WILLIAM TORREY HARRIS Essay Example

form of tutoring and sensitizing a worldwide collaboration to make it a success. This was a revolution that happened in the time of William Harris (Harris, 1867).

Beliefs on Education

William was a key contributor to the education system, and he brought great impact on how the schooling setup operated. For example, he motivated the use of the library and made it an integral part of education. William’s intention was that every child should go to school and get proper tutoring. He believed that discrimination in education should not be there, and racial line or gender should not differentiate children from achieving their goals (Glazener, 2016).

Impact on Education

The objective set by William was that all young people should go through the education system. This was for achieving civilization. The knowledge acquired in school was to help the youth get jobs and improve their standards of living. Harris also cared about the economy of the country. He believed that putting emphasis on learning would help the nation grow and produce intellectual people who would work for the greater good of the republic. These actions clearly showed that William was not a selfish person, and he wished everyone well (Byerly, 1946).

Others’ Criticisms

William Torrey Harris was criticized because of his push to have a decentralized way of learning. The other scholars believed in a centralized form of imparting knowledge to the children. In this type of learning, only one subject would be core in studying and the other branches would be made subordinate. William ridiculed this format of tutoring, and he introduced his method of teaching. He perceived education as containing five divisions which include geography, mathematics, history, grammar and

literature. William wanted all the subjects to be considered equally, and the effort applied to each division to be the same. He was convinced that the inadequacy of having emphasis on other units would weaken their effect on the students. Torrey wanted all sectors of the economy to be represented well in the learning process. These educational theories were highly criticized by other scholars who did not agree with his philosophy (Byerly, 1946).

Another critic that William Torrey Harris got was that the whole system that he advocated was to serve an individual purpose. The historians and scholars believed that William wanted to propel selfishly one person to serve the others. On the other hand, William had a different view of the happenings. He claimed to be a Christian and that his overall goal was to instill these values in all students. The morality of these actions was to bring cooperation to the society and promote peace so that people to live in harmony (Byerly, 1946).

From the listed ideologies, I support the education system that William Torrey Harris introduced. The extent to which these new forms of tutoring got was remarkable. This helped the children to acquire useful knowledge that could be used not only to make money but also to help grow the economy of the country. Some of the key areas covered have been used for many years. Political stability has been enjoyed by many countries because the education system is producing highly qualified people who can govern their countries well. I also encourage the action of introducing the system of gifted children. This invention has propelled the schooling level, and it has brought

about monetary stability in many countries (Harris, 1867).

References

1. Glazener, N. (2016). Literature in the making: A history of U.S. literary culture in the long nineteenth century.
2. Byerly, C. L. (1946). Contributions of William Torrey Harris to public school administration. Chicago, Ill: publisher not identified.
3. Harris, W. T. (1867). The Journal of speculative philosophy. Missouri: s.n..