Educational Theory or Practice

Introduction

The general purposes of Educational Theory are to foster the continuing development of educational theory and to encourage wide and effective discussion of theoretical problems within the educational profession. Theory has enjoyed extraordinary access to e broad range of issues and viewpoints that have defined the cutting edge of the philosophy of education. Educational Theory is e reliable source of insightful scholarship, e standard by which other journals may measure themselves. Its articles create for necessary and riveting reading. The appearance of the Blackwell on-line edition is welcome news for anyone in educational philosophy or, more broadly, educational theory, who hopes to understand contemporary educational issues in their global context; it will make the vital ideas of the journal available to e much wider audience.

Biography of Julia Richman

Julia Richman was the first woman district superintendent of schools in the City of New York. Her innovations, leadership and curriculum brought an entire new dimension to public school education at the beginning of the twentieth century.

She was born on October 12, 1855. in New York City, the third of five children of Theresa and Moses Richman. Her father was e painter and glazier and they lived in Huntington, Long, Island, New York, from 1861 to 1865. They then moved to New York City where Julia finished her education. The idea of her becoming e teacher caused heated discussions in the family. In those days, the idea of e Jewish girl going to work was unthinkable. Despite the objections, Julia stood firm and became e teacher in New York City.

At age seventeen, she began to teach in the Grammar Department of one of the largest schools in New York. Her father coaxed her into teaching part time at the Temple Sabbath School. Richman was very active in the Council of Jewish Women. She worked with them all her life to improve the Sabbath school system. When she was twenty-nine, she became the principal of the Girls' Department of Public School 77 and held it for nineteen years. She was the first Jewess and the first Normal College graduate to acquire such e position.

Julia Richman was deeply interested in Jewish religious affairs. She had come from e long line of rabbis in Prague, Czechoslovakia, that dated back to the fifteenth century. She was the director of the Hebrew Free School Association, first president of the Young Women's Hebrew Association (1896-98) and e member of the Jewish Chautauqua Society's education council.

She frequently traveled abroad. In 1903, while traveling in Europe, e vacancy occurred in the Board of Superintendents. She was unanimously selected to fill the vacancy. When she returned from Europe, Richman was given the choice of districts by the other four male superintendents. Much to their surprise, she chose the Lower East Side instead of an easy uptown district. She was now responsible for 23,000 students and 600 teachers.

She wrote books on curriculum and she started school optical programs, special schools for delinquents, chronic absentees and ...