Free to Learn: A Radical Experiment in Education (2006)

Free to Learn is a 70 minute documentary that offers a “fly on the wall” perspective of the daily happenings at The Free School in Albany, New York. Like many of today’s radical and democratic schools, The Free School expects children to decide for themselves how to spend their days.

The Free School, however, is unique in that it transcends obstacles that prevent similar schools from reaching a economically and racially diverse range of students and operates in the heart of an inner-city neighborhood.

For over thirty years in perhaps the most radical experiment in American education, this small inner-city alternative school has offered its students complete freedom over their learning. There are no mandatory classes, no grades, tests, or homework, and rules are generally avoided. As a last resort, rules are created democratically by students and teachers, often at the prompting of a student. At a time when our educators are mandated to march forward with no child left behind, the students of the Free School, many of whom would have fallen through the cracks of today’s failing public school system, have managed to slip out of education’s back door and have run away free.

Free to Learn follows a handful of these children courageously meeting the daily challenges of hope, acceptance, loss, friendship, conflict, and the difficult task of deciding, for themselves, what to do with each day.

Arrange a Screening & Contact Filmmakers: [email protected]

View the study guide: issuu.com/?democraticeducation/?docs/?ftl-studyguide

Support:
The Free School, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is dependent on a network of individual donors to continue offering its unique and innovative approach to education to students who need it. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution today: educationrevolution.org/?donatefs.html

Please also consider purchasing a copy of Free to Learn to support AERO and the filmmakers who gave so much time and energy into making this wonderful resource.

educationrevolution.org/?freetolearn.html

Community   Education   Solutions
Rate this video 
Education
Double Down News
Long Videos for Listening to While You Move
Trending Videos
Louis Theroux: The Settlers (2025)
62 min - Fourteen years after his first visit and 2011 film The Ultra Zionists, Louis Theroux meets some of the growing community of religious-nationalist Israelis who have settled in the West Bank.Louis...
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (2011)
174 min - Adam Curtis directs this 3-part series about how humans have been colonised by the machines we have built.The series begins by unraveling the surprising influence of Ayn Rand's objectivist...
Project 2025 Explained in Schoolhouse Rock Style!
5 min - The song that could save America. Share widely.Written, animated and performed by Jason KravitsProduced and mixed by Sean Dixon withJason Kravits, Christopher Walz, and Brian ONeill
The Settlers (2016)
111 min - An intimate look at life inside the Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Following Israel's decisive victory in 1967s Six-Day War, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens have settled the...
Water is Love (2024)
61 min - Water is Love reveals the power of regenerative ecosystem design to create water retention in communities, villages, and regions. We touch upon traditional ecological knowledge, how water makes...
Bangkok Barcelona On Foot [English] (2023) ($4.99)
27 min - A 3.5-Year Journey of Courage, Kindness, and Connection[Audio: English/Catalan. Subtitled in English]What happens when two adventurous backpackers trade convenience and comfort for courage and...
Radical Love: The Life and Legacy of Satish Kumar (trailer)
3 min - Best known for his 8,000-mile walk for peace, former monk, activist, author and educator Satish Kumar has been inspiring global change for nearly 70 years. Between his home in the south of England...
Trending Articles
6 Short Films for Action
Extra Long Videos
Subscribe for $5/mo to Watch over 50 Patron-Exclusive Films
Subscribe $5/mo View All Patron Films

 

Your support keeps us ad-free and financially independent

Our 10,000+ video & article library is 99% free, ad-free, and entirely community-funded thanks to our patron subscribers!


Want to double your impact? You can subscribe for $10/mo or more as an extra show of support.