69:. The school was near the point of dissolution after five years of chaos, lack of discipline, frequent teacher turnover, and unruly living quarters. Elizabeth, who became known as "Aunty", was the more dominant of the two. They organized the new school building into four areas: crafts, manual training, kindergarten, and an academic library. Following disagreement with some parents, who wanted the school to put more emphasis on reading and class-struggle politics, the Ferms left the school in 1925 rather than compromise their technique. They would return in the next decade by request, as the school struggled through the Great Depression. Elizabeth died in 1944 and Alexis went into retirement four years later. The school closed in 1953 and Alexis died in 1971.
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1890s, she ran a kindergarten in
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Elizabeth Battle (1857–1944) originally worked as a piano teacher. Her husband, Martin Battle, insisted on her submission, which she resisted. Once, after Martin locked her at home, she threatened him until he let her out, whereupon she separated from him. Upon finishing an education course in the
58:. Goldman would write that the Ferms were the first Americans whose educational philosophy approximated hers, with children who were not externally compelled to study and instead were free to learn from experience and observation. She praised Elizabeth's understanding of child psychology.
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and inoculation against hazard, such as experiencing the burn of a hot stove to understand its danger. Their schools emphasized creative activities, such as gardening, dancing, carpentry, and sports. Through founding their schools in New York, the Ferms came to meet
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The Ferms believed that children should be protected from outside influence so as to cultivate their natural talents. Their program emphasized
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were early 20th century libertarian educators best known for their work at the
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The
Communal Experience: Anarchist and Mystical Counter-Cultures in America
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The Modern School
Movement: Anarchism and Education in the United States
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In 1920, the Ferms became coprincipals of the Modern School in the
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who, "in reality ... were anarchists in their views and lives."
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153:"Ferm, Alexis (1870–1971), and Elizabeth (1857–1944)"
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Fogarty, Robert S. (1980). "Ferm, Elizabeth Byrne".
252:. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp.
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Dictionary of
American Communal and Utopian History
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284:"The Ferrer Colony and Modern School"
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183:"Alexis Ferm, Fairhope, Alabama".
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209:"Elizabeth and Alexis Ferm"
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219:Princeton University Press
413:Educators from New Jersey
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22:Elizabeth and Alexis Ferm
428:Ferrer Center and Colony
423:American women educators
185:America's Centenarians
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67:Stelton, New Jersey
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117:Gay & Gay 1999
105:Gay & Gay 1999
56:Ferrer Association
28:'s Modern School.
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296:. pp.
402:Categories
368:New Jersey
85:References
32:Early life
433:Georgists
356:Education
344:Biography
332:Anarchism
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282:(1973).
207:(1980).
191:. 1963.
408:Couples
392:Schools
318:Portals
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41:Career
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