integrated or isolated? exposed or protected?

For Jonathan Kozol the term Free School embraces a wide spectrum of different, sometimes antagonistic, meanings. At one end of the spectrum, there is the “large, public-school-connected, neighborhood-created, and politically controversial operation.” At the other end is the “physically isolated, politically noncontroversial, and generally all-white, high-tuition Free School.” Kozol strongly criticizes Free Schools that fall under the second description and claims that the physical isolation is an attempt to escape from “the turmoil and the human desperation of the cities.” At the same time, A. S. Neill explains that the Summerhill School can be considered as an island and as fundamentally “not part of the community.” I started to wonder which model is more desirable: a school in the midst a chaotic and violent society or the school isolated from it. Which model is more desirable if the goal of education is to prepare children for the harsh reality of our society and to equip them with everything they need to ensure their own happiness? Should children be exposed and confront “the turmoil and the human desperation of the cities” or should they learn in a peaceful environment which might not agree with our social reality? Which method is more effective to foster capable and strong individuals?

Besides the lacking integration into the local community, I think, the Summerhill School is a further excellent example of an educational philosophy based on democracy, freedom, and the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other way around. As long as their behavior does not harm others, children are free to do as they please. According to the principle “Freedom, not Licence,” the learning environment is free of coercion, discipline, and punishment. Like many other Free Schools, Summerhill is more concerned with the social development of children than their academic development: "The function of a child is to live his own life — not the life that his anxious parents think he should live, not a life according to the purpose of an educator who thinks he knows best."