Age mixing

The ages of the students at HVSS range from 5-18. Like anything else, there are pros and cons to this.

I like that they are mixing with kids of different ages because it means they are coming across people with more varied perspectives on a daily basis and it is truer to real life. I don't hang out with a bunch of 36 year olds every day and I never saw the benefit of grouping kids strictly by age or ability. I was in a lot of honors classes in school but sometimes that just meant that we were doing the material of a grade ahead of us and it wasn't necessarily more challenging. Also you don't learn patience or tolerance or get practice at explaining yourself. When the spartans arranged their fighting units they believed in using both "the reed and the staff", they paired the weaker fighters with the better warriors. It prevented over confidence and everybody would work to the benefit of the whole group rather than competing with each other.

People ask me if I worry about my kids being around 18 year olds(they always focus on that...like it isn't age 5 thru 18 just kids age 5 or 18). My answer is I probably worry less than if they were going to a traditional school and here's why-
1)There is very little privacy or expectation of privacy at the school. People are always poking their heads into rooms, walking around, and checking things out. In a traditional school setting there are very defined times and places where people, including the adults, are expected to be and thus there are plenty of empty places to hide.

2)JC works. It really does, so if you pick on someone they are going to write you up and they are going to be listened to and it's going to be other students who do the listening. Even if you are a staff member or a big kid. In a traditional school its a he said/she said situation with an adult in charge. The defined power structure can be used as a weapon. It is a lot easier to fool a teacher than it is to fool the other kids. There is more room to threaten(nobody will believe you, the other kids will hate you) or be dismissive(don't be such a tattletale, don't be so sensitive).

3)Spending time with people and getting to know them fosters empathy and respect for who they are.

Is it possible that some burgeoning pedophile ends up going to school there or getting on staff? Well of course there is but that really can happen anywhere. Life is not without risks. I think the way sudbury is set up actually makes it safer though. Not totally 100% safe but reasonably so.

The main con that I have observed so far is my children's crash course in profanity. In one week I have had to explain ass, bitch, shit and freakin'. It's not like I've never used an expletive in front of my kids but this was getting to be a bit much so I mentioned something to a staff member.

One concrete example of how well age mixing can work: Last week dodgeball was all the rage. Des and Amelia were loving it! And everyone was playing together- 17 year olds, 10 year olds and the little kids. This, in a time when public schools are banning the game and games like tag because they get too competitive and mean spirited, was a joy to watch.