Longview School

Longview is a school where children are free.  Because we trust children, each student is free to choose how to educate him- or herself.  Students decide how to spend their time, and with whom to spend it, each and every day. This approach allows students to learn to listen to themselves, to trust their instincts, and to follow their hearts.

At Longview, we believe traditional education took a wrong turn when it began to focus almost exclusively on the acquisition of knowledge.  Certainly acquiring knowledge is important throughout a person’s life.  In fact, it is so important, it is unavoidable, so much so that most of what we need to know we learn simply by living our lives.  As a result, we feel it is a lofty but misguided approach to base a curriculum on gathering knowledge, and a waste of precious educational time.  

Of what then should a curriculum consist?  The Longview curriculum has 7 components:  play, conversation, democracy, justice, clerkships, classes, and internships.  There are details about these throughout this guided introduction.

Longview School has a legislature—the School Meeting—and a judiciary—Mediation/Judicial Committee.  Besides being a fair and effective way to run a school, democratic self-governance provides students an invaluable learning experience.  

As the members of the non-profit school corporation, students have the majority of the power in running the school.  Each week, School Meeting considers the issues brought up which range from the mundane to the profound, from deciding how to arrange a room, to organizing group activities, to making rules for the governance of the school.

At the School Meeting, students learn how to get things done, how to present ideas clearly and convincingly, and how to rally a supportive group to lobby for a cause. They learn through trial and error how to make a case for what they want, how to give and take, what it feels like to be in the minority as well as the majority. Finally, they develop a deep understanding of democracy, both its principles and its practice.

In traditional schools, when there are conflicts between students or between students and teachers, consequences are given by either teachers or administrators who are frustrated that “valuable class time” has been disrupted.  This models an autocratic system rather than a democratic one.

At Longview, we believe conflicts are a natural part of being part of a community.  Our conflicts are fairly resolved by our Judicial Committee which consists of 3 students and 1 staff (each serving a rotating monthly term).  This body acts as a jury to hear complaints and issue decisions regarding infractions of school laws. In this process, students learn that they have a right to hold others accountable for their behavior, and, in turn, that others have the same right.

What is astonishing to see is how conscientious even the youngest children are when entrusted with the power to make important decisions.  Because students are empowered, they learn to wield authority responsibly, not to fear it. This is not an exercise in civics, or a moot court—it is real and actual authority, vested in students working in combination with staff.  Students learn moral decision-making by making moral decisions.

With freedom comes responsibility.   Longview students choose what work they will undertake for the school community.  All students share in the work of running and maintaining the school.  This is reflected in our system of clerkships.  Clerks are people who oversee certain types of work of the school, from paying the bills (Office Clerk) to giving tours (Admissions Clerk) to making announcements (Town Crier) to running meetings (School Meeting Chairperson and Judicial Committee Clerk).  Every other month students divvy up these and other jobs based upon their interests.  Similarly, the work of daily upkeep of the school is done by students completing chores they have chosen, under the supervision of another student, the Chores Clerk.

At Longview School, students experience many of the components of  “real life” in school.  The internship program is an example of this.

In traditional education, most of the teaching and learning is done in classrooms.  If students want to learn about any field, they go to classes, read books and articles, write essays and papers, and complete tests in order to show “learning.”  Far too often, our youth spend years studying particular fields without spending any significant amount of time in the workplaces into which graduation sends them. 

Internships are a way to gain the benefits of on-the-job training without the commitment of an apprenticeship or a degree program in the field.  At Longview, the staff introduces internships to students when they become teenagers.  When a student expresses an interest in obtaining an internship, s/he works with a staff member to find workplaces in the field of her/his interest.

Internships are an excellent way to learn whether people like or do not like various settings.  These enable our students to make more informed choices about their future careers.

The multi-age environment is a reflection of what our students will experience as adults.  At Longview, students work and play alongside schoolmates of varying ages.  This allows older and younger students alike to try out a range of social roles such as big sister, little brother, peer, teacher, student, advisor, guide, follower, etc.

Longview admits students from 5 to 19 years old and has rolling admission.  If you may interested in enrolling yourself or your child(ren) at Longview School, fill out the form below in order to request more information or to set up a visit.  You can also call us at (914) 739-2742.