hall attached to the school, where students may obtain board and
lodging.
As a school it is probably unique, and as such exceedingly difficult
to estimate. When visiting it, the charm of the School falls upon one,
the enthusiasm of Colonel Parker and his band of teachers creates an
atmosphere of inspiration which disarms criticism, and few would come
away without feeling that the world was better than they thought, and
a little child the most beautiful thing to be found on the earth. I
think that it is in this genuine love and care for children that the
real strength of the School lies, and that if it can continue to send
out teachers who really love and understand children, it need fear no
outside criticism. A chance remark of Colonel Parker’s seemed to me
typical of the spirit of the School: “I do not want any of the children
to know that I am not one of them.”
The following extracts from his report to the Cook County Board explain
the distinguishing features of the School:
1. Any graduate (four years’ course) of an accredited High School,
or a graduate of a college or university, will be admitted to the
Professional Training Class, on presentation of diploma.
2. A teacher of three years’ successful experience in a Graded School,
and holding a first-class certificate, will be admitted on presentation
of said certificate, and certificates of success as a teacher.
Candidates with the above credentials will be admitted to the
Professional Training Class at any time.
1. Students must be members of the Professional Training Class at least
one year of forty weeks before they are eligible for graduation.
2. Whenever, after one year, the members of the Faculty are convinced
that a student has the necessary knowledge, skill and governing power
to teach and manage a school satisfactorily, the said candidate is
recommended for graduation to the Board of Education.
The County Superintendent of Schools grants to each graduate a
certificate to teach in Cook County, outside of Chicago, first or
second grade, upon his own examination and the recommendation of the
Principal.
First-grade certificates are given to those graduates who have
manifested during their course marked ability in study and teaching.
Elective courses are allowed to those students only who have received
diplomas of graduation.
Graduates of the Professional Training Class may elect for a one or two
years’ course any one of the following post-graduate courses:
1. Kindergarten Training Class, physical training, elocution.
2. History, geography and literature.
3. Science, art and manual training.
4. Mathematics and manual training.
5. Modelling, painting, drawing and manual training.
6. Physical training, elocution, the Delsarte system of expression,
music, anatomy, physiology and hygiene.
7. Advanced course in psychology, pedagogics and methods.
In all elective courses psychology, pedagogics and methods are included.
The Practice School consists of eight grades (nine rooms) and the
kindergarten. There are two first primary rooms (A and B).
Each room in the Practice School is under the immediate charge of a
critic teacher, who teaches the pupils in her room, and supervises the
practice teaching in her grade.
The Practice School, with the exception of the kindergarten, is a
public school of the city of Chicago.
The Practice School is an essential feature in the training of
teachers. The entire professional work of the school is concentrated
upon the teaching and training in this department.
One hour each day is devoted to teaching in the Practice School by
members of the Professional Training Class.
The Practice School is divided, for the purpose of practice teaching,
into forty or more groups, each group consisting of from six to ten
pupils. Two groups are united, forming one section; two sections are
united to form a division.
Pupil teachers are very carefully selected for merit, as (1) heads of
groups; (2) leaders of sections; (3) teachers of divisions; (4) special
assistants. Pupil teachers not thus chosen are assistants to group
leaders.
The purpose of these divisions into groups, etc., is to give each
pupil-teacher as much practice as possible. The teacher begins with
a small number of pupils, and advances, as teaching power increases,
to the leadership of a section, a division, and at last to a special
assistant’s position. The latter position requires the ability to
teach and govern an entire grade or room.
The entire work of the Professional Training Class is, in reality,
preparation for practice teaching,--preparation in knowledge, theory
and methods.
The course of work for the Training Class includes the following
subjects:
1. Psychology, pedagogics, the history of education and methods of
teaching.
2. Science in primary and grammar schools.
3. Geography with modelling, painting, drawing and chalk modelling as
means of geographical study.
4. History and literature.
5. Mathematics; number, arithmetic, form and geometry.
6. Art, including modelling, painting and drawing.
7. Physical training, elocution, the Delsarte system of expression
and vocal music.
8. Manual training, paste-board and wood sloyd and construction of
apparatus for science teaching.
The special teacher at the head of each department presents the
conditions for the knowledge needed for teaching his or her subject,
and decides whether the pupil-teacher has the requisite knowledge and
skill to prepare a plan for teaching.
The special teacher also teaches the principles and methods of his
subject, and supervises the practice-work in his department throughout
all the grades.
The practice teaching is divided into ten periods for one year, one
period continuing for one month.
Each pupil-teacher is required to prepare one plan for teaching, each
month, upon a subject selected by the critic teacher, under whose
direct supervision the pupil-teacher is to work. This plan must be
approved by the critic teacher, and also by the special teacher in
charge of the subject taught, before the one who prepares the plan is
permitted to teach.
Each month, certain group, section and division leaders are transferred
from grade to grade in order that every pupil who has requisite ability
and skill may teach in the eight grades during the course.
Whenever a pupil-teacher has reached the rank of special assistant, he
or she is sent out to the county schools to act as substitute[8] upon
the order of the County Superintendent.
The course of study followed in the school is the application of a
doctrine or theory of education, called the Theory of Concentration.
Upon this theory it was my privilege to hear Colonel Parker lecture
from time to time, and the following is a short synopsis of his
lectures as drawn up by himself.
“In this theory, the subjects of thought and study are the natural
sciences, geography and history. The unity of these subjects is found
in the study of life--the laws of life--and the laws which support life.
“The laws of life enter into the child through education, and become
the essentials in his intellectual and moral character.
“Form, geometry, number and arithmetic are the indispensable means
for the study and investigation of the laws of the universe acting
through matter; therefore form and number must be studied in order to
understand any and all subjects of thought.
“Attention is the one mode of study. Attention may be divided into
three modes of thinking: (1) observation, (2) hearing language, (3)
reading or book study. The subjects or objects of attention are the
natural sciences, geography and history--therefore observation,
hearing language, and reading are the means of knowing and thinking.
The subjects of knowing and thinking should be immediately educative.
Therefore, all acts of attention, observation, hearing language and
reading should be concentrated upon these subjects, and objects
of intrinsic thought. For example: all reading should be the most
educative thinking, and therefore should consist of the purest and most
thoughtful literature. Every word and sentence learned by the pupil
should be learned under the immediate impulse of intrinsic thought.
“Under the theory of concentration, the modes of expression--gesture,
music, modelling, painting, drawing, speech and writing, are used as
the direct and immediate means of intensifying intrinsic thought, and
under these impulses and stimuli the technical forms of expression in
each mode are adequately acquired.
“The central and sole design of concentration is the harmonious
development of individual character--knowledge, skill, are means,
not ends--the eternal is the end. It goes without saying that the
application of this doctrine of concentration requires the highest
grade of knowledge, skill, art and devotion to human development.
“Considering this course of study from the standpoint of ‘knowledge
for the sake of knowledge,’ taking the subjects presented in the light
of ‘going over,’ ‘going through,’ ‘being marked upon,’ ‘final tests by
written examinations,’ there must be a hopeless confusion; the burden
would be greater than any corps of teachers could possibly bear.
“A course of study is a means to an end, and that end the full
development of all the possibilities for good and growth in a human
being. It should consist of all the subjects of thought, the germs of
which a child spontaneously assimilates and enjoys before he enters
school. A course of study should be very carefully arranged and adapted
to the successive stages or steps of development.
“Its application, however, depends wholly upon the knowledge and skill
of the teacher, the teacher who watches closely and sympathetically
every movement of her pupil’s mind; the teacher who looks upon a course
of study as a rich storehouse of mental food, to be presented as the
mind needs it, or rejected when the conditions are not favourable to
growth.
“Following or ‘going over’ a course of study belongs to the trade of
school keeping, and not to the art of teaching.
“This course of study cannot be understood by studying the work of
one grade alone--it must be studied as a whole and applied with the
comprehensive knowledge of the whole.
“The final decision as to what should be applied to each individual
pupil must be left to the teacher of that pupil.
“No authority outside of the teacher of a pupil can possibly determine
what that pupil needs at any given moment.
“Grading and promotion, properly understood, are economical means of
knowing and helping each individual pupil.
“The course of study in its best form and last analysis is the best
means of helping each child, and of helping each child to be of
immediate and essential aid to all his mates.”
_CITY NORMAL SCHOOLS._
Very similar to the State Normal Schools in organization and curriculum
are those maintained by certain cities. Of these the Philadelphia, New
York and Boston schools may be taken as representatives. Such schools
belong to the City School systems, and are under the supervision of the
City Superintendent. Graduates from these schools are supposed to teach
in the public schools of the city.
At Philadelphia the Normal School is in a transition state. Hitherto
the Girls’ Normal School has at the same time been the Girls’ High
School, and it was only possible to make a distinction in length
of course between those who were going to teach and those who were
not--the fourth year being especially devoted to professional work.
The tendency in such a school would be, of course, to emphasize the
academic work at the expense of the professional. According to the
new scheme, the High School and Normal School will be separated, and
the latter be purely professional. Admission to the Normal School will
only be granted after a three years’ course at the High School, and the
former will have a course of its own for two years. The present course
of study and the future scheme are subjoined.
* * * * *
Subjects to be studied in the two years’ course at the new Girls’
Normal School, Philadelphia:
1. Educational Psychology.
2. Methods of Teaching.
3. School Economy.
4. The History of Education.
5. The Philosophy of Education.
6. Methods in Mathematics.
7. Methods in Language and Literature.
8. Methods in History, Sociology, and Civics.
9. Methods in Natural History.
10. Methods in Physics and Chemistry.
11. Methods in Elocution.
12. Methods in Vocal Music.
13. Methods in Modelling and Drawing.
14. Methods in Kindergarten.
15. Methods in Gymnastics and Physical Training.
16. Methods in Sewing and Fitting.
17. Methods in Wood-work, etc.
18. Observation in Model School.
19. Practice in Model School.
20. Discussion of Observation and Practice.
21. Educational Reading and Original Investigation.
Mention must also be made of the provision made for the training of
men teachers in the new School of Pedagogy which has been opened in
connection with the Central High School for boys. The students must be
graduates of the latter, or of similar institutions. The course is for
one year, and includes professional subjects only.
The New York Normal College is conducted in the same way as the present
one at Philadelphia, it being at once a High and Normal School.
PRESENT COURSE OF STUDY IN PHILADELPHIA GIRLS’ NORMAL AND HIGH SCHOOL.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| COURSE OF STUDY IN THE GIRLS’ NORMAL SCHOOL. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| A | B | C | D |
| 4th Year. | 3rd Year. | 2nd Year. | 1st Year. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| | ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
|History of | Literature. | Rhetoric. | Grammar. |
| Education. | Theme Writing.| Theme Writing. | Composition. |
| | Reading of | History of the | History of the |
| | English | English Language; | English |
| | Classics. | including the | Language; |
| | | study of the | including the |
| | | derivations, | study of the |
| | | formations, etc., | derivations, |
| | | of words. | formations, |
| | | English | etc., of words. |
| | | Literature. | Reading of |
| | | Reading of English | English |
| | | Classics. | Classics. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
|Mental and | Elocution. | Elocution. | |
| Moral | | | |
| Science in | | | |
| their | | | |
| relations to | | | |
| Education. | | | |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| | MATHEMATICS. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
|Methods | Higher | General Review of | Algebra. |
| of Teaching. | Arithmetic; | Arithmetic. | Arithmetic. |
| | including | Geometry. | |
| | Mensuration, | Algebra. | |
| | Principles of| | |
| | Accounts and | | |
| | Book-keeping.| | |
| | Geometry. | | |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| | SCIENCE. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
|Philosophy | Chemistry. | Zoology. | Physical |
| and method | Natural | Geology. | Geography. |
| of the | Philosophy. | Natural Philosophy.| Botany. |
| Kindergarten.| Astronomy. | | |
| | Human | | |
| | Physiology | | |
| | and Hygiene. | | |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| | HISTORY. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
|Drawing; with | | General History. | History and Civil|
| instruction | | | Government of |
| in methods of| | | the United |
| teaching this| | | States. |
| study. | | | General History. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| | DRAWING. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
|School | Drawing. | Drawing. | Drawing. |
| organisation | | | |
| and | | | |
| management. | | | |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| | SEWING. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
|Modelling in | Sewing. | Sewing. | Sewing. |
| Clay. | | Cooking. | |
|Instruction | | | |
| in the Gifts | | | |
| and | | | |
| Occupations | | | |
| of the | | | |
| Kindergarten.| | | |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| | MUSIC. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| Music. | Music. | Music. | Music. |
+--------------+---------------+--------------------+------------------+
| 1. Physical exercises throughout the first, second, and third years. |
| 2. Laboratory work in chemistry when possible. |
| 3. Laboratory work as far as possible in physics. |
| 4. Drawing to include the treatment of Geometric Drawing, |
| Construction, Decoration, Representation, and Object Drawing. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
_BOSTON NORMAL SCHOOL._
The Boston Normal School is of the professional type, with an ordinary
course of a year and a half, although many students stay for a
post-graduate course.
The course of study in this school is pursued with special reference to
teaching, and is as follows:
1. Psychology and Logic.
2. Principles of Education.
3. Methods of Instruction and Discipline.
4. Physiology and Hygiene.
5. The Studies of the Primary and Grammar Schools.
6. Observation and Practice in the Training School.
7. Observation and Practice in the other Public Schools.
8. Science of Language.
9. Phonetics.
10. Gymnastics.
11. Vocal Music.
12. Drawing and Blackboard Illustration.
13. Special study of the Theory and Practice of the Kindergarten,
for those members of the post-graduate class who desire to qualify
themselves for teaching in that department.
The students practise and observe in the Rice Training Schools, and in
the post-graduate class substitute service begins--_i.e._, any city
school having a teacher absent may apply for a student to take her
place.
BOSTON NORMAL SCHOOL.--COURSE OF STUDY.
FIRST TERM.
+-----------------------------------+-----------+--------+
| | Hours per | No. of |
| SUBJECTS. | week. | weeks. |
+-----------------------------------+-----------+--------+
| Psychology | 5 | 20 |
| Physiology and Hygiene | 4 | 16 |
| Arithmetic | 4 | 4 |
| Language-- | | |
| Oral Expression and Composition | 3 | 9 |
| Penmanship | 3 | 3 |
| Grammar | 3 | 8 |
| Geography | 4 | 20 |
| Drawing | 2 | 20 |
| Vocal Music | 1 | 20 |
| Gymnastics-- | | |
| Theory | 1 | 20 |
| Practice 12 minutes daily. |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
SECOND TERM.
+-----------------------------------+-----------+--------+
| | Hours per | No. of |
| SUBJECTS. | week. | weeks. |
+-----------------------------------+-----------+--------+
| Principles of Education | 5 | 16 |
| Language-- | | |
| Reading, including Phonics | 4 | 8 |
| Spelling | 4 | 2 |
| Literature | 4 | 4 |
| Grammar | 4 | 2 |
| Arithmetic | 4 | 16 |
| Elementary Science-- | | |
| Minerals | 3 | 5 |
| Plants | 3 | 11 |
| Drawing | 2 | 12 |
| Form | 2 | 4 |
| Vocal Music | 1 | 16 |
| Gymnastics-- | | |
| Theory | 1 | 16 |
| Practice | 12 minutes daily. |
| Observation and Practice in the |
| Public Schools all day, 4 weeks. |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
THIRD TERM.
+-----------------------------------+-----------+--------+
| | Hours | No. of |
| SUBJECTS. | per week. | weeks. |
+-----------------------------------+-----------+--------+
| Principles of Education | 5 | 7 |
| Logic | 5 | 3 |
| Language-- | | |
| Oral Expression and Composition | 4 | 3 |
| Science of Language | 4 | 4 |
| History | 4 | 3 |
| Arithmetic | 3 | 10 |
| Elementary Science-- | | |
| Plants | 4 | 2 |
| Animals | 4 | 6 |
| Colour | 4 | 2 |
| Drawing | 1 | 10 |
| Kindergarten | 2 | 10 |
| Gymnastics-- | | |
| Theory | 1 | 10 |
| Practice 12 minutes daily. |
| Observation and Practice in |
| Public Schools all day, 10 weeks. |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
POST-GRADUATE COURSE.
The work of the post-graduate class includes:
1. A further study of the principles of education, with special
reference to their application in teaching the different subjects of
the regular course, and in school discipline;
2. The history of education.
_CITY TRAINING SCHOOLS._
In several cities an ordinary school is set apart for the special
training of teachers, and is presided over by a head-mistress capable
of giving instruction in the theory of education. In such a school
the ordinary teaching of the children is largely carried on by the
students, who at certain hours receive instruction in Methods, etc.
These students often receive a small sum in return for their services.
I was able to visit several of these Training Schools, including those
at New Haven (Connecticut), Fall River (Rhode Island), Pawtucket (Rhode
Island), Springfield (Massachusetts), and Albany (New York).
At New Haven a most interesting Training School is carried on in
connection with the Welch School. There are about thirty students in
training for one year. The various classes of the school are in charge
of regular teachers, who teach almost entirely during the first half of
the year, for the students devote five or six months to the study of
theory alone, only giving a few criticism lessons during that time. For
the second half of the year the students teach more in the schools, and
are supervised both by the critic teacher and the regular teacher of
the class. Notes of lessons are prepared in various ways--sometimes the
students are required simply to put the matter of their lessons into a
series of logical statements, sometimes the matter and illustrations
alone are given, and sometimes the lesson is written out as it is to
be given in the order of statements and questions.
On the completion of the year’s training the students are usually
appointed as substitute teachers to the districts, at a small fixed
salary, and obtain permanent posts as vacancies occur.
At the Springfield Training School from ten to sixteen students take
the course, which is usually for one year, but can be taken in two.
Tuition is free to those living in the city, a charge of about £10
being made to those from a distance.
Students enter in the autumn, and devote the first term to theoretical
work, only giving a few criticism lessons, and spending some time in
observing the work of the school, and carefully recording observations.
The work in psychology is partly based on the observation of individual
children, and partly carried on by discussion classes. The students
also attend lectures given by Superintendent Balliet to all the
teachers of the city. At the end of the year they take the city
examination in order to graduate. In January they begin to teach for
an hour a day in the school, and in the summer term this is increased
to three hours a day. At the end of the course they give lessons in
public, but they are not counted as necessary for graduation.
Some of the leading features of the Training School are the
following:--
1. It is incorporated with a city or town Graded School covering
from four to eight years’ work. This school is used as a place for
observation and practice.
2. The Practice School, or school of observation, employs one or more
regular teachers, who conduct the training class. In most Training
Schools, “trainers” are relied upon for much of the teaching.
3. The course in the Training School includes a study of the principles
of teaching and the history of education, with practice in the art.
4. The length of the term of study and practice is fixed, extending
from one to two years in the greater number of schools.
5. A new class is admitted at a fixed time; the admissions are annual
or semi-annual.
6. The maximum number of trainers is prescribed.
7. Admissions are made by a course of studies previously pursued, or by
examination. Most require the equivalent of a four years’ course in a
High School.