Homer Lane

He left school early and took a job delivering groceries, where he met a doctor who helped him take a course at Boston's Sloyd Training College.

[2] Lane was appointed superintendent of the Boys Home and d'Arcambal Association in Farmington Hills, where he worked with youths who had run afoul of the law.

The program that Lane developed at the school was geared toward building the boys' self-respect and self-reliance and toward giving them an opportunity to practice self-government.

Neill claimed that he was particularly impressed by Lane's ideas about an experimental self-governing community for young delinquents since it eliminates the negative effects of authority and breeds altruism among those who participate.

[7] Neill began Summerhill, a school that offered a unique approach to education based on the idea that children are good and - if left alone - are capable of self-governing, motivating, and directing their lives and learning.