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. It is run as a democratic community; the running of the school is conducted in the school meetings, which anyone, staff or pupil, may attend, and at which everyone has an equal vote. These meetings serve as both a legislative and judicial body. Members of the community are free to do as they please, so long as their actions do not cause any harm to others, according to Neill's principle "Freedom, not Licence." This extends to the freedom for pupils to choose which lessons, if any, they attend.
Historically, the school has been at best tolerated by the British Government, although a recent positive inspection report may indicate that the relationship is now improving.
Read more about Summerhill School: History, Philosophy, Educational Structure, Boarding Houses and Pastoral Care, Notable Former Pupils, Government Inspections, Drama and Documentary Depictions, A.S.Neill Summerhill Trust, Summerhill in Popular Culture, Quotations
Famous quotes containing the word school:
“While most of today’s jobs do not require great intelligence, they do require greater frustration tolerance, personal discipline, organization, management, and interpersonal skills than were required two decades and more ago. These are precisely the skills that many of the young people who are staying in school today, as opposed to two decades ago, lack.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)