i. Residence in the city.ii. Satisfactory completion of the high schools course of the city.iii. Statement of intention to teach in the schools of the city.
i. Residence in the city.
ii. Satisfactory completion of the high schools course of the city.
iii. Statement of intention to teach in the schools of the city.
To all those who satisfy these conditions, and areeighteen years of age or more, instruction is free, and completion of the professional course entitles the student to become a teacher in any of the Common Schools of the city.
The City Normal Schools of New York and Philadelphia combine the functions of Normal and High Schools, admitting students who do not intend to become teachers to their academic studies, without requiring of them any professional study or practice in teaching. The necessity of extending the function of a Normal School in this way has arisen from the fact that there are no public High Schools for girls in these cities.
At the Normal College of the city of New York there are two separate courses of work:—
i. An academic or classical course of five years.ii. A normal or training course of four years, with an optional extra year for specializing in any branch of manual training.
i. An academic or classical course of five years.
ii. A normal or training course of four years, with an optional extra year for specializing in any branch of manual training.
In the normal course, two full years are given to the study of school subjects only. In the third year two hours a week, in the first half of the fourth year six hours a week, and in the last half of the fourth year three hours a week, are given to the study of pedagogy. At the beginning of the fourth year, the Normal students enter the training or practice department connected with the school, and every third week hear and give lessons, and take part in criticisms and discussions on teaching. At the same time, they attend lectures and recitations in English, Latin, modern languages, natural science,drawing and music, chiefly with a view to gaining an insight into the methods of those subjects. The college had in December, 1892, 1,868 students, of whom 460 had belonged to the training department during the year—i.e., had observed and actually taught in the training or practising school. As large numbers are engaged in observing and teaching in one practising school, much individual practice in the actual work of teaching is impossible; for although the students are divided into groups for the school work, the groups are necessarily large. It has been found necessary for ninety-two students to be in the practising school at one time, a number too large to allow of much actual teaching being done by any individual student. Only a small part of the twelve hours spent weekly by each student in the practising school is given to teaching. The remaining time is given to hearing lessons and observing children.
I noticed a similar need for more practical work in the Philadelphia Normal School. Here, as in the New York Normal College, much purely academic work is done, and very little importance is given to actual school-room practice. Students are divided into six sections, each group containing about fifty. A whole division goes into the practising school at one time, and stays there for two weeks only. The remaining thirty-eight weeks of the last school year are entirely devoted to the study of pedagogical subjects, psychological methods and drawing. Kindergarten work is compulsory to all during the last year. The two weeks which each studentspends in the schools are chiefly employed in hearing lessons, and observing children and teachers. Only two days in the whole course are spent in actual teaching. This arrangement of work and distribution of time in the Philadelphia Normal School is seen by the city school authorities to be far from satisfactory, and a scheme has been made out for a thorough revision of the course. The present school, which is inadequate for purposes of training, is to be made into a public High School for girls, and a new Normal School is to be built, in which three years are to be devoted to academic, and two years to professional work; but the two parts are to be kept entirely distinct. The training course is to consist of elementary and advanced sections, and much more time is to be given to actual teaching.
The examinations of the City Normal Schools are usually conducted by the faculties of the schools, under the supervision of sub-committees of the Board of Public Education of the city. In the Philadelphia School, a certificate is awarded by a “Committee on the Qualification of Teachers” for a general average of 85 per cent. on two examinations.
i. In academical subjects, at end of three years.ii. In professional subjects, at the end of four years.
i. In academical subjects, at end of three years.
ii. In professional subjects, at the end of four years.
An average of 85 per cent. on the teaching in the school of practice is also required. Two certificates are awarded for lower averages of marks on work of the course, viz.:
An “Assistant’s Certificate” for average of 70 per cent., and a “Trial Certificate” for less than an average of 70 per cent. on work in the school of practice. Such a “Trial Certificate” is for one year only. If, at the end of that time, the teaching shall be reported as satisfactory by the Superintendent of the Schools, the “Trial Certificate” may be exchanged for an “Assistant’s Certificate.”
An “Assistant’s Certificate” for average of 70 per cent., and a “Trial Certificate” for less than an average of 70 per cent. on work in the school of practice. Such a “Trial Certificate” is for one year only. If, at the end of that time, the teaching shall be reported as satisfactory by the Superintendent of the Schools, the “Trial Certificate” may be exchanged for an “Assistant’s Certificate.”
The City Training Schools are purely professional institutions. They admit only graduates of High Schools of the city, and give them a course of one or two years in theory and practice of teaching. The amount of time given to theory varies a good deal in the different cities. Practice in teaching is usually gained in a practising school well equipped with good teachers, who help and guide the students in their work. In some instances, however, students gain their experience by teaching under supervision, in the schools of the city.
Emphasis of the practical side of the teacher’s work seems to be a good feature of the training schools generally. In all the City Training Schools which I visited much opportunity was given for actual teaching, and for practically dealing with the problems of discipline and organization in the school-room. Such opportunities are multiplied by the system of substitute service, which seems to be organized in most of the cities of the United States.Students of the training schools, during the latter part of their course, are registered on a substitute list, and may be called to supply the place of teachers temporarily absent from the Common Schools. Responsibility taken for a week, or even a day, is excellent training for future teachers, and in cases where permanent vacancies occur the student who has shown herself capable in such an emergency is often appointed to the post.
Among the largest and most successful of the City Training Schools is the Boston Normal and Rice Training School. This, although a City Normal School by name, differs in many respects from the City Normal Schools of New York and Philadelphia. Its work is strictly professional, and seems to correspond rather with the Training Schools of other cities than with those known as Normal Schools. The Rice Training School offers an ordinary course of two years, and an advanced course for further professional work. The practising school in the same building gives the opportunity to the students of teaching and observing children, and beyond this the “Supervisors of Public Instruction” in the city have made arrangements for allowing the students to watch and teach in some of the best Primary and Grammar Schools of Boston. Completion of the Boston High School course, or college graduation, exempts from the entrance examination of the school.
Theoretical instruction in pedagogical subjects is given in the morning, teaching in the practising school occupies the afternoon hours. Psychology istaken almost every day throughout the course. Theory of the kindergarten is studied in the second term, and logic in the third. The history of education is also taken in outline.
“Methods” of subjects are taught in great detail, and on the same lines as in the State Normal Schools—viz., by means of lessons in the various subjects given to the students themselves. I heard a very interesting lesson in methods of arithmetic. A class of twenty girls were, by very skilful questioning, made to thoroughly discuss the process of simple addition, and also the methods of teaching children to realize numbers greater than ten. I heard, too, very skilful teaching in methods of English—viz., a literature lesson, and a first lesson in English composition. In the literature lesson, the teacher first reminded her pupils of the various poems and prose selections studied during the term. After having given short explanations, she read selections from other authors. Then the students were asked if these new selections reminded them of any parts in the poems already studied, and when the suggested parts had been quoted, the class was set to discover whether the similarity was in the subject matter, the underlying thought or the mode of expression. Many suggestions were given by the class, and much interest was aroused. The lesson was a most helpful illustration of how a teacher should stimulate her class, and how she should use her materials for the purpose of training. The study of methods of training occupies a prominent place in the curriculum of the school, and includes special work inillustrative drawing on the blackboard in connection with the teaching of geography, and the drawing of plants and animals. As part of the course on gymnastics, each student, besides studying the theory and doing daily drill, must act for one term as leader and teacher of drill, and must criticise drill lessons.
Practical work in the schools is arranged for each term. In the first half-year, the students’ work in the training school consists chiefly in observing methods of teaching, and hearing lessons, under the guidance of the critic teacher. She does not begin to teach in the school until the second term, two weeks of which she spends in a primary grade, and two weeks in a higher or grammar grade. In the third term she spends eight weeks in the schools, and in the fourth term four weeks. It is usual for each student, while in the schools, to give two or three lessons every day, under the supervision of the class teacher with whom she is placed. The teacher criticises and suggests in all cases. In the advanced course, students take up a further study of the principles of education. They also study the history of education, give more time to actual teaching in the schools, and act as substitutes in the city schools.
In addition to the Boston Training School, there are fourteen city training schools in the State of Massachusetts. In all these the time of training is fixed from one to two years; admission is by the High School graduation certificate, or an equivalent entrance examination, and is only at fixed annualtimes; a school is attached for practice, and the teacher at its head conducts the training class.
At the Springfield Training School the course may be extended to two years. A little academic work is done in science during the first term. Methods are treated of by means of lectures and discussions, and these, with organized observation of children and a few criticism lessons, constitute the practical work from September until Christmas. At Christmas, systematic psychology begins, and also teaching in the schools for one hour a day. The subjects of the lessons are chosen by the critic teacher, and the teaching is in all cases under supervision. At Easter the student begins to teach three hours a day, and occasionally has to give lessons in public. These, however, are not considered as test-lessons. Certificates to teach in the schools of the city are granted on the results of an examination, held by the City Board of Education each year.
At Newhaven, Connecticut, the City Training School has more than thirty students. The course is a year in length, the first half of which is devoted entirely to theoretical subjects, and the last half to teaching. Here, as at the Worcester Normal School, I found students being introduced to methods of psychological experimentation, more especially in the senses of sight and hearing. It is interesting to notice that these are special lines of research in the psychological laboratory of Yale University. I saw the records of several students who had been finding the average voice pitch of thirty children. The tendency in all the psychologicalteaching here was to make the subject really experimental, and the results those of actual observation. The history of education is not taught by means of set lectures, but topics are announced from time to time, with references for the students’ reading. After the class has collected facts on a certain subject, the teacher supplements the facts already given by selections from other books, and references to other parts of the subject. In treating the history of education in each country, general chronological order is followed, and the facts of each period are studied under four heads:
Religion, social and political movements; extent of education; character of education; methods of education.
Religion, social and political movements; extent of education; character of education; methods of education.
The school has a good library for the students’ use, and also one for the children of the practising school. Students give one criticism lesson during the first half-year, and for this they write elaborate notes under fixed headings prepared by the head of the department, and the other students hand in, after the lesson, elaborate criticisms done in a similar way. Blank schedules with printed headings, such as the following, are given to students to fill up before giving the lesson:
I.Subject.II.Purpose.III.Matter.IV.Plan.Review WorkWhat.How.Illustrations.abcAdvance WorkabcDrillabcV.Method.VI.Mechanical Details.Arrangement of Class.Distribution of Materials, etc.
I.Subject.II.Purpose.III.Matter.IV.Plan.Review WorkWhat.How.Illustrations.abcAdvance WorkabcDrillabcV.Method.VI.Mechanical Details.Arrangement of Class.Distribution of Materials, etc.
I.Subject.II.Purpose.III.Matter.IV.Plan.Review WorkWhat.How.Illustrations.abcAdvance WorkabcDrillabcV.Method.VI.Mechanical Details.Arrangement of Class.Distribution of Materials, etc.
I noticed in schedules which had been thus filled up by students that the notes supplied under the heading of “Method” consisted entirely of proposed questions of the teacher, and assumed answers by the children. Such an item in the prepared plan of a lesson seemed to me unadvisable, and in many cases useless. Even if the prepared questions were asked by the teacher, the answers would not always be the ones assumed, and the lesson would be stiff, unnatural, and wanting in spontaneity. Broad lines of questioning might be indicated in the schedule, rather than the actual questions to be given. This would result in much more natural methods of questioning. The outline for criticism given to other students is according to the following plan:
The suggestion of these points for criticism indicates a very complete and thorough analysis of a lesson. Such an elaborate form of criticism, if employed occasionally, seems to me good in encouraging a habit of mental analysis in those who hear the lesson. It may be useful, too, as a guide to those unaccustomed to criticising exercises, and may be helpful in impressing the fact that a lesson is a very complex thing, difficult to give, and far reaching in its results. The constant use of rigid forms, however, either for preparation of lessons, or fortheir criticism, is to be deprecated as stultifying, and as not adapted to all lessons and all occasions. It is probable that in many cases valuable criticisms might be given which would not come under any of the formal headings, even though the schedule were as complete as possible. For the last five months the students work entirely under the direction of teachers of the practising school. Plans of work and lesson-subjects are discussed with the teacher, and when the lessons are over, private criticisms only are given. Each student learns to make her own maps, charts and pictures, which she takes with her when she leaves the school.
At the end of the course of training, an elaborate report of the student’s work and standing is issued as regards her standards; enthusiasm; force; manner; language; writing; questioning; power of illustration; originality; interest; thoroughness; control.
A certificate qualifying to teach in the schools of the city is given to those who complete the training course satisfactorily, and who gain an average of 70 per cent. on examinations at the end of the year.
At Pawtucket, I saw a training school of from seven to nine students, with an excellent model and practising school attached. The course lasts for one and a half years. For a whole year, the class has instruction in theoretical subjects in the mornings, with observation of children and some lesson-giving in the afternoon. The last six months are spent by the students in the actual charge of children. Each student works under a Model School teacher, and forone week during the half-year has sole charge and responsibility of the class.
Closely allied to the work of the Training Schools is that done by City Training Classes. These are usually found in the smaller towns or cities of the various States. The general features of the Training Classes are the same as those of the City Training Schools. The differences are mainly:
(1) No special model or practising school is attached, but the students gain their experience by teaching classes in city or town schools.(2) The work of training is carried out, not by a specially appointed person, as in the Training Schools, but by the Superintendent of Schools of the district, who holds classes in professional subjects, and arranges and criticises the work of the students.
(1) No special model or practising school is attached, but the students gain their experience by teaching classes in city or town schools.
(2) The work of training is carried out, not by a specially appointed person, as in the Training Schools, but by the Superintendent of Schools of the district, who holds classes in professional subjects, and arranges and criticises the work of the students.
The members of the Training Classes, while under the general guidance of the heads of the schools, where they act as assistants, are helped and instructed in methods of teaching various subjects by the Town Supervisors of Instruction, appointed for those special subjects. The appointment of supervisors in drawing, singing, reading, etc., whose sole work is to visit the schools and conduct and examine classes, gives unity to the methods in the various schools of a town, and affords much practical help to the student-teachers in the various schools.
At Quincy, Massachusetts, there is a trainingclass of thirty students. The pupil teachers act as assistants in the schools, receiving no compensation, except the guidance of experienced teachers, and theoretical instruction from the superintendent. They usually teach in several grades during the year, but those who show special aptitude or wish to teach in any particular grade are allowed an alternative of remaining in that grade. At the Coddington school, one of the training schools for the Quincy Training Classes, I heard very good lessons given in reading, phonics, number, English and geography. A reading lesson, given to ten or twelve children about seven years old, was to teach one new word, “Flag.” The class stood around the teacher at one part of the wall slate. After carefully revising many of the words learnt in previous lessons, the teacher drew a flag on the board. Then she wrote the word as a whole, underneath the drawing. Then she told a short story about a flag, wrote the word in different coloured chalks, wrote sentences involving only known words and the new word “flag.” When the children could read these sentences easily, they were made to pick out the word “flag.” Some were allowed to erase the word, some to write it again. Every possible device was used in the lesson to associate the complete written expression with the spoken word and the idea. At the end of twenty minutes, when the association was complete, the new word “flag” was written among the list of known words, kept constantly on the board, and the children were sent to their seats. I noticed in all the reading lessons in which wordsand sentences were taught as wholes, that clever teachers constantly used the device of erasing the word or sentence to be taught. This, when skilfully done, secures concentration of attention on each word, by allowing the children only a limited time to note its general shape, before being required to represent it on the board or slate. The constant erasure and repeated re-writing of a word ensure repeated short acts of intense attention on the part of the children, and so help greatly in the learning of the new word. A lesson in “number” or arithmetic, given to the same class, was devoted to problems in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers below ten. Many devices were used for interesting the class. The children were sent to work at different parts of the wall slate, and were encouraged to contribute problems for the class. The general use of the wall slate is seen to be of great advantage, especially in such lessons as these. By means of it, supervision of individual work is very easy, and corrections can be made valuable to the whole class.
The Training Classes of the State of New York show more uniformity of courses and methods than those of many of the other States. This is due to their organization by the State Superintendent, who issues regulations and a definite course of study. The course is a short one, from ten to thirteen weeks. Two hours each day is given to instruction. Methods in reading, spelling, number, language and primary geography are studied, and observation and criticism of lessons is a definite part of the work.Actual teaching is done wherever possible; but this is not a requisite. The time given to each subject is apportioned somewhat on the same principles as in the Normal Schools—viz., one subject is followed up for a very short time, another is taken up in the same way, and then another. On this plan, only a few days can be given to some subjects. The syllabus of work for 1889 gives four days to laws of mental development, seventeen days to school economy, ten days to the history of education, and four days to school law. Other set times are given to Methods. Such a course, lasting for a very short time, and including so many subjects, cannot but be inadequate and superficial when used as the only means of training. The experience gained in such a way is not sufficient in itself to qualify for responsible work in a town school. This is shown by the fact that those who have taken a course in the training class of a city are often expected to gain experience elsewhere, before taking responsible work in that city. In many instances, students are urged to take Normal School courses as well.
It may indeed be stated generally, that the work of Training Classes is to supplement a longer and more thorough course in training, rather than to train. Training Classes, for the most part, provide practice under supervision for those who have already gained some insight into the science of education and methods of teaching, but the small amount of time given to other sides of training prevents their work being at all adequate as the sole preparation for teachers. Training Classesexist, and will exist, to meet the needs of those would-be teachers who, in small towns, where there is neither Normal nor Training School, cannot afford to leave their homes to prepare for their work. The urgent demand for trained teachers for all the Common Schools has resulted in the establishment of many institutions, which, while fulfilling a present need, are existing under conditions which must prohibit work of the best kind. Among such institutions we must enrol the City Training Classes.
It is a noticeable fact, that in both Training Schools and Training Classes, the beginners usually practise first in the lowest grades. It is considered easier to teach little children than older ones, and less dangerous to the pupils. Indeed, the heads of many schools, far from adopting the theory that the primary teaching should be in the hands of the most skilled and efficient teachers, give their youngest classes into the care of those disqualified to teach in higher grades, on account of lack of knowledge, or want of skill. It may be urged in support of the plan of allowing teachers unqualified for other grades of teaching to become teachers in the primary schools, that the knowledge actually used in the teaching of little children is much less than that needed for work with elder children, and that certain devices for keeping children quiet, and for interesting them, can be followed empirically by the unskilful teacher. But this argument, instead of sanctioning the practice so commonly adopted, would serve to show that it is in the lower grades that bad teaching can remain undetected, and results,rather than means, made criteria of success. Much of the growth of the child-mind, in its early stages, depends on the teacher’s width of interest, a width only secured by a thorough knowledge of the subjects taught, and a broad range of subjects. This breadth of interest not only influences the class, but reacts on the teacher; for teachers of young children, having little necessity to make constant intellectual efforts, stand in great danger of becoming intellectually narrowed.
Partly as a result of the fact that most of the students in Normal and City Training Schools are prepared for work as primary teachers, and that others who hope eventually to teach in higher grades must first gain their experience in primary grades, we find that much more attention is given to primary methods than to methods of the Grammar School. This is true not only in Practising Schools and Model Schools, but elsewhere.
Therefore, the most rapid progress in American Education has been connected with elementary teaching. The present movement to reform the curriculum and methods of the Grammar School is only of recent development.
The pedagogical courses connected with the Universities of the United States differ so much in organization and scope, and in the nature of their connection with the University, that it is impossible to consider them under one comprehensive title,unless the exact meaning of the term “University Department” be defined. In the present case, the title “University Department of Pedagogy” is used to include all higher courses of study in philosophy, psychology, history, science or art of education established by Universities or Colleges of high standing, in definite recognition of the fact that the work of secondary teaching requires distinct and special professional or technical preparation, beyond a sound general education. Such instruction may be given in connection with Chairs of Pedagogy by series of lectures on science and art of teaching, theory and practice of teaching, etc., or it may be so complete as to constitute a school of pedagogy in itself, thoroughly organized and equipped to carry out professional training in all its branches. Pedagogical study may be a so-called “elective”—viz., one of the subjects chosen by the student to count towards his degree, or it may be a course for post-graduates only. It may consist merely of courses in special pedagogy or “methods,” by the various professors of different subjects in a University, or it may be chiefly the study of education from a scientific standpoint, as in Clark University, Massachusetts, where experimental and physiological psychology is pursued, not with the view of meeting the needs of intending teachers, but of offering opportunities of thorough study to scientific experts, whose results may be of great value to education in general. The number of Universities or Colleges in the United States which report pedagogical courses of some kind is 114. In many of these, however, thework is mostly of the Normal School type, with a view to prepare for teaching in the Grammar Schools of the State, and the certificate of proficiency given on completion of the course is not such as to entitle the work to be called “Higher Instruction in the Theory and Art of Teaching.” Leaving such departments out of consideration, as not belonging to the field of higher education, the departments of pedagogy in connection with Universities may, for convenience, be considered under two heads:
1. Those in connection with State Universities.
2. Those connected with other endowed Universities or Colleges of high standing.
State Universities, founded in accordance with the resolution, “Schools and the means of education shall for ever be encouraged,” have naturally been looked up to as the institutions more fitted than any other to supply higher instruction in the science and art of teaching. The first was established as the result of the Ordinance of 1787, by which two townships of land were appropriated from the North-West Territory for the support of a State University. Since then, twenty-eight States of the Union have set apart funds, derived from the sale of State lands, for the founding and endowing of institutions for higher education. These universities, gradually increasing in number and influence, and spreading from their origin in Ohio both west and east, are dependent for the most part for their students upon the city High Schools and othersecondary schools; and the efficiency of their work depends greatly upon the efficiency of the preparatory work done in these schools. It is, therefore, to the interest of the State Universities to secure that the secondary schools are well equipped and well taught, and from this point of view one of the distinctive lines of work of a State University should be the professional preparation of secondary teachers. The University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, was the first State University to recognise the necessity of this work. In 1879 it established a Chair to give instruction in science and art of teaching, and since then, Training and Normal departments, or courses in pedagogy, have been established in the State Universities of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, N. Dakota, Ohio, Washington and others.
In some Universities the work of training is entirely given over to the pedagogical department and the professor of pedagogy. In some, there are no purely professional departments, but “Teachers’ Courses” are organized in various subjects of the college curriculum. These courses are given by college professors of the various subjects, and deal with the different methods of treating the subject. In some State Universities, however, training is provided both in pedagogical departments and “Teachers’ Courses”; and good work in both is required before a student can gain a “Teacher’s Diploma.” Where the two parts of the work are maintained harmoniously together, they must greatly strengthen each other, and advantages must accrue both to the students and to the workof training generally. In such a case the scientific, but more or less theoretical instruction of the professedly pedagogical department of the University is supplemented by the practical instruction, which is the result of the experience of experts in the respective subjects. The discussion of “methods” in any subject, with a specialist, who is constantly teaching that subject, must be most valuable to the future teacher, and especially so when the specialist can illustrate his methods by actual class work, and the learner is himself somewhat of a specialist. The existence of these double lines of work is also important, where it occurs, as illustrating unity of opinion among the presidents and professors of colleges as regards the needs and means of training of secondary teachers. Thus it will help on the cause of secondary training generally.
One of those State Universities which recognise these two distinctive branches of professional training is the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. Work in both departments has been required in order to gain a “Teacher’s Diploma,” ever since the pedagogical course was arranged in 1879. The student must have completed three courses offered by the professor of pedagogy—one a practical course in the art of teaching and governing, school hygiene, school law, etc.; one a theoretical and critical course on the principles of teaching or applied psychology; and one other course which may be either:
History of education, ancient and mediæval.History of education, modern, or,School Management.
History of education, ancient and mediæval.History of education, modern, or,School Management.
He must also have taken a “Teacher’s Course” in connection with one of the subjects in the college curriculum—work which implies not only extra professional instruction in methods by the college professor, but also a special examination in the subject matter of study. Beyond the courses of study already enumerated as belonging to the Department of Science and Art of Teaching in the Michigan University, there is one on the comparative study of educational systems, and a section for seminary work. This seminary work, taken up in pedagogy, as in other subjects, only towards the completion of the course, is very much on the lines of the German “Seminar.” It is work of research and discussion, done with the help of the educational library. Special points are taken up by the students and worked out. The teacher guides the work and reading, and generally conducts the Seminary. As regards the time devoted to different parts of the pedagogical curriculum, four hours a week are given to each of the courses on the art of teaching and the principles of teaching, three hours a week to each of the history courses and those on school supervision, and two hours a week to the other optional subjects. The required course may be taken among the graduate or post-graduate studies. “Teachers’ Diplomas” are presented on graduation, provided the prescribed course has been taken. A “Teachers’ Certificate” given by the Faculty, on the gaining of degree and diploma, qualifies to teach in any school of the State.
At the State University, Illinois, the course inpedagogy is work which counts towards a degree. It is placed among one of the major or principal subjects of the “restricted electives,” that is, one of six subjects, each occupying six terms, two subjects of which must be chosen by the student for graduation work. Pedagogy is suggested as part of the work of the third and fourth year in the classical course, and when taken up for a third and fourth year, after any ordinary “Two Years’ Course,” it constitutes a course in philosophy and pedagogy. The different branches of pedagogy taken up in this way are:
Educational psychology, hygiene, philosophy of education, history of education, school supervision.
The “Pedagogical Seminary” is open only to students who have taken two other pedagogical courses. Psychology, school hygiene, and school supervision, constitute full courses for a term—the rest are half courses. In connection with the Philosophical Department is a course of lectures and laboratory work in experimental psychology. Apparatus has been purchased and considerably used in making psychological experiments.
In the University of Missouri there are two distinct courses, elementary and advanced. The elementary course corresponds very much to a Normal School course. The subjects for the first year’s study are chiefly English, algebra, physiology, zoology, botany, physical geography, rhetoric. In the second year, pedagogics, including applied psychology, history and school organization, are taken up with history, literature, physics, chemistryand civil government. Drawing and elocution are required subjects during all but one term of the course. The certificate at the end of the elementary course qualifies the holder to teach for two years in any public school of the State. The advanced course leads on to the degree of bachelor of pedagogics. The required work in this department may be taken by students who are preparing for degrees in other courses, or by those who have already a degree conferred by this or any approved University. The graduate students may, by selecting four of the offered subjects, and devoting five hours a week to the pedagogical work, complete the course in one year. Others, take certain prescribed courses, and certain optional courses in pedagogics, during the third and fourth years of their ordinary graduate work. The degree entitles to a life-certificate to teach in any of the public schools of the State. It is noticeable, in connection with the prescribed courses in this University, that the study of education, historically, comes before the consideration of theory or philosophy of education and its application in school work. The elective or optional studies are four—viz., school systems of Europe; school systems of the cities and States of the United States; the educational theories of Herbert Spencer; the philosophy of Froebel.
Of the other State Universities, some make pedagogics a complete course for graduates or undergraduates, while some, as at Missouri, make it an elective study during the third and fourth years of an ordinary graduate course. Where two completecourses exist—an elementary and an advanced—in the same department, the distinction is based chiefly on the difference of qualification needed for admission. Students qualified to enter the University may pursue the elementary course; only those of the third year or fourth year, or graduates, may take up the advanced course. As a rule, the students of the elementary course teach in the Primary or Grammar Schools, those of the advanced courses become teachers of secondary schools and colleges.
The State Universities of America, as a whole, follow, more or less strictly, the lines of German Universities. This is not only so as regards organization merely, but as regards methods of study, and lines of thought. In no department is the German influence more seen than in that of pedagogics, where methods of the German “Seminar” are increasingly used and valued by professors and advanced students. Few State Universities having pedagogical departments would be found which had not begun to use Seminar methods. In many Universities, a “Seminar room,” in which is a pedagogical reference library, is set apart especially for research and conference in matters educational. A natural accompaniment of these methods is much study of German pedagogical theory, and a constant tendency to emphasize and elaborate German lines of thought. The two great Schools in American psychology to-day, both of which are making rapid strides in progress, and influencing the whole of American education to an important extent, arethe Herbartians and the Experimental Psychologists. Both had their beginnings in German Universities.
The most modern feature of German University Departments of Pedagogy is, however, one which has not yet been adopted by American State Universities. A means of connection between the theoretical and practical sides of training, by the establishment of a practising school attached to the University, has been made at Jena for some time. Such a connection would be of the greatest value to American State University Departments, but until now actual practical departments have not existed. The instruction in university departments of pedagogy, although such as to be of the greatest possible value and stimulation as a theoretical basis for teaching and organizing in secondary schools, is however incomplete unless opportunities are also supplied of gaining actual experience in teaching. A practising school, organized as a part of the University, and having as its principal one of the University Faculty, might, besides affording such a practising ground for secondary teachers, be the means of supplying tested facts to the teaching world in general, and would greatly help the University Department to fulfil its true function—that of stimulating teachers and unifying education in the State.
The study of pedagogy in connection with the universities and colleges of the Eastern States is a department of work of comparatively recent origin. The conservative attitude of the older Universities, such as Harvard and Yale, with regard to the recognition of the claims of pedagogy to be a science, and the needs of distinctly professional instruction for those who intend to become teachers in higher schools and colleges, has resulted in the fact that the training of secondary teachers has, until a few years ago, been almost entirely restricted to the Western State Universities. It is remarkable, however, that since the older educational institutions of the Eastern States have recognised education as a science, rapid progress has been made, and one finds on surveying the work of university departments of pedagogy as a whole certain features which, when further developed, will possibly cause university instruction to be the most valuable means of training secondary teachers. Among such lines of work, already begun in these pedagogical departments, are:
i. Supervision of secondary school work.ii. Stimulation of all teachers by research work in educational matters.iii. The acknowledgment by scientific workers in the field of pedagogy and psychology of the results of teachers’ observations of children in the school-room, as helpful to the scientific researches of the laboratory.iv. Preparation and stimulation of professors of pedagogy, and of teachers for higher schools and colleges.
i. Supervision of secondary school work.
ii. Stimulation of all teachers by research work in educational matters.
iii. The acknowledgment by scientific workers in the field of pedagogy and psychology of the results of teachers’ observations of children in the school-room, as helpful to the scientific researches of the laboratory.
iv. Preparation and stimulation of professors of pedagogy, and of teachers for higher schools and colleges.
A very early attempt was made in Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, to arrange courses in theory and methods of teaching, but the movement was not successful. Little actual work in the training of secondary teachers was done in the Eastern States, until the Industrial Education Association of New York City, feeling the demand for skilful teachers in manual training, began to organize plans for preparing them for their work, and sending them out daily to teach in the schools. At the beginning of 1889, the work had developed so much, not only in connection with one branch of training, but many, that the institution gained a provisional charter from the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, under the name of the New York College for the Training of Teachers.
In 1892 the charter of the New York College for the Training of Teachers was made absolute, and the name changed to Teachers’ College. An agreement was also made, whereby certain pedagogical courses in the Teachers’ College are considered as courses in the Faculty of Philosophy at Columbia University, New York, and count towards a Columbia University degree. By the same agreement, qualified students of the Teachers’ College are admitted to the courses in philosophy and pedagogy at Columbia University. In this way we may regard the Teachers’ College as the newest of University departments, although, on the other hand, it has developed and become a most important and successful means of secondary training, quite apartfrom any connection with a college or university. The courses in pedagogy given at Columbia University, and open to students of the Teachers’ College, are: