Catholic women educators’ discourse and educational measurement in the early twentieth century in the United States

ABSTRACT

In the early twentieth century in the United States, Roman Catholic schools grew in number and became increasingly regulated by state departments of education. This led to the increased influence of public school reform movements in Catholic schools. Some Catholic educators questioned these movements, while others embraced them. Educational measurement strategies, such as IQ and standardised testing, gained support from women religious orders and congregations, who made up the majority of the Catholic teaching force. For pragmatic reasons, they saw some value in the promises of modern educational science for teaching and learning. This practice, however, put them at odds with some of the beliefs and values of their Church. This study demonstrates how Catholic sister teachers attempted to shape the debate on the introduction and use of reform strategies like IQ and standardised testing. It also examines how Catholic sister teachers made use of Catholic beliefs and values to make arguments in favour of IQ and standardised testing in Catholic schools. Using agreed upon Catholic religious tenets and working within their gendered reality, Catholic sister teachers demonstrated how they tried to convince their colleagues, male and female, to come to an understanding around the use of educational measurement.     

The Christian Family as Mediator

The publication in 2011 of This is Our Faith (TIOF), the Catholic Church in Scotland's syllabus for religious education in Catholic schools, is a significant contribution to wider debates on the appropriate conceptual framework for religious education. Recent teaching of the Holy See has suggested that religious education in Catholic schools should adopt a scholastic shape and serve as a complement to catechesis. In TIOF, pedagogy, assessment issues and the relationship between cognitive and affective approaches to learning are merged in the context of a distinct faith tradition. TIOF's adoption of a catechetical vision of religious education shows how local churches can adapt Catholic teaching to their own circumstances.     

Ecumenism,economic necessity and the disappearance of Methodist elementary schools in England in the twentieth century

This study aims to define the extent of, and causes for, the decline of the Wesleyan educational effort in England in the twentieth century. In 1902 the Church had 738 schools, but these rapidly declined throughout the century, with only 28 remaining in 1996. The establishment of these schools during the nineteenth century had been largely for the protection of Wesleyan children, with a denominational mistrust of the proselytism in both Anglicanism and Roman Catholic institutions. This study aims to show how far this mistrust continued into the twentieth century and estimates the influence of growing ecumenism on the Church’s decision to allow its own elementary schools to disappear. Nevertheless, this is an important subject, reflecting the declining influence of all churches on wider society in the twentieth century, as well as the increasing need to form church alliances to counter growing secularism in a post‐Christian era.     

Gospel Values and Catholic Education: Revitalizing the Faith Community in a Culture of “Whatever”

The Second Vatican Council introduced a new narrative for Catholic school. Rather than serving a primarily catechetical purpose, Catholic schools were to share in the Church's evangelizing mission by embodying an ideal learning community in a manner rooted in Gospel values. This paper argues that Gospel values are not exported from the Bible and applied to Catholic schools. Instead, they emerge in the experience of teaching-learning as a humanly liberating activity in relation to the human reality of God's Kingdom realized in Jesus of Nazareth and explores revitalizing Catholic education through Gospel values, without at the same time being sectarian.     

美国梦——驶向不归路的欲望之车——解读《嘉莉妹妹》中主要人物的美国梦

《嘉莉妹妹》是美国二十世纪杰出的自然主义作家-西奥多.德莱塞的第一部小说。本文通过文本分析,深刻剖析了生活在十九世纪美国的女主人公嘉莉及赫斯渥在不同欲望的驱使下所追求的各自的美国梦。     

Educating the Young Mathematician: The Twentieth Century and Beyond

Educational programs for young children emerged reasonably early in the history of the United States of America. The movements of Child-Centered Education, the Nursery School, the Project Method, Curriculum Reform, and contemporary research have all influenced mathematics in early childhood education. The Froebelian kindergarten and the Montessori Casa die Bambini (Children’s House) included approaches to teaching mathematics. This article reviews the history of mathematics education in relation to the history of early childhood education from the turn of the twentieth century. It also discusses how research in mathematics education attempted to gain its own identity. Throughout history, researchers have identified mathematics issues and addressed them, defining the field, and generating a cadre of mathematics researchers.     

Do Varieties of Spanish Influence U.S. Spanish–English Bilingual Children's Friendship Judgments?

Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States (U.S. Census, 2014), yet this term comprises individuals from multiple ethnicities who speak distinct varieties of Spanish. We investigated whether Spanish–English bilingual children (N = 140, ages 4–17) use Spanish varieties in their social judgments. The findings revealed that children distinguished varieties of Spanish but did not use Spanish dialects to make third-person friendship judgments until 10–12 years; this effect became stronger in adolescence. In contrast, young children (4–6 years) made friendship judgments based on a speaker's language (English, Spanish). Thus, using language varieties as a social category and as a basis for making social inferences is a complex result of multiple influences for Spanish-speaking children growing up bilingual in the United States.     

Building New Bridges to America's Schools: Lessons From the University of Notre Dame

This article tells the story and explores the significance of Notre Dame's efforts over the past 18 years to serve the pressing needs of underresourced elementary and secondary schools throughout the United States, with a special focus on the faith-based sector—and more particularly, Catholic schools. These schools are increasingly fragile but possess a well-documented track record of success educating low-income minority students. The closure in 1976 of Notre Dame's Department of Education left open an institutional space for entrepreneurial initiatives and new partnerships responsive to the needs of schools across the nation. Attentive to the manifold ironies inherent in the founding (in the mid-1990s) and growth of the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) program and Notre Dame's Institute for Educational Initiatives in which ACE is housed, the authors discern a pattern in which seeming deficits and obstacles repeatedly spark innovative responses and powerful alliances among a diverse range of stakeholders united by common goals. Drawing upon lessons learned, both through failures and successes, these reflections suggest roles that institutions of higher learning might play to improve the quality of education in faith-based, private, and public schools.     

“儿童中心”论在美国的兴起

在19世纪末、20世纪初的美国,儿童观的转变、儿童研究运动的兴起、新的儿童教育理念的传播以及改革学校呼声的不断高涨,为"儿童中心"论在美国的兴起准备了条件本文旨在通过对历史文献的梳理,考察这一时期美国教育界的相关思潮,分析"儿童中心"论的兴起和在早期阶段的主要含义。19世纪末20世纪初,在公立学校课程改革的论争中,帕克运用赫尔巴特学派"集中"的概念较早明确提出了儿童是学校中心的观点,儿童研究运动的代表人物霍尔提出了"儿童中心的"学校理想,而杜威则通过比较新旧教育的差异,将"儿童中心"作为新教育的基本特征。在同样使用"儿童中心"概念的教育家的思想中,这个观念所指陈的问题不同,其含义也存在明显差异。对"儿童中心"论兴起背景与过程的探讨,有助于更合理、更充分地把握这个观念的准确含义及其历史价值。 更多还原     

They came with a purpose: educational journeys of nineteenth-century Irish Dominican Sister Teachers

Irish Catholic teaching sisters were major actors in the development of education systems in New World countries such as the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Immigrants themselves, they faced a number of key challenges as they sought to adapt Old World cultural and educational ideas to the education of the immigrant Irish in a new cultural, religious and educational context. A close examination of the wide range of sources available in private archives and elsewhere offers unique insights into the challenges facing 10 Irish Dominican Sister Teachers as they journeyed from Ireland to Dunedin to found primary and secondary schools in the young colony of New Zealand. This article examines their responses to their early experiences and the part they played in the development of a viable Catholic education system in nineteenth-century New Zealand.     

19世纪美国的天主教移民及其本土化研究

19世纪有大量的欧洲移民进入美国社会,其中以爱尔兰移民和德国移民的数量最大,绝大多数是天主教教徒。当时美国的新教徒占据绝对的主流,他们对代表欧洲旧势力的天主教持抵抗态度,加之移民本身的复杂性,使得这一时期天主教在美国的发展举步维艰。19世纪的美国天主教是在克服外来的反天主教势力和解决内部冲突的过程中得以生存和发展的。     

Head Start in Transition

This article explores the history of Head Start, the federal early education program for economically disadvantaged preschool children in the United States, as a way of understanding what it means to talk about change in the late twentieth century. The history of Head Start has been a story of administrative changes and improvement and accountability initiatives in the realm of public policy, a ominant narrative of progress and rational planning that is consonant with a large, centralized governance structure. In an effort to create another way of conceiving of the organization, we first examine shifting definitions and conflicting interpretations of parental involvement and staff development within the program to reveal some of the tensions inherent in all human endeavors. We then draw on interviews with women who work in and are served by Head Start to show how needs and resources vary and how policy mandates can have differential—and unintended—effects. In the conclusion, we suggest, following Toulmin (1990), that the certainty and stability that has characterized public policy since the Enlightment must now be tempered with a postmodern recognition of change, complexity, and variability. Rather than one history, we see many histories. Instead of one approach, we see value in tailoring improvement initiatives to the needs of families and staff in specific circumstances.     

¡Puño en Alto! The Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign and What it Means for Literacy Today

Modern notions of literacy can be informed by past successes in the field of literacy. One of the most successful national literacy campaigns occurred in Nicaragua in 1980 and was called Cruzada Nacional de Alfabetización (CNA). The fight against illiteracy to provide a space for marginalized voices in Nicaragua is a story worth telling to current literacy professionals in the United States, who are painfully aware of high illiteracy rates in certain geographic areas and among particular populations. First is an historical accounting of the literacy campaign by contextualizing the background of Nicaragua's political and social situation. Next is an explanation regarding how critical pedagogy can be useful in reading the historical event. Last, a critical lens is used to decipher what lessons might be taken from Nicaragua's literacy campaign to identify critical issues and inform the difficult decisions in literacy education today in the United States.     

Forgotten History: Mexican American School Segregation in Arizona from 1900–1951 1

This article documents the efforts by Mexican Americans to challenge school segregation in Arizona in the first half of the twentieth century. As in Texas and California, although state law never formally mandated the segregation of Mexican American students, school districts in Arizona often established separate “Mexican Schools” for Mexican American students. While districts argued that segregation was necessary because of students' poor English skills, the segregation of Mexican American students in Arizona's public schools was not an isolated practice but occurred in tandem with other discriminatory practices that restricted the social rights of Mexican Americans, many of whom were American citizens. However, Mexican Americans challenged segregation in the courts. Notably, in Gonzales v. Sheely, a case heard in the United States District Court of Arizona in 1950, Judge Dave Ling declared segregation unconstitutional over three years before the Supreme Court's historic decision in Brown v. Board (1954).     

美国消费社会初期的男性消费透视

19世纪末期。由于经济的快速发展。一个现代消费社会在美国逐步兴起与发展。消费成为美国生活方式和大众文化的重要组成部分。长期以来,人们普遍相信消费是一种女性化行为。而忽略了男性作为消费者的角色。但高涨的消费浪潮将美国男性卷入了不同层次的消费活动中。男性开始成为美国现代消费社会的一部分。随着20世纪的推进,男性消费群体的兴起逐渐获得了社会大众的普遍认同。     

Head Start in Transition

This article explores the history of Head Start, the federal early education program for economically disadvantaged preschool children in the United States, as a way of understanding what it means to talk about change in the late twentieth century. The history of Head Start has been a story of administrative changes and improvement and accountability initiatives in the realm of public policy, a ominant narrative of progress and rational planning that is consonant with a large, centralized governance structure. In an effort to create another way of conceiving of the organization, we first examine shifting definitions and conflicting interpretations of parental involvement and staff development within the program to reveal some of the tensions inherent in all human endeavors. We then draw on interviews with women who work in and are served by Head Start to show how needs and resources vary and how policy mandates can have differential—and unintended—effects. In the conclusion, we suggest, following Toulmin (1990), that the certainty and stability that has characterized public policy since the Enlightment must now be tempered with a postmodern recognition of change, complexity, and variability. Rather than one history, we see many histories. Instead of one approach, we see value in tailoring improvement initiatives to the needs of families and staff in specific circumstances. .     

The language of the liberal consensus: John F. Kennedy,technical reason,and the “new economics” at Yale University

On June 11, 1962, President John F. Kennedy addressed the economy at Yale University. This essay explains the symbolic charge of his economic rhetoric, a persuasive campaign that enjoyed considerable success and marked the first time that a president took explicit responsibility for the nation's economic performance. I argue that the president crafted the authority to take command of the economy through construction of a liberal ethos, the use of dissociation, and a definition of the times. His arguments, in turn, were invented from the liberal matrix that dominated politics in the mid‐twentieth‐century United States and represent the ways in which that mode of discourse develops a historically contingent and politically powerful form of technical reason. President Kennedy's speech illustrates a set of strategies that can raise the status of one political language above its competitors in the process of public argument.     

解析《嘉莉妹妹》中的自然主义

西奥多.德莱塞是美国20世纪著名的自然主义作家。1900年发表的《嘉莉妹妹》是其成名作,自然主义始终贯穿整部小说。作者把嘉莉的性格归因于无法摆脱的环境的约束,欲望的控制和适者生存的法则制约,从而折射出《嘉莉妹妹》中的自然主义。     

Examining the Legacy of Urban Catholic Schooling in the U.S.: A Systematic Literature Review

The Urban Review - Research conducted in the twentieth century found urban Catholic schools in the U.S. had a legacy of providing high quality educational opportunities for low-income students and...     

Enid on Enid: Blyton’s Use of Arthurian Narratives in The Knights of the Round Table

The article begins by assessing Enid Blyton’s contribution to the Arthurian revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, setting this in the context of longstanding debates about the function of children’s literature. It goes on to argue that Blyton’s use of the story of Enid in The Knights of the Round Table (1930) has a personal significance which deserves attention. The article also suggests that other figures in the story—Enid’s father, her mother, and her husband Geraint—have parallels in Blyton’s life. In Alfred Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King,” the tale of Geraint and Enid concerns the early phase of married life—a phase which must meet certain criteria if children are to be forthcoming. But Blyton’s source might have prompted unease on her part, for it was in 1928—the year in which The Knights of the Round Table was serialized—that Blyton, who had not conceived after 4 years of marriage, consulted a gynaecologist.