The function of a child is to live his/her own life, not the life that his/her anxious parents think he/she should live, nor a life according to the purpose of the educators who thinks they knows best
children education homeschooling

About This Quote

About A.S. Neill

A.S. Neill was a 19th-century Scottish progressive school founder. Alexander Sutherland Neill was a Scottish educator and author known for his school, Summerhill, and its philosophy of freedom from adult coercion and community self-governance. Raised in Scotland, Neill taught at several schools before attending the University of Edinburgh in 1908–1912. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Education — The importance of teaching, learning, and intellectual curiosity

More quotes by A.S. Neill

“If the emotions are free the intellect will look after itself”
— A.S. Neill
education philosophy unschooling

“I would rather see a school produce a happy street cleaner than a neurotic scholar.”
— A.S. Neill
education happiness learning

“No teacher has the right to cure a child of making noises on a drum. The only curing that should be practiced is the curing of unhappiness.”
— A.S. Neill
alternative authoritarianism childhood choice

“Small boys often produce their own plays; but usually the parts are not written out. They hardly need to be, for the main line of each character is always "Stick 'em up!" In these plays the curtain...”
— A.S. Neill
boys childhood gangsters imagination

“Summerhill children are allowed to go through their gangster period, and consequentially more furniture is destroyed.”
— A.S. Neill
childhood destruction gangsters growing-up

“All crimes, all hatreds, all wars can be reduced to unhappiness.”
— A.S. Neill
crime hatred unhappiness war
View all quotes by A.S. Neill →

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