Annemieke van Drenth

Normalising Childhood: Policies and Interventions Concerning Special Children in the United States and Europe (1900-1960)

Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: “Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle!” And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.

The ambiguity of professing gender: women educationists and New Education in the Netherlands (1890–1940)

In this paper the concept of gender script is applied to examine the cases of two women educationists trying to construct a professional “self” in confrontation with gender scripts that constantly recited meanings of gender, in particular of femininity. The research focus is on the period 1890–1940, when in the Netherlands, like abroad, New Education became influential, also in the developing field of Child Studies, in which women educationists were prominent. The two cases in this paper show how negotiating the gender script on professionalism in the field of education and educational sciences, for example by professing gender as a starting point for participation, made women’s role in the educational sciences a complicated and delicate one. The first example is taken from the domain of schools. Between 1890 and 1920 the participation of women in primary education greatly increased. Despite a rather marginal female participation in teacher education and in professional organisations, the increasing numbe...In this paper the concept of gender script is applied to examine the cases of two women educationists trying to construct a professional “self” in confrontation with gender scripts that constantly recited meanings of gender, in particular of femininity. The research focus is on the period 1890–1940, when in the Netherlands, like abroad, New Education became influential, also in the developing field of Child Studies, in which women educationists were prominent. The two cases in this paper show how negotiating the gender script on professionalism in the field of education and educational sciences, for example by professing gender as a starting point for participation, made women’s role in the educational sciences a complicated and delicate one. The first example is taken from the domain of schools. Between 1890 and 1920 the participation of women in primary education greatly increased. Despite a rather marginal female participation in teacher education and in professional organisations, the increasing numbers of teachers must have had an impact on women educationists and their professional confidence. How contradictory this impact was is first analysed in the work and career of Ietje Kooistra (1861–1923). The second example concentrates on women’s roles in the first Dutch institutions for the care and education of children with mental disabilities. Although often invisible in the official structure of these institutions, women formed an important part of the staff of these institutions, as both caretakers and nurses, and within the educational staff. Moreover, women were able to put their marks on the educational atmosphere within institutions and to influence the first construction of methods and tools used in this context. The example is that of the nun Ida Frye (1909–2003). Her case shows how, before the Second World War, it was very problematic to obtain any professional esteem as a woman within the educational sciences. This is despite Frye’s important work that contributed to the development of the domain of special education in the Netherlands. Both cases show woman educationists who, although sometimes unwillingly, professed gender in their scholarly careers. Thus, they negotiated the gender script in order to open up a career of their own, which, however, in neither of the two cases ended as the story of an academic heroine.

Mental Boundaries and Medico‐Pedagogical Selection: Girls and Boys in the Dutch ‘School for Idiots’, The Hague 1857–1873

In the wake of developments in France and the United States where early psychiatrists such as Pinel, Esquirol, Belhomme and Séguin advocated ‘moral treatment’ of the insane and classified ‘idiots’ and ‘imbeciles’ as incurable though educable, the Revd C. E. Van Koetsveld initiated his ‘School for Idiots’ in The Hague in 1855. Within two years, he had also opened a boarding facility that accommodated many of his pupils. Legal regulations (the Insanity Act of 1841) demanded a judicial authorization for placing a child in the institution. Thus, the admittance to the first autonomous Dutch institution for the medico‐pedagogical treatment of children with mental deficiencies involved a systematic registration of the children’s specific characteristics. A local figure of authority, often a physician, was required to fill in a short questionnaire on the condition of the child nominated for placement in the institution by their legal representative such as a parent or guardian. The first aim of this paper is to outline theoretically how physicians and educationists used medico‐pedagogical selection to develop a notion of the mental boundaries they thought could be recognized in children’s minds. The work of E. Séguin was crucial in this development. He considered these boundaries as hindrances to a ‘normal’ life, for example, for participating in education and at work. Based on his work, other physicians and educationists were stimulated to contribute to new interventions in minding and educating ‘idiotic’ children. The second part of the paper offers the Dutch example. It includes the analysis of 187 files on girls and boys who were admitted to Van Koetsveld’s institution during the years 1857 to 1873. The analysis reveals the gender and family characteristics amongst the children, as well as information on medical factors and hereditary properties, which made Van Koetsveld and his staff decide to classify these children as eligible for treatment at the first Dutch ‘School for Idiots’.

Shoulders Squared Ready for Battle with Forces that Sought to Overwhelm. West-european and American Women Pioneers in the Educational Sciences, 1800-1910

Based on a theoretical framework in which womens historical agency is set against the background of both domesticity and professionalism, this paper compares womens pioneering roles in education in the United States and the United Kingdom with the tradition of schooling in Germany and the Netherlands. This article reveals some basic similarities between them. These pioneering roles are partly related to the concept of domesticity insofar as they contributed mainly to educational domains close to the so-called female sphere, and all of these women started their careers in educational practice. On the other hand, the international kindergarten movement and the success of child studies enhanced the position held by women in the educational sciences and thereby their professional authority. Yet differences between the various national contexts can be perceived, showing that regional factors were just as important. In both the United Kingdom and the United States, women educationists had far more opportuniti...

“Tender Sympathy and Scrupulous Fidelity”: gender and professionalism in the history of deaf education in the United States

This article examines the gendered professionalism that developed in the education of deaf persons in the second half of the 19th Century in the United States. It shows how the rise of professionalism involved the social construction of gender. During the 19th Century many women entered the teaching profession and many taught deaf persons. Employing them was considered attractive, not only because of the low wages that the women were paid, but also because of the “tender sympathy and scrupulous fidelity” that these women teachers showed in their professional practice. The introduction of the oral method in the education of deaf individuals favoured women teachers who were valued for their capacities to relate to pupils and whose labour was cheap compared to men. In due course women teachers succeeded in developing specific expertise and thereby influenced the professional community. Eventually their gendered professionalism became crucial in settling the schism between manualism and oralism, a schism that marked the history of the education of deaf individuals at the turn of the 19th Century in the United States.This article examines the gendered professionalism that developed in the education of deaf persons in the second half of the 19th Century in the United States. It shows how the rise of professionalism involved the social construction of gender. During the 19th Century many women entered the teaching profession and many taught deaf persons. Employing them was considered attractive, not only because of the low wages that the women were paid, but also because of the “tender sympathy and scrupulous fidelity” that these women teachers showed in their professional practice. The introduction of the oral method in the education of deaf individuals favoured women teachers who were valued for their capacities to relate to pupils and whose labour was cheap compared to men. In due course women teachers succeeded in developing specific expertise and thereby influenced the professional community. Eventually their gendered professionalism became crucial in settling the schism between manualism and oralism, a schism that...

Doctors, philanthropists and teachers as ‘true’ ventriloquists? Introduction to a special issue on the history of special education

There are many ways to write the history of a specific domain within the field of education, including that of special education. Traditionally, the field has been described by historians of education in standard works such as those of Kanner, Scheerenberger, Winzer, and Safford & Safford. This historiography of special education outlines a picture of the domain developing from early times onwards and aiming to support and educate children with impairments, at first mainly in the auditive and visual dimensions, later also in terms of mental deficiencies and mental retardation. Furthermore, the historiography shows a seemingly endless row of ‘great men’ and few women, playing their heroic roles in taking care of these disabled children. The great men in the field intellectually and often also socially opened up a world that had remained rather closed until then: the world of people who were and are considered to be ‘abnormal’, thereby implying an abstract standard of ‘normality’. A strong humanitarianism, which was often an important drive for involvement in care as a way to exercise power, went hand in hand with the urge to proliferate normalcy. Terms such as ‘imbeciles’ and ‘idiots’, and more recent versions such as ‘feebleminded’ and ‘disabled’, reflect, however, not only the powerful desire to support and educate human beings in a presupposed dependent or even miserable position. They also echo fear. In A History of Disability Henri-Jacques Stiker addresses this fear as ‘a kind of strain that is imposed by the being who is no longer located within our familiar norms’, thus bringing about a disturbing ‘disorganization of our acquired understandings, of our

The ‘truth’ about idiocy: revisiting files of children in the Dutch ‘School for Idiots’ in the nineteenth century

In 1855 the Revd C. E. Van Koetsveld established his ‘School for Idiots’ in The Hague. Within two years, he had also opened a boarding facility that accommodated many of his pupils. Legal regulations demanded authorisation for a child to be placed in this asylum. This procedure included a questionnaire on the condition of the child. The paper discusses the analysis of data included in the files of 187 children admitted to Van Koetsveld’s institution between 1857 and 1873. In an earlier examination of these data, the author was intrigued about what could be inferred from these data. In this paper the same question is addressed from a new angle by applying the theoretical and methodological perspective of ‘praxeography’. This approach reveals the logic behind the process of inscribing characteristics on vulnerable children. Moreover, the analysis shows how children’s inner worlds were opened up for further examination and social intervention.Abstract In 1855 the Revd C. E. Van Koetsveld established his ‘School for Idiots’ in The Hague. Within two years, he had also opened a boarding facility that accommodated many of his pupils. Legal regulations demanded authorisation for a child to be placed in this asylum. This procedure included a questionnaire on the condition of the child. The paper discusses the analysis of data included in the files of 187 children admitted to Van Koetsveld’s institution between 1857 and 1873. In an earlier examination of these data, the author was intrigued about what could be inferred from these data. In this paper the same question is addressed from a new angle by applying the theoretical and methodological perspective of ‘praxeography’. This approach reveals the logic behind the process of inscribing characteristics on vulnerable children. Moreover, the analysis shows how children’s inner worlds were opened up for further examination and social intervention.

Sensorial experiences and childhood: nineteenth-century care for children with idiocy

Following Foucault’s analysis of expanding psychiatric power, this article addresses the shift from psychiatry into pedagogy in interventions concerning children with mental problems in the nineteenth century. The aims of this article are twofold. First, to answer the question of how the notion of “idiocy” developed in the context of an increasing interest in sensorial experiences in childhood, in relation to both psychopathology and “normalcy”. New research into the early nineteenth-century case of the “wild boy of Aveyron” reveals the importance of care in the first observations of the boy and the connection that was subsequently made with sensorial experiences in childhood and child development. In the wake of the work of Enlightenment alienists such as Pinel and Itard, Edouard Seguin constructed an educational trajectory for children with mental impairments in which, through strict pedagogical guidance, the lack of “will” would be restored by stimulating the senses. The second aim is to examine the ca...Following Foucault’s analysis of expanding psychiatric power, this article addresses the shift from psychiatry into pedagogy in interventions concerning children with mental problems in the nineteenth century. The aims of this article are twofold. First, to answer the question of how the notion of “idiocy” developed in the context of an increasing interest in sensorial experiences in childhood, in relation to both psychopathology and “normalcy”. New research into the early nineteenth-century case of the “wild boy of Aveyron” reveals the importance of care in the first observations of the boy and the connection that was subsequently made with sensorial experiences in childhood and child development. In the wake of the work of Enlightenment alienists such as Pinel and Itard, Edouard Séguin constructed an educational trajectory for children with mental impairments in which, through strict pedagogical guidance, the lack of “will” would be restored by stimulating the senses. The second aim is to examine the case of the first autonomous school for “idiotic” children in The Netherlands. Following the “praxeography” approach, I focus on the interventions by the Reverend Cornelis van Koetsveld, who shaped his “cure by education” through training the senses in children with problems.

Dutch special education schools for children with learning disabilities in the interwar period

In this article Copeland’s model of visualising the classification of children with learning disabilities is applied in examining the development of special education schools in the Netherlands during the interwar period. Central are three intertwined social practices: the teacher’s professionalism (in pedagogic and practical concerns), the expert’s knowledge (in theory, research and practical advice) and the pillarised social structure that is typical in the Dutch case. Moreover, gender is added as a central category because of its crucial intermediating role in the Dutch developments. In order to understand the interaction between these practices and the denominational structure, the professional identity of male and female teachers in special education classes and schools is studied in relation to the religious stratification within the domain of special education. In the conclusion the gendered professionalism within special education schools is related to the status of expert knowledge and the involv...In this article Copeland’s model of visualising the classification of children with learning disabilities is applied in examining the development of special education schools in the Netherlands during the interwar period. Central are three intertwined social practices: the teacher’s professionalism (in pedagogic and practical concerns), the expert’s knowledge (in theory, research and practical advice) and the pillarised social structure that is typical in the Dutch case. Moreover, gender is added as a central category because of its crucial intermediating role in the Dutch developments. In order to understand the interaction between these practices and the denominational structure, the professional identity of male and female teachers in special education classes and schools is studied in relation to the religious stratification within the domain of special education. In the conclusion the gendered professionalism within special education schools is related to the status of expert knowledge and the involvement of an increasing number of women, in particular Catholic nuns, in schools for children with learning disabilities in the Netherlands in between the two world wars.

Models of Charitable Care: Catholic Nuns and Children in Their Care in Amsterdam, 1852–2002 (review)

It is helpful to have this collection once again available, perhaps to attract a somewhat different audience, although one might admit to a twinge of disappointment that the move from a mainstream commercial publisher to a more “niche” location in the Cistercian Publications Monastic Wisdom series was not accompanied by a certain amount of revision.There are actually more than a dozen letters, mostly by Leclercq and undated, short, or both, that are not included in the collection; a new edition might have included or at least referred to them. Some of the letters are abridged, without notice; again, providing full texts or some reference to the rationale for the omission would have been useful.The bulk of the correspondence was in English, a rather surprising fact given that Merton was more fluent in French than Leclercq was in English; consequently, Leclercq’s occasionally awkward phrasing has been silently altered in numerous instances; an indication that we are not always reading the ipsissima verba of the letters would have been germane.There are also occasional errors that could have been corrected: Leclercq’s letter dated June 17, 1952 (p. 22), clearly should be dated 1954, since it concerns Merton’s book The Last of the Fathers (New York, 1954), and Merton’s letter dated May 22,1958 (p.60),must have been written a year later, since Leclercq responds to it point by point in his own June 2, 1959, letter. The reference to “[William] Watkins” (p. 3) should be to Watkin Williams; “Clairvaux” (p. 48) should be “Clervaux”;“Didoque” (p. 56) is actually “Diadoque”;“[Dictionnaire de] Spiritualité” (p. 72) should be “[Histoire de] Spiritualité.”