SOCIO-EDUCATIONAL VIEWS AND PEDAGOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF HOMER LANE (1875–1925)

Abstract

The article reveals the main milestones of life and pedagogical ideas of the famous American teacherexperimenter H. Lane. The specifics of the organization of the educational process in the conditions of the “Republic of Ford” school (1907–1912) and the correctional institution “Little Commonwealth” (1913–1918), which were led by H. Lane, were studied. It has been proven that the goal of the “Little Commonwealth” was to create conditions that contributed to the re-education of delinquent and difficult teenagers. The features of the organization of the educational process, interpersonal interaction between students and teachers are revealed, the features of the system of punishments and rewards in the “Little Commonwealth”, as well as the reasons for its closure are highlighted. It is established that H. Lane’s ideas was at the origins of many pedagogical concepts, in particular, sloyd pedagogy, psychoanalytic pedagogy, free education, pedagogy of anarchism, etc. H. Lane’s educational views included group therapy and the formation of shared responsibility for the work done by the children. He transformed the cult of teacher power into a triumph of freedom, the emotional development and self-expression of the child came to a place of thoughtless saturation with knowledge, and the situations of wonder and success replaced blindness to the facts. The psychoanalytic component is justified in working with children who are pedagogically neglected and prone to delinquency. In his activity, H. Lane adhered to the ideas of student self-government, partnership between the teacher and students, psychoanalytic interpretation and work with the protective mechanisms of delinquents. The specifics of the work of H. Lane with a protective mechanism of sublimation is studied, which, according to H. Lane, allowed children to develop their talents and adapt more quickly to social requirements. The views on the personality of H. Lane are revealed by his biographer G. Wills and his follower A. Neill. It is concluded that most of the ideas of H. Lane were borrowed and used by A. Neill when creating the “Summerhill school” (1921). Prospects for further research are planned in the disclosure of psychoanalytic pedagogy of A. Aichhorn and representatives of post-Freudian psychoanalysis of the second half of the twentieth century

Keywords

• h. lane
• a. neill
• psychoanalytic pedagogy
• alternative education
• psychoanalysis
• little commonwealth
• school