A. S. Neill
Encyclopedia
Alexander Sutherland Neill (17 October 1883 - 23 September 1973) was a Scottish progressive educator, author and founder of Summerhill school
, which remains open and continues to follow his educational philosophy to this day. He is best known as an advocate of personal freedom for children.
in the Scottish Lowlands
, one of thirteen children. Both parents were schoolteachers. After acting as a pupil-teacher for his father, he studied at the University of Edinburgh
and obtained an M.A. degree in 1912. In 1914 he became headmaster of the Gretna Green
School in Scotland. During this period, his growing discontent could be traced in notes which he later published. In these notes, he described himself as "just enough of a Nietzschian to protest against teaching children to be meek and lowly" and wrote (in A Dominie's Log) that he was "trying to form minds that will question and destroy and rebuild".
Neill worked with Homer Lane
, a US educator then living in England and founder of the Little Commonwealth school in Dorset, and later at King Alfred School in Hampstead
, a school founded by a group and parents in 1898 and led by John Russell from 1901 to 1920.
Maria Montessori
was also an influence, and so were Sigmund Freud
and Wilhelm Reich
.
In 1921 Neill left England for the Continent. In Hellerau
near Dresden
he visited Lilian Neustätter, whom he had met at King Alfred School and who later became his wife. In Hellerau, Neill, Lilian Neustätter and Christine Bear, who had studied with Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
, founded the International School. Jacques-Dalcroze, a Swiss composer and music educator, had founded a school in Hellerau in 1910 that closed in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I
. The International School in Hellerau gave Neill the first opportunity to lead a school based on his own principles.
Summerhill School
arose out of the International School in Hellerau. It later moved to Sonntagberg
in Austria
, and in 1923 to Lyme Regis
in England
, where it acquired the name Summerhill. In 1927 it moved to its present site in Leiston
, Suffolk
. After Neill's death in 1973, the school was run by his wife Ena until 1985, then by his daughter Zoë Neill Readhead.
Many of Neill's ideas are widely accepted today, although there are still many more "traditional" thinkers within the educational establishment who regard Neill's ideas as threatening the existing social order, and are therefore controversial.
In 1921 Neill founded Summerhill School
to demonstrate his educational theories in practice. These included a belief that children learn better when they are not compelled to attend lessons. The school is also managed democratically, with regular meetings to determine school rules. Pupils have equal voting rights with school staff.
Neill's Summerhill School experience demonstrated that, free from the coercion of traditional schools, students tended to respond by developing self-motivation, rather than self-indulgence. Externally imposed discipline, Neill felt, prevented internal, self-discipline from developing. He therefore considered that children who attended Summerhill were likely to emerge with better-developed critical thinking skills and greater self-discipline than children educated in compulsion-based schools.
These tendencies were perhaps all the more remarkable considering that the children accepted by Summerhill were often from problematic backgrounds, where parental conflict or neglect had resulted in children arriving in a particularly unhappy state of mind. The therapeutic value of Summerhill's environment was demonstrated by the improvement of many children who had been rejected by conventional schools, yet flourished at Summerhill.
Strongly influenced by the contemporary work of Sigmund Freud
and Wilhelm Reich
, Neill was opposed to sexual repression and the imposition of the strict Victorian values of his childhood era. He stated clearly that to be anti-sex was to be anti-life. Naturally, these views made him unpopular with many establishment figures of the time.
Neill also had special "private lessons" with pupils, which included discussions of personal issues and amounted to a form of psychotherapy
. He later abandoned these "PLs", finding that children who did not have PLs were still cured of delinquent behaviour; he therefore concluded that freedom was the cure, not psychotherapy.
During his teaching career he wrote dozens of books, including the "Dominie" (Scottish word for teacher) series, beginning with A Dominie's Log (1916). His most influential book was Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing (1960) which created a storm in U.S. educational circles. His last work was his autobiography, Neill, Neill, Orange Peel! (1973) He also wrote humorous books for children, like The Last Man Alive (1939).
A. S. Neill was married twice. His first wife Lillian Richardson was an Australian, the sister of the novelist Henry Handel Richardson
; his second wife Ena Wood Neill administered Summerhill school with him for many decades until their daughter, Zoe Redhead, took over the school as headmistress.
, US-born but British based. Neill was also an admirer and close friend of psychoanalytical innovator Wilhelm Reich
and a student of Freudian psychoanalysis
, though in his autobiography he wrote that "Much of what I thought I had learned from the psychoanalysts has disappeared with time".
Another major contributor to the field of Libertarian Education was Bertrand Russell
whose own self-founded Beacon Hill School (England) (one of several schools bearing this name) is often compared with Summerhill. Russell was a correspondent of Neill and offered his support.
Modern advocates, such as John Taylor Gatto
, John Holt
and many others in the unschooling
, democratic education
and homeschooling
movements, have taken Neill's ideas further and updated them, providing energetic and radical critiques of the compulsion-based schooling which is still prevalent in most countries. There are now many schools all over the world based the ideas of democratic education (see list); many take part in the annual International Democratic Education Conference
whose initial meeting was held in Israel in 1993.
Summerhill School, which Neill founded, was in 2007 accepted by OFSTED
as providing a good quality of academic education for children. Summerhill has also been recognised by the United Nations
for its exceptionally good treatment of children.
"The convention of the Rights of the Child makes particular reference to children's rights to participate in decisions affecting them and Summerhill, through its very approach to education, embodies this right in a way that surpasses expectation." - Paulo David, Secretary, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
for a portrait in clay. The correspondence file relating to the A.S. Neill portrait sculpture is held in the archive of the Henry Moore Foundation
's Henry Moore Institute in Leeds
and the terracotta remains in the collection of the artist. Bronzes are in the public collections of The College of Orgonomy, New York and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh (collection reference PG2204).
Summerhill School
Summerhill School is an independent British boarding school that was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other way around...
, which remains open and continues to follow his educational philosophy to this day. He is best known as an advocate of personal freedom for children.
Life and personal background
Neill was born in ForfarForfar
Forfar is a parish, town and former royal burgh of approximately 13,500 people in Angus, located in the East Central Lowlands of Scotland. Forfar is the county town of Angus, which was officially known as Forfarshire from the 18th century until 1929, when the ancient name was reinstated, and...
in the Scottish Lowlands
Scottish Lowlands
The Scottish Lowlands is a name given to the Southern half of Scotland.The area is called a' Ghalldachd in Scottish Gaelic, and the Lawlands ....
, one of thirteen children. Both parents were schoolteachers. After acting as a pupil-teacher for his father, he studied at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
and obtained an M.A. degree in 1912. In 1914 he became headmaster of the Gretna Green
Gretna Green
Gretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland famous for runaway weddings. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, near the mouth of the River Esk and was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green has a railway station serving...
School in Scotland. During this period, his growing discontent could be traced in notes which he later published. In these notes, he described himself as "just enough of a Nietzschian to protest against teaching children to be meek and lowly" and wrote (in A Dominie's Log) that he was "trying to form minds that will question and destroy and rebuild".
Neill worked with Homer Lane
Homer Lane
Homer Lane was an American-born educator who believed that the behaviour and character of children improved when they were given more control over their lives....
, a US educator then living in England and founder of the Little Commonwealth school in Dorset, and later at King Alfred School in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, a school founded by a group and parents in 1898 and led by John Russell from 1901 to 1920.
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name...
was also an influence, and so were Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry...
.
In 1921 Neill left England for the Continent. In Hellerau
Hellerau
Hellerau is a quarter in the City of Dresden, Germany. It was the first garden city in Germany.Based on the ideas of Ebenezer Howard, businessman Karl Schmidt-Hellerau founded Hellerau near Dresden in 1909. The idea was to create an organic, planned community...
near Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
he visited Lilian Neustätter, whom he had met at King Alfred School and who later became his wife. In Hellerau, Neill, Lilian Neustätter and Christine Bear, who had studied with Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze , was a Swiss composer, musician and music educator who developed eurhythmics, a method of learning and experiencing music through movement...
, founded the International School. Jacques-Dalcroze, a Swiss composer and music educator, had founded a school in Hellerau in 1910 that closed in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The International School in Hellerau gave Neill the first opportunity to lead a school based on his own principles.
Summerhill School
Summerhill School
Summerhill School is an independent British boarding school that was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other way around...
arose out of the International School in Hellerau. It later moved to Sonntagberg
Sonntagberg
Sonntagberg is a town in the district of Amstetten in Lower Austria in Austria. It is an important Catholic pilgrimage center. It has a baroque church that was, in its current form, built in 1706–1732 by Jakob Prandtauer and Joseph Munggenast. The ceilings were painted by Daniel Gran...
in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and in 1923 to Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis is a coastal town in West Dorset, England, situated 25 miles west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. The town lies in Lyme Bay, on the English Channel coast at the Dorset-Devon border...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where it acquired the name Summerhill. In 1927 it moved to its present site in Leiston
Leiston
Leiston is a town in eastern Suffolk, England. It is situated near Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, about from the North Sea coast and is northeast of Ipswich and northeast from London...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. After Neill's death in 1973, the school was run by his wife Ena until 1985, then by his daughter Zoë Neill Readhead.
Educational philosophy
Neill believed that the happiness of the child should be the paramount consideration in decisions about the child's upbringing, and that this happiness grew from a sense of personal freedom. He felt that deprivation of this sense of freedom during childhood, and the consequent unhappiness experienced by the repressed child, was responsible for many of the psychological disorders of adulthood. Neill's ideas, which tried to help children achieve self-determination and encouraged critical thinking rather than blind obedience, were seen as backward, radical, or at best, controversial.Many of Neill's ideas are widely accepted today, although there are still many more "traditional" thinkers within the educational establishment who regard Neill's ideas as threatening the existing social order, and are therefore controversial.
In 1921 Neill founded Summerhill School
Summerhill School
Summerhill School is an independent British boarding school that was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other way around...
to demonstrate his educational theories in practice. These included a belief that children learn better when they are not compelled to attend lessons. The school is also managed democratically, with regular meetings to determine school rules. Pupils have equal voting rights with school staff.
Neill's Summerhill School experience demonstrated that, free from the coercion of traditional schools, students tended to respond by developing self-motivation, rather than self-indulgence. Externally imposed discipline, Neill felt, prevented internal, self-discipline from developing. He therefore considered that children who attended Summerhill were likely to emerge with better-developed critical thinking skills and greater self-discipline than children educated in compulsion-based schools.
These tendencies were perhaps all the more remarkable considering that the children accepted by Summerhill were often from problematic backgrounds, where parental conflict or neglect had resulted in children arriving in a particularly unhappy state of mind. The therapeutic value of Summerhill's environment was demonstrated by the improvement of many children who had been rejected by conventional schools, yet flourished at Summerhill.
Strongly influenced by the contemporary work of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry...
, Neill was opposed to sexual repression and the imposition of the strict Victorian values of his childhood era. He stated clearly that to be anti-sex was to be anti-life. Naturally, these views made him unpopular with many establishment figures of the time.
Life at Summerhill
As headmaster of Summerhill, Neill taught classes in Algebra, Geometry and Metalworking. He often said that he admired those who were skilled craftsmen more than those whose skills were purely intellectual. Neill held that because attendance was optional, the classes themselves could be more rigorous. Students learned more quickly, and more deeply, because they were learning by choice, not compulsion.Neill also had special "private lessons" with pupils, which included discussions of personal issues and amounted to a form of psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
. He later abandoned these "PLs", finding that children who did not have PLs were still cured of delinquent behaviour; he therefore concluded that freedom was the cure, not psychotherapy.
During his teaching career he wrote dozens of books, including the "Dominie" (Scottish word for teacher) series, beginning with A Dominie's Log (1916). His most influential book was Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing (1960) which created a storm in U.S. educational circles. His last work was his autobiography, Neill, Neill, Orange Peel! (1973) He also wrote humorous books for children, like The Last Man Alive (1939).
A. S. Neill was married twice. His first wife Lillian Richardson was an Australian, the sister of the novelist Henry Handel Richardson
Henry Handel Richardson
Henry Handel Richardson, the pseudonym used by Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, was an Australian author. She took the name "Henry Handel" because at that time, many people did not take women's writing seriously, so she used a male name...
; his second wife Ena Wood Neill administered Summerhill school with him for many decades until their daughter, Zoe Redhead, took over the school as headmistress.
Influences on Neill's thought
Neill's biggest mentor in education was Homer LaneHomer Lane
Homer Lane was an American-born educator who believed that the behaviour and character of children improved when they were given more control over their lives....
, US-born but British based. Neill was also an admirer and close friend of psychoanalytical innovator Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry...
and a student of Freudian psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, though in his autobiography he wrote that "Much of what I thought I had learned from the psychoanalysts has disappeared with time".
Another major contributor to the field of Libertarian Education was Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
whose own self-founded Beacon Hill School (England) (one of several schools bearing this name) is often compared with Summerhill. Russell was a correspondent of Neill and offered his support.
Criticisms of Neill
Many within the educational establishment felt threatened by Neill's work, and criticism of Neill was correspondingly harsh. Many published ad hominem attacks accusing Neill of various failings including naivety and unrealistic idealism, or even downright moral indifference. Neill was similarly criticized for bringing notions of Freudian repression into an educational setting.Neill's educational legacy
Neill's notions of freedom and education, considered controversial in their time, influenced many of the progressive educators who came after him.Modern advocates, such as John Taylor Gatto
John Taylor Gatto
John Taylor Gatto is a retired American school teacher with nearly 30 years experience in the classroom, and author of several books on education...
, John Holt
John Caldwell Holt
John Caldwell Holt was an American author and educator, a proponent of homeschooling, and a pioneer in youth rights theory.-Biography:...
and many others in the unschooling
Unschooling
Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum....
, democratic education
Democratic education
Democratic education is a theory of learning and school governance in which students and staff participate freely and equally in a school democracy...
and homeschooling
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
movements, have taken Neill's ideas further and updated them, providing energetic and radical critiques of the compulsion-based schooling which is still prevalent in most countries. There are now many schools all over the world based the ideas of democratic education (see list); many take part in the annual International Democratic Education Conference
International Democratic Education Conference
The International Democratic Education Conference, or IDEC, is an annual academic and youth conference hosted by a variety of schools and organizations in cities around the world.- History :...
whose initial meeting was held in Israel in 1993.
Summerhill School, which Neill founded, was in 2007 accepted by OFSTED
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
as providing a good quality of academic education for children. Summerhill has also been recognised by the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
for its exceptionally good treatment of children.
"The convention of the Rights of the Child makes particular reference to children's rights to participate in decisions affecting them and Summerhill, through its very approach to education, embodies this right in a way that surpasses expectation." - Paulo David, Secretary, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Committee on the Rights of the Child
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is a body of independent experts that monitors and reports on implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by governments that ratify the Convention...
Works
- A Dominie’s Log (1916)
- A Dominie Dismissed (1916)
- Booming of Bunkie (1919)
- Carroty Broon (1920)
- A Dominie in Doubt (1920)
- A Dominie Abroad (1922)
- A Dominie’s Five (1924)
- The Problem Child (1926)
- The Problem Parent (1932)
- Is Scotland Educated? (1936)
- That Dreadful School (1937)
- The Last Man Alive (1938)
- The Problem Teacher (1939)
- Hearts Not Heads in the School (1945)
- The Problem Family (1949)
- The Free Child (1953)
- Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing (Preface by Erich FrommErich FrommErich Seligmann Fromm was a Jewish German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with what became known as the Frankfurt School of critical theory.-Life:Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900, at Frankfurt am...
) (1960) - Freedom, Not License! (1966)
- Talking of Summerhill (1967)
- Children's Rights: Toward the Liberation of the Child (with Leila BergLeila BergLeila Berg is a British children's author, known also as a journalist and writer on education and children's rights. She began writing in a more realistic and gritty style, for younger children, in the 1960s, in the Nippers series of readers in an influential move designed to bring children's...
, Paul Adams, Nan Berger, Michael Duane, and Robert Ollendorff) (1971) - Neill, Neill, Orange Peel! (1972)
Published Correspondence
- Record of a friendship: the correspondence between Wilhelm ReichWilhelm ReichWilhelm Reich was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry...
and A. S. Neill, 1936-1957 (1982) - All the Best, Neill: Letters from Summerhill (1984)
Portrait bust of A.S. Neill
A.S. Neill sat for sculptor Alan ThornhillAlan Thornhill
Alan Thornhill is a British artist and sculptor whose long association with clay developed from pottery into sculpture. His evolved methods of working enabled the dispensing of the sculptural armature to allow improvisation, whilst his portraiture challenges notions of normality through rigorous...
for a portrait in clay. The correspondence file relating to the A.S. Neill portrait sculpture is held in the archive of the Henry Moore Foundation
Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the artist in 1977...
's Henry Moore Institute in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and the terracotta remains in the collection of the artist. Bronzes are in the public collections of The College of Orgonomy, New York and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh (collection reference PG2204).
External links
- Summerhill School
- Page of Summerhill and A. S. Neill (German)
- A.S. Neill on Project Gutenberg
- ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND NEILL (1883–1973) (PDF), by Jean-François Saffange, originally published in vol. XXIV, no. 1/2, 1994 of UNESCOUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
's Prospects:the quarterly review of comparative education