Live to the Truth: The Life and Times of Cyrus Peirce: Crusader for American Public Education Founder of the First Public Teacher-Training School in the Nation - Softcover

White, Barbara Ann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0990587401 ISBN 13: 9780990587408

Verlag: Barbara Ann White, 2014

Über diesen Titel

Reseña del editor:

This is a biography of Cyrus Peirce who was the founder of the first public teacher training school in the United States. With Horace Mann, Peirce was an important crusader for public education. Peirce was chosen by Mann in 1839 to direct the Lexington Normal School in Lexington, Massachusetts. The women who attended the school were the first specifically trained teachers in the country funded by public money. The curriculum that Peirce created became the basis for normal schools around the country, most of which evolved into our state university systems. Peirce deserves credit for insisting on student teaching, now taken for granted as an important part of teacher education. Ultra-conservative forces set out to destroy Peirce and the normal school. They believed that his "soft" approach to children, which rejected corporal punishment and rote memorization, was dangerous and un-American. An evening of dramatic tableaux at the school in 1846 was fodder for sensational headlines in Boston for over two years as Peirce was accused of allowing and condoning indecent and inappropriate behavior. The story of how Peirce and Mann defended themselves and the school makes for a gripping tale. The story of Cyrus Peirce, who lived between the American Revolution and the Civil War, is a case study of the tensions in American society at the time. While his primary contribution was in the field of education, Peirce was also involved in other reform movements. He was an ardent abolitionist who helped lead the fight to desegregate Nantucket's public schools which led to the passage of the earliest civil rights law to guarantee equal access to public education. He defied the "gag" rule of the House of Representatives when he tried to present a petition with John Quincy Adams to amend the Constitution and eliminate the counting of slaves as three-fifths of a person for distributing seats in the House. He was also an early leader in the woman's suffrage movement and advocated for equal pay and equal education for women during his entire life. He believed in non-violent resistance and attended the Paris Peace Congress of 1849. Peirce's legacy lives on in the countless number of teachers who have benefitted from enhanced teacher training, as well as the students who benefitted from better teaching. While Horace Mann has been fully recognized for his place in the history of American public education, the role of Peirce has been overlooked. This book resurrects the vital role that Peirce played, a role that was well-recognized by his contemporaries, but has slipped from modern histories.

Biografía del autor:

Barbara Ann White is a research fellow at the Nantucket Historical Association. Her previous book: A Line in the Sand: The Integration of Nantucket Public Schools, was published in 2009 by Spinner Publications. The documentary film: Rock of Changes, produced by WGBH in Boston, was based on her work on school integration. The film won the Jury Award at the USA Film Festival in 1999. She was an Ames Fellow at Boston University and contributed a chapter to "Nantucket's People of Color" about the work of abolitionist educator, Anna Gardner, who founded normal schools in the south during Reconstruction. White taught in the Nantucket public school system for over 33 years. She is currently working on a book about "hidden histories" of Nantucket.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Barbara Ann White
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0990587401
• ISBN 13: 9780990587408
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Anzahl der Seiten: 326