Approach to the child in S.N. Durylin’s theory of free education

The centre of Durylin’s pedagogy of free education is a child. Appealing to the authority of the New Testament, relying on the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Leo Tolstoy, he proclaimed the innate perfection of the child, called to follow the words of Christ and to be like children. S.N. Durylin demanded not to deprive children of their childhood, not to impose the will of the adult pupils, and build all education so that it is oriented to the natural needs of children, their interests and capabilities, to develop all the best that's in their nature. He considered freedom as the purpose, conditions and means of upbringing children, providing their full moral, intellectual and physical development.