Elek Books: UK, 1971 / cover design © Jim Driver
Leila edited this early and seminal book advocating for children’s rights, and contributed one chapter, as did teachers and educationists A S Neill (founder and head of Summerhill School), Michael Duane (controversial head of Risinghill Comprehensive), Robert Ollendorf MD, Paul Adams MD, and Nan Berger OBE.
Children are the seeds of freedom
No-one can be truly free if, as a child, their education has been authoritarian and repressive, designed to teach them how to submit to the conditions of life as laid down by society rather than to adapt these conditions for their own fullfillment.
In this genuinely epoch-making book, six inspirational progressive teachers examine the position of the child in modern society, and in the contemporary educational system and explore the ways in which a lasting liberation of the child – and hence of mankind at large – can be achieved.
“An impressive onslaught on the savage idiocies with which we as parents and teachers, indeed as a society, hammer our children into our own image.” Edward Short in Teachers World
“A book which deserves to be taken very seriously.” Anthony Storr in the Sunday Times
Contents:
- Moving Towards Self-Government, by Leila Berg
- The Infant, the Family, and Society, by Paul Adams, MD
- The Rights of Adolescents, by Robert Ollendorf, MD
- Freedom Works, by A S Neill, founder & head of Summerhill School
- The Child, the Law, and the State, by Nan Berger, OBE
- Freedom and the State System of Education, by Michael Duane, head of Risinghill Comprehensive
- Also included: Notes on the Authors / Bibliography / Index