This book challenges common assumptions about the nature of education and the need for formal schooling and provides an overview of promising alternatives to compulsory education. Following a foreword by Ivan Illich, four sections cover the philosophical roots of opposition to compulsory public education, current analyses of the public school…

The four issues of "SKOLE" published in 1996 include articles about alternatives to public education, the value of free schools and home-schooling, and children's learning experiences. Feature articles include profiles of alternative schools and educational programs; descriptions of learning experiences and teaching practices; a study of full…

Characteristics of 187 free universities and 21 learning referral centers and information on registrations and referrals, finance, and staffing are examined, based on 1982 followup survey results. A free university is broadly defined as an organization that offers to the general public ungraded, unaccredited classes that anyone can teach; learning…

The Free School (Albany, New York) was started for children who had experienced little success in public schools. The school advocates a number of therapeutic practices that encourage the healthy expression of emotions as well as the articulation and exploration of life's inevitable conflicts and problems. As children gain in self-esteem, they…

Chris Mercogliano's book tells how teachers and students at Albany Free School create their own curriculum daily in a free-wheeling atmosphere shunning competition, compulsory learning, and social-based status awards. Founded in 1969, the school advocates attending to emotional and interpersonal dimensions of students' everyday lives. (MLH)

In Japan, not attending public school is stigmatized, and alternative education is in its infancy. Reviews free spaces, which are not schools, but places for traumatized students to recover; home schooling networks; government-approved independent alternative schools; alternative after-school programs; and innovative programs within the system.…

A mother and daughter describe their family's educational experiences with a K-12 noncoercive free school, Upattinas School and Resource Center (Pennsylvania), and with home schooling and public school. They have learned that people learn best when placed in a supportive environment. Forced learning, as in public school, tends to turn off the…

This revised and expanded version of the 1960 classic "Summerhill," edited by Albert Lamb, portrays Summerhill School throughout its development. The book reveals A. S. Neill's fundamental belief in the self-regulated school in which children make their own rules and determine for themselves how much they will study. Neill's commitment…

An overview of the history of nontraditional programs within the American higher education system discusses the energy and spirit provided by such programs and relates them to the basic principles of American culture (importance of individuality, respect for diversity, and belief in equality). During the development of American culture, the five…

The history and philosophy of the free university, defined as an organization that offers noncredit classes to the general public in which "anyone can teach and anyone can learn," is explored. Offered is practical advice for starting a free university center or exchange and ensuring its success. Three contemporary versions of free…

Providing a directory of "new" ("free" or "alternative") schools in the United States, this publication begins with a discussion of the present educational system and what the alternative schools are trying to do about it. The criteria for inclusion in the listing, providing a glimpse of the shared philosophy of the schools, includes absence of…

This paper defines revolutionary education as a qualitative change in the structure of educational institutions and the ideology surrounding the functions and goals of those institutions. After conducting an extensive study of the literature on inner city schools, free schools, and student protest, the author concludes that revolutionary education…

This book compiles articles, interviews, student writings, and other offerings first published in SKOLE, the Journal of Alternative Education, 1995-99. Sections include: (1) talking about education (seven interviews on the foundations of learning, the Modern School movement, educational philosophy at the Albany Free School, life at a Japanese free…

Growing social and economic inequalities and political impotency are the sources of functional illiteracy. The current educational emphasis on basic skills will not resolve these problems. Students must harness their collective forces to replace corporate control with democratic power. (Author/GC)

The Free School is an independent, alternative elementary school in inner-city Albany (New York) based on open democratic education dedicated to the authentic lives of children. Emotional freedom is balanced by meetings in which everyone participates in solving discipline problems. The highly flexible and individualized curriculum uses the…