Composition: History & Theory: 1900 - 1919
Administration and Professionalization
Description
In The American School From the Puritans to No Child Left Behind (2008), Joel Spring explains that major players in the politics of education during this time were school boards, teachers’ unions, state governments, businesses, and special interest groups (such as the American Legion and the National Association of Manufacturers). As one would imagine, the power conflicts at the time were between teachers (who would eventually find themselves allied with labor unions) and administrators (who were, very early on, allied with business elites). The goal of achieving a scientifically managed society was thought to begin in the schools. The meritocracy was built on the idea that schools should be removed from politics and placed under the scrutiny of civic leaders and administrators who would serve the interests of the students and the community. School leadership at the time was composed of small school boards of the professional elite with limited involvement in running the schools and what Spring refers to as “administrative progressives,” superintendents who were given authority and responsibility to administer policy and standardize the school systems. Spring notes that “[t]he scientific management reforms of administrative progressives contributed to an increased sense of powerlessness among many teachers” (331). “Scientific management,” he argues, “institutionalized and provided justification for the traditional educational harem of female schoolteachers ruled by male administrators” (331). At the time, there were dueling definitions of professionalism: Teachers sought to preserve their existing employment conditions, labeling attacks against the “unprofessional” while administrators called their scientific “innovations” an attempt to “professionalize” the teaching force. The desire for more control and power over their discipline led teachers to link their efforts with those of the women’s suffrage movement. Unions began to consolidate. The CFT (Chicago Federation of Teachers, and forerunner of the AFT, or American Federation of Teachers) joined the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL). Later, the AFT would join with the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
Date of Upload
3/13/09