Chapter III: Part 3

The school has a good library for the students’ use, and also one for the children of the practising school. Students give one criticism lesson during the first half-year, and for this they write elaborate notes under fixed headings prepared by the head of the department, and the other students hand in, after the lesson, elaborate criticisms done in a similar way. Blank schedules with printed headings, such as the following, are given to students to fill up before giving the lesson:

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| I. SUBJECT. |
| II. PURPOSE. |
|III. MATTER. |
| IV. PLAN. | Review Work | _What._ | _How._ | _Illustrations._ |
| | | _a_ | | |
| | | _b_ | | |
| | | _c_ | | |
| | Advance Work | | | |
| | | _a_ | | |
| | | _b_ | | |
| | | _c_ | | |
| | Drill | | | |
| | | _a_ | | |
| | | _b_ | | |
| | | _c_ | | |
| V. METHOD. |
| VI. MECHANICAL DETAILS. |
| Arrangement of Class. |
| Distribution of Materials, etc. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

I noticed in schedules which had been thus filled up by students that the notes supplied under the heading of “Method” consisted entirely of proposed questions of the teacher, and assumed answers by the children. Such an item in the prepared plan of a lesson seemed to me unadvisable, and in many cases useless. Even if the prepared questions were asked by the teacher, the answers would not always be the ones assumed, and the lesson would be stiff, unnatural, and wanting in spontaneity. Broad lines of questioning might be indicated in the schedule, rather than the actual questions to be given. This would result in much more natural methods of questioning. The outline for criticism given to other students is according to the following plan:

_Purpose_ What. Whether accomplished.
Why. Cause of failure or
success.

_Matter_ Amount--accuracy. Adaptation,
to purpose and to class.
Order of presentation.

_Plan_ Completeness. Order of parts.
Manner of presentation.

_Method_ Questions--number--order--kind.

_Language_ Relative amounts used by teachers
and pupils. Correctness. Accuracy.
Clearness. Completeness.
Adaptation.

_Illustrations_ What amount. Adaptation. Use.

_Manner_

_Voice_ Of teacher and pupils.

_Mechanical details_ Directions for work. Distribution
of material.

_Control_

_Results_ Training in mental power; accuracy;
neatness; promptitude;
expression. Moral Training.
Knowledge gained.

The suggestion of these points for criticism indicates a very complete and thorough analysis of a lesson. Such an elaborate form of criticism, if employed occasionally, seems to me good in encouraging a habit of mental analysis in those who hear the lesson. It may be useful, too, as a guide to those unaccustomed to criticising exercises, and may be helpful in impressing the fact that a lesson is a very complex thing, difficult to give, and far reaching in its results. The constant use of rigid forms, however, either for preparation of lessons, or for their criticism, is to be deprecated as stultifying, and as not adapted to all lessons and all occasions. It is probable that in many cases valuable criticisms might be given which would not come under any of the formal headings, even though the schedule were as complete as possible. For the last five months the students work entirely under the direction of teachers of the practising school. Plans of work and lesson-subjects are discussed with the teacher, and when the lessons are over, private criticisms only are given. Each student learns to make her own maps, charts and pictures, which she takes with her when she leaves the school.

At the end of the course of training, an elaborate report of the student’s work and standing is issued as regards her standards; enthusiasm; force; manner; language; writing; questioning; power of illustration; originality; interest; thoroughness; control.

A certificate qualifying to teach in the schools of the city is given to those who complete the training course satisfactorily, and who gain an average of 70 per cent. on examinations at the end of the year.

At Pawtucket, I saw a training school of from seven to nine students, with an excellent model and practising school attached. The course lasts for one and a half years. For a whole year, the class has instruction in theoretical subjects in the mornings, with observation of children and some lesson-giving in the afternoon. The last six months are spent by the students in the actual charge of children. Each student works under a Model School teacher, and for one week during the half-year has sole charge and responsibility of the class.

CITY TRAINING CLASSES.

Closely allied to the work of the Training Schools is that done by City Training Classes. These are usually found in the smaller towns or cities of the various States. The general features of the Training Classes are the same as those of the City Training Schools. The differences are mainly:

(1) No special model or practising school is attached, but the
students gain their experience by teaching classes in city or town
schools.

(2) The work of training is carried out, not by a specially appointed
person, as in the Training Schools, but by the Superintendent of
Schools of the district, who holds classes in professional subjects,
and arranges and criticises the work of the students.

The members of the Training Classes, while under the general guidance of the heads of the schools, where they act as assistants, are helped and instructed in methods of teaching various subjects by the Town Supervisors of Instruction, appointed for those special subjects. The appointment of supervisors in drawing, singing, reading, etc., whose sole work is to visit the schools and conduct and examine classes, gives unity to the methods in the various schools of a town, and affords much practical help to the student-teachers in the various schools.

At Quincy, Massachusetts, there is a training class of thirty students. The pupil teachers act as assistants in the schools, receiving no compensation, except the guidance of experienced teachers, and theoretical instruction from the superintendent. They usually teach in several grades during the year, but those who show special aptitude or wish to teach in any particular grade are allowed an alternative of remaining in that grade. At the Coddington school, one of the training schools for the Quincy Training Classes, I heard very good lessons given in reading, phonics, number, English and geography. A reading lesson, given to ten or twelve children about seven years old, was to teach one new word, “Flag.” The class stood around the teacher at one part of the wall slate. After carefully revising many of the words learnt in previous lessons, the teacher drew a flag on the board. Then she wrote the word as a whole, underneath the drawing. Then she told a short story about a flag, wrote the word in different coloured chalks, wrote sentences involving only known words and the new word “flag.” When the children could read these sentences easily, they were made to pick out the word “flag.” Some were allowed to erase the word, some to write it again. Every possible device was used in the lesson to associate the complete written expression with the spoken word and the idea. At the end of twenty minutes, when the association was complete, the new word “flag” was written among the list of known words, kept constantly on the board, and the children were sent to their seats. I noticed in all the reading lessons in which words and sentences were taught as wholes, that clever teachers constantly used the device of erasing the word or sentence to be taught. This, when skilfully done, secures concentration of attention on each word, by allowing the children only a limited time to note its general shape, before being required to represent it on the board or slate. The constant erasure and repeated re-writing of a word ensure repeated short acts of intense attention on the part of the children, and so help greatly in the learning of the new word. A lesson in “number” or arithmetic, given to the same class, was devoted to problems in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of numbers below ten. Many devices were used for interesting the class. The children were sent to work at different parts of the wall slate, and were encouraged to contribute problems for the class. The general use of the wall slate is seen to be of great advantage, especially in such lessons as these. By means of it, supervision of individual work is very easy, and corrections can be made valuable to the whole class.

The Training Classes of the State of New York show more uniformity of courses and methods than those of many of the other States. This is due to their organization by the State Superintendent, who issues regulations and a definite course of study. The course is a short one, from ten to thirteen weeks. Two hours each day is given to instruction. Methods in reading, spelling, number, language and primary geography are studied, and observation and criticism of lessons is a definite part of the work. Actual teaching is done wherever possible; but this is not a requisite. The time given to each subject is apportioned somewhat on the same principles as in the Normal Schools--viz., one subject is followed up for a very short time, another is taken up in the same way, and then another. On this plan, only a few days can be given to some subjects. The syllabus of work for 1889 gives four days to laws of mental development, seventeen days to school economy, ten days to the history of education, and four days to school law. Other set times are given to Methods. Such a course, lasting for a very short time, and including so many subjects, cannot but be inadequate and superficial when used as the only means of training. The experience gained in such a way is not sufficient in itself to qualify for responsible work in a town school. This is shown by the fact that those who have taken a course in the training class of a city are often expected to gain experience elsewhere, before taking responsible work in that city. In many instances, students are urged to take Normal School courses as well.

It may indeed be stated generally, that the work of Training Classes is to supplement a longer and more thorough course in training, rather than to train. Training Classes, for the most part, provide practice under supervision for those who have already gained some insight into the science of education and methods of teaching, but the small amount of time given to other sides of training prevents their work being at all adequate as the sole preparation for teachers. Training Classes exist, and will exist, to meet the needs of those would-be teachers who, in small towns, where there is neither Normal nor Training School, cannot afford to leave their homes to prepare for their work. The urgent demand for trained teachers for all the Common Schools has resulted in the establishment of many institutions, which, while fulfilling a present need, are existing under conditions which must prohibit work of the best kind. Among such institutions we must enrol the City Training Classes.

It is a noticeable fact, that in both Training Schools and Training Classes, the beginners usually practise first in the lowest grades. It is considered easier to teach little children than older ones, and less dangerous to the pupils. Indeed, the heads of many schools, far from adopting the theory that the primary teaching should be in the hands of the most skilled and efficient teachers, give their youngest classes into the care of those disqualified to teach in higher grades, on account of lack of knowledge, or want of skill. It may be urged in support of the plan of allowing teachers unqualified for other grades of teaching to become teachers in the primary schools, that the knowledge actually used in the teaching of little children is much less than that needed for work with elder children, and that certain devices for keeping children quiet, and for interesting them, can be followed empirically by the unskilful teacher. But this argument, instead of sanctioning the practice so commonly adopted, would serve to show that it is in the lower grades that bad teaching can remain undetected, and results, rather than means, made criteria of success. Much of the growth of the child-mind, in its early stages, depends on the teacher’s width of interest, a width only secured by a thorough knowledge of the subjects taught, and a broad range of subjects. This breadth of interest not only influences the class, but reacts on the teacher; for teachers of young children, having little necessity to make constant intellectual efforts, stand in great danger of becoming intellectually narrowed.

Partly as a result of the fact that most of the students in Normal and City Training Schools are prepared for work as primary teachers, and that others who hope eventually to teach in higher grades must first gain their experience in primary grades, we find that much more attention is given to primary methods than to methods of the Grammar School. This is true not only in Practising Schools and Model Schools, but elsewhere.

Therefore, the most rapid progress in American Education has been connected with elementary teaching. The present movement to reform the curriculum and methods of the Grammar School is only of recent development.

_UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS OF PEDAGOGY._

The pedagogical courses connected with the Universities of the United States differ so much in organization and scope, and in the nature of their connection with the University, that it is impossible to consider them under one comprehensive title, unless the exact meaning of the term “University Department” be defined. In the present case, the title “University Department of Pedagogy” is used to include all higher courses of study in philosophy, psychology, history, science or art of education established by Universities or Colleges of high standing, in definite recognition of the fact that the work of secondary teaching requires distinct and special professional or technical preparation, beyond a sound general education. Such instruction may be given in connection with Chairs of Pedagogy by series of lectures on science and art of teaching, theory and practice of teaching, etc., or it may be so complete as to constitute a school of pedagogy in itself, thoroughly organized and equipped to carry out professional training in all its branches. Pedagogical study may be a so-called “elective”--viz., one of the subjects chosen by the student to count towards his degree, or it may be a course for post-graduates only. It may consist merely of courses in special pedagogy or “methods,” by the various professors of different subjects in a University, or it may be chiefly the study of education from a scientific standpoint, as in Clark University, Massachusetts, where experimental and physiological psychology is pursued, not with the view of meeting the needs of intending teachers, but of offering opportunities of thorough study to scientific experts, whose results may be of great value to education in general. The number of Universities or Colleges in the United States which report pedagogical courses of some kind is 114. In many of these, however, the work is mostly of the Normal School type, with a view to prepare for teaching in the Grammar Schools of the State, and the certificate of proficiency given on completion of the course is not such as to entitle the work to be called “Higher Instruction in the Theory and Art of Teaching.” Leaving such departments out of consideration, as not belonging to the field of higher education, the departments of pedagogy in connection with Universities may, for convenience, be considered under two heads:

1. Those in connection with State Universities.

2. Those connected with other endowed Universities or Colleges of high standing.

DEPARTMENTS OF STATE UNIVERSITIES.

State Universities, founded in accordance with the resolution, “Schools and the means of education shall for ever be encouraged,” have naturally been looked up to as the institutions more fitted than any other to supply higher instruction in the science and art of teaching. The first was established as the result of the Ordinance of 1787, by which two townships of land were appropriated from the North-West Territory for the support of a State University. Since then, twenty-eight States of the Union have set apart funds, derived from the sale of State lands, for the founding and endowing of institutions for higher education. These universities, gradually increasing in number and influence, and spreading from their origin in Ohio both west and east, are dependent for the most part for their students upon the city High Schools and other secondary schools; and the efficiency of their work depends greatly upon the efficiency of the preparatory work done in these schools. It is, therefore, to the interest of the State Universities to secure that the secondary schools are well equipped and well taught, and from this point of view one of the distinctive lines of work of a State University should be the professional preparation of secondary teachers. The University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, was the first State University to recognise the necessity of this work. In 1879 it established a Chair to give instruction in science and art of teaching, and since then, Training and Normal departments, or courses in pedagogy, have been established in the State Universities of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, N. Dakota, Ohio, Washington and others.

In some Universities the work of training is entirely given over to the pedagogical department and the professor of pedagogy. In some, there are no purely professional departments, but “Teachers’ Courses” are organized in various subjects of the college curriculum. These courses are given by college professors of the various subjects, and deal with the different methods of treating the subject. In some State Universities, however, training is provided both in pedagogical departments and “Teachers’ Courses”; and good work in both is required before a student can gain a “Teacher’s Diploma.” Where the two parts of the work are maintained harmoniously together, they must greatly strengthen each other, and advantages must accrue both to the students and to the work of training generally. In such a case the scientific, but more or less theoretical instruction of the professedly pedagogical department of the University is supplemented by the practical instruction, which is the result of the experience of experts in the respective subjects. The discussion of “methods” in any subject, with a specialist, who is constantly teaching that subject, must be most valuable to the future teacher, and especially so when the specialist can illustrate his methods by actual class work, and the learner is himself somewhat of a specialist. The existence of these double lines of work is also important, where it occurs, as illustrating unity of opinion among the presidents and professors of colleges as regards the needs and means of training of secondary teachers. Thus it will help on the cause of secondary training generally.

One of those State Universities which recognise these two distinctive branches of professional training is the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. Work in both departments has been required in order to gain a “Teacher’s Diploma,” ever since the pedagogical course was arranged in 1879. The student must have completed three courses offered by the professor of pedagogy--one a practical course in the art of teaching and governing, school hygiene, school law, etc.; one a theoretical and critical course on the principles of teaching or applied psychology; and one other course which may be either:

History of education, ancient and mediæval.
History of education, modern, or,
School Management.

He must also have taken a “Teacher’s Course” in connection with one of the subjects in the college curriculum--work which implies not only extra professional instruction in methods by the college professor, but also a special examination in the subject matter of study. Beyond the courses of study already enumerated as belonging to the Department of Science and Art of Teaching in the Michigan University, there is one on the comparative study of educational systems, and a section for seminary work. This seminary work, taken up in pedagogy, as in other subjects, only towards the completion of the course, is very much on the lines of the German “Seminar.” It is work of research and discussion, done with the help of the educational library. Special points are taken up by the students and worked out. The teacher guides the work and reading, and generally conducts the Seminary. As regards the time devoted to different parts of the pedagogical curriculum, four hours a week are given to each of the courses on the art of teaching and the principles of teaching, three hours a week to each of the history courses and those on school supervision, and two hours a week to the other optional subjects. The required course may be taken among the graduate or post-graduate studies. “Teachers’ Diplomas” are presented on graduation, provided the prescribed course has been taken. A “Teachers’ Certificate” given by the Faculty, on the gaining of degree and diploma, qualifies to teach in any school of the State.

At the State University, Illinois, the course in pedagogy is work which counts towards a degree. It is placed among one of the major or principal subjects of the “restricted electives,” that is, one of six subjects, each occupying six terms, two subjects of which must be chosen by the student for graduation work. Pedagogy is suggested as part of the work of the third and fourth year in the classical course, and when taken up for a third and fourth year, after any ordinary “Two Years’ Course,” it constitutes a course in philosophy and pedagogy. The different branches of pedagogy taken up in this way are:

Educational psychology, hygiene, philosophy of education, history of education, school supervision.

The “Pedagogical Seminary” is open only to students who have taken two other pedagogical courses. Psychology, school hygiene, and school supervision, constitute full courses for a term--the rest are half courses. In connection with the Philosophical Department is a course of lectures and laboratory work in experimental psychology. Apparatus has been purchased and considerably used in making psychological experiments.

In the University of Missouri there are two distinct courses, elementary and advanced. The elementary course corresponds very much to a Normal School course. The subjects for the first year’s study are chiefly English, algebra, physiology, zoology, botany, physical geography, rhetoric. In the second year, pedagogics, including applied psychology, history and school organization, are taken up with history, literature, physics, chemistry and civil government. Drawing and elocution are required subjects during all but one term of the course. The certificate at the end of the elementary course qualifies the holder to teach for two years in any public school of the State. The advanced course leads on to the degree of bachelor of pedagogics. The required work in this department may be taken by students who are preparing for degrees in other courses, or by those who have already a degree conferred by this or any approved University. The graduate students may, by selecting four of the offered subjects, and devoting five hours a week to the pedagogical work, complete the course in one year. Others, take certain prescribed courses, and certain optional courses in pedagogics, during the third and fourth years of their ordinary graduate work. The degree entitles to a life-certificate to teach in any of the public schools of the State. It is noticeable, in connection with the prescribed courses in this University, that the study of education, historically, comes before the consideration of theory or philosophy of education and its application in school work. The elective or optional studies are four--viz., school systems of Europe; school systems of the cities and States of the United States; the educational theories of Herbert Spencer; the philosophy of Froebel.

Of the other State Universities, some make pedagogics a complete course for graduates or undergraduates, while some, as at Missouri, make it an elective study during the third and fourth years of an ordinary graduate course. Where two complete courses exist--an elementary and an advanced--in the same department, the distinction is based chiefly on the difference of qualification needed for admission. Students qualified to enter the University may pursue the elementary course; only those of the third year or fourth year, or graduates, may take up the advanced course. As a rule, the students of the elementary course teach in the Primary or Grammar Schools, those of the advanced courses become teachers of secondary schools and colleges.

The State Universities of America, as a whole, follow, more or less strictly, the lines of German Universities. This is not only so as regards organization merely, but as regards methods of study, and lines of thought. In no department is the German influence more seen than in that of pedagogics, where methods of the German “Seminar” are increasingly used and valued by professors and advanced students. Few State Universities having pedagogical departments would be found which had not begun to use Seminar methods. In many Universities, a “Seminar room,” in which is a pedagogical reference library, is set apart especially for research and conference in matters educational. A natural accompaniment of these methods is much study of German pedagogical theory, and a constant tendency to emphasize and elaborate German lines of thought. The two great Schools in American psychology to-day, both of which are making rapid strides in progress, and influencing the whole of American education to an important extent, are the Herbartians and the Experimental Psychologists. Both had their beginnings in German Universities.

The most modern feature of German University Departments of Pedagogy is, however, one which has not yet been adopted by American State Universities. A means of connection between the theoretical and practical sides of training, by the establishment of a practising school attached to the University, has been made at Jena for some time. Such a connection would be of the greatest value to American State University Departments, but until now actual practical departments have not existed. The instruction in university departments of pedagogy, although such as to be of the greatest possible value and stimulation as a theoretical basis for teaching and organizing in secondary schools, is however incomplete unless opportunities are also supplied of gaining actual experience in teaching. A practising school, organized as a part of the University, and having as its principal one of the University Faculty, might, besides affording such a practising ground for secondary teachers, be the means of supplying tested facts to the teaching world in general, and would greatly help the University Department to fulfil its true function--that of stimulating teachers and unifying education in the State.

UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS OF PEDAGOGY IN THE EASTERN STATES.

The study of pedagogy in connection with the universities and colleges of the Eastern States is a department of work of comparatively recent origin. The conservative attitude of the older Universities, such as Harvard and Yale, with regard to the recognition of the claims of pedagogy to be a science, and the needs of distinctly professional instruction for those who intend to become teachers in higher schools and colleges, has resulted in the fact that the training of secondary teachers has, until a few years ago, been almost entirely restricted to the Western State Universities. It is remarkable, however, that since the older educational institutions of the Eastern States have recognised education as a science, rapid progress has been made, and one finds on surveying the work of university departments of pedagogy as a whole certain features which, when further developed, will possibly cause university instruction to be the most valuable means of training secondary teachers. Among such lines of work, already begun in these pedagogical departments, are:

i. Supervision of secondary school work.

ii. Stimulation of all teachers by research work in educational
matters.

iii. The acknowledgment by scientific workers in the field of
pedagogy and psychology of the results of teachers’ observations of
children in the school-room, as helpful to the scientific researches
of the laboratory.

iv. Preparation and stimulation of professors of pedagogy, and of
teachers for higher schools and colleges.

A very early attempt was made in Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, to arrange courses in theory and methods of teaching, but the movement was not successful. Little actual work in the training of secondary teachers was done in the Eastern States, until the Industrial Education Association of New York City, feeling the demand for skilful teachers in manual training, began to organize plans for preparing them for their work, and sending them out daily to teach in the schools. At the beginning of 1889, the work had developed so much, not only in connection with one branch of training, but many, that the institution gained a provisional charter from the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, under the name of the New York College for the Training of Teachers.

In 1892 the charter of the New York College for the Training of Teachers was made absolute, and the name changed to Teachers’ College. An agreement was also made, whereby certain pedagogical courses in the Teachers’ College are considered as courses in the Faculty of Philosophy at Columbia University, New York, and count towards a Columbia University degree. By the same agreement, qualified students of the Teachers’ College are admitted to the courses in philosophy and pedagogy at Columbia University. In this way we may regard the Teachers’ College as the newest of University departments, although, on the other hand, it has developed and become a most important and successful means of secondary training, quite apart from any connection with a college or university. The courses in pedagogy given at Columbia University, and open to students of the Teachers’ College, are:

The History of Educational Theories and Institutions--a course given
each alternate year.

Systematic Pedagogics; the Psychology of Childhood; Principles of
Teaching; (given also every alternate year).

A Pedagogical Seminar (one hour a week for advanced students).

The lectures in philosophy and experimental psychology are also open under the same conditions. Among them are the following courses:

(_a_) Logic and Psychology; (_b_) Ethics; (_c_) Introductory course
in Physiological Psychology (lectures and laboratory work); (_d_)
Advanced course in Physiological Psychology (experiment work in the
laboratory); (_e_) Introductory course in Experimental Psychology
(lectures, themes and laboratory work); (_f_) Vision (lectures,
reports and advanced laboratory work); (_g_) Advanced work in
Experimental Psychology and Research (individual instruction daily).

The courses at the Teachers’ College, open to all Columbia University Students, are:

i. Educational Psychology; Study of Children.

ii. Science and Art of Teaching, with illustrations from the
Kindergarten and Elementary Schools. Observation.

iii. Introductory course on the History of Education.

iv. _Institutes of Education_, by Laurie. Rosenkranz’s _Philosophy of
Education_ and Herbart’s _Science of Education_.

v. Methods of teaching History in secondary schools.

The following can be taken only by advanced students:

i. Methods of teaching Science in elementary and secondary schools.

ii. Methods of teaching Manual Training in elementary and secondary
schools.

iii. Methods of teaching Latin, Greek, French and German.

iv. Reading and discussion of German and French pedagogical works in
the original.

v. Methods of teaching Educational Psychology. Observation and
Practice.

vi. Practice in teaching and supervision. Criticism, School
Management, Discipline.

Candidates for the A.B. degree of Columbia University may specialize for the last year in the department of pedagogy. They are required to take two subjects, one as major or principal subject, one as minor subject. A third optional subject may be taken.

To gain a Diploma of the Teachers’ College, a two years’ course of study is required. This includes:

i. Elements of Psychology--“a course to give skill in description and
explanation of mental phenomena and insight into the observing and
training of children.”

ii. Educational Theories since the Renaissance, with a general survey
of earlier theories.

iii. A course in Psychology, History of Education, or in Principles
of Logic and Psychology as applied to Science and Manual Training.

iv. Study of range of child’s mental activities as the basis
of primary instruction: the vocabulary as a basis of language
teaching; the child’s power and skill of hand as the basis of manual
expression; Methods of Teaching: Observation lessons; Language,
including Reading; Number; Manual Exercises.

v. Principles of Teaching, with special reference to application
of Psychology to the cultivation of intellectual powers, the
feeling, the will. The application of the principles of education to
classification, organization, and school discipline.

vi. Observation and practice teaching, under supervision, and
independently.

vii. Physical training.

viii. Special methods of one subject of study.

The college is distinctly and solely a professional school. There is no direct instruction in the subject matter of study, the admission qualification being such as to exclude all persons who have not had a satisfactory secondary education. Each college department provides training in the principles and practice of teaching the subjects which more especially belong to it; but all instruction is entirely from the standpoint of the teacher. It is particularly stated in connection with this teaching, that no student is admitted to a course in the methods of any particular subject unless he can show himself to be proficient in the subject matter of that branch of instruction. For those not qualified, by training or academic standing, to pursue the ordinary work of the college, it has been found advisable to arrange an introductory course to occupy one year. The preparatory course includes the study of English, an introduction to science, either drawing, domestic science, or wood-carving, and either constructive geometry, with the solution of original problems, or one branch of science with laboratory work. I spent several days in this college and heard some of the teaching in psychology, and in science. The psychology and history of education are both two years’ courses. In psychology the students begin by learning to make records of their individual observation of children. The chief use of psychology to the teacher is regarded as the making him conscious of processes of thought, which before might have been accurate, but were not known. As the end of education is assumed to be a moral end, in so far as it has to do with character and conduct, the will is made the basis of educational psychology and is treated first in order. One advantage of such an order of treatment is that the practical value of the study of psychology to education can be early shown. As the whole question of education is a question of the guiding and controlling of action, great importance is given to the practical study of action in its three phases of instinct, will and habit. Each of these is followed out as far as possible by means of the observation of children at play, or by the study of the student’s own willed movements. All questions of physiological psychology are avoided as much as possible in the study of psychology for educational purposes, the two reasons given being:

i. That most students have not a sufficient knowledge of physiology
to take up physiological psychology.

ii. That those who have a sufficient knowledge of physiology find
the correlation difficult. In beginning to study psychology, the two
aspects of one set of facts and their bearings upon each other cannot
be easily seen. Much work in both sciences is needed before good work
can be done in physiological psychology.

The students use Sully, James, and Höffding as text-books. The lines of work, however, are not those of any particular writer or school. The students have ample opportunities of wide reading and research, not only in psychology, but in all branches of pedagogy. These are afforded by the Bryson Pedagogical Library in the college building. This library, founded in connection with the Teachers’ College, for the purpose of affording opportunities of research to students of the college, is open to all teachers of the city and to the public generally. It contains 5,000 volumes, including books on pedagogy and connected subjects, text-books of all kinds, and the current literary, scientific and educational periodicals published in America and Europe.

In the study of the history of education, the plan adopted is a thorough and exhaustive treatment of one or two great educational reformers, with mere outline sketches of others. The reformers specially considered are regarded, not only as educators, but in all other possible aspects. Their lives and works, their ideas, the contemporary history of their own and other countries, are fully discussed. When this has been done, all other facts of educational history are as far as possible compared with, and illustrated by, the facts connected with the reformer who has been specially considered. Such a method seems very stimulating and interesting to the student, and much more satisfactory, than a general treatment of the whole, suggested by many text-books on the history of education.

Methods of chemistry, physics, physiology-botany, geology, are taught by means of actual lessons in the various subjects, given by the heads of departments and their assistants, to children in the practising school. Students are required to observe the teaching, to attend lectures and discussions upon the methods pursued, to learn the art of experimenting, and to prepare themselves for directing laboratories. They are also guided and helped in making a careful inspection of the science teaching in the public schools of the city. In addition to this, they are introduced to some of the practical problems of science teaching in the school-room, such as the difficulties of teaching science without a laboratory, or without fixed times for experimenting. All students who take science as their major or principal subject are required also to take courses in:--(i.) The use of tools for constructing home-made apparatus; (ii.) fundamental principles of drawing and their applications for students who take special work in other departments; (iii.) the specified courses in psychology, history of education, and science and art of teaching; (iv.) outlines of the lives and work of eminent scientists, as illustrating methods of scientific research. A Time-Table for the Two Years’ Course in Science is as follows:--

_First Year._

_Time._

MONDAY.

Physics for High Schools 9.20-10.15.
Psychology 10.50-11.30.
Lecture and Laboratory 12.55-2.15.

TUESDAY.

Botany for High Schools 9.20-10.15.

WEDNESDAY.

Physics for High Schools 9.20-10.15.
Psychology 10.50-11.30.
Methods 11.15-12.15.
Lab. Practice 12.55-2.15.

THURSDAY.

Geology for High Schools 9.20-10.15.
History of Education 10.50-11.30.

FRIDAY.

Use of tools 9.20-10.15.
Psychology 10.50-11.30.
Methods 11.15-12.15.

_Second Year._

_Time._
MONDAY.

Psychology 10.50-12.15.
Lect. and Lab. Instruction 12.55-2.15.

TUESDAY.

Observ. and Practice 9.20-10.45.
Drawing 10.50-12.15.
Chemistry for High Schools 12.55-2.15.

WEDNESDAY.

Observ. and Practice 9.20-10.45.
Lab. Practice 12.55-2.15.

THURSDAY.

Observ. and Practice 9.20-10.45.
Drawing 10.50-12.15.
Chemistry for High Schools 12.55-2.15.

FRIDAY.

Observ. and Practice 9.20-10.45.

The practice department of the Teachers’ College is one of its most important features, for a fundamental assumption is that practice is the key-note of all training, that no one can consider himself trained who has not taught, and that the future teacher must observe good teaching, and must teach under normal conditions. The Horace Mann School for the observation and practice of the students of the Teachers’ College comprises kindergarten, primary, grammar and high school grades. The heads of departments arrange the teaching of the students, and great care is exercised in keeping the school efficient, as the observation of good teaching is considered only second in importance to actual practice.

I heard a botany lesson in the practising school, given by the instructor in methods of botany. The class, numbering about twelve children, of about ten years of age, was furnished with lenses, and needles, and a plentiful supply of flowers. Each child was required to see and examine all the flowers that were given to him, to describe carefully and exactly what he had observed, and to take nothing for granted. The methods adopted were such as to make the children original investigators, and the attitude of the teacher towards her subject was such as to develop a spirit of reverence in the children, and to arouse an interest æsthetic as well as scientific. No technical terms were used in descriptions. The botany lessons are adapted to the different seasons of the year. For example, the scheme of work for the Autumn term is:--

Autumn Flowers.

How differing from Spring flowers in

Colour.
Size.
Growth.

Autumn Fruits.

Their growth.
” parts.
” use to man.
” use to animals.

Study of Seeds.

Growth.
Methods of Distribution.
{ Food.
Uses for { Oil.
{ Medicine.
Grain and harvesting.

Observation of Trees.

Falling of leaves.
Colours ” ”
Leaf-buds.
Deciduous trees.
Evergreen trees.

Preparation for winter by plants.

Seeds.
Buds.
Leaves.

The herbarium is not much used, but in autumn each child and student brings a specimen of one tree or plant. All the specimens are kept and are used for the study of seeds during the winter. Twigs are brought into the school-room and made to grow in water, seeds are grown in shavings, and plants of all kinds are watched during the year.

The work in geology is a special feature of the practising school. Courses of work have been adapted by the head of department to the lowest grades of the grammar school--viz., to children about nine years old. The work is closely connected with the geography teaching, and children are encouraged to collect specimens of different kinds of building stone they see, or to bring any other specimens of rock or minerals. Trays of quartz, felspar and mica are provided for each child, for beginning practical work in geology. After examination of these minerals, granite is studied, and afterwards gneiss, as leading the way to the general history of rocks. Slag structures are given for examination, as specimens to illustrate the effects of heat. Artificial geodes and lavas are also studied, when connecting the history of rocks with their structure. Students who are preparing to become specialist teachers in geology have special work with the children. They prepare lessons under the guidance of the teacher--submitting written notes of the subject matter, but talking over with their head of department the proposed methods of dealing with the facts. They have also special laboratory work, in constructing simple apparatus, and making maps, charts and drawings.

The physiology lesson I heard was given to a high school class, by the director of the department of physiology. It was a revision lesson, conducted with the special object of making the class discover the general position of Man in the Animal Kingdom. The particular features I noticed about the lesson were:--

(i.) No technical terms were used in description, if the required
meaning could be expressed in ordinary language.

(ii.) Any difficulty as regards animal structure which arose during
the process of classification was settled by actual reference to the
museum specimen at hand. The doubt as to whether a fish might be
said to have a brain was settled by inspection of a haddock’s brain,
brought from the museum.

(iii.) Great care was exercised by the teacher in order to prevent
hasty or incorrect inferences being drawn.

(iv.) There was constant reference to text-books. The pupils had been
taught to use a reference library.

It is evident to those who have watched the movement of the training of secondary teachers in the Eastern States that the Teachers’ College of New York has done a work peculiarly its own. It was organized on the present lines, to combat the idea, even still existent to some extent, that college graduation equips for successful teaching. It has done this, not by emphasizing the value of professional training in itself, apart from its connection with scholastic equipment, but by insisting that the secondary teacher can only be fully prepared for his work when careful scholastic preparation is supplemented by a consideration of principles and methods of teaching, and by actual class work. Much of the successful work of the Teachers’ College is probably due to the thorough preparation required before beginning work, and to the maturity of the students who take the courses. With such material, and under such conditions, it is possible to make training thorough and very valuable. This is especially so in an institution, such as this, which can extend its interests, and broaden its outlook, by alliance with a University like Columbia, securing by this means the philosophical as well as the practical standpoint.

The School of Pedagogy of the University of the City of New York, established to give opportunities of higher training to graduates of colleges or of Normal Schools, differs fundamentally from other departments of Universities already considered, in only offering its pedagogical degrees to those persons who can show evidence of three or four years’ successful teaching experience. This is a necessary qualification for admittance to the junior or senior pedagogical course of the University. A student who has a college degree, and who is credited with a sufficient number of attendances during two years’ membership of the senior class, becomes “Doctor of Pedagogy,” after passing an examination on five prescribed courses of work, and presenting a satisfactory thesis on some educational subject. Students of the junior class are required to pass an examination in four subjects, and to attend the required number of lectures during one year, in order to obtain the degree of “Master of Pedagogy.” The courses studied are:--

(i.) History of Education from Socrates to the present time (lectures
and Seminar).

(ii.) Psychology and Ethics, special attention being paid to the
Physiological Psychology and the Psychology of Experiment.

(iii.) Institutes of Education, including--
Educational values; incentives; co-ordination of studies; school
hygiene; school organization; child-study; methods.

(iv.) Educational classics and æsthetics.

(v.) Systems of Education:--European, American, National, State,
County, City, District.

Opportunities are given for visiting schools in the city, and observing teachers and children, but no practice department is connected with the University.

At Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York, systematic instruction in pedagogy is given as a part of the Department of Philosophy. There is a professor of pedagogy, who gives courses of lectures on:--Institutes of Education; School Systems and Organization; Logic and Methodology; History of Education. Simple problems for experimental investigation in the psychological laboratory are discussed. Pedagogical conferences, somewhat on the lines of the German “Conferenz,” are arranged, for criticism of school reports and plans of teaching various subjects; and seminaries of pedagogy and psychology have been instituted for laboratory work and original research. Beyond these strictly professional courses, there are courses in English, mathematics, Latin, etc., with direct reference to those who wish to become teachers in these subjects. Attendances at such courses counts towards a “Teachers’ Certificate.” The “Teachers’ Certificate” is given to graduates of Cornell University, who have successfully pursued the first course on the Science and Art of Teaching, or that portion of it which relates to the general theory of education; and have also attained marked proficiency in a course of five hours’ advanced work per week, for two years, in each subject for which the “Teachers’ Certificate” is given.

At Syracuse University, New York, pedagogy is an elective subject during the third terms of the third and fourth university year, for those who take the philosophical course. There are also Normal Courses given by the university professors in their various subjects.

The introduction of pedagogy as a definite branch of the philosophical department at Harvard University, is perhaps one of the most important movements in the progress and development of the Science of Teaching in America. In establishing its course, “adapted to the purpose of teachers and persons intending to become teachers,” Harvard has made recognition of the fact that something more than pure scholarship is needed to produce the successful teacher or professor. Accordingly, it has established two departments of training:--

i. Strictly professional courses in educational theory, history of
educational theories and practice, lectures on the management of
public schools and academies, and on the curriculum of the public
schools; and a seminary course for advanced students.

ii. Other courses in methods, in connection with actual university
instruction in the different parts of the curriculum.

Connected with the lectures on methods, and the organization and management of public schools, is the systematic inspection of designated schools by students, and a detailed report on some phase of school life observed there. Each student is required to make a comparative study of the teaching of a chosen subject, in all the grades of at least two schools; or he may make a study of supervision and discipline in two schools. Students must also make a comparative study of not less than three city school systems, of three State school systems, and of the school system of England, France, and Germany. This work of inspecting and reporting is considered a very important part of the pedagogical course.

The courses in methods, given by the professors of different college departments, are conducted by means of lectures and conferences in connection with Greek, Latin, English, German, French, history, mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, geology and geography. Most of these “Teachers’ Courses” require attendance at some other college course in the same subject, where the professor illustrates his own method. In a few cases, attendance at lessons in the specified subjects, in schools near the University, is required.

The courses in pedagogy have, until the present year, been closed to all but graduates. Lately, however, the regulations have been changed, and pedagogical work may now count towards a degree.

There is no opportunity given to the Harvard pedagogical students for actual teaching; but the connection brought about between the college department and the secondary schools, by the constant attendance of students in the school-rooms of the neighbourhood, may possibly develop into a system wherein trained students may act as substitutes in these schools. Quite apart, however, from this possible future connection, there is even now an important practical relationship between Harvard University and some of the secondary schools--viz., that of supervision. In establishing a system of examination of the teaching in such schools as make application, Harvard has acknowledged the important principle that chief among the functions of an university is that of directing and stimulating secondary education.

The Department of Education at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, is a branch of the Department of Psychology. While doing much to advance the cause of the professional training of teachers, it does not strictly adapt its courses to the wants of the future secondary teacher. The fact that Clark University, unlike any other University in the United States, exists solely for the purpose of research, and admits only graduates as its students, determines that the pedagogical work shall also have a special character, well marked off from that of any other university. The department is purely one of higher pedagogy. Its aim is stated to be twofold:--

i. To give instruction and training to those who are preparing to
be professors of pedagogy, superintendents, or teachers in higher
institutions.

ii. To make scientific contributions to education.

The work pursued is in six courses, with an additional seminary course. These are:--

i. Present status and problems of higher education in America and
Europe.

ii. Outline of systematic psychology.

iii. Organization of schools in Europe. Typical schools and typical
foundations.

iv. School hygiene.

v. Educational reforms.

vi. Motor education of children, involving the study of writing and
drawing, manual training, play, and gymnastics.

The _Pedagogical Seminary_, an educational magazine edited by Dr. Stanley Hall, the President of Clark University, exists chiefly for the purpose of publishing results of work in this department. There is a special pedagogical library for research, and a complete collection of the current educational literature of America and Europe.

Among the other departments of psychology, there are many of great interest to the student of higher pedagogy.

Some of these are:--

i. History of psychology.

ii. Experimental psychology.

iii. Anthropology (the investigation of myth, custom, belief).

iv. Ethics (the investigation of criminals, paupers, defective
classes).

v. Feeling (investigations of conditions of the agreeable and
disagreeable, abnormal states, the hypnotic, the insane).

vi. Neurology (researches on brain fatigue, etc.).

For investigation in these departments, there are four psychological laboratories, a neurological laboratory, and an anthropological laboratory. Opportunities are also given to students to observe patients in State and city lunatic hospitals, and in institutions for the defective and criminal classes. The departments of research, most closely bearing upon the teacher’s work, are perhaps those of experimental psychology and neurology. Investigations on muscle and brain fatigue, the diurnal variations of mental vigour, the memory of children, etc., bring results important to the teacher, and especially so when carried out as at Clark University, by experts in scientific experiment. The _American Journal of Psychology_, edited by Dr. Stanley Hall, and published quarterly, contains the results of many of the researches in the psychological laboratories of Clark University.