12/7/22

Summerhill is not only the story of the school, Summerhill, but also a book of psychology, sociology and biology (human). The author is the manager of Summerhill and describes it and its inhabitants in great detail. However, he seems to have an abnormal preoccupation with masturbation and uses every opportunity to mention it. He devotes one whole chapter to it and implies that the reason people stammer is because the have a guilt complex about masturbating.
Summerhill is in Leiston, Suffolk, England. Everybody is awake at eight and lessons begin at 9:30 and go on until one. No-one is forced to attend classes. Afternoon is free for any activities the children desire. Monday and Thursday nights the children attend movies in the nearby town; Tuesday nights Neill gives a talk on psychology; Wednesday night dances are held; Friday night is for rehearsing plays; and Saturday is the night of the General School Meeting. Most of the children are between the ages of four and sixteen.
This book interested me very much because I had been hearing about free schools a great deal and previous to reading this book I had only read a few articles about Everdale. The concept is fascinating and Neill's methods of bringing up children are very interesting. If I ever have children I would want them raised with no inhibitions the Neillian way. This book should be standard highschool reading instead of university. What better time to read abook about proper attitudes towards sex and self-discipline than when students whole lives are governed by wrong sexual attitudes and adult discipline?
I wrote this review when I was in high school (if you didn't guess). I believe my sister had taken the book in university and brought it home. I was always keen to read anything I found in our house and my parents never tried to restrict my reading. So I read a wide variety of literature and non-fiction. Although I probably don't remember most of the books I read back then this book did make an impression on me. I never did have children so I never got to try out the Neillian approach to child-rearing. Probably just as well.!

This was all the rage when it came out - an alternative, liberated form of education. Looking back I have no idea what impact it really had. I certainly found it thought-provoking in the early 1970s. ( )

Having read three books by John Taylor Gatto’s, who has spoken out at length about the inherent issues within public schooling, while also having met some people through discussing these books, someone was kind enough to recommend this particular book. To say the least, this book is outside of the box as outside of the box can be.

Summerhill School – A New View Of Childhood by A.S. Neil is a book that details the venture of those who took part in the school known as Summerhill, which sought to achieve a new standard of learning and growth.

A.S. Neil was the person mainly responsible for this audacious undertaking, and his actions echo still to this day.

What Neil sought to do was create a place where the idea/value of Freedom is wholly respected, through and through. For this, this new school required a different way of thinking – a whole new mindset. This venture required the removal of preconceived notions of childhood schooling, coupled with the open-mindedness that to achieve true education in the school system the child must govern entirely free to govern themselves. This means that the child would be active in most of what the child chooses for their own development, which may include various aspects learning or playing.

Neil’s individually democratic style education is quite evocative, because when carried out correctly [as myriad examples show in his book] it shows that children can self-govern themselves, and also do so quite well. This takes place also with little to no interference from the adults, except in some very unique circumstances. For the most part though, children were left to their own devices, to choose what type of learning they would undertake.

To gauge what Neil strove to achieve, let’s take a gander at his own words:

“The goal was to use childhood and adolescence to create emotional wholeness and personal strength. Neil thought that once this wholeness had been achieved children would be self-motivated to learn what they needed academically. The key to this growth was to give children freedom to play for as long as they felt the need in an atmosphere of approval and love. The children were given freedom but not license; they could do as they pleased as long as it didn’t bother anyone else.”[1]

Therein lies the beauty, for the child who ends up not playing, ends up not using one of the most important parts of life for learning and growth. Furthermore, the children that have unfinished childhoods so to speak, later in life seek to do things that could have already taken place, and which end up slowing down the progress of growth as an adult. That’s what Neil seemed to notice anyhow.

Within the book there is a wide array of topics discussed. Everything from social structure, emotional problems, particularly with children who are a bit older, meetings, self-government, what are called ‘problem children’, play and self-regulation and much more is discussed at length.

Perhaps, the best way to understand what Summerhill is truly about comes from the following piece:

“You don’t have Summerhill in order that children should study or learn to become “ists” of any kind. You let them function in their own play-work fashion, and you postulate no purpose for them at all.”[2]

The genius of the idea is that because their core individual foundation in childhood was so enjoyable and emotionally robust children end up learning vastly quicker when they choose to follow their path than students that follow the public school system. However, is that growth is not allowed when children are forced through compulsory schooling [Read: Dumbing Us Down – The Hidden Curriculum Of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto] which crushes their individuality and imagination. Those very circumstances turn children in robots, only capable of following orders and never taught to critically think. Only memorization of facts becomes important, and not arriving at the facts.

For that reason, many of the topics of the book do delve into the idea of playing. Neil does make it a point about focusing on the benefits of playing quite a bit. What the author states constitutes play is:

“…not thinking in terms of athletic fields and organized games; I am thinking of play in terms of fantasy. Organized games involve skill, competition, teamwork; but children’s play usually requires no skill, little competition, and hardly any teamwork.”[3]

In other words, true play, like a whetstone, hones the development of imagination. And imagination is integral, because a child whose imagination hasn’t developed has had his childhood stultified, as well as their imagination, and will be a conformist child, and thus, a conformist adult at the drop of a hat. Disturbingly, this is exactly what we see in society more and more with time.

The book is split up into two parts. Firstly, the book covers all facets regarding Summerhill, which are covered at length from a variety of angles, citing dozens and dozens of examples of how children responded to particular scenarios and whatnot. Everything from classes, theater, music, sex, teachers, and much more is discussed here. The second part of the book covers many aspects of Neils life, as he takes us through the journey of what brought him to taking part in Summerhill.

All this considered, the book is a really great read. Admittedly, the first half appealed to me a lot more than the second part, but that’s because the interest for me was in the process for the individual and not so much in how the author came to be part of it. Regardless, the book really is something worth pondering for anybody that thinks the one-size-fits-all public schooling and compulsory conformity system that western education has become is good, really needs to take a look at the conformity crisis that’s taking place. That, however, is a whole different can of worms. One that John Taylor Gatto discusses at length in all of his books.

If you have read any of John Taylor Gatto’s book, then you will know how indoctrination and conformity are the aim of public schooling, and there’s many documents showing this. Because of that, and more, an honest view into a different paradigm such as this one brought about by Neil is needed. Summerhill has shown that education and personal growth can actually be enjoyable for once.

Summerhill has already broken new ground for a new paradigm. Now it’s up to individuals to ruminate upon how to learn from it and see where it may take them.

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Suggested resources reviewed below for those seeking ideas to self-teach and become autodidacts:

Socratic Logic V3.1 by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
The Trivium – The Liberal Arts Of Grammar & Rhetoric by Sister Miriam Joseph Ph.D.
How To Read A Book – The Classic Guide To Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren
Philosophy 101 – An Introduction To Philosophy Via Plato’s Apology by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
The Complete Workbook For Arguments – A Complete Course In Critical Thinking [2nd Ed.] by David R. Morrow & Anthony Weston
The Imaginative Argument – A Practical Manifesto For Writers by Frank L. Cioffi

The following books reviewed below cover the disturbing issues within the public schooling system:

Rotten To The Common Core by Dr. Joseph P. Farrell Ph.D.& Gary Lawrence
Dumbing Us Down – The Hidden Curriculum Of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto
A Different Kind Of Teacher – Solving The Crisis Of American Schooling by John Taylor Gatto
Weapons Of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto
Drilling Through The Core, by Sandra Stotsky & Contributors
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Sources:

[1] A.S. Neil, Summerhill School – A New View Of Childhood, p. xviii
[2] Ibid., p. 217.
[3] Ibid., p. 32. ( )

Neill's idealistic views of education took their toll on the generations of victims who attended - and I believe still attend - his school, my mother and uncle among them. A book that has had a toxic effect on education far outside the confines of his school. Evidence that complete failure of an educational technique is no barrier to it becoming paradigmatic. ( )