Rules were agreed by democratic vote and the school gained a reputation for giving a second chance to 'difficult' pupils, many of whom thrived under the freedoms offered. Neill returned to Britain in 1924 to found Summerhill, a school run by its pupils on self-governing principles. Neill wrote about his experiences in A Dominie Abroad (1923). After army service during the First World War, he went on to help set up a progressive school in Hellerau (Germany), where he was joined by Edwin and Willa Muir. Here he developed his ideas on education. He then became an assistant teacher in Newport-on-Tay and finally was able to attend the University of Edinburgh, where he gained confidence. This involved him leaving school at fourteen, taking jobs which frustrated him, and the returning to school to serve as pupil-teacher with his father and then in Bonnyrigg ( Midlothian) and Kingskettle ( Fife). Neill had a difficult and protracted education. Born in Forfar, the son of the strict Calvinist who was schoolmaster at Kingsmuir.
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