The training of teachers in the United States of America

by Amy Blanche Bramwell; H. Millicent Hughes

iii. Any student desiring to secure the benefits must attend the School at least twelve consecutive weeks, and must join a class in Methods of Instruction or School Management. These benefits will be deducted from the regular expenses of board and tuition.

About four miles from Lancaster, and connected with it by an electric railway, is the little village of Millersville, where is located the oldest Normal School of the State. It was established in 1855, and recognised as the First State Normal School in Pennsylvania in 1859. It is a co-educational school with accommodation for about 500 students, although permission is also sometimes given to students to board out. The buildings are typical of this kind of Normal School. There is a central building containing the Chapel, recitation[3] and dining-rooms, etc., while on either side are two dormitories, one for the men students, and one for the women. There is also a gymnasium; and two handsome buildings—a Library, and a Science building with lecture rooms and laboratories—are in process of erection. There are more women students than men, and fewer of the latter intend to become teachers in the State; often they only use the Normal School as a stepping-stone to the University.

An excellent Model School, comprising a Kindergarten and eight grades, is attached to the Institution, in which the students observe the methods used by the critic teachers in various subjects, and also teach under supervision. I heard one of the critic teachers give a model lesson on a brook basin, and afterwards deliver a lecture to the students on the teaching of Geography, in which the special points of teaching method in connection with the brook basin, school district and township were dwelt upon and discussed. I had, moreover, the opportunity of hearing one of the students teach, and was also fortunate enough to be able to listen to a reading lesson given by the head of the Model School on the sentence method.

I next visited the Normal School at West Chester, which was started in 1871. Its buildings are on much the same plan as those at Millersville, with the two wings for men and women students, and the dining and recitation rooms in the centre. The Principal, with pardonable pride, drew my special attention to the gymnasium building, which, with the single exception of the new Yale Gymnasium, is believed to be the most complete connected with any school or college in the States. It contains a full supply of the best apparatus, running tracks, bath-rooms, large swimming-pool, bowling alleys, ball cage, etc. A thoroughly trained physician[4] and his wife are in charge of the gymnasium, and all exercise is taken under their supervision. I was able to attend several of the classes—one on School Method, which took the form of a discussion of such points as the following: “What degree of quiet is necessary in a school?” “On what does ability to govern depend?” “Can ability to govern be acquired?” I was much struck here, as in other American schools and colleges, with the ease in speaking, and the keen interest shown by the students in taking part in the discussion. A lesson in Arithmetic, in which the students made excellent use of that distinctive feature of an American recitation room—the continuous blackboard, one on United States history, and a lesson on physiology given in the Model School, helped to fill up a most interesting morning.

CONNECTICUT.

There are two State Normal Schools in the State of Connecticut—one at New Britain, started in 1850, and the other at Willimantic, opened in 1889. These schools have for their object the definite preparation of teachers for work in the State schools, and no encouragement is given to other students to enter. They thus differ from the Pennsylvania Normal Schools, which are often attended by those who do not intend to become teachers. This difference appears to produce one curious and instructive result—namely, that while a large number of men students are to be found in the Pennsylvania Normal Schools, they are conspicuous by their absence from those in Connecticut. This is easily understood when one remembers that an overwhelming majority of the teachers in the Common Schools are women, and that as few men intend to take up teaching as a permanent profession, they are not likely to be found in those Normal Schools, the courses of which will not serve as stepping-stones to a future college or other career.

Neither of these two Schools are residential, but the Principals undertake to assist students in finding comfortable accommodation. Board and lodging can usually be obtained from $3 to $4 (14s. to 17s.) per week.

Candidates for admission must either (1) pass an entrance examination held at certain centres in the State, or (2) present a certificate of graduation from a High School or State Teachers’ Certificate, or (3) have taught successfully for three years.

The course is arranged for two years, but no student can graduate from the schools unless considered fit to teach by the Faculty. They may either remain longer as students, or if thought to be hopeless may be requested to withdraw.

At both schools there are at least two parts to the course: (1) that done in the Normal School, including the Theory of Education, and special work in science and other subjects; and (2) that done in the Model or Training Schools. Each School has also a Kindergarten, and at New Britain there is a special course for the training of Kindergarten teachers.