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REAL EDUCATION: varieties of freedom
by David Gribble

ISBN 09513997 5 6 - £8.95

REAL EDUCATION describes schools in Britain, Ecuador, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the USA. Students vary from the children of carefully selected fee-paying parents to educational rejects and the children of families in extreme poverty. Locations include inner city Harlem, an Ashram in Delhi, an office block in Tokyo and an Alpine valley.

The variety is astonishing, yet each of these schools shows that children do better when they are allowed to think for themselves. From an educational point of view it is significant that this theme emerges from so many different cultures.

David has already received a strong, positive international response. "Your interpretation of Japanese free schools and Japanese culture is deep," wrote Kageki Asakura from Tokyo. Matthijs Cornelissen of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, India, commented, "I was happy to sense the love and respect which you so obviously feel towards the young people you interviewed." Pat Edwards of Tamariki Free School, New Zealand, said, "You caught the feel of the school really well." Sidney Solomon, a New York publisher, described the book as a "beautiful piece of work (which) deserves a wide audience."

David Gribble's previous book, Considering Children, was described by Michael Young, originator of the Open University, as "the best book about progressive education since A.S. Neill". Nell Dunn, author of Up the Junction and Steaming, said "I wish I had had this book before my children went to their very first school. It's fascinating and I loved it."

In REAL EDUCATION David Gribble provides evidence that discipline, curriculum and tests are irrelevant to a child's development and that the central issues are care, respect and freedom.

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