441:) said it essentially was strongest as one. Hopkins wrote in 1976 that Hemmings's book was the best biography of Neill available at the time, and called it "comprehensive", "objective", and "sympathetically thoughtful". In comparison, Neill's autobiography "rambles" and Skidelsky's biography "preens" over "small insights", while Hemmings unpacks larger issues to contextualize "a complex man in a complex world". Reflecting on these three biographies of Neill, Hopkins added that Hemmings's book would interest "comparative educators" most, as that it addressed the two points readers would find most interesting about Neill: the role of his history on his ideas, and the role of his ideas in the outside world. Still, Hopkins thought many readers would find the work "too long and detailed". Hopkins himself found Hemmings's book "a struggle to work through", though more complete compared to Neill's "easy", "stream-of-consciousness" prose. Leonard W. Cowie (
513:) too noted the book as "very one-sided, verging on the uncritical" despite its readability and signs of thorough research. He said that a balanced account of Summerhill was elusive because of the "sensationalized" press and "rosy" recollections of Neill and his former pupils, similar to the memoirs of "Old Boys' clubs elsewhere". He wrote, however, that Hemmings's position was understandable when considering the criticism that Summerhill and Neill withstood from "conventional educational wisdom" and "horrified hearsay", which had turned the school into "a type of scholastic folk myth" to set straight. Still, Tucker saw less cause for Summerhill's defense by the time of publication as Neill had wider acceptance. He had become a powerful figure in education and his school a template for the American
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480:) said the sociological study was more descriptive of Neill's role than contributive to the evolution of his philosophy. Hopkins wrote that the book functioned best as a biography, and that its philosophy sections were "piecemeal" and "sketchy" rather than "comprehensive and coherent". Indeed, he felt that the study and the philosophical portions were more illuminative of Neill's life than of "any broader picture". Robert B. Nordberg (
525:) said that while Hemmings has some criticism for Neill and "open education", "he is basically an enthusiast" who wrote a "sympathetic portrayal". Even from this sympathetic angle, Nordberg felt that Neill came across as "the child of an overly strict and demanding father who has spent the rest of his life in a rather one-dimensional crusade, more visceral than rational, against authority in all forms." Altogether, Nordberg wrote,
476:) wrote that it was hard to ascertain Neill's true pedagogical influence when state schools, which constitute the majority of schools, had a poor response rate. He added that the progressive education topics reported to be most influenced by Neill continued to be controversial in 1973. Cowie asked whether challenges to authoritarian education were replaced by Neill's methods or by chaos. Hopkins (
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throughout the maturation of Neill's thought. The final sections explain
Summerhill's internal processes, philosophy, and position in both British and global social order. Hemmings contends that Summerhill has remained consistent to its principles while it cycled through roles as one of many 1920s
934:
Hopkins, Richard L. (June 1976). "Reviewed Works: Children's
Freedom: A. S. Neill and the Evolution of the Summerhill Idea by Ray Hemmings; Neill! Neill! Orange Peel! by A. S. Neill; "Neill of Summerhill," Part Three of English Progressive Schools: Abbotsholme, Gordonstoun, Summerhill by Robert
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355:. Compared to pedagogues such as Russell, who advocated for the inculcation of certain virtues in a child's education, Neill instead insisted that the child be left to make its own values and decisions apart from adult influence and manipulation. Hemmings also reviews the roles of
288:—in context of related social, political, educational, and intellectual trends. Hemmings himself saw the work as less of a biography than an analysis of Neill's ideas in development and of the outward reception of these ideas. The book was first published in England in 1972 by
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to be the best available biography of Neill. They largely praised its clarity and biographical detail and insight but found the book's philosophical sections comparatively weak and the author biased, as a former teacher from the school.
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schools about Neill's influence. Their responses indicated that Neill had significant impact on how the profession perceived teacher–pupil relations. The respondents also reported significant influence from Neill on
469:) wrote in 1972 that Hemmings's account of Neill was "the most lucid, dispassionate yet sympathetic" published. No system, she wrote, has reconciled the needs for individual freedom and societal regulation.
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succeeds in its "systematic, scholarly look at the
Summerhill idea" but fails to provide "a balanced, profound look" at its counterpart: "need for restraint, rationality, and responsibility in the world".
484:) appreciated some of the book's "important points", such that many advocates for educational freedom, in practice, instead seek more insidious techniques for controlling children. While Curtis (
311:
Scotland" to the start of
Summerhill between the two World Wars. Hemmings focuses on Neill's relation to education but also minds other biographical detail: the influence of Freudian
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and historical analysis of Neill's ideas in the context of intellectual and educational trends both during Neill's life and at the time of publication. Hemmings also surveyed
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and Homer Lane's theories in the 1920s, and of
Wilhelm Reich's psychological theories in the 1930s. Hemmings compares Neill's thought with that of
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recommended the "excellent volume" for "all readership levels" and considered it more telling than Neill's own autobiography. Shelley
Neiderbach (
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and thought
Hemmings had done a "wonderful job" but "wasn't critical enough". He noted that the work received few reviews compared to his own.
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was written with "great competence" and would be both "interesting and essential" for those interested in understanding Neill.
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leaders about Neill's impact on the field and reported their perception of influence on teacher–pupil relations.
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Scotland and continues through the influence of his mentors, Lane and Reich, and the origins of
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Nordberg, Robert B. (June 1973). "Rev. of Children's Freedom".
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