Name: Nguyen Pham Minh Thu
In recent years, the issue of whether students should be offered a democratic education or not has
been a debatable issue. Particularly, a representative exemplification of this concern is
Summerhill school which is called “free school”. Although this type of school may have merits, I
hold a strong belief that its potential drawbacks should not be marginalized.
Several rationales can be cited to elucidate why Summerhill school would not be an ultimate
choice for learners. First and foremost, because of giving excessive freedom, students who study
without a strict academic structure may lose their direction on their career path. For instance, at
Summerhill school, learners may find their satisfaction at school by choosing their favorite
subjects. Moreover, thanks to learning what lessons students are interested in, they are able to
enhance significantly their creativity and knowledge in a certain field. However, by leaving too
much quality time on favorite subjects, learners may neglect core lessons that are fundamental to
attain a future degree or profession in a major area. Secondly, a flexible timetable for students at
school in the long term may affect their discipline in daily activities. To exemplify, it is
acceptable at Summerhill school that students are able to change school’s schedule to fix their
plan. Admittedly, learners can participate in social activities to improve their interpersonal skills
without considering how to deal with the mandatory timetable at school. Nevertheless, after
graduating from democratic school, learners may encounter some trouble to adapt a completely
new working environment that would be less flexible, where tasks are assigned to employees
who are expected to accomplish within a certain time and role. Consequently, Summerhill’s
education has too much appreciated freedom and causes various shortcomings for students when
entering a hash life.
To recapitulate, despite the sense of democracy that Summerhill school brings to students, this
type of school would limit the future career opportunities of students in many aspects. I belong to
the school of thought which believes that Summerhill school would not be the best learning style
for learners due to its potential drawbacks.