Goals and Methods in Black Pedagogy


Bachelor Thesis, 2012

50 Pages, Grade: 2,7


Excerpt


Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Definitional approaches to the concept of black pedagogy
2.1. Definitional approach according to Katharina Rutschky
2.2. Definitional approach to Alice Miller
2.3. Further definitional approaches
2.4. Own definition

3. Historical development of black pedagogy
3.1. Development
3.2. Representatives of black pedagogy
3.2.1. Dr. Daniel Gottlob Moritz Schreber
3.2.2. Johanna Haarer
3.3. Fundamentals of black pedagogy

4. Image of man
4.1. The image of the adult
4.2. The image of the child
4.3. The image of the educator
4.4. Summary and conclusion

5. Goals of black pedagogy
5.1. Subordination among adults
5.2. Education in civic virtues
5.2.1. Order
5.2.2. Gratitude
5.2.3. Honesty
5.2.4. Obedience
5.2.5. Diligence
5.2.6. Modesty
5.2.7. Chastity
5.3. The conditioning to the non-memorization of the children
5.4. Summary and conclusion

6. Methods in black pedagogy
6.1. Physical violence
6.2. Deterrence and anxiety
6.3. Lies
6.4. Punishment and reward
6.5. Denial of basic needs and hardening
6.6. Deprivation of love
6.7. Manipulation
6.8. Control and exercise of power
6.9. Humiliation
6.10. Summary and conclusion

7. Consequences of black pedagogy

8. Alternatives to black pedagogy
8.1. "White pedagogy"
8.2. Anti-pedagogy
8.3. Reform pedagogy

9. Conclusion and outlook
9.1. Summary of work
9.2. Black pedagogy from the perspective of the present
9.3. Conclusion
9.4 Outlook

10. Bibliography

1. Introduction

"Whoever lies once, one does not believe him, and even if he speaks the truth".

"If you don't want to hear, you have to feel."

Every child in our Western society has grown up with such or similar wisdom. They convey a distrust of the child and the fact that every action must also have consequences. Most will not be aware that such statements can have a strong impact on the emotional security of the child and that the roots of the sayings lie in black pedagogy.

In this work, the so-called black pedagogy is addressed from a historical perspective. The focus is particularly on the goals of black pedagogy and the methods used to achieve these goals. The interest guiding knowledge also includes the question of the concept of black pedagogy. To what extent is it appropriate and up-to-date? Can the term be used when talking about historical events and educational ideals? The knowledge-guiding interest is pursued through the intensive discussion of the source texts and the question of the topicality of the topic.

The consideration of the topic is limited to the 16th/17th century until about 1950 in Germany. The focus is on the 18th and 19th centuries and above all on the age of enlightenment. For this reason, source texts from this period were primarily edited. The topics of home education and abuse of children, on the other hand, were left out, as they go beyond the topic.

The work begins with a definitional approach from different perspectives, since the understanding of concepts is an important prerequisite for the further understanding of the work. Afterwards, the historical development is described in detail and two educators are introduced, who are considered representatives of black pedagogy. Furthermore, basics are presented, which were invoked in black pedagogy. Afterwards, the image of man is presented, which prevailed in black pedagogy. The main part of the work is the elaboration of the goals that black pedagogy pursues and the methods by which the goals should be implemented. Finally, possible consequences are described, alternatives to black pedagogy are named and the topicality of the topic is considered. In the outlook, it will be critically discussed to what extent the term black pedagogy can be used.

The main works used for the work were "Schwarze Pädagogik – Quellen zur Naturgeschichte der bürgerlichen Erziehung" by Katharina Rutschky and "Am Anfang war Erziehung" by Alice Miller. Through the intensive processing of the texts, the goals and methods were worked out and summarized.

2. Definitional approaches to the concept of black pedagogy

The definitional approach to a concept is an important basis for understanding a topic. First, the term is to be explained according to Katharina Rutschky, since she introduced and coined the term. It then describes the definitional approach according to Alice Miller. In another chapter, other approaches are presented. The term was derived from various sources, which are discussed in the work. At the end of the chapter is a definition of the concept of black pedagogy.

2.1. Definitional approach according to Katharina Rutschky

Katharina Rutschky1 was a German journalist who developed the concept of black pedagogy through her book "Schwarze Pädagogik – Quellen der Naturgeschichte der bürgerlichen Erziehung" in 1977, introduced it into the language use of educators and educationalists and had a lasting influence on it. "As black pedagogy, it refers to everything that in pedagogical theory and practice contradicts the humane sense of education – namely, the guidance of the child to maturity; which, although the names of education, but, more precisely, does not provide for the life and freedom of the children, but rather for their taming and insult, for the destruction of their joie de vivre" (Flitner, 1994, p. 15, emphasis in the original).

Rutschky herself did not define the term in her work, but compiled source texts that were intended to present the character and methods of Black Pedagogy. She chose many texts from the Enlightenment and from philanthropists. She herself describes her compilation of sources as a "tendentious attempt" (Rutschky, 2001, p. XV) and admits that she is "ruthlessly acting against the explicit intentions of the authors" (ibid.). Their collection thus represents an attempt to describe the education of the 18th and 19th centuries, but not from the usual perspective that this period brought many innovations and extensions within pedagogy, but as a "depressing accumulation of advice and hints, such as the power can be made towards children, as children in obedient and respect held directed and oversees (Flitner, 1994, p. 17, emphasis in the original).

Rutschky, however, nevertheless addressed the importance and development of education. In her opinion, education is a phenomenon of modern times and only arose in the course of the 19th century (cf. Rutschky, 2001, p. XL). The educator played an important role in the educational process, as he was responsible for the moral development of the child. "He thus has the role of the super-ego towards the adolescents, which is the seat of morality in the soul household of the socialized individuals" (Rutschky, 2001, p. 148). With this statement Rutschky took up a psychoanalytic theory by Sigmund Freud, which divides the psyche of man into 'it', 'I' and 'super-ego'. The 'it' contains our needs and urges, which we have from birth. The 'I' mediates between the 'it' and the outside world or even the 'super-ego' (cf. Freud, 1965, p. 11). The 'super-ego' is responsible for the development of a morality. The 'it' contains the urges and needs of a person. The 'super-ego', on the other hand, represents the values. Taboos and norms of behavior of society. In situations where there is a conflict between one's own needs and the norms and values of a society, the 'I' must weigh up and mediate between the 'it' and the 'super-ego'. "An action of the ego is correct if it simultaneously meets the requirements of the it, the super-ego and reality, i.e. knows how to reconcile their claims with each other" (ibid., p. 10). According to Freud, the development of the 'super-ego' was only largely completed from the age of 6, so that until then the parents or educators were responsible for morality (cf. ibid., p. 59).

Rutschky took up this theory and related it to black pedagogy. The educator and society had the task of providing for the moral development of the children, so that the child internalized the values and norms of a society and saw them as part of its own identity. Furthermore, the child's own urges and wishes should be directed.

Among other things, pedagogical initiation (cf. Rutschky, 2001, pp. 3-23), physical and psychological violence (cf. ibid., pp. 158ff.), control and surveillance (cf. ibid., pp. 184 ff.), hardening (cf. ibid., pp. 250-298), oppression and punishment were used as methods. Rutschky also made it clear that the polarization between adults and children was an important basis in black pedagogy (cf. ibid., p. 102). The child had to submit to the parents, as they had more power. It was only through the existence of an unequal power relationship that Black pedagogy was possible.

2.2. Definitional approach to Alice Miller

Alice Miller2 was a Swiss childhood researcher and author of numerous books. After completing her studies, she completed an apprenticeship as a psychoanalyst and worked in this profession for over twenty years. In the 1980s, however, she distanced herself from the principles of psychoanalysis and rejected them.3 Miller had an anti-educational attitude and considered education harmful. In their opinion, an accompaniment of the children should take place instead of an education (cf. Miller, 1983, p. 122).

In her numerous works, Alice Miller took up the concept of black pedagogy developed by Katharina Rutschky, dealt intensively with the topic and located it in depth psychology. She used her experience and knowledge from psychoanalysis to illustrate, among other things, the consequences of black pedagogy and to explain the reasons for the practice of this form of pedagogy.

Miller understood the concept of black pedagogy to mean an "education aimed at breaking the will of the child, at making him an obedient subject with the help of the open or hidden exercise of power, manipulation and blackmail" (Miller, 2004, p. 7). She also referred to it as the "parenting methods with which our parents and grandparents grew up" (Miller, 1983, p. 11). In her opinion, the education of obedience and senseless hardness was particularly important. The children should submit completely to the adults (cf. ibid., p. 89). The childlike and weak should be discarded as quickly as possible in order to grow up and thus also to deserve respect (cf. ibid., p. 77).

In extension to Rutschky she saw conditioning for non-memorization as a main goal of black pedagogy (cf. ibid., p. 24). The children should not notice the abuse and suffering. Through this repression, childhood was often idealized in later years4. As a reason for Black pedagogy, Miller saw that parents often find it difficult to accept certain sides of their child (cf. ibid., p. 17). Most of them were also beaten as a child and worked up their own childhood by mistreating their children. By the idealization of childhood this vicious circle could not be interrupted (cf. ibid., p. 127).

2.3. Further definitional approaches

Armin Bernhard took up the statements of Katharina Rutschky and Alice Miller and describes black pedagogy as "the massive denial and suppression of child developmental needs" (Bernhard, 2008, p. 71) and "the darkened side of pedagogical efforts" (ibid., p. 72). In his opinion, the topic of black pedagogy is very topical, since it still occurs in the present, but in a more totalitarian form than has been discussed so far (cf. ibid., p. 87). For this reason, he considers a "revision of the pedagogical everyday understanding of black pedagogy" (ibid., p. 86) to be necessary in order to make it more recognizable. Black pedagogy is mostly related to education in a historical context. Nevertheless, black pedagogy still appears in the present and must therefore be transferred to today's understanding of education. For this reason, it is important to be aware of the existing topicality and to combat black pedagogy.

The educationalist Friedrich Koch described black pedagogy in his notes as the "systematic alignment of man with the demands of the bourgeois catalogue of virtues, with the commandments of order and purity, gratitude, honesty, obedience, diligence, modesty and chastity" (Koch, 1995, p. 23). Furthermore, the term characterized for him the goals and methods that had been practiced on children and adolescents since the 18th century so that they behaved socially acceptable (cf. ibid.). According to Koch, black pedagogy was a consequence of the social demands on a person and the pressure to achieve this desired perfection. He described Black Pedagogy as "a self-fulfilling prophecy" (cf. ibid., p. 61). This means that something is prophesied and tried to prevent, but still occurs and thus confirms itself as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The patterns of behavior that should be prevented occur. "Black pedagogy drives the pupil to every behavior that it so diligently wants to prevent with its methods" (ibid.). As an example, he nominated the case of Kaspar Hauser5, who came to a teacher who was seen as a representative of black pedagogy. The basic principles of the teacher "were suspicion and mistrust [sic]. He always suspected in his pupil insincerity, lies, cunning and depravity" (ibid., p. 59). After some time, the teacher's assumptions applied to Kaspar Hauser, who had previously been described as an impeccable, modest and hardworking person. He described this negative educational process as the Kaspar-Hauser effect (cf. ibid., p. 71f.). The effect describes a self-fulfilling prophecy in education. The educator's expectations of the pupil come true.

2.4. Own definition

In the following, a definition will be created, which includes the previous definitional approximations and serves as a basis for this work: The educational form of black pedagogy is not a pedagogical concept, but a form of education, which has been applied again and again in the course of history and can still occur in the present. Black pedagogy is understood to mean the systematic application of various methods to break the will of the child and to shape the character of the child according to the ideas of the educator and society. The child should be educated according to the rules and values of the respective society.

Important principles in Black Pedagogy are discipline, upholding the authority of the educator, rigid rules, control, the character shaping of the child by the educator, and the educator's power over the child.

3. Historical development of black pedagogy

This chapter will first give an overview of the historical development of black pedagogy and the history of childhood. Afterwards, two educators will be introduced who are considered representatives of black pedagogy. At the end, the basics that have been invoked in black pedagogy are explained.

3.1. Development

The history of black pedagogy is closely linked to the history of childhood. Education presupposes that there is a distinction between educator and pupil, in this case a distinction between child and adult. Understanding childhood from a historical point of view is different from understanding it in the present. On the development of the understanding of childhood, there are different views. In this chapter, the theories of Philippe Aries and Lloyd deMause are considered primarily since they were the first researchers to deal extensively with the history of childhood. Their theories were partly critically discussed by Konrad and Schultheis, for this reason their views are also incorporated into the work. Of course, there are other historians who have dealt with the subject of childhood history6, however, only a selection was made in this work.

The historian Philippe Aries7 developed on the basis of the observation of paintings and forms the thesis that childhood was only perceived from a certain point in time. The children in the pictures of contemporary art were not depicted as children, but as small adults. Aries draws the following conclusion: "Until the 17th century, medieval art either did not know childhood or in any case made no attempt to depict it" (Aries, 2011, p. 92). In the Middle Ages, in his opinion, children were not yet perceived as children. It was only in the course of the 16th to 18th centuries that the children depicted became more childlike and were recognizable as such. According to Aries, this is also the time when parents began to perceive their children as children and to love them as them (cf. Konrad, 2008, p. 13). Aries speaks of a discovery of childhood. The "modern concept of childhood may indeed have experienced its breakthrough only at the beginning of modernity, between the 16th and 18th centuries" (ibid., p. 14), but the perception of childhood was a process that had its origin in the Middle Ages.

The historian Lloyd deMause8 takes this process even further and describes the "change in the parent-child relationship from a rather coolly distanced relationship in antiquity to an emotional-loving one in the modern age" (deMause, 1980, p. 16). Furthermore, he describes the story of childhood as "a nightmare from which we are just waking up" (ibid., p. 12). In his opinion, it is only now that an awareness is developing about the cruelty in which children have had to grow up in recent centuries and what impact this has had on their development. The living conditions of the children were considered normal and inevitable for a long time.

From the 16th century onwards, the awareness developed that children need education and upbringing (cf. Konrad, 2008, p. 18). This refers above all to extracurricular education within the family, since education and upbringing in the context of school had existed since ancient times (cf. ibid.). The 18th century, in which the time of the Enlightenment took place, is also called the "Pedagogical Century", since with a special intensity questions of education and upbringing was dealt with and pedagogy took on a special meaning. In the Age of Enlightenment, there were various educators, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke, who with their educational writings9 enabled a new perspective on the importance of education (cf. Jonach, 1997, p. 7ff.). As a result, the phase of childhood was no longer seen as an unavoidable stage of life, but as an independent time in a person's life. The need for education of man gained in importance. For this reason, pedagogy became more institutionalized and broke away from the paternalism of the Church (cf. Gudjons, 2008, p. 82f.).

Important representatives in pedagogy in the 18th century were the philanthropists. The philanthropists "were a group of educators who had great influence on the development of pedagogical theory and the school system between 1750 and 1800" (ibid., p. 86). The term philanthropy derives from the Greek and means philanthropy. Philanthropists were strongly influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, especially Rousseau. An important point in the pedagogy of philanthropists was the education of the bourgeois virtues in the course of the increasing importance of the bourgeoisie and an orientation of education towards a social benefit. The promotion of children's self-activity and individuality were also very important (cf. Burkard/Weiß, 2008, p. 71). By imparting practical skills, the pupils were to be prepared for their life in society. The importance of childhood was repeatedly emphasized by the philanthropists: "First the children have to become children again, if the people are to become human again" (Basedow/Campe, 1777, p. 62). Important representatives, who are also frequently cited in this work, included Johann Bernhard Basedow, Joachim Heinrich Campe, Christian Gotthilf Salzmann, Friedrich Eberhard von Rochow.

Throughout history, beating and mistreating children has not been uncommon. Bis ins 17. und 18. In the century, children, including infants and newborns, were often flogged (cf. deMause, 1980, p. 17) and until the 20th century it was customary to leave even small children alone for several hours (cf. ibid., p. 24). The sexual abuse of children continues to the present day. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, the belief was widespread that sexual intercourse with children could cure venereal diseases (cf. ibid., p. 80). In parallel, the masturbation of children was severely punished. The children were tied up or put into devices that were supposed to prevent them from touching themselves. In some cases, the genital organs were mutilated (cf. ibid., p. 79).

According to Alice Miller, the teachings of black pedagogy run through the entire pedagogy (cf. Miller, 1983, p. 117). It reached its peak at the turn of the century between the 19th and 20th centuries (cf. ibid., p. 78). Pedagogy, however, could only arise when the awareness of the child and the development of his needs arose. Katharina Rutschky restricts the temporal space in her work, and describes black pedagogy as something to which "adolescents have been exposed since the 18th century" (Rutschky, 2001, p. XV).

3.2. Representatives of black pedagogy

In this chapter, two educators were elected as examples, who are considered representatives of black pedagogy. The selection was made because both were frequently mentioned in source texts. The two cover both the different sexes and different times, as they worked in different centuries.

[...]


1 *1942 - †2010

2 *1923 - †2010

3 In her opinion, psychoanalysis conceals the consequences of child abuse (cf. Miller, 1990, p. III).

4 This problem will be discussed in more detail in a later chapter.

5 Kaspar Hause was a boy who was found in Nuremberg in 1828 at the age of about 16 and apparently spent his life in absolute isolation (see Koch, 1995, p. 11ff.)

6 These include Jan Hendrik van den Berg.

7 *1914 - †1984

8 *1931

9 These include "Emile oder über die Erziehung" (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and "Gedanken über die Erziehung" (1693) by John Locke (cf. Jonach, 1997, p. 7).

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Details

Title
Goals and Methods in Black Pedagogy
College
Protestant University of Applied Sciences Dresden
Grade
2,7
Author
Year
2012
Pages
50
Catalog Number
V1177347
ISBN (eBook)
9783346593856
Language
English
Keywords
goals, methods, black, pedagogy
Quote paper
Juliane Kühn (Author), 2012, Goals and Methods in Black Pedagogy, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1177347

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