Tolstoy, disgruntled with contemporary educational practice and dismayed by the bankruptcy of theory they underlay it, founded in 1861 an experimental school for peasant children on his estate, Yasnaya-Polyana. Tolstoy allowed his pupils to come and go as they pleased, and insisted that teachers, too, should be free to each what and at whatever length they wished. In pointing to motivation as the only acceptable basis for classroom discipline, Tolstoy anticipated modern educational theory. His experiences in teaching and in formulating a totally new curriculum provide and idealistic attempt to cultivate the free human spirit through education.