At our March informational meeting, a skeptical father asked me a very straight-forward question. He explained that after reading about the graduates of Sudbury Valley School he was convinced that this kind of education did not harm kids in their future academic pursuits and careers. But if it didn't make any difference one way or the other, why send a kid to a Sudbury-model school? That question stayed with me for several days.
Fairhaven School
Fairhaven’s goal is to provide students ages 5 through 19 the time and support needed to develop the character traits of successful people. Fairhaven graduates have learned how to think for themselves, how to motivate themselves, and how to work hard. They know themselves. They are law-abiding, articulate, and practiced in working with others. Fairhaven graduates embrace excellence and reject prejudice. They are determined to live lives that are both fun and fulfilling, and are confident in their ability to find meaningful, well paying careers.
Email Address:
Fairhaven School
17900 Queen Anne Road
Upper Marlboro, MD
20774
United States
Phone:
301-249-8060
Fax:
301-218-3549
See map: Google Maps
Articles Published by This School
An article in a local Massachusetts paper recently described Sudbury Valley School as a "School with No Rules." The reporter obviously hadn't seen the 30-page rule book which Sudbury Valley's School Meeting has created (over 30 years) and to which all students and staff are beholden.
Fairhaven School's two fundamental principles are, of course, freedom and democracy. But sometimes, since these two ideas are sensible and decent in their own right, we lose sight of their importance as educational cornerstones, of the fact that they set conditions in which real learning can best occur.
After hearing a short explanation of our school's philosophy, many people understandably try to link it with something already familiar to them. The most frequently mentioned "so-you're-sort-of-likes" are listed below. We have tried to be fair, but clear, in distinguishing ourselves from other philosophies. However, all the subtleties of these educational models are not laid out and comparisons are not made from every angle. We hope that the explanations below serve to clarify what the Sudbury model is really about, and what it is not.