The General Meeting

Summerhill is a democratic community. Decisions are made by the weekly Meeting. Anyone may table any item of business and propose motions, and on each motion everyone, from members of staff to the youngest of the kids, has one vote. All changes to the school rules (or “Laws”) are made at the Meeting. (Accusations of people having broken the laws are dealt with by another meeting of the whole school, the Tribunal, which also takes place weekly.)

Chairing a meeting is a difficult task. Though it is not exactly unruly, it is quite demanding to keep up to 70 people of different ages sitting quietly for about an hour at a time. The chairperson (usually one of the older kids), therefore, can fine anyone for making a noise, ask them to sit elsewhere, or throw them out altogether.

Not only do the children have equal power in the school meeting; they also greatly outnumber the adults. The reaction of most teachers to this arrangement is one of acute apprehension. What would happen in a conventional school if the pupils outnumbered the staff in making the rules? Total anarchy? Loss of all moral codes? Maybe so - but pupils in those schools are not, as Summerhillians are, free. Freedom is the power to govern one’s own destiny; Summerhill kids clearly understand that the Laws they make are for the smoother running of their own and one another’s lives, and on the whole, they make sensible ones. If they find they have made a mistake, they can always change it.

The school meetings, the vehicle of self-determination for the community, are the basis of the freedom its members enjoy. But they have other effects on the children: visitors invariably comment on the kids’ articulacy, their self-assurance, their general air of being in control of their own lives, as well as their degree of social responsibility, compared to their contemporaries at other schools.

Some current Laws

The school Laws cover every subject, from when you must be in bed at night to where you may use a bow and arrow. Here is a random selection of the current Laws:

• Only 12s and over are allowed sheath knives.

• You must have a working front and back brake on your bike.

• You can’t ride little kids bikes - even with permission.

• You can’t watch TV during lessons or meal times.

• No graffiti (penalty: £1.00 fine), except on the special wall where graffiti is allowed.

• Breaking the bedtime laws has a penalty of 1/2 hour community work.

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Other regular events	\|	A typical Meeting case

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.004 сек.