USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922, Vol II > Part 27
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reaching ridiculous and harmful proportions, all the top-heavy and expensive supervision, all the detail work on curriculums and the precautions in selecting text-books can be dispensed with. A great amount of work along this line has been done, and a great amount remains to be done, yet the teachers of the state are appreciably approaching the professional stage. There are evidences now that in places super- vision and prescription have reached beyond a maxi- mum of usefulness. As political economists would say, the stage of diminishing returns has been reached in the schools. There is a continual tendency to form a gap between the supervisors and teachers with a consequent loss of many good school men, who thus get out of concert with actual teaching and are forced to go to recruit other professions.
Professional training has been regarded from the earliest times as the panacea of all educational diffi- culties. Every state superintendent from William C. Larabee down to the present has publicly recog- nized this. The effective work along this line has made Indiana schools among the best in the nation.16
In the early days the people naturally looked to
16 R. G. Boone, History of Education in Indiana, 381: "What Indiana schools have become, ranking with the best among all the states, is chiefly due to what Indiana teachers have become"; James H. Smart, State Superintendent's Report, XXIV, 88: "The greatest need of the schools is thoroughly trained teachers"; Samuel L. Rugg, State Superintendent's Report, IX, 20: "Next to sufficient revenue for the support of our system of public instruction, our greatest educational necessity and want is a school for the instruction and preparation of teachers for the common schools, in the arts and sciences of their profession"; Frank L. Jones, State Superintendent's Biennial Report, XX, 755: "On the side of school administration the most important work of local school officers is the selection of a capable corps of teachers." Little more can be given here than an enumeration and definition of the means used for training teachers in Indiana.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
the colleges to turn out professional teachers as they turned out other professional men. In a lecture be- fore the College of Professional Teachers, at Cincin- nati, October, 1837, Rev. Alexander Campbell laid down the theory which has been followed generally in this state.17 Two years later Pres. Andrew Wylie, of Indiana university, himself a leading member of the Western College of Teachers, succeeded in having his board "establish a professorship to prepare teachers for the common schools." No money was forthcoming, however, and President Wylie did not live to see such work done in the state university. By resolution of the board of trustees in 1852 a nor- mal course and model school was opened. Lectures on education and instruction in the whole duty of the teacher was to be its scope. Daniel Read was in charge with John C. Smith conducting the model school. This continued till Professor Read left in 1856, when it was discontinued. An attempt was made to revive it in 1865 under the charge of D. E. Hunter, superintendent of the Bloomington city schools. A normal institute, to be held during the first three weeks of August, was planned, but nothing came of this movement. In 1869 under Professor G. W. Hoss, late state superintendent, the work was re- vived, but the State Normal school was organized by that time and nothing further was done.18
17 College of Teachers' Proceedings, IV, 132: "The erection of two great normal schools, for the purpose of teaching teachers the art of teaching; or of qualifying persons to communicate that knowledge requisite to the district schools, from which all the districts in a state are ultimately to be supplied with competent Instructors, of literary and moral respectability. So important is this item in a national system, that, in the language of the justly celebrated M. Cousin, a 'state may be said to have done nothing for education unless it educates the teachers; for as Is the teacher, so is the school.'"
18 S. B. Harding, History of Indiana University, 189.
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PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
In 1886 the department of pedagogics was ordered and at its head was placed R. G. Boone, su- perintendent of schools at Frankfort. This was con- tinued until quite recently, 1907, when the depart- ment became the school of education of Indiana university.
Normal schools had been established in Massa- chusetts in 1838. The success and value of such in- stitutions was soon recognized by teachers and they gradually found favor with the people. The advisa- bility of establishing a normal school in Indiana was widely discussed by the free school propagandists of the forties. A state normal was not established then because the state was unable to pay the interest on its debts. The fight on the common schools in the fifties, both in the General Assembly and the supreme court, made it uncertain whether the state could main- tain schools at all, and before that question was de- cided the Civil war opened. For these reasons, and not because its usefulness was questioned, a state normal school was not established till December 20, 1865.19 Its purpose as stated in the law was "the preparation of teachers for teaching in the common schools of Indiana." The school was opened, Janu- ary 6, 1870, on an annual appropriation for running expenses of $7,500.00. The enrollment the first year was fifty-one and its work confined entirely to the common branches. Its numbers have steadily in- creased and its work broadened until last year it en- rolled 1,720 students. While it was intended that the school should train teachers for the common or district schools, as a matter of fact the districts have been able to get only a few of its graduates. The graduates have been able to command such wages that only the city and high schools have been directly
19 Laws of Indiana, Special,. 1865, ch. XXXVI.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
benefitted. Undergraduates, however, by the thou- sands, have gone to the district schools, carrying to every nook of the state some of the advantages of the school. In teachers' institutes and associations, also, the faculty of the normal have helped materially to increase the teaching ability of the state. The cur- riculum has been gradually broadened until now it includes an entire college course. From the begin- ning the normal school has maintained a model school where expert teachers show by example and let the novices learn by experience how to teach.
City high schools, both before and after the foun- dation of the state normal, have maintained normal departments to train teachers for their own schools. These have usually been taught by the superintend- ents or by special supervisors. Instances of the early normal high schools were to be found at Anderson in 1860, Richmond 1856, Peru in 1869.
Normal work has been done in many other insti- tutions of the state. DePauw university maintained a school of pedagogy from 1885 to 1890, which under Arnold Tompkins and W. H. Mace, became well known. The Richmond normal, founded in 1883 by Cyrus W. Hodgin, enrolled before its close in 1887 over 1,000 teachers. These are only instances of a large number of such schools or departments, chief of which have been at the Central normal college of Danville, founded in 1878; Muncie National institute, founded about 1897; Tri-State college, founded at Angola, 1884; the Academy of the Immaculate Con- ception at Ferdinand; the Convent of Oldenburg; Goshen college, opened 1895; Huntington Central college, founded at Hartsville in 1850; Marion Nor- mal college; Manchester college, founded in 1889; Oakland City college, founded about 1890; and the Teachers' College of Indianapolis. The latter was founded in 1882 by Eliza A. Blaker as a school for
933
PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
training kindergartners and primary teachers. It made a specialty many years ago in domestic science teachers. This school alone has trained 10,000 teach- ers, over 3,000 of whom have finished some definite amount of professional training.
Besides these, there have been hundreds of tem- porary "summer normals," holding usually ten weeks, in which a modicum of methods has been taught. In these various schools all kinds of meth- ods were taught in all kinds of ways to prospective teachers with all kinds of academic preparation. In institutes and associations these teachers, most of whom had had only a smattering of education and training, were addressed by educators and quacks from the four corners of the nation. It does not need to be pointed out that this superficial culture com- bined with great earnestness was a most fertile seed bed in which to plant educational fads. Every teach- er was on the alert to find the best methods and con- sequently was keen to try every scheme which held out any promise of betterment. This condition was not unobserved by the leading educators, but teach- ers and patrons as a rule resented dictation in their school practices. Each teacher took pride in his free- dom to teach in his own particular way; uniformity has usually been discouraged. The period from 1880 to 1900 was a reign of pedagogical anarchy. Gradu- ally there was sifted from this abundant experience enough of good to form a tolerable, common basis for teaching.
The state board, and through it, the General As- sembly, had been watching the situation and as soon as conditions looked promising began to assert the state authority over this field. In 1907, in connection with a teachers' wage law, certain educational and professional qualifications for teachers were laid down. These included graduation from a commis-
934
HISTORY OF INDIANA
sioned high school, or its equivalent, and twelve weeks in a school maintaining a professional course for the training of teachers.20 By a supplementary act of the same year the state board was constituted a teachers' training board with power to regulate courses of study, selection of teachers, laboratories and general equipment for all schools intending to train teachers.21 The State Normal school was taken as a standard. The state board interpreted its power broadly, as it was doubtless intended.22 At the same time the state board prescribed a rather rigid course of study to be pursued, in these accredited schools, by all prospective common school teachers. A later law enabled beginning teachers to substitute one year's work in a "standard college" for twelve weeks' training. This gave the state board the opportunity to define a "standard college." Finally the voca- tional education act of 1913 specified certain subjects to be taught in the schools and, in the case of county agents to supervise the teaching of agriculture, re-
20 Laws of Indiana, 1907, ch. CI.
21 Laws of Indiana, 1907, ch. CCXXXIX. This law put an end to the summer normal and consequently to the work of inde- pendent, self-taught educators, who had done a valuable service for the state during the preceding thirty years.
22 State Superintendent's Report, 1908, p. 236: "With this as a basis, the state teachers' training board will pass upon the efficiency of the school as indicated by its admission requirements, its course of study, the qualifications of its instructors, its library, laboratory and training school facilities, and the proficiency and other conditions of its final examinations: Provided, That to be deemed qualified to teach in an accredited normal school or department a person shall be a graduate of a standard college, university, or technical school, of a normal school of equal rank with the Indiana State Normal school, or shall have demonstrated his fitness to teach by examination before the state teachers' training board upon the subject or subjects to be taught by such an instructor; and provided, further, that these provisions shall not apply to teachers or professors already employed in such normal schools or departments."
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tained for the state board a determining voice in the selection of the teacher while in the case of the voca- tional work in the schools gave the supervision of it directly to the state board.23 Thus swiftly and com- pletely the state board extended its authority over the field of professional training. The state board itself has been increased from time to time until it now has thirteen members and a staff of hired assis- tants numbering twenty-seven.
The instruction in more or less regularly organ- ized and equipped schools was not the only means employed by the state to train teachers. For the benefit of those who could not be gathered together for classroom instruction and also as a means for giving official information, perhaps the county insti- tute has been most important. There is not space here to go into the historical details of the county in- stitute. Its origin goes far back of our state history. Its counterpart may be seen in clerical and medical organizations of a professional nature.
The purpose of the county institute has changed with the progress of education. At first it was in- tended as a short normal review course of the com- mon branches.24 The law of 1865 under which county institutes have since been held in no sense created that organization but only legalized and placed it
23 Laws of Indiana, 1913, ch. XXIV.
24 Caleb Mills, Indiana Historical Society Publications, III,
609: "It is nothing else than an assembly of common school teachers convened for the purpose of a brief review of the branches usually taught in our common schools, under the direction of competent instructors. The principles of these studies are dis- cussed and presented In the clearest and most simple manner by one master of the subject. The best mode of teaching is developed and explained, the happiest method of illustrating the various topics comprised in the circle of the teacher's labors and the most useful way of governing a school, are pointed out."
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
under state control.25 In the first volume of the State School Journal, 1856, there are reports from no less than a half dozen county institutes, and doubtless only a few of those held were reported. From 1860 to the enactment of the law of 1865 the state treachers' association fostered a series of county institutes each year. In 1860 eleven promi- nent educators were dispatched over the state to hold institutes in as many counties as possible. These were virtually one week schools of methods.26 State Superintendent George W. Hoss, immediately after the passage of the law, prepared an elaborate circu- lar of instructions for holding the county institutes.27
For various reasons the state has never been able to control county institutes. Numerous attempts have been made to systematize its work but all have failed. In 1876 the county superintendents with the assistance of the state superintendent arranged a list of licensed instructors under state control. In 1880 the state board prepared a manual for holding insti- tutes. From this point, about 1880, the character of
25 Laws of Indiana, 1865, ch. I, secs. 159-161: "The several county school examiners are hereby required as a part of their duty to hold, or cause to be held, such teachers' institutes at least once in each year in their respective counties."
26 See report of Henry County Teachers' Association, May 5, 1860, Indiana School Journal, 1860, p. 225; or one at Spiceiand, July 31, 1860, p. 306. For a report of one of these "State Normal Institutes," see State School Journal, 1865, p. 228: "Superintend- ents of Institutes-The following named gentlemen have, in com- pliance with my solicitation, agreed to engage in the work of superintending institutes a portion of the coming vacation : Prof. E. J. Rice, Muncie; Hiram Hadley, Richmond; A. C. Shortridge, Indianapolis; J. M. Oicott, Terre Haute; D. E. Hunter, Bloom- ington; J. Hurty, Lawrenceburg; S. G. Mead, Liberty. These gentlemen all have experience in superintending institutes. Exam- Iners needing aid in this work will, we hope, confer with some of these, or with other experienced superintendents."
27 Indiana School Journal, 1865, p. 221.
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PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
institute work began to change in the direction of lectures on professional subjects. The difficulties of the work have arisen from the fact that it is not pos- sible to get enough competent men to hold ninety- two institutes, each one week in length, during the months of July and August. Relatively the county institute is not so valuable as it once was.28
In the same class with the county institutes are the township institutes. The latter had their origin in the defects of the former. Meeting but once a year, at a time when teachers were least conversant with the school room difficulties and including from 75 to 200 members, the county institute was unable to meet the definite need which it was hoped the town- ship meeting could. The township institute was legalized by an act of 1873.29 It seems to have been the purpose at the time to keep in session in the township one school where the teachers might visit and observe the work as a model school, with what- ever explanation and discussion was necessary or appropriate. This purpose was never carried out, but in its place there has grown a reading course, designed about equally for professional training and general culture. The control is entirely with the state board which selects the topics for discussion or study and since 1884 prepares the outline. At first,
28 Some years ago a County Institute Instructors' association was organized, with a view to systematizing this work, but it has not succeeded. Unfortunately, too many of our present county institutes are little more than chautauquas, in which the enter- tainer with the largest stock of clever stories is most in demand. 29 Laws of Indiana, 1873, ch. XXV, sec. 9: "At least one Saturday in each month during which the public schools may be in progress shall be devoted to township institutes, or model schools for the improvement of the teachers, and two Saturdays may be appropriated at the discretion of the township trustee of any township. Such institute shall be presided over by a teacher or other person designated by the trustee of the township."
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
teachers were required to attend or forfeit a day's wages. This was changed in 1889 so that the teacher receives one day's wages for attending, providing he does the work assigned. The work frequently suffers from the lack of a township leader.30
Closely associated in purpose with the county and township institutes is the Teachers' reading circle, organized by the State teachers' association in 1884.31 It has never received legal sanction directly, though it has been since its origin controlled largely by the state board, the state superintendent and his deputy being ex officio members of the reading circle board. Its purpose is to give value and direction to the teachers' reading. Usually two books are select- ed, one professional and one for general culture. The county superintendent is the county manager and the work is done through the township where the books selected are used as texts. This work is still more closely linked with the school system by basing the teachers' examination questions on the profes- sional book of the reading circle. The reading circle board gives examinations on the books and certifi- cates of these are accepted in lieu of grades on the science of education.32
Important factors in the training of teachers and especially in producing public school sentiment have been the various teachers' associations of the state. Chief of these, though not the first, in point of time, is the Indiana State teachers' association. One of the first, if not the first, state convention of educators met at Indianapolis during the sitting of the General Assembly of 1836. Andrew Wylie, president of Indi-
80 R. G. Boone, Education in Indiana, 399.
31 The movement was started at the December meeting of 1883.
32 Minutes of State Board of Education, October, 1885; F. A. Cotton, Education in Indinaa, 126.
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PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
ana college, gave the principal address. During the period from that time to 1845 the leading Indiana educators belonged to the College of Teachers, an association which met annually at Cincinnati. The conventions at Indianapolis, heralds of our State teachers' association, which met from 1845 to 1855 for the purpose of educating public opinion in Indi- ana, have been noted previously.
In October, 1849, there was held at Mishawaka, a series of meetings which, in 1851, resulted in the Northern Indiana teachers' institute. Its meetings often lasted two weeks and resembled a normal school in the character of its work. Almost every section of the state then had some kind of teachers' organization more or less permanent. It was in ac- cord with resolutions of two of such "institutes," one at Shelbyville, the other at Salem, that a circular was issued calling for a meeting to organize a per- manent State teachers' association.33
The first association met at Indianapolis, on Christmas day, 1854, under the chairmanship of Wil- liam M. Daily, president of Indiana university. There were seven formal addresses at this first meet- ing, one of which was made by Horace Mann. A series of resolutions adopted shows a wide range of interest. The first resolution recommended the use of the Bible as a reader in every school; the second asked the Assembly to create the office of circuit superintendent of schools, one of whose duties should be to hold a series of teachers' institutes in his cir- cuit; the third instructed the executive committee
33 F. A. Cotton, Education in Indiana, 32: "The signers of the circular were: Caleb Mills, E. P. Cole, B. L. Lang, O. J. Wilson, G. W. Hoss, Charles Barnes, John Cooper, M. M. C. Hobbs, Rufus Patch, T. Taylor, J. Bright, Cyrus Nutt, James G. May, B. T. Hoyt, Lewis A. Estes, J. S. Ferris, R. B. Abbott George A. Chase and Silas Baily."
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of the association to provide for institutes in differ- ent sections of the state; another asked each member to assist in organizing a teachers' association in his own county; still another appointed a committee to investigate the claims of the phonetic method of spelling. There were 178 teachers present. In the broader and higher fields of education no agency in Indiana has exerted a greater influence than this body. Its presidents have been the leading educators of the state.84
In 1877 those members of the State teachers' as- sociation south of the National road organized the Southern Indiana teachers' association. Likewise on July 9, 1883, the Northern Indiana teachers' asso- ciation met for the first time at Rome City. These bodies met annually in the spring and followed the same general course as the parent association.
April 1, 1909, the Northern and Southern associ- ations met at Indianapolis at the same time. The question of abandoning both organizations was dis- cussed and the Southern voted to abandon but the Northern refused to do so. This object was later accomplished and now all meet together in one con- vention annually in the early fall.
In this summary review it is obviously impossible even to enumerate all the agencies active in Indiana for the improvement of the teachers but enough has
34 Extended notices of its annual meetings are to be found in the Indianapolis papers. An historical sketch of the association will be found in Education in Indiana, 133. The proceedings of nearly all the meetings except the first are in the Indiana School Journal, and in recent years its Annual Proceedings have been published. There is also a brief sketch in Boone, History of Education in Indiana, 437: "Its work may be classed largely under four heads: 1. To create a better public sentiment In regard to public schools; 2, to suggest and Influence school legis- lation; 3, to secure higher standards for teachers and better methods of teaching; 4, to extend the length of the school term."
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THE CURRICULUM
been said to indicate the continued interest given to this phase of the educational system. One can not escape the observation that the trend is toward more systematic effort, controlled more and more by the state.
ยง 170 THE CURRICULUM
What to teach has been almost as difficult to de- cide as how to teach. This problem has two divi- sions, the determination of the purpose of education and the choice of subjects. The old struggle between the classic subjects and the more modern or the so- called practical has been present either active or lat- ent throughout. The ultimate purpose of public school education has always been a prominent ques- tion. Rather the two are just so many ways of stat- ing the same question. Those who emphasized char- acter and good citizenship as the purpose of educa- tion have, as a rule, been insistent for the old or classical subjects, while those who have championed the newer subjects have insisted just as strongly that the newer subjects were as capable of developing character and patriotism and at the same time fitting the children for useful occupation in the industrial world. Stated another way, the latter class of educa- tors would assume for the schools the burdens of ap- prenticeship formerly borne by the industrial world. The former would turn out the graduates morally and physically sound, ready after a survey of the industrial world to choose and learn a trade or pro- fession, while the latter claim for the schools the pur- pose of turning out graduates morally and physically sound, ready to take their places in the active world. The contest has gradually but steadily gone to the latter contestants. As shown in another chapter, the "three R's"-reading, writing, and arithmetic-the foundation of the old district schools, were essential-
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