Parker, Francis W.

Francis W. Parker (1837–1902) was born in Bedford, New Hampshire, in the fall of 1837. When he was 16, he became a country schoolmaster in New Hampshire. During the Civil War, Parker served with the Union Army and attained the rank of colonel. It was because of his rank that Parker continued to be called Colonel.

After the war, Parker returned to teaching. He became head of a normal school in Dayton, Ohio. During this time Parker began to read the works of Horace Mann and other educational theorists.

Parker inherited a small legacy from his aunt, which allowed him to study abroad, where he became familiar with the work of Johann Pestalozzi and Friedrich Froebel. Parker left the United States to spend two and one half years traveling in Europe. Parker attended lectures at the University of King William in Berlin, through Holland, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Germany. He observed the leading pedagogical innovations of this time. He was especially interested in the work and theories of Johann Herbart. His experiences abroad inspired Parker to encourage similar practices and to reshape American schools. Progressive education in America can be traced to Francis W. Parker. He shared the beliefs of Pestalozzi and Froebel that learning should come from the interests and needs of the child and that the most appropriate curriculum was activity based and one that encouraged children to express themselves freely and creatively.

In 1875, Parker served for 5 years as superintendent of schools in Quincy, Massachusetts. His efforts in the schools drew national attention. He began what came to be known as the Quincy Movement. It emphasized elements of the progressive education such as group activities, informal methods of instruction, science education, and the elimination of rigid discipline. Children began learning simple words and sentences, rather than learning the alphabet by rote. Magazines, newspapers, and teacher-developed materials replaced the texts. Arithmetic was taught inductively with objects instead of rules. Geography was introduced by trips around the local countryside. To improve manual [Page 730]dexterity and individual creativity, drawing was added to the lessons. Teachers stressed observing, describing, and understanding. Parker's program was an immediate success and attracted national attention as the Quincy System. Unfortunately, there were complaints that the fundamentals were being ignored. An inspector from the Massachusetts State Board of Education conducted an independent survey and found that Quincy's students excelled at reading, writing, and spelling and were fourth in their county in arithmetic. Some of the critics believed the survey was biased and unfair.

From 1880 until 1883, Parker was a supervisor of schools in Boston. He extended the progressive education practices he introduced in Quincy. He was principal of the Cook County Normal School in Chicago from 1883 until 1899. In 1883, he published Talks on Teaching, and in 1894, Talks on Pedagogics. He was founder and principal of the Chicago Institute from 1899 until 1901. It was during this time that Parker formulated his educational theories. His school was a model of progressive education and teacher training. Parker had two goals: move the child to the center of the education process and relate the subjects of the curriculum in such a way as to enhance their meaning for the student. Parker worked to organize schools as democratic communities. The role of the teacher was to start where the students were and gradually lead them into the various fields of knowledge. Art was an important part of the curriculum, as were nature studies, field trips, and social activities. He moved away from teaching discrete subjects. The curriculum attempted to integrate subjects in a way that made it more meaningful to the learner. Parker's pioneering work led to improvements in curricula and teacher training. The Chicago Institute later became part of the school of education of the University of Chicago.

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