There are some important events and activities in the works for the AERO conference. This is the best time to register, before  several  major groups are brought in and the conference rates rise. You can read about the conference here on the AERO website.

You can still register this week for the 5 day AERO conference for  $275 , and you also have the option to register at the $225 rate if you are low income . This will end without warning as the conference gets more full. We still have the $500 patron rate for those who want to sponsor another attendee, half of which is tax deductible. Other rates: Volunteers and students can still register at the $200 rate . The rate for children under 12 is $100 , which includes child care. Contact us directly for special group rates. 

Get more info or register here!

60 Seconds with Herb Kohl on Myles Horton 

60 Seconds with Herb Kohl on Judy Kohl 

60 Seconds with Herb Kohl on Rosa Parks

By  Tom Potter, from the East Anglian Daily Times.

Summerhill School, in Leiston, was established as a 'democratic community' in 1921 by Scottish educator and author, Alexander Sutherland Neill.

Since then, it has been recognised by the United Nations, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and in numerous reports on the importance of children's voice and rights in schools.

Next Tuesday, March 22, Summerhill will be among 40 schools to receive the 'Discovering Democracy Award', organised by the British Youth Council and funded by the Cabinet Office.

Assistant principal, Henry Readhead is due to pick up the honour with 16-year-old student, Tom Griffiths, from the Minister for Constitutional Reform, John Penrose MP, at the Houses of Parliament.

Mr Readhead, son of principal Zoe Readhead and grandson of AS Neill, travels the world to discuss Summerhill at international conferences.

This week, on the  e-book section of our bookstore there are three books on sale. No Homework and Recess All Day was just recently made into an e book. It is on sale until Tuesday. Flood of Conflict is on sale until the 24th. It is the true story of how New Orleans Free School went from a private school to a public alternative and what they had to go through to survive. Also made recently into an e book is the highly recommended children's book, The Outside In Book. It is about tolerance and discrimination in schools, through the eyes of 10 year old girl.  

This week these books are all $5!!! That's up to 75% off the print book price and half the e-book price.  

Buy the E-Book here.

by  Wayne Au and Jesslyn Hollar

Big business has long been enamored of public education. Whether shaping systems of schooling along the lines of factory production, dictating what children should learn, or cultivating private-public partnerships to gain access to government monies, corporations and their owners have insisted on being key players in the formation of education policy and practice in the United States. Analysts estimate the value of the K-12 education market at more than $700 billion dollars. 2 Beyond their calls for students and workers to adapt to the global capitalist economy through increased competition and "accountability" in public schools, business leaders crave access to a publicly funded, potentially lucrative market-one of the last strongholds of the commons to be penetrated by neoliberalism.

Business investors and entrepreneurs are already capitalizing on the increasingly privatized education market. GSV Capital is a growth investment company with a sizable portfolio in education products, including education technology start-ups and online instructional programs. K12 Inc. is a for-profit, mostly online charter school start-up, which, despite operating "public" charter schools, as a publicly traded company, is beholden to the bottom-line demands of its investors and board members. MasteryConnect is just one of hundreds of new ed-tech companies aiding the rollout of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

By  Alan Singer

Other than legal problems with the so-called Trump University, very little attention is being paid to The Donald's views on education. But the operation of Trump U gives some insight into how the wheeler-dealer-in-chief would address public education in this country if he ever becomes President.

The Donald likes to  brand his last name. It is on casinos, skyscrapers, golf courses, hotels, men's clothing, wine, magazines, fragrances, spring water, and steaks. In 2005, he put his name on a so-called university, so-called because it never received any official accreditation and offered certificates, not degrees.

Ongoing

 

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