Introduction -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-88): Social contract ; Educational provision: infancy and childhood ; Educational provision: adolescence ; Medicine, punishment and child-centred education -- A critical look at certain themes in Rousseau: Freedom ; Nature ; Useful knowledge ; Learning ; Moral education ; Chicken and egg -- A.S. Neill (1883-1973): Educational theory ; Neill, Rousseau and happiness ; Summerhill ; Education, self-regulation and punishment ; Psychology ; Innate characteristics: moral and mental ; Freedom ; Interest -- Paul Goodman (1911-73): Social criticism (Growing up absurd) ; Educational criticism (Compulsory miseducation) ; Mini-schools and apprenticeships ; Slips and fallacies ; Three crucial issues: Learning ; Examination and assessment ; Chicken, egg and choice -- Everett Reimer (b. 1922) and Ivan Illich (b. 1926): Illich, Reimer and Goodman ; Three objects to schooling: Multi-dimensional objection ; Graded curriculum objection ; Hidden curriculum objection ; Alternative strategy: networks and webs ; Vouchers -- Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner: Aim ; Means ; What's worth knowing? ; Knowledge and the perceiver -- Last words.