Helen Parkhurst (March 8, 1886 – June 1, 1973) was an American educator, author, lecturer, the originator of the

Dalton Plan The Dalton Plan is an educational concept created by Helen Parkhurst. It is inspired by the intellectual ferment at the turn of the 20th century. Educational thinkers such as Maria Montessori and John Dewey influenced Parkhurst while she create ...

, founder of

the Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located i ...

and host of ''Child's World with Helen Parkhurst'' on

ABC Television Network The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Califor ...

. Parkhurst took her cues from developmental psychologist

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemolo ...

and education reformers such as John Dewey and

Horace Mann Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts St ...

, producing a progressive education philosophy emphasizing the development of the "whole child".

Early life and education

Born in

Durand, Wisconsin Durand is a city in and the county seat of Pepin County, Wisconsin, United States. Situated on the banks of the Chippewa River approximately from its confluence with the Mississippi River, the city borders the Town of Durand. The population w ...

, she graduated from Wisconsin State Teachers College at River Falls in 1907, studied at the universities of Rome and Munich as well as with

Maria Montessori Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori ( , ; August 31, 1870 – May 6, 1952) was an Italian physician and educator best known for the philosophy of education that bears her name, and her writing on scientific pedagogy. At an early age, Montessori e ...

and was awarded her

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1943 from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. She taught briefly in Wisconsin, moved to

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

, in 1909, and returned to Wisconsin as the director of the department for the training of primary teachers at Stevens Point Normal School from 1913 until 1915. For a time, Parkhurst served as director of all Montessori schools in the United States.

Career

After further work with Montessori in Rome, Parkhurst wrote several books like ''Education on the Dalton Plan'' (1922), ''Work Rhythms in Education'' (1935), ''Exploring the Child's World'' (1951), ''Growing Pains'' (1962) and ''Undertow'' (1963) and had her own national radio and television programs. Parkhurst hosted a children's educational program on

ABC Radio Network Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Parkhurst was a 1948 recipient of a Radio - Television Critics Award and a 1949 recipient of the 13th American Exhibition of Educational Radio Programs Award. Parkhurst was the author of ''Education on the Dalton Plan'', which was published in 58 languages; ''Exploring the Child's World'', with an introduction by

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

, and ''Growing Pains'', a book about teenagers. Parkhurst was named one of the 100 Educators of All Time. Parkhurst was decorated by the

Queen of Italy Queen of Italy (also known as Terrace) is a solitaire card game played with two decks of playing cards. It is a very strategic game that rewards careful planning, since the cards that potentially block the game are presented at the start, and with ...

Empress of Japan The Empress of Japan is the title given to the wife of the Emperor of Japan or a female ruler in her own right. In Japanese, the empress consort is called . The current empress consort is Empress Masako, who ascended the throne with her husband o ...

, and

Queen of the Netherlands The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...

. Maria Montessori best summarized Parkhurst's career by stating, "Her intelligent activity is truly rare and precious."

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

greatly admired Parkhurst's work and played a significant role in expanding the population and resources of her school.

Legacy

Parkhurst's influence has spread across the globe, with schools in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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 ...

, Australia, Japan and others adopting the Dalton Plan of education. The Helen Parkhurst Exhibit at the Pepin County Museum traces the life and legacy of Parkhurst. There is a "Helen Parkhurst Dalton School" in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

and a Parkhurst Lecture Hall at UW-Stevens Point.

References

External links

A short biography from a Dutch web site

(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Parkhurst, Helen American educational theorists 1880s births 1973 deaths Yale University alumni People from Durand, Wisconsin Philosophers of education