Free schools movement

The counterculture of the 1960s was a cultural phenomenon that happened in the Western world betweenthe mid-'60s and mid-'70s. With the post-World War II baby boom it came a big number of young Americans, andwith them came different perspectives. This perspectiveled to big movements in so many areas and some of themany key movements. “As the 1960s progressed, widespread social tensions also developed concerningother issues, and tended to flow along generational linesregarding human sexuality, women's rights, traditionalmodes of authority, experimentation with psychoactivedrugs, and differing interpretations of the AmericanDream.”

One of these movements is the free school movement, aneducation reform movement that happened in the '60s. Itconsisted of changing public education. The movementdid not subscribe to a single ideology, but these free schools tended to fall into the binaries of either utopiancultural withdrawal from external concerns or built on thelegacy of freedom schools with the direct political addressof social injustices. Author Ron Miller defined the free school movement's principles as “letting families choosefor their children, and letting children learn at their ownpace”. The growth of these schools was progressive as in 1967 there were 25 schools while in 1972 there were 600 (200 only in the last 2 years). These schools had anaverage of 33 students. Many of the schools were startedin nontraditional locations, including parks, churches, andabandoned buildings.

https://www.k12academics.com/alternative-education/free-school/history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_reform#Reforms_arising_from_the_civil_rights_era

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school_movement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s