Indian Springs School

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The Indian Springs School is a private school founded in 1952 in Indian Springs , Alabama (USA), a suburb of Birmingham . A boarding school is attached to the school, in which pupils from the 8th to 12th grade are taught .

history

The school was founded in 1952 with funds left by Harvey G. Woodward, who died in 1930, for this purpose. Woodward came from a wealthy family, attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and subsequently enjoyed success in the real estate business. He was dissatisfied with the situation at the secondary schools in the USA : The private schools had an outdated curriculum in his eyes , while the public schools destroyed the interest and curiosity of the students with their mass operation. In June 1929 - at the height of American reform pedagogy - he therefore wrote a comprehensive concept for a school according to his ideas.

Woodwards concept

Instead of stubborn memorization , students should "train their minds and bodies to apply their own skills to new facts they encounter in the course of their lives and to come to well-founded and appropriate conclusions." He also declined specialization On individual subjects, for example, the school should forego foreign languages, rather the students should experience a broad overview of the world. It was also important to Woodward that teachers should not hold religious views and that there should be no brotherhoods or secret societies at the school .

Another concern Woodwards it was one from the point of culture and race to have "pure" school community. His school should only be open to white, male students who are “healthy in mind and body”, i.e. “not cripples”. This should ensure a medical examination prior to admission. Since Woodward understood "Jewish" as a race and not as a religion, Jewish students were also not allowed in, as were blacks, whom he also excluded as servants so that the students would not be negatively influenced by them. With these views, Woodward was also in the tradition of reform pedagogy, which claimed to represent a "scientific" approach to the race question.

Financing and establishment

Woodward's will, to which he attached his school concept, was published shortly after his death in 1930 and caused a sensation. Not only the foundation's estimated $ 7.5 million, but also the fact that Woodward invested it philanthropically in the midst of the Great Depression made the project known nationwide. The New York Times and Time Magazine reported in detail. There were, however, also critical voices who, although affirming the need for a good secondary school in Alabama, saw Woodward's vision as a utopia. At the time the will was published, there were only 60 similar reform schools in the entire United States and only one in Florida in the southwest of the country .

Woodward wanted the first school - he planned multiple locations - to open as soon as the fund reached more than $ 3 million. However, this was initially prevented by a series of lawsuits because the will was challenged in court by his widow and later by two governors. It wasn't until 1947 that the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the funds should be used to set up a single school in Alabama.

The Indian Springs School was opened finally in 1952 with 60 students who were taught by 10 teachers. The boarding school students were boys from Birmingham and rural Alabama. Indian Springs School's first principal , Dr. Louis Armstrong, made every effort not only to prepare students for college but also to make them aware of the problems of American society that they should grapple with. He wanted to achieve that the students themselves look for creative solutions. Right from the start, the students had the right to participate. A set of rules was drawn up that stipulated the rights and duties of students and teaching staff. The student council had a comparatively large influence on how the school was run and developed.

In the 1970s, for the first time, the number of day students roughly matched the number of students in the boarding school. At that time the school became co-educational and the eighth grade was introduced at the same time.

The school became known through the debut novel Eine wie Alaska by the former Indian Springs student John Green . The award-winning youth novel is set in a school that is closely based on the Indian Springs School .

The school has 297 students (as of June 2010) who are taught by 42 teachers. School fees are $ 17,500, with nearly 30% of students receiving a partial scholarship.

Well-known graduates

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d p. 1
  2. ↑ a b p. 2
  • Other sources
  1. ^ A b Indian Springs School: History.Retrieved September 17, 2010.
  2. ^ Indian Springs School: Alumni of Note.Retrieved September 17, 2010.
  3. ^ John Green: Looking for Alaska at My High School (video) Published on YouTube on August 6, 2010. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
  4. ^ Privateschoolreview.com: Indian Springs School.Retrieved September 17, 2010.