Educator Extraordinary: the Life and Achievement of Henry Morris by Harry Ree - 1973

Longman & Co, London, 1973. First Edition. Hardcover (Original Cloth). Near Fine Condition/Near Fine Condition. Henry Morris was one of the great English originals. He was a vivid personality and a creative administrator. He advocated the end of the "insulated school", built the first of the community colleges, pressed for the establishment of permanent education everywhere, to be provided by the community for the community. At Digswell House he instituted an entirely novel system of art patronage. At Impington he introduced the New Architecture to the British educational scene. In his day he was considered a crank or a dreamer. Today there is not a community school built or planned that does not draw upon the ideas of Morris and on the example set by him in Cambridgeshire where, for more than thirty years, he was Chief Education Officer. As an administrator he showed brilliantly how the conventional democratic system could be bent to serve his high purposes. "He was an outsider. His public life was colourful, so was his private life. He was oddly enchanting and often maddeningÂ….Fiercely independent but hating being alone. A homosexual who was repelled by the effeminateÂ….An ex-elementary schoolboy.... whose style of life was aristocratic. He inspired undetachable loyalty but made, and kept, a host of enemies." Both strands of his life, the personal and the professional, are woven into this book for they were inextricable. As a life-long friend and an educationist, Professor Harry Ree presents Morris as he knew him, but adds much that he did not know and has later found out. He writes as an admirer, but not a blind one. He has not tried to draw a veil over aspects of his life which Morris himself successfully concealed. He exposes, for the reader, the virtues, the magic and the importance of this extraordinary man and creative educator. Of obvious interest for the educationist, this book will appeal to a far wider readership. Morris's contribution to education, to architecture, the arts, and to planning, and both to central and local government, is here set out against the colourful background of his private life as an eccentric Cambridge figure. Size: Octavo (standard book size). 163 pages. Binding is tight, covers and spine fully intact. Slight foxing to page edges. Dust Jacket is in very good condition, without tears or chips or other damage. Dust Jacket un-clipped. Previous owner ink-stamp to pre-title page. Black titles spine. blue cloth; illustrated by b/w. photo's. & facsimile letters. Includes appendices & index. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Education; Village Colleges; Cambridgeshire; Cambridge; England; Biography & Autobiography. ISBN: 0582363128. ISBN/EAN: 9780582363120. Inventory No: 3686. . 9780582363120