There are times that I stumble upon an activity at the Hudson Valley Sudbury School that make my jaw drop in awe of the brilliance of children: their creativity, their simplicity, and their ingenuity. Coming upon The Sacred Acorn Civilization was one of those moments. I stood at the edge of our natural play-scape wide-eyed as I surveyed several young barefoot boys busily collecting acorns, carefully balancing bark, and finding perfect natural tools to build a civilization. Set amongst several stumps on a gradual hill, were intricate acorn and stick sculptures – balconies, huts, stone paths, and walls, all perfectly set in miniature style. It was beautiful. And it was clear these boys had been there for hours, not only by the exacting work they had done, but also by the dirt between their toes, the seats of their pants, and the expressions of their faces – calm and focused. The language they were using sounded to be a different dialect, familiar yet foreign.

Finally I was able to catch my breath. “What are you doing?” I asked. The response comes matter-of-factly: “We are currently mucking acorns. That’s taking the inside out. And then we put them in the Muck Store. You can smash them with rocks or hard sticks to get the goop out. We call it “mucking.” We try to smash them between two rocks so it doesn’t destroy the stumps. The lighter the goop the better it is. We use the muck as a building material, to keep things together.” With that they went back to work, gathering, crushing and balancing, young primitive workers using natural materials to create a culture.

am not sure why I was surprised to come across this bustling civilization as it seems to be something each generation of children create at here at school. The first HVSS civilization popped up in 2005 and took over the majority of the playing field. Several kids had their own “worlds” built from rocks, dirt, sticks, moss, flowers, and acorns. In the center of the field there was a circular general store where items were available for trade or purchase. Hours were dedicated to perfecting homes and working out the delicate balance of trading.

The following year the back hill was home to a new miniature world. Two boys around the age of 10 began this new rendition and the general ideas were the same. They were quite literally the kings of the hill, decreeing trading values and where homes could be built. But after discovering a large shiny rock at the edge of the woods a 6 year old was able to “buy” the entire hillside from them and the power was re-distributed. The kids involved in these first two renditions have either graduated or are on the verge of doing so and the details of these games are but distant memories.

In 2008 a new set of children went back to their roots and collected acorns, mashed them up and made hand cream out of them. They sold the cream to others in the school. They also made cities, houses, and bowls from the acorn shells and little cities out of acorns and sticks. One participant looked back, “we had little jobs, you could crack the nuts with a flat rock or chop them if you could find a sharp stick. We would also use a round rock and stick like a mortar and pestle, adding a little bit of water and mushed up flowers.”

After a significant rainfall in 2011, the back gravel path was turned into a study of irrigation. A young girl made intricate paths in the stone, routing and rerouting the water. She created these streams, damns, and collection pools while barefoot, grounded by the earth, just like our ancestors.

Here we are in 2015, an age of technology and consumerism, and a new round of children have their toes in the dirt, discovering for themselves how we as a society began, by making tools, building with what is naturally available, creating commerce out of acorns, and teaching their elders to reconnect with the beauty of the world around us.

Why is this universal? Why do we, as a society, without being trained, without being taught, always come back to the most basic constructs of life? It becomes clear how innate it is to collaborate in the art of foraging, designing, and building. Their ingenuity when it comes to the creation of tools is both resourceful and creative. And there they sit, in a sustained and focused activity, perfecting the balance of bark and rock to create a balcony. They may have iPods sticking out of the back pocket of their Gap jeans, but these kids are connected to their roots, not indirectly, by lecture or assignment, but directly, by sensory experience and imagination, because they have the time and space to connect to the natural world and let the simplicity of life shine through.

One of the biggest ongoing stories in education today is the debate over the Common Core, a set of K-12 standards dictating what students should learn and which has been adopted by 45 states. Objections to the rollout of the Common Core have been numerous and vocal, but one in particular was highlighted for me at our Gift Sale on Saturday: having a “common” curriculum built around intensive testing is an attack on creativity. That is, by working to ensure that students’ minds are not on “the wrong path“, the Common Core actively seeks to thwart their creative potential. It does seem inevitable that we would end up with a Common Core, given the history of our education system, which was powerfully influenced by the Prussian military machine that was so good at efficiently turning out effective and cooperative soldiers. Many people have anecdotal evidence, and now there have been recent studies that show that teachers already overwhelmingly discriminate against creative students. This is not a knock on teachers, either – the system compels them to act this way, and many of them find brilliant ways of subverting it. Not surprising, then, that the system seeks to further standardize itself. It is an irony, though (maybe someone can explain it to me?), because business leaders today increasingly claim they want to hire creative people with fresh ideas and problem-solving skills. The anti-creativity effects go beyond making a living, though, because creativity is also essential to making a life – it’s skill that goes far beyond the arts, which it’s relegated to in common discourse. Perhaps fear of uncertainty is what’s driving a lot of decisions about our education system. We want to ensure “success,” and so new and creative ideas, which are inherently uncertain, and difficult to measure, are banished. At HVSS, we offer a kind of Uncommon Core: an opportunity for creativity to flourish. It’s going on all the time at school, but Saturday offered a clear look at it because the full trajectory of some projects became visible.

The seventh annual HVSS Gift Sale was a success in many ways. The school was filled with beautiful hand-made crafts, there was a good turnout, scores of gifts were bought for People’s Place of Kingston, and the Sale was anchored by six student vendors, the youngest of whom is five years old. All the student vendors went through a multi-step process to develop their products, design logos, price items, and display them in a professional manner. They made hundreds of dollars and donated 10% to the school. All of their own accord, of course. Their products were unique, too – duct tape bow ties, heart-shaped rainbow crayons, “Brutal Bookmarks,” etc. I got a tiny stuffed ghost and a brochure describing how to properly feed, love, and put it to sleep. I couldn’t decide which Brutal Bookmark to get, so I got two. I want to be totally clear about this: I didn’t buy these things out of sentimentality or affection. I wanted them, because they were high quality, charming, and creative. Many shoppers at the Sale remarked on the student vendors’ confidence, poise, and professionalism. One of the student vendors said, “just wait until next year when we’re more experienced!”

It’s probably fair to say that we all want certainty to one degree or another, in one arena of our lives or another (or in all of them). When I describe Sudbury to people, they always want to know if it really works, do the kids go to college, where do they end up. They want some degree of certainty. Look, I get it, and those are certainly important questions. But I also think that an offer of certainty can never be made, and that the quest for certainty – as embodied by our national education crisis, inhibits the lifeblood of our children. I have no idea what our students will become, or how they will develop. But I know that here they have the time and the freedom to create themselves, and I believe in them. If you do want some proof, though, come to next year’s gift sale – our students will be even more experienced by then.

Sacred Acorns

Uncommon Core

Parents’ experience of the school is a crucial factor in determining their childrens’ experience of the school. Children of parents who work hard to understand our philosophy, communicate with staff, attend events, and connect with the community usually get the most out of our program.

At Zena Democratic School, rule infractions and interpersonal conflicts are resolved using sophisticated restorative justice tools.

Age-mixing is one of the most potent developmental experiences at Zena Democratic School.

Each student aged 14+ is automatically enrolled in our High School Advisor Program;

Screens are allowed at school, with restrictions.

At Zena Democratic School, a Cooperative (coop) is a group of like-minded students and staff who organize around a common interest, like music, art, or sports.

At Zena Democratic School, the jobs of administration and maintenance are divided into roles called Clerkships;

Every student and staff at Zena Democratic School is assigned a cleaning job by the Physical Plant Clerk.

Students may receive a diploma if they elect to undergo our internal diploma process.

Zena Democratic School is located on a parcel of 67 wooded acres in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in the Hudson Valley region of New York State.

Zena Democratic School is a direct democracy; each student and member of the staff has an equal vote in managing all aspects of the school’s operation.