A.S. Neil, the founder of Xiashan School, is an advocate and practitioner of free education. I wrote a teacher's diary (19 16), problem children (1926), problem parents (1932), problem families (1949) and free children. Among them, the book "Summer Mountain School" originated from his practice and thinking, and was widely translated and circulated by various countries, which set off a "summer mountain fever" in the 20th century. Children from all over the world have gone to Summer Mountain to study.
In the United States alone, Summerhill School has sold more than 3 million copies and has been listed as a must-read by more than 600 universities. At present, this book has been translated into more and more languages and is regarded as a compulsory educational classic by more and more children, parents and teachers.
I. Introduction to the author
A.S. Neil is one of the greatest educators in the 20th century and the founder of the world-famous Xiashan School.
After graduating from Edinburgh University, Neil worked as a trainee teacher, assistant teacher, editor and editor-in-chief of publications. Disappointed that traditional education stifled people's creativity at that time, he founded Xiashan School in Xiashan Manor and became "the most humanized happy school in the world". Since 19 15 published the first novel A Teacher's Diary, nearly 20 works have been published, such as Problem Children, Problem Parents and Problem Teachers, Communication between Neil and Leahy, and Summer Mountain School.
Second, the introduction of this book
"Summer Mountain School" mainly tells the story that Neil, the headmaster of Summer Mountain School, used a lot of vivid educational cases to solve various educational problems for parents and teachers. After the book was published in 1960, there was a persistent "summer mountain fever" around the world, and children of all colors from all over the world went to summer mountain to study. In the United States alone, this book sold more than 2 million copies at 10, and was designated as a required reading by more than 600 universities. It has become one of the greatest educational classics in the 20th century.
Xiashan School advocates respecting children's nature and encouraging their free development with love. Many children are tired of learning, feel inferior and rebellious before coming to Xiashan, which is the "problem children" in the eyes of parents and teachers. After coming to Xiashan, they have undergone earth-shaking changes: they study consciously and spontaneously, live independently, are full of confidence, and know how to love themselves and others. Every child's body and mind are fully and freely developed. Years later, they became outstanding artists, musicians, designers, actors, scientists and mathematicians!
Later, the "Ba Xue Yuan" in "Little Doudou by the Window" was founded on the basis of Xiashan School. After the book was published in 1960, it quickly set off a continuous "Summer Mountain craze" around the world, and children of all colors from all over the world went to Summer Mountain to study. In the United States alone, this book sold more than 2 million copies at 10, and was designated as a required reading by more than 600 universities. At present, this book has been translated into more and more languages and is regarded as an indispensable educational classic by more and more children, parents and experts.
Third, about the Xiashan School.
Summer Mountain School in England is an international private boarding school, which was founded by Neil family in 192 1 year. The school is located in liston Village, East Suffolk. Neil, the first principal, was regarded as the representative of "liberal education" by western education circles. The basic purpose of the school is that the school should adapt to the children, not the children adapt to the school.
Because the school's educational beliefs are inconsistent with the secular, and there is no economic background, it only relies on tuition fees and a little sponsorship to survive and develop, so it is difficult to walk. However, with the insistence of the Neil family, Xiashan School has developed from an experimental school with free education to a demonstration school with free education, making the dream of free education come true.
Summer Mountain School enrolls students from all over the world. At first, most students were students with serious "problems". Parents regard Xiashan School as a treatment center. Once the children's "symptoms" are alleviated, they are taken away for real education. Students can attend classes at school or not and choose courses freely. With the development of the school, its educational concept is gradually accepted by people, especially when the students of Xiashan School become parents, people begin to send their children to Xiashan actively.
In Xiashan school, teachers are required to adapt to students, not students to adapt to teachers. As President Neil said, "We decided to run a school where children can develop freely. To this end, we have to give up all discipline, guidance and restraint, as well as all moral training and religious education. " Neil spent 60 years practicing his beliefs in Xiashan School, which is known as "the most humanized happy school".
Xiashan School takes free education as the guiding concept, and insists on "making schools adapt to children, not children adapt to schools", respecting children, giving them enough freedom and abandoning authority and utility. Therefore, the Xiashan School with a history of 102 is still independent of the world and is expected by many people.
Fourth, the writing background
Influenced by Freud's psychoanalysis and Rousseau's educational thought, Neil began to reflect on the depressed school spirit of King Alfred's School, and founded Summerhill School in Reston, Suffolk, East England in 192 1. Neil put his educational idea of "love, freedom and life" into practice in Xiashan School. The book Summerhill School records Neil's idea and practice of establishing Summerhill School.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) the content of a book.
The soul of Xiashan School-"Love and Freedom" is the eternal essence of education.
One of the most frequently mentioned words in Xiashan School is freedom. Freedom is definitely not to do whatever you want, or even to run amok. True freedom is not laissez-faire, but let children be themselves, give them the right to choose, try and make mistakes, and let them gain the life experience necessary for their growth.
Neil's understanding of education and freedom comes from his true love for children. He has been using love to understand and support children all his life. In summerhill school, giving children freedom means giving them love.
The central idea of intransitive verbs
Xiashan School has three core viewpoints: free education should give children freedom, life education should treat children equally, and love education should give children love and praise.
First, free education "should give children freedom". Neil opposes the traditional rote education and disagrees that the purpose of education is to let children pass the entrance examination smoothly. Neil believes that every child has great potential, respect their own choices and let them choose activities that interest them. He believes that children's own choices must be interesting and interested, and naturally they will concentrate on their studies and have more unexpected creations.
Second, life education "treats children equally". Neil stressed that adults should not use the authority of teachers or parents to suppress children and should not force them to do anything. Xiashan School regards students as equal individuals and resolves conflicts and disputes through dialogue.
Third, the education of love "gives love and praise to children". Neil believes that everyone is born with praise, and the happiness and happiness of a child are determined by the love and praise given to him by his parents. Parents should give their children unconditional love. In addition, Neil believes that parents need to manage a loving marriage with heart. Parents who do not love each other cannot hide the fact that they do not love each other. Children who don't feel love at home will be keenly aware of this.
Seven, classic quotations
1. When my wife and I started this school, we had a basic idea that the school should adapt to students, not students.
2. If children really want to learn, they can learn no matter what teaching method they use.
3. Change children, change yourself first.
4. Reward is never an end, but doing something is an end in itself.
For the problem students, what teachers should do is not treatment, but prevention.
6. Because free children have much less resentment than suppressed children. As you sow, you reap, and love means affirmation to your children, which is extremely important for any school. If you punish or scold children, it is impossible to be with them.
7. Free children are not easily influenced by others, because they have no fear. Fearlessness is the best gift that children can get.
8. In summerhill, it is natural to damage things. This kind of action can be controlled by high-pressure means, but psychological desire can't be suppressed anyway, because children have this kind of need and must be satisfied.
9. If a child is free to do what he loves, he usually doesn't have resentment, and he doesn't deliberately make adults angry for fun.
10, in Xiashan, love heals everything, identity and freedom heal everything.
A good school should arrange students' lives like a game.
12, the teacher's job is very simple, find the child's interest and then satisfy that interest.
13. Freedom does not mean denying all common sense. We take all possible safety measures for our children.
14. Improvisation is a creative and energetic aspect of school performance.
15, when you get along with your child on an equal footing, there is no danger for you to lose your temper with him.
16, who would have thought that when we taught little Tom how to play with his toys, we deprived him of the greatest happiness in life-the joy of discovery and the joy of conquering difficulties? To make matters worse, we convince children that they can't do it and must rely on adults.
17, if children are bound inside, it is impossible to adapt to the state of freedom.
18, treat a mentally ill child, be sure to let his emotions come out. If we tell him a lot of psychoanalytic theories and tell him that he has some eccentricities, he can't be cured.
19 of course, the child's answer gave us a chance to discuss him. I find it best to start with his ego, because everyone is interested in himself. Then transferred to his home, the child's interest was aroused, and the conversation was much easier.
Under the strict rule of adults, children became haters. If children vent their hatred on adults, they will be punished, so their hatred can only be vented on younger and weaker children.
2 1. I have always admired children's sense of justice. Their administrative ability is very strong, and their autonomy has unlimited value in education.
22. Their sense of collective responsibility and social responsibility will not come into being until after the age of eighteen. Children are only interested in what is in front of them, and the future is too illusory for them.
23. Raising children is very similar to raising puppies. A whipped child, like a whipped puppy, will grow into an obedient and inferior adult.
It is a great sin for children to impose the values of adults on them.
The happiness of a child depends on the love and praise we give him.
26. I found that the "good medicine" for treating trauma is to know him, trust him and understand him.
27. Overpraised ducks will stretch their necks like swans and become complacent, so that children can't really know themselves. You shouldn't encourage children to be divorced from reality and build castles in the air.
If we want our children to be tolerant, we must first show tolerance to them.
29. A child with strict education will show his hatred of authority by making his parents angry.
On the surface, such parents use "knowing what is best for their children" as an excuse. In fact, their deep motivation is to want power.
3 1. Parents should give their children proper responsibilities under the principle of ensuring their physical safety. Only in this way can they cultivate self-confidence.
32. At that time, they pursued progress because their parents were behind them, but they were rarely really interested in those classes.
Too much money will damage children's fantasy life. Giving a child a boat without a pound will completely discourage him from building a boat with wood.
Parents and teachers have the right to make a child a person with a free soul, a person interested in work, a person interested in friendship, a person who is happy with love, or a person who hates himself and society.
35. All the bad behaviors in problem children stem from the lack of love, so punishment and moral preaching can only increase their hatred, but never solve the problem.
36. You can't build a cat's character, because cats are more confident than dogs. You can make dogs feel uneasy, but cats can't. But most people like dogs because of their obedience and flattering wagging their tails.
37. The joy of creation is a reward.
38, nagging is by no means a manifestation of love, it is just a mother's unconscious hatred covered by fear.
39. The progress of civilization is manifested in overthrowing many hypocrisy and deception in the world.
40. To treat children, we must apply psychology deeply and find out the deep motivation of his behavior. Nagging, losing your temper, spanking and preaching are all annoying reactions.
4 1, the child should not respond. Generally speaking, children nowadays have too many things, so they won't cherish a gift.
42. Anxious parents can't give people love, honor, respect and trust.
43. Children's hobbies are constantly changing, and he will try anything. This is the way he studies.
If they are no longer interested, it is wrong to force him to continue doing it.
45. "Parents' fears about the future are always reflected in their wishes. They always want their children to know more than they do. They don't allow little Willie to read his favorite books. They are worried that little Willie will accomplish nothing without their urging. They will not wait for their children to grow up at their own pace. They always ask, "If my child can't read by the age of 12, what hope can he have in this life?" ? If 18-year-old can't go to college, what can he do except do odd jobs for others? "
But I think we should learn to wait and observe a child who has not made progress, or a child who has made slow progress. I have no doubt that if he is not eliminated, he will succeed one day. "
Eight, reading comprehension
Xiashan School, founded in 192 1, is one of the most famous schools in the history of modern education. It is a model of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and full of endless vitality, and is known as "the most humanized happy school". The prototype of "Ba Xueyuan" in "Little Peas by the Window". Neil thinks: "Let the school adapt to the students, not let the students adapt to the school." He believes that schools should get rid of all self-righteous management systems and guidance methods, and create educational methods that truly adapt to children's free development. He spent 60 years practicing this ideal of breaking through the traditional educational concept in Xiashan School.
Summer mountain schools give students full freedom, of course, on the basis of safety (for example, you can climb trees, but not the roof; If you have a lifeguard, you can swim. Students have the right to decide their own diet, daily life, learning content and methods and various management systems, that is, the school is run by autonomous management, and the principal's one-vote right is equal to that of any student.
Summer Mountain School not only teaches us to thoroughly reflect on our educational methods and even ideas, but also tells us how important the internal motivation of children's learning is. Summer Mountain School provides us with a brand-new educational perspective. In short, in education, it is important to educate with love and make children feel that they deserve to be loved. This result is often positive: children learn to love themselves and others. The founder of Xiashan School believes that the purpose of education is not to transform society, but to bring happiness to people.
Undoubtedly, the educational concept of Xiashan School has the following enlightenment to us:
It is feasible to let students develop freely.
Under the guidance of the educational concept of free development, once students become the masters of learning, their pace of mastering knowledge is not walking, but running or flying.
The concept of free education needs high-level teachers to implement and love the world.