Educating the Child: Neill's View Point

Introduction

Well known educators and their works are the important sources of information and observations which can work as data to distil knowledge for application. A.S.Neill, a famous British educator and innovator has written two important book titled 'The Problem Child' and 'The Problem Parent' from which a lot of researchers and practicing teachers have drawn inspiration from the work of A.S. Neill, some thought-provoking observations have been taken to find implications for the present education system. The phrasal change in the ensuing observations have been made without tinkering with their meaning and main ideas.

Observations

Some of the important observations made by A.S.Neill about various aspects of the child, education discipline and examination are as follows.

• • There is never a problem child; there are problem parents and teachers. That may not be the whole truth, but it is nearly the whole truth. The child usually becomes a problem because his or her parents do not understand of the child. In other cases the child becomes a problem because the parents and teachers do not understand the nature of themselves.

• • We must honestly face the fact that the interest of adult and child are often opposed ... Adults have a lasting value for material things, whereas children have a lasting value in doing ... Unlike an adult, a child does not take thought for the morrow.

• • When adult try to force themselves on children, there is bound to be some wraping of child's nature. The adult's values often tend towards the passive and possessive as opposed to the creative side of life. Adults while improving themselves make the child to regress to lower stage of his or her development; they make children passive and possessive... When creativity is forbidden, it appears as destruction, just as love when not given to the child will appear as hate.

• • Most disciplining of children by parents and teachers is primarily aimed to have a quiet life for themselves. This makes children possessive or destructive of materials and passive learner... Discipline bottles up the child's natural creation and transforms it into destruction.

• • The aim of life and hence education is to be happy, and given happiness and creation, love follows naturally. The problem parents and problem teachers cannot love themselves, and punishment never cures, but, converts child's natural love into hate, his or her goodness into evil... The only stupid excuse for imposing discipline is that it affords adults a quiet life. Every disciplinarian is a humbug when he isn't a sadist.

• • It is true, discipline is easy because you have to follow, but in freedom you must lead yourself, which adults find difficult to do... Disciplinarians have a shrinking attitude to life in general.

• • Examinations cannot possibly touch the essential of education ... The examination is like digging up of the plant to see how the growth is progressing, and hence, examinations are destructive.

• • Teachers and parents must construct and provide for child's learning environment and help him or her to have meaningful experiences resulting into learning.

• • There are the schools, but only a small fraction of them use modern psychology. Most schools rob the greatest needs of children – love, care, play and creativity.

Model of Classroom Instruction: The implications an Outcome

The following important implications for classroom instruction can be drawn from the above cited observations.

Learning environment:

(i) Love, relationships of mutuality.

Natural of learning :

(i) Learning is innate in a human child.

(ii) Learning occurs by doing.

View of the child

Child is viewed as a creator of knowledge.

Freedom in learning

(i) Freedom of choice

(ii) Freedom of the pace

Teacher's role

Facilitator of innate potential of learning of the child

Learning tools

Activities, play and creativity or doing things or hands-on experiences

In Conclusion

In India, there exist some examples of schools being run by a few NGOs and innovative individuals wherein some elements of the above-stated model of classroom instruction are being implemented.

Reference

Neill, A.S.(year not cited). The Problem Parent, London : Herbert Jenkins Limited