Nursery School, Parent Education Center Established at Bennett College, 1939

“Negro Child Gets Pre-School Study, Bennett College Also Promotes Parent Education in North Carolina, Community Environments Are Studied, Proper Habits Encouraged, from the New York Times, Dec. 18, 1939

The opening this Fall of the Nursery School-Parent Education Center at Bennett College in Greensboro, one of two liberal arts colleges exclusively for the education of Negro women in the United States, marked the beginning of scientific training for the Negro pre-school child in North Carolina. The establishment of the center was made possible through a grant from the General Education Board of New York City. The ultimate aim of the project is the development of Negro family life in the local community.

“Home,” said Dr. Flemmie P. Kettrell, director of the school, “is the place where life patterns are made and is the environment in which the development of the child is largely determined. Statistics show that the greatest amount of crime and delinquency are associated with homes that are poorly managed.”

Environments Are Studied

J.T. Morton Jr., Professor of Psychology, recently made an exhaustive study of Negro families in Greensboro and Dr. W. Edward Farrison, head of the Department of English, used as the basis of his doctor’s dissertation at Ohio State University a study of the speech practices of the Negroes in Guilford County.

With these specific data, with general information and with carefully selected physical equipment at their disposal, the director and her two trained assistants set up the Nursery-Parent Center with accommodations for twelve children. The behavior of parents and children from the community is observed, for the most part without the children’s knowledge, with the hope of effecting satisfactory changes in the child’s environment and adjustment in personality to meet these changes.

Proper Habits Encouraged

Daily records are kept of each child’s home and school activities, and these in turn are periodically entered upon his chart. The children spend two hours each morning at play in the sunshine. At noon they have wholesome lunches, and are put to bed. After their noon nap they play again in the open for one hour. Each child is considered individually and receives the care that his case history requires. Proper habit formation is a major concern of the director.

Dr. Kittrell’s plan includes three distinct units of the Nursery School-Parent Education Center. Besides the Nursery School, it is proposed to establish a Parent Institute where the parents of the community and throughout the State may come to the college during the Summer months for guidance and carry back to their respective communities sufficient information not only to elevate their own living standards, but also to promote similar projects when they return home.

Finally, there is a proposed Consumers’ Center, where parents may learn to budget their resources so as to get the greatest amount of returns from the money they spend for home making.