The David Gribble Archive : Books

All the books listed except Considering Children can be bought from
the Lib Ed website, www.libed.org.uk. Considering Children can be
downloaded here, or bought second-hand through Abe Books or Amazon.

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Real Education: Varieties of Freedom

When I retired from teaching I had time to visit other schools around the world where children were treated with a proper respect. They differed widely. In this book there are descriptions of eighteen schools in eight different countries, often largely (and in the case of Summerhill entirely) in the words of pupils or ex-pupils.
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Libertarian Education, 1998, £8.95
ISBN 0-9513997-1-3

Real Education was a book of the week in the Times Educational Supplement

Lifelines

A common objection to freedom in education is, “Of course it works with the children of wealthy, middle-class parents, but it would never work with the underprivileged.” Lifelines gives accounts of its success with children as far from the wealthy middle class as it is possible to go.
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Libertarian Education, 2004, £8.95
ISBN 0-9513997-9-9

Lifelines was a book of the week in the Times Educational Supplement

The two worlds in question are the worlds of traditional education on the one hand, and Summerhill and Sands School on the other. They are described first in the words of their own prospectuses, and then in the words of their pupils, with matching topics on facing pages.
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Libertarian Education, 2006, £8.95
ISBN 978-0-9551647-0-5

Worlds Apart was a book of the week in the Times Educational Supplement

A Really Good School

This is a satirical novel about an impossibly bad school, where every fault of traditional education is gleefully exaggerated. It is also murder story, with appropriate red herrings and suspense.
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Seven-ply Yarns, 2001, £7.99
ISBN 0-9538797-1-2

That’s All, Folks: Dartington Hall School Remembered

This anthology includes at least one contribution by a pupil from every year of the history of Dartington Hall School, from 1929 - 1987. It is not a eulogy, and contains some emphatic criticism.
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West Aish Publishing, 1987, £3.95
ISBN 0 9512735 0 7

Downloadable Books (Free)

Considering Children: A parents’ guide to progressive education

I wrote it because I had so often been asked, “What is progressive education?” and I had found that I needed a whole book to answer the question.
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Dorling Kindersley,1985, £8.95
ISBN 0 -86318-081-7 and 0-86318-0802-5

Download the book here:
Considering Children.zip  1,174kb
Considering Children.doc  1.5MB

Children don't Start Wars

The theme of this book is that altruism is a natural human characteristic which is eroded by social conditioning and the dominance of impersonal institutions.

"I am floored by the blazing honesty, insight, scholarship and truthfulness that shines from every page. . . . For me, it's the book we've all been waiting for."

Mary Leue, founder of Albany Free School and editor of SKOLE, The Journal of Alternative Education.

Peace News, 2010, £9
ISBN 978-0-946409-14-13,

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Download the first two chapters here:
children.zip  40kb
Children Don't Start Wars .doc  98kb

Escape from Tradition

This is an autobiography of education. It travels from Nanny via Eton and Cambridge to Dartington Hall School, Sands School and beyond, to some of the most deprived children in the world.
more

Download here:
escape.zip  150kb
Escape From Tradition.doc  419kb

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Other recommended reading about democratic education