Self-Directed Education
Resource Directory

A.S. Neill, the now-renowned headmaster of the Summerhill School in England, has received hundreds of letters from correspondents in the USA requesting advice about their specific problems in child rearing. With his uncommon wisdom, and in his unique, forthright style, he proffers answers.
There are chapters about sibling rivalry, homosexuality, eating habits, the fearful child, censorship, homework, nudity in the home, children of the divorced and about other vital topics which either directly or obliquely affect the home life of the American child.
This penetrating volume will be read and quoted again and again. It’s sure to excite controversial discussion.
The title epitomizes Neill’s Summerhillian philosophy. Every child is entitled to freedom; an excess of freedom constitutes license. Freedom deals with the rights of the child; license constitutes trespassing on the rights of others. Neill explains how and where the line is drawn between these two.