Alexis Frederick Lange

Background

Alexis Frederick Lange was born in Lafayette County, Missouri, the son of Alexander and Caroline (Schnegelsiepen) Lange, natives of Bavaria, Germany.

Education

His education was begun in local elementary and high schools. Entering the University of Michigan in 1882, he had, by 1885, attained with distinction both the baccalaureate degree and the degree of master of arts, specializing in German, English, and Anglo-Saxon. The period 1886-1887 he spent in Europe as a student, first at the University of Marburg, then at the University of Berlin. Later he resumed his studies for the degree of Ph. D. , completing the requirements in 1892, after he had joined the faculty of the University of California.

Career

Upon his return to America, Lange became successively instructor in English and professor of German and Anglo-Saxon at his Alma Mater. His California career began in 1890 with his appointment as assistant professor of English.

In 1907 he was persuaded by President Benjamin Ide Wheeler to transfer his interest to the field of education and to assume the headship of that department, where he developed a philosophy of administration within the University, and, later, in the organization of the state school system. He acted as dean of the College of Letters from 1897 to 1909, during which time he laid the foundation for the present organization of this college, by providing for lower division work, in which students were required to lay a general cultural foundation through contacting a partially restricted curriculum; and upper division work, in which the student entered upon specialization.

During 1909-1910, he served as dean of the Graduate Division, and organized the graduate work along modern lines. From 1910 to 1913 he acted as dean of the faculties, a position equivalent to the vice-presidency in many universities. When the School of Education was organized in 1913, he was made its director, and in 1922, its dean. He was a staunch advocate of the theory that the school must maintain close relationship with the people. To assure this connection, he insisted, the system should be under lay control but should have the leadership and guidance of professionally trained experts.

He was the leading instrumentality in securing, in 1913, the reorganization of the California State Board of Education as a lay board. It is in the field of secondary education, however, that his influence has been most notable. Long before the founding of junior high schools or junior colleges, he was advocating a plan that extended from the seventh grade of the older elementary school to the end of the sophomore year of college. In his administration of the School of Education, Lange's chief attention was given to the training of high-school teachers. The program which he developed has not been surpassed in any other state and is responsible for the national recognition which the public high schools of California have received.

He translated from the work of Johann Friedrich Herbart Outlines of Educational Doctrine (1901), and edited The Gentle Craft by Thomas Deloney (Berlin, 1903). He was the author of a number of valuable papers, the most important of which were collected after his death and published under the title, The Lange Book: The Collected Writings of a Great Educational Philosopher (1927), edited with an introduction by A. H. Chamberlain. He died in his sixty-third year.

Achievements

• Lange was known as one of the successful teachers. He was unquestionably the father of the junior high school movement, and he shared with David Starr Jordan the honor of originating the junior-college movement. He suggested a system of financing public schools that was later adopted. He proposed the program for the organization of the California Teachers' Association into a series of sectional bodies with a State Council acting as a clearing house.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Outlines of Educational Doctrine

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • University of California Publications in Education, Vol. 3 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from University of California Publications in Edu...)

Connections

Lange was married in September 1891 to Carolyn Crosby Penny, a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Father:

Alexander Lange

Mother:

Caroline (Schnegelsiepen) Lange

Spouse:

Carolyn Crosby Penny