The Forgotten Promise of Democratic Schools
Laura Runyon described a small school to which she sent her children and in which she taught English and history. In one section of her unpublished notes, she wrote as if she were a parent visiting the school for the first time.
“Everywhere the children were busy, but the morning was half gone and I had heard nothing that reminded me of a school except a class taking Latin as I passed. I had heard a class discussing whether John Smith or George Washington were the greater man, and another group, with a relief map, trying to decide where it would be best to erect forts to protect English colonies from the French aggression from the north and west…. I wondered why the teacher did not tell them [the answers], if she thought it worthwhile, and then have them … name the capitals and principal cities [of the states]. In all of the classes the children talked—sometimes two at once, but with a freedom of expression and an ability to stick to the point which surprised me.”
The perplexed parent asked a teacher to describe what kind of a school this was. The teacher took Runyon to a class of 6 and 7 year olds where the children had spent a few weeks with the help of the teacher figuring out