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There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013030147 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Report of Committee on Normal Schools JULY, 1899 APPOINTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF NORMAL SCHOOLS AT DENVER MEETING JULY, 1 89s PTTBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION PRINTED AT XTbe IHnivereitfi ot Cblcago ©ress CONTENTS PAGE Introduction .-..._. 5 Function of the Normal School 6 Training Schools 14 Geographical and Historical Variations in Normal Schools 23 Th6 Inner Life of a Normal School 29 Normal-School Administration 32 State Normal Schools ' 36 Appendix A — Professor Rein's Practice School, Jena, Germany 50 Appendix B — General View of the Work of the Normal School 52 Appendix C — A Typical English Training College 57 ■ Appendix D — Continuous Sessions in Normal Schools • 59 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS INTRODUCTION To the Normal Scho'ol Department of the National Educational Association : The undersigned members of the Normal-School Committee submit the following report : , I. ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF COMMITTEE At the session of the National Educational Association held in Denver, 1895, the Normal Department passed the following resolution, offered by President Snyder, of Greeley, Colo. : Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the president of the department to meet dbring the year and formulate a report, to be presented at the next meeting, upon such educational topics as directly concern the department. At the Buffalo meeting, 1896, the committee made a brief report upon such matters as appertained directly to the work of normal schools. The report was adopted and the committee increased to eight, and instructed to make a printed preliminary report at the next meeting. This preliminary report was presented at the Milwaukee meeting. It was vigorously discussed. On motion of President A. R. Taylor, Kansas, the following resolu- tion was adopted : ■, Resolved^ That the report be accepted, and the committee continued, with instructions td continue the investigation on the lines proposed, and also to submit a course of study with minimum of professional reqfiire- ments for the state normal schools of the United States. The work of the committee was progressing very slowly, because no funds had been appropriated to meet expenses. President Boone, Ypsilanti, introduced a resolution ask- ing the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association for an appropriation of five hundred dollars (;i!50o) to meet the expenses of the committee in its investigations. At this meeting the directors voted an appropriation of five hundred dollars (S500), subject to the discretion of the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees. At the Chattanooga meeting of the Department of Superintendence the amount was granted. This was too late for the committee to report at the Washington meeting, except in a pre- liminary way. The committee met at Washington aiid arranged to make a final report at Los Angeles. The committee had its final meeting in Columbus, O., in February, 1899. It was in session six days, and agreed upon the following report as its findings : II. WORK OF COMMITTEE All of the topics studied have been printed in the proceedings of the National Educa- tional Association from time to time. In the report will be found almost all the questions that have interested the normal-school men of the country. They may ha,ve lost the form in which they were originally put, but their substance will, upon pxamination, be found in the body of this report. , Since the Milwaukee meeting the members of the committee have made a study of the courses of study in operation in the normal schools in the various sections of the United States ; as well as a continuance of investigation in other lines. President A. G. Boyden 5 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION reported at the Washington meeting on the New Engldnd state normal schools ; Miss Marion Brown, on the southern state normal schools ; President Seerley, on those west of the Mississippi and east of the Rocky Mountains ; President Boone, on the north central state normal schools ; President Pierce, on the Pacific state normal schools ; Dr. N. C. Schaeffer, on the middle state normal schools ; Dr. Frank McMurry and President Snyder made a study during this time of the training school. The reports of these mem- bers, presented at Washington last year, were printed in the proceedings of the Washing- ton meeting. ^From all of the foregoing reports have been, obtained the data from which this report has been formulated. The work of the committee for the past year was distributed as follows : President Seerley, Iowa, was appointed a subcommittee to investigate and report on geographical and historical Variations that exist among the normal schools of the United States ; Dr. N. C. Schaeffer, Pa., was appointed a subcommittee to report on maintenance and control of normal schools ; Dr. Frank McMurry, New' York, was appointed to report on the training department of the normal schools ; Miss Marion Brown, Louisiana, was appointed to report on the kindergarten as connected with the normal school ; President Pierce, California, was appointed to report on reciprocal recognition of diplomas; President Snyder, Colorado, made a study of the effect of normal schools upon public education. Differences of opinion have existed on many questions ; but, by concessions upon the part of all the members of the committee, they have been able to agree upon the report as presented. The committee fully appreciates how difficult it is to set forth, with any degree of definifeness, a report that will meet the approbation of all educational people. Thanking the educational people of the country and the officers of the National Educa- tional Association for their courtesy and material assistance, the committee respectfully submits the report. Z. X. Snyder, Colorado, Chairman. R. G. Boone, Michigan. A. G. BoYDF.N, Massachusetts. Miss Marion Brown, Louisiana. Frank McMurry, New York. .. E. T. Pierce, California. N. C. Schaeffer, Pennsylvania. H. H. Seerley, Iowa. FUNCTION OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL I. THE FUNCTION OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL IS TO PREPARE TEACHERS The work of the normal school is unique. It means more than teach- ing subjects ; it means more than the developing of the character j it means the teaching of subjects that they in turn may be taught ; it means the development of character that it in turn may be transfigured into tharacter ; it means such a preparation for life that it in turn may pre- pare others to enter fully, readily, and righteously into their environment. Thus to prepare an individual to lead and direct a little child is a grave responsibility. REPORT ON NOI^MAL SCHOOLS 7 II. THE FUNCTION OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL IN ITS RELATION TO ITS FACULTY The faculty is the soul of the institution. Its members should be supe- rior men and women. In general Tappan's law should hold, that " a teacher should be trained in an institution of a higher grade «than the one in which he teaches." 1. C%a/-a^/fr stands first in the hierarchy of qualifications. Nothing can take its place. There are two fundamental elements in it — force and power. Force is an inherent executive element. Some persons have great force in the administration of affairs; when they are thru, they are forgotten. Some persons administer affairs with power ; when they are thru, they still live in the minds and hearts of those with whom they came in contact. A strong man in life — a man of strong character — is one who has both force and power. Force is evolved in putting forth his determinations. Power is the soul in his actions; power. is mind and heart. i 2. Teaching ability stands second — the ability to adapt self and sub- ject to pupil. It is ability to inspire to thought and feeling and action. It is that kind of work which makes for character. Teaching may be defined as causing an individual to think and act physically, mentally, and spiritually. , 3. Scholarship is the reserve power of every great teacher. It com- mands , respect. It. is fertility of mind. A liberal education, special preparation for the particular lines of work to be performed, pedagogical training, with a keen insight into the function of the normal school, are indispensable qualifications. 4. Culture gives tone to the entire being. It acts as a tonic in all we do. It is the development of the finer self. It comes from wide scholar- ship — a liberal education baptized by the spirit of the individual. 5. A prof essional spirit and prof essional ethics should characterize every member of a faculty. It is that spirit and ethics that binds all parts of an institution together and makes it one grand force for good. III. THE FUNCTION OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL IN ITS RELATION TO THOSE PREPARING TO TEACH I. Fundamental conditions for entrance, {a) Maturity. — Those who enter should be mature. To comprehend subjects and their interpretation and their value in the development ota human being requires maturity of mind. To understand the child as a biological unit, to understand it as a psychological unit, to understand it as a social unit, requires a standard of maturity very far above the prevailing standard in the normal schools. Therefore normal schools should be more cautious in. regard to those whom they admit and graduate. 8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION ip) Good health and soundness of organs. — No person should be admit- ted to a normal school who has not reasonably good health and who is not sound in all his organs. The development of the germ theory of diseases and infection, in many instances by contact, forbids the reckless inconsideratipn of this important matter. Again, an individual who is not healthy is, in the very nature of the case, precluded from giving forth his best. It is due. the children that those who teach them be hale and sound of body. Sympathy which is often bestowed upon persons of this kind is always at the expense of the children ; it is misplaced sympathy. (c) Natural fitness to teach. — Natural fitness is a paramount condition in one who is preparing to teach. Education and training do much to give power and skill, yet natural fitness stands superior. The individual who is in close touch with the child, who can blend with it in its sorrows and joys, in its failures and successes, is the one whose presence makes for character — for life. When normal-school authorities are fully convinced that one who is preparing to teach lacks natural aptitude, they should be I humane enough, for the sake of the children as well as for the sake of the person in question, to recommend his withdrawal irom the school. (d) Common sense.-^Kn intuitive knowledge of common affairs — to know to do the right thing at the right time. This condition is essential. We see its manifestations daily ; we daily see the lack of it. It is an intui- tive consciousness of the fitness of things. {e) High-mindedness. — Nothing will take the place of this virtue. It is difficult to make a low-minded person high-minded. High-mindedness is the very essence of morality. True training and education may sup- press low-minded tendencies, but they cannot eradicate them. (/) Native ability. — An ordinary amount of ability is always presup- posed. One only who is capable of grasping subjects and relations in the vkrious. departments of learning and human endeavor is eligible for admission. These six conditions are fundamental, inherent, intrinsic. They form the matrix of all learning, of all culture, of all life in the truest sense. The strength of the normal school lies in its recognition of these condi- tions. This recognition is a very important function. The great abun- dance of applicants for admission to the normal schools warrants the recognition of these conditions. 2. Scholastic condition for admission. For entrance into the normal school the applicant should have a high- school education. This education includes the elementarv-school course which comprehends a gathering of facts and their simpler relations, as well as a study of the formal subjects which are largely means of expression It also includes a secondary education, in which the facts and relations gotten in the elementary school are enlarged and organized into sciences This larger view of human learning and endeavor is very essential when REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 9 the prospective teacher returns to the elementary subjects for the purpose of gaining a pedagogical interpretation of them. It is this setting which the subjects receive that gives pedagogical insight as to their true evalua- tion in the process of education. It is this insight that characterizes and makes unique the normal-school work. While the individual is thus gain- ing this pedagogical insight, he is gaining constructively a broader view of the elementary subjects themselves by bringing to bear upon them the higher subjects. Examples : arithmetic is made richer by algebra and geometry ; geography, by physiography and geology ; history, by litera- ture ; English grammar, by a study of English and literature ; the facts of nature, by physics, chemistry, zoology, botany, etc. ; drawing, by art ; civil government, by sociology ; physiology, by biology, etc. ^ It is this kind of work that distinguishes normal-school work in the branches from academic work proper, as we find it in the high school. It is professional. To formulate, so far as subjects are concerned : In the high school the end in view is the subject and its value to the student; in the normal school it is the value of the subject in an educational process and the best mode of presenta- tion to produce the highest value. IV. THE FUNCTION OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL IN ITS RELATION TO THE CHILD ( The supreme center in education is the child in its relation to its envi- ronment. What is in the child, how it got there, the child's development, the end in view, the means employed, its relation to nature, to man, to society, and to Divinity are all pertinent in a discussion of the subject. From the standpoint of this conception it is a function of the normal school to give an interpretation of the child and child life to its students who are preparing to go out to teach, or to lead and direct children. Indeed, the work of the normal school is an effort to study the child in all its bearings, to study it historically, by observation, scientifically, or in any way that may give an inkling into its natures and their development. V. THE FUNCTION OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL IN ITS RELATION TO THE SOCIAL MIND, OR SOCIETY The social mind is made up of the individual minds. Again, the integration of the individual minds gives the social mind. So we speak of public opinion, public sentiment, public conscience, public will, or the will of the people. Each individual is an organic unit in the social mind. The expressions of the social mind are in our institutions — our institutional life., The home, the school, the church, society, the state are the product of the social mind. This being true, the relation of the normal school to the social mind is a most important one. Indeed, the conception of education already stated becomes apparent : educa- tion consists in having and preparing the individual to enter fully, lo NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION readily, and righteously into his surroundings. While the relation of the child to society has been largely ignored in the past, it should be reckoned with in the future. The aim of the public school is found in society. VI. THE FUNCTION OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL IN ITS RELATION TO THE HOME Between the school-teacher and the home there should be a very intimate relation. The first school the child enters should not differ very much from the home — a good home. The spirit of this first school should be homelike. This sort of school seizes the spirit of the child. It is initiated readily. It eliminates the barrier that usually exists. The intimacy between the parent and teacher should result in a hearty co-operation between them. The teacher' should be an adviser of the parent and a companion of the children. There is a marked tendency in this direction brought about by child study and the women's clubs thruout the country. It is a function of the normal school to impress its students with the close relation of the home and the school. VII. THE FUNCTION OF THE NORMAL SCH£)OL IN ITS RELATION TO THE SUBJECTS TO BE STUDIED BY THOSE PREPARING TO TEACH, OR THE COURSE OF STUDY A few years ago almost every school had its fixed, ideal course of study, the gauntlet of which every child that remained in school had to run. At present this is not true. There is no constant course of study. It is variable. It is tentative. The course of study is .beginning to be as variable as individuals. This is as it should be, and it should be expected in this nascent period of pedagogics. Since the aim of educa,tion has been set forth as a preparation for society, the function of the normal school in the preparation of teachers becomes apparent. In this preparation of a teacher that he may understand the child as an involution of possibilities, and that its education is an evolution of these possibilities under a proper adjustment of its environment, the following centers of interest are suggested from which to derive a course of study. No one of these centers should be ignored in the course. The derivation of a course of study from these centers gives the widest latitude for elect- ives. The committee feels that the shortest time that should be allowed for the completion of this course is two years, with the understanding that the applicant for admission has, at least, a high-school education or its equivalent. REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS I. MAN IN HteSELF Embracing : a) Physiology. b') Psychology. c) Ethics. ' d) Religion. II. MAN IN THE RACE Embracing : a) History, i) Anthropology. c) Literature. d) Genetic psychology. III. MAN IN NATURE Embracing : a) Physics. b) Chemistry. c) Biology. d') Mathematics. e) Physiography. /) Astronomy. IV. MAN IN SOCIETY Embracing : a)Sociology. b) Government. c) Home. d) Economics. V. MAN IN EXPRESSION Embracing : a) Language. b") Drawing. c) Consti-uction. d) Physical culture. e) Music. /) Art. VI. MAN IN SCHOOL Embracing : i a) Philosophy of education. b) Science and art of teaching. c) History of education. 1 d) School economics. The committee recommends that the above be the course toward which all normal schools should aim ; but owing to the diverse conditions exist- ing in various parts of the country relative to normal schools, it deems it advisable that a provisional minimum course, to bridge over the transition period from the academic or semi-academic nature of the normal to the normal as a professional school, be also recommended. The conditions for entrance to the provisional minimum course, and the course itself, are as follows : I. ENTRANCE The applicant shall have finished a grammar-school course embracing the following subjects, in which he is reasonably proficient : 'arithmetic, Englibh grammar, geography, United States history, physiology and hygiene, drawing, civil government, music, gram- mar-school algebra, nature study, reading, penmanship, spelling, and English.' n. LENGTH OF MINIMUM COURSE The course shall extend over a period of four years. III. THE MINIMUM COURSE 1. MATHEMATICS 1. Arithmetic. 2. Elementary algebra. 3. Plane geometry. n. LANGUAGE 1. English grammar. 2. English. 3. Elements of rhetoric, in. SCIENCE 1. Biological science. a) Zoology. b) Botany. 2. Physical science. a) Physiography. b) Physics. c) Chemistry. 3. Nature study. VII. PHYSICAL CULTURB 12 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION IV. ART 2. American literature. I. Penmanship. 3. English literature. I 2I Drawing. 3. form, color work, etc. 4. Manual training — domestic science i. General physical education, or sloyd, or both. 2. Schoolroom gymnastics. 5. Reading. 3- Games in and out of school. 6. Music. 4' Sanitation and schoolroom hygiene. 7. Fine arts. VIII. PROFESSIONAL WORK SOCIAL SCIENCE A. Theoretical. 1. Sociology. J Psychology — one year. 2. History. 2. Pedagogy — one year. 3. Civics and economics. ^ Practical -training school. VI. LITERATURE I. Observation — one year I. Folk-lore and myth. 2. Teaching — one year. The following is an outline of the minimum amount of work for the training department of a normal school, that it may make the students practical, successful, and growing teachers for the public schools. In order to do this the training department should, first, build up in the minds of the students ideals of what instruction in the several branches should be ; second, give them opportunities for actually instructing in the light of these ideals in a sufficient number of subjects and grades, under circumstances and for a length of time sufficient to warrant the fac- ulty in recommending the student as a practical, successful, and growing teacher. The actual teaching of the students should comprise at least five recitation periods a week for one year, preceded and accompanied by directed observation and discussions of actual recitations and their plans, as well as the writing of plans themselves. The more experienced the "student teacher" is, the more benefit he derives trom the criticisms, and the farther he advances the efficiency of the practice school. GAINING THE IDEAL In the beginning of the junior year the students should be formed into small groups, perhaps ten in a group, and assigned to the critic teachers, in charge of the grades, for the observation of one, or, if prac- ticable, two, recitations each week, and its thoro criticism under the direc- tion of the critic teacher. These discussions should involve a criticism of the following points : I. The subject-matter. II. Correlation. 1. Its value. I. Does the teacher utilize points of 2. Its fitness for the children of this* preceding recitation ? age. 2. Does she utilize points used in Other studies ? EPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 13 III. Method. (2) Content o£ questions. ■'^'™- , (3) Sequence of questions. I. a) Form. 4. Devices. b) Content. ,5. Drills. Preparation of pupils' minds. 6. Summary. a) Relevant and irrelevant que tions. IV. Results. 3. Presentation of the new. V. Government of class. a) Narrated. VI. Manner \f the teacher. b) Read. c) Developed or questioned. ^^^- ^"'""''^n' of the bad points. (i) Form of questions. VIII. Summary of the good points. These groups observe and criticise usually the work of the seniors which should be good enough to be called "model." The critic teachers and the superintendent should frequently conduct "model" recitations in the presence of the different groups. Nothing in a recitation is capa- ' ble of proper defense, unless it can be based upon some pedagogical principle ; all criticisms should be so based. When a student opposes a point in a recitation, he is held to suggest something better in its place. When it seems advisable, and long before they are allowed to teach, juniors are required to write detailed plans for recitations. These plans are subjected to the same thoro critidsms as the recitations that they have observed. It is in this way that the training department seeks to lay the founda- tions for the student teacher's ideal of a recitation. REALLZATION 07 THE IDEAL At the commencement of the senior year the teaching should begin. For each recitation the student prepares a detailed plan, seeking to avoid the errors and to follow the suggestions that he has been led to appre- ciate in his observations and criticisms. The plan shows the leading questions that he expects to ask and the answers they should bring. He strives, as far as possible, to ask questions that will call for thought on the part of the pupil. The wording of the questions is important, the sequence equally so. The student should have charge of his first class for one semester, taking another in a different grade and a different subject for the second semes- ter. This will give him a strong feeling of the universality of the peda- gogical principles he has been applying. He should be allowed sufficient independence in the discipline of his class to test and strengthen his ability to govern it. During the senior year a recitation for public criticism should be held in the presence of all the seniors once a week by one of their number, by a critic teacher, or by the superintendent. Two seniors working together should prepare a written criticism according to the outline given above. 14 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION The teacher who holds the recitation — the practician — should prepare a written self-criticism. This should be read at a subsequent meeting and thoroly discussed. TRAINING SCHOOLS 1. A training school should be a place for illustrating, testing, and, at least in part, originating theory of education. It is an essential part of a school for teachers, being necessary for the progress of both students and faculty. But while the training school is established to this end, the first interest in the teaching process is the child; the work can .and must be so conducted that the child shall receive as good or better training than he would otherwise be likely to receive. While the use of a training school for originating theory is subordinate to the other uses named, this use is, nevertheless, of much importance. Both faculty and students should feel that all the good theory is not discovered, and should be constantly on the lookout for ideas. In this way proper progress is made possible. 2. In comparison with other lines of work in a normal school, actual teaching is capable of rknking as the most valuable course for the student,- for it furnishes, at the same time, both theory and practice. Most lines of work aim chiefly to give insight into what is true, good, or advisable ; that is, they'give mere theory. But while actual teaching contributes much to such insight, it also gives training in the application of this knowledge. It is usually more difficult to apply knowledge than it is to acquire it ; but since practice in teaching does both, it is an especially valuable line of work. , 3. The training school in a state normal school should contain a kin- dergarten as well as the eight grades. Even tho the normal school may not aim to send out kindergartners, a good kindergarten is very desirable, because the younger the children under instruction, the more fully aTe teachers and observers forced into a proper appreciation of the funda- mental principles of teaching. The younger the child, the more the teacher is forced to be really pedagogical. For example, the college professor may have his mind on his subject-matter and ignore the students by gazing out of the window, yet they will remain respectful and at least apparently attentive. But if the kindergartner were to do the same thing, the children would cease to pay any attention to her ; they would play with one another and leave the room. She must think of them first ; she must be pedagogical, and, therefore, she is. The college professor does not have to be, and, therefore, up to the present time he very often is not. For this reason primarily it is desirable that normal-school students come in frequent contact with a kindergarten, even tho they are not planning to be teachers in the kindergarten) They should propose to the principal what seems to them the leading points in method involved in the presentation of the subject- matter suggested. 1 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION {c) They should assist the principal in supervising the instruction of critic and student teachers in their special studies, offering suggestions .and exchanging ideas freely. These duties should be perfonnedby the heads of departments for their own good as well as for the good of the training school. The heads of departments should not be given authority to determine fully the curriculum in their respective studies, because they are likely to overestimate the relative worth of their subjects, and are partially unacquainted with the other requirements that are necessarily made upon the children. But they should be active advisors to the principal as well as to the critic and student teachers ; and in case they have serious disagreement with the rulings of the principal, they can, of course, appeal to the president of the normal school. 10. Next to a wholesome personality, the special feature of a critic teacher should be the ability to show particularly the merits, as well as the defects, of instruction, basing the criticism plainly upon accepted principles of teaching. According to Thesis 2, practice in teaching is capable of ranking as the most valu- able course in a normal school. Its worth, however, depends primarily upon the qualities of the regular teacher as a critic. Her power in this direction can be gauged neither by her quality of knowledge nor by her skill as an instructor ; it is something separate from both of these. To secure that power a higher training is necessary than is generally found among critic teachers, and consequently an unusually high salary should be paid for it. 11. There should be at least one critic teacher to each grade room. Unless there is at least one critic to each grade room, much of the student teaching cannot be seen by a critic teacher, so that both the student teachers and the children instructed by them are suffering serious neglect. That condition of affairs is not allow- , able in a properly equipped training school. 12. This critic teacher should (a) instruct her children a considerable portion of the time ; at least, no class should be turned over wholly to student teachers ; (S) criticise, accept, and reject plans for teaching presented by student teachers, taking the final responsibility for the plans followed; (f) observe and criticise closely at least most of the instruction given to her children by student teachers. While the principal of the training school, the heads of departments, etc., mark out the curriculum and determine the method to be followed in a large way, a definite responsibility should fall upon the critic teacher herself. She should be fully responsible for carrying out, in detail, the work which these others have suggested ; she and the student teacher must be directly responsible for the final plans adopted by the latter. 13. Beside giving daily private criticism to individual student teach- ers, the critic teacher should unite with others, including a considerable number of students, in an exhaustive discussion of a recitation which all present have witnessed. Such a discussion might take place once every two weeks. Its peculiar objects, are : (a) to show how many different matters are involved in a twenty- or thirty-minute recitation ; {b) to show how most of these details are controlled by a few great educational principles. REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS l^ These objects can be attained, provided (a) those present take part freely in the discussion, each stating what impressed him especially ; {i) a full hour or more be set for this purpose. ' The plan of such a recitation should be distributed and carefully examined beforehand by those who are to dbserve the recitation. In such a discussion the written plan might first receive careful consideration, without reference to the actual execution. Then the manner of education might be discussed, care being taken to eliminate the new personal criticism that might be unfitted for public presen- tation. The daily private criticisms are usually hurried and touch only upon the more salient matters ; this occasional detailed criticism, where a considerable number of persons make suggestions, should supplement the daily work. The written plan might often be discussed before the recitation, rather than after, since in that way the recitation itself would be observed with much more interest and care. 14. Presupposing good and close criticism on the part of the critic teacher, the minimum amount of instruction given by a student teacher should not be less than one recitation period per day for one year. Teaching is an art that must be learned, and it is so difficult that it requires time. The object of this student teaching is not merely to see whether the practician can teach passably well or not, but rather to take the practician at whatever point of development he may already have reached, and lead him to improve in his instruction. For example, it requires a good deal of time and practice to accustom teachers to make summaries at the proper time, to review and apply sufficiently the knowledge already acquired, and to rank facts according to their relative worth. If the appli- cation of theory were easy, there would need be little studept teaching; but since it is recognized as one of the most difficult of tasks, there should be abundant provision for it. 15. No normal school should accept so many sttidents that it cannot give this minimum amount of student teaching, in other words, the size of the training school should be one of the most important factors in limiting the size of a normal school. Just as the size of a laboratory should limit the number of students in a class in science, so the size of the training school should limit the number allowed to enter a normal school. 16. Some observation work should precede actual instruction on the part of any student teacher. 17. This observation, however, is comparatively worthless, unless it is supervised and discussed with the same care as the actual teaching of a student teacher. When students know that a strict account must be rendered of all that is observed in a class, and reasons must be given either in favor of or against the steps that are taken, they will observe with far greater accuracy and learn far more about teaching. One of the surest ways of discouraging a prospective teacher and destroying his interest is to require him to observe regularly without the pressure of close supervision. 1 8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1 8. This observation can, perhaps, be best carried on as follows : {a) A considerable number of students can together observe a recita- tion and take notes carefully, often quoting the exact words of the teacher and pupils, in order really to prove their points later. (f) These notes should later be carefully arranged with the view of passing a well-grounded judgment in detail upon the lesson. (c) Then all should meet together, including the instructor in charge, and exchange and discuss their views. One lesson per week observed and discussed in this manner is far more valuable than daily observations that are not followed by such discussions. Accurate notes, suggested under (a), are particularly important. Teachers of experience, as well as those lacking experience, often put questions in a form that is very awkward or indefinite ; they also repeat the same question. But they are so unconscious of the fact while it is taking place that they scarcely believe that it did take place when afterward assured of it by the critic. In such cases conviction is best established if the critic can reproduce the exact words of the instructor. But aside from this reason, accu- rate notes allow definite and scientific criticisms in general. ' 19. The observation suggested in paragraph 17 is a regular course of study, aside from the observations that students may be called upon to make by professors in the normal school who illustrate their theories thru classes of children from the training school. Of course, how- ever, this latter work is highly desirable. The object of the latter kind of observation is primarily an insight into educational theory; that of the former is to see how that theory is carried into practice. In the fbrmer kind the observers are much more critically minded than in the latter, so that, on the whole, the purposes of the two kinds of observation are occasionally different. 20. In making observations according to paragraph 17, it is not necessary to observe expert teaching all of the time. There are two special reasons for this statement : in the first place, if the instruction observed is given by an inexperienced teacher, friction reveals itself much more easily, so 'that criticism is easier; in the second place, if the observers know that the teacher is not Considered an expert, they are much more likely to criticise the recitation on its merits, pointing out both the strong and weak points freely ; but if the instructor happens to be an expert, they feel it presumptuous on their part to attempt to analyze the recitation : they then not only omit mentioning the defects, but even their praise is not specific. What has thus far been stated is not intended to indicate that there should be little or no observation of expert teaching. There is strong reason for observing such teaching extensively, since it helps greatly to fix an ideal in the student teacher's mind. 21. After a sufiScient amount of observation students should be allowed to begin their practice teaching along lines of their greatest strength. Young teachers are prone to discouragement, being easily overcome by the multitude of new obstacles which they are obliged to encounter ; they should, therefore, be allowed to enter upon teaching in the study in which they feel strongest. In this way provision will be made for self-confidence from the beginning ; they can later move over to other branches and thus develop a more general confidence. REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 19 22. They should be allowed to specialize to some extent in kinder- garten work, in primary or grammar grades, iut not fully. Proper instruction of children necessitates a fair comprehension of work which precedes and follows a given period ; therefore, students under training for teaching should not be allowed to limit themselves to one grade of work. 23. If possible, the student teacher should have full charge of a room for a few weeks^but usually not until he has somewhat accustomed him- self to teaching and has proved his efficiency in some one study. The plan in general'is, therefore, as follows : (i) observation work, (2) practice in teaching in one study, (3) practice In teaching where the instructor is in charge of a room. By this arrangement the difficulties are carefully graded. 24. Until a high degree of independence and skill in planning and conducting recitations has been proved, the written plan of each recita- tion, after having been accepted by the critic teacher, should lie upon the table in the room during the period of instruction, subject to general inspection. After a time, when the student teacher has shown that he is conscientious and some- what skilled, he should certainly be relieved of writing out his plan in full, for that work then involves unnecessary labor. 25. The idea that a training school should be provided with a prac- tice school, and a model school besides, is hardly a feasible one. Aside from the financial difficulties involved, it is probable that a well conducted pTactice school will not be inferior to the so-called model school. There are several reasons for these assertions : (l) The different heads of departments, as supervisors, are likely to be more directly connected with a practice school than with a model school, because the presence of student teachers obliges them to visit the rooms frequently ; in a model school the same obligation is not present. (2) The critic teachers, because they are critic teachers, are likely to be much more active-minded than they otherwise would be. They are directly responsible for the acceptance of the plans of student teachers ; they must also show the merits and defects of the instruction that has been given, basing their statements upon the principles of teaching; pressure of this kind forces them constantly to think over their work with care. In fact, this kind of work requires the greatest degree of mental activity and forces the critic teachers into frequent discov- eries of weakness on their part, and also' of new thoughts. (3) A practice school, because it is a practice school, is surrounded by an experimental atmosphere ; this, instead of being a defect, is a marked merit. It means that all persons concerned in the school are looking for progressive ideas and practices. The soundness of these statements is suggested from the fact that the well-conducted training schools in the country are commonly recognized as being superior to the public schools in their neighborhood. Some of the training schools in the state normal schools even charge tuition, and still, in the minds of th'e public, maintain their superiority over the public schools that are conducted by graduates of the normal school. It certainly must be admitted that even in a well-conducted training school there will be frequent blundering on the part of student teachers; one may even say, very serious blundering. But when the heads of departments, as supervisors, do their work properly ; when the critic teacher examines the plans with care before accepting them, and is pres- ent most of the time to offer criticisms, or to take charge of the class if necessary ; then the opportunities for serious error are reduced to a minimum. It should be remembered 20 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION also that it is not solely in training schools that egregious blundering takes place ; much of the worst teaching in the country is found in private schools and in the schools that have little supervision. The fact that there is no practice teaching in certain schools is no proof whatever that radical mistakes in instruction will be wanting. It must be admitted from the start that errors of many kinds creep into every school ; and the only way to prevent a good part of them is to provide for a great abundance of supervision and pressure toward good work. This provision is so abundantly made in good training schools that it more than counterbalances the possible evils of practfqg teaching. 26. In case No. 28 is not accepted, still the training school can and should be a model in the following very important respects : (fl) In the construction of the school building. {S) In laboratory facilities. (c) In library facilities. (a) In artistic decoration. (e) In the attention given to the individual pupil from the physical, mental, and moral point of view. (/) In the relation that exists between the teachers and the children. (^) In the relation existing between the teachers and parents. (K) In the curriculum that is adopted. (z) In the plans of recitations. It should be one object df the training school to present a standard for the public schools in all these respects. Of course, the needs and conditions of public-school work should be taken into consideration, and the training school should adopt a model which seems within the reach of other public schools. In most of these nine points, several of which are radically important, the training school, because it is a practice school, is likely to be superior to other schools. 27. From the above statements it follows that the name model school, as applied to the department where students receive practice in teaching, is not entirely a misnomer. Probably, however, training school is a better term. But either of these names is preferable to practice school. This name does not throw emphasis upon the fact that there are carefully prepared plans and numerous active supervisors. It is usually taken in its lower sense, meaning experimenting, rather than practicing, in the sense that a physician practices medicine. On that account it depreciates the work of student teachers, both in their own eyes and in those of parents and children. There is a good deal in a name, and it is highly desirable that one be chosen that overestimates, to some extent, the quality of work done, rather than one that underestimates it. As the name training school does not seem to have either of these defects, it is recommended as the preferable one. 28. The training school should be the correlating center of any nor- mal school. {d) The curriculum of the training school should directly influence that of the normal school ; for example : (i) Since home geography, including excursions, is required in the training school, there should be such a topic, including excursions, as a part of the normal-school course in geography. REPORT ON NdJtMAL SCHOOLS 2 1 (2) Since the training school requires an abundance of imaginative literature, such as fairy tales, legends, and myths, such literature should constitute an important part of the normal-school course in literature. (3) If concrete geometry is required in the grades, it should consti- tute a part of the work in geometry in the normal-school curriculum. (4) If the arithmetical problems in' the grades are to be correlated with other lines of study, so that the content of these problems may be of real worth, the same degree of correlation should be required in the normal- school problems. (5) The method of teaching in the normal school should be essentially the same as that pursued in the training school, since both are founded upon the same general principles. Of course, there must be differences, but they are differences in non- essentials and devices, and not differences of principles. According to Kant, method is procedure according to principles (Critique' of Pure Reason, translated by Meiklejohn, p. 516). One may rightly, therefofe, speak of the same method being employed in the training school as is employed in the normal. The meaning of thik requirement can be illus- trated in the following way : (i) It is a principle of teaching that we reach new knowledge, emo- tions, and volitions thru related old knowledge, emotions, and voli- tions. Accordingly, in the instruction of children we take pains to glide' thru the old into the new. The same pains should be taken in the normal schools with adult stutdents. (2) It is another principle of teaching that the learner should be told as little as possible, and be allowed to discover as much as possible, for himself. This, in the training school, leads the teacher to reduce her topics to a conversational basis, so that the children may offer Suggestions, present questions, etc. The same principle applied to normal-school work must lead professors to allow the adult students, likewise, to propose and ^.nswer many problems. In other words, if children in the grades, on account of the principle of self- activity, are not expected mainly to reproduce the content of text- books, or listen to lectures, there is little more reason for allowing it in normal-school instruction. (3) Influenced by the belief that a live interest in studies is the condi- tion under which these studies will have the proper effect upon thought and conduct, the teachers in the training school watch primarily the children's attitude of mind toward their subjects, making the acquisition of knowledge relatively a minor matter. If that belief is a sound one for children, it is just as sound for adults. (4) If grade teachers should present the concrete before the abstract, under the belief that new generalizations must be reached inductively, the normal-school instructor should do the same thing. 22 NATIONAL EDUCAVIONAL ASSOCIATION There is another, very di^erent and radically important, argument for the statement that the method of teaching in the normal school shall be essentially the same as that in. the training school. In spite of all the theory that we offer to students in regard to the method of teaching, they will always teach largely as they have been taught; that is, even with adults the tendency to imitate is a very marked characteristic, and shows itself very plainly in teaching. If a normal-school professor himself teaches in one way and still expects his students to follow essentially a different way with children, he is likely to be greatly disappointed. The actual method followed by the normal-school professor is concrete, so that it can be seen; that very fact allows it to make a much deeper impression upon a student than the opposing theory which may be pre- sented. One of the very best ways, therefore, for a normal school to secure good teaching from its students is for the faculty itself to impart instruction essentially in the same way in which it hopes to have the students impart it. {c) There should be frequent faculty meetings, whose subjects of dis- cussion should bear close relation to the training school and often spring out of it directly. Lessons should be taught in the presence of the faculty and followed by exhaustive criticism on the part of the faculty. In other words, the faculty meetings in a normal school should be directed, not merely to executive work, or primarily to that, but to instruc- tion ; and since the work of the normal school culminates in the instruc- tion of children, topics directly, mvolved in the instruction of children should be the subjects for frequent faculty discussion. Only when Thesis 28, with its three divisions, is kept in mind and prac- ,ticed can the real aim of the entire institution called a normal school be kept in the foreground, and the unity of the school be preserved. Points (ffl) and (b), under Thesis 28, are probably the most important ones in this entire list ; and the central thought in them is that the faculty of the normal school should itself practice the things which it wants its students later to put into practice. 29. Since state normal schools are usually situated in cities possessing excellent systems of graded schools, it is recommended that such relations with the city schools be sought as will enable those student teachers who have successfully completed the major part of their training to serve as unpaid assistants under conditions which will render such services mutually profitable. In establishing these relations, care should be taken that assistants be sent only where such service is deemed desirable by both the city superintendent and the responsible teacher in charge of the room. Student teachers so appointed should be led to appreciate that such opportunities to make their assistance profitable to the pupils of a regularly organized school furnish at the same time the most valuable experience and the best test of teaching ability. Student teachers enjoying these opportunities might be expected to serve with or without compensation as temporary substitutes in grades in which they have served as assistants. REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 23 GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL VARIATIONS THAT EXIST IN NORMAL SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES I. The schools, being provincial, have certain limitations geographically. — A state normal school in every state where such a school exists is founded on the theory that it is the duty of the state to prepare teachers for the need of the schools of that particular state, and not on the theory that citizens have a right to such preparation as will best fit them for the business of teaching in general. Hence the requireinent of signing a contract with the authorities of the state, agreeing to teach for a stated time in the public schools of that state, or at least declaring the intention of preparing to teach in the schools of that state, is almost universal. This custom, commonly enforced by statute, discriminates against pro- fessional teachers to an extent unheard of in other vocations. Many of these same states have organized schools for the giving of collegiate edu- cation, and also law, medecine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, dairying, etc., without any restrictive conditions whatever. The state normal schools alone are thus limited to the state lines for their students ; their graduates alone are restricted to a definite field in which to labor by the student contracts thus made to get advantage of the education offered, and by granting them state certificates which have no recognition outside of the state in which they are issued. This condition of affairs exists to such an extant that there is little reciprocity between the states, and the business of teaching is too generally treated as a profession with- out either standard or basis of recognition except that granted by pro- vincial or state lines. II. The course of study of these schools. — In many of the states the legal requirements for state certificates, as well as statutory acts governing the schools, have a decisive effect upon determining the course of study that the school can grant. These conditions, united with many minor variable factors, which cannot all be enumerated, give great variety to these schools in different parts of the United States. The province of these institutions is governed somewhat by the conditions in the several states. The questions what student is capable of being admitted, what kind of teachers are to be prepared, what extent should be given to the work to be done, are all decided by the individual needs and conditions of the several states. Where rural teachers are in the majority, there the standard is of a low grade; where high schools are numerous, and where the privilege to enter such schools is generous, there high-schbol graduation is the standard of admission. The standards also of these schools vary as do th^ir names. In some the tendency is to develop to college grade and give regular college 4 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION egrees, or degrees that are different in name, but equivalent in quality, n some the aim is to have, the schools purely professional, no regular cademic work being offered as a part of the course of study. In others ley are secondary schools in fact, with very little professional work or edagogic and practical training; and at times they are of a lower scho- istic grade than the secondary schools. The schools which give all the istruction, both academic and professional, are in the majprity ; the urely professional schools are very few, and the purely academic schools re gradually growing fewer from decade to decade. III. Recognition given graduates from state normal schools in their own 'ates. — There is very large variation as to state practice in recognizing le work done at these schools. The conditions imposed to obtain state srtificates, and the encouragement accorded to those who become pro- !ssionally educated to enter the business of teaching, are as follows: (i) a some states the diploma of the school is authority to teach in that ate. (2) In some states a board of examiners, outside of the authority 1 control of the management of the normal schools, has the power of eciding who can graduate from said schools and who can hold state cer- ficates. (3) In some states the diploma of the school is not conferred ntil the person who has completed the course has taught'successfully two r more years after graduation, when it carries the authority as a state jrtificate to teach in said state. (4) In some states the graduates are samined by the common authority to issue the local certificates author- ed by law, and there are no state certificates. (5) In some states the ate superintendent has the authority to countersign such state normal iplomas as he is satisfied are held by competent and successful teachers, hich makes them state certificates. (6) In some states the students raduate from the schools on the authority of the management of the ;hools, but the right to a state certificate is decided by another board itirely outside of the school, which may grant such graduates certificates xording to law, if such seems desirable and, at the same time, regardful E the public good. IV. Training schools, practice schools, model schools. — There is also luch variation regarding the province of a well-organized school of chil- ren as a part of the normal school. In name they are also variable, hey are called training schools, practice schools, model schools, accord- ig as the interest and purpose of these schools differ. Some schools ;gard this part of the instruction and training as the most promi- snt part of the course of study and of work, giving not only practice I actual training, but also instruction in special methods by this agency. very few do not regard the practice of teaching as either a positive 3lp or a safe and certain means in the training of a teacher. They msider the candidate being trained as so hampered by theory and by ose, critical supervision that he is deprived of spontaneity and essential REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 2$ freedom. Some give great credit to the value of observation, as a help to training, while others do not consider it as a factor of sufficient impor- tance to justify the large expenditure of time generally given. As regards the length of time considered necessary to devote to prac- tice teaching, the variation is all the way from two years to two terms, while some do not think a definite length of time so important as that th& proposed teacher should be required to satisfy the training department as to skill in the same degree that he satisfies other departments of the school. V. Types'' of normal schools in the United States according to geographical location. — A careful study of all the different characteristics of state normal schools found in the United States will determine the fact that each section of the union has its own peculiarities of type and develop- ment, as the needs and the circumstances of the different parts of the republic require. Only the broadest differentiation can be emphasized here, but a study of these will prepare the investigator to make easily the differentiations which exist between states, and even in some instances between different localities of the same state. 1. The New England state normal school. — This type of school is most fully developed in Massachusetts, where the work deals with students who are high-school graduates from a good four-years' course. It admits none except actual teachers, or those intending to be teachers. The actuil teachers are granted special privileges because of their experience, but they are not the larger number who graduate from the school and go out as its representatives. The minimum academic requirements for graduation are English and literature, mathenaatics, science, and history ; the subjects of the course not being very largely beyond the good high-school courses, but the teaching of the subjects' being much more thoro and from a different standpoint than in tlie secondary school, and being regarded as professional. Music, drawing, elementary science, physical training, litera- ture, and history suitable for children receive much attention in the preparation of the teacher for the work expected. The pedagogical work consists of psychology, pedagogy, and history of education, each course covering a year of study. Most of these schools have courses of two or three years, in which the definite limit of time attendance required in all cases is an individual question. It is asserted unanimously that the func- tion of the normal school is not to do distinctively academic work. The other states of this section do not reach this standard of entrance or graduation, but they regard this condition as desirable of early attainment. 2. The southern state normal school. — There are two phases to the southern normal school : one which is planned for white students, modeled, as far as possible, on the best lines, scholastic and professional ; and one which is planned for colored students, where elementary profes- sional training is combined with special industrial instruction. In the 26 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION first the problems are much like the problems of the normal schools of other parts of the union. In the second the problems are distinctly special and local, and have in mind many more interests and economic needs than simply the preparation of teachers to teach the ordinary school alone, as it is the theory that these industrially trained colored normal .graduates have a larger and more fundamental mission than simply the scholastic instruction commonly considered as the province of the ele- mentary school. They are to give a special trend to the industrial activities of the people among whom they labor, and are to become leaders in all progress, intellectual and economic. 3. The middle states normal school. — These states have special charac- teristics as regards the organization and conduct of their schools. Most of the schools in this region are managed by joint local and state author- ity — the local predominating as regards numbers of trustees and business management. In Pennsylvania all of the thirteen schools maintain preparatory classes below the entrance requirements of the several two-, three-, and four- year professional courses of study. In addition, they maintain commer- cial and other academic studies, but the state contributes only to the support of the professional student, the other students paying their entire expenses. In the state of New York the admission of students is limited to per- sons recommended by the school commissioners, fn New Jersey admis- sion to its one normal school is obtained by passing a satisfactory examination at the school, and none but professional students are received. The fact is that each state has solved the problem according to its own individual needs, and without much attention to future development or demands. In New York there is one state normal school of a high grade located at Albany ; the others are of the common standard which generally prevails thruout the country. There is a tendency in the middle states to accept this plan as the best for future adoption : one school of high grade and many schools with a standard of admission as high as the condition of the elementary education of applicants will permit. In Maryland and New Jersey, where but one normal school is maintained in each state, the authorities require such a standard that they secure the preparation of the teachers who, occupy the best-paid positions. The larger the salary obtainable, the better the candidate will prepare for his vocation, and the more is he drawn away from the rural schools, whose salaries are not suf- ficient to induce one to go into the business as a permanent calling. The system of payment on enrollment, or even on results, makes the reputation or the income or the success of the school depend upon the number of students enrolled or the number passing the examinations. This produces a temptation to lower the requirements for entrance, and also for graduation, to the minimum that will be acceptable or permissible. REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 27 This condition does not necessarily exist to so, large an extent where a school has a fixed income from state revenues or annual appropriations. 4. The Mississippi valley normal school. — In this section of the union the normal schools had their orig'in principally thru legislative action, the same as universities and agricultural colleges, except that in most cases they have had no advantages of land grants or special permanent endow- ments, as the higher, educational institutions have had. These normal schools are, however, a part of the educational system of the states in which ihey are located, and are not dependent upon local support, local financial aid, or local management. Their students are of three kinds : id) graduates of good high schools ; (6) practical teachers already possessed of county teachers' certificates and of considerable experience as teachers in rural schools ; {() such persons as can pass an examination and are of prescribed age. None but professional students are received, and hence their enrollments mean much more to the teacher supply than it would in states where academic and commercial students are enumerated as attending the normal schools. These schools are gen- erally recognized by the state universities as fitting schools, with the right to have their graduates admitted to advanced standing, the usual custom being to grant junior-class standing to normal-school graduates of the standard four-year course commonly offered. This has had the effect of benefiting both the normal schools and the universities, and of placing in the schools as superintendents and high-school teachers a large number of competent educators who are graduates of both the normal school and the university. The tendency in this region is to have one large and strong school of a high grade, approximating to a college for teachers, and a number of schools of lower grade to prepare teachers for the more elementary grades of public schools. In most of the states this tendency has not yet assumed actual form, but there is gradually growing a senti- ment in favor of this kind of an organization. The attendance at these schools is in most cases very large ; and, as a consequence, they are gradu- ally coming to a plan which offers all the work of the several terms of the several courses each term of the school year, thus allowing individual students to graduate at the close of any term of the school year. There is also a decided movement to open the schools for a summer term, mak- ing practically a continuous session of the school. This is due to the great need of better-educated teachers. There is no kind of schools in this region so rapidly developing, or so cordially supported, as the state nor- mal schools. The chief problem of all these states is elementary educa- tion. The conditions compel the normal schools to meet the public demand rather than exploit theory, and it is a large work to undertake to unify the various nationalities into one people with the English language,- and at the same time unite them in interest, sympathy, and labor for the common good of the common country. The normal schools, therefore, 28 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION i seek to meet a known positive demand, and are thereby wielding a mighty influence in shaping public sentiment and educational practice. The academic requirements of these schools are quite uniform; excepting the college grade school where already established. A four- year course of study beyond the county superintendent's license standard is th'e common course offered. This course usually allows some choice to the student, in which language, science, or history has minimum and maximum limits, permitting the individual student to have some prefer- ence according to his taste and special capability, but at the same time insisting upon enough uniformity to assume that either one af the lines elected is a satisfacfory preparation for a public-school teacher. The practice school is a department essential to proper normal training. The method of using this part of the prescribed course greatly varies. Where the need of scholarship is the chief public demand, there practice is at a minimum ; where the demand is strong for the critically trained teacher, there practice is at a maximum. The coming plan, therefore, promises to require no actually definite amount as to tiibe of either observation or practice, but that each student being trained shall satisfy the department of practice the same as he now does the other departments of the school. The majority of these schools believe that, to secure the kind of academic instruction which their students need as to thoroness and extent in the branches to be taught, the function of the normal school, while professional in the main, will always continue to give academic instruc- tion, despite the theory, so frequently advanced, that this academic work ought to be relegated to other educational agencies. It should be borne in mind that the academic instruction here mentioned is from the teach- er's standpoint, which renders it a different kind of work from that given in other kinds of schools. 5. The Pacific slope normal school. —The normal schools of this section ' do not need to furnish all the teachers required by their elementary schools, since many reasons have led to a large teacher population, well- educated and professionally trained, coming from other states. This condition of population has enabled these schools, in even the younger states, to set a higher standard for entrance than has been possible in other states of the union: The general opinion, therefore, prevails here that a full high-school education should be' the minimum standard of entrance. In addition, many of these schools do not undertake to pre- pare teachers for any work beyond primary and grammar grades, as the limits placed upon the certificates of authority granted as teachers to their graduates forbid their teaching in higher grades, an additional college-standard examination being required to enable one to teach in high-school grades. This has the effect of keeping the course of study within the essential limits, and also enables more attention to be given to special lines and to training in the practice school than is common in REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 29 Other regions of the union. The welcome granted' in these states to graduates of normal schools from the other states and from Canada, as shown by the courtesy quite generally conceded to them by accepting their diplomas as evidence of ability to teafch and authorizing them to teach anywhere in elementary grades, has induced thousands of teachers of high-grade preparation to make their home here, thus giving this region, in fact, an excellent corps of teachers. Conclusion. — All these observations lead to the conclusion that there has been constant progress in the three-quarters of a century the state normal schools have existed. That progress has been both experimental and evolutionary. The changes that have come to the possibilities and needs have always found the normal school ready to adapt itself to the new conditions. The normal school has been so near the public thought all this time that it is more nearly today an actual exponent of public sentiment than any other public institution of equivalent magnitude. It is specially sensitive to public demand, and sincerely endeavors to do for the people what is assumed to be essential to prepare teachers for the public schools. This accounts for much to such necessary modifications as the president may be occasionally com- pelled to make in adjusting individual cases. 4. To further simplify and render possible the reasonable dispatch of executive business, the faculty should be subdivided by the president into certain standing committees with certain definite powers, said committees to be allowed to remain in organization as nearly permanently as possible from year to year, and thus be intrusted to manage at discretion the assigned business, subject to such instructions in general as the faculty may decide upon, and to such modifications by the president in individual cases as may in his judgment be fair, just, and reasonable to protect all interests. 5. General faculty meetings for the purpose of transacting the regular business of the school in committee of the whole, except in matters of general interest, are not conducive to securing the best interests of the school, waste the time in minor and unimportant matters, and use energy and time that could be more profitably employed in the actual improvement of the school. 6. It is profitable to have faculty meetings at regular stated intervals, at which time the fundamental problems of normal schools and the best methods of conducting the work in hand, as well as the real objects and aims of teacher-training, should be freely discussed and thoroly examined. Such meetings harmonize interests, provoke sympathy, and awaken a genuine spirit of emulation and of desire for improve- ment. 7. To enable the members of the faculty to do the kind and character of work needed, as well as to insure in them the best possible attitude toward the work, the maximum amount of class-room work required should not exceed twenty class hours per week, and it would be much better for all interests concerned if the maximum amount was placed at fifteen class hours per week. The overworking of teachers, as is common in normal schools, on the theory that the more hours required in the class-room, the more economical the management, is contrary to business judgment or common sense, and always depreciates the character of the work where practiced. There are many other duties that each teacher owes his students and his work besides hearing class recitations, and not until this is recognized and the teacher allowed to be more ooo " " 1894-95 " 10,000 *' " 1898-99 *' 25,000 *' Connecticut has three normal schools. The appropriations by the legislature during the last five years are as follows : Maintenance Buildings 1894 • - $60,000 $71,880.39 1895 60,000 48,974.42 ^896 • 60,000 34,070.96 ^897 • 60,000 26,206.75 1898 60,000 1,650.96 The normal schools have never received anything from land grants made by the United States government. In Florida there are two state normal schools (one for each race) supported by state appropriations. The one for whites, at De Funiak Springs, receives J6,ooo a year, and the one for negroes, located at Tallahassee, receives an average appropriation of about $3,000, besides one-half of the Morrill Bill Fund, which has been increasing $^00 per year until the present year, when it reaches the maximum of 312,500. Georgia has two state normal schools. For the last four years they have received an appropriation of $22,900 each. For the next two years the appropriation will be $20,400 each. There are in Illinois two normal schools in operation, and two more which will probably be opened in September, 1899. The last general assembly passed an act author- izing the establishment of a fifth normal school, known as the Western Illinois Normal. The building will likely be completed within the next two years. For the school years 1S93 and 1894 there was appropriated for current expenses of the Illinois State Normal University, each year, $31,493.56; for each year of 1895 and 1896, $35,000 ; and for each year of 1897 and 1898, $35,000 ; for the year 189S there was appropriated for a gymnasium building $40,000, and in 1897, for the completion of the gymnasium building, $10,000. For the tw9 years beginning July i, 1899, "le appropria- tion for each year is $39,493,561 and there is an additional appropriation of $5,300 for repairs. For each year of 1893, and 1894, for the Southern Illinois Normal University for cur- rent expenses, $22,116.44; for each year of 1895 and 1896, $22,116.44 ; and for 1897 and 1898, each year, $23,826.44 ; for library and museum building, for 1895, $40,000, and in 1897, for completing the library and gymnasium building, $6,000. Of the amount appropriated for these institutions for current expenses about $6,500 came each year from the College and Seminary Fund. Except this, they have received no support from land grants made by the United States government. In 1895 the Northern Illinois Normal School received for building purposes $50,000, and the Eastern Illinois Normal School for the same purpose, $50,000; and in 1897 these institutions received each $50,000 for building purposes. The two normal schools received from the last general assembly $33,000 each for regular expenses, and for com- pleting and equipping the Northern Normal a special appropriation of $98,339, and for the Eastern Illinois Normal a special appropriation of $46,000. Indiana has one state normal school, which, under the act of 189S, receives about $65,000 each year. Previous to that time the normal school received about $30,000 annually. Iowa has but one state normal school. The following table shows the amount of expenses for building, support, and contingent expenses for fiscal term ending : June 30, 1889 $40,550.00 June 30, 1895 , $68,125.00 June 30, 1891 37.508.31 June 30, 1897 97.325-°° June 30, 1893 58,791.69 For the year ending June 30, 1895 " 1896 " 1897 " 1898 " igoo « 1901 44 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION The school is supported by permanent and temporary appropriations as follows : I. Permanent appropriations — not needing legislative action to continue : .. Teachers' fund annual - - $28,500 M. Contingent fund annual - " " 9,000 3. Tuitions, students covering all contingencies and laboratory fees - 16.50° Total permanent support - $54.ooo II. Temporary appropriations made by last assembly, annual 7iOOO Total annual support - $61,000 Buildings, $120,000; grounds, $10,000; water plant, $10,000; equipment, $30,000. The revenues of the State Normal School at Emporia, Kansas, are derived from three sources : 1. From appropriations by the legislature. 2. From income on the endowment fund, which now brings about )? 1 3,500 per year. 3. From fees from model -school and special pupils, making about $3,000 per year. The income from interest on endowmeilt fund, fees, and the appropriations by the legislature approximates as follows : ... - $40,000 44.250 ' 44,000 . . 45,000 - . - . 72,000 r~ 51,500 Kentucky has two state normal schools, one for the preparation of white and one for the preparation of colored teachers. During the past five years the state has paid to the former ^8190,495.74, or an average each year of jf;38,099.l5. During the same period this institution has received from the national government $98,422.25, or an annual average appropriation of $19,684.45, its average yearly income from both sources having been $57,783.60. During the last five years the latter has received from the state $27,173.15, or an annual average of $5,434.63, and from the national government $15,945, an average yearly appropriation of $3,189 ; total average from both sources, $8,623.63. Louisiana has one state normal school. The new state constitution requires the legislature to appropriate annually for its support not less than $15,000 a year. In addi- tion to this the legislature has given yearly varying sums for buildings, etc. The appro- priation in 1898 was : For the year ending January 30, 1899 $16,000 Repairs - - 6,500 Maine has three normal schools, and a special training school in her territory, occu- pied by French-speaking citizens. The state appropriates annually for current expenses $9,000 for each normal school and $4,000 for the training school. Special appropriations : Farmington 1895-96 - - . $20,000 1897-98 .... 20,000 1899-1900 - - . 700 There is but one state normal school in Maryland, The legislative appropriation foi its support during each of the last five years, prior to 1898, was $10,500. The legislature of 1898 increased its annual appropriation to $20,000. It is allowed by law to receive one pay student, at $50 per annum, for every two students holding free scholarships by appointments of the school boards of the several counties of the state and Baltimore city. From this source from $7,000 to $8,000 per annum are received. It is strictly a. state school. The building, furniture, apparatus, etc., are the property of the state, and it is » entirely controlled by the state board of education, who are ex officio the trustees of the school. X Of this amount $19,000 is for buildings. Castine Gorham Fort Kent $3,500 $r5,ooo $2,100 3,500 33.500 2,500 700 700 500 REPORT ON- NORMAL SCHOOLS 45 There is also a normal school for colored students, which was established by private donations, and to which the state makes an annual appropriation of $2,000, but it is not owned nor controlled by the state. The last legislature (1898) appropriated $20,000 to build another state normal-school building, and $5,000 per annum for its support. This will be built during the present year and will be under the control of the state board of education. Massachusetts : STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS 1894 State appropriation for current expenses $128,500 Amount apportioned to each normal school : Bridgewater - - 31,697 Fitchburg - - Framingham - 22,618 Hyannis Lowell - • North Adams - • Salem - ... - i6,og8 Westfield - - - 22,066 Worcester .... X7,S49 Normal Art, Boston 18,500 In addition to appropriation for current expenses, sums have been appropriated by the state legislature as follows : 1895 4896 1897 1898 $143,858 $1^1,832 $217,056 $266,527 32,948 35,813 37,699 40.052 5,966 19,532 32,030 35,344 22,217 22,229 22,230 24,499 9,123 22,474 11,999 25,713 6,oco 13,797 24,934 21,944 24,815 ,26,870 25,024 23,123 23,736 22,992 24,989 iS,749 19,974 20,524 21,449 18,79b 19,790 19,780 22,050 1894. Bridgewater Framingham Fitchburg Hyannis Lowell North Adams Total 1893. Bridgewater Fitchburg Hyannis Lowell North Adams Worcester Worcester Total 1896. Framingham Salem Worcester Fitchburg Hyannis Lowell North Adams Salem Total Bridgewater Fitchburg Hyannis Lowell North Adams $75,000 1,000 75, 000 75,000 75,000 75,000 $376,000 1897. $219,000 $3i,coo 25,000 10,000 25,000 25,000 50,000 25,000 43,000 $234,000 $12,888 17,000 7,000 20,000 15,000 Total Lowell North Adams Normal Art, Boston Total $71,888 $2,000 1,500 3S.o?o $38,500 Addition to building. Sanitary improvements. New normal-school building. New normal-school building. New normal-school building. New normal-school building. Additional buildings, etc. New normal schools. New normal schools. New normal schools. New normal schools. Gymnasiiim. Repairs. Improvements. New building. Completing and I'umishing gymnasium. Grading grounds, furnishing and finishing for occu- pancy. Same purpose as Fitchburg app. Same purpose as Fitchburg app. Same purpose as Fitchburg app. Same purpose as Fitchburg app. Repairs and improvement. Equipment, etc. Additional land. Completing and furnishing. Equipmentj etc. Building sidewalks, etc. Purchase of additional land. Erection of annex. 46 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION The State Normal College at Ypsilanti, Michigan, has support as follows : For the two years State appropriations , Other sources 1889-90 $ 84,700 $20,471.80 1891-92 1893-94 1895-96 1897-98 vMichiganhas another normal school at Mt. Pleasant, called the Central State Normal School, which has received almost Jl25,ooo per year for four years — $29,000 in 1897. The state legislature of Minnesota, in the last five years, appropriated for the current expenses of the state normal schools as follows : 99,520 23.037-97 120,220 116,900 134,800 23,147-37 23,000.73 26,273.94 Winona Mankato St. Cloud Moorehead 1894-95 $24,000 $24,000 $22,000 $15,000 1895-96 - 26,000 26,000 24,000 15,000 1896-97 26,000 26,000 24,000 16,000 1897-98 - 37,000 37,000 26,000 18,000 1898-99 37,000 37,000 26,000 18,000 Eight thousand dollars of the $37,000 appropriated for Winona and Mankato in 1898 was for continuous (all-summer) sessions. The state normal schools of Minnesota receive no part of their support from land grants made by the United States government. Missouri has three state normal schools for white teachers and one for colored teachers. The legislature makes biennial appropriations for these schools. In 1895 there was appropriated for these four schools, for maintenance during the years 1895-96, $114,750. In 1S97 the legislature appropriated for these four schools, for maintedance during the years 1897-98, $127,830. Nebraska has but, one state normal school, located in the extreme southeastern por- tion of the state. The state superintendent thinks that there has been much prejudice against making a reasonable appropriation for the school because of its location, and that the state needs at least two more state normal schools. To the one now in existence the appropriation for the biennium 1895-96 was $48,296.89, and for the bien- nium 1897-98 it was $73,815.01. Nevada has no separate normal institution, but the normal school is a branch of the State University ; there is no separate fund appropriated for its maintenance. Part of the support of the university comes from land grants, and part is appropriated by the legislature from the general fund. New Hampshire has one state normal school, for the support of which the sum of $10,000 is annually appropriated. This year there is an extra appropriation of $8,000 for a new heating plant. There is but one state normal school in New Jersey. It is located at Trenton. The legislature makes an annual appropriation, according to the estimated needs of the school. For For 1894-gs $3S.ooo 1897-98 $42,000 1895-96 3S,ooo 1898-99 45,000 1896-97 40,000 This fund is supplemented by the tuition fees from the Model School, which have averaged $2,500 annually for the past five years. New York has eleven normal schools and one normal college. The amount expended for these schools for the last five years is as follows : 1894 1893 1S96 1897 1898 Albany Normal College $34,361.59 $34,505.65 $35,985.20 $51,242.26 $55,179-58 Brockport 21,948.20 27,966.49 43,558-14 26,711.63 37,220.54 Buffalo 39,596.80 24,139.65 26,743.31 28,336.01 38,631.39 Cortland 25,258.72 35,614.29 37.786.13 31,261.58 31,774-57 Fredonia 27,589.82 31,948.66 24,791.90 25,880.39 25,136.97 Geneseo 30,257.69 26,45.120 95,734-04 42,402.61 34,217-86 Jamaica 70,763,80 1896 1897 189B $21,114.87 $22,066.26 $23,679.33 63,860. 21 27,978.68 25,000.00 31,317.29 28,698.17 =7.437.50 73,2i2.47 37.377.23 23,789.07 27,721.85 31,308.7s 27,843.05 REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 47 1894 189s New Platz - - . $22,320.99 $ 20,989.66 Oneonta - 79,674.51 166,355.18 Oswego 22,686,20 34,415.50 Plattsburg 22,859.75 24.290.37 Potsdam - - 25,641.06 31.931.65 The school at Jamaica was recently established, hence it is possible to give figures for the last year only. The ordinary expenses of running these schools vary from |22,ooo to §35,000 per year. In the above table; wherever the amounts in any one year exceed the figures given, it indicates that an extra amount has been expended for repairs or new buildings. North Dakota has two regularly established normal schools, besides the normal department at.the State University. It appropriates for the support of the schools about $50,000 for the biennial period. A land grant of 80,000 acres wa^, made for normal schools by the federal government, and a small amount is received each year from the rental of these lands. Ohio has no state normal schools, but her state universities maintain departments of pedagogy. Sections 3951 and 3951a, R. S., provide for the levying of funds for the state institutions. There is levied upon the grand duplicate of Ohio for the Ohio State Uni- versity xV of I mill ; for the Ohio and Miami Universities, jj^ of a mill, to be divided, 3^ for Miami and ^^ for the Ohio University. 1 In addition to these, there is j^j of a mill levied for the colored school, Wilberforce University, near Xenia. The territory of Oklahoma has supported one normal school for nine years, and two since September, 1897. The last legislature made a. levy and an appropriation aggre- gating about twenty-five thousand dollars per annum for each of these institutions. These institutions are each to receive five or six thousand dollars per annum. The amount is to be paid out of the rentals derived from the thirteenth section in each township of what is known as the Cherokee Strip. Oregon has five state normal schools. There have been no land grants from the United States government, and the legislative appropriations, from January I, 1893, to December 31, 1900, have been as follows: Monmouth, 898,408.76; Weston, $73,500 ; Lakeview, $5,000 ; Drain, $7,500 ; Ashland, $7,500. Total, $191,908.76. Pennsylvania has been making an annual appropriation of $130,000 in aid of students preparing to teach who are in attendance at the state normal schools, and an equal sum for maintenance, which was equally divided among the thirteen schools recog- nized as state normal schools. On the latter amount, the schools, by arrangement with the governor, accepted for the last two years a reduction of 25 per cent., in view of the diminished revenues of the state. No extra appropriations for buildings have been made in the last five years. For each of the two years beginning June, 1899, the legislature made the usual appropriation of $130,000 to the state normal schools, and a like amount to aid students preparing to teach ; but the appropriation in aid of students for the year 1900-1901 was vetoed by the governor, on account of a probable shortage of funds in the state treasury. Within the past four years Rhode Island erected near its state capitol a new building for its state normal school. Over $500,000 was expended for the land, building, and equip- ment of the new school. The appropriation for the current year is $54,000. The money received by Winthrop Normal and Industrial College from the state of South Carolina for the scholastic year of 1897-98 is as follows : Scholarship appropriation $ 5.456 Regular appropriation (1897) • • 13,000 Regular appropriation (1898) • • I7i5°° Appropriation for sewerage ' 3.°°° Total {appropriated for one year) - - - $38,956 48 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION The amount appropriated to the Colored Normal and Industrial College for Febru,- ary, 1899, for the ensuing scholastic year, is $15,000, South Dakota has three state normal schools under state control, but the legislature has only made appropriations for two of them, one being supported almost entirely by tuition from the pupils ; d. small amount being received from interest on money derived from the sale and rent of school lands. The following amounts were appropriated by the legislature for the different years designated and for the schools mentioned above : 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 Madison $ 9>300 $ 9,300 $16,050 $12,250 $12,500 $12,500 $12,900 $12,900 Spearfish 10,700 10,700 13,350 i3>oSo 13,500 12,500 13,200 13,000 Tennessee appropriates J20,000 per annum to the Peabody Normal College. The annual appropriation for the support of the Texas Norma! Institute made by the state was ^39,500. It gets no endowment, and is entirely dependent upon legislative appropriations. It is the only Texas state normal school for white teachers. The Prairie View Normal is established by the state for colored teachers. It is probable that the present legislature will establish an additional normal school. Utah has but one normal school, which is a department, in fact, of the state univer- sity. It has a branch at Cedar City, in the southern part of the state. While this normal school or department receives indirectly material aid from the legislature in its biennial appropriations to the University of Utah, the amount is not segregated from the general appropriation to the university. This department, in much of its work, is so intimately connected with the other departments of the university that the same professor may have students in his classes from several different departments in the institution. The normal work is specialized in a few branches only, as pedagogy, educational psychology, etc. The only land grant the normal school, as it is called, has received from the United States government is that of 100,000 acres, made on the admission of the state into the union, in 1896. These lands have not yet been a source of revenue to the department. It has also participated, as an element of the university, in what little benefit that institution has received from its land grants — 46,080 acres by the act of Congress, February 2 1, 185s, and 110,000 acres by act of Congress, July 16, 1894. There are other normal schools in the state, but they are of a private or denomina- tional character. Vermont maintains three state normal schools. The appropriation to each is 85,000, with $1,000 additional to each for supplies and appliances. The legislature of Virginia appropriates annually $45,000 for the support of the state normal schools, of which amount the State Female Normal School for whites gets $15,000, the normal department of the College of William and Mary for white males, $15,000, and the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute for negroes of both sexes, $15,000. In addition to the foregoing, the state appropriates $2,500 a year for the support of summer normal schools. The state of Washington has three state normal schools. The last legislature made appropriations as follows : State Normal School at Cheney : Maintenance two years - $25,000 Library and repairs - / - - - 1,400 State Normal School at Ellensburg: Maintenance two years - - - $30,000 Repairs, furniture, library, etc. - - - . 8,500 State Normal School at Whatcom: Maintenance two years - - - $17,500 Equipment of building, etc. ... 16,000 $26,400 $38,500 $33,Soo $98,400 REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 49 West Virginia has six normal schools. , ^ The appropriation for teachers' fund for 1898-99 was ;^25,200, an increase of $6,000 over the old appropriation. For 1 899-1 900 the appropriation is jSso.ooo, an increase over the old appropriation of $10,800. The appropriations for the several schools are given below. Huntington gets 3i 5,000 for additions to building, and Concord gets a large appropriation to furnish a new building. The other schools received liberal appropria- tions for their running expenses and repairs and improvements. NORMAL SCHOOLS, WHITE, INDIVIDUAL FUNDS 1899 igop Total Marshall College $9,236.21 $14,050.00 $23,286.21 Fairmont 5,883.40 6,030.00 11,913.40 West Liberty S.580.7S 2,ZOO.OO 7.780.7s Glenville - 5,079-45 4,650.00 9.729.45 Concord - - 4,500.00 7,184.50 11,684.50 Shepherd College 3,578.00 3,050.60 6,628.00 $33,857.81 $37,165.10- $71,022.31 Wisconsin claims to be the normal-school state par excellence of all the union. The "Normal School- Fund," amounting to more than $1,922,000, was derived from the sale of public lands originally granted to the state as swamp lands. This fund is invested in public stocks and bonds, and yields an annual income, at present, of nearly $10,000. Until the opening of the fifth normal school, in 1885, this was the sole income of the board,save a few thousand dollars from local tuition receipts from pupils in the model schools. But the opening of the Milwaukee scbool necessitated an appropriation by the legislature of $100,000 a year for its partial support. Here matters stood for eight years more. But in 1893 an upward movement began. The legislature authorized the establishment of two new normal schools, and ordained a tax for their support of one-twentieth of a mill on a dollar of the assessed valuation of the state. This enlargement of the system by the establishment of two more schools rendered still further aid necessary from the state treasury. Accordingly, the legislature of 1 895, besides stated appropriations amounting to $72,500, for specified purposes, changed the one-twentieth mill tax to a one-fifth mill tax upon the assessed valuation of the state, this yielding an annual revenue of $120,000 in addition to previous income. This appropriation enabled the board to equip the schools more adequately and put salaries on a somewhat better scale. From this and other causes the schools have experienced a large increase in popularity, as evinced by membership, in the last two years, calling for enlargement of buildings and teaching force. Again appeal was made to the legislature, at its session in 1897, and a further appropria- tion of a one-tenth mill tax on the valuation of the state was secured. The annual reve- nue of the normal -school system amounts, therefore, at the present time, to nearly $300,000, of which about one-third is derived from invested funds and two-thirds from taxation. These figures afford convincing proof of the attitude of the people of Wisconsin toward its normal schools. No other state is spending a proportionate amount for the professional training of teachers. Even in these recent years of financial stringency, no one has ever proposed any other than a most liberal policy toward the educational institutions of the state. The legislature of 1899 made a special appropriation of $70,000 for additional build- ings at Stevens Point and Oshkosh, and some repairs at other schools ; repealed all laws granting aid in different ways, and substituted therefor an act appropriating directly $198 000 per year, in addition to the income derived from invested funds, tuition, and other sources. The only normal school in the state of Wyoming is that connected with the State Uni- versity at Laramie — that is, the normal school is conducted as a department of the university. So NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION' The state appropriation for the maintenance of the State University is a tax of one- fourth of a mill on all taxable property in the state. Altho a grant of land was made by the United States for the benefit of the institution, the income from this grant has been very small, not averaging inore than two hundred dollars per year. Indirectly, the normal school received some benefit from the government appropria- tions for an agricultural college, the institutions being all conducted together. APPENDIX A PRdFESSOR ^REIN'S PRACTICE SCHOOL, JENA, GERMANY BY JOHN W. HALL, SUPERINTENDENT OF TRAINING DEPARTMENT, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, GREELEY, COLO. Professor Rein's work at Jena is along two lines — a theoretical and a practical one. The first line, the theoretical one, is carried out in the university proper, where he lectures five hours a wepk, usually on two different lines of pedagogy ; in one semester he lectures three hours a week on general didactics, and two on empirical psychology ; in another semester, two hours a week on Herbart, three on systems of pedagogy ; in a third, two hours on fundamentals of philosophical ethics, three on special didactics, etc. The second line of work, the practical, is done in the practice school, situated about a fourth of a mile from the university. The practice school consists of three classes of from twelve to fifteen boys each, from tie poorer families. The boys enter usually in the first grade and continue thru the eight school years. For example, one year the classes would be the first, fourth, and sixth grades; another year they would be the second, fifth, ' and seventh grades ; a third year they would be the third, sixth, and eighth grades'. The numb,er of classes is limited by the lack of money. Each class is in charge of a critic teacher, who devotes his whole attention to it, is present at every recitation, and does all teaching not done by the students. The teaching by the students is voluntary. This line of work resembles that of our best normal schools, being distinguished from them by the inferiority of the equipment and the class of people from which it draws its pupils. Perhaps the greatest distinguishing characteristic of the school is the relationship that is established between the theoretical and practical lines just mentioned. This relation- ship is brought about in three ways : First, by the frequent visits of Professor Rein to the practice school ^ observing the work, offering friendly suggestions, frequently taking part in a recitation, and sometimes conducting an entire one — a university professor actually engaged in the teaching of children. The second means of establishing this relationship is thru the teaching of the stu- dents in the practice school. There the student strives to realize his theory in his practice. To do this he puts himself in closest touch with his critic teacher and the class by close' observation and conference. Usually much time is spent on the preparation and discus- sion of his plan before he is allowed to go before the class. In this way he realizes the difference between talking about a recitation plan and actually making one which will stand the test; he appreciates the difference between talking about the aim of a recitation and finding and really stating it properly ; between talking about preparing the mind for the reception of the new and actually framing the questions that will do the work. The plan being satisfactory, he is permitted to take the class. He is led to see the imperfec- tions of his recitations and, to discover the causes. With this experience he prepares for ♦ REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS S I the next recitation, each recitation calling for two thoro and helpful criticisms, the one of the plan, the- other of the recitation. The third means of contact, and perhaps the most important, is the so-called Prahti- kum, or recitation for public criticism, and its criticism a few days later in what is called the Konferenz, to which an entire evening is devoted. This recitation is held at the practice school, in the presence of Professor Rein, the critic teachers, and the students — sometimes numbering over sixty. It is held by a stu- dent during regular teaching or by a critic teacher, and is always one of a series — never an unrelated individual, never a show. The teacher who is to hold it is notified by Professor Rein a week in advance, and the plan is prepared with spedal care, for it is subject to inspection and criticism as well as the recitation itself. The chief critic is also appointed a week in advance, and begins at once to make himself thoroly acquainted with that which he is to criticise, in order to see the work in fitting perspective, and in order to dis- tinguish between accidental mistakes and those indicating tendencies. His is a written criticism. The other students content themselves with notes on the recitation, inore or less copious. ' There is an interval of several days between the recitation and the Konferenz, in order to allow time for the careful preparation of the criticism. This criticism forms the basis for the dicussion, and attention is directed to the following points : 1. A description of the recitation. 2. Criticism of — (a) Subject-matter, its fitness, its relation to other subjects, and its relation to the pre- ceding and following recitations in the same subject. (b) Method : aim, movement, leading questions, tests, and summaries. (c) Results. ' ' (d) Government. («) Manner. The principal criticism is preceded by the reading of the self-criticism by the practician. In the preparation of the self-criticism it behooves the practician to keep in mind the old precept of the seminar : " Seek Ihe error in thyself, not in the conditions, nor in the children." The actual time spent in the discussion of the practice recitation is, on the average, two hours. Here it is determined how far the practician stands from his ideals. The judgment is softened by circumstances, but the discussion is as nearly scientific as possible. In the course of the semester such problems as the following come up time and again for discussion in these conferences : " Does the aim, as stated, fulfill the essentials of a good aim ? " " Did the preparation of the mind for the new matter really prepare ? " " Wherein was the failure ? " " Did it make use of what the children had learned in cer- tain other subjects ? " " Is the step of preparation the proper place to emphasize cor- relation ? " " What formal steps were involved ? " " How ?" " Were they violated ? " " How ?" " Was sufficient interest manifested ? " " When and wljy was it lacking ? " The list might be continued indefinitely. Aside from this discussion of the recitation, the outline of work for the three classes in all subjects is read from week to week in the Konferenz, and suggestions or objections are called for. Opportunity is given tor criticism of any point in the general manage- ment, discipline, curriculum, and method, or of anything done or not done in the whole field of their practice. Professor Rein presides at the Konferenz, and with exceptional tact controls the discussion. Direct attacks upon any practice or phase of the school is not only allowed, but it is invited, for, in Professor Rein's own words : "We can con- ceive of criticism only from the standpoint of helpfulness, and as given only in aid of friends and fellow-workers. Personalities underlying criticism adjust themselves." 52 NATIONAL RJIUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION in this way ample provision -is mad^ for bringing together the theoretical and the practical lines of work. Of these the practical, or that done in connection with the prac- tice school, Is by far the more important. It is, in fact, the very center of the educational activity at Jena. At least this is the opinon of Professor Rein and of all Americans who have been seriously engaged there. On this point Professor Rein says : " The work of the schoolroom is, and will remain,- the test for how much the educator must yet add to bis inner treasures, first of knowledge, but above all of clearness, depth, and warmth of moral sentiment. Let us conceive the work of our little practice school in this spirit. We are fortunate that we have it, small and modest as it is, for here we can separate the chaff from the wheat. Here is the field for the growth of character in the teacher who is willing to lessen the distance between himself and his ideal by unceasing effort, by deeds rather than words. To him who is in earnest every criticism ^111 be welcome, for criti- cism challenges self-examination and frightens one to greater safety." What Professor Rein is striving for is, again in his words, " that each one acquire a pedagogical fundamental tendency, that it pervade his entire moral disposition ; that he not only acquire such a tendency, but live it ; that he shun all ostentation, and place truth above everything, even tho it often be bitter." (See article on Professor Rein's practice school in reports for the National Educational Association, 1896.)% HISTORICAL Aside from his lecture on philosophy in the university at Konigsberg, where he went in 1^09, lierbart was required to lecture on pedagogics. Soon after this he estab- lished a pedagogical seminary, in connection with which was to be a practice school where scientific method might be exemplified in the teaching of twelve to fourteen boys. Students did the teaching under the closest supervision and direction of Herbart himself. The students were not obliged to follow the directions of Herbart, if they differed from him and could support their points with good reasons. These students were to become. superintendents of schools when they had finished their course. One of them, Karl Volkmar Stoy, afterward established a similar seminary and practice school at Jena, based upon Herbart's ideas, according to his own interpreta- tion of them. Professor Stojr died in 1885. This seminary and practice school are now conducted by Professor W. Rein, who succeeded Professor Stoy. Herbart's ideas are still followed at Jena, altho the interpretation is somewhat different. Professor Ziller conducted a similar seminary and practice school at the university at Leipzig, from about 1857 until his death in 1883, when the practice school was dis- continued. . Ziller's work was based upon Herbartian ideas. Professor Rein was a stu- dent and a teacher in Ziller's school, and agreed largely in his interpretation of Herbart. APPENDIX B GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORK OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL BY ALBERT G. BOYDEN, ERIDGEWATER, MASS. The function of the state normal school is to educate teachers for the schools of the state. The state supports its public schools for the education of its children. It supports the normal school that its children may have better teachers. I. The first requisite in the discharge of its function is that the normal school shall inspire the student with the spirit of the true teacher. Its atmosphere must'be such that he will be continually breathing in this spirit. He is to consider the acquisition and use of knowledge, the exercises of the school, his own REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 53 purpose, manners, and conduct from the point of vi,ew of the teacher. It is vitally impor- tant to awaken in the normal student a just appreciation of the work of the,tep.cher, that he must have the spirit of service, must love his work, love his pupils, feel that he has a mission jvhich he must accomplish, and come to his pupils, as the Great Teacher comes to men, that they may have life abundantly. This end can be accomplished only by a school whose sole purpose is the education of teachers, and whose faculty is consecrated to this service. 2. The second requisite is that the normal student must be carefully' led thru the educational study of the subjects of the public-school curriculum, that he may learn how \Q use each in the teaching process and thereby learn the method of teaching. In the elementary and secondary school the student is a learner, seeking the knowl- edge of the object and the mental discipline which comes froin right exertion in learning.' In the normal school he is a teacher ; he must think the object as the learner thinks,it, he must also think the process by which the learner knows, and the means he is to use to' cause the learner to take the steps of this process. For instance, the teacher is lead- ing the learner to acquire the knowledge of a bird. The learner, directed by the teacher, is occupied in finding the parts, qualities, movements, habits of the bird. In doing this he perceives, remembers, imagines, compares, generalizes, reasons, but he does not notice these modes of activity thru which his mind moves. The teacher thinks the facts with the learner ; he also must think the movement of the learner's mind, and how he shall incite him to the most effective thinking. The teacher thinks the mind to be taught into unity with the subject by which it is taught. The object of thought is used as the means to teaching. Studying a subject as a teacher is much more than studying the same subject as a learner. The study of the subject for teaching is educational study. It is important to notice that the teaching process cannot be studied apart from the subjects which form the course of studies for the schools. As we have seen, these sub- jects furnish the objects of thought which must be used in teaching. It is a well-known law of mental activity that the mind proceeds from the particular and concrete to the general and abstract. We must proceed from the particular ideas of individual objects to the general idea of a class which is composed of the individual objects. We must proceed from the knowledge of many red objects to the abstract idea of redness. The same law controls the learning of the teaching process. The normal student must be led thru the learning and teaching process in each subject ; he must buckle himself to the subject, And study it definitely for teaching ; then teach and be criticised on his work until he has firmly grasped the process. When he has thus gone thru the study of the concrete process in the several subjects, he can compare his experiences in these several studies and find the aim, the steps, and the means of the teaching process and the general method. This is the law which governs all learning. We can acquire skill in any mechanical or mental process only by going thru the intelligent performance of the process. No one can produce the best quality of teaching in any grade without this educa- tional study of the subjects he is to use as instruments in the unfolding of the life of the pupil. There is no substitute for this study. The end cannot be accomplished by read- ing about it, by hearing lectures upon it, or by observing others do it. The separation of normal-school work into " the academic study of subjects and the study of methods " is not sound educational practice. The teacher must have a full knowledge of each subject at his ready command. He needs to be saturated with his subject, if he would teach effectively, so that he can give his attention to the pupil's mind, put himself in full sympathy with the pupil, and be ready to use the subject as the needs of the pupil may require. The normal student must consider the subject philosophically, toknow why it has its place in the course of studies. Take the subject-reading as an instance of the need of this study. What is it to be able to read an author ^ What is this power as a factor in life ? Why should 54 , NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION reading be taught ? What is its place! in the course of studies ? These questions must be answered by the teacher before he can effectively teach reading. Without this philo- sophical study of the subject the teacher will be formal, empirical, and fall into routine. He must consider the subject scientifically, that he may know its principles in their sys- tematic arrangement, and to place the subject in its true relation to other subjects. The principles of the subject in their orderly arrangement are the things essential to be taught, if the pupil is to be able to use his knowledge in solving the problems of life. Without this scientific study of the subject the teacher's work will be fragmentary, will lack order, method, vitality. He must study the subject pedagogically, to know its relation to the pupil, to know what parts are to be used and emphasized in teaching, and the best method of using them. Without this pedagogical study of the subject the teacher will fail to adapt his teaching to the needs of the pupil. He needs to consider each subject from this threefold point of view. The study of one subject in this way does not enable him to use another subject in teaching without studying it in the same way. Teaching should be rational, not empirical. The normal student should have, at the beginning of his work in the normal school, an elementary course in psychology, to indicate distinctly the principles and the method of teaching in the school ; then begin at once upon the educational study of the subjects and continue it thru the curriculum. ' The pupil in the elementary and secondary school has not the purpose, the attain- ments, or the maturity necessary for the educational study of the subject. He leaves the elementary subjects when he enters the secondary school, he takes the secondary subjects for^the first time in that school, and he is far from being saturated with the subjects when he leaves the secondary school. The secondary-School courses are elective. The best graduate of the secondary school often has not taken at all some of the subjects called for in the enrichment of the elementary-school course, as recommended by the Commit- tee of Ten and the Committee of Fifteen. Hence it not unfrequently happens that some of the best students in the normal school must take their first study of a subject from the educational point of view. It is by no means certain that this is ai ' disadvantage to the student as a teacher. To be well equipped for teaching in the elementary schools the normal student must take the educational study of the secondary-school subjects as well as that of the ele- mentary-school subjects. The teacher in any grade cannot do his own work properly unless he knows the relation it holds to what precedes and follows. He must know more than he teaches. Confining one's effort to any one grade is narrowing in its effect upon teacher and pupil. One cannot teach the program given by the Committee of Fifteen for the elementary schools without this study. He cannot teach the language required by this program effectively without this study of other languages than English; he cannot teach the arithmetic and elementary algebra in their proper relation \p the study of higher mathematics without this study of algebra and geometry ; he cannot teach geography intelligently without this study of history and the several sciences upon which geography depends ; he cannot teach nature study acceptably without this study of the natural sciences ; he cannot effectively use the myths and stories from ancient history now called for in the earlier grades, or make United States history a living study, without this study of general history ; he cannot use the gems of literature and art with- out something of this study of literature and art ; and to these must be added this study of drawing, vocal music, manual training, and physical culture. There is a prevalent misconception of the true work of the normal school. It finds expression in the statement, so often made, that the so-called academic studies should be left out of the normal-school course of study, and the school should give its whole atten- tion to strictly professional work — that is, to the study of psychology, the principles and methods of teaching, the history of education, and training in the practice school. The study of psychology may be just as academic as that of arithmetic or grammar, and when REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 55 so studied it does not meet the teacher's needs. The study of these subjects is not pro- fessional .until they are studied with direct reference to the teaching process. - This view of the work of the normal school is based on the f^l^e assumption that we may supply the normal student with educational theory in the abstract, and leave him to malce the application of the theory in teaching in each of the particular subjects • whereas all philosophy and experience show that theory and practice must be conjoined in the concrete teaching process. Persons equipped with educational theories may be good talkers about teaching, but they never will become good teachers under this divorce ot theory and practice. The academic studies should not be taken in the normal course for academic study, but the time will never come when we can safely dispense with the educational study of these subjects in the normal school. The normal school is to be'made professional, not by the exclusion of these studies from its course, but by the inclusion of the educational study of them. AH the studies of the normal school should be strictly professional, that is, studied in their direct bearing upon the teaching process, whether the course be shorter or longer, for elementary or for higher work. The one function of the normal school is the education of teachers. This function is capable of indefinite extension. All teachers, from the kindergarten thru the university, should have their professional training. 3. The third requisite is that the school should lead the normal student, after the educational study of the subjects of the school curriculum, thru the broader st!udy of man, body and mind, to find the principles of education which are derived by this study and which underlie all true teaching. This study is invaluable ior its " influence in expand- ing the mind, enlarging the views, elevating the aims, and strengthening the character of the student." After this study the student should be led thru a careful analysis of the art of teaching, school organization and school government, and the study of school laws, and the history of education. In this study the student is constantly referring to his experience in the educational study of subjects for illustrations to establish the general views he is now discussing. 4, The fourth requisite is that the normal student shall be led to make a practical study of children, which he should do as fully 9s, possible thruout the course under intelligent sug- gestion; that he should have ample observation under intelligent guidance in all the grades of a good public school, with a first-class teacher at work in charge of each room ; that he breathe the atmosphere, become familiar with the workings, and become acquainted with the children as pupils in such a school ; that in the latter part of his course, when he has some just conception of the nature and method of true teaching, and when he has become acquainted with the pupils, he should have ample practice in teaching under such supervision as lie needs, whether it be more or less. To put the student to teach- ing before this preparation is a wrong to him, and a much greater wrong to the children. We have no right to waste the child's birthright by ignorant attempts to teach him. These four requisites are the minimum requirements for a true normal school, which has its distinctive place as a professional school. The child who is to be developed, by the teacher is a self-active, rational being; a person, not a thing; a free personality, a moral cause; therefore self-exertion is the first condition of his development. " He stands all by himself in the world as an individual, with his own thoughts and feelings, his own hopes and fears and possibilities, his own relations to his fellow-beings and to God." His individuality is to be respected. The development of the individual according to his needs is, the end toward which all are to be trained. The art of teaching is the finest of fine arts, inasmuch as it deals with the spiritual material of human life. Its exercise calls for an artist who has the greatest natural apti- tude the noblest character, the fullest knowledge, the ripest experience, and the most delicate skill. We cannot set the standard of the normal school too high. 56 ' NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION SUBJECTS FOR COURSE OF TWO YEARS The students entering upon the course are graduates of a good high-school course of four years, or have had an equivalent of this course. 1 . An elementary course in psychology to indicate distinctly the principles and the method of the teaching in the school. 2. The educational study of the following subjects for knowledge of their educa- tional value, their principles, and the method of teaching in each : (a) MaiAemaii'csfi- Aiithmetic and bookkeeping, elementary algebra, and plane geometry. (6) Nature studies. — Minerals, plants, animals, physical force, chemical force, geological agencies, geography, the human body, physical training, manual training. {c) Language. — Reading and vocal culture, English, including orthography, orthoepy, etymology, grammar, composition, rhetoric, literature, drawing and color, vocal music. (d) History. — History of United States and civil government, school laws of the state, history of education. 3. The educational study of man, body and mind, for the principles of education, the art of teaching, school organization, school government. 4. Child study, observation and practice in the model school. STUDIES FOR COURSE OF FOUR YEARS The students start with the same qualifications as rn the two-years' course. 1. Elementary course in psychology, to indicate distinctly the prfticiples and the method of the teaching in the school. 2. The educational study of the following subjects for the knowledge of their educa- tional value,, their principles, and the method of teaching in each : {a) Mathematics. — Arithmetic and bookkeeping, algebra, geometry, plane and solid, trigonometry, and surveying. {b) Nature studies. — The same subjects as in the two-years' course. Science: phys- ics, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology, geology, and astronomy. ^ (c) Language.— yioie. extended study of the subjects of the two-years' course, Latin, Greek, French, and German. (d) History. — History of the United States and civil government, school laws of the state, general history, history of education, political economy, sociology. 3. The educational study of man, body and mind, for the principles of education, the art of teaching, school organization, school government. 4. Child study, observation and practice in model school. The subjects should be taken in the order of their dependence, and the distribution of time upon them will vary with the internal conditions of each school. Minimum , and maximum courses should be arranged to meet the varying abilities of the students. A three-years' course may be arranged for the accommodation of those desiring an elective course, by taking the studies of the two-years' course with electives from the advanced subjects of the four-years' course. In some schools a special course is arranged for college graduates, and for teachers of long experience. The four-years' course is especially helpful in the proper training of teachers for the upper grades of the schools. Its necessity becomes increasingly apparent with the increasing demand for teachers of higher qualifications. Its influence upon those pur- suing the shorter course is of great benefit In raising the standard of qualification and in strengthening the desire for more extended professional study. The graduates from these courses will find their places in the schools aooording to their ability as teachers. The provision for certificates, diplomas, and degrees varies very much in the different states, and can be improved only as the better quality of the gradu- ates of the normal school commends them to the best public sentiment. REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 57 APPENDIX C A TYPICAL ENGLISH TRAINING COLLEGE BY GEORGE MORRIS PHILIPS, PENNSYLVANIA To most American teachers Sir Joshua Fitch is the best-known educator in Eng- land ; and so, when last November I. went to London to learn something of English schools, I naturally called upon him for suggestions. A letter of introduction from an American friend secured a most cordial welcome from Sir Joshua ; and let me suggest just here that, while I have no doubt any American teacher would be welcomed by Sir Joshua Fitch, the American traveler who wishes to get any intimate knowledge of Euro- pean people or institutions should be sure to take with him letters of introduction. They are much more essential there than they would be in America. Sir Joshua Fitch was, a few years ago, knighted by Queen Victoria for his eminent services to education, but he was recently retired from active school work. Apparently, however, this only allows school committees and boards to now demand all of his time for addresses, conferences, etc. Thru him I met Mr. Buxton Morrish, of London, chairman of the British and Foreign Society's committee on teachers' training colleges, -^ typical English gentleman, who, having retired from active business, is able to devote his time largely to serving the public and, of course, without compensation. Instead of pay- ing school directors for their services, as is often suggested, it seems to me that we should be much better served in this country if many more of our officers were unpaid, in the hope that, when made posts of honor instead of profit, more of them would be filled by capable, public-spirited men, like Mr. Morrish. The British and Foreign Society was organized about the beginnmg of the present century to promote Lancaster's scheme of general«elementary education. In 1870 Parlia- ment, for the first time, authorized a public-school system in England, and as the British , and Foreign Society's schools then began to be gradually turned over to the school boards organized under this act, the society now devotes its attention and its resources largely to the training of teachers. It must be borne in mind that in England there are no state normal schools, in the ordinary American sense of the term. AH of the teachers' training colleges, as normal schools are universally called there, are private enterprises, many of them under the auspices of the British and Foreign Society, or its great rival, the National Society. Such of these as provide training for teachers in the elementary schools may be aided liberally by the government, provided they comply with the govern- < ment's conditions. There is a great gulf fixed in England between elementary- and sec- ondary-school teachers, and, as the state makes practically no provision for assisting in secondary instruction, so it gives no help to the training of teachers for secondary or high schools. Separate training colleges are generally provided for the two sexes. Accompanied by Mr. Morrish, I spent a day at the Isle worth Training College for men, which is situated a few miles west of London, and which is considered one of the best schools of its class in England. Like most of the training colleges generally, I found this to be a boarding school, with a two-years' course of study. It has a fine building, well adapted to its pur- pose, surrounded by cqnsiderable grounds. Practically all of its students are Queen's scholars, that is, they have passed an entrance examination by government examiners and almost without exception, have been pupil teachers for four years in the elementary schools. This pupil-teacher system, by the way, which provides that boys and girls who intend to become teachers may, when they have finished the elementary schools at the age of fourteen, become assistent teachers in elementary schools for four years, assisting " 58 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION the regular teachers for a part of each day, and studying the remainder of the time, is universal in England, and the great majority -of elementary teachers are ex-pupil teachers. At -the end of each year's course the college students are required to pass a state examination, which, like the preliminary examination, is uniform all over Eiigland. The course of study is also carefully laid down by the government authorities, and all students must have physicians' certificates of physical fitness before entering the school. The pupils sleep in small cubicles, each about nine by five feet, separated from each other by partitions six' feet high. Of these there are some seventy-five in one great room. Each contains simple but comfortable furniture, and teachers occupy certain of these small bedrooms among the students. They are not separately lighted ; students must, therefore, study either in the schoolrooms or in the large " common room," the latter being an important feature in English schools. , ' In the dining-hall the teachers and a few postgraduate students sat at a table on a raised platform ; the undergraduates at long tables below. While there evidently were 'two bills-of-fare, yet all the tablfts were apparently well provided, and I was told that the dietary of the school was arranged by a physician. Some of the teachers wore the scho- lastic gowns which in English schools everywhere mark teachers who hold university degrees. ' The school contains about one hundred and fifty young men, the total cost of main- taining the school being rather more than three hundred dollars per year for each student. The government gives each training college three-fourths of the legitimate cost of main- taining each student for the time he is in attendance. This is the general rule thruout England. _ A student at Isleworth pays one hundred dollars as an entrance fee, and has no other school expense during his two-years' course. The balance of the cost is made up by the society itself, and generally in England almost all the living expense, as well as the tuition of students in the training colleges, is paid for them. The course of study is largely academic, only about one hundred hours of class-room work in the whole two years being given to pedagogic branches, including methods of teaching, psychology, etc. One hundred and fifty hours are required by law to be spent in practice and observation in practice schools. Here there had been considerable difii- culty in securing sufficient facilities for practice work, and the school authorities, in con- nection with some public-spirited neigjjbors, had built and equipped a private school for the neighborhood, which was used also as a practice school. Each graduate is obliged to pledge himself to teach for two years in the elementary schools of the kingdom, altho I found a few students in the school not intending to teach in the English schools. These, however, got no benefit' from the government grant for support, and paid the full cost of their board and tuition. Special inspectors are appointed by the government for the training colleges, and the facilities and details of the work generally must conform to the government requirements, and are carefully looked after. The teachers of the training college are scarcely as well paid as corresponding teachers in America, and yet, there is no more difference than between salaries in other callings in the two countries. I was informed that the average salary received by gradu- ates of this college for their first year's work was about $425. This, however, was said to, be in excess of that received by recent graduates of the training colleges generally. At the end of the two-years' course, and after passing the final examinations, gradu- ates get preliminary certificates which permit them to teach in the elementary schools of the kingdom without further examination ; but, at the end of two years' successful teaching in the same school, they may get second diplomas, technically called " parch- ments." Teachers are not yet everywhere required to be graduates of tiraining colleges, but in London, and some other places, the local school authorities now require that all teachers in board schools must be graduates of training colleges. REPORT ON NORMAL S'CHOOLS 59 Students of educational systems will be struck with the resemblance between the training colleges of England and the state normal schools of Pennsylvania. In both cases thise schools are privately founded and controlled, altho in Pennsylvania the state now appoints one-third of the trustees, and, in Pennsylvania also, the founding and organi- zation of the schools are more closely regulated by law. The normal schools of Pennsylvania, like the training colleges of England, are all boarding schools, and must be so under the laws of the state. In Pennsylvania the normal schools all charge tuition, but the students' expenses are reduced' by "state aid" appropriated regularly by the legislature, and paid to the schools to reduce the expenses of the students preparing to teach, tho this state aid is very much less for each student than the corresponding government grant in England. In both cases the final examinations are conducted by examiners not connected with the schools, and graduates who receive benefit of the state aid are required to agree to teach in the state schools for two years, and, in England as in Pennsylvania, at the close of two years of successful teaching, a. second certificate or diploma is granted to the studerit. It would seem from these coincidences that the framers of the normal-school law of Pennsylvania must have been familiar with, and to a certain extent have copied, the English system, which took substantially its present form in 1843. APPENDIX D CONTINUOUS SESSIONS IN NORMAL SCHOOLS BY IRWIN SHEPARD, PRESIDENT STATE NORMAL SCHOOl, WINONA, MINN. ^[The following extract from a paper read ,at the meeting of the Department of Superintendence at Chattanooga, Tenn., in February, 1898, is reprinted at the request of the Committee on Normal Schools.] No feature of our educational system is, by virtue of any authoritative adoption, exempt from criticism or change. The conservative force in our national system of education is the strength of tradition. This conservatism ofteii binds the teachers more strongly than the people, for it frequently happens that the former have progressed more slowly than the latter and have yielded tardily to the advanced demands of public opinion. The traditional close classification of the graded schools, with its rigid system of annual promotions, altho long since condemned by public sentiment, still quite generally prevails ; or at most has yielded only to the extent of substituting semi-annual for annual promotions. The method of determining qualification for promotion by written examinations alone was generally retained long after the people distrusted its efficiency and even demanded its discon- tinuance. The three-months' annual vacation season has , come to be regarded by most teachers as an inalienable right, as well as a necess^ity, and any disposition to lerigthen the school year is generally looked upon as an unjustifiable encroachment upon this right. It requires some courage to suggest, even in a convention of progressive supermtend- ents that other seasons than summer time may be equally profitable for vacation purposes, and that the intellectual work of the schoolroom may be as well done in sum- mer as the intellectual work of other callings. I. In elementary schools. ■^'^\\e. average school year for the United States is .about seven months. In many places, especially cities, it has been extended to ten months in 6o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION answer to popular demands. It is not entirely clear why the extension should stop here. In fact, very good reasons can be given why the school should be open as continuously as the factory, the workshop, and the store. If it is replied that pupils and teachers need two or three months annually for rest and recuperation from the intense strain and pressure of the year's work, it may be ques- tioned if a system which produces strain and pressure so near to the point of exhaustion is not unwise and indefensible, and if a distribution of the same work over a longer period would not be wiser, tho it involved longer or even continuous sessions. It is certain that the point of efficient work on the part of both teacher and pupil is passed long before , strain, over- pressure, or exhaustion appears. We may even question if the valuable enrichment of the courses of study in ele- mentary schools, made in recent years, has not unwisely increased the pressure of daily work in'the absence of any corresponding extension of the school year. The annual vacation itself, deemed so essential for rest, contributes in no slight degree to the burdens of the already overtaxed year which follows, by the necessity for recov- ering the loss incident to the breaking down of intellectual habits and , the waste of acquired kriowledge during the long vacation, even if no more serious results appear. There are certain valuable compensations for the long school vacation when the pupil can turn to some helpful occupation, as may usually be done in rural communities; but this is seldom the case in cities or eypn small towns ; therefore the question of con- tinuous sessions versus short school years and long vacations belongs rather to the graded than to the rural schools. The profitable employment of the time of children of school age during the long summer vacations is often the most serious and perplexing p'roblem that confronts parents living in cities and towns, even under the most favorable circumstances ; while in the case of children living in crowded districts of large cities, or in the saloon-cursed village, it becomes a question of vital importance to society as well as to the family. It is not difficult to conceive of such an adjustment of school work, rest, and recreative occupations that continuous attendance upon school may not only be free from overwork or strain, but may furnish the most healthful and enjoyable life that a child can live ; especially if vacations may be taken, without prejudice to progress, whenever needed or whenever the time could be otherwise more profitably spent. The ideal school life is that of the most healthful living, and does not admit the necessity for long vacations as periods for recuperation~from overtaxing or unhealthful requirements. However, the plkn of continuous sessions does not necessarily involve continuous attendance on the part of the pupils or continuous service by teachers. It means, rather, continuous opportunities to the pupil for attendance on regular school sessions, and relief to the teachers-from enforced vacations, always annual and always at the same season. In view of the growing demands for vacation schools, especially in large cities, it is important to determine whether these schools shall be preventive and sporadic, without organic connection with the school system ; or shall be constructive, progressive, and so adjusted as to contribute to advancement in the regular courses of Ihe schools or to proportionate relief from the daily requirements of the following year. A division of the present school year into three quarters of twelve weeks each, with quarterly promotions, would be the first and most important step toward the organic connection of vacation schools as a regular part of the school year with the work accredited as such. The question may be asked if as much work can ba accomplished in the twelve weeks of a vacation quarter as in any other quarter of the year. We have come to under- stand that the ability of anyone (children especially) to do intellectual work is dependent upon individual vitality rather than atmospheric temperature. We know that the vitality is lowest in winter and early spring and at its maximum in the growing season — late spring and summer. The general experience of summer vacation schools confirms the REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS 6 1 belief that as much and as effective work can be accomplished in summer time as iii any other part of the year if the early morning hours are substituted for the afternoon session; while the opportunities to pursue the various forms of nature study excel those of any otheV season. If, however, continuous attendance is not desired, continuous sessions, with the quarter of twelve weeks as the promotion unit, would make possible the distribution of vacations thruout the year, and the relief of crowded rooms to a corresponding extent ; or, in other words, would increase the school accommodations by ZZYi pcr cent. Is it a wise policy for a city whose enrollment exceeds its seating accommodations to close its buildings for three months of the year, if by any plan of administration these buildings may be made available to relieve the excessive demands of the other nine months ? Under the pressing demands everywhere for greater school accommodations, is it justifiable that the common-school property of the nation, valued at five hundred millions of dollars, should be permitted to lie idle from three to -five months annually ? Compulsory school attendance and compulsory exclusion from school during the long vacation are antagoiiistic principles. The general tendency of the educational world to "hibernate " in summer time is contrary to all of the analogies, of nature as well as of life In other callings. II. In normal schools. — The great increase in* the number, importance, and attend- ance of summer schools is not more significant than the fact that this attendance is largely made up of teachers in regular service, who are pleased to devote no small share of a meager salary and of the annual vacation to professional advancement. ,The reports of the United States Commissioner of Education show that 75 per cent, of the teachers of the country enter upon their work without any special training whatever, while the training of a large share of the others'issmuch less extensive and satisfactory than is required in any other profession. Few who continue in teaching resign to make further preparation. Therefore the training of the teacher while in service is a problem of the utmost importance. This problem would seem to be not difficult of solution when we reflect that'the aver- age school year for the entire country is but seven moiiths,' and rarely exceeds forty weeks. No other calling affords such generous vacation leisure for self-improvement- The difficulties of the problem lie in the fact that the three to five months of enforced vacation include or coincide with the annual long vacation of the normal schools and all higher educational institutions. Teachers' institutes and the summer schools are de'signed to supply the d|emands for vacation opportunities for professional improvement not offered by the normal schools and colleges ; either because their doors are closed, or because their courses of study and term arrangements do not _ enable a teacher to use with profit the long vacation periods. While summer schools and institutes have accomplished much, they do not by any means ■ solve the problem of the efficient training of the teacher in service. The state of Minnesota' has led all other states in the establishment of vacation train- ing schools for teachers. About fifty of these schools are in session every summer, for four weeks each, with a total attendance which usually equals or exceeds the entire teach- ing force of the state; while, until the summer of 1897, all of the four normal schools of the state, equipped at an expense of more than a million dollars, were closed, their labora- tories and libraries deserted, and their faculties scattered, supposedly taking much-needed vacations, but many of them in reality teaching in these same summer schools, often under most adverse conditions as to surroundings and appliances. In September, 189S, when the faculty of the State Normal School at Winona reassembled after the annual vacation, during which half of the members had been teach- ing in the summer schools, a series of special meetings were held to consider the relation of the normal schools to these summer schools. A few conclusions were soon reached : 62 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1. That the phenomenal growth of summer training schools for teachers indicated a .demand which the normal schools had not met. 2. That these summer schools were creating new demands which only normal schools could efficiently meet. 3. That, under the existing conditions for admission to teaching service, it is quite as much the proper function of the normal schocSs to provide for training teachers in service as to furnish a preparation for entering such service. 4. That the rural-school teachers, with an average vacation of five months each year, furnished at the same time the most needy and the most available constituency for such training. 5. That the policy is indefensible which closes the normal schools during that peri<5d of the year when teachers are most at leisure to attend school. 6. That the terms of normal schools should be so adjusted in time that the usual long vacations of teachers could be utilized for further preparation, and that the courses so provided should not be special, but regular" and progressive, and should constitute organic parts of the full courses offered. It was decided, after full discussioii, to recommend and, if possible, secure the adop- tion of the following general plan : 1. The school year should be divided into four quarters of twelve weeks each, com- mencing, respectively, January i, April I, July I, and October i. 2. The courses of study should be organized by quarters ; the work of each quarter constituting a full unit On which credit should be given whenever completed. 3. Classes should be graduated at the close of each quarter and new classes organ- ized at the opening of each quarter, if necessary. 4. Special classes should be organized for graded-school teachers for the first six weeks of the summer quarter (July I to August 15), and this work should apply upon regular courses, with provisions for completing the quarter's work by non-resident study thru correspondence during the ensuing school year. 5. Since the chief aim of this plan was to bring the normal schools into more help- ful relations to the rural schools, whose interests they were primarily created to serve, the quarters should be so arranged that a rural-school teacher could teach the usual winter term of four or five months — which would always come within the autumn and winter quarters (October to April):^ and attend a normal school one or both of the remaining quarters, with a reasonable vacation ; or he could teach the entire school year (October to July) and attend one full quarter each year (July to October). ' In this way progressive courses of normal-school work could be completed without withdrawing from rural-school service. This alone would be a distinct gain to the teach- ing supply of the rural schools. Incidentally this plan would prove a boon to hundreds of self-supporting young men and women, from whom the best teachers of the state are drawn, who would be enabled ' to work their way thru the normal-school courses with little difficulty and with little or no loss of time from teaching service. It was believed that the results of training received while alternately teaching and attending school would also commend the policy. The plan was subsequently approved by the presidents and faculties of the other normal schools of the state and presented to the state normal board for adoption. After full consideration for a year it was unanimously adopted and steps taken to secure the needed appropriation for putting the plan into operation in all of the normal schools of the state. It was estimated that an increase of 25 per cent, in revenue would cover the expense of the proposed increase in the length of the school year of 33^ per cent. The teachers generally thruout the state approved the plan and gave it active support. Sixty-two out of eighty of the county superintendents, and almost an equal REPOR T ON- NORMAL SCHOOLS ' 6 3 ' proportion of city superintendents, joined personally in urging upon individual members of the legislature its advantages. No more popular educational measure ever'came before the legislature of the state. The year 1897 was not a favorable one in which to secure appropriations for new or untried measures. The avowed policy of the legislature ^as to grant sparingly appropriations for the actual necessities only of the state institutions, but nothing for enlargements. Yet, so great was the confidence in the plan ' that the full appropriation asked for the two older schools — at Winona and Mankato — was granted — a larger increase than had ever been granted for extension of normal-school revenues in any one ye&r in the history of the state, 1 On July I, 1897, these two schools entered upon the new plan. Duplication of the work of the summer schools was avoided. Students were not admitted for less than a full term or quarter. Those only were admitted to the six-weeks' special courses whose schools would begin before the close of the quarter. Rural-school teachers were not . admitted for less than the full quarter of twelve weeks. At Winona the standard of admission was radically advanced to the point of admitting only graduates of high schools or teachers actually in service. Altho the announcement of the plan was not made until late in May, and forty county summer schools, enrolling seven thousand, were in session thruout the state, the attendance during the summer was all that could be desired in numbers and surprisingly good in quality. Five hundred were enrolled in the two schools. At Winona 15 per cent, of the enroll- ment were former graduates of the school, all occupying important positions as teachers in the state, who had returned to enter upon the work of the recency extended advanced course ; 40 per cent, were graded- and rural-school teachers ; 40 per cent, were high-school graduates. Only 5 per cent, did not belong to one of the above-named classes. The average age was twenty-three years and the average teaching service four years, varying from one term to twenty years. It was predicted by some that the model or training schools could not be maintained ' during the summer months ; but here again the success was marked, notwithstanding the fact that these are tuition schools. Many parents have transferred their children permanently to the model schools because of the evident advantages of continuous sessions. In the model schools promo- / tions occur quarterly. Vacations of one quarter may be taken any quarter of the year, either semi-annually, annually, or biennially; or the pupils may attend continuously, taking full or partial work, with corresponding advancement if such attendance is deemed advisable. , The advantages of these various options are quickly seen, and different plans are chosen to suit individual pupils. The work of last summer's quarter was not more exhausting to teachers or pupils than that of any other quarter, nor has it appeared to be less efficiently done. No year in the history of the schools has shown so large an increase in enrollment as the present. While the lengthened year will show a projiortionate increase in results, in graduates, and numbers instructed, the most important advantages appear in the large number of teachers in service who are preparing to take up regular courses while continu- ing their work in teaching, while many students, who formerly could not see the way to complete more than the short elementary course, now choose the full advanced course, under the facilities offered for vacation attendance. Continuous sessions do not involve continuous teaching service by the faculty. Vaca- tion^ will be granted as heretofore, with the difference that any quarter may be selected, subject to the approval of the management of the school ; or, by continuous service, vaca- tions may be accumulated to enable a teacher to secure a longer leave of absence. Addi- tional teachers will be employed as assistants in the various departments, who will be competent to take the classes of the absent teachers. 64 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION A proposed plan, which is favored by many, provides that each teacher may serve four consecutive quarters and take the fifth quarter for a vacation. This would bring each successive vacaition of any teacher at a different season of the year. Students are not expected to attend continuously except by permission of the faculty. It is already found that they are not so averse to stopping' for rest when it is needed, since work may be resumed atthe opening of the next quarter. Similarly, students are more willing to repeat work that has been imperfectly done than under the usual plan of classification, which imposes the penalty of a year's delay if the work of a single quarter i^s lost or repeated. Under the usual plan normal-school graduates are annually thrown upon the market in the month of June, just when the graded-school authorities are seeking teachers to fill vacancies for the following year. The natural result is that the supply is exhausted before the rural-school authorities are ready to act on the employment of teachers for the schools' to begin later, in October or November. Hence only the undergraduate supply is left for the rural-school service. Under the Winona plan the classes graduating in September, December, and March will be available for rural-school service. Even tho this service shall be brief because of the competition of the graded schools offering a longer year, more certain tenure of appointment, and higher wages, it will be a distinct gain to the rural schools, as well as to the teacher herself, if she is able to say : " My first teaching service after graduation was in a rural school." The plan was presented to the Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools at its meeting in Chicago in 1896, and received its indorsement and approval in both the report of the General Committee and of the Subcommittee on Supply of Teachers. The 160 state normal schools of the United States, equipped with buildings and appli- ances at an expense of over ^17,000,000, graduate about 8,000 teachers annually, which is a small proportion of the needed supply; and yet all of these buildings are closed during three months of the year. An additional annual expenditure of about $600,000 would open every one of these 160 state normal schools for the additional three months of each year, afford %a,ooo teachers annual vacation opportunities for professional study, and secure to all teachers the many other advantages of continuous sessions. ' PAMPHLET HNOEK I Mcnufaehmd tv 6AYLOR0 BROS. Inc. Syraeui*f N. Y. Stacbton, Calif. . ' .^ '- K C