The Influence of Beatrice Hinkle and Jungian Psychology on the Early Progressive School Movement in the United States

Abstract

Until the 21st century, the so-called progressive education movement in the United States was most often attributed to dead white men, especially John Dewey and others, including Colonel Francis Parker, William Heard Kilpatrick, and Harold Rugg. More recently, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, Caroline Pratt, and other women have also been given credit as founders of progressive education. Less attention has been given to the psychological underpinnings that informed progressive schools. This case study briefly reviews some of the psychological foundations of progressive education and documents the contributions of Dr. Beatrice Hinkle, M.D. the first woman pioneer of analytical psychology in the United States, to the early progressive school movement.