Classifying children to the national body (3 of 4): Science, Education and Catholicism

The objective of this symposium is to gather a group of specialists on the classification of children in schools and other educational institutions through testing and measurements of intelligence, capabilities and skills, behaviors and attitudes from a historical perspective. It aims to analyze the theoretical, ideological and political assumptions that underlay these procedures, their relationship with the different concepts and models of education in debate and its role in the organization of education systems in expansion, usually related with the aspiration to the correct functioning of the social or/and national body. The symposium offers a wide overview of the topic around the word. It includes the cases of six countries in Europe (Denmark, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, Italy and Spain), two of North America (USA and Canada), two of Latin America (Argentina and Brazil), one of Asia (Japan) and one of Africa (the Congo). The inclusion of these last countries of Asia and Africa and those of Southern and Eastern Europe and Latin America underlies the will of offering a polyhedral vision away from the traditional approach obtained from Western countries. The rank of issues is also wide and shows the plurality of dimensions from which the general subject can be approached. Some of the contributions focus on psychological tests, others on special education and its diagnostic and a third group on the ideological and religious background of measurements and their use. To summarize, the symposium is conceived as a forum where scholars from so different countries can interchange ideas and experiences not only about the past experiences of their cases study, but also about the challenges present education faces on, since historical analyses is without doubt a good guide to approach nowadays problems. CHAIR . To be assigned by the organization PANELISTS Ann Marie Ryan ( Loyola University Chicago, USA) Measuring Catholic Minds , Bodies, and Souls: Testing and Catholic Schools in the First Half of 20th Century in the United States aryan3@luc.edu Public schooling in the first half of the 20th century in the United States saw the rise of social efficiency and educational measurement take hold as the driving force behind school organization and curriculum management. During this same time Catholic schools grew in number and became increasingly regulated by state departments of education. This led to the increased influence of public school reform movements on Catholic schools, which Catholic educators questioned them more heavily and were slower to accept these reforms and the consequences they might have for their students. Catholic educators focused on the theological, philosophical and educational arguments, as well as the resistance to state intervention. Catholics argued against IQ testing as a denial of free will and limiting children’s potential, Catholics saw how the testing movement aimed at categorizing and thwarting the advancement of immigrants in the United States. This paper examines how Catholic educators rigorously debated the introduction and use of IQ and standardized testing during this era. It follows this debate into the mid-20th century and the shift to greater acceptance of these tests, as Catholics became more assimilated and more accountable to state educational authorities. Antonio Fco. Canales Serrano (Universidad de La Laguna) The Soul against Matter. Rejection of tests and classifications by Spanish Francoist pedagogues (1936-1945). acanales@ull.edu.es This paper aims to study the position before the tests and classifications in the school of the pedagogues who supported the Franco Regime between the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Second World War (1936-1945).  These authors, mainly school inspectors, made of the rejection of tests and classifications a key feature of the new Francoist pedagogy, which intended to substitute the traditional liberal-progressive Spanish pedagogy defeated in the Civil War. The main criticism was that this kind of scientific approach to education implied a materialistic reduction of the child which did not consider his peculiarities and individuality, but especially his spirit and soul. This defense of spirituality had different versions depending on the ideological position of the authors. Spiritualism was understood in the traditional religious way by Catholics as Agustin Serrano de Haro, Josefina Cuesta and Alfonso Iniesta. However, Falangist educators as Adolfo Maillo or Antonio Onieva approached the soul from an irrational vitalism of clear Fascist inspiration. In all cases there were an open rejection of the idea of an educational practice founded on scientific bases and especially an opposition to modern trends of Western pedagogy, which they included in the evils of mankind originated in Geneva. Simonetta Polenghi and Anna Debe (Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy) Agostino Gemelli (1878-1959) and the mental disability. Science, faith and education in the view of an Italian scientist and friar. simonetta.polenghi@unicatt.it ; anna.debe@unicatt.it In the first decades of the 20th Century the question of mental disabilities was widely discussed in Italy, while the first special schools for the intellectually impaired were set up. An important role was played by the Franciscan friar Agostino Gemelli (1878-1959), physician, renowned psychologist, and founder in 1921 of the Catholic University of Milan. Gemelli promoted relevant psychological researches on intellectual disabilities, based on empirical and measurable processes. He considered only scientific studies, to investigate the etiology and classification of mental deficit, necessary to develop appropriate educational actions. Gemelli founded an ambulatory (1913) and a laboratory (1914) in the catholic San Vincenzo Institute of Milan for abnormal pupils, for the visit and the analysis of children with mental disabilities. In this Institute Gemelli and his collaborators deepened from a biological point of view the classification elaborated by the famous psychiatrist Sante De Sanctis (1862-1935), also known for his intelligence tests (“reattivi”), quite different from Binet and Simon’ ones and more respectful of the whole of the personality and potentiality of the children. Following De Sanctis’ views, in 1926 Gemelli also established the School for the special aids and assistants for disabled children, in the Catholic University of Milan. The School, one of the very first set up in Italy for special aid teacher training, aimed to make the “special” teachers confident with medical, psychological and pedagogical issues. This institution did not have a “catholic colour”: indeed, Gemelli called professors of great notoriety to teach in his School, not minding about their ideological thoughts, leaving to anthropology, philosophy and education the catholic stamp on the value of persons. All his work was characterized by the cooperation between science and religion: experimental method in itself did not contrast with catholic values. This paper is based on unpublished documents from different archives

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