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The Modern School Movement Beginnings.....  The New School Movement can be traced back to 1901 in Spain and a man called Francisco Ferrer Guardia. He was considered a "philosophical anarchist" promoting the Spanish revolutionary cause, which he endeavored to link to his educational crusade by means of a Ligue Internationale pour l'Education Rationnelle de I'Enfance (International League for the Rational Education of Children).His execution in October 1909 unleashed a protest movement on a massive and international scale, and brought him fame as a martyr to the cause of "rational" education. Modern Schools were set up in various locations in Europe and the Americas, though most (with the exception of the long- lasting venture at Stelton, New Jersey) had disappeared by the mid-1920s. (Fidler 1985). As a dissenter or idealist, Ferrer's educational goals were aligned with a socialist tradition.His Modern school movement favored the child centered commitment of the Naturalist school of Rousseau, Pestalozzin and Froebel, rejecting the social status quo. The conception of education merely as "creative self-development" was indeed challenged from within the movement itself on the basis of demands for education directed at socio-political change; this was a leitmotiv not only of Ferrer's work and the original experiment at Barcelona, but also of its representations at Lausanne, Liverpool or Clivio, in northern Italy. If, in the context of Ferrer's Spain, the school could serve as a powerful instrument of control or oppression, could not education be made instrumental or counter- hegemonic in the interest of the controlled or oppressed? It is clear that Ferrer's radicalism was wedded to European legacies of rational and scientific thought; it explicitly sought to "transform the school" with a view to the transformation of society: the ignorance and superstition, the illiteracy and poverty of Ferrer's Spain-or of Gramsci's Italy-were the very elements of the historical social order against which "rational education" was seen to constitute a defense. According to Ferrer, "Rational education is, above all things, a means of defense against error and ignorance."6 In this perspective, the "schooling" of the Modern Schools formed part of a broader conception of "education" and "learning" which, to borrow from a related discussion of radical educational aspirations, spoke to "general features of human sociality: becoming aware of, competent within, able to change the definite social relations of a particular society. (Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (Birmingham), Unpopular Education: Schooling and Social Democracy in England since 1944 (London, 1981), p. 258 in Fidler 1985) The First Modern School in the United States was founded in New York City in 1911. It was referred to as the Ferrer Center. Alternative Education: The Free School..... The basic theoretical notion of the free school movement is naturally “freedom”. The movement questions the traditional ideas and practices of the dominant pedagogy, expounding the conception of freedom and its meaning for childhood and education. In essence, knowledge and proficiency can be shared and developed without the hierarchy and the institutional structure of formal schooling. An extension of Ferrer’s Modern School Movement, they follow the non institutional, non authoritarian and counter cultural, child centered education of the original Escuela Moderna.(Graubard 1972)   The first of these schools was the Summerhill School in Suffolk, England, founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neil. In the United States, the first free schools were modeled after Summerhill. The writings of Paul Goodman, John Holt,Jonathan Kozol Neil Postman and others popularized the notion of the free school movement. ![[Untitled]](http://image.wetpaint.com/image/1/4d_Tpi8oh3nLbM1s8RkYZQ19639/GW112H139 "[Untitled]")    Alternative Education.... " It is little short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not completely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry." - Albert Einstein Democratic Education Past and Present.... | Ferrer and his Escuela Moderna... |
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| jkirker | Free Schools and Freedom Schools | 0 | Nov 2 2009, 12:54 PM EST by jkirker | ||
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Thread started: Nov 2 2009, 12:54 PM EST
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After doing my own research on Paulo Freire Freedom School, I am starting to learn HOW MANY components go into a schooling system. This website was helpful in reinforcing the evolution of schooling movements and how educational theories are borrowed, adapted and re-applied to create NEW school movements! You website also illustrates how this process can be both wonderful AND scary (if based on poor models!)
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| Lmason2 | Authoritarianism... | 2 | Nov 1 2009, 8:31 PM EST by amf324 | ||
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Thread started: Oct 25 2009, 7:34 PM EDT
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I really enjoyed the Democratic Education videos. I had never heard that our universal education system is rooted in the Prussian system; very interesting. Given that our education model has not substantially changed and given that almost all of our leaders support this same universal education system, I find myself pondering what this says about our leaders and who are represented by them.
Though I take issue with the narrator's assertion that the best alternative to authoritarian approaches to education are schools that are completely run by students. While tapping in to the natural curiousity of students and valuing their own interests and inclinations is a wonderful thing, I also believe that Intergenerational knowledge is a powerful, important educational tool that should not be dismissed. As we discussed previously in class, if the value messages being given to students are those of the domimant culture, we shouldn't be surprised when the students incorporate these values, rather than oppositional or alternative moral frames. |
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| grv108 | Prussian System | 0 | Oct 30 2009, 9:36 PM EDT by grv108 | ||
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Thread started: Oct 30 2009, 9:36 PM EDT
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Wow! The video that highlighted the Prussian system really caught my attention. I will definitely listen to it again and would be interested in learning more about the person who was being quoted.
Education often turns students into docile citizens. I agree. Did I catch the video correctly to suggest that this was the explicit intention of the Prussian system? My thinking on this matter was that education did this implicitly. In other words, it didn't necessarily start with that intention but through tradition and turning learning into a technical endeavor it did just that. The video suggested this was the purpose from the start. Fascinating but I don't think I would agree. Am I being naive? |
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