Founders’ Continuing Roles in Schools Supporting Self-Directed Learning

What should be the continuing role of founders in schools supporting self-directed learning? To answer this, the founders’ views of two North American schools for self-directed learners will be compared. One school is exam-focused and private; the other is, test-free and public. The founders of both schools have comparable beliefs regarding the importance of self-direction in education: Dr. Able, the founder of Able School, sees the primary value of the school as constructing a cohesive “tribe” based on the Socratic method of questioning. Dr. Green, influenced by A. S. Neill’s Summerhill in founding Unschool, considers freedom to live life as one chooses as the principle value. Although both founders played a substantial role in the formative years of their schools, only the founder of Able School still holds a prominent position in the school. Why does this discrepancy exist in the continuing role of the founders? What continuing role for a founder is most compatible with democratic society? The answers to these questions provided in this paper are based on personal communications with Dr. Green after a visit this founder of Unschool made to Able School December 12, 2013 to meet with Dr. Able. The names of the founders and their schools are pseudonyms. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.