Check out this animated short with spoken word by Alan Watts. Animation by Chris Brion and Todd Benson, produced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (of South Park fame - sure do love those guys!).
Here is the link to the video on YouTube
I came across this video when I was first learning about Sudbury model schools. My daughter, Tobin, was almost 5 years old and had not quite arrived at the kindergarten cut-off according to the city when she asked me, "Can I please go to school now, Mommy?"
I jumped (more like tentatively sqeaked) feet (no, big toes) first into searching for options for my not-quite-school-ager. I began to notice a protective feeling churning in my belly. As it began to bubble up, so did the petri dish of emotions and memories I had apparently repressed since I was in school. Fear, doubt, insecurity, pressure, boredom, judgments, comparisons, college, SAT's, No. 2 pencils, impossible standards, imposed morality, dress codes and permission slips.
Not for my little girl, I insisted.
Then I saw this video which was posted on Katuah Sudbury School's website at the time. I felt for the first time since beginning my search for Tobin's school that I could breathe a little easier. They get it, I thought. The "let down," the "hoax," exactly as Alan Watts had described, was exactly what I instinctively wanted to protect my daughter from (Watch the video to see what I'm talking about).
I was put to even greater ease on the day of our interview. Tobin, usually shy and quite clingy, waltzed right in as if she had been there a dozen times before, and began playing with some students her age.
To this day, Tobin continues to ask me, "Can I please go to school now, Mommy?" and you wouldn't believe it, but actually protests when I arrive to pick her up at the end of a school day at Katuah Sudbury.
