The Manumit School ("manumit" in Latin means freedom from slavery) was an "experimental" Christian socialist boarding school in Pawling, New York. and, in 1944, Bristol, Pennsylvania.
Founded on purchased farm land in 1924 by Rev. William and Helen Fincke, it was formally called The Manumit School for Workers' Children. An early promotional flyer for the school asked parents if they'd like their kids to grow up "to become men and women who can think for themselves, stand on their own two feet, and fight injustice and oppression." Its teachings were meant to provide a "progressive," "workers education" slant during a time of increasing soclialist optimism in America. Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn worked here as an English and Drama teacher until 1929.
A former student, Robert Shnayerson, is quoted in a Time Magazine article in 1961, describing the Manumit experience: "We drove trucks at nine years and plowed with tractors, slaughtered pigs and took care of the cows. But I didn't learn anything about anything."*1
Another former student, actress-comedienne Madeline Kahn, is quoted by TV news anchor Sue Simmons: “she told me that every artistic bone in her body was born at Manumit.”
Also see different comments by other former students on
Read more about Manumit School: Manumit School: Brief Chronology, Notable Students
Famous quotes containing the word school:
“While most of today’s jobs do not require great intelligence, they do require greater frustration tolerance, personal discipline, organization, management, and interpersonal skills than were required two decades and more ago. These are precisely the skills that many of the young people who are staying in school today, as opposed to two decades ago, lack.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)