Customer Reviews
Neill's "Summerhill" was way ahead of its time even today. - By: , 17 Mar 2000 
"Summerhill" is a fantastic book built upon the philosophy that there is no such thing as a bad boy or girl, only a good kid thats been repressed by well meaning adults. Its not practicalin todays schooling environment but this only says something about societyin general. My only critisism would be that Neill's "Summerhill" promotes freedom & freedom is of little valuein a society that asks everybody to conform without question to desk jobs, big car & house, 9 to 5, two kids & dog called Rover etc. But more importantly "Summerhill" is a book about kids & how beautifully honest & open they can be when they have nothing to fear.
Excellent way to cope with daily problems of child rearing - By: , 10 Mar 1999 I read this book many years ago while a pediatrician. I recommended it to my parents but few were able to put aside their own entrenched feelings of child rearing for those recommended by Neill. The book should be read as a manual for the use of Neill's "Freedom without liscence" doctrine, which merely gives parents a method of evauating the right course of proceedure when they come into conflict with their children. The schooling methods are obviously not practicalin today's environment. "Freedom without license" is the message of the book. It is a fine message & it works when applied by parents willing to adhere to it..
Summerhill: A visionary approach whose time has come. - By: , 05 May 1998 I first read Summerhillin 1968 as a Psychology major. Over the years since, I researched everything that had been written by A.S. Neill or about his school. After doing a research paper on his book, "Summerhill: For & Against", I decided that I would not only raise my children based on his approach to child-rearing, but that I would also start a residential 'Free School' based on his philosophy.
Now a child-care consultant, I remain convinced, after all these years, that the veracity of Neill's approach toward child-rearing & Education remain unquestioned under the closest of scrutiny & the test of time.
The basic tenets are simple....provide children with an environment offering the optimal opportunities for healthy growth & development & the children will grow into loving, altruistic adults with a coinciding optimal opportunity to find happinessin life.
As far as I'm concerned, I've proven A.S. Neill's theories through my own children, who are nowin their mid & late twenties. Rather than go on about their personal attributes, I'll just say they would both testify that they're very glad A.S. Neill ever came along.
A classic- but far from the truth - By: , 24 Apr 1998 When I first read A. S. Neill's Summerhill, I was moved by what I saw as a brilliant & innovative solution to the problems of public school as I saw it. The intervening years, some research & a few degreesin psychology showed me something entirely different.
Neill's Summerhill was not exactly what he portrayed it to be; some students flourished there, & many did not. The same sort of petty schoolyard bullying & favoritism that occursin any school went on at Summerhill. Neill was very much a typical utopian socialist who, like many before him, started with a theory & refused to let experience shape it.
Summerhill was the right environment for some of Neill's students, but it was by no means the right environment for all of them. While some flourished there, many spent years without obtaining any education whatsoever. The overall philosophy of a child-centered education is a good one, but letting the child decided what & when to learn is not a good preperation for the adult world, where we can't all be petulant children all the time.
So read Summerhill as a philosophy of how to love your child, or what a caring family could be like, or even as a utopian fantasy. There's much goodin it. But don't take Neill's claims at face value.
hal Sobel, Prof. at Queens College - By: , 15 Sep 1996 I use this bookin my educational foundations course to replace as neill's original Summerhill. It encapsulates all of the major themes of the original and, additionally, provides insights of albert lamb, the editor.
It makes an excellent text for any philosophy of education course.
