S.G.Howe And The Development Of Special Education In Massachusetts In The 19th Century

Samuel G.Howe is an American social reformer,mainly engaged in special education in Massachusetts,promoting the development of special education in Massachusetts.In the first half of the 19 th century,the United States was confronted with political,economic and religious conflicts,producing Various social contradictions that challenged the old order.For this reason,American reformists initiated a humanitarianism-based social reform movement in which They taken various measures to deal with social ills such as alcoholism,urban moral decline,slavery,disordered prison control and the increase of disabled people.In this movement,Samuel.G.Howe as a participator of special education provided education for disabled children.He traveled far to Europe to learn experiences and methods of special education,founded the Perkins School for the blind in Massachusetts and Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth to provide educational opportunities for blind children and retarded children,which not only created a precedent of special education in Massachusetts,but also facilitated the development of special education in the Massachusetts.In addition,his special education thought that emphasizes the right of disabled children to education,and training disabled children to become independent members of society has become an important goal of the disabled rights movement in the 20 th century.This paper has attempted to analyze S.G.Howe from the perspective of special education,tried to explore the background and reasons for the outbreak of social reform movement in the first half of the 19 th century,and explained the development history of special education in Massachusetts in the 19 th century for the purpose of providing certain references for the development of special education in China.