DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21216#0202
undated school brochure which I was given when visiting the school in May,
1981, goes on to explain the goals of the school as creating a positive "warm,
relaxed human environment" which can support the total growth and develop-
ment of the child; to enable children to "trust themselves and others", and be-
come independent; "to offer a stimulating curriculum, rieh in choice and respon-
sive to children's interests"; and to "support the partieipation of parents in the
education of their children".) The goals about curriculum and parent partieipa-
tion were ones which were not realized in Baez' experience of the school. The
former was found lacking and the latter was complicated by Baez' special Status
as a world famous figure. Baez did say that the school must have been very
interesting when it was first founded, speaking positively of Josephine Duve-
neck. Baez also gave an example of how the school had helped the son of an
acquaintance of hers. The school "saved the Üfe of' the boy who had been
terrified in public school and who flourished under the freedom he found at
Peninsula School, where for instance, he was not forced to attend gym classes.
Basically, Baez' comments show that she judged Peninsula School to be not
right for her child at this stage in his Üfe. She had a more positive attitude to-
ward his first years there, becoming more disenchanted as time went on.
Her own experiences as a mother seem to have tempered Baez' enthusiasm
for alternative education somewhat. She has not, however, abandoned her ob-
jections to formal schooling. Asking her about this directly (in June 1981) she
allowed as how public schools were still not capable of giving a child a real
perspective as to what is going on in the world. Nevertheless she deemed that
for her child being in a public school was preferable at that time to being in
Peninsula School. When she enrolled him in the public school she did so in a way
that his relationship to her was unknown. His anonymity did not last long but
was, she feit, important to him for he would know that those people who showed
an interest in him did it for his own sake. These events may be part of the
reasons why, in recent years, Baez has been far less vocal on the subject of
creating alternative schools.
B. The Cambridge Folk Scene
In the late fifties and early sixties, Boston and Cambridge Massachusetts
together constituted one of the major centers of the then-burgeoning folk
music revival. In the forward to their book about this area in this era, (subtitled
197
1981, goes on to explain the goals of the school as creating a positive "warm,
relaxed human environment" which can support the total growth and develop-
ment of the child; to enable children to "trust themselves and others", and be-
come independent; "to offer a stimulating curriculum, rieh in choice and respon-
sive to children's interests"; and to "support the partieipation of parents in the
education of their children".) The goals about curriculum and parent partieipa-
tion were ones which were not realized in Baez' experience of the school. The
former was found lacking and the latter was complicated by Baez' special Status
as a world famous figure. Baez did say that the school must have been very
interesting when it was first founded, speaking positively of Josephine Duve-
neck. Baez also gave an example of how the school had helped the son of an
acquaintance of hers. The school "saved the Üfe of' the boy who had been
terrified in public school and who flourished under the freedom he found at
Peninsula School, where for instance, he was not forced to attend gym classes.
Basically, Baez' comments show that she judged Peninsula School to be not
right for her child at this stage in his Üfe. She had a more positive attitude to-
ward his first years there, becoming more disenchanted as time went on.
Her own experiences as a mother seem to have tempered Baez' enthusiasm
for alternative education somewhat. She has not, however, abandoned her ob-
jections to formal schooling. Asking her about this directly (in June 1981) she
allowed as how public schools were still not capable of giving a child a real
perspective as to what is going on in the world. Nevertheless she deemed that
for her child being in a public school was preferable at that time to being in
Peninsula School. When she enrolled him in the public school she did so in a way
that his relationship to her was unknown. His anonymity did not last long but
was, she feit, important to him for he would know that those people who showed
an interest in him did it for his own sake. These events may be part of the
reasons why, in recent years, Baez has been far less vocal on the subject of
creating alternative schools.
B. The Cambridge Folk Scene
In the late fifties and early sixties, Boston and Cambridge Massachusetts
together constituted one of the major centers of the then-burgeoning folk
music revival. In the forward to their book about this area in this era, (subtitled
197