Sevasti Kallisperi

Sevasti Kallisperi (1912)

Sevasti Kallisperi ( Greek Σεβαστή Καλλισπέρη , * 1858 in Athens , Kingdom of Greece , † 1953 in Athens) was a Greek teacher , school inspector and writer . She was the first Greek woman to graduate from university.

Life

education

Kallisperi's parents were born Nicholas and Marigo Kallisperi. Her father came from the island of Kalymnos and had been an officer in the Greek struggle for freedom . He then became a school inspector, was a judge in Athens in 1844 and Prefect of Messenia in 1855 . The couple had three children and supported their education. Kallisperi attended a private girls' school , the Hill School in Athens.

Upon graduation, Kallisperi received private tuition to prepare her for university studies. In 1884 she passed the entrance examination to the University of Athens in front of ten professors , but the ministry repeatedly refused to recognize it. Also unsuccessfully, she applied for a government grant to study abroad. The following year her father agreed to send her to the Sorbonne in Paris .

When Kallisperi received her doctorate in 1891, she was the first Greek woman to receive a university degree. She was the only woman among 139 graduates. Before returning to Greece, she did internships in schools in Sèvres and Cambridge .

job

In 1892, Kallisperi became a teacher at an Arsakeio school (Αρσάκειο), where she taught French and Greek. Three years later she became the school inspector for the Greek girls' schools. She is the only inspector to travel all over the country. In addition, she campaigned intensively for women's education , made legislative proposals and published articles.

In 1904, Kallisperi took part in the first Greek education conference, where she also propagated gainful employment for women. In 1906 she became a delegate of the Greek government at the Conference of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Boston. Kallisperi traveled the United States for five years, attending schools and the Greek communities in various states, and in 1908 the National Congress of Mothers , a forerunner of the parents' association .

In her writings, Kallisperi advocated women's education and the reform of the educational system. She also wrote analyzes of ancient Greek literature, translated foreign plays, wrote poetry and her autobiography.

Death and inheritance

Kallisperi died in Athens in 1953. Among other things, she and her brother George built a house that she bequeathed to the Greek government to set up a foundation for women's education. After decades of vacancy, the secondary girls' school in Chalandri took over the building. It later went to the commune. The monument status for the neoclassical house from 1911 was finally approved in 2012.

Fonts (selection)

• Προς τους ομοεθνείς μου. Εφημερίς των Κυριών. Αρ. 275. Έτος ΣΤ΄. 4 Οκτωβρίου 1892.
• Περί μεταρρυθμίσεως του Γυναικείου Εκπαιδευτικού Συστήματος. In: Ε. Φουρναράκη Εκπαίδευση και αγωγή των κοριτσιών. Ελληνικοί Προβληματισμοί (1830-1910). Ένα ανθολόγιο (σσ. 445-457). Αθήνα: ΙΑΕΝ, Γενική Γραμματεία Νέας Γενιάς. 1897.
• Απομνημονεύματα και υποθήκαι εις την εκπαίδευσιν και την μετανάστευσιν προς την Βλλυλήν τνω Ε. Αθήνα: Τύποις «Καλλιτεχνικής Επιθεωρήσεως». 1911.

literature

• Σ. Ζιώγου: «Καλλισπέρη Σεβαστή." In: Π. Δορμπαράκης, Μ. Αποστολοπούλου-Χατζηδάκη και Χ. Ξενάκη (Ed.): «Παιδαγωγική Ψυχολογική Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Λεξικό." Athens 1990. p. 2539.

Web links

• (Greek)