A. S. Neill

Neill was the founder of Summerhill School. It is often said to be the first school based on the ideals of freedom and democracy.

He was born in Scotland. Both of his parents were teachers. 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".

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Video of A. S. Neil Describing the Summerhill School Environment

Article by Renee Sandler using one of Neil's ideas - Rewarding unwanted behavior

Respect | Empathy
Caring | Listening
Understanding

Other EQI.org Topics:

Emotional Literacy
Invalidation | Hugs
Emotional Abuse |
Feeling Words
Depression |Education
Emotional Intelligence
Parenting | Personal Growth

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Thanks to Jerry Mintz at AERO for bringing this to our attention. Jerry says this about the video

This is one of the most remarkable videos I have seen about A.S. Neill and Summerhill. Actually, footage of Neill talking about Summerhill is rare but in this one Neill is speaking throughout the entire video, talking about Summerhill and his philosophy. The school just celebrated its 90th anniversary, but when Neill did this interview he had already been running Summerhill for over 40 years.