Chicago State University (CSU) is a state university of the U.S. state of Illinois, located in Chicago. In 1869, the school opened as a permanent institution in Englewood, then a village far beyond the outskirts of Chicago. After Wentworth died in 1883, he was replaced by Colonel Francis Wayland Parker, a towering figure in the
history of American education. Parker was an educational innovator who helped construct the philosophy of progressive education, which has decisively shaped American schooling over the past century. Dedicated to the proposition that the nature and interests of the child should determine curricular decisions, not vice-versa, progressive reformers from the 1890s forward tried to banish what they saw as oppressive and authoritarian standards of instruction. Parker urged teachers to grant pupils the freedom to learn from their environment, to let curiosity rather than rewards or punishments provide their motivation, and to advance American democracy by democratizing their classrooms. John Dewey wrote in The New Republic in 1930 that Parker, more nearly than any other one person, was the father of the progressive educational movement. Parker believed that
education was the cornerstone of a democracy, and that to achieve this end rote memorization should be replaced with exploration of the environment. Parkers Talks on Pedagogics preceded Deweys own School and Society by five years, and it is one of the foundational texts in the progressive movement. By the 1890s, Cook County was unable to provide the requisite support for its Normal School. Since many graduates found employment in the Chicago Public Schools system, it was natural that the city would take over, though initially it was very resistant to the idea. In 1897 the Chicago Board of
Education assumed responsibility for what was now the Chicago Normal School. Shortly thereafter, Francis W. Parker, the schools renowned principal, resigned after the Board failed to implement the recommendations of a school system commission headed by William Rainey Harper of the University of Chicago. Harper suggested raising the standards for admission to the Normal School, increasing the total number of teachers trained, and strengthening oversight of graduates once they were working in the public schools.
Last Updated on: Nov 25, 2024