Biographical sketch of William.C. Morse
William C. Morse has worked all his life in promoting the teachings and ideals of Fritz Redl. Morse’s mentor was his Fritz Redl whose work has been all about children and their mental problems. Morse has done his best to make sure that people remember Redl’s work and its relevance in modern life. Areas of research that both Redl and Morse concentrated on were difficulties in the upbringing of distraught youth and in special education. According to McIntyre (2004), “Dr. Morse met Redl while serving as director of “The Fresh Air Camp” where Redl’s youth from the “Pioneer House” residential facility went to summer camp.
Dr. Morse later extended Redl’s treatment strategies into the schools, and co-authored a classic textbook titled Conflict in the Classroom with his student Nicholas Long. ” McIntyre (2004) goes on to say that between 1940 and 1960, Redl and his student Wineman believed that children were good and wanted to help them in overcoming their negativities that would later go on to damage the emotioneal development. Redl and Wineman came up with “caring, realistic, and sophisticated interventions” during their interaction with troubled youth.
Troubled youth are those who are reject “verbally and physically” at people who want to help them. This area became of interest to Redl and Wineman, from which they learnt about life, “self understanding” and “self-regulation of one’s behavior. ” They together write books such as “Children Who Hate” in 1951 and “Controls from Within” in1952. Both of these books were then combined into a single book titled “The Aggressive Child”. Both believed that children should have “therapeutic environments staffed with skilled and supportive personnel.
” Now things have adopted to their views although in those times it was debatable. Supporting Redl’s work Morse emphasizes the need for having a healthy environment for the development of disturbed children. William Morse’s opinion about Redl’s writing has always been praiseworthy this can be seen from the following quote (Morse, 1991), “The fact is, many young professionals are struggling with difficult children without the advantage of Redl’s insights. Those who were long ago introduced to his wisdom will find rereading rewarding for there are always ideas that provide cues for tomorrow’s engagements.
So let us again become aware of how much we can benefit from his teaching. ” Morse stresses on the fact that it is high time that teachers, students and all people who interact with disturbed children to actively follow the guidelines laid by Redl, because Redl in all his books has displayed a sense of vision and the power of description to one and all. According to Morse, Redl was a democrat, was fairly humorous, loved parties, loved learning and was a conscientious worker. Added to it, Redl was very creative in speech and in action, he thought logically which later, became a
model for anyone who dealt with children and their mental health. Commenting on the one of the therapies for troubled children that included summer camps (Smith, 2007) made Morse and Redl proposed that the camping environment was not “natural” according to many children. There were many adults that would not like the idea of spending time in a camp themselves but “rashly suggest camp as the automatic remedy for the physical and mental health problems of children. The woods are categorically supposed to be wholesome and full of the enzymes of adjustment” (Morse, 1947).
According to Morse (1960), every teacher is concerned with learning in the classroom. The traditional three aspects teacher, student and the syllabus are now expanding horizons. The previously simple classroom process has been changed to a complicated process with more depth. The teachers now are for more capable of understanding individual students, although the task of teaching has not become simple but even more intense. This has left teachers stressful in handling situations in and out of class. Students also are changing they have become rebellious and resistant to teaching practices.
This adds up to the stress of the teacher. There have been many people who have found the teachings of Redl very useful towards child psychology. Redl had done his best in putting forward ideas and views of children in classroom behavior and behavior of children in general. We need to learn from Redl and Morse’s teaching, this will help us in understanding and managing children much more appropriately. In Morse. W. C (2001), Morse felt that that was not the best time for growing up children. There was gradual decrease in resources and increase of disturbed children.
Redl had made a presidential address in 1962 at the American Orthopsychiatric Association was titled “Crisis in the Children’s field”. The presentation given then holds completely true with the kind of situation that has arisen, just like Redl had envisioned. The problems have always been there, but it was hidden but now the issue has increased in proportions. It is always easy to make healthy children all they need is some care and attention. Once they are influenced by the negative forces then there might be no turning back.
If the individual is identified at the right stage then it is good, but the longer it takes to help an individual the more impossible the task at hand becomes. Teachers, institutions and organizations should all take care to follow and adapt approaches to child development similar to what Fritz Redl and William C. Morse have written and discussed. Their work has foreseen events and actions giving the solutions along with it. We need to research analyze and work to enhance their measures, so that all their research is not in vain.
Their work is very beneficial to today’s scenario and it is time we work up to accept the challenge that is ahead of us of making capable and positive children. By following in the footsteps of William C. Morse we can look forward to generations of healthy children both mentally and physically, thereby, keeping our world in better hands for generations to come by better methodologies, in the field of special education, classrooms and at campsites. References Morse, W. C. (1991). The Clinical Innovations of Fritz Redl: Crisis Intervention in Residential Treatment New York: The Haworth Press, pp.
3-4. http://www. cyc-net. org/quote/quote-171. html Smith, M. B. (2007), ‘The Ego Idea of the Good Camper’ and the Nature of Summer Camp,. Environmental History 11. 1 (2006): 67 pars. 1 Dec. 2007 <http://www. historycooperative. org/journals/eh/11. 1/smith. html>. Morse, W. C (1947), “From the University of Michigan Fresh Air Camp: Some Problems of Therapeutic Camping,” The Nervous Child (April 1947): 211–12 Morse, W. C (1960), Diagnosing and Guiding Relationships between Group and Individual Class Members. CHAPTER XI The Dynamics of Instructional Groups. Book by Gale E. Jensen, Jack R.
Gibb, Max R. Goodson, Willard C. Olson, Nelson B. Henry; University of Chicago Press. Grotjahn, M. (1944). Group Emotion and Leadership: Fritz Redl. Psychiatry, V, 1942, pp. 573–596. Psychoanal Q. , 13:52. McIntyre. T (2004), at www. behavioradvisor. com http://maxweber. hunter. cuny. edu/pub/eres/EDSPC715_MCINTYRE/PsychoEdBio. html Morse. W. C (2001). Crisis Intervention in Residential Treatment: The Clinical Innovations of Fritz Redl (Hardcover). http://books. google. com/books? id=ot7hEpswsqUC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=william+c+morse+and+children&source=web&ots=nyFtVxyC-F&sig=NeQ3N203tTl4ZFFDGD1vnJxlU8E
