What IS being referred to is that which distinguishes Homeschooling,
not only from the Sudbury Model, but also from it's own radical cousin,
the Unschool. That is, the practice of imposing a curriculum -- any
curriculum -- on children. This tag-along idea which supports the notion
that some person knows what is best for another person to be learning at
any given stage of that person's development cannot be encompassed
within any educational model built on a foundation of individual liberty
and self-determination.
The foundation of the Sudbury Model School is not a single pillar,
however, and it is while viewing the second of it's major underpinnings
that the features which distinguish it from the Unschooling model begin
to come into focus. It was to this feature that Romey referred when she
spoke, in the poetic, of the Village it takes to raise a child. That
phrase is best understood within the context of the reality of the
Sudbury Model as it exists, while examing the elements contained within
it which are not found elsewhere.
The Sudbury Model holds that every society, no matter where or when, has
a set of over-arching goals it hopes to attain in implementing methods
of bringing up it's young. Two of these are: (1)To produce effective,
healthy adults who are good at surviving as individuals. (2)To produce
good citizens (however "good citizen" is defined by the particular
culture in question). That is, people who are effective, participating
members of the community.
In the Sudbury Model (the school being the model of society), the first
is "achieved" by letting people find, from the earliest possible age,
the way that is best for them, that they are best suited for. The second
is achieved by making sure that all of the society's members are
guaranteed equal rights, period. And that each member is given an equal
voice in the decision-making process which crafts and protects the
framework which supports those rights, and that each member is an equal
shareholder in the venture. (Sudbury Valley is a non-profit corporation
held in common by it's members which consist of all the students, staff
and parents.)
It is the experience of being an equal partner in one's own community
which is, to the best of my knowledge, missing in the Unschool, where,
as you imply, parents have the final word... Under these conditions the
growing experience is that of learning to survive in an autocracy, no
matter how benevolent. In this situation real trust and respect cannot
be uncompromised. Not to say that parents of S.V. kids won't succumb to
the habits of a lifetime and to pressures from without and throw their
weight around from time to time and to greater and lesser degrees --
they certainly do. But they are living as participants in a community
which encourages them by it's nature to at least experiment with another
way of doing things.
Ok, I'm outta here. Thanks for your perseverence, in the event you made
it this far!
Coby