Alicia Richard Master's Thesis

What Happened to the Free Schools?: The Free Schools Movement in the United States 1967-1972 Alicia Richard A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education University of Washington 2021 Committee: Nancy Beadie Tomas de Rezende Rocha Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Education ©Copyright 2021 Alicia Richard University of Washington Abstract What Happened to the Free Schools?: The Free Schools Movement in the United States 1967-1972 Alicia Richard Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Nancy Beadie College of Education: Educational Foundations, Leadership & Policy What happened to the Free Schools movement in the United States, and why has it been so little examined by historians of education? What legacies were left by these bold experiments in education? The Free Schools movement was a grassroots educational movement involving hundreds of small schools throughout the United States and Canada during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The key inspirational educational figures of the movement were A.S. Neill, George Dennison, John Holt and Jonathan Kozol, all of whom promoted more freedom for students and more humane practices in education. The primary newsletter of the movement, The New Schools Exchange, provides a first-hand glimpse into what was happening on the ground. This thesis shows that the free schools encountered a wide variety of practical obstacles to success which the majority could not overcome. Philosophical differences also splintered the movement and prohibited them from developing a united front to promote their educational alternatives. Only a small handful of free schools were able to become sustainable over the long haul, including two schools that are still active— Albany Free School and Sudbury Valley School. The success of these schools and others like them, as well as the pertinent educational ideas and practices that the free schoolers promoted are still relevant today and warrant further study. INTRODUCTION WHAT WAS THE FREE SCHOOLS MOVEMENT? By Free School we mean noncompulsory education. A child is free to choose and develop his own interests at his own rate - within sensible limitations of safety and respect for the rights of others -Celeste School, Corrales, New Mexico, 19691 In the midst of extreme political and social turmoil during the 1960s—with the Black Power movement, the civil rights movement, the Red Power movement, the women’s liberation movement, the anti-war movement, the environmental movement and the gay rights movement all in full-swing—there was an unsung movement for radical humanity and freedom in education. Although often unacknowledged in historical accounts, the leaders and participants thought just as deeply about their cause as those who participated in other countercultural social movements, and believed just as fervently that they were on the verge of bringing about a monumental paradigm shift in American culture. This was the free schools movement. A wide variety of educational reforms and experiments got under way during the 1960s and early 1970s in the United States and the UK. Experimental and free colleges,2 open classrooms,3 the British infant schools,4 “exploding” classrooms,5 1 New Schools Exchange, no. 5 (Santa Barbara: 19 May, 1969), 1. 2 Reid Pitney Higginson. "When Experimental Was Mainstream: The Rise and Fall of Experimental Colleges, 1957–1979." History of Education Quarterly 59, no. 2 (2019): 195-226. 3 Harold W. Sobel, and Edward W. Tejirian. "The Case for Open Education." Teachers College Record 74, no. 4 (1973): 559-65. 4 Lillian Weber. The English Infant School and Informal Education. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971). 5 Catherine Burke. "“Fleeting Pockets of Anarchy”: Streetwork. The Exploding School." Paedagogica Historica 50, no. 4 (2014): 433-42. 4 American Indian Movement survival schools,6 the Black Panther Party liberation schools,7 Mississippi Freedom schools,8 and the wide variety of schools that became known as the “free schools movement”: all of these educational movements gathered strength and blossomed forth with monumental force during the historically tumultuous time period. The free schools movement rose and fell within an extremely short historical time period, approximately 1967–1972. Educational historian Ron Miller described the rise of the free schools movement within this context: “In the 1960s, the rise of student activism and a radical counterculture created a surge of interest in both the psychological and political aspects of freedom, resulting in a ‘free school’ movement that at its peak included nearly a thousand schools across the U.S.”9 He goes on to state how Summerhill, an account of the “original” free school in England, published in 1960 by A.S. Neill, became an “influential best seller,” and several other writers and educational critics found widespread popularity as well—writers such as John Holt, George Dennison, Ivan Illich, Jonathan Kozol, and Paul Goodman who “also wrote boldly and passionately about freedom in learning.”10 Regardless of whether or not the 6 Julie L. Davis. Survival Schools the American Indian Movement and Community Education in the Twin Cities. (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2013). 7 Donna Jean Murch. Living for the City Migration, Education, and the Rise of the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010). 8 Max A. Hope. Reclaiming Freedom in Education: Theories and Practices of Radical Free School Education. (London & New York: Routledge, 2020), 54. 9 Ron Miller. The Self-Organizing Revolution: Common Principles of the Educational Alternatives Movement. (Brandon, VT: Holistic Education Press, 2008) 34. 10 Miller, The Self-Organizing Revolution, 34-35. 5 free schools movement met the standards as a true social or political “movement,” they thought of themselves as such, and referred to themselves as such within the pages of their primary newsletter, The New Schools Exchange. What happened to the free schools movement, and what legacies have been left by their bold experiments in education? A few free schools survived the demise of the movement, and although public schooling remains largely the same as it was in the 1960s, some options still remain in modern day homeschooling movements and democratic schools. Ultimately, regardless of their idealism and enthusiasm for change, the free schoolers failed to coalesce their efforts into an effective social movement, but their inspiration remains a beacon to many today. PERSONAL CONNECTION TO THIS HISTORICAL INQUIRY This statement from Ron Miller, from his 2008 book The Self-Organizing Revolution: Common Principles of the Educational Alternatives Movement, gets to the heart of the issue of education that I have wrestled with for the last thirty years: It is remarkable that as society welcomes visionary innovation in so many other areas, we continue to tolerate this outdated, undemocratic model for bringing our young people into the public world. People who advocate workplace democracy, or local, community based economies, or holistic approaches to healing, personal growth and spirituality generally fail to question the purposes, structures, and methods of our industrial age system of schooling. Even as the business world opens to concepts such as sustainability, participatory creative problem-solving, and social responsibility, business leaders and their political allies press for higher “standards” and tougher “accountability,” turning schools more and more into sweatshops…We now know, just as we know that the earth isn’t flat, that the process of human learning and growth is holistic, creative, and spontaneous. The mechanical management of a child’s learning may serve the ends of a society’s authorities, but it does not support the fullest, healthiest development of that child’s potential intelligence or character.11 11 Miller, The Self-Organizing Revolution, 20-21. 6 Though Miller’s book was published thirteen years ago now, his assessment of the pace of change in so many sectors of society and the lack of change within the state schooling system is still relevant today. When the world is changing so rapidly, when transformation is seen in almost every part of society, why has education been left behind? Why do so many parents, especially those who are entrepreneurial or creative in their working lives, still decide to send their children to be educated in a school system designed in the nineteenth century? It is these and similar questions that have driven me forward in my life and in my educational journey. I became interested in the history of the free schools movement primarily because it connects directly to my lived experience. Because of the movement, and the schools that survived it, my life has been altered in many profound ways. As an undergraduate pursuing teaching certification in social studies, I discovered kindred spirits in the books of A.S. Neill, George Dennison, John Holt, and others, figures who spoke about children and education in ways that resonated with me deeply. Searching for inspiration for a new school that I wanted to open in the 1990s, I discovered a model of “free school” education that I could emulate in The Sudbury Valley School, opened in 1968 during the free schools movement. Sudbury Valley supported new schools through conferences and an email list-serve, so I gained membership in a community of like-minded individuals who carried on the legacies of the free schools movement. When I helped create a “Sudbury” model school in 1996—Diablo Valley School in Concord, California—and served as its first full-time staff member, I experienced the same highs and lows that the free schoolers wrote about in their newsletter, the New Schools Exchange. 7 When I became a parent, I sent all three of my children to the Clearwater School in Bothell, Washington, another “Sudbury” school founded the same year as Diablo Valley. For twenty years, I supported Clearwater as a devoted committee member, parent, board member, and ultimately as board president.

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