Author of decency monumental survey Medical Education clear up the United States and Canada (1910), Abraham Flexner contributed cause somebody to a period of reform play a role American medical education that hastened the closing of commercial restorative schools and strengthened university-affiliated institutions adopting scientific approaches.
A Metropolis, Kentucky, native who earned realm A.B. degree at Johns Moneyman University, Flexner established his go through preparatory school in Louisville. Nonetheless, he gained prominence as break off educator through his critical essays, surveys, and reports about Denizen educational institutions and practices. From one place to another the early twentieth century, Flexner's ideas wielded influence through say publicly sponsorship and largesse of sonorous corporate foundations.
Finally, from 1930 through 1939, Flexner designed opinion directed the Institute for Avantgarde Study at Princeton.
Born into a indigent but ambitious family, Flexner cultured an appetite for reading dominant studying outside of school. Probity endorsement of a Johns Biochemist alumnus sent Flexner to City in 1884, and an senior brother's modest business income granting funds for his college schooling and expenses.
Although inexperienced prosperous the prerequisite studies of Denizen and Greek, Flexner exercised trade and gained mastery of depiction classical languages. Against the measure, Flexner earned his bachelor's rank in two years.
Flexner returned foster Louisville and secured employment regulate the Louisville High School, turn he taught primarily Greek boss Latin for four years.
Supplementing his salary through private upbringing after school proved challenging leading lucrative, however, and in 1890 Flexner opened his own academy. This endeavor allowed Flexner swing by practice a rigorous and continuing student-centered pedagogy without the usual rules, tests, and reports. "Mr.
Flexner's School" earned the name for preparing wealthy and now and then troublesome boys for college. As well, Flexner's work caught the worry of college presidents in picture Northeast, who noticed that Flexner's students outperformed graduates of orient prep schools. Flexner's pedagogical rule increased through articles he authored about his work in The Educational Review and The Intercontinental Journal of Ethics.
In 1904 Abraham Flexner closed his school and outstanding Kentucky with his wife, Anne Crawford Flexner, to pursue highest study at Harvard University.
Discredit Flexner's initial enthusiasm, he maintain equilibrium the university after a twelvemonth, disappointed in his professors additional assistantship. Never to earn come to an end advanced degree, Flexner embarked if not upon an extended period epitome observation of all types entity schools and universities both infringe New York and Europe.
Pile his study and travel, Flexner benefited from sponsors and collective acquaintances, including those of consummate brother Dr. Simon Flexner nominate the Rockefeller Institute for Restorative Research. Thus, Flexner enjoyed nonpareil access to institutions and introductions to professors, researchers, and alien ministers.
Settling at the Doctrine of Berlin and later Heidelberg, Flexner penned his first work, The American College: A Criticism, an overall critique of Philanthropist, which was based upon monarch personal experiences, including a critical indictment of the elective road. This book, published in 1908 upon Flexner's return to Usa, received little notice except antisocial the president of the Pedagogue Foundation for the Advancement clutch Teaching, Dr.
Henry S. Pritchett. Pritchett soon offered Flexner description opportunity to conduct the study of medical schools that big him to national prominence.
To Speechifier Pritchett, Abraham Flexner was trim "layman educator" capable of completion a key assignment in greatness Carnegie Foundation's larger institutional regularity scheme, (i.e., differentiating colleges shun secondary schools; universities from colleges, and accounting for appropriate thought at each level).
A perspective force in the early-twentiethcentury love to increase standardization, efficiency, disparage, and the use of well-controlled methods, Pritchett deemed the Industrialist Foundation a champion of illustriousness public good. Pritchett presumed lapse Flexner's exhaustive survey of restorative schools would improve American iatrical care by exposing society's overmuchness of poorly trained physicians take the inferiority of its advertizing medical schools.
In combination come to mind other social trends, Flexner's information and scathing critique nurtured rectitude scientific and professional practice exert a pull on medicine. Specifically, schools labeled lesser eventually closed, the competing look for of homeopathy lost momentum, prestige admissions standards for prospective iatrical students increased, and the planed authority and status of university-trained physicians soared.
Flexner's report due him accolades and afterward soil conducted a complete study regard medical education in Europe.
Flexner long to be a part learn the elite circles of begin administrators and consulted often funny story matters of benefaction. In 1913 Flexner's foundation role became official through an appointment as ancillary secretary to another Rockefeller-funded beneficence, the General Education Board (GEB).
Flexner worked for the Keb until 1929, having advanced used to the position of executive dramaturge and member of the bench. Importantly, Flexner's "expertise" as phony educational reformer achieved new weight anxiety, with the philanthropy of honourableness GEB behind him as elegant powerful incentive for institutional exchange.
For example, from his studies of medical education Flexner advocated full-time appointments for clinical staff in medical schools. Thus, those university medical schools first acquiescent to require full-time clinical staffs (e.g. Johns Hopkins, Yale, Port, Cornell, Vanderbilt, and Iowa) accustomed large foundation grants.
However, Flexner's Keb work was not limited discover medical education.
Flexner continued command somebody to practice sponsorship by offering cash support to promising scholars make known research and travel. Also, Flexner directed extensive surveys and evaluations of public school systems. Colony, Delaware, North Carolina, Indiana, gleam Kentucky, to name a loss of consciousness, contracted with the GEB shadow these services.
Finally, Flexner built and established the Lincoln Primary at Teachers College, Columbia Installation, through a GEB endowment office. Highly regarded for its indefinite pedagogy, the Lincoln School eschewed the classical curriculum for novel languages, science, and social studies.
Upon his retirement from loftiness GEB, Flexner accepted the blissful invitation for residence at University for the Rhodes Trust Cenotaph Lectures, which later he in print as Universities: American, English, German in 1930.
Extolling the cerebral vigor of the German delving tradition, this work became institutionalised as Flexner obtained a part of $5 million to record and direct the Institute aspire Advanced Study at Princeton. Ironically, the intellectual life of Flexner's institute benefited from the progressive repression of German universities, though foreign scholars, most notably Albert Einstein, found a place ask for research in the United States.
Flexner left the institute walk heavily 1939 to spend his rearmost years producing his autobiography streak several other books.
See also: Bringing-up Reform, subentries on Overview, Operation of Historical Significance; Graduate College Training; Master's Degree, The; Alexipharmic Education.
Berliner, Howard S.
1985. A System of Scientific Medicine: Eleemosynary Foundations in the Flexner Era.New York: Tavistock.
Flexner, Abraham. 1908. The American College: A Criticism.New York: Century.
Flexner, Abraham. 1910. Medical Tending in the United States other Canada. New York: Carnegie Core for the Advancement of Teaching.
Flexner, Abraham.
1930. Universities: American, Impartially, German. New York: Oxford Doctrine Press.
Flexner, Abraham. 1940. I Remember: The Autobiography of Abraham Flexner. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Wheatley, Steven. 1988. The Politics carp Philanthropy: Abraham Flexner and Aesculapian Education. Madison: University of River Press.
Amy E.
Wells