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

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

Education for juveniles in reform schools in the United States was first introduced at The Ohio State Reform School during the 185Os where individualized treatment and practical training was offered (Angle, 1982). According to Platt (1969), "the International Penitentiary Congress favored manual labor over higher education: the majority of reformatory administrators felt that delinquents did not deserve more than an elementary education" (p. 59). In practice, education did follow the suggestion of the Congress, especially in the vocational shops. Unfortunately, the spirit was tempered as this education was directed to the operation and maintenance of the institution (Rothman, 1980).

Education had a role in these institutions. In the New York House of Refuge "children worked an 8-hour day...in addition to attending school for another 4 hours" (Shepherd, 1999). Stang (1992) indicated that in 1828, Philadelphia established the better-known institutionalization response in refuge institutions for boys at the House of Refuge, and for girls' at the Sleighton Farm School. Sleighton Farm School was responsible for teaching life skills, health care, and values to the children (Stang). According to Barnes (1927) these noble ideals were not the reality of the situation in that exhaustion from long and hard work in prison like settings was the prescribed regime. Such work was designed to keep the children "out of trouble." Both the ideals and the reality continued to evolve over the next four decades. According to Angle (1982) formal, organized education in new academic areas, vocations, and social skills replaced basic reading and writing typically taught prior to the decade of the 187Os. By 1878, Angle (1982) indicates:

A variety of types of study took place. Geography, reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic were taught in all reformatories. Grammar and history were taught in most, and some school went as far as to offer music, drawing, philosophy, algebra, and geometry. Industries too, were in operation in all the facilities included in the report. The most common were sewing, shoemaking, tailoring, farming, housework, gardening, and cane seating; no doubt reflecting the common trades of the era (p. 6).

The social effects of harsher treatment in the guise of education, and its concomitant long-term institutionalization led to the growth of the "Child Saving Movement" that began in 1850. Many of the reformers, known as child savers, believed that children should be educated and protected, and not brutalized as had occurred in the adult oriented criminal justice system (Orlando & Black, 1975). While there was success in differentiating juvenile offenders from adults, and males and females, further divisions were neglected. Difference between delinquent or homeless juveniles was not made because they were collectively considered to be on the same criminal path (Smith et al., 1980). The reformers further believed that by changing some of the social conditions they would be able to redirect the lives of many lower-class immigrant youngsters (Ryerson, 1978). It was generally believed that this redirection could be achieved through education and training during their developmental years (Winzer, 1993). This led to the establishment of the industrial school. These new schools combined the penal ideas of retribution first, with education as a secondary goal (Winzer).