Metamorphosis of Juvenile Correctional Education: Incidental Conception to Intentional Inclusion, The

Journal of Correctional Education, Dec 2004 by Keeley, James H

The changes taking place were not coincidental but the result of the influence of the enlightenment and rational philosophies imported from Europe that were embodied in the Progressive Movement gaining prominence in the early 19th Century. The American social thinking about the nature of human existence had shifted through the influence of the Enlightenment. Human reason replaced beliefs based on fundamental religious faith, magic and miracles. Rationalism accepted that man could improve his conditions and environment. Man was seen as good, and evil came from the environment (Smith et al., 1980).

It was during the Enlightenment that the move continued from family centered control to state hegemony that was first codified with the Massachusetts Laws of 1642 (The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts, 1648) and 1647 (Book of General Lauues and Libertyes, 1648). The 1647 law was the first step toward the state sponsored compulsory education which was fully instituted just over two centuries later (Schultz, 1973). According to Cubberley (1919), large numbers of unruly children on the streets gave rise to the idea that education was the solution. This led to the growth of the state sponsored schools and was one of the reasons compulsory education laws appeared in the eighteenth century. Cubberley points out that the push for free public supported education in the different states throughout the first half of the nineteenth century established the primary, and elementary or common schools for the children of the general population. It set the foundation for extending education in the form of high schools. By 1850 the public school system was well established (Cubberley).

For the delinquent youth who were known by many names, educational opportunities were not to be found in this new public school system. They presented problems and challenges to the public and school officials who were alarmed because of the conflicts that arose. "In the interest of order and school harmony, educators largely ignored these children, preferring to expel or suspend them from school and leave their fates to the courts" (Winzer, 1993, p. 115). The courts accommodated this appeal by sending these youth to institutions and this practice continues today. It can be furthered argued that educational banishment continues today for troublesome youth under the guise of special education labeling and alternative education placements. Judges of the nineteenth century went so far as to insist that:

the reformatory...was nothing but a residential school for underprivileged children...[whose] objective were in the broadest sense educational: to train children in industry, morality, the means to earn a living, and most importantly to isolate them from the 'corrupting influences of improper associate' (Schlossman, 1977, p. 10).

The courts' expansion into the lives of families was no longer just for punitive reasons. It was now as protector between children and parents (Winzer, 1993). The court went so far as to include those youth who violated the requirements of the compulsory school laws. "Just as children who were beyond parental control and roamed the city at night could not be ignored, so too children who disrupted school or truanted needed to be held in check" (Ferdinand, 1991, p. 206). According to Stang (1992) one of the effects of the legislation and reliance on the courts to deal with the delinquent youth was to turn them into nonentities. They were placed into factories, almshouses, orphanages, and houses of refuge where they were often treated inhumanely, and little, if any, attention was given to their individual needs" (Stang, p. 16).