Summerhill School: A New View of Childhood

This update of the 1960 classic, Summerhill, presents radical educational theorist A. S. Neill, ``looking back in 1971 on fifty years of running his pioneering self-governing free school,'' in Suffolk, England. Lamb, who was an American student there in the early 1960s, weaves extracts of Neill's writings in a narrative that details the progressive school's struggles. As an octogenarian, Neill (1884-1973) recalls his advocacy of a then new psychological approach that pointed to emotions, not intellect, as the primary forces shaping a child's growth. At Summerhill, now run by Neill's daughter, Zoe Readhead, ``kids grow up in their own way and at their own speed'' in a self-governing, sympathetic environment. It appears that they are not scanted educationally. Generous in acknowledging his debt to others, including his mentor, psychologist Wilhelm Reich, Neill here freshly details his belief in children's ability to be self-regulating. (Jan.)