Tag Archives: pioneers of education

19th Century, education, History, Intercession, justice, Minnesota, omnipresent history, State Government

Deaf School 1863

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1863
“A state-supported school for the deaf opens in Faribault. Instruction for blind students begins the next year. Classes are aimed at making students productive members of society: boys learn trades such as printing and girls learn homemaking.” *
“Bear in Mind!”
“I. This is not an asylum, but an Educational Institution, and is specially designed to give every deaf and dumb, and every blind child in the State a free education and a knowledge of a useful trade.”

“II. The Common Schools and the University are not looked upon as a public charity, neither should this Institution be so regarded. And education is even more important for these children than for those who can see, hear and speak. Without it they are doomed to a life of ignorance and dependence, but with it they may become intelligent, useful and independent citizens…”
-From Application, 1884. Minnesota School for the Deaf.
Minnesota State Archives Collection, 117.J.9.2

G-d, I’m proud of this moment in my state, and its choice to act in accordance with Your profound interest in every detail of every life! I relish that both our government and individuals saw the hope and promise in these sons and daughters! How good it is when we see through the eyes of our hearts, and commit to the work necessary to fulfill those visions!

Will You bless the city of Faribault for their faithfulness in donating the land for this school? Will You bless its time of waiting, five years, during the Civil War? Will You remember the individuals like Rodney A. Mott and Roswell H. Kinney who had both the vision and persistence required to actuate this delayed dream? **
Lord, we are Your creatures! We are Your people! We have sometimes assumed that because someone does not have a gift that we hold dear that they are limited and defective. Help our unbeliefs and misbeliefs! In You, truly, we are all perfected within our imperfections! Help us to view each other as fully worthy of love and respect!

Further, sweet Ruah Ha-Qodesh, because we are in covenant, I ask this day of that You bring glory to Yourself in bringing mass healings of deafness and blindness in Minnesota. Will You open the people of our state for mass healings or restorations of any kind whether: mental loss of hearing, emotional astigmatism, spiritual tinnitus, or historical cataracts? Will You forgive our shortsighted hearts? Will You forgive our deafness of soul to Your kind voice? Will You bring revelation to Minnesota in a way that only You can get the honor?

*http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
** http://www.msad.state.mn.us/About/history/thebeginning.asp

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19th Century, Culture, education, Faith, History, Intercession, Jesus, Minnesota, Native Americans

Lake Harriet Mission School July 19, 1836  

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Six students attend the opening of the Lake Harriet Mission School for the Dakota, founded by the Reverend Jedediah D. Stevens. An early example of education within the boundaries of present-day Minnesota, the school was sponsored by the Presbyterian Missions Board and taught by the founder’s niece, Lucy C. Stevens, in a cabin built by Gideon H. and Samuel W. Pond.*

Good Teacher, thank you for the benefits of the Lake Harriet Mission School for the Dakota. Thank you for the heart of providing education to all! It’s so good to share what we know and have it received.

It is not easy to be the first. It takes boldness to reach out across cultural lines. On one side of this picture we have Dakota students who are reaching out to Stevens. Conversely, he is stepping out of his comfort zone to meet and teach members of an unfamiliar culture. Will You bless both sides of this exchange? Will You remember their boldness and trust to know each other? Each group is an exploratory party of sorts. May we never forget what its like to be an alien!

Lord, I also want to acknowledge our separations that may begin as academic pride. We assume our knowledge will change our ‘underprivileged’. We often fail to pass on wisdom (good judgment), and even foster an academic culture that hesitates to recognize the merits of wisdom. As moderns, we cringe at even the word ‘judgement’, although one could argue that good judgment is the root of justice?!

I feel prompted to acknowledge the potential judgments of Stevens and Williamson against the Pond brothers, and perhaps a spirit of competitiveness. Lord, will you forgive any heritage of academic  or religious pride stemming from  them forward to us if this is the case? Will you forgive the stinging pain of criticism towards or counter-judgments from the Ponds, the Dakotas, these first six students, or any other pertinent unaddressed party? Will You free the land  of Minnesota from these judgments, and bring the blessing of humility that we all have betrayed You, Your peoples, and our selves? Will You make us humble teachers and students of the “knowledge” You have revealed to us? Amen.

*The current URL is www.dipity.com/Minnesota/History/Minnesota-History/ and only works if typed, not pasted, in browser. It is worth the effort!

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