TranscendentalistEducation

Presented by: Brent A. Simoneaux

Movement (noun):

“A series of organized activities working toward an objective; also : an organized

effort to promote or attain an end (the civil rights movement).”

Movements Lecture Series

Movements are often sparked by a shift in philosophical thought.

Opening Thoughts

1830 - 1850

The Context

New EnglandMassachusetts

The Context

The literature of Transcendentalism was mostly non-fiction prose and poetry.

The Context

The Context

The Context

1810 – 1850Conversations with Women

(1840)

The Wrongs of American Women (1845)

Margaret Fuller

The Context

Amos Bronson Alcott1799 – 1888

Orphic Sayings (1840)

Conversations with Children (1836)

Elizabeth Peabody1804 – 1894

Record of a School (1836)

Woman (1840)

The Context

The Philosophy

Philosophy is an articulation of an understanding of who we are, the way we view the world and

ourselves.

The Philosophy

1. What was the dominant philosophy before Transcendentalism?

2. What shift in philosophical thought took place?

John LockeKnowledge is created through experience.

Think: Tabula Rasa

The Philosophy

The Philosophy

Immanuel Kantknowledge is created

through intuition.

Think: Universal Truths

The Philosophy

Intuition“The power or faculty of

attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference.”

The Philosophy

So, if Lockean philosophy and the philosophy before Transcendentalism was empirical, known through the senses, then

Kantian philosophy is intuitive.

The Philosophy

These two philosophies ask and attempt to answer questions about how we know

things, how we learn things.

The Philosophy

What are the implication on education if we shift from a Lockean (empirical) to a Kantian (intuitive) understanding of how

we learn?

Education

1. Teaching methodology2. Learning environment

Teaching Methodology

Before Transcendentalist educational reforms, we could say that the

teaching method was very much teacher-centered, where the teacher

was in the active role and the students were in the passive role.

Teaching Methodology

The students have no pre-existing knowledge, the knowledge exists outside of them, is set forth by the teacher, the students perceive this

knowledge, and then it gets written on their minds.

Teaching Methodology

Instead of rote memorization and imitation, the Transcendentalists

were very fond of a teacher method that they called

conversation.

Teaching Methodology

Ralph Waldo Emerson:“And so in groups where debate is

earnest, and especially on high Questions, the company become aware that the thought rises to an

equal level in all bosoms, that all have a spiritual property in what was said,

as well as the sayer…”

Teaching Methodology

Ralph Waldo Emerson:“…They all become wiser than they

were. It arches over them like a temple, this unity of thought, in which every heart beats with a nobler sense

of power and duty, and thinks and acts with unusual solemnity. All are

conscious of attaining to a higher self-possession. It shines for all.”

Teaching Methodology

Each student is able to use their own intuition to contribute to the

conversation.

Teaching Methodology

Bronson Alcott and Elizabeth Peabody opened the Temple

School on September 22, 1834 with eighteen students.

Teaching Methodology

Both of them founded the school on the belief that “truth came not only from intellectual learning,

but also from nurturing the nonrational, intuitive powers as

well…”

“Words are signs of thoughts, he taught, not simply markers for

external objects and events. Language is imagery and images

awaken our sense of the congruence between inner

thought and outer thing….”

Teaching Methodology

“…The real work of the school lay in the children's' self-exploration, the study and expansion of their

own native powers of imagination…The children were required to think about ideas, to articulate their views, to write

their thoughts in journals.”

Teaching Methodology

So it was that Margaret Fuller, in the fall of 1839, began what she simply called Conversations.

Teaching Methodology

The physical place of meeting would be Elizabeth Palmer

Peabody's parlor, and 25 women appeared for the first meeting at

eleven on a Wednesday morning.

Teaching Methodology

She announced a series of public Conversations “designed to encourage women in self-

expression and independent thinking.”

Teaching Methodology

The women conversed about issues to satisfy their “wish for some

such means of stimulus and cheer, and . . . for a place where they could state their doubts and difficulties with hope of gaining

aid from the experience or aspirations of others.”

Teaching Methodology

Before the educational reforms of the Transcendentalists, the classrooms themselves were rather colorless,

poorly lit, a bit dark, and unhealthy because of poor ventilation.

There were no decorations or anything else on the walls and the chairs and desks were hard and uncomfortable.

Learning Environment

The first thing they did to transform the classroom was to replace the poorly

lit and colorless classrooms with bright and colorful rooms. They made sure that there were large windows in the classrooms that

allowed for natural light to come into the classroom.

Learning Environment

They also surrounded the students with books and works of art. They had

many bookshelves filled with books and they hung paintings, beautiful

works of art, on the walls. Their hope was that this would inspire

the students to be more creative and to learn more knowledge.

Learning Environment

This same attention to students’ learning environment can still be

found in America today.

Learning Environment

TranscendentalistEducation

Questions