Summerhill

Nowadays it is very hard to find people to teach in Britain’s schools. It is a common belief that the
pupils are very badly behaved. Again, this is a matter of personal opinion. But the experience of
the famous independent school Summerhill is perhaps indicative.

When it was founded in 1923 by the educationalist A. S. Neill, his vision was for a school where
children could learn that adults were not people to be frightened of, where they learnt because they
wanted to, not because they were forced to. Neill once famously said he would rather turn a child
into a happy street-sweeper than a successful but miserable professional.

Accordingly, the tradition at Summerhill is that the children themselves set and police the rules and
lessons are not compulsory. In the school’s heyday in the sixties, it was an icon of the hippy
movement, with stories of pupils reciting Shakespeare to cows and going communal nude bathing.

How times change! This noble idea of a libertarian education was all very well when the pupils had
already learnt at least the concepts of rules and discipline from their parents and of co-operation
from their brothers and sisters.

But now children tend to come from much smaller families, so that these concepts are less
necessary. The present head of Summerhill, who is Neill’s daughter and in theory just as
committed to his ideals, says that they now get children coming along who are so selfish, so badly
behaved, such (in her own words) “spoilt brats”, that they have to be taught that living in a
community means you cannot always do exactly what you want.

Ironically, therefore, Summerhill has found itself in the position of championing in a sense of
discipline and order.

Find words in the text which mean:

Unhappy: ………………………..
Make sure that a particular set of rules is obeyed: ……………………..
The opposite of voluntary: …………………………….
The time when someone or something had most power or success, or was most popular:
………………..
A famous person or thing that people admire and see as a symbol of a particular idea, way
of life, etc:………………………..
Involving people who are naked (not wearing any clothes): …………………..
The person in charge of a group of people or an organization: ………………..
Fighting for, or speaking in support of : …………….

Answer the following questions:

1. Why is it difficult to find people to teach in Britain’s schools?

2. Who is A. S. Neill?

3. Pick up an adjective from the text which describes Summerhill’s education in the 60s.
Quote two sentences which exemplify this.

4. Why has Summerhill changed now?

Suggested answer key:

Find words in the text which mean:

Unhappy: miserable
Make sure that a particular set of rules is obeyed: police
The opposite of voluntary: compulsory
The time when someone or something had most power or success, or was most popular:
heyday
A famous person or thing that people admire and see as a symbol of a particular idea, way
of life, etc: icon
Involving people who are naked (not wearing any clothes): nude
The person in charge of a group of people or an organization: head
Fighting for, or speaking in support of : championing

Answer the following questions:

1. Why is it difficult to find people to teach in Britain’s schools?

Because it is commonly believed that students’ behaviour is bad.

2. Who is A. S. Neill?

He was the educationalist who founded the independent school Summerhill in 1923.

3. Pick an adjective from the text which describes Summerhill’s education in the 60s.
Quote two sentences which exemplify this.

Summerhill’s education in the 60’s was, according to the text, Libertarian.

Pupils reciting Shakespeare to cows, and going communal nude bathing are two examples
of this.

4. Why has Summerhill changed now?

Because pupils nowadays are so self-centred and behave so badly that they have to learn
they cannot do whatever they want when they are living in a community.