BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 19, 2019
Having read three books by the late John Taylor Gatto, 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 when it comes to education.
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. A true unorthodox point of view if there ever were one.
Neil’s democratic style education based around the individual 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][Bold Emphasis Added]
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 – imagination. 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 noticed in his work.
Couple to the above the fact that in the notable magazine, Scientific American, in an article titled “The Serious Need For Play”, it was reported by Melinda Wenner Moyer that one-third of the kids who had gone to play-free schools had been arrested for felonies.[2]
Additionally, there are other topics discussed within the book. 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:
“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.”[3]
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 enter the public school system.
However, if that growth is not allowed when children are forced through compulsory schooling, that then crushes their individuality and imagination. Those very circumstances turn children into robots, only capable of following orders and never taught to critically think. Only memorization of facts becomes important, and not arriving at the facts through a strong critical-thinking process within their mental faculties.
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 notion of play entails 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.”[4][Bold Emphasis Added]
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. First, 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 fantastic 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 schooling 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 public 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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Footnotes:
[1] A.S. Neil, Summerhill School – A New View Of Childhood, p. xviii
[2] Moyer, Melinda Wenner, “The Serious Need For Play.” Scientific American, 2013: 86. Print.
[3] A.S. Neil, Summerhill School – A New View Of Childhood, p. 217.
[4] Ibid., p. 32.
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Suggested Reading & Watching:
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Suggested Reading & Watching:
What Is The Difference Between Education & Public Schooling?
Logical Fallacies Employed In Every Day Life
Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto
Weapons Of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto
13 Great Reasons To Study Logic
How A Generation Lost Its Culture – by Professor Patrick Deneen
A Different Kind Of Teacher by John Taylor Gatto
Socratic Logic by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
Philosophy 101 by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
Brave New World & Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley
What Is Education? The Elite Curriculum – John Taylor Gatto
Breakaway Guide To Censorship, Disinformation, Logical Fallacies & More
How To Read A Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
Classrooms Of The Heart [Documentary] – John Taylor Gatto
Sumerhill School – A New View On Childhood by A.S. Neil
Social Engineering 101
The True Purpose Of Modern Schooling
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Open-Source Method: Genius Education – Examples | John Taylor Gatto
The Trivium – The Liberal Arts Of Logic, Grammar & Rhetoric by Sister Miriam Joseph Ph.D.
Cultural Literacy – What Every American Needs To Know by E.D. Hirsch Jr.
A Rulebook For Arguments by Anthony Weston
A Workbook For Arguments by David R. Morrow & Anthony Wesson
Drilling Through The Core – Why Common Core Is Bad For American Education by Sandra Stotsky & Contributors
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About The Author:
Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.
