Student Leaders

Something that has been documented in other sudbury schools, and something I have now witnessed myself during the last 6 months at a Sudbury school, is a phenomena of student leadership.

So at my school, I identified two students leaders, one male and one female. There could be more, and I am not necessarily right, but from what I see I do see these two as having a significant impact and forming part of the direction that the other students go to. So that is why I call them leaders. Because what they say matters, meaning their opinion matters. Not always of course, but many times, when they have an idea about what to do, others join them. They also tend to be a sort of moral attitude as well as a role of teacher, meaning they show and set an example of behaviour. And noticeably, groups of students follow them in certain activities. When they are absent, the students tend to diffuse and spread out amongst themselves. Why this is and why this happens for me is quite intuitively clear. Because they set a point of organization and groundedness that the other students can rely on. They are also quite confident about themselves, and quite clear and expressive. So these may be attributes that are attractive, where other students gravitate to these expressions and character.


Piaget, wrote about a phenomena where older children tend to teach younger children roles, lessons etc... For me, it is intuitive, that what someone has to share/give to another, one does so quite naturally when in a space/environment that supports them to be able to do so, which means a stable environment that provides all that they need, and so they can go after and achieve what they want and so satisfaction of their self.

And for these students who are leaders, I have seen that they themselves have had leaders they followed, and do follow. Meaning they were taught and shown what it means to be a leader. So you would expect the same to happen continuously throughout time.

First 2 weeks at Sunset Sudbury

So two weeks ago, I had started visiting, and afterwards being hired, and now working at Sunset Sudbury. I can say that the last two weeks have felt like a really long time. Each day I was there felt both timeless, too short, and when looking back, it seems like I had let another life that was ages ago before all of this. So my plan for this blog is to capture the stories, lessons that everyone reading this will benefit from, including people who may not have any children, or never plan too. Because Sudbury is a school model, and we tend to think that this is just a place for children. Though really this is a place where something that is ancient and timeless occurs, which is the rearing of children within a community. That aspect has been lost in all schools across countries across the world. Was there a sense of community in all of your schools? Perhaps a lucky few of you could say yes. What is interesting too, is how many of us may have forgotten completely what is means to be genuine among people, and to be your real self. So for those that still have a spark of remembrance within you, hold onto that, and walk these blogs with me.

So something interesting that happened was how someone was playing with paper airplanes. I saw them and I asked if they knew how to make them in a different way. They said no. I then showed them, and after we flew them for a while and had fun, some other kids saw us. They then made their own and started playing. Eventually this spread to the other kids, and one of them lead a small group into how to make paper airplanes. They decorated them as well. So I observed how one thing spread from someone to another. And even though they hadn't played all together at once, it spread over time. The first people playing with paper airplanes had already left to do something else when the next group started.  Much of the world and reality works in this way, or at least it could. However, because most of us have barriers in place that prevent us from spreading our ideas and teaching and learning from others, the good ideas die. In a "normal" school, what is taught is not a decision that students make. Students do not give permission to be taught or learned something. There is no agreement, contract, or permission given. This is dangerous, as even the parents, and teachers also do not have the power to decide what is learn or taught. Instead 99% of us are trusting that whatever is taught in schools is correct, and what is best, without 99% of us actually participating in the investigation and the decision/determination of what is best to learn or taught. And because Sudbury  model is a complete democracy, everything that is learned or taught is through the permission and decision of both the learner and teacher. Thereby even the process of how to determine what is best to learn, can actually happen. This itself is a skill or lesson to learn, which can only happen through actually using one's ability to determine, decide, measure and test out a reality/situation, and set of knowledge to its value/promise.


Yogan Barrientos
786-216-2572
Miami, Florida