Chapter IV: Part 4

It is to the contribution of new scientific facts to the educational world that Clark University chiefly devotes itself, and in doing this valuable work it has shown itself quite willing to acknowledge the results of observation and experiment of a very different kind from its own--viz., that of parents and teachers in the home and school. The records of the observation of children made by the students of the Worcester Normal School are given to Dr. Stanley Hall to be used in any way that may help true scientific research on the subject. It is evident that results gain by approaching the same problems from the practical and scientific standpoints, will be much more secure than they could be otherwise, and will supply valuable contributions to the educational world.

_SUMMER SCHOOLS AS ACCESSORY TO THE WORK OF TRAINING._

Among the most distinctively American educational institutions are Summer Schools for Teachers. They are meetings organized during the long summer vacations by private individuals, or in connection with some University Normal or Training School, for the help and stimulation of teachers who have otherwise no opportunity for training.

The exact character of the work of a school is dependent entirely upon the educational aims and methods of the principal of the school, and the purpose for which teachers give up three or four weeks of their holiday to attend a Summer School may be different in different cases. The teachers of country schools, inadequately prepared for their work of teaching, often attend the Summer School in their county, in order to gain a State training certificate of a higher grade than that which they already possess; while teachers in city schools, most of whom have been trained in Normal Schools, attend a Summer School like that of Colonel Parker, at Englewood, to get stimulation for future work, and to pursue, in addition, a systematic study of pedagogy. Graduates, who are teaching in schools and academies during the year, often attend a Summer School in connection with an University, in order to pursue further study in various branches. The Summer Schools I visited at Benton Harbour, Englewood, Chautauqua, and the Summer School of Cornell University, illustrate the different lines of work mentioned.

At Benton Harbour, a small town on the shores of Lake Michigan, a Summer School was held for four weeks, and was attended by about fifty teachers of the rural districts of Michigan, who came to prepare for a third-grade Teachers’ Certificate of the State of Michigan. Lessons were given in ordinary school subjects, pedagogy and drill from half-past seven in the morning until three or four o’clock in the afternoon. I spent three or four days at this school, heard daily lessons in psychology, physical culture, civil government, English, elocution, and other subjects, and saw the working of the school generally. The teaching in all subjects was very elementary, as little previous knowledge could be assumed.

Daily work began with exercises in which the whole school took part. The singing of a hymn afforded an opportunity for a singing lesson being given to the whole school, the principal acting as instructor. Then came the reading of Holy Scripture, or of selections from literature, and a short discourse by the principal, after which students were called upon to give quotations from the works of famous men and women, or to recite short poems which had been previously prepared. At the end of these public exercises, the students were required to dismiss according to word of command, to turn, march to music, and to drill as a class of children would have been required to do. This was intended to teach the students how to dismiss and drill a school or class.

Lessons in psychology were given by the principal. The treatment of the subject was necessarily very elementary, and, indeed, superficial. I noticed that the teacher constantly digressed on practical points, and seemed to know exactly when digression would be of advantage to his pupils.

Daily lessons on “Experiments” were also given. These were talks on some of the most elementary principles of science, and easy experiments showing how such principles might be illustrated in class. Capillary attraction was illustrated in a lesson I heard, and its bearing on everyday life was shown. Pupils were required to come out of their seats, and to arrange simple apparatus before the class. As they were quite unaccustomed to manipulate even the simplest materials, they seemed to find considerable difficulty even in drawing out glass tubing and clamping together glass plates.

The feature of the school, perhaps, the most interesting, was the anxiety shown by these rural teachers to lose no opportunity for improvement, and the keenness with which they followed their daily lessons. Some of them were so untrained as to find great difficulty in following the word of command during drill, but these, who were painfully conscious of their defects, made rapid progress even in a week’s time. Summer Schools like that of Benton Harbour may give real help to the ill-prepared and untrained country teachers, in increasing their knowledge, and widening their interests. They offer advantages to those who have no opportunity for training, but their conditions are such as to prevent their becoming an adequate substitute for it. Indeed, their very existence acknowledges the fact that country teachers have no opportunities for preparation, and in itself sanctions a certain amount of superficiality.

The principal object of Colonel Parker’s Summer School, held in previous years at Chautauqua, New York, but this year at Englewood, Chicago, is to stimulate teachers of all kinds, and to suggest lines of work to be developed by them during the year. Attracted by the name and work of Colonel Parker, more than 200 teachers, superintendents of schools, and persons interested in education, came from nearly all the States of the Union to attend the Summer School at Englewood. Most of the ordinary school staff of the Cook County Normal School at Englewood acted as teachers in the Summer School, and Colonel Parker himself gave daily lectures in psychology. Daily lessons were also given in the teaching of science, language, and reading, “number” or arithmetic, music, drawing, and also in voice culture, Sloyd, physical culture, blackboard drawing, and other subjects advantageous to the teacher. The methods of teaching taught in the Normal School at Englewood were explained and exemplified in the Summer School, and Kindergarten and primary classes attached to the Normal School were taught during the weeks in which the Summer School was held, in order to show the practical application of the methods discussed. The students selected their courses of study. All, however, were expected to attend the psychology lectures. The classes in methods of teaching science, methods of laboratory work, methods of teaching language and reading, and methods of teaching “number” or arithmetic, were the most largely attended. Very keen interest was also taken in the blackboard drawing.

The work in methods of science was carried on by lectures, laboratory work by students, and field work. An important feature of the science lectures was the attention paid to methods of meteorological observation. Blank charts, to show the daily range and variation of temperature and air-pressure, were filled in by the students; United States Weather Bureau maps were studied; the origin and course of storms in the United States were followed. The relation of science to other subjects, number, reading, modelling, painting, drawing, writing, language, was brought out in the lectures, all the instruction being such as to suggest methods of actually dealing with the subjects before a class of children. The laboratory work was especially suggestive. The Summer School pupils did individual experimental work, and had the same instruction and treatment as a class of children would have had. The practical science course for the Summer School was:

(i.) Making a magnetic needle.

(ii.) Heat. Conductivity of Metals.

(iii.) ” Expansion of Metals.

(iv.) ” Determination of boiling-point of fresh and
salt-water.

(v.) ” Expansion of liquids and air.

(vi.) ” Chemical change.

(vii.) Pressure of air. Pump and syphon.

(viii.) Mechanical constituents of soil (1).

(ix.) ” ” ” (2).

(x.) Physical properties of soils (1).

(xi.) ” ” ” (2).

(xii.) Mineral constituents of soils (1).

(xiii.) ” ” ” (2).

(xiv.) Transpiration of plants.

(xv.) Specific gravity of minerals.

Field excursions were made weekly, and methods of conducting children’s field excursions were suggested and discussed.

The instruction in blackboard drawing, as illustrating geographical forms, was excellent. In all cases, the students worked on paper with charcoal, at the same time as the teacher drew on the wall slate. After making a sketch, the teacher erased her work at once, in order to secure rapidity in those who were copying. The members of the class then distributed themselves round the room at various parts of the wall slate, and were required to reproduce on the wall slate the drawing they had just made, the teacher meanwhile giving individual help and criticising. The subjects for blackboard drawing for the fifteen lessons of the course were:

(_a_) Illustrations to show how Blackboard Drawing can be
used.

(_b_) Hills, valleys, mountains, plateaus.

(_c_) River-basins, waterfalls, lakes, deltas.

(_d_) Erosion, cliffs, cañons, terraces, gorges.

(_e_) Mountains, ranges, parallel, etc.

(_f_) Continent of N. America. Esquimaux huts; Indian
wigwams; logging camps.

(_g_) United States. Cotton fields, rice swamps, sand bars.

(_h_) Mexico. Central America. Cacti; ruins.

(_i_) S. America. Fiord coasts, volcanoes; tropical forests.

(_j_) Africa. Deserts, sand-dunes, oases, canals.

(_k_) Abyssinian Highlands: Nile Basin, pyramids, palms.

(_l_) Australia Islands, coral, volcanoes.

(_m_) Eurasia; plateaus of Thibet and Gobi.

(_n_) India; Spain; Italy; banyan trees.

(_o_) Norway and Sweden; glaciers, icebergs.

Through the kind permission of Colonel Parker, I was able to hear all lessons and to see the entire working of the school. Daily visits for nearly a fortnight served to show, that much educational life was centered there, and that teachers who occupied responsible positions in all parts of the States were receiving new light and stimulation for the working out of their own particular problems.

At the college of the well-known summer assembly at Chautauqua, New York, there was no professional instruction for teachers this year. I heard some excellent teaching in physics, German and French; but beyond the fact that many of the Chautauqua college students were teachers taking holiday courses of study to equip themselves better for future teaching, the work that I saw here had no direct bearing upon the training of teachers.

At Cornell University, courses in pedagogy are usually given in connection with the summer course in philosophy. These are for graduate students only. Psychology lectures, with experimental demonstrations, are given every day in the week; lectures on psychological and psychophysical method, with demonstrations and laboratory practice, are delivered three times a week; pedagogy and the history of education are studied by means of lectures and conferences; methods of teaching the special subject of study are discussed in connection with the other summer courses for graduates at Cornell University. I was present at a very interesting meeting of teachers who were attending a summer course in English. Individual members of the class gave their own experience as regards the teaching of English and literature in the schools. The students were mostly specialists in English, and teachers in private academies, or High Schools, and an informal discussion of special difficulties and methods which had been actually tried was very interesting and helpful to the class as a whole.

A general survey of Summer Schools of all kinds seems to show that their work cannot be regarded as that of “Training,” but rather as accessory to it. Where the principal or conductor of the Summer School is a man of enthusiasm and enlightenment, teachers can be refreshed and stimulated in many ways, by a summer course of work; but to regard a course as training which supplies no practice-work, and exists under highly artificial conditions, for a few weeks only, is to overlook some of the most important features of training.

As a general summary of the work of Training, seen in Normal Schools, City Training Schools and University Departments, it may be stated:

(i.) That the State Normal Schools, adhering to old traditions, and failing to insist on adequate and thorough scholarship as an entrance qualification, have been obliged to devote themselves, either to securing that scholarship, or to the pursuance of so-called training under conditions the most conducive to mechanical lines of work, and dead forms of method.

(ii.) That the City Training Schools, being entirely local institutions, supported by local funds, and only supplying teachers to the schools of the vicinity, are in danger of being cramped in their methods by seeking to win public favour.

(iii.) That the University Departments of Pedagogy, especially those belonging to State Universities, are capable of affording the widest and best opportunities for the thorough training of primary and secondary teachers, and in supplying these opportunities, they will not only help forward the cause in which they are immediately engaged, but afford a valuable means of unifying and stimulating education generally.

The existence of the good and the bad side by side is as marked a feature in training institutions as in any other department of American education, and suggests great rapidity of progress in some directions. Where the training is bad, old methods have been retained under new conditions; and where good results have been obtained, they are due to the readiness to try new methods, and to keep in touch with the educational progress of the day. The stimulus to much that is good in the present training of teachers in America is the psychological study of children, which now is being systematically organized in a “National Association for the Study of Children.” Not only scientific workers, but teachers and parents throughout the country, are beginning to realize the important bearing of child-study upon all educational questions, and nowhere is their enthusiasm for matters educational more shown than in their united devotion to the solution of this new problem.

AMY BLANCHE BRAMWELL.

PART II.

BY MILLICENT HUGHES.

In America, as in Europe, it is becoming increasingly recognised, that the fact of having received a good education, even if that education have included a University course, is no guarantee of fitness for the teaching profession. That some special professional preparation is also necessary before a teacher can be safely entrusted with teaching responsibility can hardly be said to be any longer a matter of debate among those who have devoted time and thought to educational questions. There may be much difference of opinion as to the best way of giving that preparation, but that it should be given is becoming more and more a foregone conclusion. There seems at last some chance that a well-earned rest may be allowed to the well-worn comparison made between the doctor’s and teacher’s professions, with its obvious moral--that just as no right-thinking parent would allow an unqualified practitioner to prescribe for his child’s body, so it should be impossible for that far less understood and delicate something, which we call the mind, to be entrusted to the care of one whose only qualification for the post is the possession of a certain amount of useful information. There are many battles yet to be fought, many experiments yet to be tried, many failures yet to be faced, ere all shall be agreed on the best kind of professional training that can be given to teachers; yet I have returned from America encouraged in the belief that the decisive battle in favour of training has been fought and won on both sides of the Atlantic, and that the old world and the new may with advantage to both join hands in the endeavour to discover the best ways and means of such training.

And it would seem especially fitting that England and America should thus join hands, for, after all, few things about the Americans impressed me more than the fact that they are really English, and that the inhabitants of Great Britain and the United States really form part of one great English-speaking nation, with the heritage of a noble language and literature, and a common life of thought and feeling. In matters educational, the truth of this oneness impressed me vividly. Allowing for such differences as must exist between an old and a new country, it is nevertheless true that most of the problems in education which they are trying to solve are those which perplex us also, and of these the problem of the Training of Teachers holds a place in the front rank. But it is a curious and interesting fact, that the solution should be attempted in both countries, and yet that so little attention should be paid in each to what is being done in the other. The ignorance that prevails among American teachers as to what is being attempted in England is, I fear, only equalled by our own ignorance of American educational life. This ignorance is largely the result of the difficulty that both American and English teachers experience, in obtaining definite information on educational matters in connection with either country. This fact made it very difficult for me even to map out my tour, so as to include as far as possible what was typical of American Training in the short time at my disposal, and had it not been for the unvarying kindness and courtesy shown me by American teachers, in directing my notice to what was best worth seeing, my task would have presented almost insuperable difficulties. As it is, I have, of course, been unable to cover the whole ground, and indeed have been able to personally examine into the opportunities for training in a very few States. These, however, I believe to be representative States, from a study of the means of training in which it is possible to arrive at a very fair conclusion of its condition in the States as a whole. They include the following: Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan and Illinois. I was, however, fortunate in being able to supplement the information thus obtained by a careful study of the many excellent State exhibits in the Educational Department of the Liberal Arts Building, at the World’s Fair, and to further correct and intensify the impressions I had received by many conversations with educationists from all parts of the United States, whom it was my good fortune to meet at the Educational Congresses, held at Chicago in July.

In considering any American educational question, there are one or two points which must never be lost sight of, and perhaps it will be well to indicate them here. In the first place, it must be remembered that there is not one American educational system, but many. Each State has complete control of its own educational matters, has its own School Law, sets aside common lands, or levies taxes for the support of its own schools, and is responsible to no higher authority. The only part taken by the Central Government of the United States in connection with education has been in the establishment of a Bureau of Education, the chief functions of which have been (1) the collecting of statistics and general information respecting education in all the various States, which are embodied in an annual report made by the Commissioner of Education, (2) the publishing of monographs and circulars of information on topics of educational interest, such as Co-education, Teaching of History, etc., and (3) the maintaining of a valuable Pedagogical Reference Library at Washington.

Secondly, a distinction must be made between the Western States, of which Michigan might be taken as representative, and the Eastern, of which Massachusetts might be considered typical. In the former we find a most complete system of State education, leading from the Primary School right up to the great co-educational University of Michigan. The State Schools there have few private rivals, and the University none. In the State of Massachusetts, on the contrary, although Primary, Grammar and High Schools are maintained at the public expense, yet the children of a large proportion of the inhabitants attend private schools and academies, which undertake to prepare them for Harvard or the Women’s Colleges, such as Wellesley. In fact, few of those who enter upon a University career do so straight from the common school, as is the case in the Western States. It follows from this that there are two classes of teachers to be considered in the Eastern States--(1) those who teach in the common schools (Primary, Grammar and High), and (2) those who teach in private schools and in the academies. Those of the second class are largely recruited from the ranks of College graduates, who rely upon their University course as preparation for the profession of teaching, and amongst whom the idea of a special training for their work has only here and there been awakened. It is mainly in connection with State education that the idea of the training of teachers has been developed, although the fact that several of the older Universities, including Harvard, are providing courses of lectures on the Science and Art of Teaching may be taken as a hopeful sign of the gradual growth of the idea among all classes of teachers.

It will be perhaps well to enumerate the various means available for the Training of Teachers in the United States, and then to describe more particularly the special features of the training to be obtained in each kind of institution.

Training may be obtained at:

{ Public or State.
i. Normal Schools { City.
{ Private.

{ Schools.
ii. City Training {
{ Classes.

iii. Pedagogical Departments in Universities.

iv. Teachers’ Institutes.

v. Summer Schools.

_NORMAL SCHOOLS._

There are three kinds of Normal Schools to be considered--State, City and Private. It was my privilege to visit a good number belonging to the first two classes, but I was not fortunate enough to be able to inspect any of the Private Normal Schools. These latter are, of course, chiefly to be found in those States which have few or no State or City Normal Schools.

The difference between State and City Normal Schools is mainly one of control. The State Normal School forms part of the State Common School system, and is under the direct supervision of the State Superintendent and Board of Education, while the City Normal School belongs to the City School system, and is under the jurisdiction of the City Superintendent. The State Normal School is intended to provide teachers for the schools in any part of the State, while the City Normal School has for its object the preparation of teachers for the City schools alone.

At present one of the most hotly debated questions in connection with Normal Schools relates to the subjects to be included in the curriculum. Shall the Normal School give professional training alone, or shall it also provide instruction in Academic subjects? There is at present much divergence of opinion on the subject, and some schools are organized on the one principle, and some on the other.

At present some of the Normal Schools have a double function to perform, that of serving as High Schools, and at the same time as professional Training Colleges. There is, however, a growing feeling against this plan, and a tendency, wherever possible, to separate those who intend to become teachers from those who do not. But many Normal Schools, while claiming to be only professional, yet include Academic subjects in their curricula. Two reasons for this are commonly urged. In the first place, it is said that it is impossible to get a large enough supply of candidates for training who are sufficiently well equipped for their profession from the point of view of mere information; and secondly, that even those who have the necessary information have acquired it in such a way that it is almost useless for teaching purposes. For such, a complete revision of the various subjects, taken in conjunction with a consideration of the best methods of teaching the same, is regarded as necessary; it being maintained by those in favour of this plan that it is almost impossible to get instruction in the various subjects that will be of any value to them as teachers, outside a Normal School.

On the other hand, there are some who maintain that the Normal School should be strictly professional, admitting none to its courses but those who can give evidence of having had ample academic preparation. Many, however, who believe that the courses in academic studies are at present necessary yet look forward to the time when they will be no longer required.

There appears to be a growing feeling in the States in favour of the complete separation of the professional from the academic course, and it is interesting to note that the question is agitating the minds of those who have to do with the training of teachers in America, at the same time that it has become a burning question in England in connection with the training of our Elementary Teachers. The Normal Schools correspond more or less closely with our English Elementary Training Colleges, and an examination of their points of likeness and difference may not prove unprofitable.

In the first place, it should be noted, that the absence of any uniform standard of attainment, such as is more or less secured in England by the fact that there is one government examination for all Colleges, makes it possible for there to be a great difference in the rank held by different Normal Schools. As each school fixes its own standard of graduation, and the conditions for admission, length of course and final tests vary with each institution, it comes about that much depends upon the Normal School, of which a given teacher is a graduate.

Some Normal Schools, for instance, have a course extending over four years, in others it only lasts from one to two years, while some offer a choice of courses of varying length. In England, on the contrary, the Elementary Training course is uniformly two years in all Colleges, the length being only occasionally varied in the cases of individuals, as when, on special recommendation, a third year is allowed, or a candidate who has already obtained a certificate is admitted to a Training College for one year’s training.

This lack of uniformity in the length of course in American Normal Schools is largely the result of the absence of any _one_ standard of admission. While in England there is one examination, the Queen’s Scholarship, which must be passed by all, except University graduates who desire to enter an Elementary College, in America the conditions vary with each individual Normal School. Some require at least a certificate of graduation from a High School, some have an entrance examination of their own, which none may be excused, while others offer one to those who have no certificates to show.

Some Normal Schools are regarded as affording suitable preparation for the Universities, and are attended by those who hope to take up a University course later on, while others grant degrees of their own, or arrange special courses for those who have taken degrees elsewhere.

The fact that there are so many differences in respect of length of course and choice of subjects, between the Normal Schools of various States and Cities, makes it exceedingly difficult to form any accurate generalizations. It will probably, therefore, be wiser at this point to give a more detailed account of the Normal Schools which I had an opportunity of studying in the above-mentioned States.

_PENNSYLVANIA._

Pennsylvania has eleven State Normal Schools, the two most important of which I was able to visit. The Normal School Law for this State provides for two courses of study; the Elementary Course and the Scientific Course. The first of these leads to the certificate Bachelor of the Element (B.E.), while the diploma of the second constitutes its holder Bachelor of the Sciences (B.S.).

The outlines of these courses are laid down by the State as follows, but each Normal School can adapt them as seems best. Most Normal Schools also arrange for a Preparatory Course.

ELEMENTARY COURSE.--JUNIOR YEAR.

_Pedagogics._--Elements of School Management and Methods.

_Language._--Orthography and Reading; English Grammar, including
Composition; Latin, sufficient for the introduction of Cæsar.

_Mathematics._--Arithmetic; Elementary Algebra.

_Natural Sciences._--Physiology and Hygiene.

_Historical Sciences._--Geography--Physical, Mathematical, and
Political; History of the United States; Civil Government.

_The Arts._--Penmanship, sufficient to be able to explain some
approved system--writing to be submitted to Board of Examiners;
Drawing, a daily exercise for at least twenty-eight weeks--work to
be submitted to the Board of Examiners; Book-keeping, single entry,
seven weeks; Vocal music, elementary principles, and attendance upon
daily exercises for at least one-third of a year.

_Manual Training._

ELEMENTARY COURSE.--SECOND YEAR.

_Pedagogics._--Psychology, embracing the intellect, sensibilities,
and will; Methods; History of Education; Model School Work--at least
twenty-one weeks of actual teaching daily during one period of not
less than forty-five minutes; a Thesis on a professional Subject.

_Language._--The outlines of Rhetoric, together with at least
a fourteen weeks’ course in English literature, including the
thorough study of one selection from each of four English classics;
Latin--Cæsar.

_Mathematics._--Arithmetic; Mensuration; Plane Geometry.

_Natural Sciences._--Elementary Natural Philosophy; Botany.

_Historical Sciences._--Reading of General History in connection with
the History of Education.

_The Arts._--Elocutionary Exercises in connection with the study of
English literature.

_Manual Training._

SCIENTIFIC COURSE.--TWO YEARS.

_Pedagogics._--Moral Philosophy; Logic; Philosophy of Education;
Course of Professional Reading, with abstracts, notes, criticisms,
to be submitted to Board of Examiners; a Thesis on a professional
subject.

_Language._--Latin, six books of Virgil, four orations of Cicero,
the Germania of Tacitus, or a full equivalent; an equivalent of
Greek, French, or German will be accepted for Spherical Trigonometry,
Analytical Geometry, Calculus, Mathematical Natural Philosophy, and
Mathematical Astronomy; Literature.

_Mathematics._--Higher Algebra; Solid Geometry; Plane and Spherical
Trigonometry and Surveying, with use of instruments; Analytical
Geometry; Differential and Integral Calculus.

_Natural Science._--Natural Philosophy, as much as in Snell’s
Olmsted; Anatomy, Descriptive and Mathematical; Chemistry; Geology or
Mineralogy; Zoology; Astronomy.

_History._--General History.

To graduate at a Pennsylvanian State Normal School, students must attend at least twenty-one weeks. The Faculty first examines the candidates in all the branches of study; if they find them qualified they recommend them to the State Board of Examiners, and certify that they have completed the course of study as required by law, and have taught the required time in the Model School.

The final examinations are conducted by a State Board of Examiners, who are appointed by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, from the following classes:--the State Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent, who is President of the Board, the Principal of another Normal School, two County or Borough Superintendents from the First District, and the Principal of this Normal School. Each student must receive four votes out of the five in order to pass the examination, and to graduate.

The final examination occurs about two weeks before Commencement,[2] the date being fixed by the State Superintendent. The examination is almost wholly in writing, and lasts two or three days.

Regular graduates who have continued their studies for two years (_i.e._ have completed either the Elementary or Scientific Course), and have practised their profession for two years in the Common Schools of the State, and who have presented to the Faculty and Board of Examiners a certificate of good moral character and skill in the Art of Teaching from the Board or Boards of Directors by whom they were employed, countersigned by the proper County Superintendent, receive further diplomas, constituting them Masters in the Course in which they graduated, and conferring upon them one of the following degrees: Master of the Elements (M.E.); Master of the Sciences (M.S.).

These diplomas confer upon their holders the right to teach the subjects therein named, in the public schools of Pennsylvania, without further examination.

It is also the duty of the Pennsylvania Normal Schools to grant State certificates to such teachers in the Common Schools of the State who make application for the same, and who fulfil the following conditions:

i. Each applicant must be twenty-one years of age, and must have
taught in the Common Schools of the State during three successive
years.

ii. Each must present certificates of moral character, and skill in
practical teaching.

iii. The examination must be either in the subjects of the Elementary
or Scientific Course, and must be taken at the time of the Annual
Examination of the Normal School at which application is made.

iv. Each applicant is required to present an original Thesis on some
educational subject.

The School year is usually forty-two weeks, and is divided into two sessions--a winter session of about twenty-eight weeks from August to March, and a summer of fourteen weeks, beginning with the end of March.

The usual charge for the Winter Session is $140 (about £28), and for the Summer Session $70 (about £14).

By a recent Act of the Legislature the following appropriations are made by the State to Normal students and graduates.

i. Each student over seventeen years of age who shall sign a paper
declaring his intention to teach in the Common Schools of the State
shall receive the sum of fifty cents (about 2_s._) per week toward
defraying the expenses of tuition and boarding.

ii. Each student who upon graduating shall sign an agreement to teach
in the Common Schools of the State two full school years shall
receive the sum of fifty dollars (about £10).

iii. Any student desiring to secure the benefits must attend the
School at least twelve consecutive weeks, and must join a class in
Methods of Instruction or School Management. These benefits will be
deducted from the regular expenses of board and tuition.

About four miles from Lancaster, and connected with it by an electric railway, is the little village of Millersville, where is located the oldest Normal School of the State. It was established in 1855, and recognised as the First State Normal School in Pennsylvania in 1859. It is a co-educational school with accommodation for about 500 students, although permission is also sometimes given to students to board out. The buildings are typical of this kind of Normal School. There is a central building containing the Chapel, recitation[3] and dining-rooms, etc., while on either side are two dormitories, one for the men students, and one for the women. There is also a gymnasium; and two handsome buildings--a Library, and a Science building with lecture rooms and laboratories--are in process of erection. There are more women students than men, and fewer of the latter intend to become teachers in the State; often they only use the Normal School as a stepping-stone to the University.

An excellent Model School, comprising a Kindergarten and eight grades, is attached to the Institution, in which the students observe the methods used by the critic teachers in various subjects, and also teach under supervision. I heard one of the critic teachers give a model lesson on a brook basin, and afterwards deliver a lecture to the students on the teaching of Geography, in which the special points of teaching method in connection with the brook basin, school district and township were dwelt upon and discussed. I had, moreover, the opportunity of hearing one of the students teach, and was also fortunate enough to be able to listen to a reading lesson given by the head of the Model School on the sentence method.

I next visited the Normal School at West Chester, which was started in 1871. Its buildings are on much the same plan as those at Millersville, with the two wings for men and women students, and the dining and recitation rooms in the centre. The Principal, with pardonable pride, drew my special attention to the gymnasium building, which, with the single exception of the new Yale Gymnasium, is believed to be the most complete connected with any school or college in the States. It contains a full supply of the best apparatus, running tracks, bath-rooms, large swimming-pool, bowling alleys, ball cage, etc. A thoroughly trained physician[4] and his wife are in charge of the gymnasium, and all exercise is taken under their supervision. I was able to attend several of the classes--one on School Method, which took the form of a discussion of such points as the following: “What degree of quiet is necessary in a school?” “On what does ability to govern depend?” “Can ability to govern be acquired?” I was much struck here, as in other American schools and colleges, with the ease in speaking, and the keen interest shown by the students in taking part in the discussion. A lesson in Arithmetic, in which the students made excellent use of that distinctive feature of an American recitation room--the continuous blackboard, one on United States history, and a lesson on physiology given in the Model School, helped to fill up a most interesting morning.

_CONNECTICUT._

There are two State Normal Schools in the State of Connecticut--one at New Britain, started in 1850, and the other at Willimantic, opened in 1889. These schools have for their object the definite preparation of teachers for work in the State schools, and no encouragement is given to other students to enter. They thus differ from the Pennsylvania Normal Schools, which are often attended by those who do not intend to become teachers. This difference appears to produce one curious and instructive result--namely, that while a large number of men students are to be found in the Pennsylvania Normal Schools, they are conspicuous by their absence from those in Connecticut. This is easily understood when one remembers that an overwhelming majority of the teachers in the Common Schools are women, and that as few men intend to take up teaching as a permanent profession, they are not likely to be found in those Normal Schools, the courses of which will not serve as stepping-stones to a future college or other career.

Neither of these two Schools are residential, but the Principals undertake to assist students in finding comfortable accommodation. Board and lodging can usually be obtained from $3 to $4 (14_s._ to 17_s._) per week.

Candidates for admission must either (1) pass an entrance examination held at certain centres in the State, or (2) present a certificate of graduation from a High School or State Teachers’ Certificate, or (3) have taught successfully for three years.

The course is arranged for two years, but no student can graduate from the schools unless considered fit to teach by the Faculty. They may either remain longer as students, or if thought to be hopeless may be requested to withdraw.

At both schools there are at least two parts to the course: (1) that done in the Normal School, including the Theory of Education, and special work in science and other subjects; and (2) that done in the Model or Training Schools. Each School has also a Kindergarten, and at New Britain there is a special course for the training of Kindergarten teachers.

Students who attain the required standard of scholarship in every prescribed subject, and exhibit a fair degree of skill in teaching and governing children, _and_ pass the State Examination for Teachers, receive a Diploma of Graduation.

The fitness of any teacher for her profession is thus determined partly by the authorities of the Normal School, and partly by the State.

All necessary text-books are free, but students are encouraged to purchase a few books of reference.

The aim of this school is entirely professional, but it is found so difficult to obtain a supply of sufficiently prepared students that some academic work, especially in science, is found to be necessary, and each student is expected to learn to make certain sets of apparatus, which will be afterwards helpful in the teaching of science in the schools. The Principal informed me that he considered that the school was stronger on the practical than on the theoretical side. Most certainly the practical training of teachers is most thoroughly arranged for. A Model School of 500 children is attached to the school, the classes in which are in the hands of trained and enthusiastic teachers, who are constantly endeavouring to improve existing and devise new methods of teaching. In reading, for instance, the children make their own reading lesson, the subjects being taken from lessons on elementary science, literature, etc., which they have had. With the help of the blackboard, simple sentences, giving an account of the lesson or its story, are collected, and then printed by the school printing press, which proves an invaluable addition to the school apparatus. Drawing is also taught almost entirely in connection with other school subjects, the illustrating of Science, History and Geography lessons being thus utilized.

During the training course, the students give a few lessons in the Model School, and spend a good deal of time in observation. But a comparatively new and important feature in connection with the practical training is the six months which students are encouraged to spend after graduation at a Practice School which has been opened at South Manchester. Here the graduates teach under supervision, and obtain that amount of practice under favourable circumstances which is so necessary to the perfecting of the teacher.

At Willimantic, as at New Britain, especial stress is laid on preparing the teacher for the practical part of the profession. The child, however, is the unit of the school, and on the right understanding of the child depends the teacher’s success in teaching. The child has both a body and a mind to be trained, and the two cannot be separated. It is therefore necessary that a teacher should know something about each, and students are therefore expected to devote a good deal of time to the study of Physiology in the Junior year, and to the study of Psychology in the Senior.

The Model Schools[5] are most carefully staffed, and the students spend as much time as possible in observing work done in these schools.

During the last term of the course, each student serves as an assistant in the various grades of the Model Schools, thus having experience in teaching under the guidance and criticism of an expert in each grade.

The course is for two years, but the Principal is anxious to have the time extended.

_NEW YORK STATE._

The first Normal School for the State of New York was opened at Albany in 1844. There are now eleven such schools in the State, two of which--Albany and Oswego--are entirely professional, while the others provide also for academic work.

STATISTICS OF NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS.

+-------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+ | | Normal. | Academic. | | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | Location. | No. | Average | No. | Average | | | Registered. | Attendance. | Registered. | Attendance. | | | Last Year. | Last Year. | Last Year. | Last Year. | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | Albany | 375 | 305 | | | | Oswego | 382 | 323 | | | | Brockport | 370 | 283 | 108 | 61 | | Cortland | 384 | 312 | 35 | 25 | | Potsdam | 490 | 395 | 182 | 134 | | Fredonia | 253 | 196 | 67 | 49 | | Buffalo | 357 | 295 | 12 | 7 | | Geneseo | 535 | 391 | 78 | 65 | | New Paltz | 227 | 170 | 26 | 13 | | Oneonta | 365 | 304 | 23 | 15 | | Plattsburgh | 142 | 106 | | | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+

The following extracts from the circular issued by the Superintendent of Public Instruction give the principal features common to all the Normal Schools of the State of New York.

“Students will be appointed to the Normal Schools by the Superintendent, upon the recommendation of superintendents and school commissioners. These officers will be relied upon to properly represent to possible candidates the needs of the public schools for well-qualified teachers, and the necessity of professional and technical training on the part of all who intend to teach. No students can be admitted who have not already acquired a substantial elementary education. This can be gained in all of the ordinary schools, and the professional training schools cannot be properly taxed with work which the common schools can perform as well. Through the quality of the work performed, through the attainments and the professional spirit and purpose of graduates, rather than through mere multiplicity of numbers, can the Normal Schools best promote the educational interests of the State. There is room and welcome in the Normal Schools for the graduates of the elementary and secondary schools, and even for those who have made substantial advancement in the elementary course without technical graduation, provided that they give promise of becoming successful teachers, and possess the desire to become such; but there is no room for students who have laid no real foundation for professional training, and who have no well-determined purpose about the matter and no fair conception of the responsibilities and obligations of a teacher’s occupation.

“Appointments will ordinarily follow recommendations, but students will be admitted or retained in Normal Schools only when they show scholarship and other qualities in justification of the appointment.

“The following form of recommendation will be used, and will be supplied from the department or from any of the schools upon application. When filled out it should be mailed to the Superintendent, and when approved it will be by him sent direct to the school. No student can be appointed who is not fully sixteen years of age.

TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION:--

I hereby recommend of in the County of
aged years, as possessing the health, scholarship, mental
ability and moral character requisite for an appointment to the State
Normal and Training School at

_School Commissioner_
_District of the County of_
Or, _Superintendent City of_

_Dated._

“Students duly appointed, and presenting the diplomas of colleges, universities, high schools, academies or academic departments of union schools, State Certificates or Commissioner’s Certificates, granted under the uniform examination system, and still in force, showing a standing of seventy-five per cent. in arithmetic, grammar and geography, may be admitted at any time and without examination.

“Students duly appointed, but unable to present either of the above-named evidences of proficiency, may be admitted at the opening of each term upon duly passing an entrance examination to be held at the school.

“Non-residents of the State are not to be solicited or encouraged to enter our Normal Schools, but such persons as specially desire to do so, and who comply with the requirements as to admission, may be admitted upon paying to the treasurer of the Local Board a tuition fee of twenty dollars per term of twenty weeks in advance. No mileage fees[6] will be paid to non-residents.

“No student will be received into the academic department connected with any State Normal School who is not a bona fide resident of the territory whose people have heretofore given Normal School property to the State, and for whose benefit the State has pledged itself to maintain an academic department.

“Tuition and the use of all text-books are free. Students will be held responsible, however, for any injury or loss of books. They are advised to bring with them, for reference, any suitable books they may have. The amount of fare necessarily paid on public conveyances in coming to the school will be refunded to those who remain a full term.

“A year is divided into two terms of twenty weeks each. The Autumn term commences on the first Wednesday in September, and the Spring term on the second Wednesday in February. There will be an intermission for a week during the holidays.”

There are three courses of study which can be followed: an English course arranged for three years, a Classical and a Scientific arranged for four years. (Albany and Oswego have specially arranged courses.)

Students who satisfactorily complete any one of the above courses receive diplomas, which serve as licenses to teach in the public schools of the State.

The first Normal School of the State was located at Albany. Until 1890 it had, like most of the other schools, academic as well as professional work, but it was then reorganized on a new plan, under the title of “New York State Normal College.” This College now devotes itself entirely to the giving of instruction in the Science and Art of Teaching.

The courses of study are as follows:--

1. _English Course_, which extends over two years, and embraces Psychology, History and Philosophy of Education, Methods of teaching all ordinary school subjects, School Economy and School Law, Kindergarten methods and practice in teaching under criticism. Graduates from this course receive a life diploma or license to teach.

2. _Classical Course._ This is also a two years’ course on much the same lines as the English, but with the addition of Methods of teaching Latin and Greek, or German, or French. A much severer entrance examination must, however, be passed to gain admission to this course than is required for the English. A life diploma and the degree of Bachelor of Pedagogy are conferred on graduates from this course.

3. _Supplementary Course._ This takes one year, which is devoted to the reading of leading educational authors, the discussion of educational subjects, and the preparation of an original thesis. Those who take this course in addition to the English receive the degree of Bachelor of Pedagogy, and those who take it in addition to the Classical receive that of Master of Pedagogy.

4. _One year Course for graduates_ from Colleges and Universities in which they are allowed to select a course (approved by the Faculty) for one year, and can receive a life diploma and the degree of Bachelor of Pedagogy.

5. _Kindergartner’s Course._

I unfortunately reached Albany too late to see the school in working order, but from what its Principal, Dr. Milne, told me, it appears to possess the most purely professional course of any Normal School in the States.

OSWEGO.

The Oswego School was first organized as a City Training School in 1861, but was adopted as a State School in 1863. The history of this school is the history of its Principal, Dr. Sheldon. When quite young, he became interested in the question of the education of the poor of his native city, Oswego. With the help of friends the first free school was started, but as no teacher could be found, he had to teach himself. He was able, in 1853, to organize a city system of schools, and became superintendent. Dissatisfaction with the teaching results of his schools led him to consider the question of methods. On a visit to Toronto, he saw in the National Museum a collection of educational appliances used abroad, and especially at the Home and Colonial Training School in London. He brought back all the apparatus that he could, but both he and his teachers realized the need of training, and finally some of them resigned half their salaries for one year, in order that a training teacher might be brought over from the Home and Colonial Training College. Miss M. E. M. Jones, an ardent disciple of Pestalozzi, came in response to their request, and day by day, after school hours, she met this enthusiastic little band of teachers, which was the first Training Class. After she left, those she had taught were able to carry it on, and the training of teachers was an established fact in Oswego. The course was at first only for one year, but was later extended to three and four when the school was taken over by the State.

With the consent of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the classical department has been dropped out of the Oswego School, and more extended lines of English work have been taken up as elective courses. The regular English course is taken for three years, and one of these for the fourth.

This course includes advanced work in science, history, higher English, psychology, pedagogy, drawing, and teaching under criticism, and occupies two terms of twenty weeks each.

Those who show marked talent for primary and kindergarten work may, after graduation, be invited by a vote of the Faculty to take an additional year in special training for kindergarten and primary teachers. At the end of this course diplomas are granted, indicating fitness to take charge of kindergartens; and in addition, certificates of special qualifications for primary work are given, signed by all the members of the Faculty.

In order to meet the increasing demand for teachers who can undertake training work in Normal Schools, a special course has been started, which lasts for five months, and includes lectures in psychology, pedagogy, kindergarten principles and methods; observation of the work in the kindergarten; attendance upon the criticisms of the critics in all the departments of the training work; making out criticisms on the work in the different departments of the school of practice and actual teaching under criticism; making out time-tables for the different grades of schools; observation of work in the school of practice as done by practice teachers, to gain an idea of arrangement, distribution and grading of subject matter; observation of special lessons, followed by criticisms of same. A course of professional reading is prescribed, as well as the preparation of papers on various topics connected with method and criticism. Occasional opportunities are provided, to put into practice ideal and experimental lines of work, by teaching classes; and instruction is given in making apparatus, charts, etc., to illustrate the subjects taught in the common schools.