TABLE 4.-Theoretical and practical professional work in the public normal schools of cities. History of education. Science of education. Hours Weeks Hours Weeks School management Psychology. Hours Weeks during in Pupils. during in Pupils. during in Pupils. during in Pupils. week. course. 2 3 week. course. week. course. week. conrse. 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 a In connection with history of education and school management and methods. b Included in science of education, TABLE 4.-Theoretical and practical professional work in the public normal schools of cities-Continued. North Atlantic Division: Portland, Me. Manchester, N. H ANALYSIS OF THE FOREGOING TABLE. If any schools for the training of teachers in this country ought to deserve the name of professional it is the class known as city normal schools. A system of city schools is an educational unit, having its own chief, board, and system of government. Naturally when the need of trained teachers for its schools begins to be felt as retarding the growth of the schools such a system exerts its authority to supply the need, and it is equally natural that the upper class of the high school should be looked to for the material of which to make teachers, and that, finally, a normal school should be the result of the attempt to train high school pupils for teaching. In the main, one of two reasons has been specially urged as validating the establishment of city training schools or classes, one based on the inadequacy of the State normal schools to supply the city's wants, the other on the assertion that there is something sui generis in each city system of schools that makes it necessary for each to provide its teachers in its own way; for, to quote a western superintendent, “Who can teach a system better than one who has been taught by it?" The last reason seeming to indicate either that each city had a science and art of education of its own, or that the administration of its school affairs was so complex as to seriously interfere with the activity of the uninitiated teacher when she became a part of its educational machinery. However legitimate the claim may be that each city has an educational individuality of its own, there can be no doubt that considerable individuality is shown in the manner in which the practical part of the training of the intending teacher is done. This individuality as to methods of practical instruction embarrasses this Office somewhat in treating of the class. To illustrate, let us take the course at Rochester, N. Y., as described on page 399 of our report for 1886-'87; the course is of 40 weeks, but "the class meets for one hour each week to discuss the topic assigned the previous week," while for practice "all substitutes and temporary assistants are taken from the training class." Turning now to page 417 of our 1887-'88 report we find under the caption "Georgia" that Superintendent Slatou, of Atlanta, has assured us that "there are, strictly speaking, no normal schools in Atlanta or in the State of Georgia. We have a meeting every week to discuss methods, etc., and this is known as a teachers normal class.'" Now, the only practical difference that exists between the Rochester and the Atlanta school or class seems to be that at the Northern city persons who are not yet teachers are trained for the duties of a teacher and at the Southern city persons who are teachers are trained for their duties; a distinction that approaches the vanishing point when it is remembered that the practice that Rochester girl receives is when she acts as a substitute or assistant teacher and that the Atlanta girl is employed in the same duties, only in her own right. Again, take the Welch school, of New Haven, where one-half of the year "the training class forms no part of the teaching force, but during the latter half the young ladies in training go into the class rooms to take their share in the actual work of the school." How to ascertain, without a very voluminous correspondence, the distinctions that exist among city normal schools or classes and the number, character, length, and attendance of teachers' institutes are questions that are as difficult to solve as their solution is necessary to the accuracy and completeness of the portion of the Commissioner's report that deals with the training of teachers. We have 25 city normal schools in Table 4. With two exceptions they all present statistics. Of the 16 giving the hours during the week devoted to the history of education, 9 devote 5 hours and 2 devote 4 hours to the subject. Of these 16, 5 report a course of 20 weeks, 5 a course of 10 to 12 weeks, 3 a course of about 40 weeks, 2 a course as low as 8 weeks. Seventeen schools report the hours a week given to the science of education; in 9 instances 5 hours, in 2 instances 4 hours, and in 3 instances 3 hours. Sixteen of these schools report the times a week and the weeks in course; in 3 instances 20 weeks, in 3 instances 10 to 12 weeks, 3 instances 8 weeks, and in 5 instances about 40 weeks. Nineteen schools report the hours a week devoted to school management and methods; in 6 instances 5 hours, in 4 instances 4 hours, the other instances being mostly above these "centers." Of these same 19 schools 18 report the weeks in the conrse; in 4 instances 20 weeks, in 3 instances 10 to 12 weeks, in 9 instances about 40 weeks, in 2 instances about 28 or 32 weeks. Eighteen schools report the time given to psychology; in 11 instances 5 hours a week, in 2 instances 4 hours, in 3 instances 3 hours. Seventeen of these schools report the weeks in course; 5 schools report 20 weeks, 4 schools 10 to 12 weeks, 2, 14 or 15 weeks, 4 schools about 40 weeks, 1 school 80 weeks, and 1 school 24 weeks. Comparing the contents of column 4 with that of column 14 (excluding schools not reporting in both), 83 per cent. of the students of 16 schools or professional departments of schools are in the study of history of education, 87 per cent. of 19 schools are in the science of education, 98 per cent, in school management and methods, and 89 per cent. of 20 schools are in psychology. Every school has practice teaching and, with but several exceptions, teaching to their fellow-pupils. The first, of course, was to be expected, the latter not. The character and relation of the teaching of the pupil in his own class room to that he does in the practice school is not indicated by the table; yet the method seems to be no favorite with the principals as far as the replies received by President Gray go to show. Of the 18 schools reporting the number of times a week the exercise occurs only 4 report less than 5 times, and 1 of the 4 has the exercise 4 times. SYNOPSIS OF THE FOREGOING ANALYSES. Confining our attention to columns 4, 7, 10, 13, and 14 of this series of tables and to the institutions that report, either negatively or affirmatively, in all these columns, and comparing the aggregate of column 14 with each of the others, we find that of the pupils in the science and art of teaching (column 14) there are: In the course of East. West. South. Cities. Number of schools reporting. 16 18 7178 In attempting to give an idea of the difference between the sections of the Union as to the hours a week devoted to these four subjects, and the length of the course, we experience more difficulty. We shall assume that for the length of course there are three typical centers, as it were, about which the number of weeks in the course seem to concentrate. These centers are 10 to 14 weeks, 18 to 20 weeks, from 36 to 40 weeks. For the time given to each subject during the week we shall adopt two centers, 2 to 3 and 4 to 5. Number of Schools that give in the a Not including six instances of from 15 to 17 weeks. 18 to 27. 2221 2253 36 to 40. 2 to 3. 4 to 5. 10 to 14. 24180 2 11 66 10 3 13 6696 3 18 to 20. 36 to 40. b Eight weeks in 3 instances included. THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL TRAINING OF TEACHERS IN GERMANY. It is generally known, we believe, that the several European Governments, especially the French, from time to time send representatives abroad to study the educational systems of other nations and even to dwell at their places of instruction in order to gain a more accurate knowledge of foreign manners and customs, a process which a brilliant French educational writer has compared to trying to see in the dark. We Americans and our relatives on the other side of the Atlantic are less active in this way, the matter being left almost entirely to private enterprise. We are unable to say that Mr. Perry, an assistant master at Eton College, was in the employ of the British Government while residing at the German training college at Weimar, or that he resided at Weimar and traveled through Germany for the purpose of making the report which he presented to the "Royal (English) Čommission on the Education Acts." Nevertheless, in looking around for statistics of German schools to compare with those we have presented, it was with some pleasure that we found in Mr. Perry's recent work on German training schools and colleges those which follow. It will be remembered that in Germany school programmes are made by the Government. TABLE 5.-Theoretical training of students in the training colleges of six states of the German Empire. TABLE 6.—The practical training of students in fourteen German training colleges. |