The Iowa University was the first to allow pedagogics to count towards a degree. Graduates of the University who have included in their course the year’s course of pedagogy may, after two years of successful teaching, be granted the degree of Bachelor of Didactics.
There is at New York an Institution which appeared to me to be unique in America, but of which the work more nearly resembled the best Secondary Training as carried on in Great Britain than any other which I had the opportunity of studying. It is known as the New York College for the Training of Teachers. It received its charter from the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York in 1889, constituting it a Training College with the power of granting professional degrees. This year, however, it enters on a new phase of its life, having been affiliated with the Columbia College at New York.
Columbia College had already made provision for lectures on the Science and Art of Education, but its connection with the Teachers’ College, will enable it to offer in addition the advantages of training in the practical art of teaching to its students. On the other hand, it is felt to be an advantage to the Teachers’ College to be allied with a College of University rank—Columbia College—which will thus show by example that it is possible to combine both theoretical and practical training in a University Course.
The full course of study leading to the degree of Bachelor of Pedagogy occupies two years. All candidates for admission must pass an entrance examination unless they are graduates from Colleges or other specified Institutions.
The ordinary course of study includes the following subjects:—
1. Psychology (pure and applied).
2. History and Principles of Education.
3. Methods of Teaching.
4. Observation and Practice in the School of Observation and Practice.
5. School Organization and Administration in the United States, England, France and Germany.