Morrison, Henry C. (Henry Clinton), 1871-1945

Educator. A.B., Dartmouth College, 1895. S.M., New Hampshire College, 1906. LL. D., University of Maine, 1914. Lecturer in School Administration, University of Chicago, University of Chicago, 1912; Professor of Education, 1919-1938; Superintendent of the Laboratory Schools, 1919-1927.

Henry Clinton Morrison, (7 Oct. 1871-19 Mar. 1945), educator, was born in Oldtown, Maine.

Morrison's father John Morrison married Mary Louise Ham and ran a general merchandise store. Morrison grew up in area characterized by the lumber and fishing industries on the east coast. He proved himself as a rugged axe man and canoeist. However, Morrison's success in his academic work so impressed a local banker that he settled the tuition for Morrison's years at Dartmouth. Morrison earned his graduate degrees during his working years; getting his MS from New Hampshire College in 1906 and his LL.D. University of Maine in 1914.

Graduated from Dartmouth in 1885, Morrison entered Milford High School, NH as a "teaching principal"; where he passed on his classical education in Latin, mathematics, history and science. Milford High was notorious for the rough behavior of the boys. Morrison's staunch demeanor made him a person more feared and respected than loved or admired and this attitude assisted him in taming the school. His success there led to the offer to be the superintendent of schools for Portsmouth, NH, from 1899 to 1904. Morrison married Marion Locke in 1902; she mothered three children.

In 1904, Morrison moved into the position of New Hampshire State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He stayed there until 1917 when he suddenly took the position of the Assistant Secretary of the Connecticut Board of Education. After two years on the Board Morrison moved to Chicago to assume the Professorship of Education and the Superintendencey of the Laboratory Schools at the University of Chicago. In 1928 Morrison left the position of superintendent to assume the position of Professor of School Administration until 1937. The Laboratory school was John Dewey's experimental program. Morrison was not interested in experimenting as much as he was discipline and comprehension.

Morrison is best remembered for the work he did at the University of Chicago. He formulated the "Morrison plan" which reorganized the traditional style of teaching. He focused on student comprehension and developed "unit teaching". Morrison aimed to cultivate the students. His standard education involved the three part method of "stimulus, assimilation, and reaction." Morrison best articulated this style, which emphasizes the role of the teacher, in The Practice of Teaching in the Secondary School (1926). His style of teaching dominated the education system in the US and in many international countries until World War II.

In 1937 Morrison retired from the University of Chicago. In March, 1945 he suffered a fatal heart attack while working in his Hyde Park garden.