The Blue Ridge Discovery School, modeled after the Sudbury Valley School of Framingham, Massachusetts (est. 1968), is founded on the belief that human beings are naturally curious about the world and take delight in learning about it. This desire to learn, starting soon after birth, is most intense in very young children and is satisfied as the child moves from one self-initiated activity to another. When this natural and universal process is supported by the family and allowed to continue without interruption, each child will come to relate to the world in her own unique way and subconsciously assumes the same for others. The Blue Ridge Discovery School believes in the validity of this path to greater learning and provides a rich environment for its continuation from the age of five through nineteen.
This complete freedom to learn as one wishes is further enhanced and at the same time made possible by the democratic governance of the school by its community members – students and staff – on the basis of one person-one vote. This real life experience as carried out during the weekly meetings of the school makes students and staff responsible for the quality of education and the daily life of the school. Students who represent the majority of the community members decide how to spend the budget, hire and fire staff, establish, and modify school rules and all other matters that affect the daily operations of the school. No other educational model has placed so much trust in the youth and their ability in the responsible execution of their duties.
We are ultimately supported in our belief by the pioneering experiences of the Sudbury Valley School for the past 35 years and more than twenty other schools worldwide that have subscribed to the same educational philosophy. As the children themselves know, the richness of daily life at a Sudbury model school is virtually unrivaled. And without the use of grades, tests, evaluations, and other external measures of competence, Sudbury Valley School graduates have gone on to colleges and universities all over the country, and abroad. Most are admitted to their schools of first choice. Other graduates have entered directly into the worlds of business, trade, arts, crafts, and technical vocations.
In short, this genuinely alternative method of education works far beyond what one would imagine.
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