A common question about unconventional educational models, and especially about self-directed ones that put young people in charge of their own education, is how do kids turn out?

To help answer that question I’ve invited Evan Hughes, who attended the renowned Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, MA for his childhood and adolescence, and now sends his son there as well.

Sudbury Valley was founded in 1968 and has since inspired the creation of dozens of Sudbury-model schools around the world. It prioritizes non-coercive, self-directed education within a democratically run community where adults and children have equal say in school operations, rule-making and enforcement, hiring and firing decisions, and so on. There are no adult-imposed classes, no grades, no curriculum or top-down evaluative measures. So how exactly does a person learn in this environment?

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Learning At Sudbury Valley School: Alumnus and parent Evan Hughes on self-directed education