Ella Flagg Young

Ella Flagg Young, around 1910

Ella Flagg Young (born January 15, 1845 in Buffalo , † October 26, 1918 in Washington, DC ) was an American teacher, teacher trainer, school reformer, school administration reformer and a representative of "progressive education". She was the first woman in the position of superintendent and in this capacity was the highest paid woman in the United States at the time and was responsible for the entire school system in Chicago . She was Assistant Professor of Education under John Dewey , a member of the Chicago School of Pragmatism .

childhood

Ella Flagg was the youngest of three children in a working-class family. The parents were Presbyterians , but lived their faith in an undogmatic manner: playing cards, dancing and reading secular literature were permitted; the father read a lot and discussed religious questions. Since she was a sickly child, Flagg, unlike her older siblings, did not attend school. She spent almost every day gardening because her parents believed it was good for her health. When he was eight or nine, Flagg taught himself to read, inspired by a newspaper report about a school house fire. At the age of eleven she finally went to school. When Flagg was thirteen, the family moved to Chicago in 1858 .

education

A prerequisite for admission to one of the high schools in Chicago was that Flagg attended Grammar School for a year . But the lessons there bored her increasingly; the father was critical of education as it was taught in schools, the mother saw no need for her daughter to attend other schools; Flagg gave up school after a few months. A friend made her aware of the possibility of “teachers certification”: since there were hardly any institutionalized training courses for teachers, most teachers were not trained at specialized schools; instead, the superintendent (supreme school inspector in the American educational system of the time) held exams. Those who passed this test were admitted to teaching at the elementary level. Flagg passed the "teachers certification", but was still too young to teach at the age of 15. On the recommendation of the superintendent, Flagg was able to take part in the training course for teachers ("Chicago High School Normal Course"), which one of the high schools offered soon after, apparently for the first time.

Teacher training, school management and "assistant superintendent"

In 1856 the first high school was established in Chicago for the purpose of teacher training. The entry requirements were low, men had to be 16 and women 15 years old and had to pass an entrance examination that roughly corresponded to the sixth grade. Teachers in the 1850s and 60s made $ 1,000 a year, but female teachers only made $ 250. At first the work was purely theoretical. In 1865, however, a practical school was set up, at which a limited number of students taught for half a year. The Board of Education controlled the subjects, admission of students and no one could become a teacher without their consent. The board was asked to extend the normal training by half a year so that the young girls could be taught a little more “culture”. This was rejected, as was the raising of the standards for the entrance examination.

At the age of 18, Ella Flagg took her first position as a teacher at the Brown School in 1862. She herself had attended Brown School at the age of 13 when her family came to Chicago and taught arithmetic as a "student with special duties". Her mother died that same year. Just three years later, at the suggestion of the superintendent, Flagg was able to take over the construction and management of the new "School of Practice". This training school for prospective teachers consisted of two primary school classes in two classrooms; Teachers in the last training semester taught in one of the classes for fourteen days each; Flagg supervised the teaching staff in the preparation and design of lessons, gave demonstration lessons and was also responsible for the learning progress of all children. Between 1865 and 1876 Flagg was the head of the practice school with short interruptions, and later in a similar position at the "Normal School". The systematic training of teachers was only just beginning: the system of “Normal School” for general education and “School of Practice” for practical vocational training was expanded during this period and merged into a new building.

When Flagg suggested to one of her interns to choose another profession, this led to a conflict with the “School Board” (supervisory body of the schools). Flagg then quit her service for a year and taught mathematics, but then returned to normal school and teacher training. From 1874 the young "normal school" increasingly lost its importance because some high schools extended their academic training to two years; the "Normal School" was closed a little later, and in 1877 the "Practice School" as well. Future teachers were then recruited from among the graduates of the high school and, after passing an aptitude test, were employed on a trial basis and without any practical training.

From 1876 Flagg headed the Scammon School, moved in 1879 to the Skinner School, which was one of the largest schools in Chicago. In 1887 Flagg became one of the five "assistant superintendents"; she held this position for twelve years. When Albert G. Lane became the new superintendent in 1891, she supported his work. Under Lane, handicrafts were introduced as part of the curriculum in ten additional elementary schools. In 1892 the ten kindergartens, which had been run and financed by private institutions since 1888, were integrated into the school system and financed by law from 1895. Lane also supported teachers' calls for a pension fund.

In 1880 there were 898 teachers in Chicago and in 1890 there were already 5,806 (through the incorporation of surrounding peripheral communities) with a population of around 1.5 million.

Private life

In 1868 Ella Flagg married the much older and ailing William Young. Her brother died that same year. Her husband died in 1873, shortly afterwards in the same year the father and sister; so she was completely without family ties. It is possible that the Flagg Young couple had separated before the husband's death; in any case, the husband no longer lived in Chicago before his death, but in the American border region . From the mid-1870s, a Skinner School teacher, Laura Brayton, became Flagg Young's close friend. The two women ran a household together for over 30 years until Young's death. When Flagg Young became superintendent, Laura Brayton took on the role of personal assistant. It is unclear whether Young and Brayton had a love affair.

Flagg Young had lively and close contact with other intellectual and social reformist women from Chicago: Like Jane Addams and Margaret Haley, she was a member of the "Chicago Woman's Club", but also met both women privately and coordinated with them during their time as superintendent political advances and actions. As the head of the Skinner School, Ella Flagg Young and the teachers founded a learning and discussion group that discussed Greek dramas, Shakespeare , modern plays and questions of English grammar, in keeping with the typical idea of ​​higher education .

Dewey and the University

At the age of fifty, Young began studying under John Dewey at the University of Chicago , initially part-time . For four years she took seminars in logic , ethics , metaphysics and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophy. In 1899 she retired from her position as "assistant superintendent" and wrote her dissertation on Isolation in the school . She received her PhD in 1900 and was Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Chicago from 1900 to 1905. Her courses in psychology, philosophy, and education were very popular. She performed various tasks. President Harper asked them to maintain ties with the Chicago School Board on behalf of the university. For John Dewey she supervised his teacher and gave his experimental school the name "Laboratory School". She edited the monthly Elementary School Teacher and Educational Bi-Monthly . John Dewey's daughter wrote in her bio: Dewey consider, “Mrs. Young as the wisest person in school matters with whom he has come in contact in any way ... ”(Ms. Young as the smartest person in school matters he has ever met). When Dewey and his wife left university in 1904, she left too.

The first woman as superintendent

Ella Flagg Young in 1905 on a crossing between Europe and the USA

In 1904 Young left university and traveled around Europe, gathering new impressions in other schools. Shortly after her return in 1905, she became director of the Chicago Normal School, later Chicago Teachers College. In her role she was very committed to improving the quality of teacher training.

In 1909, after disagreements and critical voices against a woman in such a position and after the office had been vacant for six months, Ella Flagg Young was elected superintendent by the city school board. Not only did the fact that a woman was elected to this office for the first time caused a sensation, but also that she received the same wages as her predecessor. At $ 10,000 a year, Young was the highest paid woman in America. For many women she symbolized a pioneer in such a position. Young gained a reputation and attention throughout the country through her office. Women incited her to take the presidency of the National Education Association (NEA). In 1907 - with its 50th anniversary - the NEA represented 5,044 members in the USA and thus had a significant influence on education. In a 1907 speech, Ella Flagg Young said: “If the public school system is to meet the demands that the 20th century will impose on it, the isolation of teachers from the administration of the school must be overcome. Can it be true that teachers are stronger in their work when they have no voice in planning the great tasks that are put into their hands? ”In 1910 she was elected. Encouraged by her election, she exposed certain frauds in the NEA and was threatened out of revenge. When her presidency ended, she resumed her duties as superintendent.

According to her conviction for more democracy in schools, she also tried to lead her office. She involved everyone around her in making critical decisions. She gave time and opportunity for fellow activists to discuss and carry out their plans, and she brought a sense of community into her work. Although this type of leadership often proved difficult and time-consuming, she took it for granted. The result was that their relationships with women's organizations and the public were intense, mutual, and enduring. The strong support she received from the women's movement was also instrumental in the success of many of the courageous programs she instituted.

In 1913 the school board's conservatism increased; in the same year women won the vote in Illinois. The female voters campaigned against corruption in the government. Young also campaigned against the abuse of office and made himself so unpopular. She had some arguments with the Board of Education over textbooks and also teacher rights, so she submitted her resignation. Jane Addams and others organized a protest movement of 2,000 women against the board. When some members resigned from this, Ella Flagg Young was reinstated.

When she was on vacation in August 1915, real estate magnate Jacob Loeb, an influential man on the Board of Education, took the opportunity to propose a motion banning teachers from union membership. By the time Young returned, this clause, known as the "Loeb rule," had already been adopted. Young resigned from office. As a result, there was no opposition on the Board to the subsequent dismissal of a large number of teachers belonging to the CTF. In 1916, speaking at the NEA meeting, where Loeb was the previous speaker and attacking the teachers' unions, she said that people who did not send their children to public schools (Loeb's children went to private schools) should also not be on the Board of Education.

The educational philosophy

Ella Flagg Young criticized the hierarchical structures of the education system and accused the administration of isolating itself from the reality of the school. The teachers are degraded and not free in their consciousness. She fought against the required uniformity. She was very supportive of the fact that teachers and students should have a greater say in everyday school life. The keywords freedom and democracy should be mentioned here.

During their long and significant career, Young led the Chicago schools through a period of dramatic change, when industrialization quickly dominated the economy and many new ethnic groups came as immigrants. It responded to these and many other challenges by introducing a series of reforms. It promoted vocational training in schools. In order to ensure the quality and prosperity of teaching, it decentralized many administrative functions and gave schools more responsibility. She tried to free the school administration from the rigid office work so that they could become a leadership with knowledge of curricula and pedagogy. She provided the schools with deans to advise students. She also offered sex education programs that had not previously been taught in schools.

The last few years

Young traveled around California with Laura Brayton for the next three years. On October 26, 1918, Ella Flagg Young died of flu. She left her property to Brayton and three other friends.

Jane Addams said of her: "She had more intelligence and character than any other woman I knew".

Works

• Isolation in the Schools . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1900, PhD thesis March 1900. New edition: Kessinger Publishing , ISBN 1-4370-2670-2 and Nabu Press, 2011, ISBN 1-176-74558-1
• Ethics in the School . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1902, archive.org - New edition: Kessinger Publishing, 2008, ISBN 0-548-86420-9
• Some Types of Modern Educational Theory. Brief criticisms of Arnold Tompkins, Mary R. Alling-Aber, WW Speer, Francis W. Parker, John Dewey . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1902, archive.org
• Scientific Method in Education . Published by University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1903, archive.org
• Ella Flagg Young, Walter Taylor Field, and Maginel Wright Barney: The Young and Field Literary Readers . New edition, publisher: General Books, 2009, ISBN 1-4590-0205-9
• The re-examination of teachers . In: The Elementary School Teacher , Vol. IV, December 1903, pp. 247-249, archive.org

literature

Essays

• Ellen Condliff Lagemann: Experimenting with Education. John Dewey and Ella Flagg Young at the University of Chicago . In: American Journal of Education , Vol. 104, No. 3, May 1996, pp. 171-185.
• Jürgen Oelkers, Rebekka Horlacher: Theory developments in the Dewey area . In: John Dewey: The Human Nature . Their nature and their behavior . Pestalozzianum publishing house, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-03755-018-X , pp. 244-250
• Ella Flagg Young . Chicago Public Schools, Division of Curriculum Development; The Kings Co., Chicago 1951, p. 251

Books

• John T. McManis: Ella Flagg Young and a Half-Century of the Chicago Public Schools . John T. McManis: Ella Flagg Young and a half-century of the Chicago public schools . AC McClurg, Chicago 1916; New edition: Kessinger Publishing, 2008, ISBN 1-4366-0829-5
• Joan K. Smith: Ella Flagg Young. Portrait of a Leader . Educational Studies Press, Ames IA 1979, ISBN 0-934328-00-5 .
• David Tyack, Elisabeth Hansot: Managers of Virtue. Public School Leadership in America, 1820-1980 . Basic Books, New York 1982, ISBN 0-465-04376-3 .
• Charlene Haddock Seigfried: Pragmatism and Feminism. Reweaving the social fabric . The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1996, ISBN 0-226-74557-0 .
• Alan R. Sadovnik, Susan F. Semel (Eds.): Founding Mothers and Others: Women Educational Leaders During the Progressive Era . Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, ISBN 978-0-312-23297-9
• Elbert Hubbard: Ella Flagg Young . Kessinger Publishing, 2011, ISBN 1-163-02924-6
• Jackie M. Blount: Destined to rule the schools: women and the superintendency, 1873-1995 . St Univ Of New York, 1998, ISBN 0-7914-3730-2
• Christine Bennett: American women in civic work . Dodd & Mead, New York 1915, pp. 254-277, Ella Flagg Young .

Web links

Commons : Ella Flagg Young  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Description of John Dewey about his collaboration with Ella Flagg Young. In: John T. McManis: Ella Flagg Young and a half-century of the Chicago public schools . AC McClurg, Chicago 1916, pp. 119-122
2. ^ Sabrina Holcomb: The History of the National Education Association .
3. ↑ Linda Eisenmann: Historical dictionary of women's education in the United States. Greenwood Pub, 1998, ISBN 0-313-29323-6 , p. 496 ff.
4. ↑ Daniel Schugurensky: Ella Flagg Young, first female superintendent of a major city school system. The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE / UT)
5. ^ Biography Ella Flagg Young
6. ↑ Ella F. Young Dies. In: Chicago Tribune , October 27, 1918.