HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Homer Lane (1875–1925) was an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
-born educator who believed that the behaviour and character of children improved when they were given more control over their lives.
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
called him "one of the best men of his generation".


Background

Lane was born in
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
. He left school early and took a job delivering groceries, where he met a doctor who helped him take a course at
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
's Sloyd Training College. He began to teach in a high school that his sponsor later opened. Lane had two children by his first wife, Cora Barney, and three by his second wife. They also adopted a daughter. He died from
typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
after having been deported from England for failing to maintain his alien registration. His family remained in England.


Career

Lane started his teaching career at Peters High School in Southborough,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
. In the spring of 1907 he settled in the
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
area. He held several teaching positions in the city and became the director of the Solvay Guild. He first introduced his notion of self-government at the Jewish
settlement house The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...
called Hannah Schloss Memorial Building. Lane was appointed superintendent of the Boys Home and d'Arcambal Association in Farmington Hills, where he worked with youths who had run afoul of the law. The program that Lane developed at the school was geared toward building the boys' self-respect and self-reliance and toward giving them an opportunity to practice self-government. In 1912 he was invited to go to
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
where he founded the
Little Commonwealth The Little Commonwealth was a school run by Homer Lane in Dorset during the 1910s known for its permissive libertarian approach to education. Bibliography * ** ** ** * * Schools in Dorset {{education-stub ...
school in
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
and greatly influenced A. S. Neill, the founder of
Summerhill School Summerhill School is an independent (i.e. fee-paying) boarding school in Leiston, Suffolk, England. It was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other wa ...
. In December 1917 two sixteen-year-old girls under Lane's care accused him of sexually assaulting them, one of whom reported her allegations to the police; the subsequent Home Office inquiry, which demanded Lane's removal as superintendent, led to the closure of the school in the summer of 1918, though Lane was never subject to criminal investigation. Historian Lucy Delap identifies the allegations made against Homer Lane as the 'first well-documented case of alleged institutional child sexual abuse in Britain.'


Influence

Lane's foremost disciple was his patient, Alexander S. Neill. Neill claimed that he was particularly impressed by Lane's ideas about an experimental self-governing community for young delinquents since it eliminates the negative effects of authority and breeds altruism among those who participate. Neill began Summerhill, a school that offered a unique approach to education based on the idea that children are good and - if left alone - are capable of self-governing, motivating, and directing their lives and learning. which became exceptionally well known after American publisher Harold Hart published '' Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing'' in 1960. The book sold 200,000 copies. Hart had never before published a trade book, being a publisher of children's books and having been advised strongly against publishing Neill's. He was given moral support by a number of alternative educators in the United States, but took on the project on his own. The American school, Summerlane, in North Branch,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, was explicitly named for Summerhill and Homer Lane. It began in 1963 in
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
but was burned by racists and moved to Mileses, New York, then settled near North Branch, in farmland near the hamlet of
Roscoe, New York Roscoe is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 541 at the 2010 census. Roscoe is in the southwest part of the Town of Rockland, adjacent to New York State Route 17. It is name ...
, off Highway 17.


Bibliography

More information can be found from the following sources: * Homer Lane Talks to Parents and Teachers, Allen & Unwin, London, 1928 * http://www.infed.org/thinkers/homerlane.htm, Homer Lane and The Little Commonwealth (an excerpt from Homer Lane's "Talks") * von Hilsheimer, G. Is There A Science of Behavior, Humanitas, Maitland, Fl 1967; How To Live With Your Special Child, Acropolis Books, 1970 (also published as Understanding Young People in Trouble, Acropolis Books, 1970, soft cover); Summerhill: A radical approach to education, IN Values for a changing America, Hellen Huus, ed., University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975 pp 59–75; Children, Schools and Utopias. This Magazine is about Schools, 1966, 23-37 * W.David Wills, Homer Lane: A biography, Allen & Unwin, 1964 * Aichorn, August, Wayward Youth, New York, Viking Press, 1935 * Aiken, W.M. Adventure in American education, 5 vol., New York, Harper & Brothers, 1942 * Allen, Lady of Hurtwood; Hurd H. et al. Adventure playgrounds,
National Playing Fields Association Fields in Trust, is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green s ...
, London, 1960 * Binns, H.B., A Century of Education: 1808–1908, London, J.M. Dent & Co., 1908 *Brehony, K. J. The genesis and disappearance of Homer Lane's Little Commonwealth: A Weberian analysis. Persistenz und Verschwinden. / Persistence and Disappearance: Pädagogische Organisationen im historischen Kontext. / Educational Organizations in their historical Contexts in M. Göhlich, C. Hopf and D. Tröhler (Eds.). Wiesbaden, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften: 237–53, 2008. * Burns, M., Mr. Lyward's Answer, London, Hamish Hamilton, 1956 * Holms, G., The Idiot Teacher, Longon, Faber & Faber, 1952 * Holt, John, '' How Children Fail'', New York, Pittman, 1964 * Holt, John, ''
How Children Learn ''How Children Learn'' is a nonfiction book by educator John Caldwell Holt, first published in 1967. A revised edition was released in 1983, with new chapters and commentaries. The book focuses on Holt's interactions with young children and his ...
'', New York, Pittman, 1966 * Makarenko, A.S., A Book for Parents, Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954; Learning to Live, Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1953; The Road to Life, 3 vol., Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1951 *
National Playing Fields Association Fields in Trust, is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green s ...
, Adventure Playgrounds, 71 Escleston Square, London SW1, 1960, pamphlets; Planning an imaginative children's playground without leadership, mimeograph, 1964 * Neill, A. S., ''Summerhill: A radical approach to child rearing''. New York, Harold Hart, 1960 * Pearse, J.H. & Crocker, L.H., The Peckham Experiment: a study in the living structure of society. London, Allen & Unwin for the Sir Halley Steart Trust, 1943 * Powers, E. & Witmer, H., An experiment in the prevention of delinquency: The Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study, New York: Columbia U. Press, 1951 * Spiel, Oskar., Discipline Without Punishment. London, Faber & Faber, 1962 * Wills, W. David. Homer Lane: A Biography, London, Allen & Unwin, 1964; The Hawkspur Experiment, London, Allen & Unwin, date unknown


References


External links


Infed webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Homer 1875 births 1925 deaths People from Connecticut American educators