Initially, the school was a typical compulsory institution. The first, loudest protest against coercion in the school walls was expressed by Rousseau. See →. His protest came from the denial of culture, which spoils human nature. It is he who is the author of the well-known paradox «everything is good that comes out of the hands of the Creator and everything is distorted in the hands of man.»
In this light, education should be entirely “natural”, one should not spoil a person, not mutilate him, but relying on natural data, develop in the soul of a person the higher powers inherent in him. The task of education is to enable nature to act on a person and within him, to protect his nature from the influence of culture. Thus, pedagogical naturalism grows out of the recognition of the radical good in man. The means of free education is freedom. The child must be free from any artificial coercion, free in his external behavior, no rules are needed to regulate his behavior.
Proceeding from such a position, discipline in the usual concept is absent, or it is present as a “natural” discipline. The concept of natural discipline was subsequently developed by Spencer, and the later teachings of Rousseau were developed by a number of educators. All of them, however, have the essential drawback that they bypass the question of school discipline.
Talking about discipline at school, Tolstoy in his pedagogical views came to a complete denial of education and even to the denial of the right to education.
“Nutrition is the forcible, coercive influence of one person on another in order to form such a person who seems good to us,” says Tolstoy.
“Education, as the deliberate formation of people according to known patterns, is fruitless, illegal and impossible. There is no right to educate. Let the children know what is their good, therefore let them educate themselves and follow the path that they choose for themselves. (Tolstoy).
«Education is the free communication of people, which has as its basis the need of this, the acquisition of information, and the other (person) to communicate what he has already acquired.»
“The teacher should not have any power over the students, the relationship between them should be a relationship of equality. The school should only provide students with the opportunity to gain knowledge, students should have the right to choose what they need, what is of interest to them according to their own concepts ”(Tolstoy).
From these views, two pedagogical ideas developed:
- Discipline, as external discipline, as coercion, is completely denied. Education should be free, it should be free from coercion, both internal and external, and the discipline of the child will develop itself — from within, of course, if needed.
- Education and school should not be «world-contemplative», because. this is the worst kind of coercion. They must learn practical things that children need, and then the children will learn them without compulsion.
Alexander Neill’s school at Summerhill gained great fame. It is important that all teachers, leaders of the ideology of free education, emphasized: free education is not permissiveness.