Term Paper on Comparison Of "Summerhill"
By Neill And "Emile" By Rousseau
Any
educational philosophy must endeavor for the promotion of students’ learning,
maximising the benefits of learning in a research environment, providing
excellent quality of educational provision and finally developing students’ key
skills. It is for these or any other functional aims that any educational
philosophy is devised. The two such philosophies as given by Neill and Rousseau
in different times and much debated around have been discussed in this paper.
Emile is the name of an imaginary child thought by Jean Piaget Rousseau two
hundred years ago for the purposes of showing how to raise a child with the
right education. His literary pursuits turned out in the form of a treatise. The
main difference it has with the summerhill by Neill is that Summerhill is a
practical example of a school actually there in Britain with a radical
educational philosophy in contradiction with the British educational philosophy.
Summerhill was first established in Hellerau, a suburb of Dresden, as part of an
international school called the Neue Schule. Neill became increasingly unhappy
with puritanical aspects of the “New School” and moved to Austria, but the
strongly Catholic community did not accept his radical educational philosophy.
In 1923, Neill moved to the town of Lyme Regis in the south of England, to a
house called Summerhill. The school continued there until 1927, when it moved to
the present site at Leiston, in Suffolk.
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Another difference is that of the time. Summerhill is a school of 20th century
whereas Rousseau conceived Emile two hundred years ago. The study by Rousseau
attempted to discover how could the boy’s manhood transformation be shaped
through intentional and deliberate shaping and controlling Emile's maturation.
Rousseau did not feel against the customary methods of education. Rather his aim
is to state that since the beginning of time there has been a continual outcry
against the established practice without anyone suggesting how to propose a
better one. Rousseau first sets out to describe the pupils to whom the
educational philosophy needs to be devised. Critics have argued that Rousseau’s
work is not practical and this is a sharp contrast with the very practical world
at Summerhill of Neill. Emile is rather the dreams of an education visionary.
Critics have repeatedly made remarks on Rousseau to propose what is feasible.
One common thing among others between the two is that their works have been in
contradiction to the general ideas in their respective times.
Neill on the other hand stressed the innate goodness of children and urged
patience and trust so that they would learn for themselves. He asked for freedom
for children in attaining their education. Totally opposite to usage of any kind
of force or punishment Neill proposed to set the child free for he will come to
the learning desk once his endeavors with his newly found freedom works out.
How Should A Child Grow With Education?
Neill’s educational philosophy refutes all outside compulsions to a child to
study. He believes like Rousseau, in the inner compulsion and considers it the
only good value or in Rousseau’s words the ‘goodness in the child’ only comes
out in this way. Summerhill believes in the following and have outlined these in
its aims. Each of these is compared with those of the Rousseau’s thoughts. Neill
thinks education should:
• To provide choices and opportunities those allow children to develop at their
own pace and to follow their own interests. Rousseau thinks alike giving the
goodness in the child more importance and the values the child attach to the
things around. The education should allow the child to exploit the opportunities
according to his values.
• To allow children to be free from compulsory or imposed assessment, allowing
them to develop their own goals and sense of achievement. Rousseau believed in
achieving a feasible approach to education within the confinements of the
child’s own understandings. What the older people around the child know is not
known by the child himself.
• To allow children to be completely free to play as much as they like. Creative
and imaginative play is an essential part of childhood and development. Rousseau
was not radical enough to allow such a thing. He believed in giving a notion of
self-discipline to the child as part of the education.
• To allow children to experience the full range of feelings, free from the
judgment and intervention of an adult. Rousseau believed in allowing the
children to feel within the limits of the societal norms and values. He could
not possibly think of naked baths as Neill did.
• To allow children to live in a community that supports them and that they are
responsible for; in which they have the freedom to be themselves, and have the
power to change community life, through the democratic process. Rousseau was a
firm believer of democratic and would not have disagreed with Neill on this,
though he has made no explicit mention for the community aspect of a child.
Emile was a fiction of his mind. Rousseau was more concerned with the personal
growth of the child.
Responsibility Of The Educator To Produce Assistance In Growth
The two educational philosophies results in the following roles of the educators
in the provisioning of the education to the child. Educators’ responsibility is:
• To allow children freedom to grow emotionally;
• To understand the psychology of the pupils;
• To give children power over their own lives;
• To give children the time to develop naturally;
• To know the individual needs of the children and customize teaching
accordingly;
• To create a happier childhood by removing fear and coercion by adults.
The two main features of the teaching that Neill proposes is that all lessons
should be optional and the weekly Meeting, at which the school Laws are made or
changed. The freedom provision is considered to be the main responsibility of
the educator along with a sense of community and emotional growth of the child.
The child needs to be ready to accept what is being given to him before he
starts learning in the true sense of the word.
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