Forest Hills, New York
April 25, 1949
My dear Neill:
Yours of 2 I .4. at hand. The problem of how to handle ado
lescent genitality is, of course, a trying one. Seen from the standpoint
of an educator or a physician, neither keeping quiet nor running the
gauntlet will help. It is a basic question of human society, and basic
questions have never yet been solved without great danger and anguish.
It is not a question only of whether one wants to submit to such
dangers. If one does not, the only thing for an honest worker to do is,
I believe, simply to state the facts in public. We can state the problem
as it stands today and add that we are not capable or not willing or not
strong enough to do anything about it. This, at least, will save us from
impeding a future solution of the problem, i.e., of adding to the con
fusion and delaying the final answer. It is most unfortunate that these
problems of living, tough as they are in themselves, are made so much
more complicated by the fact that educators or physicians who are sup
posed to handle them are themselves structurally not able to do so.
I would suggest again, as I did in my last letter, that we prepare a
thorough discussion and, if possible, arrive at a final solution through
discussion by the summer of 195 0, when we shall devote a whole day
of the proposed conference to this problem of adolescence. Would you
be willing to help in that?
Summerhill School
Leiston, Suffolk
My dear Reich,
- I •
May 10 , 19 49Ena and I like the idea you suggest of a conference here on
self-reg. The snag is how to exclude the element one might call the
Barakan-Copping-Eastmond element, or the enemies who would come
to argue not to construct. I am trying a letter in the journals as a kite
to see if anyone would come.
How sad I feel that you are in Maine without us, sorry also for poor
Collins and Son, for I am sure they are still as bad as ever. But give 'em
hell anyway.
Yes, you are right about the N. Y. Times. They paid me 200$ for the