Free Schools: Practice

Brazilian Democratic Schools

• At the January 2008 AFU General Meeting, we had an unexpected visitor from Sao Paulo, Brazil. After waiting very patiently through the usual kibitzing, she delivered a fascinating presentation on the Brazilian Democratic School movement, specifically Activismo ABC, the collective in Sao Paulo where she volunteers.

Institute for Social Ecology

• The mission of the Institute for Social Ecology (ISE) is the creation of educational experiences that enhance people's understanding of their relationship to the natural world and each other. By necessity, this involves the ISE in programs that deepen students' awareness of self and others, help them to think critically, and expand their perception of the creative potentialities for human action. The purpose of the ISE's programs is the preparation of well-rounded students who can work effectively as participants in the process of ecological reconstruction.

Olympia Free School

• Olympia is a community with amazing resources. There are folks here with many diverse talents and skills to share. Too often however, a lack of communication keeps us apart. The Free School is a synergy of the diverse ideas, talents, skills and resources of community members. The Free School works to facilitate this learning exchange as an instrument for individuals who want to learn in an open environment. We are a resource that provides free alternative educational opportunities to people of all ages and backgrounds. The Free School also works for profound social change by serving as a model for education in the future.

Summerhill

• Summerhill School was founded in 1921 at a time when the rights of individuals were less respected than they are today. Children were beaten in most homes at some time or another and discipline was the key work in child rearing. Through its self-government and freedom it has struggled for more than eighty years against pressures to conform, in order to give children the right to decide for themselves. The school is now a thriving democratic community, showing that children learn to be self-confident, tolerant and considerate when they are given space to be themselves.

Stelton

• The Modern School at Stelton, New Jersey, was a child of the early twentieth century anarchist and libertarian education movements. It was inspired by the example of Spanish anarchist Francisco Ferrer (1859-1909) who had established "modern" or progressive schools in Spain in defiance of an educational system controlled by the church. Fiercely anti-clerical, he believed in "freedom in education," education free from the authority of church and state. Ferrer founded the first Modern School, the Escuela Moderna in Barcelona, in 1901. The school was very successful, and soon branches were started throughout Spain. The Escuela Moderna, which also encompassed an adult education center and radical publishing house, was closed in 1906 when Ferrer was implicated in a plot to assassinate the King of Spain. In October 1909, Ferrer was tried and executed, accused of masterminding the events of the "Tragic Week," July 26 to August 1, 1909, when a workers' protest in Barcelona developed into open rebellion, resulting in the desecration and burning of numerous churches and convents.