USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > Education in Indiana. An outline of the growth of the common school system, together with statements relating to the condition of secondary and higher education in the state and a brief history of the educational exhibit. Prepared for the Louisiana purchase exposition, held at Saint Louis, May 1 to November 30, 1904 > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
During the sixty years of the existence of the normal school in America, its influence on the educational methods and thoughts of the country has been beyond estimate and its growth phe- nomenal. According to the latest educational report of the na- tional bureau of education, 69,593 students were in attendance at the different normals and training schools of the United States. The excellence and thoroughness of the work in most of these ischools have always made them centers of educational thought in our country. That these institutions have as yet failed to provide an ideal preparation for all classes of teachers is largely due to the fact that they have in nearly all cases disregarded some of the most fundamental principles of professional training
224
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
which were so ably set forth by Commissioner Harris in his article on "The Future of the Normal School." The most obvi- ous of these defeets is the failure to differentiate the work they have attempted. The result of this failure is that all students, irrespective of the part they are to take in the profession, are trained side by side. The same course is supposed to train teach- ers to become city superintendents, county superintendents, prin- cipals and teachers at high schools, elementary teachers, primary teachers, and teachers in normal schools and colleges. It is certainly plain that the qualifications and equipment needed for teachers in these various positions are different in a very large degree.
The great advance made in educational methods during the past twenty years surely warrants us in saying that a new era in the problem of training teachers is beginning, resulting first from the demand of public opinion for a higher class of trained teachers in all departments of the school, and secondly, from the recent movement of colleges and universities in establishing professorships of education. It is evident to all students of edu- cational processes that the method of instruction and the organi- zation of the work of training teachers should vary according to the grade of education in which the student expects to work. Commissioner Harris, in the article above referred to, says : "There is one method for the higher education and another for the elementary. Within each of these there should be a further discrimination of methods, so that five stages of method will be noted." These five he enumerates as the method of the kin- dergarten, of the elementary school, of the secondary school, of the college, and of the university. Speaking of the work which will be required of the future normal school and the department of education in the university, he says: "The student will be taught how to present a branch of study symbolically according to the method of the kindergarten; by typical facts as in the elementary school; scientifically as in the secondary school; com- paratively as in the college; as a specialist would investigate it in the post-graduate course."
In France there are three classes of normal schools and the prospective teacher enters one or the other according to his inten- tion of becoming a teacher in the elementary schools, a teacher
225
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
in the secondary schools, or a teacher of teachers. The first of these normal schools trains those who are to be teachers of boys and girls under the age of fifteen. Eighty-nine of such normals have been established for young men and eighty-six for young women in France and the French colonies. For the training of instructors in these normal schools two special schools have been established, one for men and one for women. Here the subjects taught in the elementary schools are studied with a special reference to the needs of those who are to become a teacher of teachers.
The normal school for the training of teachers for positions in secondary and higher institutions of learning is at Paris. In this school there are approximately one hundred students who are chosen by competitive examinations, open only to those who hold the bachelor's degree. At the end of the first year of the course all students are required to pass the examination for the master's degree. In all these normal schools courses are given in philosophy, psychology, history and principles of education, and during the last year of the course much time is devoted to observation and practice teaching under skilled critic teachers.
In Germany's experience we find an illustration of the truth that for the true high school teacher "to liberal scholarship must be added special scholarship, and to special scholarship profes- sional knowledge, and to professional knowledge technical skill." There the intending teacher in the secondary schools must first of all be a graduate of a secondary school; he must also hold a degree from the university; he must then obtain a certificate from a state board of examiners. But this certificate confers no right to teach. Something more than culture and scholarship is required. The applicant must have taken a course in philoso- phy, ethics, logic, psychology, and in the history and principles of education, and have spent one full year in the teacher's sem- inary, where he is trained in special methods of presenting the subjects which he expects to teach, in practice teaching under guidance, and in familiarizing himself with practical workings of a secondary school. It is safe to say that Germany owes more to the professional training of her teachers and their strong professional spirit than to any other factor in her educational system.
15-EDUCATION.
226
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
When taking up the study of this question your committee addressed a letter of inquiry to about sixty leading educators of the United States containing the following questions :
1. In addition to the regular collegiate course, or its equiva- lent, what professional training should be required of applicants for high school positions ?
2. How can this training be given by colleges ?
3. How can this training be given by our normal schools ?
4. How can this training be given by our city training schools ?
5. What requirements as to professional training are made of applicants for high school positions by the Board of Education of your city ?
Fifty-one answers were received to this letter. In answer to the first question, forty-two said that in addition to the regular college course one or more years of strictly professional character covering the work of the high school should be required.
Of these forty-two answers, twenty-one insisted that one-half year or more should be given by all students to the observation of good high school work and practice in actual teaching under skilled critic teachers. Among those favoring the requirement of the practice work were the following: Charles Degarmo, Cor- nell university ; Elwood Cubberly, Leland Stanford ; F. Truedley, Youngstown, Ohio; George P. Brown, Bloomington, Ill .; J. F. Millspangh, Minnesota state normal; Edwin B. Cox, Xenia, Ohio; G. Stanley Hall, Clark university; Henry Wittemore, Massachusetts state normal; J. M. Greenwood, Kansas City ; W. N. Hailmann, Dayton, Ohio; Paul H. Hanus, Harvard uni- versity ; Sam T. Dutton, Columbia university ; Arthur C. Boy- den, Massachusetts state normal; S. T. Dial, Lockland, Ohio; C. B. Gilbert, Rochester; C. A. McMurray, Bloomington, Ill. ; Francis W. Parker, Chicago; H. S. Tarbell, Providence, R. I .; L. HI. Jones, Cleveland, Ohio. Twelve of these forty-two made the specializing in the subject the candidate expects to teach, in addition to the usual college course, a very important require- ment.
In the second question the general answer was that the colleges and universities could furnish opportunities for the preparation of high school teachers by the establishment of schools of pedagogy for graduate students. In order to provide for the observation
227
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
and practice work provision would necessarily have to be made for co-operation with the public high school in the vicinity of the college where students could do work under skilled direction.
The answers to the third question were nearly uniform and to the effect that this work could not be done by the normal school as generally organized. But it would require the establishment in these schools of special departments for intending high school teachers who have completed the regular course in the college or its equivalent, and the establishment of practice school facili- ties.
Concerning the fourth question the answers were uniform to the effect that the city training school could not practically do this work owing to the small number of teachers required and the large cost of maintaining a special school for this work. This plan was tried for a time at Providence, R. I., and at Brookline, Mass.
The answers to the fifth question were to the effect that no city from which an answer was received had any uniform re- quirement in regard to the professional training of high school teachers. Most of the cities require that the candidates have a college education or its equivalent, and many of them that they should have specialized in the branches they are to teach. Two answers held that professional training for elementary work and successful practice therein were a good preparation for high school teachers.
What, then, is the ideal preparation to be expected of high school teachers ? The lowest requirements we can consistently demand would include four elements: (1) General academic culture. (2) Special academic training in the subjects the can- didate expects to teach. (3) Theoretical professional training. (4) Practical training in the art of teaching.
First. General culture. Six years ago the committee of fifteen said that "the degree of scholarship required of the secondary teacher is by common consent fixed at a college education. No one, with rare exception, should be employed to teach in a high school who has not this fundamental preparation." The culture gained by a four years' course in advance of the grades to be taught is not too much to demand. The inspiring influence that comes from a well developed manhood or womanhood taught
228
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
to view the subjects of the secondary school in a comparative manner, and trained to see the relationships existing in the vari- ous spheres of knowledge, is a force that the managers of a high school can not afford to neglect.
Second. Special training in the subjects to be taught. The fact that a high school teacher must in some degree be a specialist is generally recognized. In addition to the usual college course, the applicant should have specialized one or more years either during his college course or in the post-graduate courses of the university in the subjeets he expects to teach. Mr. Russell, of Columbia university, in his article on the "Training of Teachers for Secondary Schools," says: "The strongest argument that we can use against the average college graduate is that he has nothing ready to teach. This argument applies with even greater force to the normal graduate, however well he may be equipped on the professional side. Neither liberal culture nor professional skill can at all replace the solid sub-stratum of genuine scholar- ship on which all true secondary education rests. No one who knows the scope, purpose, and methods of collegiate instruction, no one familiar with the work of the average normal school, will for a moment say that such training necessarily gives any remark- able degree of special knowledge. Special scholarship is an abso- lute necessity to qualifications for secondary teaching. Without it the teacher becomes a slave to manuals and text-books ; his work degenerates into a formal routine with no life, no spirit, no educa- tive power."
Third. Theoretical professional training. The committee of fifteen outlined the course in the science of teaching for the secondary teacher to include psychology in its physiological and experimental features, methodology, school economy, history of education, and philosophy of education. The true teacher must know the nature of mind. He must understand the process of learning, the formation of ideals, the development of the will, and the growth of character. The secondary teacher should have had such a course in professional work as will enable him to view his own subjects and the entire course of instruction in their relation to the child and society. "A teacher may be able to teach the subject ever so well, may have the reputation of being a distinguished educator, yet through his whole life may
229
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
be a teacher of Latin or physics or history, rather than a teacher of children." The secondary teacher needs to know the psychology of the adolescent period, in particular. This is that important time in a child's life which we know as the period of beginnings, the beginning of a more generons and ambitious life, a period having the future wrapped up in it ; a transition period of storm and stress, in which egoism gives way to altruism and the social, moral and religious feelings hud and bloom. To be a guide of youth in this formative state requires a nature both deep and sympathetic, and a knowledge and insight into the deeper nature of child life.
Fourth. Practical training in the art of teaching. The special training for the actual work of the schoolroom is of primary importance. It is safe to say that no quality is so absolutely desired in the teacher as the technical ability to teach. After the question relating to general culture, special and professional knowledge have been answered, there comes the all-important ques- tion that must be asked of every candidate-"Can he teach ?"
This training in the art of teaching should include both obser- vation and practice. In all real training schools for secondary teachers, students must be required to observe true high school work until they have become saturated with its spirit. They must also be given large opportunity to do practice teaching under the guidance of skilled critic teachers.
Many of the larger colleges and universities of our country have within the past few vears recognized the importance of professional training of college graduates for teaching in high schools and colleges and have established post-graduate courses in educational work to meet this need. A few of the best normal schools have also sought to meet this demand, and have estab- lished regular courses, in which college graduates may do a high grade of professional work. In most instances, however, both the normal schools and the colleges have failed to afford oppor- tunities for regular practice work in high school teaching. In many cases they provide ample opportunity for observation, but omit entirely the practice work.
Tn Harvard pedagogical school arrangements have been made with the neighboring high schools whereby graduate students, before completing their course in professional work, may not only
230
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
observe high school work, but do actual teaching under skilled critic teachers. In Brown university we understand that grad- uate students in the pedagogical department may teach half the time in the Providence high school under skilled supervision. The Columbia teacher's college affords opportunities to all stu- dents for both observation and practice work. The high school at Brookline, Mass., under Superintendent Dutton, arranged to give graduate students from Wellesley college opportunities for observation and practice under critic teachers. We understand that a few of the state normals in the east have offered similar advantages to students preparing for high school teaching.
The Indiana state normal school attempts to do four things in order to aid the student wishing to engage in high school work in their preparation :
1. The course of study affords to the students a fairly ade- quate opportunity to study the different branches taught in the high school, and to specialize upon them.
2. In the practice work the students who are to enter upon teaching in the high schools are given more extended observation and practice in grades seven and eight than in the lower grades. This enables them to have a very clear notion of the condition of students entering the high schools.
3. By an arrangement with the city school board and the superintendent of the city schools, such students are assigned for observation in the Terre Haute high school. This observation is both general and special; that is, they observe the work of the different departments in general, and give special observation in the department for which they are preparing.
4. These students at the end of the work in observation make a specific report to the head of the professional department as to courses of study, methods and presentations, etc., as found in the high schools.
The Indiana university offers courses in psychology, philosophy and pedagogy in educational work which it would require several years' study to complete. Some of these are designed especially for intending high school teachers and give in compact, separate, practical form such a survey of principles, methods, and organi- zation in secondary education as is deemed necessary. The fol-
231
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
lowing statements of these special courses are taken with but slight alteration from their catalogue :
1. Special courses in high school pedagogy. High school ped- agogy, lectures, reports, recitations. The following topics are treated: High school management, including hygiene ; the organ- ization and function of secondary schools in different countries ; the general history of secondary education; the history of meth- ods; the psychology of adolescence; the reports of the committee of ten and the committee on college entrance requirements, with related literature.
2. Teachers' courses in the different departments. Most of the departments whose subjects are represented in high schools offer teachers' courses in which the methods of teaching such subjects are discussed and illustrated.
3. Conferences on secondary education. Lectures on the methods of teaching the subjects in the high school curriculum are given by the professors of the different departments of the university concerned.
4. Observation and apprentice courses. Each student taking this work will teach not less than two weeks as an apprentice in some high school to be agreed upon, and will also visit and prepare a written report upon the work in at least four other high schools.
In these schools opportunities for full and sufficient practice work are not yet provided. But the indications all point one way. The outline of work in the high grade professional school of the future, in which high school teachers are to be trained, must include in addition to the usual curriculum in special studies, full opportunities for observation and practice in high school classes under trained supervision .- From report of committee rep- resenting the Indiana council of education, Supt. T. A. Mott, chairman.
232
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
5. STATISTICS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF COMMISSIONED HIGH SCHOOLS.
AKRON HIGH SCHOOL.
Mrs. C. H. Templeton. Superintendent.
Organized, 1896. Commissioned, 1901.
Superintendents, with dates of service:
Mr. A. A. Campbell 1896-1899
Mr. James Heines 1899-1902
Mr. A. E. Gast. 1902-1903
Mrs. Carrie H. Templeton. 1903-1904
Principals and assistants:
Mr. A. E. Gast. 1899-1901
Mrs. C. H. Templeton 1901-1903
Mr. J. H. Heighway 1903-1904
High school teachers and subjects they teach:
Mrs. C. H. Templeton, English and Mathematics.
Mr. J. D. Heighway, Mathematics and Science.
Mr. Ralph Noyer, Latin and History.
Average yearly salary of high school teachers, including superintendents, $480.
Training of teachers:
Mrs. C. H. Templeton, State Normal, Terre Haute, a graduate; an undergraduate of Chicago University; attended three years.
Mr. J. D. Heighway, a graduate of Valparaiso Normal.
Mr. Ralph Noyer, a graduate of Akron High School; an undergradu- ate of Indiana University, attended one year.
Enrollment in high school. 42
Total enrollment in grades and high school. 230
Number of girls graduated last year (1903). 3
Number of boys graduated last year (1903) 1
Number in this class that went to college. None
Number of graduates since school was organized. 22
Number of these who have attended college. 5
ALBANY HIGHI SCHOOL.
W. L. Cory, Superintendent.
Organized, 1893. Commissioned, October, 1899.
Superintendents, with dates of service:
N. B. Powers 1893-1895
E. F. Dyer 1895-1899
H. S. Kaufman, September 1899-1903
W. L. Cory, September 1903-
Principals and assistants:
Principal, J. E. Orr; Assistant. Mrs. H. S. Kaufman. 1899-1900 Principal, W. L. Cory; Assistant, Mrs. H. S. Kaufman. 1900-1903 Principal, J. C. Diekerson; Assistant, Wilbur V. Bell. 1903-
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
233
High school teachers and subjects they teach:
W. L. Cory, Botany, Physics and History. J. C. Dickerson, Latin and Mathematics. W. V. Bell, English and History.
Average yearly salary of high school teachers, including superintendent, $600.
Training of teachers:
W. L. Cory, graduate classic course, three years, Central Normal College; also graduate, four-year course, Indiana State Normal School.
J. C. Dickerson, graduate course, Lebanon Normal.
W. V. Bell, graduate Albany High School.
Enrollment in high school ..
34
Total enrollment in grades and high school. 325
Number of girls graduated last year (1903). 5
Number of boys graduated last year (1903). 2
Number in this class that went to college.
2
Number of graduates since school was organized.
33
Number of these who have attended college S
-
-
ALBANY HIGH SCHOOL.
234
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
ALEXANDRIA HIGH SCHOOL.
J. G. Collicott, Superintendent.
Organized, 1893. Commissioned, 1894.
Superintendents, with dates of service:
T. M. Nuzum. 1893-1894
I. V. Busby. 1894-1902
Lawrence MeTurnan 1902-1903
J. G. Collicott 1903-1904
Principals and assistants:
J. T. Giles. 1894-1900
J. G. Collicott. 1900-1901
J. H. Wagner .1901-1904
O. H. Williams 1904- -
High school teachers and subjects they teach:
Oscar Williams, Science.
Beatrice Jones, History.
Nellie Cooke, English.
D. A. Norris, Latin.
Esther Schwartz, German.
Harry Reddick, Mathematics.
Mary Brereton, Music.
Gertrude Galerin, Drawing.
Average yearly salary of high school teachers, including superintendent, $693.
Training of teachers:
Oscar Williams, graduate Indiana State Normal; senior, Indiana University.
Beatrice Jones, junior Leland Stanford, Jr., University.
Nellie Cooke, graduate DePauw University.
D. C. Norris. graduate Indiana State Normal.
Esther Schwartz, sophomore Indiana University.
Harry Reddick, senior, Indiana University.
Enrollment in high school. 140
Total enrollment in grades and high school. 1,335
Number of girls graduated last year (1903). 6
Number of boys graduated last year (1903). 3
Number in this class that went to college. 1
Number of graduates since school was organized 57
Number of these who have attended college 14
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
235
ALEXANDRIA HIGH SCHOOL.
AMBOY (ACADEMY) HIGH SCHOOL.
236
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
AMBOY HIGH SCHOOL.
A. E. Martin, Superintendent.
Organized, 1872. Commissioned 1889.
Superintendents, with dates of service:
J. Z. A. MeCanghan 1886-1893
Supt. Kimmell 1893-1895
P. M. Hoke 1895-1902
F. D. Perkins. 1902-1902, Deć. 27
A. E. Martin. 1903-1904
Principals and assistants:
Jesse Small 1892.
A. C. Baldwin 1892-1894
Verne Baldwin .1894-1896
O. D. Melton 1896-1899
P. L. Kling. 1899-1902
Mildred Cain .1902-1903
F. J. Kimball. .1903-1904 Iligh school teachers and subjects they teach:
A. E. Martin, Latin, History and Physics.
F. J. Kimball, Mathematics and English.
A. S. Thomas, Physiography, Geography, Civics and General History. Average yearly salary of high school teachers, including superintendent. $600.
Training of teachers:
A. E. Martin, high school graduate; student Moore's Hill College, two years; Indiana University, one term; and graduate of Earlham, 1904.
1. J. Kimball, graduate Amboy Academy; State Normal; and four terms at State University.
A. S. Thomas, graduate Amboy Academy, and one term State Nor- mal.
Enrollment in high school. 60
Total enrollment in grades and high school. 230
Number of girls graduated last year (1903). None
Number of boys graduated last year. None
Number in this class that went to college. None
Number of graduates since school was organized. 125
Number of these who have attended college 55
237
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
ANDERSON HIGH SCHOOL.
J. W. Carr, Superintendent.
Organized, 1873. Commissioned, 1875.
Superintendents, with dates of service:
Justin N. Study 1873-1881
R. I. Hamilton. 1881-1887
A. J. Dipboye 1887-1890
J. W. Carr. 1890-
Principals and assistants:
R. I. Hamilton, A. J. Dipboye. Luther Cromer, John F. McClure, O. L. Kelso, Wilbert Ward, James B. Pearcy.
Average yearly salary of high school teachers, including superintendent. $982.94.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.