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Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing
Summerhill A Radical Approach to Child Rearing Author:A.S. Neill Scottish born psychologist (M.A., English) Alexander Sutherland Neill (1883-1973) penned a description of a school for independently normal children entitled "Summerhill," which is, as its subtitle states, a radical approach to child rearing. Curiously, Neill himself was originally a failure in school. The unorthodox and open Summerhill school w... more »as inaugurated in Germany in 1921, later moving to Austria, and then in 1924, to Leiston, Suffolk, England. Its motley array of pupils come from various lands, ranging in age from five to fifteen years old--therein divided into three age groups, of twenty-five boys and twenty girls.
A simplicity to read, the "Summerhill" book is endorsed in the foreword by legendary sociologist and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm (who is not the author of "Summerhill"). Fromm recapitulates what Neill's systematic principles in this volume are. In a nutshell: nourish the whole child's potential to love life intellectually, as well as emotionally; have him educated commensurate with his capacity, sans dogmatic disciplining; allow him to be free, but without encroaching on anyone; have the teachers maintain a transparency; encourage security in the pupil without resorting to submission and domination tactics, or utilizing guilt in one's methods; and advocate a theology of human freedom, not sinful suppression.« less