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Junta de Educación General

La Junta de Educación General era una organización privada que se utilizaba principalmente para apoyar la educación superior y las facultades de medicina en los Estados Unidos ,...

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La Junta de Educación General era una organización privada que se utilizaba principalmente para apoyar la educación superior y las facultades de medicina en los Estados Unidos , así como para ayudar a las escuelas rurales, tanto blancas como negras, del Sur , y para modernizar las prácticas agrícolas en la región. Contribuyó a erradicar la anquilostomiasis y creó el sistema de agentes agrícolas del condado en la agricultura estadounidense, vinculando la investigación realizada en las estaciones experimentales agrícolas estatales con las prácticas reales sobre el terreno.

La Junta se creó en 1902 después de que John D. Rockefeller donara un millón de dólares inicial ( equivalente a 37 211 500 dólares en 2025 ) para su causa. La familia Rockefeller donaría finalmente más de 180 millones de dólares para financiar la Junta de Educación General. El miembro destacado Frederick Taylor Gates imaginó "La Escuela Rural del Mañana", donde "jóvenes y mayores aprenderán de forma práctica cómo hacer que la vida rural sea hermosa, inteligente, fructífera, creativa, saludable y alegre". [ 1 ] Para 1934, la Junta otorgaba subvenciones por valor de 5,5 millones de dólares al año. Gastó casi todo su dinero para 1950 y cerró en 1964.

Historia

La formación de la Junta de Educación General comenzó a principios de 1902. El 15 de enero de 1902, dos meses después de la fundación de la Junta de Educación del Sur, un pequeño grupo de hombres se reunió en la casa del banquero Morris Ketchum Jessup para hablar sobre educación. Entre los asistentes se encontraban John D. Rockefeller Jr. , Robert Curtis Ogden , George Foster Peabody , Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry , William Henry Baldwin Jr. y Wallace Buttrick . Ese día, los hombres discutieron sobre cómo elevar los estándares educativos y ampliar las oportunidades educativas. [ 2 ]

El 27 de febrero de 1902, se celebró una segunda reunión en la casa de John D. Rockefeller Jr. A esta reunión asistieron los mismos invitados que a la reunión original, además de Daniel Coit Gilman , Albert Shaw , Walter Hines Page y Edward Morse Shepard. En el punto culminante de la reunión, se anunció que John D. Rockefeller Sr. donaría 1.000.000 de dólares para la inauguración de un programa educativo. Así nació la Junta de Educación General. [ 2 ]

La Junta de Educación General fue incorporada por una Ley del Congreso que tuvo lugar el 12 de enero de 1903. Su objetivo principal era "la promoción de la educación dentro de los Estados Unidos de América, sin distinción de raza, sexo o credo" [ 3 ].

The original members of the General Education Board were: William H. Baldwin Jr., Jabez L.M. Curry, Frederick T. Gates, Daniel C. Gilman, Morris K. Jessup, Robert C. Ogden, Walter Hines Page, George Foster Peabody, and Albert Shaw.[4]

Upon evidence that this work would be effectively carried out, and Wallace Buttrick's 1905 observation that "the fundamental problem of the South is the recovery of the fertility of the soil," the program grew further.[5] on 30 June 1905 he made an additional gift of $10,000,000 and in 1907 a further sum of $32,000,000.[6]

Rockefeller eventually gave it $180 million, which was used primarily to support higher education and medical schools in the United States and to improve farming practices in the South. It helped eradicate hookworm and created the county agent system in American agriculture, linking research at state agricultural experiment stations with actual practices in the field. By 1934 it was making grants of $5.5 million a year. In c.1935 it dispersed $370,000 among four elite educational-radio projects, e.g. Wisconsin's and Ohio's early School of the Air experiments, and others.[7] It spent nearly all its money by 1950 and ceased operating as a separate entity in 1960, when its programs were subsumed into the Rockefeller Foundation.[8]

Programs

It had four main programs:

1. The promotion of practical farming in the southern states. Through the Department of Agriculture the board had made accumulative annual appropriations amounting in by 1912-1913 to $673,750 for the purpose of promoting agriculture by the establishment of demonstration farms under the direction of Dr. Seaman A. Knapp. About 236 men were employed in supervising such farms. In 1906 the General Education Board contributed $7,000, and due to the increased success of the programs in reaching the distant southern farming communities, G.E.B. contributions grew each year. In addition to promoting demonstration farms, instructors for the education of farmers were also furnished. The work of the Board also influenced the practical teaching of agriculture in the schools of the southern United States.[9][10]
2. The establishment of public high schools in the southern states. Upon the General Education Board's foundation in 1902, it was stated that the immediate prerogative of the organization was to "devote itself to studying and aiding to promote the educational needs of the people of our southern states".[11] For this purpose, the board appropriated for state universities or state departments of education in the South sums to pay for the salaries of high school representatives to travel throughout their states and stimulate public sentiment in favor of high schools.[9] As a result of this work, 912 high schools had been established in 11 southern states by 1914.
3. The promotion of institutions of higher learning. By 1914 the board had made conditional appropriations to the amount of $8,817,500, gifts towards an approximate total of $41,020,500. This money was expended throughout the United States.[9] The General Education Board also provided funds to fund existing medical schools for Black students, such as Meharry Medical College and Howard University Medical School. However, the General Education Board encouraged graduates to stay working in the rural South. Schools with graduates that established private medical practices in the North received less funding. Additionally, fellowships awarded to Black medical programs discouraged medical scientific research projects and encouraged more remedial education. In a 1910 report, Abraham Flexner stated that Black schools should focus on "hygiene rather than surgery" and noted that for Black doctors, "their duty calls them away from large cities to the village and the plantation".[12]
4. Schools for Negroes. By 1914, the board had made contributions, amounting to $620,105, to schools for Negroes, mainly those for the training of teachers. Anna T. Jeanes had contributed $1,000,000 for that purpose.[13] The schools for Black Americans were often designed to teach rural agricultural skills that would keep them tied to the South and discourage migration to Northern cities. William H. Baldwin gave this advice to Black Americans:
«Aprende que cualquier trabajo, por humilde que sea, si está bien hecho, es digno; aprende que el mundo reconocerá plenamente el esfuerzo y el éxito, aunque la piel sea negra; aprende que es un error educarse fuera del entorno necesario; sabe que es un crimen que cualquier maestro, blanco o negro, eduque al negro para puestos que no están abiertos a él; sabe que la mayor oportunidad para una vida exitosa reside en el Sur, donde naciste, donde la gente te conoce y te necesita, y te tratará mucho mejor que en cualquier otra región del país.» [ 14 ]

La labor de la Junta de Educación General también tenía una dimensión social. Se fomentaban de diversas maneras los clubes de cultivo de maíz y los clubes educativos para estudiar la administración del hogar, la avicultura, la conservación de frutas y otras materias directamente relacionadas con la vida agrícola, especialmente en colaboración con los clubes femeninos. También se organizaban otros clubes de carácter puramente social para promover una mayor vida social en las comunidades agrícolas. [ 9 ]

Las investigaciones que precedieron a las donaciones de la Junta fueron quizás tan importantes para el desarrollo de la educación en los Estados Unidos como las donaciones mismas. La Junta estaba compuesta por 17 miembros y tenía su sede en la ciudad de Nueva York . En 1920, el presidente era Wallace Buttrick y el secretario, Abraham Flexner . [ 15 ]

Trascendencia

The General Education Board emphasized the need for real world applicational skills. Two areas which the General Education Board highlighted was Demonstrative Farming as well as Industrial Education. Wallace Buttrick an influential member in the development of the General Education Board highlighted that, "the fundamental problem of the South is the recovery of the fertility of the soil".[16] For this reason as well, the lack of literacy and overall knowledge on modern farming techniques the General Education Board implemented interactive learning techniques rather than "how-to manuals".[16] Because these demonstrations were so effective at informing white and black farmers at the time, the General Education Board invested in committees which were more willing to build/sponsor programs which provided vocational and nonvocational information. Education in a time of racial discrimination became vehicles for African American empowerment. Because of the discriminatory philosophy of the time, African Americans were granted limited knowledge in the realm of industrial training. In most cases information ranged from basic skills to learning strong working habits, which in most cases was nowhere close to the information needed to obtain higher learning. However, because of this learning African Americans were able to secure better jobs, teach others industrial learning, and receive higher training to pursue increase educations.[17]

Future

The work done by the General Education Board paved the way for philanthropic foundations which provided financial grants throughout the American south. These funds were distributed in areas to stimulate the growth of educational practices and bring men and women from all over the country to "promote enlightened and sympathetic understanding of the South’s educational problems following the Reconstruction period".[16]

Philosophy

"In our dream, we have limitless resources and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hand. The present educational conventions fade from their minds; and, unhampered by tradition, we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive rural folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning, or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, editors, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have an ample supply…The task we set before ourselves is very simple as well as a very beautiful one, to train these people as we find them to a perfectly ideal life just where they are… So we will organize our children into a little community and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way, in the homes, in the shops and on the farm." -

General Education Board, Occasional Papers, No. 1 "The country school of to-morrow" (General Education Board, New York, 1913) p. 6.

See also

References

  1. ↑Frederick T. Gates. "The Country School Of To-Morrow," Occasional Papers, No. 1 (1913) online
  2. 12Ware, Louise (2009-08-01). George Foster Peabody: Banker, Philanthropist, Publicist. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820334561.
  3. ↑"General Education Board". General Education Board. 1915.
  4. ↑"Letter from the General Education Board to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1902 March 08". Rockefeller Archive Center. Archived from the original on 2020-09-26. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  5. ↑"Explanation of Database Topics and Organizations |". Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  6. ↑Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Education Board, General" . Encyclopedia Americana.
  7. ↑Buxton, William, ed. (2009). Patronizing the public : American philanthropy's transformation of culture, communication, and the humanities. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 57. ISBN 9780739123065. Retrieved 25 March 2026.
  8. ↑Harr & Johnson, The Rockefeller Century, 1988. (p.195)
  9. 1234Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "General Education Board" . Encyclopedia Americana.
  10. ↑General Education Board 1902-1914. General Education Board. 1914. p. 48.
  11. ↑“General Education Board purpose and program,” 100 Years: The Rockefeller Foundation, accessed February 24, 2017, "100 Years: The Rockefeller Foundation | General Education Board purpose and program". Archived from the original on 2017-02-25. Retrieved 2017-02-24..
  12. ↑Ward, Thomas J. (2003). Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South. University of Arkansas Press. p. 33. ISBN 9781610750721.
  13. ↑"Jeanes Supervisors". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
  14. ↑Baldwin, Jr., William (1899). "The Present Problem of Negro Education, Industrial Education". Journal of Social Science, Containing the Proceedings of the American Association 1899 (37): 60 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ↑One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). "Collier's Encyclopedia". Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company.
  16. 123"Explanation of Database Topics and Organizations | Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  17. ↑"Jackson Davis and the Lost World of Jim Crow Education | Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved 2019-12-09.

wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "General Education Board". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

Further reading

  • Fleming, Louise E. and Rita S. Saslaw. "Rockefeller and General Education Board Influences on Vocational ism in Education, 1880-1925" (1992) online
  • Fosdick, Raymond Blaine. Adventures in Giving: The Story of the General Education Board, (1962).
  • Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson. The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family, (1988).
  • General Education Board. The General Education Board: An Account of Its Activities, 1902-1914. (1915) online free
  • General Education Board. Annual Report Of The General Education Board 1934-1935 (1936) online free
  • Activities in Tennessee
  • Activities in 1939 1939: General Education Board - Archive Article - MSN Encarta (Archived 2009-10-31)
  • "Without Distinction of Race, Sex, or Creed": The General Education Board, 1903-1964 (Rockefeller Archive Center)
  • General Education Board Archives, (1901-1964) (Rockefeller Archive Center)
  • School Mission The Memory Hole.
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