbiddance. A parent who yells and hits will produce a child who yells and hits. No, refusals can be made in a gentle manner, with reasons presented, without projecting evil onto the child. That way, the child doesn’t become a tyrant, and neither do you.

Sean Vivier, MLSS Staff

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Honors Students...

5/1/2015

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It’s easy enough to criticize the public schools for their worst students. So let us instead look at the pride of traditional schools. Let us examine the Honor Student.

Sure, there are a number of Honors students who are bright and curious, who are in it because they haven’t forgotten the joy of learning. But there is a very strong component who are only there for the credits. In several anonymous questionnaires, they often admit to cheating. Also, when Dr. William Glasser asked a gathering of Honors students if they always gave their all on every task, every last one admitted they did not. Furthermore, these students go on to hate learning, to see it as an obnoxious chore rather than the joyous experience it should be. All side effects of compulsion and the message that only grades matter.

Compare with any Sudbury student. It’s not about grades or doing as you’re told. It’s about exploration and discovery. Sudbury students uncover new ideas with delight, giving each new interest their all, and that love of learning stays with them.

So, would you rather have an Honors student at a traditional school, or would you rather have a normal Sudbury student?

Sean Vivier, MLSS Staff

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The Importance of Boredom

Safe to Be Unpopular

Early Academic Training Produces Long-Term Harm

Sugar

Little Tyrants

Honors Students...

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