USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II > Part 63
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RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION-THE ESPLANADE
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made free by the state government to every boy and girl, so in the founding of the Rhode Island State College free collegiate education was offered to every youth, making another advance in free public education. With all its strength and power of the past, the college has hardly passed its formative period; and it yet awaits a higher recognition of its worth, a truer appreciation of its aims and service, a deeper sense of public responsibility for its needs, and that generous support of the people which in good time will enhance its value fourfold to the state and make it a fitting consummation of the system of free public education."
When war was declared against Germany in April, 1917, the Rhode Island State College Cadet Battalion was the only completely trained and equipped body of troops on which the Governor could call for immediate service. The alumni of the college, and the students in upper classes, enlisted in large numbers in various governmental services. The alumni of Rhode Island State College have made an enviable reputation for the college in various walks of life, amply justifying the great faith that Senator Morrill voiced in advocating education of collegiate grade for the people of all classes. In agriculture as farmers applying the most approved and scientific principles to the production of food; as engineers, in all the various range of modern activities in the building of roads, bridges, transportation systems, factories and machinery, electrical transmission systems, and the applications of chemistry in sanita- tion and production ; in science in all its varied fields, as skilled practitioners; in public and private education as teachers, principals of schools and superintendents of systems; in home economics, as housewives and mothers or as demonstrators or teachers of applications of home science ; occasionally in the learned professions as lawyers, physicians, clergymen, and editors ; in the halls of legislation and in other public offices-Rhode Island State College has abundant reason to feel proud of sons and daughters who have found in the college on Little Rest Hill an inspiration for service. The list of alumni of Rhode Island State College who have achieved position and success is one of which this comparatively young institution of higher education well may be proud. Dr. Edwards died in 1930. after a quarter century of building of a college.
RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION-After three failures to establish a normal school for training teachers in Rhode Island,* a successful venture was made in 1871. Rhode Island Normal School became Rhode Island College of Education in 1920. The General Assembly provided an initial appropriation of $10,000, and created a board of trustees, consisting of the State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Education. The state, in 1875, pur- chased from the city of Providence the high school building on Benefit Street, and remodelled it for occupation by the normal school. Twenty-three years later, in 1898, the older building on the present estate in Providence was completed and occupied ; in 1928 the Henry Barnard schoolhouse, constructed at an expenditure of $660,000, was opened as an observation and training school. The older conception of normal school related it closely to the common schools or elementary school system; it was an essential adjunct of the latter for the training of teachers. Rhode Island Normal School was planned originally to train teachers in two years for elementary school work; advanced standing, permitting completion of the course in one year, was granted to "well-prepared" students. The history of the normal school indi- cates a steady progress toward a strictly professional school, involving lengthening of the course and advancing requirements for admission. Rhode Island College of Education admits on competitive examination only graduates of high schools or other secondary schools, or per- sons proving equivalent education, and conducts a course of four years leading to a degree in education. While enrollment in the normal school has been affected from time to time by advancing entrance requirements and the elimination of preparatory classes, the growth has
*Chapter XX.
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been consistent with the increasing size of the public school establishment. Average enroll- ment was 148 in the first five years, 152 in the second five, 155 in the third five; it reached 200 in 1890; was 218 in 1898, and 400 in 1918. The current enrollment of 600 is established by limitation to the number that can be accommodated comfortably, and to the number that will furnish graduates to fill vacancies and new positions. The trustees have recognized as con- straining principles (1) that they have no right to expend public money for training more teachers than are needed to supply the public schools with a complement of efficient instruc- tors; and (2) that it is an injustice to train any person for a service that offers no opportu- nities for employment.
In the beginning, with the purpose of serving all parts of Rhode Island equitably, the normal school received as students graduates of the school systems maintained by the several towns, few of which included high schools. No little difficulty was experienced in overcoming irregularities of preparation. Of this problem Commissioner Stockwell wrote:
The entire lack of academic preparation which marks so many of the pupils who have never enjoyed better advantages than the district school or the village grammar school has rendered necessary the most strenuous efforts to equip them with the requisite knowledge. But it has been found that the time allotted to the work is altogether too limited; and the practical experience of the past few years has been that for such pupils at least three years are necessary for the proper completion of the course. On the other hand, we are constantly receiving from the best high schools of the state pupils who have been well taught and trained, whose knowledge of the various studies laid down in the course is as a rule excellent, and who are scholarly in their tastes and habits. Now it is manifestly neither just nor wise to put such pupils into the same class of work to which you would assign one to whom the whole subject matter was entirely new. The two elements are not calculated to assimilate, nor can the two derive equal benefit from the work done. It will be too simple for the one or too difficult for the other. It would seem as though a double scheme should be pre- pared, which shall provide, on the one hand, for the giving of the requisite instruction in the various branches of learning to those who are destitute of this knowledge, and then to also secure a year of specific training in the science and art of teaching for those who come well equipped with the requisite knowledge but without any idea of what to do with it. Such an adjustment will, I think, tend to commend the school more fully to all, and lead many to attend who otherwise would have never thought it necessary or even desirable.
A reorganization followed the Commissioner's suggestion, with two courses outlined, one distinctly preparatory, and the other distinctly professional. The combined courses, with the introduction of observation in model schools and practice teaching in training schools, reached four years in 1894. In that year model and training classes for normal school students were established in the schoolhouse at Benefit and Halsey streets in Providence. With the comple- tion of the building constructed for the normal school and opened in 1898, the lower floor was made available for a model school and training classes. High school graduates were admitted to advanced standing and were permitted to complete the professional course in two years ; a special short professional course of one year was maintained for graduates of the Providence high school, who completed preparation for teaching in training schools maintained by the city. Eventually high school graduation was required for entrance, and the special arrangement with Providence was discontinued, and a standard course of two and one-half years was established.
The marked improvement in the physical plant and other facilities in 1898 affected attendance and produced a rapid increase; in turn requirements for admission were raised and courses were strengthened. The college course is four years. When the General Assem- bly enacted a statute requiring towns to maintain high schools or provide high school educa- tion the way was made clear for abandoning the preparatory course, and requiring high school graduation for admission. With increase in the number of students in professional courses the training facilities in the normal school building were outgrown, and recourse was had to
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training classes in public school buildings elsewhere. Out of the latter development grew the distinctively Rhode Island system of training teachers, comprising (1) instruction in profes- sional subjects, including the history of education, educational psychology, classroom manage- ment, school law, general methods of teaching and special methods of teaching specific sub- jects ; (2) observation of excellent teaching in the model rooms in the training school; (3) practice teaching in the training school; and (4) a half-year of teaching under close super- vision in a public school with a critic teacher. The typical organization of training classes outside the college buildings includes an experienced teacher employed as a critic and paid a bonus salary by the state, and two or more college students assigned as classroom teachers. In the development of the plan the college student-teacher teaches half time under the observa- tion and in the presence of the critic teacher, and half-time alone, being responsible in the latter period for the maintenance of discipline and successful instruction. Each day's work is laid out by student-teachers in conference with the critic, the latter directing attention to faults to be corrected and excellencies to be maintained. This cadet or apprentice teaching in exactly the environment of the public school is most valuable, and has attracted attention of educators elsewhere to the Rhode Island system.
The following extracts from a report of the trustees ten years ago on the system as developed may serve the purpose of contrast with the analysis of needs presented by Com- missioner Stockwell :
Though generally recognized as one of the most successful normal schools in America, it has by no means reached the limits of its development or realized completely the purposes of its existence. . . . The fact that its scholastic requirements for admission of students are of the same grade as college entrance requirements and that the work of its students is accredited by colleges establishes its academic standing as of collegiate rank among educational institutions. . . . However gratifying may be the high academic rank and educational position of the normal school, the best measure of its usefulness is the recent gain in the relative number of teachers of professional training in our elementary public schools. . Steadily, year by year, the relative number of public school teachers of normal or professional training has increased until it is more than two-thirds of the total number of teachers in elementary or common schools. . . . No state has so large a per cent. of public school teachers who have had professional training for their work as Rhode Island, and we are rapidly approaching a time when a teacher of professional rank will be available for every school in the state. . . . The chief duty of the school is to complete the task it set out to do, to make avail- able for every elementary school in the state a professionally trained teacher. When this is done, or as soon as a sufficient number of students are willing to extend their term of professional preparation to four years, the very advantage to be gained by public schools through a better preparation of teachers will justify the proposed advance (to a college). To employ generally in the elementary schools of Rhode Island teachers of professional training and collegiate culture is not only desirable but possible in the not distant future.
The excellence of Rhode Island College of Education has won it recognition within the state and reputation beyond the borders of the state. "No state except Rhode Island," said the Commissioner of Education of Massachusetts, "surpasses Massachusetts in facilities for the training of elementary school teachers." This tribute belongs almost exclusively to Rhode Island College of Education. In a bulletin* of the federal Bureau of Education, printed in 1916, reporting a special study of state normal schools, Rhode Island Normal School was selected for special distinction and praise. In particular the system of training schools was described as providing facilities for preparing teachers for service unsurpassed and unequalled elsewhere. Rhode Island Normal School was incorporated as Rhode Island College of Edu- cation in 1920, with power to grant collegiate degrees. In the reorganization that followed, Dr. John L. Alger, who had been principal, became President ; the members of the faculty were designated as professors or instructors, following academic practice, and the course of
*Bulletin 12, 1916, "Problems Involved in Standardizing State Normal Schools," by Judd and Parker of the University of Chicago.
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instruction was laid out as four years, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Education, and provision for advanced degrees for further study.
In connection with the normal school and college extension courses for teachers were established in 1911, the first series on Saturday mornings. This service has been amplified by increasing the number of courses on Saturdays and providing others on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, both on the college premises and elsewhere in Rhode Island to accommodate rea- sonably sized groups of teachers. The first summer session was conducted for four weeks in 1917; and thereafter until 1928, the summer school, extended to six weeks, was a regular divi- sion of normal school and college. The enrollment in extension and summer courses reached 1800 annually, or more than forty per cent. of the teachers employed in public schools. Thus both summer school and extension courses contributed to the improvement of the personnel of the profession as teachers sought more education and continued contact with the college as an institution for promoting the advancement of the public schools. In the period of the World War attendance on regular classes decreased, principally because of the economic advantages offered to young people in industry and in other occupations.
With the end of the war and the movement back to school, the college classes were aug- mented, and graduations were increased sufficiently to overcome a shortage of teachers caused by the war and to supply enough for vacancies and new positions. Lengthening the course to four years, with the change from normal school to college, far from discouraging, tended to promote increased enrollment, with the promise of graduations in excess of the number of teachers needed to supply the public schools. The trustees thereupon took measures to restrain enrollment; for the limited entering classes competitive examination was prescribed as the method for selection. To insure an equitable participation of all parts of Rhode Island in the service rendered by the college, admission is by quotas based upon the number of teach- ing positions in each town, and the average number of positions to be filled annually. The principle of equalization was incorporated in the statute of 1871 authorizing the reestablish- ment of Rhode Island Normal School, in the provision for mileage for students residing out- side of Providence. Rhode Island College of Education undertakes to train for the public schools of each and every town a number of teachers based upon the probable needs; the courses offered include instruction in educational theory and actual apprentice-training in teaching in public school environment. In addition, through the extension department, it affords opportunities for teachers in service both to improve their knowledge and practice, and to keep abreast of the newest developments in their professions. The college estate is valued reasonably at $2,000,000; and the annual budget for maintenance is $200,000, part of which is derived from tuitions paid for children attending Henry Barnard School.
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE-Providence College was chartered by the General Assembly in 1917 as a college "for the promotion of virtue and piety and learning in such of the languages and the liberal arts and sciences as shall be recommended from time to time by the corpora- tion." The initial contribution to the college foundation was a generous gift by Rt. Rev. Matthew Harkins, D. D., Bishop of Providence, who planned an institution of higher educa- tion primarily for Catholic young men of the diocese of Providence, which is coextensive with the state of Rhode Island. To the Bishop's gift were added liberal contributions by a small group of priests and laymen honored as "founders," and small contributions by laymen in every parish in the diocese in amount sufficient to warrant the purchase of land and the con- struction of a building for the college. The procedure with reference to the small contribu- tions was much like that pursued in the instance of the beginnings of Rhode Island College or Brown University, subscriptions for which were taken up in all the Baptist churches, every member urged to give at least six pence sterling annually for the college. The contributions for Providence College were for the most part small amounts from thousands of families, the
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college being truly a popular college, in consideration of the large number of benefactors. Withal the endowment, aside from the property owned is meagre, but the college has a unique spiritual endowment in the hearts of the people, and an assurance that their charity never will allow it to want. A secure financial foundation was assured further by the zeal and generous assistance of Rt. Rev. William A. Hickey, D. D., successor to Bishop Harkins, in the period in which Bishop Hickey as Coadjutor was administrator of the diocese, and later in his own right as Bishop. Under the direction of Bishop Hickey a "drive" was conducted, which yielded over $400,000, principally in small sums contributed by thousands of Catholic men and women in all parts of Rhode Island. Providence College thus owes its foundation to the vision of Bishop Harkins, the zeal of Bishop Hickey and the generosity of more willing con- tributors, probably, than any other college in New England.
To the work of organizing the college and supplying a teaching faculty Bishop Harkins called the Order of Preachers, better known popularly as the Order of Saint Dominic, a society world-famous for the piety and learning of its members. The order accepts for the novitiate young men who have completed the work of education leading to and including two years of college; the required course thereafter is seven years additional, and it is supple- mented in the instance of members who become teachers by additional preparatory studies in the Catholic University and other American and European universities. In other words, the college training of a Dominican professor extends over ten years, or three years beyond the time ordinarily assigned to achieving the doctorate in secular college and university. The first Dominican assigned to Providence College was Rev. Albert Casey, O. P., who became the first President. Under President Casey's direction Harkins' Hall, the first college building, was constructed on an estate of seventeen acres at Eaton Street and River Avenue, in the northwestern section of Providence. Subsequently other land was acquired, the college estate including thirty-seven acres. Harkins Hall has been enlarged to double its original capacity, and the old Bradley house on Eaton Street has been remodelled and enlarged as Guzman Hall, which serves as a dormitory for ecclesiastical students. During President Casey's administration, with the assistance and cooperation of Bishop Hickey the original college estate was cleared of debt, and money was obtained for extension, including the laying out, adjoining the college, of an athletic field, called Hendricken Field, in honor of the predecessor of Bishop Harkins. Under the charter the college estate is exempt from taxation, in consider- ation of which the college is open to students of all denominations and creeds without restric- tion, and liberality of teaching is assured. The charter expressly provides that "no person shall be refused admission to said college as a student, nor shall any person be denied any of the privileges, honors or degrees in said college on account of the religious opinion he may entertain."
Providence College opened in September, 1919, with an initial enrollment of eighty students and a teaching faculty of eight professors, including Rev. D. M. Galliher, O. P., J. C. D., designated as Dean of Studies and Discipline .* To Dean Galliher's zeal and ability as an organizer has been due much of the success that has attended the enterprise, he furnish- ing, besides, the element of continuity through three administrations. President Casey's suc- cessors have been Rev. William Noon, O. P., D. D., and Rev. Lorenzo C. McCarthy, O. P., Ph. D. President McCarthy is a native of Providence, and was a teacher in the public schools of Rhode Island before entering the Order of Preachers. At the time of his appointment he was probably the youngest college president in America. The growth of the college in ten years has been remarkable. The enrollment of students in regular courses exceeds 800, and the teaching faculty includes twenty-five professors and three instructors. The regular courses of study in this liberal arts and scientific college lead to the degrees of bachelor of arts, bach-
*Became Dean ^f Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, 1930.
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elor of letters, bachelor of philosophy, and bachelor of science. The college has facilities also for advanced studies leading to the degrees of master and doctor. In addition to regular courses, the college conducts a summer course and extension courses, which, together enroll over 400 students additional to the 800 in day courses. Entrance to any course requires com- pletion of a standard high school course or its equivalent. With the completion of the addition to Harkins Hall the college has a splendid auditorium with seats for 800, science laboratories (additional to the original provision) with most modern equipment, and a splendid library, in which an increasing collection of books is made available for students. A new science building is planned as the next construction to be undertaken, with a new dormitory in pros- pect. The early enrollment was principally from Rhode Island; in recent years the college has drawn an increasing patronage from beyond the borders of Rhode Island.
A COLLEGE OF ART-Rhode Island School of Design was chartered in 1877 as a private institution "to furnish such instruction in freehand and mechanical drawing, painting, model- ling and designing as is required by artisans generally, that they may more successfully apply the principles thereof to the mechanic arts and industries, and to give such systematic train- ing to students as shall enable them to become successful art teachers, and to promote the general advancement of art and culture." In the administration of the school the three pur- poses indicated in the charter-(1) the training of artisans; (2) the training of artists; and (3) the general advancement of art education-are treated as of equal importance. The third purpose is promoted by exhibitions of art and art studies, and by lectures on art. Rhode Island School of Design is properly classified with "higher education," both because of its unique contribution to the cultural life of Rhode Island and because its regular courses lead- ing to graduation with the diploma are open only to persons who have completed previously the equivalent of a high school education. Thus its work is post-secondary as it falls into the years of school education beyond the twelfth. Diplomas are granted in eight departments- freehand drawing and painting, decorative design, modelling and sculpture, architecture, mechanical design, textile design and textile chemistry, jewelry design and silversmithing, and normal art. The administration of the institution is committed to a self-perpetuating corpo- ration, in which the State of Rhode Island is represented by the Governor, two members of the State Board of Education, and the Commissioner of Education.
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