I used the phrase "didn't have to do anything" to compare this school to Sudbury but it's a really simplistic comparison. It's also easy to misunderstand what someone might mean by that.
First of all, there are basic requirements for every student at a sudbury school: They must attend school for a minimum amount of time each day. They must perform a minimum amount of community service hours. They must do cleaning jobs. They must serve on JC at least once during the school year. These are responsibilities that I think of as being civic in nature-in order to maintain their society they all have to pitch in a certain amount.
What they don't have to do is engage in any sort of intellectual pursuit that they aren't interested in. They are not compelled to vote on any matter, even though it may be in their best interest to do so. They have no homework. They don't have to regurgitate information at someone else's command to prove themselves. They are completely free, once they have fulfilled their duties as a member of school meeting, to spend their day as they see fit.
Keep in mind that "not having to do anything" is not the same as "doing nothing". Sometimes it looks that way to people, even me, but part of that is because we're conditioned to kids having their day filled for them. And part of it is that they're just sitting around doing nothing. (that's a joke!)
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Also, we tend to be culturally opposed to "doing nothing" while some (including Bertrand Russell!) would argue that idleness is inherently good and should be encouraged.
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