○Reference for Education [2]

 ・A young man made an agreement with an adult at the school to learn physics. However, after starting to read the textbook, he came for a question only once five months later, and then he studied on his own. The young man eventually became a mathematician.

・An example of a child learning arithmetic. The children wanted to learn arithmetic, found a teacher in the school who could teach it, and decided to learn it twice a week for 30 minutes each time. It took 24 weeks (6 months) to complete the entire arithmetic course. They learned in half a year what usually takes six years in a regular school.

・At Sudbury Valley School, there are writers who spend hours every day writing, artists who keep drawing, potters who keep spinning the wheel, chefs passionate about cooking, athletes dedicated to sports, and children who don't miss their daily four hours of trumpet practice.

・Sudbury Valley School does not enforce reading for children who cannot read. There are no attempts to coax or entice children with rewards. However, the incidence of reading disabilities is zero. No one has graduated while still illiterate or unable to read and write adequately. In this school, there are children who still cannot read and write even at the age of 8, 10, or rarely 12. However, they somehow learn to read and write and catch up with those who learned quickly.

・In this school, children are not divided by age and are left to their own devices. There are many instances where younger students teach older ones. When learning progress is varied, the children help each other. They help each other because if they don't, the whole group falls behind, and because they're not competing for good grades, a spirit of cooperation develops.

・Age mixing has its advantages in learning as well, as children often explain things more simply and better than adults. Also, by teaching, they can experience their irreplaceability and a sense of accomplishment. In addition, through teaching, they can sort out problems and quickly get to the heart of the matter.