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.