Many years ago Gary gave me a book by Alexander Neill, Summerhill entitled , published in Italy in 1971 (Editorial Forum, Rome) and written in 1960. I am still grateful to Gary for this gift that touched me the mind and heart. The book is now found only in a limited edition ( boys happy Summerhill, Red, Novara, 2004), but also deserves to be read.
What is striking in the pages of Neill, written in a sober and simple terms, is the love of children together with a sense deep respect and a genuine intellectual curiosity. Love is a rare gift and can only benefit the relationship between parents and children or between teachers and pupils, but only if combined with the ability to comply with the spontaneity of children and young people and to understand individual development, can bear fruit remarkable.
Neill has demonstrated in his school (founded 1921) that children have the ability to "regulate" that is, grow and socialize in a non-destructive. They need acceptance, love and respect, but not rules or indoctrination about good and evil. When you see destructive behavior in children, uncooperative, apathetic, there is need for "educational interventions" traditional, because in such cases the interventions have already been there and have already given those results. Even in education in the strict sense, the school should therefore provide incentives, encourage interest and research, encourage the study but not "indoctrinate." In any case should not punish or instill guilt.
Neill's ideas are simple but deep and are also quite well known internationally, but does not really affect the educational process because, to be applied, requiring more than a theoretical knowledge, a sensitivity that few have. Undervalued for years in the 60s Neill has been a great appreciated by scholars and young people. He also received an honorary degree from the University of Newcastle, Exeter and Essex (see http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/pages/asneill.html ).
Neill has carefully studied the psychological development of individual and opposed the Freudian idea of \u200b\u200bthe destructive impulses in revising the pedagogical ideas of Wilhelm Reich, with whom he has been in contact. If the Reichian theory states that the destructiveness is a neurotic reaction and not an aspect of human nature, the educational practice of Alexander Neill demonstrates this idea in practice [cf. the POST Physics Education and Il controllo dell’infanzia e del traffico ].
Dopo la morte di Neill, la scuola di Summerhill ha continuato le attività e continua tuttora a svolgerle. Si veda il sito http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/ .
All’inizio del libro, Neill scrive alcune frasi che voglio riportare. “I giornalisti la chiamano la “Scuola-fai-quel-che-ti-pare” suggerendo così l’idea che essa ospiti una banda di selvaggi primitivi, indisciplinati e maleducati. Mi sembra necessario, di conseguenza, scrivere la storia di Summerhill il più onestamente possibile. E’ naturale che io non sia imparziale: tuttavia mi sforzerò di mettere in evidence both its strengths as his weaknesses. The advantages consist in the presence of free and healthy children whose life is marred by fear and hatred. It 'obvious that a school that forces children to sit in the pews brightly forcing them to learn unnecessary materials, in most cases, is a bad school. (...) Summerhill was founded as an experimental school. Now it no longer is: now is a school demonstration and demonstrates that freedom works "(pp. 9-10).
The book is important not only for educators but also for parents. Many issues that are discussed in schools are similar to those that parents deal with children within families. E ' pure importante nonostante sia stato scritto da mezzo secolo. Sulle questioni in cui si intrecciano nodi affettivi e problemi conoscitivi il mondo ha la strana capacità di progredire alla velocità delle lumache, mentre solo sul piano della ricerca tecnologica procede speditamente. Il libro è stato uno dei miti degli anni ’60 e ‘70, ma resta ancora importante. Dato che i sessantottini non hanno costruito il “mondo migliore” che sognavano, pur avendo fatto tesoro di Neill e di tanti autori “rivoluzionari”, oggi siamo nella posizione di dover ancora costruire buoni rapporti interpersonali e sociali. Infatti abbiamo alle spalle quattro decenni di “controriforma” che ci hanno fatto piombare in un mondo di non-cultura politica, di demenzialità televisiva e di ignoranza totale per tutto ciò che riguarda lo sviluppo psicologico e affettivo delle persone.
Anche se in alcune pagine si sente che il libro di Neill è stato scritto in altri tempi, la sensibilità e l’intelligenza dell’Autore riescono a far passare idee comunque interessanti. Ad esempio, oggi che l’interruzione della gravidanza è autorizzata e che i profilattici si vendono nei distributori automatici, certe considerazioni di Neill possono far sorridere, ma già ai suoi tempi egli riusciva a ragionare in modo rigoroso e a parlare senza mezzi termini di “malvagia moralità” (p. 272) a proposito dell’ipocrisia e del perbenismo.
For these reasons, the pages Neill affect us like a caress, shake us and make us loose, but we are also thinking.
Silvia
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