Education Studies Curry School of Education University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia APPROVAL OF THE DISSERTATION This dissertation, A Muscular Christian in a Secular World, has been approved by the Graduate Faculty of the Curry School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 1 A Muscular Christian in a Secular World Mark Denis Desjardins Charlottesville, Virginia B.A., Bates College, 1988 M.Ed., University of Virginia, 1992 A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia m Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Education University of Virginia August, 1995 (g Copyright by Mark Denis Desjardins All Rights Reserved May, 1995 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation, I believe, never would have been completed without the enthusiastic and vital support of various individuals. First, to the members of my doctoral committee I remain eternally grateful. James Esposito provided humor, guidance, and insightful perspectives about leadership. Heather Warren's seminar focusing on the history of religious education was the initial launching pad for this project. Moreover, her comments and suggestions on various parts of the manuscript were timely and helpful. Eric Bredo's seminar on John Dewey enhanced significantly my knowledge of progressive education. Finally, Jennings Wagoner Jr.'s prolific knowledge about the history of education, writing, editing, and the entire graduate school process was invaluable. He was, in all respects, a patient and critical scholar and mentor. To him, I remain deeply indebted. I would also like to express my smcere gratitude to members of the Groton School community who extended a warm and helpful welcome to me during my nine month adventure in the Groton School Archives. More specifically, with his comprehensive understanding of the school's history and intimate knowledge of archival sources, Groton School archivist, Doug Brown, saved me unfathomable amounts of time. I remain grateful for Doug's many insightful contributions. Moreover, Mike Tronic's willingness to track down various sources proved timely. Finally, I would like to thank Bill Polk for allowing me the opportunity to explore the plethora of sources located within the Groton School Archives. It 1s a iii testimony to Endicott Peabody and his school that the history of the school has been well preserved. The contributions and sacrifices of my family must not go unnoticed. At every stage of this process my parents played a more critical role than they might have imagined. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, my wife Maro G. Desjardins expertly and simultaneously juggled the roles of cheerleader, editor, critic, and financial supporter. Moreover, she patiently endured far too many stories and theories about Endicott Peabody, Charles W. Eliot and Groton School. However, her greatest achievement during this process was giving birth to and raising our daughter, Daphne. This dissertation is dedicated to both Maro and Daphne. Yes Daphne, Daddy is shutting down the computer and coming home. lV ABSTRACT The history of the private secondary boarding school in America is a fertile and expansive topic. A thorough examination of this subject would involve including such institutions as military academy's, country day schools, academies, church-affiliated, and non-sectarian boarding schools. In addition, each one of these categories can be further broken down into single sex and coeducational schools. For the purpose of this study, I have chosen to focus on the rise of the church-affiliated boarding school and in particular, Endicott Peabody's, Groton School. The overarching goal of this study is to deepen our understanding of Peabody ideals of a properly educated student and the ways in which his ideas were challenged, shaped and redefined during his fifty-six year tenure as the school's headmaster. This study also considers the views of individuals who remained directly opposed to Peabody's beliefs. Finally, consideration is given to how major historical movements marking the period between the Civil War and the end of World War One impacted Groton's development. Although Peabody made no significant contributions in regard to advancing educational theory, it can be argued that in some small measure he has touched the, lives of many Americans. Groton School graduates, for instance, have assumed such positions as the presidency of the United States, foreign ambassadors, novelists, educators, and artists. Indeed, Peabody's dream was to build a V school that produced a cadre of morally and ethically sound politicians. This study, then, examines the extent to which Peabody's vision was realized. Vl Table of Contents Acknowledgements . .. iii Abstract .................................. v Introduction . 1 Section One: The American Boarding School . .16 Chapter One: Boarding School In Retrospect . 18 Chapter Two: The Founding of Groton . .56 Chapter Three: Cultural Crisis ................87 Section Two: The Groton Ideal . .118 Chapter Four: The Groton Family ............ .119 Chapter Five: Progressive Nurture ........... .158 Section Three: Victorian Moralist . .178 Chapter Six: Progressive Nurture in Practice ... 181 Chapter Seven: The Cult of Manliness . .208 Chapter Eight: Between Groton and Harvard . .249 Chapter Nine: The Flexner Report ............. 288 Conclusion ................................. .323 References .............. : .................. .331 vii 1 Introduction A Muscular Christian in a Secular World: The Educational Ideals of Endicott Peabody and the Mission of Groton School Do not think that Endicott Peabody had an easy time. There were difficult periods [and] boys, parents, and graduates were often critical. But this great schoolmaster stood like a rock for what he considered sound educational policy and discipline. Lewis Perry, Headmaster, Phillips Exeter Academy (1945) Ours is the complex story of the constant interplay of men and ideas, institutions and society. James McLachlan (1970) Animosity Towards Private Education In a 1910 address at the Centennial anniversary of the Lawrenceville School, Woodrow Wilson, president of Princeton University acknowledged some of the advantages of a boarding school education: A great school like this does not stop with what it does in the class room; it organizes athletics and sports of every kind, it organizes life morning to night; and it does so when at its best by an intimate association of teacher with the pupil, so that the impact of the mature mind upon the less mature will be constant and influential. I lwoodrow Wilson, "Address at the Centennial of the Lawerenceville School, 1910" as quoted in James McLachlan, American Boarding Schools: A Historical Study, New York, 1970), 3. See also, Roland J. Mulford, History of the Lawrenceville School 1810-1935, (Princeton, NJ., 1935), 130-133. Endicott Peabody was also an honorary speaker at this celebration. 2 In spite of Wilson's acclamation, independent or private schools have not fared well in American educational history .2 Educators and the public alike have viewed the establishment of private schools as a threat to public education. This was certainly the case in the antebellum era when Horace Mann argued that private institutions would drain the common-school of "some of the most intelligent me.n 113 Although Mann was a graduate of a New England academy, he considered the existence of private education as anathema to his vision of a common-school system for all children. His system was designed to insure that a basic level of education "was available and equal to all, and part of the birthright of every American child. 11 4 Furthermore, he claimed his universal education plan was the "great 2Private schools here are defined as those institutions which have formal ties to a religiously affiliated association. Currently, most American students attending private schools are enrolled in Catholic schools. During the last two decades, a number of conservative Christian schools and evangelical schools have augmented the number of religiously based private schools. In contrast, independent schools are nonparochial, self-governed, non-profit enterprises. Independent schools educate less than two percent of the national high school population and represent a diversity of educational missions which "leads independent school educators to resort to definition by exclusion, simply because it is easier than trying to create a definition broad enough to include all these schools. " Pearl R Kane, "Independent Schools in American Education;' Teachers College Record, vol. 92 #3 (Spring, 1991) :397. For a more detailed account of independent schools see, Pearl R. Kane, Independent Schools, Independent Thinkers, (San Francisco, 1993). A good summary of the differences between public and private secondary schools can be found in James S. Coleman and Thomas Hoffer, Public and Private High School: The Impact of Communities, (New York, 1987). 3Horace Mann as quoted in Carl F. Kaestle, Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society 1780-1860, (New York, 1983), 116. 4Horace Mann, "Twelfth Annual Report (1848), as found in Lawrence Cremin, ed. The Republic and the School: Horace Mann on the Education of Free Men, (New York, 1957), 79-112. 3 equalizer of human conditions" that could potentially diminish class distinctions and alleviate most social problems.5 Mann's confidence in the ameliorative powers of the common- school system encouraged his