Neill stressed the importance of this principle because he firmly believed thatmutual respect must be embedded in all students, and individuals for thatmatter. "A teacher does not use force against a child, nor has a child theright to use force against a teacher. A child may not intrude upon an adult justbecause he or she is a child, nor may a child use pressure in the many ways inwhich a child can" (Neill, 1960).
He argued that there has to be a delicate balance in any relationship –whether it be the child-parent or student-teacher relationship.
Mutuality is at the root of any successful educational system. Without inputfrom the top-down and the bottom-up, it appears that Neill believes that truelearning cannot take place. As Neill wrote in his book, Summerhill(1960):
"I once read about a school in America that was built bypupils themselves. I used to think that this was the ideal way. It isn't. Ifchildren built their own school, you can be sure that some gentleman with abreezy, benevolent authority was standing by, lustily shouting encouragement.When such authority is not present, children simply do not build schools…Thereason we here in Summerhill keep getting such good reports about theindustrious performance of our pupils on responsible jobs is that these boys andgirls have lived out their self-centered fantasy stage in Summerhill. As youngadults they are able to face the realities of life without any unconsciouslonging for the play of childhood."