Abstract

In this paper we try to focus on the Biography on educational Leader Edward Thorndike. The paper also identifies Edward personal life. The paper highlights the importance of Edward life. The paper discussed the importance of Edward in our lives. The paper also illustrates the impact of Edward in our lives. The paper also focused on the work, and their importance in our today lives. In the end paper come out with the social, political, and economic conditions that lead to his work. The last portion of the paper that is summary summarizes all the above parts in a beautiful way.

Biography on educational Leader Edward Thorndike

Introduction and Background

Thorndike grew up in a household where excellence was expected, for the children of a minister were to be models for the congregation in all matters. In academic performance the Reverend Thorndike's children complied, all earning excellent grades and winning the scholarships which made college studies possible. In addition, all established academic careers: Ashley as a professor of English, Lynn as a historian, and Mildred as a high school English teacher; eventually all three Thorndike brothers taught at Columbia University. Edward Thorndike's children continued this scholastic brilliance but turned, like father, from literary to scientific and mathematical careers. All four children earned Ph.D. degrees: Elizabeth Frances in mathematics, Edward Moulton and Alan in physics, and Robert Ladd in psychology.

Thorndike and his siblings were expected to be models for the congregation and to strive for excellence. The religious environment of the Thorndike home has been described as austere, and the children constantly participated in church activities. As an adult, Edward Thorndike financially supported the local Methodist church, but he did not attend or require attendance of his children. Thorndike guided his later life by non-sectarian ethical precepts, rather than by the religious precepts of his upbringing.

Intellectual pursuits were important in the home. Thorndike's mother, Abigail, was a highly intelligent woman, and the children were stimulated by their home environment as well as by contact with the sophisticated congregations of the Boston-Cambridge area. The four children all went on to earn excellent grades and scholarships, and all established academic careers. Ashley, the eldest son, became a professor of English; Lynn, the third son, a historian; and Mildred, the youngest child, a high school English teacher. All three of the Thorndike brothers were professors at Columbia University.

The elder Thorndike, as a minister, was forced to move his family frequently, and the disruption left young Thorndike with pronounced shyness and social uneasiness. This discontinuity of social contacts also may have contributed to his adult preference for the lonely privacy of research. His social contacts were with small groups of friends, and he disliked such routine gatherings as faculty meetings and national scientific conventions. Thorndike's work consumed his time and attention, and he found competition and the effort to influence others distasteful. To him, learning was essentially a private undertaking, something which happened under one's skin, in the nervous system.

Life's Work

Thorndike attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut from 1891 ...