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Starting a book thread on a book about a "free" "democratic" boarding school that's been operating since the 1920's, written by a guy who worked there for years. I've read some of it already and it's *very* interesting so far.
(mute the tag #summerhill if you're uninterested)
(mute the tag #summerhill if you're uninterested)
In both popular and academic circles, serious attempts to understand the deeper processes of Summerhill life are rare. Most have little do with the real Summerhill because they are drawn from pure opinion rather than experience with self-regulated childhood #summerhill
The biggest reason he wanted to write this book was the fear that the school might someday be forced to close down and go down in the history books as an experiment that failed. He wanted to create a document that showed otherwise #summerhill
When this book was written, the British government under Blair was threatening the school with closure if they didn't force children to attend lessons. The school had tried to comply with inspector demands in the past but refused to compromise on its basic philosophy #summerhill
The school appealed the decision and succeeded in fending off the government and getting concessions from it with regards to future inspections https://www.theguardian.com/education/2000/mar/23/schools.mattwells Apparently the whole situation got a lot of media attention at the time #summerhill
(you can read the 1999 report here https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/27/124870 as well as two more later on (which in contrast to the 1999 report are positive in overall judgement). Interestingly, even the 1999 report has some praise for some aspects of the school, e.g. #summerhill
Anyways, going back to the book, the author says that the inspectors don't understand how to evaluate things that don't fit inside their neat little bureaucratic box. #summerhill
E.g. they don't follow up with kids who "drift" and see that they eventually get bored of playing and quickly catch up as they begin attending lessons on their own (he says there'll be more detail on this in Chapter 6). The inspectors just have little static snapshots #summerhill
Going from the Introduction to Chapter 1 #summerhill
The author talks about the kinds of dullness, helplessness, and brutality he himself experienced in his schooldays. Couldn't go to the adults in the latter cases bc the power structure of the school inherently estranged the adults from the kids #summerhill
And sometimes the adults were the cause of the brutality. jesus christ! #summerhill
His own few previous experience seeing what appeared to be "free" children had not impressed him. It was either harmful indulgence or neglect #summerhill
Neil, the founder of the school had the view that kids were born good, not inherently bad as was the common view at the time. He ran the school from 1923-1973, refusing to force the children to "fit the school" (which he argued caused anti-social behavior/neuroticism) #summerhill
Neil distinguished between "freedom" and "license". The distinction is basically that of JS Mills "Harm Principle". The boy attacking people legs in the pub would not be allowed to act that way in Summerhill, as that would be license #summerhill
In a job interview to become a "houseparent". Zoe, the current principal (and Neils daughter) warned the author about temptations new staff sometimes faced and that summerhill was there for kids, not adults who wanted to live out the childhood they never had #summerhill
If a child made a sexist or racist remark, the author would try and befriend the child to try and deal with the underlying dynamics that hatred springs from, rather than engaging in "Thou Shalt Not" moralism and "political correctness" #summerhill
The young "gangster" kids he first house-parented are now the big kids who hold the community together and who're the driving force behind the schools self-government. Like the peeling of an onion, they drop the layers of facades they had learned to put on previously @summerhill
On to Chapter 2 #summerhill
Summerhill is very ethnically diverse, with kids from all around the world. Also, they apparently get to adopt pets like pigs. Based. #summerhill
As an adult, the author is an equal member of the community and fellow citizen. He doesn't get automatic authority over the kids, but he does have equal rights + recourse to enforcing those rights through the community. Same as the kids #summerhill
This has a deep impact on the relationships between adults and children. The way they live together is functional and defined by personal choices and needs rather than conformity to dysfunctional societal norms. Both can be open and honest with each other #summerhill
The author talks about an incident as a child where he was humiliated and devastated by his teacher for a naive but prurient drawing he did as a ten-year old. He calls this kind of shaming of natural curiosity child abuse and contrasts it with the Summerhill approach #summerhill
"It is far better to have a lock on a cupboard than to chain a child in insincere virtue"
Hmm
#summerhill
Hmm
#summerhill
Highlighting some sentences that stick out to me... #summerhill
No specific training can prepare anyone, staff or otherwise for living at Summerhill. People learn through experience #summerhill
Adults are far less important in a community where children are empowered. The more children are trusted, the more they trust in themselves (and the opposite occurs w/ the usual continual adult interference). Being an adult is not a big deal in Summerhill #summerhill
This is an aspect of Summerhill that visitors and onlookers often have difficulty with. It breeds misconceptions that are also partially caused by them not grasping the deeper dynamics of everyday Summerhill life. They grasp an aspect and think it the whole #summerhill
Another thing outsiders have difficulty with is the idea that adults do not have the usual "hidden agendas" when interacting w/ the children. The lack of artifice puts both adults and children at ease #summerhill
It can be hard for new staff to adapt to summerhill life given years of being told what to do and how to do it. On the other hand, there's also freedom for staff to integrate all kinds of their interests into community life. #summerhill
The author has seen children shed previous timidity once in Summerhill. He sees this previous timidity as a defense against the adult squashing of "natural" aggression (which he distinguishes from a sadistic "bullying" aggression) #summerhill
Adults find assertiveness threatening but timidity endearing. The author gives an example of how this warps natural aggression into a sneaky sadism that avoids responsibility by hiding behind adults. #summerhill
When empowered, children can be capable of working out their difficulties. External authorities swooping in can hinder rather than help. Adults should be sensitive to the exceptions but avoid acting as a constant "guardian angel" #summerhill
(Putting aside the main example of the post as whole, I'm reminded of this bit from a Scholars Stage blog post on the difference between how children are raised today and how they were raised in previous times) #summerhill
"When kids genuinely do pine for home, it is not necessarily because they were happier at home. The home that they sicken for is often an idealized one, a fantasy" #summerhill
"When things are going wrong at home children often feel they ought to be there. Perhaps one day they will stumble across the magic words that will make Mummy and Daddy love them. Or they will find a way to get Mummy and Daddy to love each other again"
#summerhill
#summerhill
This is interesting: the author speaks positively in this section of parents overruling the expressed wishes of their children with regards to homesickness. I think a lot of people would find this very unexpected in this kind of book #summerhill
On the other hand, "an insight in one area can easily become a dogma in another". He had misread the quality of a different boys homesickness and his criticism of that boys parents had been incorrect #summerhill
We put too much of a focus on the family alone and underestimate the importance of the larger peer group for the child. Children lead a large part of their lives outside the sight and earshot of adults. #summerhill
These meeting-places of childhood have diminished greatly. Parents are afraid and so children are kept in environments where their own worlds aren't allowed to develop. Summerhill is one of the few places where kids can live their lives mostly unsupervised by adults. #summerhill
Swearing is fine in Summerhill itself but the kids don't want the school to get a bad reputation in the nearby town. Hence, the general Meeting has passed laws prohibiting swearing and showing off when kids venture outside the school. #summerhill
Television and computer games are enjoyed at times but the excitement generated by other kids distracts from simply spending hours in front of screens #summerhill
