Book.___/lA__ 
 Copyright^!*. 
 
 CDPyRIGW DEPOSIT 
 
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE NORMAL 
 
 SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC 
 
 SCHOOL SYSTEM 
 
 BY 
 
 ERNEST O. HOLLAND. Ph. D. 
 
 SUPEEINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 
 
 LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY 
 
 SOMETiaiE FELLOW IN EDUCATION 
 
 TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY 
 
 TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION, NO. 55 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Emti^svs ffloll^g?, Ololttmbta MmvtVBit^ 
 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 
 1912 
 
 MonofrafM 
 

 Copyright, 1912, by Ernest O. Holland 
 
 ^CI.A327006 
 

 "K 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 This study in practical school administration was undertaken 
 in the spring of 1910 in connection with the graduate work I 
 was then doing at Teachers College. Grateful acknowledgment 
 for helpful criticisms and suggestions is especially due the com- 
 mittee in charge of my dissertation, — ^Professors Monroe, Suz- 
 zallo and Strayer. I am also indebted to Professor E. L. Thorn- 
 dike and Mr. M. B. Hillegas, of Teachers College, who care- 
 fully examined the statistical tables I have prepared in connec- 
 tion with my study. To Professor E. P. Cubberley, of Leland 
 Stanford, Junior, University, I am indebted for the critical ex- 
 amination of several of the chapters and to Mr. H. B. Moore, 
 of the Boys High School, Louisville, Kentucky, for assistance in 
 revising my manuscript. Finally, I must take this opportunity 
 to thank the leading educators of Pennsylvania for their sugges- 
 tions and encouragement and for the careful reading of my 
 thesis. 
 
 E. O. H. 
 Louisville, Kentucky, April, 1912. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XL 
 
 Introduction : Object and Scope of Investigation 
 
 History of the Establishment of the Pennsyl- 
 vania State Normal Schools . 
 
 Present Management . . . . 
 
 The Entrance Requirements 
 
 The Curriculum ..... 
 
 Advertising Methods and Special Courses 
 
 The State Board Examinations 
 
 The Student Body ..... 
 
 The Faculty ...... 
 
 The Relation of the State Normal Schools to 
 the Public High Schools 
 
 Conclusions . . . . . . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 37 
 46 
 
 5° 
 58 
 62 
 
 74 
 
 80 
 91 
 
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE NORMAL 
 SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTION : OBJECT AND SCOPE OF INVESTI- 
 GATION 
 
 The writer has undertaken to present a critical survey of the 
 provision made in the state of Pennsylvania for the training 
 of teachers in the state normal schools. A study of this 
 kind might be undertaken with regard to any one of several 
 aspects of any state system of education. In any such study 
 the method must be largely comparative. The basis of the 
 criticism which is expressed as the result of such an investigation 
 is, of necessity, that practice found elsewhere in the United 
 States which is commonly considered more satisfactory from 
 the standpoint of our ideals of educational efficiency. We have 
 not yet developed methods of measurement which will enable 
 one to prove either the efficiency or inefficiency of any part of 
 our school system by applying objective measures other than 
 those commonly employed in the comparisons indicated above. 
 
 The thirteen state normal schools of Pennsylvania were ex- 
 amined as to management and control, equipment, teaching force, 
 and student body. The school work of these institutions was also 
 carefully examined to discover their influence upon the entire 
 public school system of the state. For this purpose the writer 
 spent in Pennsylvania from the middle of March until the first of 
 June, 1910, visiting these institutions. He went into the class- 
 rooms and personally questioned hundreds of students as to their 
 previous academic preparation. He also inspected the general 
 equipment, held conferences with prominent citizens of the 
 locality, with the principals of the normal schools, and with mem- 
 bers of the boards of trustees. Finally, by visiting the public 
 schools of the locality, he endeavored to discover how they were 
 affected by the presence of a state normal school. In addition, 
 
 I 
 
2 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 the writer has been aided in the study by leading educators of the 
 state who have offered many vakiable suggestions and have 
 carefully examined and criticised the manuscript. 
 
 Soon after the inquiry was begun, the investigator was im- 
 pressed with the influence exerted by the thirteen normal schools 
 of the state. It seemed to him that these schools, privately 
 controlled and managed, although supported by public funds, 
 are the dominant educational influence of the state. It appeared 
 also that the normal schools of Pennsylvania occupy a dual 
 position : that they were at the same time training schools for 
 teachers and secondary or college preparatory schools. The 
 relation of the normal schools to the whole school system of the 
 state is indicated in the following chart : 
 
 Colleges and Universities 
 4 years 
 
 Normal School 
 4 years 
 
 High School 
 4 years 
 
 Common Schools 
 8 years 
 
 The state of Pennsylvania is appropriating public money both 
 for the public high schools and for the normal schools, which are 
 doing largely the same kind of work. Because of this duplication 
 in function, the academic work in both types of institution is 
 seriously affected ; the enrollment in the secondary schools of 
 the state is comparatively small ; the proportion of high schools 
 of the lowest grade is abnormally large; and the geographical 
 distribution of all grades of secondary schools has been largely 
 determined by the location of the state normal schools. 
 
 Contrasted with the educational status in Pennsylvania, below 
 appears a chart, showing the relationship of the various types of 
 
Object and Scope of Investigation 3 
 
 institution, which experience in the most progressive states has 
 demonstrated will produce the best results : 
 
 
 Colleges and Uni- 
 versities 
 4 years 
 
 Normal School 
 2 years 
 
 High School 
 4 years 
 
 Common Schools 
 8 years 
 
 The Pennsylvania school code of 191 1 is a step in the right 
 direction, but Pennsylvania cannot hope to rank with the best 
 states of the country unless she is willing to go further in con- 
 structive school legislation. This new law of 191 1 provides for 
 the establishment of a state board of education. Later, when 
 additional laws are enacted giving this central board wide powers 
 in the examination and certification of teachers^ in the distribu- 
 tion of public funds to local communities and in the careful 
 supervision of all publicly-supported schools, then Pennsylvania 
 will have in many respects a modern public school system. 
 
 It should be noted here, moreover, that the new school code 
 has made provision, enabling the state to acquire possession of 
 the normal schools. This cannot be accomplished for several 
 years, but when it is accomplished, the duplication of work by the 
 normal schools and the high schools will cease, the former devot- 
 ing themselves to the training of teachers, the latter to the strictly 
 academic preparation of boys and girls to enter the higher insti- 
 tutions of learning — which will then include the normal schools — 
 or directly into the varying activities of life. Of course, the 
 transition will, of necessity, be gradual rather than abrupt. It 
 will be necessary, if the state is to develop a unified system of 
 education, so to arrange the courses in the normal schools that 
 every encouragement will be given to the local community to 
 provide high school education in preparation for professional 
 
4 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 training in the normal school. To this end full credit in the 
 normal school course as at present organized, should be given 
 for work done in high schools which are recognized by the state 
 department. In order to develop professional training based 
 upon a four years' high school course, the normal schools should 
 offer courses leading to recognition, by diploma or otherwise, in 
 advance of that now commonly offered to students who com- 
 plete a four year normal school course on the basis of merely 
 elementary school training. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PENN- 
 SYLVANIA STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS 
 
 In order to understand clearly the establishment and the 
 present condition of the Pennsylvania state normal schools, it is 
 necessary to trace the movement which led up to the passage of 
 the normal school act of 1857. 
 
 With the exception of Delaware, Tennessee, Alabama, and 
 Florida, all the states of the Union maintain separate normal 
 schools for the training of teachers which receive funds from 
 the public treasury. In Pennsylvania alone these schools are pri- 
 vate corporations over which the state exercises little effectual 
 control. In all the other states the normals are an integral part 
 of the state educational system, under the complete control of 
 state authorities. Whether this policy of state subvention, as 
 contrasted with state control, is of itself likely to produce good 
 results should appear from an examination of actual conditions 
 in the thirteen normal schools of this state. 
 
 The policy of subvention is, apparently, consistent with the 
 general educational policy. There is no state university. Penn- 
 sylvania State College, which receives the money from the Fed- 
 eral land grants, has only three representatives on a governing 
 board of thirty-two members. Moreover, in other fields the same 
 policy prevails. Private hospitals throughout the state receive 
 state aid in large appropriations, unchecked by state direction. 
 
 As early as 1749 the leading citizens of Pennsylvania realized 
 that definite steps must be taken to provide well-qualified teach- 
 ers, and from that year to 1786 many schools were authorized 
 to aid in the preparation of teachers. This work they did on 
 their own initiative until 1786, when, through the efforts of 
 Doctor Benjamin Rush, the state adopted a policy which it con- 
 tinued for fifty years " of chartering colleges and academies and 
 aiding them by appropriations from the public treasury, on the 
 
 5 
 
6 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 ground, and with the expectation, that in addition to their proper 
 functions they would prepare teachers of lower grade." 
 
 Under the authority of the act of 1786 several schools^ es- 
 tablished courses for the training of teachers, and received small 
 sums from the state in recognition. This was the status of 
 teacher-training in Pennsylvania until 1840. 
 
 By act of legislature in 1840, the Joliet Academy of Erie 
 county, was recognized as an institution '* for the instruction 
 and qualification of teachers of common schools." This institu- 
 tion received no aid from the state; it was erected through local 
 subscription, and for a few years it probably aided considerably 
 in the training of teachers for Erie and Crawford counties. Be- 
 cause of the popular belief at this time that all persons intending 
 to teach should be especially prepared, many academies adver- 
 tised that they offered courses in education. This was particu- 
 larly true from 1834 to the passage of the normal school act 
 of 1857 which committed the Commonwealth to a definite policy 
 with respect to the professional preparation of teachers. 
 
 In 1854 the office of county superintendent was established by 
 law. As soon as the direction of the common schools of Penn- 
 sylvania was given over to those new officers, it became evident 
 that many schools were in very incompetent hands, and the need 
 for well prepared teachers was more keenly felt than ever be- 
 fore. Owing to the fact that the state did not have institutions 
 giving professional work, a local substitute had to be found, 
 and during the first year of the existence of county superinten- 
 dents, six or eight of the best counties established local and tem- 
 porary schools for teachers. Their example was followed by 
 other superintendents for the next few years. The largest and 
 most prosperous of these local schools was the " Normal Insti- 
 tute," begun in 1855 at Millersville, Lancaster county, by 
 James P. Wickersham who later became state superintendent. 
 Its success was so great that many of the citizens of Lancaster 
 county contributed money freely in order to erect a permanent 
 county normal school. This institution was looked upon as a 
 model for those the state should establish, since it showed what 
 splendid results could be accomplished in the preparation of 
 teachers. 
 
 ^ Washington College, Jefferson College, Reading Academy, Pennsyl- 
 vania College, Allegheny College and Marshall College among the number. 
 
History of Establishment - 7 
 
 In the meantime, the leading educators began to urge that the 
 state no longer leave entirely to local initiative the important 
 duty of giving normal instruction. They believed that in some 
 way the state should recognize the work that those local normal 
 schools were doing, though it should not support them. This 
 policy was advocated by Burro wes in an article published in 1866 
 in Barnard's Journal, in which he said : " Normal Schools, like 
 other professional institutions, ought not to be established by 
 and at the expense of the State, and should be no further con- 
 trolled by the State than is necessary to give value and authority 
 to their diplomas." Other leading educators also advocated this 
 policy which was finally adopted when the normal school act was 
 passed. 
 
 In 1856 Thomas H. Burro wes, at the request of State Superin- 
 tendent Curtin, made a statement outlining the kind of institu- 
 tion that might be approved by the state. This plan, with few 
 modifications, was drafted into a bill which was presented to 
 the Pennsylvania legislature in 1857 and adopted by that body. 
 
 The act contained the following provisions : 
 
 1. The state to be divided into twelve districts, each with a 
 normal school. 
 
 2. These schools to be erected and controlled by private cor- 
 porations. A corporation might have as few as thirteen 
 contributors or stockholders. 
 
 3. Pecuniary affairs to be managed by a board of trustees. 
 No contributor or stockholder to have more than five votes at 
 the election of trustees. No religious test for contributor, stock- 
 holder, trustee, professor, or student. A detailed fiscal report 
 to be made out annually to the state superintendent. 
 
 4. Following requirements as to equipment : 
 
 a. Ten acres of land. 
 
 b. Buildings for accommodation of three hundred 
 
 students. 
 
 c. Model school containing at least one hundred 
 
 students. 
 
 d. Faculty of at least six professors. 
 
 5. Course of study and entrance qualifications to be deter- 
 mined by normal school principals when approved by the state 
 superintendent. 
 
 6. Each normal school to admit one student annually from 
 each common school district (in the normal school district) at 
 not more than five dollars per term to be paid by the local board 
 
8 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 of school directors. Said student toi teach in his own district at 
 least three years after graduating. 
 
 7. Examinations for graduation to be conducted by a board 
 of principals ; certificates or diplomas granted. After two terms 
 of successful teaching each normal school graduate to be given 
 permanent license to teach anywhere in the state. Teachers 
 in service, holding provisional certificates, also to take the ex- 
 aminations in order to receive a higher certificate. 
 
 In the main, these were the conditions laid down by law for 
 the establishment and maintenance of normal schools, which 
 were to receive absolutely no financial support from the state. 
 Each institution at the beginning was free to elect any number 
 of trustees and to manage its affairs with practically no inter- 
 ference from the state. 
 
 The first school recognized under this act as a state normal 
 school was located at Millersville in Lancaster county. In 1854 
 the office of county superintendent was established by law. 
 Shortly thereafter the citizens of Millersville were erecting an 
 academy that should carry the pupils somewhat beyond the com- 
 mon school branches. County Superintendent Wickersham, who 
 felt that something must be done to prepare new teachers and 
 improve those already in the service, learned that the academy 
 buildings when completed might serve his purpose in conducting 
 a teachers' school. The trustees not only offered him the use of 
 these buildings, but even offered him one thousand dollars to 
 assist in the conduct of the school. This plan was accepted, 
 and, as has been stated elsewhere, the school was begun as the 
 " Lancaster County Normal Institute " on April 17, 1855, under 
 the direction of the county superintendent. 
 
 From the beginning the institution was so prosperous and 
 seemed to meet the needs of the community so well, that the 
 trustees and other leading citizens held several conferences and 
 decided to change its character, giving more attention to the pro- 
 fessional preparation of teachers than to the purely cultural 
 work, to enlarge the building to suit the purpose, and finally, 
 to establish a permanent normal school. In the fall of the same 
 year the plans were consummated. 
 
 As soon as the act of 1857 was passed, the trustees began to 
 make efforts to meet the requirements. This meant considerable 
 expenditure for equipment, additional land, and a larger faculty. 
 
History of Establishment . 9 
 
 Great interest was taken, — leading citizens from adjoining coun- 
 ties and even the governor and state superintendent attended a 
 public meeting and urged those who could do so to assist this 
 institution to meet the rather high standards laid down by the 
 act of. 1857. All the stipulations were finally met in December, 
 1859, when the proper authorities recognized the institution as 
 the first so-called state normal school. 
 
 From the beginning the Millersville normal school has had a 
 large attendance and has been prosperous. It began with a sub- 
 scribed stock of $25,000 and a bonded indebtedness of $25,000 
 additional. There was also a small floating indebtedness. Be- 
 cause of the location of the school and its efficient management, 
 it actually made money and a few thousand dollars were annually 
 added to the sinking fund. It asked for no appropriation from 
 the state and it received none. It was purely a private institu- 
 tion whose work had been approved by the state and whose di- 
 plomas were, according to the law, given recognition by the 
 public school officials. 
 
 The early history of the next four normal schools to be estab- 
 lished is identically parallel with that of Millersville. Private 
 institutions, they exerted themselves to reach the requirements 
 set by the act of 1857, and when those requirements were met, 
 they were recognized as state normals, no one of them having 
 asked or received state aid in any form. Edinboro Normal 
 School, located in Erie county, was recognized in 1861 ; Mans- 
 field Normal, located at Mansfield, Tioga county, in 1862; Kutz- 
 town Normal School, in Berks county, in 1866; Bloomsburg 
 Normal School, at Bloomsburg, Columbia county, in 1869. 
 
 In the history of the establishment of the West Chester 
 Normal School in 1871, and the Shippensburg Normal in 1873 
 there is one significant variation. Toward the purchase of land 
 and the erection of buildings the state gave to the West Chester 
 Normal School the sum of $15,000 and shortly after to the 
 Shippensburg Normal School $35,000, though both remained, 
 equally with the schools previously established, purely private in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 The establishment and final recognition of the eighth normal 
 school, located at California, marks a complete change of policy 
 by the state. Up to this time all the institutions had been built 
 
lo Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 entirely through private initiative and support, as the act of 1857 
 stipulated, though two had been aided by specific appropriations 
 from the state. But the circumstances of the establishment of 
 this school were different. 
 
 During the movement for better prepared teachers, few insti- 
 tutions in the southwestern part of the state offered instruction 
 to persons preparing to teach and, as a result, the county super- 
 intendents were compelled to conduct temporary normal insti- 
 tutes; but finally in 1862 a building was erected at Millsboro, 
 Washington county, and a permanent normal school established. 
 However, the school met with some discouragements and two of 
 the teachers accepted positions in the academy located at Cali- 
 fornia. This academy had been in existence since 1852, and in 
 1859 ^^ attempt was made to induce the legislature to lower the 
 standards set by the normal school act and accept the academy 
 with its poorer equipment. The legislature did pass an act to 
 this effect, but the governor wisely vetoed it. 
 
 In 1865, the legislature was induced to grant a charter to the 
 " South Western Normal College," which name should continue 
 " until and before the time when it may be recognized as a State 
 Normal School." The citizens of the town refused to give more 
 money to this new venture unless the state would pledge itself 
 to accept the institution when the improvements were completed. 
 Therefore, in 1869 the legislature was asked to enter into a con- 
 tract binding the state to accept the institution after certain con- 
 ditions were complied with. This act stipulated that the state 
 superintendent's approval of the town of California as a suit- 
 able location for a state normal school was to be the first step. 
 Then, if the president of the board of trustees of the South 
 Western Normal School would state under oath " that said Col- 
 lege has a bona fide subscription fund for the erection of its 
 buildings, a sum of at least twenty thousand dollars, and that 
 there is expended in the erection of their buildings a sum of at 
 least ten thousand," then the state would aid to the extent of 
 five thousand dollars. And in the next two years, if the college 
 authorities expended thirty thousand dollars, the state promised 
 to give the ten thousand dollars. 
 
 As early as 1872, the friends of the California institution were 
 able to get the additional grant of $10,000 though it was not 
 
History of Establishment 1 1 
 
 recognized by the state until 1874. The other existing normal 
 schools were practically under the control of private individuals, 
 — 'the stockholders — and in no true sense could they be called 
 state institutions; but the men interested in the California 
 Normal School were able to change the attitude of the legis- 
 lature toward state adoption and state support, though still leav- 
 ing the control in the hands of private individuals. 
 
 Since 1874 the policy of the state has followed the precedent 
 set in the case of the California Normal. Five additional state 
 normals have been recognized, and in each instance the state has 
 assisted with increasingly liberal appropriations, at the same 
 time leaving the schools under private management and control. 
 The schools so established are: Indiana Normal, in Indiana 
 county, recognized in 1875; Lock Haven in Clinton county, in 
 1877; Clarion Normal, in Clarion county, in 1886; Slippery 
 Rock, in Butler county, in 1889; and the last of Pennsylvania's 
 state normals at East Stroudsburg, in Monroe county, in 1893. 
 
 This brief history of the establishment of the thirteen state 
 normal schools shows how the spirit of the original act of 1857 
 was misinterpreted or consciously modified. The legislature 
 which passed this act did not hold out a promise of any kind and 
 did not offer financial assistance under any circumstances. 
 When gradually the state was induced to give special grants for 
 the establishment of these schools and later to make annual ap- 
 propriations for their maintenance, these institutions became 
 what they are today, — publicly-supported institutions under the 
 control and ownership of private corporations. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 PRESENT MANAGEMENT 
 
 For many years, the national and many of the state govern- 
 ments have required the officials in charge of public institutions 
 to render a full and strict accounting of their stewardship. 
 These detailed reports are always open to the public: any tax- 
 payer may go to one of these institutions and personally ex- 
 amine the records and books. Public control has extended even 
 to private business : within the past few years the national and 
 most of the state governments have passed stringent laws regu- 
 lating the conduct of corporations, both large and small, and 
 of insurance and railroad companies. In fact, all private insti- 
 tutions that affect to any extent the public welfare have been 
 placed under public supervision and control. In the light of 
 these facts, it is startling to find in the wealthy and populous 
 state of Pennsylvania institutions that are publicly supported 
 but privately controlled, that render only stereotyped reports 
 and that are practically free from state supervision. Probably 
 in no other state of the Union can a like condition be found. 
 
 As has been explained previously, the so-called state normal 
 schools have been, and are, conducted as private corporations 
 with practically no control on the part of the state. The law 
 of 1857 simply stipulated that there should be not less than 13 
 contributors or stockholders, and " that the pecuniary affairs 
 of each of said schools shall be managed, and the general con- 
 trol exercised by a Board of Trustees, (whose officers shall be 
 a President and Secretary who shall, and a Treasurer who shall 
 not, be members of said Board,) to be chosen by the contribu- 
 tors or stockholders on the first Monday in May annually; but 
 no contributor, or stockholder shall have more than five votes 
 at the election of trustees. . . ." 
 
 The state could take no direct part in the election of trustees, 
 since, under the law, these schools were private institutions ; but 
 as soon as the state began to give them money, many legislators 
 
 12 
 
Present Management 13 
 
 and educators contended that it should have something to say 
 as to how these appropriations should be spent. Therefore in 
 February, 1872, the legislature passed an act providing that no 
 board should have more than 15 members, and authorizing the 
 State Superintendent " to appoint two citizens to act as 
 trustees " of each normal school " on the part of the State." In 
 April of the same year it further stipulated that no school " shall 
 receive an appropriation from the State" unless these two per- 
 sons appointed by the State Superintendent were permitted " to 
 act as trustees on the part of the state, with all the rights and 
 privileges of other trustees." 
 
 In 1875, the State passed an act requiring each state normal 
 school to " be managed by a board of eighteen trustees, twelve 
 elected by the contributors or stockholders and six appointed by 
 the Superintendent of Public Instruction." In 1907, the latter 
 number was increased to nine. These nine were to be ap- 
 pointed by the State Superintendent from a list of twice that 
 number, submitted to him by the stockholders. However, if 
 these nominees should not be satisfactory to him, " he shall, 
 with the advice and consent of the governor, choose others 
 deemed more suitable." But in spite of these provisions, owing 
 to the natural difficulty experienced by the State Superintendent 
 to discover incompetence, the evils of the private corporation 
 still persist. 
 
 Seldom does the State Superintendent interfere by refusing 
 to appoint those nominated by the stockholders. Recently, the 
 present incumbent has made a ruling to the effect that he would 
 not appoint as trustee to represent the state anyone who is a 
 stockholder in the normal school corporation. But at a mo- 
 ment's notice a stockholder can transfer his holdings to his 
 wife, to his five-year-old son, or to an accommodating neighbor, 
 and then the man is eligible to become a state trustee. In some 
 respects this ruling does harm for it encourages duplicity. 
 Often a man owning stock is much more conscientious and 
 careful in guarding the interests of the state than is a bank 
 clerk, or book-keeper, who is employed by a stockholder and 
 a trustee and .who as a " dummy " votes as he is told. The 
 ruling of the state superintendent will not in any sense meet 
 the difficulty. 
 
14 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 In practically all the so-called State Normal Schools of Penn- 
 sylvania — schools conducted as private corporations — the stock 
 has been gradually purchased by a very small group of men, 
 who absolutely control the institutions which receive hundreds 
 of thousands of dollars annually from the state. Many kinds 
 of organizations are found : in one place a bank controls ; in 
 another three or four men, including a banker, dominate the 
 close corporation; in still another, one man who owns a ma- 
 jority of the stock and who selects his own board of trustees, 
 is principal of the institution and receives a large salary; in 
 another, two or three men connected with the institution hold a 
 majority of the stock, have themselves elected to positions in 
 the school and determine their own salaries. Strange as it may 
 seem, in many cases the men who dominate did not contribute 
 any considerable amount to the erection or growth of the insti- 
 tuition they manage. In one or two instances, the control has 
 been purchased for two or three hundred dollars, though in 
 others, as much as eight or ten thousand has been given by one 
 or two men to obtain practical ownership of property which, to- 
 day, because of the sacrifice of others and the bounty of the 
 state, is worth from two hundred thousand to three-quarters of 
 a million dollars. 
 
 The Millersville State Normal School. Recognized by the 
 State in 1859. 
 
 At the Millersville State Normal School, the oldest of the thir- 
 teen institutions, one man, the principal, holds a majority of the 
 stock, and so is the practical owner of a plant worth over a half- 
 million dollars. Of this amount the state has contributed over 
 $380,000.^ 
 
 The story of the handling of stock at Millersville goes back 
 to the very beginning. This normal school started with a sub- 
 scribed stock of $25,000, widely scattered among the leading 
 citizens of Millersville and Lancaster county. The par value 
 of the shares was $25. There was also a bonded indebtedness 
 of $25,000 additional, with a small floating indebtedness. At 
 
 ^ The following statements concerning the management and condition 
 of the Pennsylvania state normal schools are based upon a personal inves- 
 tigation made by the author during the spring and summer of 1910. The 
 author is not conversant vi\\h changes that may have been made since that 
 date. 
 
Present Management - 15 
 
 the beginning this institution asked for no aid from the state, 
 and it would have been successful for a good many years, prob- 
 ably, without any help. Later, however, it received a good deal 
 of money from the state. By 1878 the amount of money given 
 by Pennsylvania as a direct gift, had exceeded $55,000 and the 
 appropriations to graduates were in excess of $3,000. During 
 this year, the trustees passed a resolution to the effect that any 
 stockholder might dispose of his holdings to the institution at 
 their face value, or he might contribute the stock if he pre- 
 ferred. This action was taken by the trustees for the ostensible 
 purpose of doing away with the stock control and preventing at- 
 tempts to declare dividends. 
 
 But there is another phase of the story that must not be 
 omitted. For a number of years previous to this action of the 
 board a few of the trustees quietly bought up or had given to 
 them large blocks of stock. This was not a difficult thing to do, 
 since the shares were considered practically worthless. Upon 
 good authority, it was learned that three trustees cleared up 
 among them the sum of $15,000. All told a little over $22,000 
 was spent in buying up the normal school stock. About eighty- 
 five per cent of the shares were purchased at par, with an addi- 
 tional four per cent given outright by public-spirited citizens 
 who refused to turn a philanthropic venture into profit. About 
 ten per cent of the stock was still held by the trustees of the 
 normal school. These shares, less than two hundred in number, 
 were surrendered by these officials, who received in their place 
 " certificates of contribution," which carried with them the same 
 privileges as the original shares of stock so that each holder of 
 a certificate might vote for the trustees. Since the stockholders 
 had surrendered their rights, the owners of the certificates be- 
 came the permanent managers of the school with no possibility 
 of having the control wrested from them. In a word, these men 
 had acquired absolute control, and this control was gained at a 
 cash profit of from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 When the stock was transferred into " certificates of contribu- 
 tion," the control of the institution fell into the hands of three 
 or four men. ' The complete domination of the few men who 
 owned the certificates of contribution continued for twenty-five 
 years. In 1903 or 1904, a man living at Lancaster, four miles 
 
1 6 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 away, began to buy up all the certificates he could. It is esti- 
 mated that he was compelled to pay from two to four times 
 their par value because their purchase meant the permanent 
 control of an institution whose yearly income was over $100,000. 
 In the spring of 1904, the principal bought a controlling interest 
 in the normal school, and to-day he probably holds all but 
 seventy-five or eighty of the hundred and eighty-nine certificates 
 of contribution. 
 
 In a good many respects the institution at present is in better 
 hands than it has been in the twenty-five years preceding the 
 purchase of the certificates by the principal; but this condition 
 is no argument for the situation as it stands to-day. Here is an 
 institution liberally supported by the state and controlled by one 
 man who may dismiss half his teachers at a moment's notice, or 
 reconstruct his board of trustees. The members of the board, 
 instead of having to look to a large body of stockholders in the 
 community or to the state as a whole for approval of their acts, 
 have simply to turn to one man, the principal: if he approves, 
 they continue in office; if he objects, half the members of the 
 board, (those representing "the contributors") will not receive 
 his support for re-election when their term expires, and the other 
 half, (those representing the state) will not be recommended by 
 him to the state superintendent for reappointment. This means 
 that in time he can rid himself of any trustee that objects to 
 him personally or to his methods of conducting the school. 
 
 Date of visit: March 24 and May 18 and 19, 1910. 
 
 The Edinboro State Normal School. Recognized by the state 
 in 1861, 
 
 In 1 861 when the Edinboro Academy was transformed into 
 the present institution, which was accepted by the state as a 
 normal school, several hundred shares were issued, representing 
 donations by private citizens of amounts varying from five dollars 
 to one thousand dollars each. A gift, regardless of its size, 
 meant a vote. In this school there has been a long struggle for 
 control, and there has also been the same speculation with stock 
 as at Millersville, though not with the intention of selling it to 
 the institution or to the state. Nearly from the beginning there 
 has been trouble, either between the principal and his trustees, 
 
Present Management - 17 
 
 or between the management and the town. In 1892, the fight 
 happened to be between the principal, J. A. Cooper, and a 
 majority of his board. After these men had employed detective 
 methods against the head of the school, they called a special 
 meeting of the board and dismissed him. Practically the entire 
 student body and nearly all the teachers rallied to his support. 
 As a consequence, a large number of the students entered another 
 normal school, and the institution dwindled from over six 
 hundred to fifteen students, " consisting largely of the children 
 of the trustees and their immediate friends." 
 
 For a long time, possibly for twenty-five years, a small group 
 of men has dominated this school, and the contest for the past 
 two elections, which involved the entire village, has mainly been 
 to unseat these men. As a consequence, the model school has 
 gradually dwindled until it has less than ninety pupils in all the 
 grades ; and several of the classes number less than five pupils. 
 The practice teaching is therefore really worthless. 
 
 Evidence of the domination of this group is the fact that its 
 members furnished practically all the supplies to the normal 
 school. Especially was this true before the law of April 23, 
 1903, which made it a misdemeanor for a trustee to furnish 
 supplies to a normal school, but even after the passage of this 
 act some of the trustees were willing to take their chances with 
 the enforcement of the law.^ 
 
 In the spring of 1909 State Superintendent Schaeffer learned 
 of the election contest, and finally he and the governor appointed 
 two or three non-partisans. Shortly after these men came on the 
 board, expert auditors were employed to go over the books of the 
 school corporation. There seems to be conclusive evidence that 
 the system of bookkeeping was miserable and that for several 
 years no method was employed to keep a complete record of 
 expenditures and receipts. 
 
 Since the members appointed in May, 1909, by the governor 
 and the state superintendent have been on the board, the whole 
 system of bookkeeping has been reconstructed, many of the 
 abuses have disappeared and the entire school will probably be 
 put upon a better financial and educational plane. 
 
 Date of visit: April 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, 1910. 
 
 ^The writer examined the secretary's books and records from 1900 to 
 ic/io. 
 
1 8 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 The Mansfield State Normal School. Recognized by the state 
 in 1862. 
 
 The history of the Mansfield Normal School is similar to that 
 of both Millersville and Edinboro. When the school became 
 a so-called state institution in 1864, the 375 shares of stock 
 were widely distributed. Some of these had been paid in cash — 
 fifty dollars a share — by the business men in the village and the 
 well-to-do farmers of Tioga county; and some of the shares 
 were given to persons who had made their contribution to the 
 educational institution through work on the buildings or grounds. 
 When the school began to send out well-prepared teachers to 
 Tioga and adjoining counties, the people were glad that they 
 had assisted in its creation and growth. Gradually, however, 
 tho^e farmers living some distance from the village neglected 
 or were unable to attend the annual meeting of the stockholders ; 
 others that had given freely to the institution moved away. 
 Later, when the older donors died, the stock fell into the hands 
 of younger persons who looked upon it as a doubtful asset, 
 regarding it as an empty heritage rather than a real obligation. 
 Finally, only those in the village of Mansfield were sufficiently 
 in touch with the work and the needs of the school to attend 
 the elections and become members of the board of trustees. The 
 individuals especially interested were those who furnished sup- 
 plies to the school or who had sons or daughters in attendance. 
 
 One of the citizens of Mansfield, Mr. Charles Ross, the banker, 
 began to see the possibilities of owning a controlling interest 
 in the school. For several years Mr. Ross had bought normal 
 school stock and had urged his friends to follow his example. 
 To-day he personally owns as much as sixty-five or seventy-five 
 shares. For some of this stock he probably paid but $5.00 ; some 
 of it may have been given him; but after the contest between 
 the Ross party and the other side became heated, stock sold for 
 $50.00. Since the law permits an individual to vote but five 
 shares, the banker has distributed his additional holdings in 
 blocks of five among his friends and employes. At the annual 
 election, Mr. Ross obtains proxies from these persons, or he 
 induces them to attend the contest and vote his ticket. 
 
 Last year the Ross faction won the contest, elected three men, 
 and nominated six other partisans to State Superintendent 
 
Present Management . 19 
 
 Schaeifer, who, after investigating the situation, appointed three 
 non-partisans living outside the village. These men prevented 
 Mr. Ross and his adherents from dismissing the principal and 
 two or three other teachers. But in the meantime, Mr. Ross has 
 purchased more stock, and to-day he and a small group of his 
 friends absolutely control the institution. If Superintendent 
 Schaefter again appoints three unbiased men to represent the 
 state, the condition of the school may not be impaired by the 
 dismissal of men who have conducted the school in an efficient 
 manner ; but there is great danger either that these teachers will 
 refuse to remain longer under such adverse conditions, or that Mr. 
 Ross may win over to his side one of the state's representatives, 
 and then the school may be disrupted. 
 Date of visit: April 5 and 6, 1910. 
 
 The Kutstown State Normal School. Recognized by the state 
 in 1866. 
 
 In 1866 the Kutztown Normal School was given state recogni- 
 tion. At that time 240 shares were issued on donations of 
 $24,000 for land and buildings. This institution was established 
 by the Germans of Berks county to furnish better educational 
 advantages for their children. Here as elsewhere there has been 
 a gradual concentration of the active stock, and the control now 
 rests very largely in the hands of two or three families. 
 
 One German family controls forty-six shares of stock. Each 
 member of this family having more than five shares has dis- 
 tributed them' so that the full voting power can be utilized in an 
 emergency. At the annual election held in May, 1910, but 
 twenty-nine votes were cast, so it would seem that no one except 
 those directly connected with the school, either as employe or 
 as trustee, attends these important meetings. The purpose of 
 the founders and of the state has been defeated since the stock- 
 holding feature of these schools was to arouse the intelligent 
 interest of an entire community. 
 
 Date of visit: May 5, 1910. 
 
 The Bloomshurg Literary Institute and State Normal School. 
 Recognized by the state in 1869. 
 
 The Bloomsburg Normal School, from 1869, when it was 
 accepted, till 1890 or later, was in such financial difficulties that it 
 
20 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 attracted the attention only of men who were genuinely interested 
 in the school. Gradually, however, the financial side became 
 better and as this occurred, the active stock found its way into 
 the hands of a few men. To-day the school plant is estimated 
 to be worth over $600,000 ; the funds of the school are kept in 
 one bank, and something very similar to a close corporation 
 exists. Most of the heavy stockholders are trustees and they 
 take considerable pride in the institution which they direct. The 
 stock has no particular value and there has been but one im- 
 portant contest in recent years in the selection of members of the 
 board. Proof that the stock of the Bloomsburg Normal School 
 is owned or controlled by a small group of men is found in the 
 annual election of trustees by the stockholders at the May 
 meeting this year (1910). Between four and five hundred 
 shares were represented, but not over fifteen men were in attend- 
 ance. In this school, contrary to the spirit of the law, practically 
 every state trustee owns stock. In fact, of the nine men who 
 were chosen to guard the State's interests, all but one either 
 own outright or control a number of shares. 
 Date of visit: March 31 and May 28, 1910. 
 
 The West Chester State Normal School. Recognized by the 
 state in 1871. 
 
 From the beginning, up to nearly the present day, the West 
 Chester Normal School has been fairly well managed. Its control 
 rested with the owners of the 825 shares of stock, which were 
 sold originally at fifty dollars a share. These shares were widely 
 distributed for a long time, for every public-spirited citizen, 
 who was financially able, had been called upon to assist in the 
 making of a state normal. Even during the first year, 1871, 
 it was necessary for the state to assist to the extent of fifteen 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 For a long time this stock was considered worthless, but later, 
 when the attendance increased and the state gave more freely, 
 this stock began to be very valuable from one point of view : 
 each of the West Chester banks wanted to keep the normal 
 school deposits and to transact its business. Finally, several 
 years ago, directors of a prominent national bank spent several 
 thousand dollars for normal school stock. They turned into 
 
Present Management - 21 
 
 the collateral security fund of their national bank all of this 
 stock for which they had paid from six to fifteen dollars a share, 
 and it seemed that their action had neither cost them anything 
 nor harmed the bank. Later, however, the national bank ex- 
 aminer or the government comptroller objected to this arrange- 
 ment and the result was that either the bank or these men had 
 to replace the money which they had spent for normal school 
 stock. After considerable discussion among the bank directors, 
 two of them stood personally responsible for the cost of this 
 stock and so became the practical owners of the institution worth 
 over a half million dollars, toward the management and de- 
 velopment of which the State had already given over $300,000. 
 
 In 1908 after several consultations among the three or four 
 men holding a majority of stock, these men requested in writing 
 the president of the board, Levi G. McCauley, to call a special 
 meeting of the trustees. This meeting was held December 7, 
 1908, and resolutions were offered that the West Chester Normal 
 School " purchase .... such of its capital stock, not however 
 to exceed 800 shares thereof, .... and pay for each share there- 
 of the sum of $50.00, the par value . . . .," and that " the said 
 school shall borrow the moneys needed for the purchase 
 thereof . . . ." The eighteen members of the board attended 
 this meeting and the vote on the resolutions carried by twelve 
 for and six against. 
 
 A number of the stockholders in the West Chester Normal 
 School, including two or three trustees, brought suit against the 
 president, secretary, and treasurer of the school, and asked for 
 an injunction to prevent the buying of the stock. Because of 
 a technical legal mistake in the wording of the resolutions sub- 
 mitted to the trustees at the meeting on December 7, another 
 meeting was called on December 31, 1908, and this fault was 
 rectified. In the end, the court ruled that the action taken by 
 a majority of the board of trustees was legal, and at once the 
 injunction was dissolved. Since then, stock offered for sale 
 has been purchased by the school. 
 
 In order to show the spirit of these men who practically own 
 the West Chester Normal School, one should read the answer 
 of the defendants to the request of the plaintiffs in the injunction 
 
2 2 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 suit brought by the latter. Paragraph ten of the request states 
 that " the only income of said corporation the Normal School 
 is derived from the tuition and board of students, and from 
 appropriations made by the State of Pennsylvania .... and 
 said State further contributes aid to students thereat desiring 
 education ; that its revenues from all sources are no more than 
 sufficient to meet legitimate operating expenses from year to 
 year, and to make the necessary extensions and improvements 
 to carry out the objects of its incorporation." The reply to this 
 was that the school made money and that very recently as much 
 as $60,000 had been spent on unnecessary extensions and im- 
 provements. " The unnecessary expense " referred to was for a 
 new library with modern equipment. 
 
 In another paragraph, the defendants object to the salaries paid 
 the teachers ; they believe that these salaries are very high. The 
 average salary paid the men teachers at West Chester, exclusive 
 of the principal's salary, is $1,541.66, and that paid the women 
 is $812.50. 
 
 In paragraph fourteen, of the answers of the defendants, we 
 come upon this statement : " The tangible property and assets 
 of the corporation are worth, as we believe, $750,000 or more; 
 the indebtedness of the corporation, according to the plaintiffs' 
 averment, is but $142,800, so that over and above all indebted- 
 ness there is actual and tangible property to the amount of 
 $600,000, or thereabouts. This property belongs to the share- 
 holders, owning 825 shares of the capital stock, so that each 
 share thereof, is worth in the neighborhood of $700, instead of 
 $50." These statements were made regardless of the fact that 
 the state had given the normal school between three and four 
 hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 Date of visit: May 13, 14, 16, and 17, 1910. 
 
 The Shippensburg State Normal School. Recognized by the 
 state in 1873. 
 
 The Shippensburg Normal School is controlled by a small 
 group of men whom it would be practically impossible to dis- 
 possess. Several years ago George H. Stewart, a wealthy banker 
 and a dominant figure in the affairs of the town, became inter- 
 ested in the conduct of the normal school. When the institu- 
 
Present Management . 23. 
 
 tion was started in 1871, he was a contributor, and later he 
 probably was called upon to assist it over financial difficulties. 
 In recent years, the school has been rather prosperous, and its 
 complete control is now in the hands of Mr. Stewart, his bank 
 (the First National), and his immediate friends. 
 
 It has been stated above that the group of men now control- 
 ling this school were not in any danger of having to surrender 
 to another group. There is one definite reason for this asser- 
 tion : the stock book is so complicated and so unintelligible that 
 no one can state exactly how much stock is outstanding. At the 
 beginning, probably 800 shares were issued at $25 a share. Of 
 these, the late Captain T. P. Blair, who donated the land for 
 the school, received half, which he scattered very widely for 
 voting purposes. Some of these shares have been lost and 
 others have been given to or purchased by the bank group at 
 little cost. 
 
 About 1895, the trustees voted that one-third of the tuition 
 might be paid by normal stock. Only sons and daughters of 
 stockholders were supposed to receive such reductions, but it 
 was an exceedingly easy matter for a parent to purchase the 
 necessary stock and thereby get the reduced tuition. Later, an 
 enterprising boarding-house keeper bought up a good many 
 shares at a low figure and offered to furnish stock free of charge 
 to all pupils that would board with him. The trustees at once 
 rescinded their former action, and since then no stock has been 
 used to pay tuition either in whole or part. 
 
 The normal school has in its possession today ninety shares 
 that have been cancelled; other shares were partly exhausted 
 before the board reversed its former ruling, and it is very hard 
 to say who owns voting-stock and who does not. Undoubtedly, 
 however, the bank group has enough shares to prevent any out- 
 sider from disturbing it. At the recent election in May, 1910, 
 but five persons attended, and seventy votes were cast. Two of 
 these are officers of the First National and one of the re- 
 mainder is the treasurer of the school. Although conditions at 
 Shippensburg do not appear to be bad it is of course evident 
 that a close corporation cannot conduct a school for the best 
 educational interests of the state. 
 
 Date of visit: April 8 and July 15, 1910. 
 
24 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 The California State Normal School. Recognized by the 
 state in 1874. 
 
 For a good many years a small group of men has controlled 
 the California Normal School and this group is in control to- 
 day. When contributions and subscriptions were taken forty 
 years ago, several years before the school was given State 
 recognition, $18,000 was raised, and proportionate stock was 
 issued at $25.00 per share; but at present as far as can be as- 
 certained there are only 560 shares that can be accounted for. 
 
 During the thirty-six years of the school's existence, the 
 stock has changed hands rather frequently. At one time, when 
 the institution was less prosperous, the stock was practically 
 worthless, and it was to be had for the asking. Generally, how- 
 ever, it has sold for from $2.50 to $6.00 a share. The banks of 
 the town became interested in the school just as soon as sur- 
 plus funds had to be cared for, and the stockholders and officers 
 of one of these banks have a great deal to say as to who shall 
 be members of the board of trustees. Some time ago at a meet- 
 ing of the stockholders the following by-law relating to the 
 matter of counting shares and stock, was passed : 
 
 I, 2 or 3 shares equal i vote. 
 4, 5, 6 or 7 shares equal 2 votes. 
 8, 9, 10 or II shares equal 3 votes. 
 12, 13, 14, or 15 shares equal 4 votes. 
 16 or more shares equal 5 votes. 
 
 This is a very innocent looking rule, but it has actually re- 
 sulted in preventing the opposition from obtaining control. The 
 average disinterested person, holding sixteen shares for instance, 
 might attend the annual election of trustees in May and cast 
 five votes, or again he might forget the meeting altogether and 
 then his stock would not be voted. Another person, holding six- 
 teen shares of stock and interested in keeping his own position as 
 teacher or officer in the school could, if he chose, bestir himself, 
 go to his relatives and friends, sign over to each of them one 
 share of stock, and, on election day, instead of casting but five, 
 he would be able to cast sixteen votes. In 1909 and in 1910 
 there have been contested elections in the California normal 
 school, but those in control have not been disturbed. The stock 
 book is in their hands. Whenever they detect activity among 
 
Present Management 25 
 
 the members of the opposition, they have simply to turn to the 
 stock book, make an estimate of how many votes at most can be 
 mustered against them by the widest distribution of shares, and 
 then set to work to distribute their holdings to offset this. 
 
 Three persons, who are directly connected with the adminis- 
 tration, are able to control 129 votes of the 250 or 300 usually 
 cast at any election, and the present trustees and their im- 
 mediate friends can furnish enough more votes to save the day. 
 Proof of this statement is to be found in the recent contested 
 election, held May, 1910: of the 350 votes cast, those in power 
 were able to control two hundred. Most of this additional 
 strength came directly from the trustees, for excluding the 
 thirty-seven votes of one person, both a teacher and a trustee, 
 the other trustees were able to cast over seventy, which, added 
 to the one hundred and twenty-nine already accounted for, gave 
 those in control a voting strength of approximately two hundred 
 out of the three hundred and fifty votes. 
 
 It must not be inferred that if the opposition took control of 
 the California Normal School the situation would be materially 
 improved; it would simply mean that another close corporation 
 would be formed, which would dominate as it pleased. All 
 those now connected with the school, who own stock, could be 
 dismissed regardless of their efficiency or inefficiency and 
 friends of the opposition chosen to take their places with scant 
 consideration for the welfare of the school and the work it is 
 supposed to do. 
 
 Date of visit: April 29 and 30, 1910. 
 
 The Indiana State Normal School. Recognized by the state 
 in 1875. 
 
 The situation in the Indiana State Normal School is rather 
 unique: the 2080 shares of stock, issued to the donors of the 
 $25,000 for the first school building, are still rather widely dis- 
 tributed, though there are enough shares in the hands of two or 
 three families to control any election. At present, however, 
 these families have not worked together and the oirdinary 
 normal school group is not greatly in evidence, though seldom 
 do more than fifteen or twenty persons attend the election of 
 trustees. Yet, it is very possible that some enterprising 
 individual, — a banker or a man desirous of a school position, — 
 
26 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools ■ 
 
 may appear at any time and, with an expenditure of two thou- 
 sand dollars or less, obtain possession of a plant that has cost 
 the State over $415,000 in direct and special appropriations, and 
 receives between $40,000 and $50,000 more from the State an- 
 nually. At present the stock sells for only $2.50 a share or 
 ten per cent of its par value. 
 
 Though the original normal school act stipulates that no one 
 shall cast more than five votes, the large stockholders at Indi- 
 ana cast as many votes as they have shares, and one of the 
 trustees claims that the charter granted by the state legislature 
 makes the Indiana normal school corporation an exception and 
 permits what in other schools would be a violation of the law. 
 But even if this were a definite violation, it would not be im- 
 portant since at the other institutions the spirit of the law is 
 evaded by the extensive use of proxies. 
 
 The size of the town in which this normal school is located 
 has been in its favor since the local jealousies are never so much 
 in evidence in a city of 10,000 inhabitants as they are in a vil- 
 lage or town of one thousand. Besides, there has been little in- 
 clination among the trustees of the Indiana normal school to 
 employ home talent regardless of its efficiency. This policy has 
 enabled the school to obtain the services of many promising 
 young men and women from the best American colleges and 
 universities. 
 
 Date of visit: April 25, 26, 27, and 28, 1910. 
 
 The Lock Haven State Normal School. Recognized by the 
 state in 1877. 
 
 The Lock Haven Normal School which was accepted by the 
 State in 1877, was erected through the financial assistance of 
 the State legislature and the subscription by the public-spirited 
 citizens of the county of 869 shares of stock at twenty-five 
 dollars a share. 
 
 Up to the present time there has been no demand for the 
 normal school stock. Few shares have changed hands except 
 through death and inheritance. On May 6, 1910, an election 
 of trustees occurred. Thirty-two persons were present, though 
 there was no contest. At this election only sixty-four votes 
 were cast. This small number does not in any sense indicate 
 
Present Management . 27 
 
 the number of shares represented, for about twenty years ago, 
 for some reason, a by-law was passed stipulating how the shares 
 should be counted for voting purposes. There has been no dis- 
 position to modify this rule, which is as follows: 
 
 All persons holding less than 4 shares have i vote. 
 
 All persons holding 4 and less than 10 shares have 2 votes. 
 
 All persons holding 10 and less than 20 shares have 3 votes. 
 
 All persons holding 20 and less than 25 shares have 4 votes. 
 
 All persons holding 25 and over have 5 votes. 
 
 Probably only three men hold in this school corporation as 
 many as forty shares each, and only six or eight others own as 
 many as twenty or thirty shares apiece. The board of trustees 
 seems to be representative, and the citizens generally are inter- 
 ested in the progress of the school. This happy condition is 
 however an accident. The same opportunity for a selfish man or 
 a selfish group to get control exists here as in other similar insti- 
 tions. Although in this and in one or two other schools, private 
 control for private gain is not a fact, yet it is a danger and under 
 the present system must remain a constant danger. 
 
 Date of visit: April 7 and May 28, 1910. 
 
 The Clarion State Normal School. Recognized by the state 
 in 1887. 
 
 The group method of control came hard upon the heels of the 
 creation of the Clarion State Normal School. Shortly after 
 the school was opened, three or four men took control, and this 
 condition continued until about 1901, when a rupture occurred 
 among the members of the close corporation resulting in the 
 dismissal of the principal. This they were easily able to do by 
 getting into their hands additional normal school stock, and 
 making changes on the board of trustees. In itself this action 
 was not exceptional, for such summary dismissals have oc- 
 curred in other normal schools of the state; but this particular 
 conflict led to a revelation of conditions that shows still another 
 danger connected with publicly-supported and privately-con- 
 trolled institutions, for it must be remembered that what has 
 happened at Clarion may happen at any other Pennsylvania 
 normal school. - 
 
 In 1901, it is stated that Representative John A. F. Hoy, of 
 Clarion County, announced to his friends on the normal school 
 
28 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 board of trustees that the school could get $40,000 if they be- 
 stirred themselves. They followed his suggestion and sent a 
 committee to Harrisburg to ask the legislature to give them that 
 amount for a chapel building. The bill passed the house with 
 little or no opposition, but it is claimed that one of the poli- 
 ticians of the State, James Mitchell, came to Mr. Hoy and the 
 normal school committee and stated that certain members of 
 the Senate intended to offer opposition to this appropriation. 
 Finally this same politician informed them, according to the 
 version given to the public by the deposed principal, that if they 
 would pay him ten per cent of the appropriation, he would man- 
 age it. They agreed and the Senate passed the appropriation, 
 but the Governor later reduced it to $27,500. 
 
 Shortly after, the two men who owned a majority of the 
 stock submitted Mr. Hoy's name to the Superintendent of 
 Public Instruction as a State trustee, and Mr. Hoy was ap- 
 pointed. Later Mr. James Mitchell went to Clarion presumably 
 to get his percentage of the State's money. Because all normal 
 school expenditures had to be reported under oath to the Audi- 
 tor General of the State and be approved by him, the trustees 
 began to look about for a method of concealing this transaction. 
 Finally the business manager at that time, who with the registrar 
 was proprietor of the school, said that he had a lot of old 
 pipe in the basement of one of the building which had been 
 there a long time and was worth nothing. He proposed to 
 make out a bill for $2,750, ostensibly for this old scrap and 
 with this money to pay Mr. Mitchell. This was done on August 
 9, 1901. The nine trustees present voted for the bogus sale. 
 On March 22, 1902. an order was made out in favor of Mr. 
 Hoy who received $2,750 from the school treasury. Mr. Mit- 
 chell, the man who had piloted the normal school bill through 
 the Senate, was in Clarion that day, waiting at the hotel; but 
 later he claimed he did not get a penny, while Hoy insisted that 
 the gentleman received the full amount he had demanded and 
 they had promised. 
 
 This entire scandal came out because of the anger of Davis, the 
 former principal, due to his dismissal. For some time the 
 Clarion Normal School management was considerably worried, 
 but after months of anxiety, the entire matter was finally 
 
Present Management ■ 29 
 
 dropped. On February 26, 1903, the local paper contained a 
 statement to the effect that Mr. Davis, the former principal, had 
 dismissed his attorneys and had abandoned the prosecution. 
 
 As late as July 10, 1903, I. M. Shannon, a prominent banker 
 of the town, published in the local papers a letter to the normal 
 school trustees, which began as follows : 
 
 " At a meeting of the board of trustees .... on August 9, 
 1901, there was presented for approval by the registrar, James 
 Pinks, a certain bill of R. G. Yingling for repairs, etc., amount- 
 ing to $2,750, which on motion of W. Day Wilson, was approved 
 and the president and secretary were authorized to issue an order 
 for the same ; that subsequently to the meeting of the aforesaid, 
 an order was duly issued by the president and the secretary to 
 the said R. G. Yingling, for the said sum of $2,750 for repairs, 
 etc., and on which order J. A. F. Hoy drew said sum of 
 $2,750 out of the treasury of the said school along about the 
 last day of May following. . . , 
 
 " Your informant being then and now a stockholder in the 
 said institution, owning two shares of stock .... and showing 
 by the statement of facts aforesaid that the said trustees and 
 others have unlawfully taken from the treasury of the said insti- 
 tution the sum of $2,750 of the moneys belonging to the Clarion 
 State Normal School and have never repaid the same, respect- 
 fully requests your honorable board to bring a proper action 
 or actions against the parties implicated in the above transaction 
 to the end that the said sum of $2,750 may be restored to the 
 said treasury." 
 
 Mr. Shannon, the author of the above letter, is still caring for 
 the normal school funds. 
 
 One of the most significant things that came out during the 
 controversy and futile prosecution was a statement by James 
 Pinks, the registrar, who presented the bill rendered by Mr. 
 Yingling for $2,750 for some old iron. Mr. Pinks said : 
 
 " The Clarion Normal School is no better nor no worse than 
 twelve other normal schools in this state. They have all paid 
 to get appropriations and I suppose they will all do it again." 
 
 Another significant thing is to be found in the fact that there 
 has been no change in the control of the school. Five of the 
 nine men who voted to pay $2,750 for a pile of old iron are 
 still members of the board of trustees. 
 
 Recently, the Clarion board of trustees has elected a new man 
 as principal; the work of the institution, from an educational 
 
30 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 point of view, has improved, and the prospects are good. It is 
 unfortunate, however, that the men who were implicated in the 
 Hoy-Mitchell scandal do not withdraw, but it is practically 
 impossible to depose them, since in addition to the fact that they 
 control a majority of the stock and are able to select half the 
 board outright, their nominations to the state for the other 
 board members are generally accepted. The only way the state 
 can get control is either by buying up the normal stock at par 
 and thereby rewarding these men, or by refusing to aid further 
 a so-called state institution which in the main has been managed 
 by private individuals for their advantage. 
 Date of visit: April 22 and 23, 1910. 
 
 The Slippery Rock State Normal School. Recognized by the 
 state in 1889. 
 
 The conditions under which the Slippery Rock Normal School 
 is conducted are not dissimilar from those at California, tliough 
 the former institution is more prosperous and in it the group 
 domination is more evident and powerful. Twenty years ago 
 the citizens of Slippery Rock and the adjacent country contri- 
 buted about $20,000 in cash and $15,000 in land donations and 
 labor. Two hundred shares were issued, which were held by 
 about the same number of persons. Because of the location 
 of the town, — four miles from a railroad, — the concerted action 
 on the part of the people to establish an institution of higher 
 learning and to meet the requirements of the normal school act 
 was in itself commendable. Those that had much money gave 
 freely ; those that were less able contributed but twenty-five or 
 fifty dollars ; and those that could give no money, gladly gave 
 their labor for a few weeks. Practically every one living in or 
 near the little village of Slippery Rock had done something to 
 help establish the normal school. A full share was given for 
 a hundred dollars in cash, land, or labor, but half or quarter 
 shares were also issued. A building was erected in 1889 and in 
 the same year the institution was officially recognized as a state 
 normal school. 
 
 At that time the normal school stock was widely distributed, 
 but the school was too prosperous for this condition to con- 
 tinue long. In the past few years the stock has been bought up 
 by a small group. The men belonging to this organization have 
 
Present Management 31 
 
 given from fifteen to one hundred dollars a share in the attempt 
 to obtain absolute control, for though the stock has never paid 
 any dividends, it is a profitable investment in a great many ways. 
 No stock sells below par today and some of it could not be pur- 
 chased for three or four times its face value. The people who 
 have made these investments are not sentimentalists; they have 
 good business sense. It actually pays to hold the stock, as will 
 be explained later. 
 
 This close corporation is a family-faculty-bank affair. Five 
 or six families belong to it with enough votes to elect them- 
 selves and their friends to positions on the normal school board 
 of trustees, as directors of the bank, and to positions on the 
 faculty of the school. The Citizens' National Bank keeps the 
 normal school funds, and its president is also president of the 
 normal school board and its cashier is treasurer of the board of 
 trustees. The principal of the normal school and one of the 
 teachers are directors in the same bank, seven of the teachers own 
 stock in the bank, and several others own normal school stock. 
 
 There are several good instructors at Slippery Rock, but ap- 
 parently the question of efficiency is not the only or even the 
 first standard that is laid down. Teachers either belong to 
 prominent families of the community or they and their friends 
 are stockholders. They have become a part of the community 
 life, and it is practically impossible to remove them. An attempt 
 was made several years ago to dismiss two of the teachers, who 
 were said to be unsuccessful in the class-room, but they are still 
 in the school. 
 
 Date of visit: April 20 and i2i, 1910. 
 
 The East Stroudshurg State Normal School. Recognized by 
 the state in 1893. 
 
 The last of the thirteen so-called state normal schools was 
 established at East Stroudsburg in 1891 and 1892 and received 
 official recognition in 1893. From nearly the first, this school 
 has had trouble. It is necessary to give some historical details 
 in order to discuss the conditions as they exist today. 
 
 The state was deceived in the method of obtaining subscrip- 
 tions. When the promoters asked for subscriptions, they 
 discovered that the ordinary appeals were hardly sufficient. 
 Finally they hit upon a new device to induce the farmers of 
 
32 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools ^ 
 
 the county and the townspeople to subscribe for stock. Anyone 
 taking a block of five shares, for which he paid $500, was to 
 have a scholarship, which would give tuition practically free 
 to one pupil for five years or to five pupils for one year. At 
 that time the state normal schools charged from fifty to sixty 
 dollars for tuition, so this in the end would mean that those 
 having children to educate would be giving to the school only 
 $250. 
 
 When those interested in getting the state to adopt this new 
 institution went before the legislature, they stated that $31,750 
 had been raised. This was very probably the truth, but there 
 had been sold fifty-three blocks of five shares each, which meant 
 in the end that the institution, or rather the state, would be com- 
 pelled to give back to the subscribers 263 free tuitions at fifty 
 dollars each. This latter amount, $13,250, subtracted from the 
 $31,750, would leave unincumbered only $18,500. This, it is 
 asserted, was not known by the legislature which accepted the 
 school. 
 
 Soon after the school was started these scholarships began 
 to assume definite value. Those who had purchased five shares 
 of normal school stock and did not have children to educate 
 began to sell these fifty-dollar scholarships for thirty or forty 
 dollars, though in every other respect the normal school stock 
 was worthless. Several years before, when subscriptions were 
 being taken, the Lackawanna railroad subscribed for $2,000 of 
 stock. As soon as the institution was established, a keen busi- 
 ness man is said to have paid the railroad $1,000 for its shares. 
 At a meeting of the board of trustees on November 7, 1898, 
 five years after the state accepted the school, the board ordered 
 that the scholarships be redeemed by the school at the rate now 
 being paid by the school, viz. : $50 for each scholarship. At 
 once this redemption began, and within a year, $4,000 in cash 
 was paid to redeem scholarships. 
 
 In the spring of 1905, certain citizens of East Stroudsburg 
 demanded that an investigation be made of the management of 
 the normal school. Attorney Robert K. Young, of Wellsboro, 
 was appointed by Auditor General William P. Snyder to repre- 
 sent the State and make an investigation. He went to East 
 
Present Management - ^^ 
 
 Stroudsburg and after spending considerable time in his ex- 
 amination reported as follows : 
 
 1. Certain members of the board have sold supplies to the 
 school in violation of the law of April 23, 1903. 
 
 2. There has been jobbery in the scholarships. 
 
 3. The trustees have paid themselves three dollars for attend- 
 ing each session of the board. Their expenses have also been 
 paid. Both of these are clearly against the law.^ 
 
 4. When the school was accepted by the State, false state- 
 ments were made as to the amount of money actually 
 subscribed. 
 
 5. The Yetter combine has been in control from the first. 
 After Mr. Young reported to Auditor General Snyder, the 
 
 latter withheld the regular normal school appropriations. But 
 later this matter was adjusted, and the school received its regular 
 quota, though it remains under the same control. 
 Date of visit : March 28 and A^Tay 4, 1910. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Such is the story of the management of the so-called state 
 normal schools of Pennsylvania. The picture has not been over- 
 drawn ; in fact it does not contain some of the aspects of the real 
 situation. 
 
 Fifteen years ago two prominent educators of the State fell 
 into a heated argument as to which one was the author of the 
 Normal School Act of 1857. Very probably to-day neither one 
 would care to be held responsible for the final outcome of this 
 measure. Yet the conditions as they exist to-day could not be 
 found if that act had been legally followed, for, as has been 
 stated elsewhere, this legislative enactment simply laid down a 
 standard of work for a limited number of institutions, which 
 might issue teachers' diplomas and, later, permanent licenses. 
 At that time the state did not give a cent of money or promise 
 to give money to any institution created under this act. Later, 
 certain institutions received aid from the State both before and 
 after meeting the formal requirements. Very soon the State 
 realized it would be necessary to guard the expenditure of the 
 hundreds of thousands of dollars it was annually giving to these 
 
 ^The legislature of 191 1 has made such expenditures legal. 
 
34 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 schools. Then it was discovered that the large stockholders 
 would vigorously oppose every advance the State tried to make 
 to direct how this money should be spent. The best evidence 
 that these private corporations have often fallen into unworthy 
 hands is to be found in this very opposition. If these large 
 share holders were as unselfish and public-spirited as they claim 
 to be, they would be willing and anxious to give these institutions 
 over to the State. 
 
 In 1872, the State appointed two trustees ; in 1907, the legisla- 
 ture passed an act requiring that nine of the eighteen trustees 
 should be appointed by the state superintendent. Each advance 
 of the state to assume greater control of these institutions has 
 met with much opposition. The protests against the act of 1907 
 were particularly pronounced in several instances. At the West 
 Chester Normal, the board was reorganized so that the State 
 appointed nine trustees and the stockholders elected nine others. 
 The next year when the litigation arose at West Chester, the 
 defendants and owners of stock contended that the state superin- 
 tendent did not have the power to appoint nine trustees, and 
 only six were then permitted to serve on the board. 
 
 Even if half the trustees are appointed by the state superin- 
 tendent, the State's interests are scarcely better safe-guarded than 
 they were when but six of the eighteen were appointed. Gener- 
 ally, of course, it is expected that the state superintendent will 
 appoint the state trustees from the list recommended by the 
 stockholders. Seldom does he make appointments on his own 
 initiative ; when he does, he must do so " upon the advice and 
 consent of the governor," which is another complication, and 
 of course every complication acts in favor of the small group 
 of stockholders who have been in control. 
 
 Occasionally when the state superintendent does make outside 
 appointments, as he did at Mansfield last year (1909) and at 
 Edinboro both this and last year (1910 and 1909), it means 
 friction and loss of friendship for those who were asked to 
 represent the state. Under such conditions a weak man soon 
 succumbs, while a strong man discovers that he has much diffi- 
 culty in accomplishing anything. Often the weak man is taken 
 over into the fold of the normal school group while the strong 
 man finally becomes disgusted and refuses to serve longer. In 
 
Present Management ' - 35 
 
 the end, whenever one of these contests has developed, two or 
 three men owning a majority of the stock have found themselves 
 without opposition, and the old conditions have continued with 
 but little interruption. 
 
 It may be argued that the quarterly reports to the Auditor 
 General's office and the inspection of the books every three or 
 four months by a traveling auditor for the state will be suffi- 
 cient to prevent irregularities. Anyone who is familiar with the 
 complicated system of bookkeeping in any one of these large 
 school corporations knows that such reports and such examina- 
 tions are able to interrupt but not to prevent unwise use of funds. 
 Certainly these reports and inspections do not put a stop to 
 clique and bank control, which means that the state's money is 
 frequently wasted and the good the school is able to do is 
 minimized. 
 
 Practically all the leading educators of the state, cognizant 
 of the normal school management, are convinced that the present 
 method of control is futile and wrong. Such men as Principals 
 Phillips, Lyte, and Smith, have publicly advocated that the State 
 normal schools should be under the control and direction of a 
 carefully selected professional board, appointed by the governor 
 or the state superintendent. The late Theodore B. Noss, of the 
 California normal, who had enough faith in himself and his pro- 
 fession to spend two years abroad in study, very earnestly ad- 
 vocated this change. Undoubtedly the state will very soon 
 adopt this policy.* 
 
 One conclusion seems to follow inevitably from this examina- 
 tion of conditions in the Pennsylvania normal schools. Either 
 the system has actually resulted in strife and conflict in the 
 management of the institutions, always to the detriment of their 
 educational work, or a small group, frequently of no more than 
 two or three or a half dozen men, have acquired control. In 
 the latter case private interests have contaminated the service 
 which should be rendered solely in the public interest. In one 
 or two cases selfish private interest has produced open scandal, 
 and in still others openly expressed public suspicion. Such con- 
 ditions will always make it impossible for any school where they 
 exist to train high-minded and efficient teachers. If the spirit 
 
 * Partial provisions have been made for state ownership in the sehool 
 laws of 191 1. 
 
36 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 of a school is morally unsound, those who fall under its in- 
 fluence cannot but be touched, even if unconsciously, by its 
 baneful effects. 
 
 Let it not be forgotten also that the very worst condition ex- 
 isting, or that has existed, in any of the schools, is a danger 
 that threatens every school in the state. They are all alike pri- 
 vate schools, largely aided by state subvention. To this policy 
 of management may be traced most of the evils to be found in 
 the normal schools of Pennsylvania. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 
 
 During the past decade or two, entrance requirements to prac- 
 tically all the professions have been steadily raised. This is 
 especially true of medicine. Only a few years ago, probably not 
 more than fifteen, many of the more prosperous medical schools 
 admitted students from the common schools. At that time the 
 great majority of the schools had a two-year course. Gradually, 
 however, the entrance requirements in many of the better medi- 
 cal institutions were raised and only students that had been 
 graduated from a three-year or four-year high school were ad- 
 mitted, and at the same time the medical course was lengthened 
 to three years. To-day none has less than a four-year course, 
 and many require from one to four years of college work in 
 addition to the four years of high school study. The advance 
 that has been made in medical education has been approached 
 by the best law schools of the country; and to-day many states 
 have high entrance requirements in dentistry, pharmacy, and 
 even veterinary surgery. 
 
 In certain states the requirements for entering the teaching 
 profession have in a measure kept pace with those of the other 
 professions, though in a great majority the standards for teach- 
 ing are lamentably low and unworthy. The states that have 
 done the most to make teaching truly professional are New 
 York, Massachusetts, Indiana, California, and New Jersey. In 
 most of these only graduates of four-year high schools are per- 
 mitted to become students in the state normals ; in fact the re- 
 quirements are identical with those for entrance to the univer- 
 sities and the colleges of the country. With these higher re- 
 quirements, which necessarily lead to better preparation on the 
 part of the teachers, the salaries have been increased and the 
 school term lengthened. Indications a:re that the teaching pro- 
 fession will be placed on a still higher level in the near future. 
 Even in the south, handicapped in its finances and burdened 
 
 37 
 
38 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 with the other heavy problems, vigorous steps have been taken 
 recently to raise the professional standards for the teachers in 
 both the grades and the high schools. 
 
 The condition in Pennsylvania, which is surpassed only by 
 New York in wealth and population, is far from satisfactory. 
 The management of practically all the Pennsylvania state 
 normal schools has kept miserably low standards. Because of 
 the tmlimited and indiscriminate " state aid," a premium has 
 been placed upon gross numbers and the standard set in Penn- 
 sylvania forty years ago among these state institutions has re- 
 mained the standard up to the present time. No normal school 
 principal would be continued long in office if he were not able 
 to have a large enrollment in his school. The local boards of 
 trustees know little about the academic and professional work; 
 they do not claim to be educational experts ; but they are able 
 to multiply and subtract, and they are instantly opposed to the 
 adoption of any standard that will reduce the numbers and con- 
 sequently the amount of " state aid." Before the spring of 1910, 
 when the course of study was changed and certain very limited 
 requirements agreed upon at a meeting of the normal school 
 principals, little or no attention was given to the previous pre- 
 paration of entering students. All were welcome, — the retarded 
 pupil in the grades, the discontented pupil in the first year of 
 high school, and the graduate of a four-year high school course. 
 It is evident that with these indiscriminate qualifications, uni- 
 form and satisfactory work was impossible, and as the stan- 
 dard became lower and lower the better qualified pupils were 
 not attracted. 
 
 The law of 1866 granted " state aid " to students seventeen 
 years of age and above who studied the science and art of teach- 
 ing; and at the end of the normal course the state gave an 
 additional reward of $50 to each graduate who promised to 
 teach two years in the public schools. In 1901 the legislature 
 increased the " state aid " to $1.50 a week without laying down 
 a single educational qualification. Many evils have followed in 
 the wake of this age requirement. Since their establishment, 
 practically every normal school has had a preparatory or sub- 
 junior class to which are admitted boys and girls who often are 
 not able to keep pace with their classmates in the common 
 schools or high schools. These individuals are attracted to the 
 
The Entrance Requirements 39 
 
 normals in order to take the special courses offered or to qualify 
 themselves in the least possible time and with the least possible 
 effort to receive a permanent certificate to teach in the public 
 schools. Regardless of the advancement these pupils make, as 
 soon as they reach the age of seventeen they are enrolled in the 
 " Methods " class so that the school may receive $1.50 a week 
 for their professional preparation. Not all of these individuals 
 keep their promise of teaching. Probably the state loses less 
 if they do not ; but whether they do or not, the dullards and the 
 incompetents receive a permanent license and enter into com- 
 petition with the brightest young men and women in the state. 
 
 The incompetents can find no other haven so comfortable and 
 lucrative, and they are able and willing to work for less money 
 than those who see other avenues where competition is more 
 severe and rewards are greater. Eventually, this system dis- 
 courages and drives out the more capable ones ; and the so-called 
 teacher's profession is left largely in the hands of people lacking 
 in scholarship and initiative. The most competent teachers are 
 not sufficiently protected by the minimum salary laws of the 
 state. 
 
 It must not be inferred that a majority of the students 
 in the normal schools are not earnest and energetic; such is not 
 the case. A large number of them are studious and capable, 
 though very deficient in academic preparation. Unfortunately, 
 these persons remain in the profession only a short time since 
 they are compelled to stand upon the economic level established 
 by the incompetent class turned out by these institutions. 
 
 This indiscriminate giving of state money to privately con- 
 trolled normal schools offers a temptation for gain, and the prin- 
 cipals have been forced into a competition for mere numbers. 
 Under such conditions it is not surprising that these educators 
 have been unable to agree upon any entrance requirements. This 
 has led to an intolerable condition, which can be described in 
 the words of a former principal who said that a Pennsylvania 
 normal school is " an institution for teaching almost any body 
 almost any thing." This statement is quoted from the late Theo- 
 dore B. Noss, of the California normal school, who was plead- 
 ing for higher entrance requirements and more co-operation be- 
 tween the normal schools and high schools of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Passages will be quoted from both old and new catalogues 
 
40 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 of the Pennsylvania normal schools to prove that these institu- 
 tions have had no entrance requirements worthy of the name. 
 A number of the prominent educators of Pennsylvania will be 
 quoted to show that they realize that the conditions are deplor- 
 able and that a radical reform is necessary. 
 
 In 1886, the West Chester normal school catalogue contains 
 this statement : " Pupils will be allowed to enter the regular 
 course at any point for which they are actually fitted. They 
 may enter at any time during the session, and will be charged 
 only from date of entrance." 
 
 Practically the same statement can be found in the Shippens- 
 burg catalogue from 1887 to 1896, Between 1890 and 1897 the 
 Lock Haven catalogues announce that " Students can enter at 
 any time and find profitable work. But it is always better to be 
 present at the opening of the term. 
 
 " No examination is required in order to be admitted to the 
 Junior class. Applicants for admission will be assigned to such 
 classes as are suited to their degree of advancement." 
 
 The Millersville catalogues from 1890 to 1894 state that 
 " Students will be admitted to the school at any time," with the 
 additional statement that " When students enter school they will 
 be assigned to the class in which their qualifications entitle them 
 to be placed." 
 
 The California normal as late as 1896- 1897 announced that a 
 student was " prepared to enter here " after having had " the 
 usual course in the common schools at home." It also advises 
 the student to come at once if he desires to save " both time and 
 money." In 1900 the East Stroudsburg catalogue has this 
 rather flexible entrance requirement : " Those who are fairly 
 well advanced in the English branches, by entering the begin- 
 ning of the Fall term, can complete the work of the Junior year 
 in three terms. . . . On entering, the applicant is placed 
 in such class or classes as his attainment and ability warrant." 
 
 Practically every one of the Pennsylvania normal schools ad- 
 mits students to the various classes almost at any time during 
 the year. The Bloomsburg catalogue of 1906-1907 states that 
 " Students in nearly all subjects can be accommodated, even in 
 the middle of the term." 
 
 All the announcements for 1908-1909 and 1909-1910 indicate 
 
The Entrance Requirements 41 
 
 that the entrance requirements have not been raised. A student 
 might enter any normal school from the grades or the common 
 schools, and be graduated after three years of work. If the 
 standards of New York and Massachusetts were strictly applied 
 to him upon graduation, he would not yet be able to enter a 
 state normal in either of these states until he had studied for a 
 year in a first class high school. 
 
 The Lock Haven catalogue for 1908-1909 states that " a good 
 High School course or its equivalent will admit to the Junior 
 class." In January, 1910, two students from the Sophomore 
 class of the Lock Haven High School were admitted upon ex- 
 amination to the Junior year without condition. At the end of 
 two years these individuals (two girls) will receive state di- 
 plomas or licenses at the time their former classmates are gradu- 
 ating from the local high school. Pupils from the eighth grade 
 at Lock Haven have been admitted without examination to the 
 sub- junior class. This enables them to become teachers in four 
 years. The situation here is not worse than in many of the other 
 state institutions. 
 
 A former principal states that " no examinations worthy of 
 the name have ever been given to students applying for entrance 
 to any normal school of the state. Boys of eleven, and girls 
 even younger are admitted to the various classes to the detri- 
 ment of the standard of the schools. These individuals are not 
 qualified by mental development or previous preparation to enter 
 the classes with young men and women who are really fitted for 
 professional work." The present director of the model school 
 of one of the normal schools asserts that " Most of these insti- 
 tutions have fallen into the snare of allowing practically any- 
 body to enter the Junior year ; and once entered, it is difficult to 
 keep unfit ones from graduating." One of the most competent 
 teachers in another school states that " The preparation of our 
 students upon entering is much varied. A few come well pre- 
 pared; others are very poorly prepared. It has been customary 
 in the past to accept marks from schools in the districts — High 
 Schools so named — but for several years now we give them an 
 examination, a very easy test, and if they show any signs of 
 knowledge we pass them on. 
 
 " Now this matter of credits is a most difficult problem. You 
 
42 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 know the condition of our high schools. There are six or eight 
 first rate ones in our district. Students from these are fairly 
 well prepared, but the difficulty is to know where to draw the 
 line. The principals of the smaller schools, which are not high 
 schools in any real sense, say, ' If you do not accept our marks, 
 we will send our graduates to schools that do,' and they keep 
 their word. The marks we get are no index at all of the pupils' 
 ability. The grades presented to us range from 90 per cent to 
 100 per cent. I have just examined a dozen students in General 
 History. The lowest grade presented to me was 90 per cent, 
 the highest 99 per cent. These students had this work in class 
 last year. Here are the questions I gave them for the entrance 
 examination : 
 
 1. Tell what you can about the Peloponnesian war. 
 
 2. Point out differences in character between the Athenians 
 and the Spartans. 
 
 3. What were the causes and results of the War of the 
 Roses ? 
 
 4. What were the following: 
 
 (a) The Renaissance. 
 
 (b) The German Reformation. 
 
 (c) The Hundred Years' War. 
 
 (d) The Peace of Westphalia. 
 
 " If I had graded the papers of these students according to the 
 standards I used to follow in high school, their marks would 
 have ranged between 30 per cent and 70 per cent. As it was I 
 passed them all. You notice that the character of the questions 
 is quite different from that of the questions I would give in a 
 regular examination ; these are general and strike only the 
 mountain peaks. 
 
 " The preparation of our students in the common school 
 branches is deplorable. These individuals come largely from 
 country schools, but even those from the graded schools are 
 wretchedly prepared. They have no accurate knowledge, and 
 their examinations show a miserable hodge-podge. After they 
 come to us, our patchy course of study — 24 weeks for General 
 History — makes the situation still more miserable. We have 
 been told that this century is a time of rapid transit, but our 
 
The Entrance Requirements 43 
 
 course of study can hardly be excelled in speed except by the 
 new course which in many respects is still worse." 
 
 The above quotations indicate something of the standards that 
 have been employed by all the normal schools. With the adop- 
 tion of this new course of study in the spring of 1910, the prin- 
 cipals laid down the first uniform entrance requirements that 
 the Pennsylvania normal schools have ever agreed upon in the 
 fifty years of their existence. The standard states that " Stu- 
 dents admitted to the First Year shall have a fair knowledge of 
 Arithmetic, Reading, Orthography, Penmanship, United States 
 History, Geography, Grammar, Physiology, Civics, and the Ele- 
 ments of Algebra to Quadratics. Test by Faculty." The 
 fact that this requirement has been heralded as an improvement, 
 over the old order where each institution set its own standards 
 seems to justify the severe criticisms that have been made by 
 educators in and out of the state. 
 
 The entrance requirements now agreed upon for the Penn- 
 sylvania normal schools are no higher than those for admittance 
 to a good New York high school. All the work upon which the 
 entering students will be examined, with the exception of Ele- 
 mentary Algebra, is distinctly of common school grade and no 
 statement is made to the effect that the pupils must be graduated 
 from the common schools. It is not possible to say that the 
 standard has been raised; the matter still rests largely in the 
 hands of each principal. The Preparatory or Sub-Junior class 
 will still be a ready receptacle for all the educational misfits that 
 may apply for admittance from the sixth or seventh grade, and 
 the same laxity in entrance requirements will probably continue 
 in the future. Practically no student, regardless of his age or 
 his preparation, has ever been refused admittance to any normal 
 school in the state. There are few, very few, exceptions to this 
 sweeping statement. 
 
 In fact, even if this entrance requirement agreed upon in 1910 
 is enforced, the standard is low and reward in time saved is 
 offered to those coming directly from the country or graded 
 schools. The pupils may be conditioned in Algebra and one of 
 the elementary branches, but they still have considerably the ad- 
 vantage of pupils from high schools. A reward of two years 
 is given to those who do not spend a single day in the local high 
 
44 
 
 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 school but enter at once one of the state normals. Here are the 
 rules laid down by the principals for admitting pupils from the 
 secondary schools of the state : 
 
 " Resolved that properly certified graduates of approved 
 Pennsylvania High Schools of the first grade and city High 
 Schools [four years in length] as listed by the Department of 
 Public Instruction, be recommended to the State Board of Ex- 
 aminers for entrance to the third year of the Four Years' 
 Course of the State Normal Schools without examination by the 
 Faculty, and be conditioned in the branches that have not been 
 satisfactorily completed by such students. 
 
 " Resolved that properly certified graduates of approved 
 Pennsylvania High Schools of the second grade [three years in 
 length] be recommended to the State Board of Examiners for 
 entrance to the second year of the Four Years' Course of the 
 State Normal Schools without examination by the faculty, and 
 be conditioned in the branches that have not been satisfactorily 
 completed by such students. 
 
 " Resolved that properly certified graduates of approved 
 Pennsylvania High Schools of the third grade [two years in 
 length] be admitted to the first year of the Four Years' Course 
 of the State Normal Schools without examination, and be con- 
 ditioned in the branches that have not been satisfactorily com- 
 pleted by such students." 
 
 The following table will show that the entrance requirements 
 are distinctly in favor of the pupil from the common schools : 
 
 TABLE 1 
 
 Years in the 
 
 Common 
 
 School 
 
 Years in 
 High 
 School 
 
 Years in 
 Normal 
 School 
 
 Total 
 Preparation 
 
 for 
 permanent 
 certificate 
 
 8 years 
 8 years 
 8 years 
 8 years 
 
 
 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 3 
 2 
 
 12 years 
 14 years 
 14 years 
 14 years 
 
 In other words the new course of study is setting a pre- 
 mium upon inefficient and poor preparation and is permitting 
 and even encouraging the state normals to continue their compe- 
 
The Entrance Requirements 45 
 
 tition against the public high schools. The wording of the above 
 resolutions indicates that the four-year high school graduate 
 will be conditioned in both School Management and School Law 
 and General Methods, so that besides losing two years of time, 
 he is compelled to do additional work during the third and 
 fourth years of the normal course. 
 
 Because of the adoption of the four-year curriculum, which 
 requires only a common school preparation, these low standards 
 will be retained. Frequently, the normal school principals are 
 not to blame for this condition of affairs. Back of them stand 
 the local boards of trustees who would instantly resent any ac- 
 tion that would tend to reduce the attendance. The succeeding 
 chapter will show how seriously the low entrance requirements 
 affect the curriculum of the normal schools, and how they force 
 these institutions to attempt impossible tasks. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE CURRICULUM 
 
 The law of 1857, dividing the state of Pennsylvania into 
 twelve normal school districts (later thirteen), provided that the 
 course of study for the state normal schools should be agreed 
 upon by a majority of the normal school principals and ap- 
 proved by the state superintendent. Almost without exception 
 the normal schools had developed from private academies. The 
 principals of these schools agreed upon three regular courses, 
 two of which were wholly academic, and the other, known as 
 the " Elementary Course," and designed for those who expected 
 to teach in the common schools, gave but little attention to pro- 
 fessional instruction. This was quite natural, but none the less 
 unfortunate, since it resulted in an inauguration of the work 
 of the normal schools along cultural, rather than professional 
 lines. 
 
 The ultimate result has been that professional studies 
 have been forced to gain admission, whenever admission could 
 be gained at all, by crowding into an already full course. From 
 the standpoint of educational efficiency, the greatest defect of 
 the Pennsylvania normal schools is their overcrowded cur- 
 riculum. Their work is a jumble of attempts to do what be- 
 longs to the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of the common 
 schools, to the high schools, to the colleges, and to schools for 
 the professional training of teachers. Even at the present day 
 music is a special study in every one of the thirteen schools, and 
 most of them have a formidable array of extras besides, none 
 of which have any bearing upon professional training of teach- 
 ers, though they are sometimes combined with a nominal at- 
 tendance upon " methods " lectures, thus making those who are 
 enrolled in them eligible for state aid. 
 
 As the original " Elementary Course " at Millersville is the 
 one from which the later normal courses have been evolved, it 
 
 46 
 
The Curriculum 47 
 
 is best to give it in detail. This course extended only two years 
 above the work of the common schools. Part of the academic 
 subjects were continuations of the common school branches, 
 such as arithmetic (mental and written), penmanship, reading, 
 grammar, and history of the United States. The majority were 
 distinctly high school in character, such as Natural Philosophy, 
 Botany, Rhetoric, Geometry and Plane Trigonometry. One 
 hour a day for a year was devoted to the Theory of Teaching 
 and an hour a day for a half year to Practice Teaching in tfie 
 Model School. 
 
 This Elementary Course is here given : 
 
 First Term 
 Orthography and Etymology 
 Reading and Elocution 
 Writing and Drawing 
 Geography 
 Mental Arithmetic 
 Written Arithmetic 
 Grammar 
 Vocal Music 
 
 Second Term 
 Reading and Elocution 
 Writing and Drawing 
 Physical Geography 
 Higher Grammar 
 Elements of Algebra 
 Physiology 
 Theory of Teaching 
 Vocal Music 
 
 Third Term 
 History of the United States 
 Algebra 
 
 Elements of Natural Philosophy 
 Rhetoric 
 
 Geometry (five books) 
 Theory of Teaching 
 Bookkeeping 
 
 Fourth Term 
 
 Geometry Completed and Plane Trigonometry 
 Elements of Chemistry 
 Botany or Zoology 
 Practice Teaching 
 
 This course was also adopted at Edinboro in 1861 when that 
 institution was officially recognized. Probably no change was 
 made in it until 1866 when the state legislature passed an act, 
 
48 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 giving aid to all students over seventeen years of age who signi- 
 fied their intention of teaching in the common schools of the 
 state and who " receive regular instruction in the science and 
 art of teaching in a special class devoted to that object for the 
 whole time such an allowance is drawn." 
 
 In 1870, a few changes were made in the curriculum of the 
 five state normal schools then in existence. The theory of 
 teaching was given an hour a day for a year and a half, and 
 this was followed by an hour a day for a half year of practice 
 teaching. The only other important change in the curriculum 
 was made by reducing the time devoted to mathematics : only 
 part of the work of solid geometry was presented and plane 
 trigonometry was entirely omitted. This course of study re- 
 mained in operation until 1880. 
 
 In this year, several important changes were made. Less time, 
 it would seem, was devoted to the common school branches, for 
 both Grammar and Etymology were dropped out, and Mental 
 and Written Arithmetic were also omitted. At this meeting the 
 principals again reduced the time given to higher mathematics, 
 and the work in solid geometry was dropped. In place of these 
 subjects, Latin was introduced for the first time, though for but 
 one year, the work being confined to the study of grammar and 
 the completion of the first book of Caesar. Some attention was 
 also given to the English classics, but the main reason for chang- 
 ing the program at this time was to make room for two pro- 
 fessional subjects — School Economy and Mental Philosophy. 
 
 Seven years later, in 1887, at another meeting of the normal 
 school principals and the state superintendent, more Latin was 
 required though the work was still confined to grammar and 
 Caesar. The most important change made at this time was in 
 the additional emphasis that was given to the theory of teach- 
 ing. Though the course had not yet been extended to three 
 years, the work in the theory of teaching had been subdivided 
 so that attention was given to school management, methods, and 
 psychology; and in addition to these, a short course in the his- 
 tory of education was required. 
 
The Curriculum . 49 
 
 In 1894, at the end of another seven-year period, two meet- 
 ings of the normal school principals were called to revise the 
 course of study. At the first meeting several additions were 
 made. Arithmetic and English Grammar, which were in the 
 course of study in 1859, were reintroduced; additional work 
 was prescribed in Caesar; and the new subjects, Manual Train- 
 ing and General History, were added. During this same year, 
 but at a later meeting, the curriculum was radically changed by 
 offering a third year which all students were recommended to 
 take, though not compelled to do so. 
 
 The work of the optional year was divided between high 
 school and professional subjects. Solid geometry, plane and 
 analytical trigonometry and surveying were prescribed, and short 
 courses were given in chemistry, zoology, and geology. Special 
 work was also offered in English and American literature. 
 Three books of both Caesar and Virgil, and three orations of 
 Cicero were added to the work in Latin prescribed for the 
 elementary course. The pedagogical instruction included psy- 
 chology, moral science, school supervision, philosophy of educa- 
 tion, and methods of teaching. 
 
 The addition of this optional year in 1894 for regular normal 
 school students indicates that the normal school principals were 
 not satisfied with the preparation they had been giving their 
 students ; and finally, in 1900, they agreed upon a compulsory 
 three-year course for graduation, which consisted of the regular 
 elementary course of two years with the addition of the former 
 optional year. At the same time work in Greek, German, and 
 French, was introduced, and students were permitted to substi- 
 tute language work for certain courses in science or mathe- 
 matics ; but in most of the normal schools few elected French or 
 Greek and the language work was therefore largely confined to 
 German and Latin. This course of study, adopted in 1900, was 
 divided into the three years, called Junior, Middle, and Senior, 
 and was continued for ten years by the thirteen normal schools. 
 The following division by years and subjects is taken from the 
 catalogue of the Indiana, Pennsylvania, Normal School : 
 
so 
 
 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 OLD COURSE 
 First Year 
 
 Mathematics (Algebra, Arithmetic) 260 45 minute periods 
 
 Latin 200 
 
 Pedagogics (School management) 137^ 
 
 Music 48 
 
 Drawing 112 
 
 United States History and Civics 140 
 
 Physiology 60 
 
 Bookkeeping 75 
 
 Geography 65 
 
 Physical Culture 80 
 
 1177-i 
 Second Year 
 
 Mathematics (Plane Geometry) 140 
 
 English (Rhetoric, Composition, Elocution) 130 
 
 Botany 60 
 
 Zoology 60 
 
 History (General) 125 
 
 Latin (Caesar) 200 
 
 Pedagogics (Psychology, Methods) 200 
 
 Manual Training 75 
 
 Chemistry 140 
 
 Physical Culture 80 
 
 1210 
 Third Year 
 
 Pedagogics (Methods, Hist, of Ed., Teaching) 270 
 
 Latin (Cicero, Virgil) 200 
 
 English (Lit. and Classics, review of grammar) 200 
 
 Mathematics (So. Geom., Trig., Surv., review arith.) 260 
 
 Physics 140 
 
 Geology 60 
 
 Physical Culture 80 
 
 1210 
 
 Very shortly after the adoption of the three-year course of 
 study in 1900, several of the normal school principals advocated 
 radical changes. The objections by these educators were nu- 
 merous enough, but somewhat conflicting: some insisted that the 
 course of study should be reduced to two years in length, and 
 be confined entirely to professional and semi-professional 
 studies; others contended that the course should be lengthened 
 in order to give opportunity for more thorough work. Of the 
 remaining principals two or three were indifferent, while one 
 or two were defenders of the course as it stood. 
 
 In writing to the State Superintendent in 1907, one normal 
 school principal stated " that the course of study is too exten- 
 sive to make possible the thorough drill in the fundamental 
 
The Curriculum 5 1 
 
 studies that is so necessary to the success as a teacher of the 
 common schools." This indicates that at least one principal 
 favored a smaller number of academic studies and more atten- 
 tion to review and drill work in the common school subjects. 
 At the same time Principal Lyte of Millersville made the asser- 
 tion that " some Normal Schools are obstacles in the way of es- 
 tablishing high schools, because they themselves attempt to do 
 work of second or third grade high schools and thus prevent 
 the establishment of high schools." Principal Kemp of the East 
 Stroudsburg normal school, in his report to the state superinten- 
 dent in 1909, stated that " the academic work in the last two 
 years is entirely too heavy, and crowds out much needed profes- 
 sional work. A number of the studies in the middle and senior 
 years are nothing more than high school studies that should be 
 well taken care of before the middle year is reached. 
 The junior year is no better than the last year in a good gram- 
 mar school and it should really be at least equal to. the third 
 year in a good high school." Doctor Theodore B. Noss, the 
 late principal of the California normal school, also contended 
 that the course of study should be modified, giving less attention 
 to high school subjects and much more attention to the profes- 
 sional preparation of teachers. Finally in the spring of 1910, 
 after two or three protracted and rather heated conferences, a 
 four-year course was agreed upon. It is given here with prefa- 
 tory explanations as made out by the principals at their final 
 conference : 
 
 " This course is based on the ' unit ' plan as proposed by the 
 Carnegie Foundation. 
 
 "A unit represents a year's study in any subject in a secon- 
 dary school constituting approximately a quarter of a full year's 
 work. 
 
 " This statement is designed to afford a standard of measure- 
 ment for the work done in secondary schools. It takes the four- 
 year High School Course as a basis and assumes that the length 
 of the school year is from thirty-six to forty weeks, that a 
 period is from forty to sixty minutes in length and that the 
 study is pursued for four or five periods a week; but, under 
 ordinary circumstances, a satisfactory year's work in any sub- 
 
52 
 
 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 ject cannot be accomplished in less than one hundred and twenty 
 sixty-minute hours or their equivalent. Schools organized on a 
 different basis can nevertheless estimate their work in terms of 
 this unit. 
 
 " Students admitted to the First Year shall have a fair knowl- 
 edge of Arithmetic, Reading, Orthography, Penmanship, United 
 States History, Geography, Grammar, Physiology, Civics, and 
 the Elements of Algebra to Quadratics. Test by Faculty." 
 
 45 minute periods 
 
 First Year 
 
 Algebra 160 
 
 Latin 160 
 
 School Management and School Law 160 
 
 Orthography 40 
 
 Reading and Public Speaking 50 
 
 Ancient and Mediaeval History 100 
 
 Physical Geography 50 
 
 Arithmetic 100 
 
 Grammar , . . 160 
 
 Vocal Music 50 
 
 Physical Training 80 
 
 ^lanual Training or Domestic Science 50 
 
 1160 
 Second Year 
 
 Plane Geometry 160 " " 
 
 Rhetoric, Composition and Classics 160 " " 
 
 Botany 100 " " 
 
 Zoology 50 
 
 Bookkeeping 50 " " 
 
 Modern History and English History 100 " " 
 
 Caesar (Four Books) 160 " " 
 
 General Methods 160 " " 
 
 Drawing 100 " " 
 
 Physical Training SO " " 
 
 Manual Training or Domestic Science 50 " " 
 
 1170 
 Third Year 
 
 Psychology and Observation 160 " " 
 
 Cicero or German or French 160 " " 
 
 Literature, English and American 100 " " 
 
 History, U. S. and Civics 80 " " 
 
 Geography 80 " " 
 
 Physiology and School Sanitation 80 " " 
 
 Solid Geometry and Trigonometry 160 " " 
 
 Methods in History and Geography 100 " " 
 
 Physics 160 
 
 Physical Training 80 " 
 
 1160 
 Substitutions Offered: History of Arts and Sciences, French or German 
 for Cicero. French, German, or Geology and Astronomy for Solid Geometry 
 and Trigonometry. 
 
The Curriculum <)^ 
 
 Fourth Year 
 
 Practice Teaching 160 45 minute periods 
 
 Observation or Plan Work, Practice must be at least 100 20 
 
 History of Education 100 45 
 
 Agriculture and Nature Study 160 
 
 Arithmetic 50 
 
 Grammar 50 
 
 Methods in Arithmetic and Grammar 100 
 
 Virgil (Six Books), German or French 160 
 
 Pubhc Speaking 50 
 
 Chemistry 160 
 
 Drawing 50 
 
 Manual Training or Domestic Science 50 
 
 Physical Training 80 
 
 1110 
 
 Substitutions Offered: French, German, (Ethics, Logic and Sociology), 
 or, (Philosophy of Education and Surveying) for Virgil. Note — Surveying 
 may take the place of either Ethics, Logic or Sociology. 
 
 Of the 3597 hours given under the three-year course, 2397 
 were devoted to what can rightly be called high school subjects, 
 ^iid 353 to common school branches. Exclusive of physical 
 training, this leaves 607^ hours for professional studies, or 
 18^ per cent of the entire time. The revised course. has 2750 
 hours for high school subjects and 540 for common school 
 branches, with 990 left for professional study, or 23 per cent of 
 the entire time. 
 
 These figures lead to the conclusion that the new course of 
 study is not an improvement over the old one. In fact, no 
 radical change has been made; the additional year has simply 
 proportionately increased the time devoted to each phase of the 
 work: 3825^ hours to the professional side; 353 to high school 
 subjects, and 187 to the common school branches. In the old 
 curriculum the work, exclusive of the time for physical train- 
 ing, required 27.97 recitations per week or 5^ per day. Little 
 improvement has been made in the new four-year course since 
 it requires 26.75 recitations per week or 5^/^ per day. 
 
 One of the weaknesses of the curriculum is a result of the 
 limited time and emphasis given to the subject of English com- 
 position and literature. Practically one-third of this entire time 
 is devoted to grammar and 40 periods are assigned to spelling. 
 This leaves not more than 360 periods to the English work as 
 it is given in a modern high school. Most of these precious 360 
 recitations are given to the discussion of two or three classics 
 
54 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 and to the lives of noted authors. Oral and written composi- 
 tion receive very little attention. 
 
 The English teacher has all he can do to prepare for six or 
 seven recitation periods a day; he has left neither energy nor 
 tirrie to correct essays, and the students are too busy going from 
 one class to another to devote much time to any one study. 
 
 During any year of a first-class high school the pupils write 
 more essays than do the normal students in three or four years. 
 The oral composition work is generally left in the hands of the 
 Elocution teacher, who is busy with a small group, rehearsing 
 for a play or other public performance. As a consequence, the 
 students often show skill in analysing sentences, although they 
 are not able to write or speak their native language with cor- 
 rectness and ease. They hear much about the " theme " of a 
 selection, but at the end of the normal course they have little or 
 no appreciation of the best literature. When the normal school 
 students go out to teach in the grammar grades and the smaller 
 high schools of the state, it is very evident that the English 
 work, the core of the curriculum, cannot be well taught. As a 
 consequence, each succeeding school generation shows to what 
 an alarming extent a crowded normal school curriculum can di- 
 rectly injure the common schools of the state. 
 
 The number of hours devoted to academic work in the Penn- 
 sylvania normal schools and in the first class high schools is prac- 
 tically the same. In the former case the total number of hours 
 given to academic study (high school and common school) is 
 3290, while in the latter all of the 3458 hours are given to the 
 high school studies. The difference of 168 hours is insignificant. 
 This similarity is made still more evident by comparing the 
 number of recitations per week or day required in each instance. 
 The high school course requires less than 23 per week or 4.55 
 per day, while the academic side of the normal school cur- 
 riculum requires 20.5 hours per week or 4.1 per day. If the 
 academic work of the Pennsylvania normal schools is well done, 
 is there any room for the 990 additional hours required for 
 professional study? 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ADVERTISING METHODS AND SPECIAL COURSES 
 
 An investigation of the advertising methods employed by prac- 
 tically all the Pennsylvania normal schools shows at once the 
 principal reason why the entrance requirements are very low 
 and why the curriculum is crowded and unsatisfactory. The 
 creation of the many special courses of study indicates to what 
 extent the demand for gross numbers has distorted the aim of 
 these professional schools. The effect of this desire for students 
 has been far-reaching and it will not cease until the state takes 
 the control of its normal schools out of the hands of private 
 corporations and of men who are indifferent to the purpose for 
 which these institutions were established. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the prevalence of wholly 
 unprofessional " special studies," and of the indefensible custom 
 of combining such studies with " methods " classes in order to 
 make students of music, or bookkeeping, or photography eligible 
 for state aid. 
 
 Many students enrolled in these special courses do not expect 
 to teach. A few, refusing to accept " state aid " under false pre- 
 tenses, pay their own tuition, including additional fees. How- 
 ever, many others do not hesitate to let the state pay sixty dollars 
 a year for their education in stenography, bookkeeping, music, 
 art and oratory. The " state aid " is frequently more than 
 enough to pay the tuition for many of these special courses. If 
 it is not, the school makes a deduction to those pupils who take 
 " Methods " and ask for " State aid " ; in such an event, the 
 student pays less than he would otherwise and the school re- 
 ceives considerably more. 
 
 Because of the profit derived from these special courses, it 
 is easily understood why a majority of the Pennsylvania state 
 normal schools have become institutions " for teaching almost 
 anybody almost anything." 
 
 Certain of these institutions employ as teachers men who are 
 
 55 
 
56 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 in demand in the county institutes of the state, and who have 
 consequently great influence in attracting young men and women 
 to their schools. Such lecturers are permitted to leave the nor- 
 mals for an afternoon or evening address two or three times a 
 week, and even to spend as much as ten or twelve weeks in 
 county institutes, though these are held during the school term. 
 The class work of these men, which is of much greater im- 
 portance, necessarily suffers, but the attendance in the normal 
 schools is increased by this plan of advertising. 
 
 A great deal of attention is given to athletics, since these 
 schools have discovered, as did the colleges twenty years ago, 
 that it increases the attendance to have a winning foot-ball or 
 base-ball team. Several of the state normals have splendid gym- 
 nasiums while their libraries are small and thoroughly 
 inadequate and their model schools are poorly furnished and 
 unsatisfactory. Shippensburg, for instance, has both a new gym- 
 nasium and athletic field with a grand-stand, while its training 
 school is in cramped and unsatisfactory quarters, and its library 
 is very small. At Edinboro, the science building is wholly inade- 
 quate, with miserable equipment, but the school has both an 
 athletic field and an attractive gymnasium. The library at 
 Lock Haven, although it has been improved and enlarged in the 
 past two years, is still lacking in space and volumes. The 
 gymnasium, however, is one of the features of the school. Kutz- 
 town has one of the finest gymnasiums in the State, but its 
 library room, which contains few modern books, is very small 
 and it has no experienced librarian to direct the students in their 
 readings. 
 
 In the central and western parts of the State, the normal 
 schools send out " educational runners " to increase the enroll- 
 ment. These agents go from town to town and village to village, 
 calling upon the older pupils in the country schools and the boys 
 and girls in the eighth grade and in the first year of high school. 
 Often the competition becomes so heated that charges for board 
 and room are reduced. The agent, however, has generally dis- 
 covered that his strongest appeal to the parents is to show them 
 that their son or daughter can save a year's time in obtaining 
 a permanent teacher's certificate by attending the school he is 
 advertising ; while his strongest appeal to the prospective pupils 
 
Advertising Methods and Special Courses 57 
 
 is to emphasize the attractions of the student life, — the athletic 
 events, the social affairs, the freedom granted to all, and a mini- 
 mum of distasteful and difficult work. 
 
 The condition in the eastern part of the State is similar though 
 the advertising methods are somewhat different. In some re- 
 spects, the contest is fiercer since the schools in the east are more 
 closely located. The alumni of each normal are called upon to 
 send students to the school, and occasionally the campaigning 
 methods require the head of the normal school to give his per- 
 sonal attention to prospective students. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE STATE BOARD EXAAHNATIONS 
 
 For many years the State Board Examinations held at the 
 Pennsylvania normal schools at the end of each academic year 
 have failed in their purpose. Few educators in the state will 
 defend them, and many school men do not hesitate to say that 
 they are not only useless, but also dangerous, since they encour- 
 age poor work and permit an evasion of the spirit of the law 
 relating to the certification of teachers. 
 
 As early as 1859 the law provided for the examination of 
 those students who were recommended for graduation by " the 
 whole faculty ", it required that this examination be conducted 
 by not less than three principals (" of whom the principal of 
 the school whose students are to be examined shall be one ") 
 and stipulated that the Superintendent of Common Schools be 
 present in person. Later these requirements were changed to 
 a certain extent; the number of principals on the board was 
 reduced to two, and the Superintendent was permitted to send a 
 deputy, and to enlarge the board by the appointment of from 
 two to six city, county, borough or township superintendents. 
 Up to 1901, these examinations were given only to the graduating 
 classes, but at that time the principals, with the consent of the 
 State Superintendent, agreed that all the students in the regular 
 classes should come under this jurisdiction and be examined by 
 the boards not only for graduation but also for promotion to a 
 higher class. As a consequence, these state board examinations 
 afifect most of the students in the regular classes, and much of 
 the burden of maintaining standards of scholarship is shifted 
 upon these few men who come to the institutions at the end of 
 the academic year to remain but two or three days. In the past 
 as few as four or five men have been in charge of an examina- 
 tion, and in two or three days these men were supposed to grade 
 four or five thousand papers, and examine hundreds of note- 
 
 58 
 
The State Board Examinations 59 
 
 books, — a physical impossibility. The number of examiners has 
 recently been increased and the time somewhat extended, but the 
 situation is still far from satisfactory. 
 
 Much might be said concerning the educational qualifications 
 and the experience of some of the men that are chosen for this 
 important duty, but that is unnecessary since the limited time 
 and the enormous task make it impossible for the most competent 
 and conscientious to do their work well. In fact, these examina- 
 tions enable an ambitious school principal to coerce his faculty 
 into approving many students that should not be passed under 
 any circumstances. As a result, these persons often slip through 
 because of the overwork or carelessness of an examiner, and 
 thereby the educational standard of the state is seriously 
 affected. 
 
 To' show just how much of a farce these examinations are 
 it is sufficient to know that one normal school principal claims 
 that no student in his school has failed in a state board examina- 
 tion in twenty-three years. Another principal has a clear record 
 for twenty years. Such information is given a prominent place 
 in the chapel talks, in the official letters written to prospective 
 students, and in the various publications sent out to advertise the 
 institution. Since the principal whose students are being exam- 
 ined is an official member of the board, it is very easy for him to 
 save many who otherwise would be failed, and occasion- 
 ally he does not hesitate to protest most vigorously against 
 conditioning or failing a single one of his students. In all fair- 
 nesS;, however, it should be stated that two or three of the 
 Pennsylvania normal school principals do^ not ask their faculties 
 to endorse doubtful students ; neither do they try to save the 
 record of the school by begging an examiner to withdraw his 
 objections to one of their students, who has done poorly in the 
 final test. Principal Rothermel, of the Kutztown normal school, 
 is one of the men who assume this attitude. But even then this 
 system is undesirable since it tends to lessen and divide responsi- 
 bility rather than increase and concentrate it; and seldom or 
 never does it really assist a school to maintain a reasonably high 
 standard of scholarship. 
 
 The following description by a prominent educator of the 
 state, who is at present a normal school teacher, will indicate the 
 
6o Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 attitude and opinion of the majority of Pennsylvania educators 
 toward these examinations : 
 
 " The state board examinations are a farce to some extent. 
 Too much credit is given to the school record of applicants for 
 state diplomas. Because these examinations are superficial in so 
 many cases, the principal coerces his faculty to pass students 
 who are not quite prepared. He believes the student will get 
 the benefit of the doubt and such is the case. As a consequence 
 there is no check by either the faculty or the examining board. 
 The attitude of this principal is not dififerent from that of a 
 majority of the heads of the normal schools of the state. The 
 moral effect upon the students and their work is very bad since 
 they know the principal will step in at the end and induce his 
 faculty to recommend many individuals who do not deserve the 
 state diploma." 
 
 Another account written by an efficient educator it is im- 
 possible to give in full. It is a complete description of what 
 occurred during the three days a board was in session at one 
 of the normal schools. However, the following extracts can 
 be given without revealing his identity: 
 
 " We arrived at ... . late Monday evening, and Tuesday 
 afternoon went out to the normal school and held a few exam- 
 inations. That night two of us sat up together until three o'clock 
 correcting papers. Wednesday we examined all day and 
 Wednesday night we sat up until five o'clock correcting papers. 
 Thursday morning I held my last examination which was 
 in . . . . , getting through a little before twelve o'clock. At 
 twelve the examiners met, and I did not have time to look over 
 more than six or eight of the sixty papers written that morning. 
 
 " The other examiner, who had spent as much time as I had 
 in trying to go over carefully the papers of the students, found 
 as many as fifty papers that showed a miserable lack of scholar- 
 ship. In my examination of the papers, I found practically the 
 same persons to have failed. Twenty of these were seniors 
 who expected to receive in a few days a diploma which would 
 be changed in two years to a life certificate. Because of the 
 poor spelling, the miserable English, and the mis-statement of 
 facts not a single one of these twenty should have been passed. 
 This other examiner, who had conscientiously read the papers, 
 agreed with me that these persons should not be granted diplomas 
 under any circumstances. We asked for the class records of 
 these students ; they were produced, showing that the student:; 
 had in the main done poor work in school. But after some 
 wrangling among the members of the board which ended finally 
 
The State Board Examinations 6i 
 
 with a fervent appeal by the principal who explained that he 
 had never in his life protested against the passing of students 
 in other normal schools where he had been on the examining 
 board, we were practically forced to give up, and this we did 
 as gracefully as we could. As a consequence, no other examiner 
 protested against promoting or graduating a single student in 
 that school. Yet I am sure that all the examiners believed that 
 no injustice would have been done if 25%' of the students 
 recommended by the faculty of that school had been failed. 
 
 " This is not an exceptional case. I have been a member of 
 other boards, and what occurred in this school has seemingly 
 occurred all too frequently in every other Pennsylvania normal 
 school. 
 
 " Sometimes the examiners do not perform their duties at all. 
 I have known one to play tennis during the examination days 
 all the while; and I have heard of others that gave themselves 
 up to the social group they met at the hotel or in a lodge. 
 
 " Frequently the questions are highly impractical. In a Latin 
 examination, I have known the longest and most intricate indirect 
 discourse to be offered first-year students out of its context ; 
 or vocabularies to be offered from texts which the students never 
 saw. Even then the students were passed ; the examiner prob- 
 ably did not know that the questions he put showed clearly to all 
 school men that he was incompetent to grade Latin papers. Is 
 it any wonder that the state board examinations have been con- 
 sidered a mere form ? " 
 
 From the foregoing it is very clear that the influence of the 
 lay boards of control is as unfortunate in the state examinations 
 as in other departments of normal school activities. If a princi- 
 pal attempted to raise his standard of scholarship for promotion 
 and graduation, he would find that many of his weaker students 
 would leave and go to another institution where the former low 
 standard is maintained; and of course as a result, the principal 
 would have to report to his board that the attendance had 
 fallen off. If he were perfectly frank with his trustees and ex- 
 plained the reason for this, he would soon discover that his 
 official life was in jeopardy, his salary cut, and his faculty re- 
 duced. The lay board knows little about educational standards, 
 but it knows a good deal about the difficulty of maintaining an 
 unprofitable plant. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 THE STUDENT BODY 
 
 The future of the pubHc schools of Pennsylvania has de- 
 pended and will continue to depend to a large extent upon the 
 product of the state normal schools. Most educational reforms 
 come from above : the college stimulates the work of the high 
 school, and the high school, generally speaking, evaluates and 
 strengthens the work of the common schools. The Pennsyl- 
 vania state normal schools are more numerous than those of 
 any other state; they have, therefore, occupied in a small mea- 
 sure the place of a state university in directing and modifying 
 the entire system of schools, both secondary and elementary. In 
 fact they have been looked upon as the standardizing force in 
 the educational field. 
 
 The teaching profession must require thorough preparation of 
 its members if it is to rank with medicine, engineering, dentistry 
 and the other professions which demand for entrance many 
 years of academic and professional study. 
 
 A careful examination has been made of the eighty-five hun- 
 dred students enrolled during the year 1909-1910 in the thirteen 
 Pennsylvania state normal schools. Of these, 3950 were ques- 
 tioned directly in their classrooms, and the facts thus obtained 
 have been supplemented and verified by office records when 
 such records were kept. The information received indicates 
 whether the preparatory work of the students was obtained in 
 country or town schools ; it also gives the sex, age, and teaching 
 experience of the students, in addition to the amount of their 
 previous academic work and the number of daily recitations they 
 must take to complete the course in the stipulated time. 
 
 This examination has shown that most of the normal stu- 
 dents are products of the country and village schools ; probably 
 less than thirty per cent are from even the smaller cities of the 
 state. Of the four thousand students personally questioned, 
 forty-nine per cent were reared in the country and attended the 
 country schools. 
 
 The chapter on the entrance requirements for these normal 
 schools shows that a considerable reward in time is offered to 
 students with no high school preparation. As a consequence, 
 
 62 
 
The Student Body 63 
 
 but 1 1.9 per cent of the 3572 students in the three regular classes 
 in the year 1909-1910 had a full four-year high school course; 
 17.6 per cent had only three years in secondary schools, and 44 
 per cent had no work whatever above the common schools be- 
 fore entering the normal schools. 
 
 The information gathered as to the number of daily recita- 
 tions bears out the statement made in the chapter on the cur- 
 riculum to the effect that such a course of study could be com- 
 pleted in the stipulated time only if the students were required to 
 take an impossible number of recitations. Of the 3572 students 
 questioned, 37.8 per cent had six, and 36.4 per cent had from 
 seven to nine daily recitations requiring definite preparation. 
 In addition, the students were compelled to take courses in 
 music, drawing and physical training. One of the experienced 
 and well-educated Pennsylvania normal school teachers has this 
 to say about the number of daily recitations : 
 
 " The course provides that students shall take about six studies 
 per day, a fact that makes anything beyond the most superficial 
 work impossible. But the evil does not stop here. Scores of 
 students are permitted to take seven, eight, or even nine, lessons 
 per day. This condition is worse in the case of the students 
 who try to do the work of both the Junior and Middle-year 
 classes in one year. During the past school session over fifty 
 such students have had nine lessons per day. Such a practice 
 is absolutely indefensible and should be condemned in the 
 strongest terms." 
 
 The condition this teacher describes is to be found in nearly 
 every normal school. For instance, 79 students at West Chester, 
 over 80 at Indiana and over 250 at Millersville completed both 
 the Junior and Middle years during the school year of 1909-1910 
 and were candidates for graduation in June, 191 1. At East 
 Stroudsburg, 25 students were given diplomas after one year's 
 residence. Many of these persons have taught on provisional 
 certificates and some have had two, three, or four years' work 
 in some of the Pennsylvania high schools ; but it is impossible 
 to believe that they have done thorough work. If the regular 
 students are compelled to carry an abnormal number of sub- 
 jects, it is evident that those attempting to do two years in one 
 cannot do the work satisfactorily. The fact that the Pennsyl- 
 vania normal schools will annually permit several hundred of 
 their students to do two years in one is incontestable proof that 
 
64 
 
 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 these institutions have low standards of scholarship and that 
 they send out few students that have acquired true habits of 
 study or understand the difference between thorough and slip- 
 shod work. Is it possible for these students as teachers to re- 
 quire thorough work from their pupils in the public schools? 
 
 The following table, — Table 2, — gives the data of the Juniors 
 as to previous academic preparation : 
 
 TABLE 2. — Giving facts concerning the Juniors in ten Pennsylvania normal 
 schools for 1909-1910 as to the amount of previous high school work. 
 
 
 
 !h 
 
 a> 
 
 M 
 
 CO 
 
 [B 
 
 
 
 j3 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 (j3 
 ID 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 To 
 IB 
 
 
 
 1—1 
 
 (M 
 
 CO 
 
 Tt< 
 
 m 
 
 S- 
 
 
 
 
 bX3 
 
 T3 
 
 TS 
 
 -o 
 
 -73 
 
 
 
 '^^ 
 
 73 
 
 
 
 
 ^.^ 
 
 dM 
 
 <^^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 03 
 
 T3 
 03^ 
 
 c3 
 
 
 '■S 
 
 
 -^S 
 
 -^fe 
 
 -^s 
 
 > 
 
 ^ 
 
 Name of School 
 
 
 i^ 
 
 si 
 
 fi ^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 a 
 
 •s-a 
 
 be 
 
 s 
 
 
 !h 
 
 V'o 
 
 '>'o 
 
 Vo 
 
 '?'o 
 
 S.S' 
 
 > 
 
 
 . 
 
 e3 
 
 c3 
 
 a 
 
 c« 
 
 
 
 §-^ 
 
 ci^4 
 
 
 « 
 ^ 
 
 w 
 
 a; tn 
 
 
 <B to 
 
 
 oj 
 
 bD^ 
 
 
 s 
 
 M - 
 
 W)^ 
 
 W)^ 
 
 W^ 
 
 bC 
 
 bCoj 
 
 
 3 
 
 rt-Sr, 
 
 o3'f'„ 
 
 =^^€1 
 
 c^-?^ 
 
 o3 
 
 ri S 
 
 o3 ^.1 
 
 
 a 
 
 4^ bC 
 
 +5 bjD 
 
 -n< bC 
 
 .+J bO 
 
 
 -t-' e3 
 
 -t^ 
 
 
 
 gS 
 
 
 gs 
 
 
 >j 
 
 C 
 
 
 03 
 
 U-l 
 
 VU-I 
 
 1*_ 
 
 5*H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .fj 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 t. 
 
 tn 
 
 ;^ 
 
 !- rr 
 
 s- S 
 
 
 
 
 <» ^ 
 
 <D ^ 
 
 a; ^ 
 
 OJ 
 
 <0 
 
 (U 
 
 a; 
 
 
 H 
 
 Ph 
 
 Ph 
 
 pL, 
 
 Pm 
 
 Ph 
 
 Ph 
 
 Ph 
 
 California 
 
 177 
 
 25.4 
 
 5.6 
 
 3.4 
 
 
 
 5.6 
 
 40.0 
 
 60.0 
 
 Clarion 
 
 97 
 50 
 
 17.5 
 24.0 
 
 13.4 
 12.0 
 
 3.1 
 2.0 
 
 1.0 
 
 
 2.1 
 
 
 37.1 
 38.0 
 
 62.9 
 
 Edinboro 
 
 62.0 
 
 Indiana 
 
 48 
 184 
 
 18.75 
 10.3 
 
 18.75 
 12.0 
 
 18.75 
 8.2 
 
 10.42 
 1.6 
 
 
 0.5 
 
 66.66 
 32.6 
 
 33.33 
 
 Kutztown 
 
 67.4 
 
 Lock Haven 
 
 119 
 
 1.7 
 
 6.7 
 
 10.1 
 
 15.1 
 
 3.4 
 
 37.0 
 
 63.0 
 
 Millersville 
 
 126 
 
 5.6 
 
 27.0 
 
 24.6 
 
 10.3 
 
 0.8 
 
 68.3 
 
 31.7 
 
 Shippensburg. . . . 
 
 86 
 
 9.3 
 
 13.9 
 
 12.8 
 
 
 
 3.5 
 
 39.5 
 
 60.5 
 
 Slippery Rock . . . 
 
 146 
 
 12.3 
 
 8.9 
 
 8.2 
 
 2.1 
 
 
 
 31.5 
 
 68.5 
 
 West Chester .... 
 
 132 
 
 12.9 
 
 15.2 
 
 18.9 
 
 4.5 
 
 * 
 
 51.5 
 
 48.5 
 
 * Number from private schools at West Chester are included with those 
 having had high school work. 
 
 The above table shows that few of the Juniors in the 
 Pennsylvania normal schools for 1909-1910 have attended a 
 secondary school for a considerable length of time. With the 
 exception of Indiana, Millersville, and West Chester, more than 
 60 per cent of the Juniors have had no high school work, and in 
 nearly every instance the majority of those students from high 
 schools have had but one or two years. As has been explained 
 elsewhere, the word high school means little in the smaller com- 
 munities of Pennsylvania, for in many places a ninth grade of 
 the common schools has been known as a high school. 
 
 If these junior students had been enrolled in a good secon- 
 dary school, they would have had to carry four or five daily 
 
The Student Body 
 
 65 
 
 studies requiring definite preparation. In the normal schools, 
 practically none of the students had as few as four daily recita- 
 tions; in fact, in only three of the above ten schools do even 
 one-third carry as few as five studies, while most of them have 
 seven or eight daily recitations. The exceptions to this state- 
 ment are few, for only at Clarion, California, Indiana and West 
 Chester do less than twenty-five per cent have seven or eight. 
 In all the other six schools, from 52 to 88.1 per cent of the 
 Juniors carry from seven to nine daily recitations requiring defi- 
 nite preparation. These students are asked to do twice as much 
 as they would be permitted to do in a good high school. 
 
 The following table. Table 3, gives facts for the normal 
 school students in the second or middle year with respect to 
 previous academic preparation: 
 
 TABLE 3. — Giving facts concerning the middle-year class in ten Pennsyl- 
 vania state normal schools for 1909-1910 as to the amount of previous 
 high school work. 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 >> 
 
 CO 
 
 '0 
 
 
 
 
 be 
 
 a 
 
 
 W) 
 
 -cJ 
 
 TJ 
 
 •n 
 
 •n 
 
 03 
 
 -1^ 
 
 '*-' 
 
 73 
 
 
 Ch 
 
 "^^ 
 
 o3^ 
 
 03^ 
 
 •^M 
 
 o3 
 
 Ti 
 
 03 
 
 
 ■■e 
 
 
 -^s 
 
 -^g 
 
 -^g 
 
 > 
 
 ,C, 
 
 Name of School 
 
 
 .s ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 c ^ 
 
 bC> 
 
 S 
 
 
 bC 
 
 
 U 
 
 '>'o 
 
 ■>^'o 
 
 ■?'o 
 
 '>'o 
 
 '> 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 o3 
 
 o3 
 
 o3 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 S-H 
 
 cj »4 
 
 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 -^"6 
 
 -^^ 
 
 -^-g 
 
 4:! 
 
 ^t*-, 
 
 -^S 
 
 
 B 
 
 (B 03 
 
 (B to 
 
 <0 OQ 
 
 <B M 
 
 (B 
 
 03 
 
 03 fe. 
 
 
 bC_, 
 
 bX)^ 
 
 ^rH 
 
 bC^ 
 
 bO 
 
 bflm 
 
 bfit^ 
 
 
 li 
 
 l^'Tn 
 
 i^'B, 
 
 OS'S, 
 
 i^'T^ 
 
 c3 
 
 CS Sh 
 
 c3 ^.H 
 
 
 ':3 
 
 -tj bC 
 
 -|J bO 
 
 +j bC 
 
 H- bO 
 
 
 4^ o3 
 
 -t^ 
 
 
 g:3 
 
 gs 
 
 
 gS 
 
 03 
 
 !h CD 
 03 >5 
 
 
 03 rt 
 
 
 C3 
 
 OtM 
 
 OtM 
 
 tw 
 
 t4-l 
 
 
 
 
 
 C3 
 
 
 -je 
 
 5s 
 
 bi. 
 
 ^ 
 
 u 
 
 U 
 
 fH Tl< 
 
 Sh m 
 
 
 
 
 <a 
 
 03 
 
 0) 
 
 (B 
 
 (B 
 
 03 ^ 
 
 03 
 
 
 H 
 
 PM 
 
 PL, 
 
 ^ 
 
 Ph 
 
 Ph 
 
 Ph 
 
 Ph 
 
 California 
 
 154 
 
 18.2 
 
 17.5 
 
 14.9 
 
 3.9 
 
 6.5 
 
 61.0 
 
 39.0 
 
 Clarion 
 
 85 
 82 
 
 5.9 
 
 9.7 
 
 24.7 
 35.4 
 
 16.5 
 14.6 
 
 16.5 
 4.9 
 
 1.1 
 
 
 64.7 
 64.6 
 
 35 3 
 
 Edinboro 
 
 35.4 
 
 Indiana 
 
 90 
 174 
 
 4.4 
 5.7 
 
 20.0 
 
 18.4 
 
 21.1 
 20.1 
 
 23.3 
 13.2 
 
 2.2 
 0.6 
 
 71.0 
 58.0 
 
 29.0 
 
 Kutztown 
 
 42.0 
 
 Lock Haven 
 
 97 
 
 
 
 10.3 
 
 13.4 
 
 16.5 
 
 7.2 
 
 47.4 
 
 52.6 
 
 Millersville 
 
 102 
 
 9.8 
 
 11.8 
 
 11.8 
 
 26.4 
 
 1.0 
 
 60.8 
 
 39.2 
 
 Shippensburg . . . . 
 
 52 
 
 15.4 
 
 7.7 
 
 13.4 
 
 2.0 
 
 2.0 
 
 40.5 
 
 59.5 
 
 Slippery Rock . . . 
 
 102 
 
 7.8 
 
 21.6 
 
 22.5 
 
 4.0 
 
 
 
 55.9 
 
 44.1 
 
 West Chester .... 
 
 266 
 
 6.7 
 
 19.2 
 
 28.6 
 
 23.3 
 
 * 
 
 77.8 
 
 22.2 
 
 * Number from private schools at West Chester are included with those 
 having had high school work. 
 
 A comparison of this and Table No. 2 shows that a larger 
 percentage of these students have had four years in a secondary 
 school, and a considerably larger proportion have completed a 
 
66 
 
 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 three-year course. Many of these students were given advanced 
 standing. 
 
 These students also had an abnormal number of studies 
 though less Middlers than Juniors had from seven to nine recita- 
 tions. The percentage who carried this large number of recita- 
 tions varies considerably since but 10.7 per cent at Clarion had 
 so many, while at Kutztown 60.7, and at Shippensburg 65.4 per 
 cent had from seven to nine recitations. If all those students 
 who took in one year the work of the Junior and Middle years 
 had been included, this table would show a great increase in the 
 abnormal number of recitations, since, for instance, of the 246 
 Junior-Middlers at Millersville over yy per cent had from seven 
 to nine daily recitations, and practically all the seventy-nine 
 Junior-Middlers at West Chester had nine recitations. 
 
 The following table. Table 4, gives the facts for the Seniors 
 in eleven of these normal schools as to previous academic pre- 
 paration : 
 
 TABLE 4. — Giving facts concerning the Seniors in eleven of the Pennsyl- 
 vania state normal schools for 1909-1910 as to the amount of previous 
 high school work. 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 ai 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Si 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 i—i 
 
 (M 
 
 CO 
 
 •^ 
 
 CO 
 
 2^ 
 
 
 
 
 bO 
 
 -o 
 
 T3 
 
 'ZS 
 
 T3 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 -0 
 
 
 't. 
 
 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 d 
 > 
 
 Ti 
 dxi 
 
 
 Name of School 
 
 
 a, 
 
 bcS 
 S3 ^ 
 
 ■>'o 
 
 '>'o 
 
 
 si. 
 
 '>'o 
 
 S 
 
 ^(^Z 
 
 n 
 
 bC 
 
 
 
 o3 
 
 d 
 
 d 
 
 d 
 
 P 
 
 §-a 
 
 c3 ^ 
 
 
 <D 
 
 Xi^ 
 
 ^-^ 
 
 x-fi 
 
 .aj:i 
 
 Ui 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 -n 
 
 
 
 <U CO 
 
 
 01 tn 
 
 
 
 
 <B an 
 
 a> 
 
 '^ 
 
 be I^ 
 d — . 
 
 
 S 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^'fn 
 
 ^-5=. 
 
 ^fn 
 
 1 
 
 d tn 
 
 
 a 
 
 Xi 5>C 
 
 ^2 bC 
 
 -t^ bO 
 
 -1.^ bC 
 
 
 -e 03 
 
 H^ 
 
 
 g2 
 
 CIS 
 
 
 cD-a 
 
 
 f3 QJ 
 
 a; >j 
 
 fi 
 
 
 "3 
 
 54-1 
 
 tn 
 
 tu 
 
 t4-< 
 
 
 
 
 
 P^ 
 
 
 -tj 
 
 t- a 
 
 t- 
 
 ^ 
 
 fcH 
 
 ti 
 
 tn Ttl 
 
 ^ s 
 
 
 
 
 <u ^ 
 
 tu 
 
 a> 
 
 a; " 
 
 Ol 
 
 « 
 
 <u 
 
 
 H 
 
 Ah 
 
 Pi 
 
 Pm 
 
 P-> 
 
 Ph 
 
 PL| 
 
 Ph 
 
 Bloomsburg (over 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ Senior class) . 
 
 91 
 
 5.5 
 
 12.0 
 
 18.6 
 
 20.9 
 
 4.6 
 
 61.6 
 
 38.4 
 
 California 
 
 146 
 
 8.9 
 
 15.0 
 
 12.3 
 
 10.3 
 
 5.5 
 
 52.0 
 
 48.0 
 
 Clarion 
 
 75 
 
 117 
 
 5.0 
 1.5 
 
 23.0 
 25.0 
 
 7.0 
 13.0 
 
 12.0 
 11.0 
 
 1.0 
 
 
 48.0 
 64.0 
 
 52.0 
 
 Edinboro 
 
 36.0 
 
 Indiana 
 
 81 
 141 
 
 2.5 
 4.0 
 
 13.6 
 12.0 
 
 14.8 
 30.0 
 
 25.9 
 7.0 
 
 3.7 
 1.0 
 
 60.5 
 54.0 
 
 39.5 
 
 Kutztown 
 
 46.0 
 
 Lock Haven 
 
 70 
 
 8.6 
 
 11.4 
 
 30.0 
 
 14.3 
 
 8.6 
 
 72.9 
 
 27.1 
 
 Millersville 
 
 113 
 
 4.4 
 
 11.5 
 
 38.0 
 
 23.9 
 
 1.8 
 
 79.6 
 
 20.4 
 
 Shippensburg .... 
 
 67 
 
 1.5 
 
 10.5 
 
 16.4 
 
 14.9 
 
 1.5 
 
 44.8 
 
 55.2 
 
 Slippery Rock . . . 
 
 91 
 
 6.6 
 
 11.0 
 
 13.2 
 
 20.9 
 
 1.1 
 
 42.8 
 
 47.2 
 
 West Chester .... 
 
 211 
 
 4.7 
 
 14.2 
 
 35.5 
 
 20.9 
 
 * 
 
 75.3 
 
 24.7 
 
 * Number from private schools at West Chester are included with those 
 having had high school work. 
 
The Student Body 67 
 
 Many of the Seniors had had no previous high school work, 
 the percentage of those without any varying from 20.4 at 
 Millersville to 55.2 at Shippensburg, with both the average and 
 the central tendency^ at 39.5 per cent. Upon the other hand, 
 comparatively few of the Seniors had had a full four-year high 
 school course. Kutztown makes the poorest showing with but 
 7 per cent and Indiana the best with 25.9 per cent. The central 
 tendency for the eleven normal schools is 14.9 per cent and the 
 average is 16.5 per cent for those having completed work in a 
 regular secondary school. 
 
 Seniors also have an abnormal number of daily recitations re- 
 quiring definite preparation. Kutztown is the only one of the 
 eleven schools in which more than 50 per cent of the Seniors 
 have as few as five recitations per day requiring definite prep- 
 aration; in a majority of the schools less than a third of the 
 students have as few. In fact in most, over 50 per cent of the 
 Seniors have from six to eight recitations, and over 30 per cent 
 have seven or more. The situation seem.s even more impossible 
 when consideration is given to the fact that during the year 
 1909-1910 observation and practice teaching were required in 
 the model school, and the students were expected to make out 
 lesson plans and to apply the principles presented in the profes- 
 sional courses. 
 
 In the following table, Table 5, two comparisons are made. 
 One is between the students in the three-year course of the 
 Pennsylvania state normals, and the students in the two-year 
 course of six outside state normals ; the former have no definite 
 entrance requirements, while the latter insist upon high school 
 graduation or its equivalent. The other comparison is between 
 the students of the Pennsylvania three-year course and those of 
 two Illinois normal schools, which have a four-year course for 
 common school graduates, but which offer a special two-year 
 course to students from recognized high schools. Below is the 
 table making these comparisons : 
 
 ^The central tendency is used in place of the technical word median, 
 which is defined as the measure above which and below which are an equal 
 number of cases. It is always a safer measure than the average. 
 
68 
 
 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 TABLE 5. — Contrasting the student body in the Pennsylvania normal 
 schools with those in several outside state normals as to the amount 
 of previous high school work. 
 
 
 
 tH 
 
 CO 
 
 M 
 
 CO 
 
 i2 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 1-H 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 o 
 
 02 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 T3 
 
 -c 
 
 -a 
 
 ':3 
 
 
 '^ o 
 
 TS 
 
 
 2^ 
 
 o3^ 
 
 cS^ 
 
 rtji! 
 
 s? 
 
 '^ ? 
 
 CJ 
 
 
 "C 
 
 
 -^g 
 
 -^ fe 
 
 -^s 
 
 _> 
 
 TO rC 
 -C ?^ 
 
 X 
 
 Name of School 
 
 O 
 
 i^ 
 
 fl ^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 S^ 
 
 s 
 
 
 fee 
 
 
 ■^ 
 
 'S'° 
 
 ■>'o 
 
 ■>'o 
 
 >'o 
 
 ■>.^ 
 
 '> 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 d O 
 
 ci O 
 
 03 O 
 
 c3 O 
 
 o 
 
 ci r^ 
 
 c; ^ 
 
 
 Si 
 
 
 -^-s 
 
 -^-s 
 
 -^-g 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 -^ S 
 
 
 1 
 
 O m 
 
 a> 03 
 
 05 oa 
 
 (B K! 
 
 0) 
 
 QJ O 
 
 !U > 
 
 
 
 
 ^"fn 
 
 ^"fn 
 
 be 
 
 1^2 
 
 brjf= 
 
 C3 — , 
 
 
 r* 
 
 -t^ bJO 
 
 +^ tiD 
 
 ^-i bC 
 
 -i-j bC 
 
 -t.^ 
 
 -1^ cS 
 
 +-' o 
 
 
 
 CIS 
 
 
 g:5 
 
 g2 
 
 
 
 
 
 il 
 
 014-, 
 
 O t*-i 
 
 « <-._, 
 
 O t*H 
 
 « 
 
 O "^ 
 
 Oo 
 
 
 -J^ 
 
 5r! O 
 
 'r, o 
 
 i- o 
 
 ^ O 
 
 
 f^ Tit 
 
 ^- M 
 
 
 o 
 
 a; 
 
 0) 
 
 <B 
 
 CI 
 
 S 
 
 V 
 
 (D 
 
 
 H 
 
 Cm 
 
 Cm 
 
 CL, 
 
 Ph 
 
 Ph 
 
 Ph 
 
 &H 
 
 Fitchburg, Mass. . 
 
 161 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 100.0 
 
 * 
 
 100.0 
 
 
 
 Hyannis, Mass . . . 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 
 
 17.1 
 
 80.0 
 
 * 
 
 97.1 
 
 2.9 
 
 Salem, Mass 
 
 172 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 100.0 
 
 * 
 
 100.0 
 
 
 
 Worcester, Mass.. 
 
 105 
 
 1.0 
 
 
 
 
 
 99.0 
 
 * 
 
 100.0 
 
 
 
 Montclair, N. J.. . 
 
 319 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 100.0 
 
 * 
 
 100.0 
 
 
 
 San Jose, Cal .... 
 
 509 
 
 0,2 
 
 0.8 
 
 3.7 
 
 94.1 
 
 * 
 
 98.8 
 
 1.2 
 
 Total 
 
 1301 
 
 0.2 
 
 0.3 
 
 1.9 
 
 97.1 
 
 * 
 
 99.5 
 
 0.5 
 
 Pennsylvania! . . . 
 
 3572 
 
 9.2 
 
 15.3 
 
 17.6 
 
 11.9 
 
 2.0 
 
 56.0 
 
 44.0 
 
 Normal, 111 
 
 393 
 
 12.2 
 
 12.7 
 
 13.0 
 
 31.8 
 
 * 
 
 69.7 
 
 30.3 
 
 Charleston, 111 . . . 
 
 325 
 
 3.1 
 
 7.7 
 
 9.2 
 
 27.7 
 
 
 
 47.7 
 
 52.3 
 
 * Number from private schools are included with those having had high 
 school work. 
 
 ■f This includes the Junior and Middle-year students in ten of the thir- 
 teen normal schools, and the Seniors in eleven. 
 
 The first comparison shows two or three startling differences. 
 In the six outside normals, giving a two-year course based upon 
 graduation from high schools of good standing, 97.1 per cent 
 of the students have had four years of high school work, while 
 but 1 1.9 per cent of the 3572 Pennsylvania students have had 
 the same. A pupil graduating from any one of the six outside 
 normal schools would be compelled to complete four years of 
 academic and two of professional study above the common 
 schools ; a student in a Pennsylvania normal seldom spends more 
 than three years, certainly not more than four, of academic and 
 professional study above the work of the common schools. 
 
 Though the students in the Pennsylvania normals are not in 
 any sense the academic equals of the students in the six out- 
 side normal schools, yet they carry many more studies requir- 
 
The Student Body 69 
 
 ing definite preparation. With the exception of the Worcester, 
 Massachusetts, normal, none of the outside normal students 
 carry more than five studies, while 37.8 per cent of the Pennsyl- 
 vania students carry six studies ; 24.8 per cent carry seven, and 
 over ten per cent pretend to carry eight or nine daily subjects 
 requiring definite preparation In a word, the Pennsylvania stu- 
 dents with poor preparation attempt to do more than do stu- 
 dents with much better preparation. This condition must neces- 
 sarily affect the efficiency of these Pennsylvania students when 
 they become public school teachers. 
 
 The second comparison is also not in favor of the Pennsyl- 
 vania normal schools, though at first glance this might be the in- 
 ference. For instance, 44 per cent of the 3572 Pennsylvania 
 students have had no high school work, as against 52.3 per cent 
 for Charleston. When it is recalled that practically all the 
 Pennsylvania students who enter directly from the common 
 schools are graduated in three years, instead of four as at 
 Charleston, the comparison takes a different aspect. When it is 
 further recalled that many of the Pennsylvania students are al- 
 lowed to shorten the time by combining the work of two years 
 in one, while at Charleston no such opportunity is given and 
 every student from the common schools must have four years 
 of work, the comparison is undoubtedly in favor of Charleston. 
 It may be added here that in Illinois no student is allowed to 
 shorten the time of study. A high school graduate must take 
 two full years, a graduate from a non-accredited high school 
 must take three full years, and a graduate from the common 
 schools must take four full years. This, as has been previously 
 stated, is not the case in Pennsylvania since many students can 
 be graduated in less than the stipulated time. For instance, at 
 East Stroudsburg in 1909, 25 students from four-year high 
 schools were graduated in one year and like instances can be 
 cited from other Pennsylvania schools. 
 
 Again the Pennsylvania normals suffer when comparison is 
 made between them and the two Illinois normals with respect to 
 the number of daily recitations requiring definite preparation. 
 For instance, 59.5 per cent of the students at Normal, Illinois, 
 and 81.2 per cent at Charleston, Illinois, have but four recita- 
 tions, while as few as 3.6 per cent of the Pennsylvania students 
 have the same number. In Pennsylvania, 22.1 per cent have five 
 
7 b Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 recitations as against 17.4 for the Illinois schools. Practically 
 none of the Illinois students are permitted to carry more than 
 five studies, but in Pennsylvania, where the students try to do in 
 three years what the Illinois students find difficult to do in four 
 years, 37.8 per cent have six and 24.8 per cent have seven daily 
 recitations requiring definite preparation. In fact, 74.2 per cent 
 have 6 or over against 2.91 per cent for both the Illinois schools. 
 The figures would be still higher if a complete record of those 
 students attempting to do two years' work in one could have 
 been obtained. 
 
 In most of the Pennsylvania normal schools the classes are 
 very large. This is true of even the most prosperous schools. 
 Less regard seems to be given to the size of the classes in the 
 professional subjects than to any other. Even at West Chester, 
 where the financial conditions are excellent, five of the sections 
 in Methods and School Management during the year 1909-1910 
 enrolled from 78 to 83 ; at Bloomsburg the classes in the three 
 professional studies enrolled from 50 to 60. At Clarion the 
 number ran from 75 to 128; at Edinboro from 70 to 120; at 
 Indiana from 50 to 54; at Lock Haven from 112 to 150; and at 
 Mansfield and Slippery Rock from 80 to 93. 
 
 The classes in the academic subjects were also abnormally 
 large. At Edinboro the three sections in botany, which requires 
 laboratory work, had an enrollment in each from 50 to 60 
 students; 20 of the classes in academic subjects in Indiana 
 ranged in size from 30 to 50, and the classes at Kutztown were 
 equally large. At Mansfield both the Virgil and Caesar classes 
 enrolled 45 students. Probably the conditions were even worse 
 at Lock Haven, Millersville, and Slippery Rock. At Lock Haven 
 a dozen classes enrolled from 35 in Caesar to 60 in trigonome- 
 try, German, botany and physics. At Millersville one labora- 
 tory section in zoology had 58 students and another in botany 
 had 60, while nine other classes had an enrollment from 40 to 
 71 students. The condition at Slippery Rock was even worse: 
 one Latin section had 67 students, and the Junior algebra class 
 had over 80; the two senior sections in English had respectively 
 85 and 90, while the botany and zoology sections each had from 
 75 to 90. 
 
 Probably in no first-class high school in the country can a 
 
The Student Body 
 
 71 
 
 like condition be found. In the Butler high school, located 
 within a few miles of Slippery Rock, the laboratory work is 
 much more efficiently conducted than in most of the Pennsyl- 
 vania normal schools, and the classes are of reasonable size. 
 No high school principal would think of having a class of 50 
 or 60 in Latin or German. At the Erie high school, not far 
 from Edinboro, the laboratory equipment is far superior to that 
 found in the normal school, and no class during the past year 
 had an enrollment above 30 pupils. 
 
 The above discussion has been confined to the regular classes 
 in the Pennsylvania normal schools; but a study of the student 
 body in these institutions would not be complete without an ex- 
 amination of the preparatory or Sub-Junior class which is to be 
 found in practically every one of the thirteen Pennsylvania 
 normals. 
 
 The following table, Table 6, gives facts concerning over five 
 hundred Sub- Juniors enrolled in seven of the Pennsylvania nor- 
 mal schools : 
 
 TABLE 6. — Giving facts concerning the Sub- Juniors in the Pennsylvania 
 normal schools for 1909-1910 as to the amount of previous high school 
 work and the number of daily recitations requiring definite preparation. 
 
 Name of School 
 
 el 
 
 a 
 
 u 
 
 1 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 C3 
 
 >> 
 I— 1 
 
 ce 
 
 
 K 
 
 <a ^ 
 Ph 
 
 eS 
 
 ^-^ 
 
 +3 be 
 
 Pi 
 
 CO 
 
 i 
 -a 
 
 0) m 
 
 Pi 
 
 
 
 
 <v 
 
 .1 
 
 s 
 s 
 
 <a 
 bD 
 
 C3 
 
 fl 
 <D 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 tj 
 
 '^ 
 
 Pi 
 
 IB 
 
 
 bD 
 
 
 
 ■> 
 
 a; > 
 
 Clarion 
 
 69 
 63 
 41 
 15 
 
 151 
 46 
 
 173 
 
 13.0 
 9.5 
 2.4 
 
 
 12.6 
 6.5 
 2.3 
 
 13.0 
 7.9 
 2.4 
 
 
 11.9 
 6.5 
 
 13.9 
 
 7.3 
 1.6 
 
 
 
 6.0 
 
 4.4 
 
 14.4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3.3 
 
 
 
 8.7 
 
 
 
 6.4 
 
 2.4 
 
 
 
 0.7 
 
 2.2 
 
 5.8 
 
 33.3 
 25.4 
 
 7.2 
 
 
 
 34.5 
 19.6 
 45.1 
 
 66.7 
 74.6 
 92.8 
 100.0 
 65.5 
 80.4 
 54.9 
 
 Indiana 
 
 Kutztown 
 
 Lock Haven 
 
 Millersville 
 
 Slippery Rock . . . 
 West Chester .... 
 
 Total ....... 
 
 558 
 
 7.5 
 
 10.8 
 
 7.5 
 
 3.6 
 
 3.0 
 
 32.4 
 
 67.6 
 
72 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 A careful study of Table 6 shows that 6y.6 per cent of the 
 sub- juniors have had no high school work whatever, and only 
 I I.I have had three or four years at a secondary school. Most 
 of the students who had previously attended high school had 
 not been graduated. Pupils in this lowest class of the normal 
 schools also had an impossible number of recitations : 37.3 per 
 cent had six recitations; 22.0 per cent seven, and 13. i per cent 
 tried to carry eight or nine daily recitations requiring definite 
 preparation. 
 
 One hundred and fifty or 27.95 P^^ cent of the 558 sub- 
 juniors had had some teaching experience. Eighty-two or 14.9 
 per cent had taught one year, and 34 or 6.18 per cent had taught 
 two years. The normal school authorities may claim that a dis- 
 tinct service is rendered the state by caring for these inefficient 
 teachers and adding somewhat to their skill and effectiveness. 
 This might be granted if it were not for the fact that in this 
 same normal class are another group that have no place in a 
 professional school, since they belong to the upper grades of a 
 common school or the first year of a high school. At the end 
 of one year or even in less time some of these pupils use the 
 name of the normal in order to obtain a license and a school, 
 though in no sense of the word are they prepared to teach. The 
 establishment of a Sub-Junior class by Kutztown, Millersville, 
 Slippery Rock, West Chester and other Pennsylvania normals 
 undoubtedly tends to lower the professional standards in the im- 
 mediate neighborhood of the schools, since most of the sub- 
 juniors come from the local normal school counties. 
 
 To sum up, this Sub- Junior class is composed of many boys 
 and girls from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades; of older 
 students who found it hard to do satisfactory work in a high 
 school in their own neighborhood, and of teachers of two or 
 three years' experience who have much difficulty to obtain a pro- 
 visional certificate and who seldom aspire to continue the normal 
 course and fit themselves properly for their work. 
 
 This class is merely preparatory and has no place in the 
 normal, but it is kept in most schools for two definite reasons : 
 in the first place, principals are thus assured of a goodly number 
 of juniors for the following year, and in the second place, for 
 those that are 17 years or over the schools receive $1.50 a 
 
The SUident Body 73 
 
 week from the state simply by enrolling them in a Methods 
 Course. 
 
 Although the defects of the Pennsylvania normals are mainly 
 due to the fact that these institutions are under private lay con- 
 trol, the normal school law^ is nevertheless to a considerable 
 extent responsible for some of the shortcomings of these insti- 
 tutions. Especially does it affect the student body, for because 
 of the manner of distributing " state aid," a premium is placed 
 upon gross numbers and therefore the principal must see to it 
 that a large student body is enrolled. The result is that instead 
 of raising the teaching profession to a level with the other pro- 
 fessions, thereby enabling it to fulfill its obligations to society, 
 these institutions actually retard the educational advancement of 
 some localities because, to have successful schools, the principals 
 are obliged to lower the standards, admit all applicants, and 
 finally to send forth into the teaching profession many young 
 men and women poorly equipped for their important duties. 
 
 ^The new school law of 191 1 does not correct this evil. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE FACULTY 
 
 With few exceptions, the faculties of the Pennsylvania normal 
 schools are composed of fine-spirited, earnest men and women 
 who have the best interests of their pupils at heart and who 
 give their whole energy to their school. In the main, these 
 teachers are both overworked and underpaid, and because of 
 this, certain unfortunate conditions have come about which de- 
 serve full description and consideration. As in previous chap- 
 ters, it will be shown that private control of these publicly-sup- 
 ported institutions has either created or accentuated these ad- 
 verse conditions. 
 
 In order to analyze in detail the status of teaching in these 
 institutions, a complete history of 265 of the instructors has 
 been obtained. Of these, slightly more than half have attended 
 some normal school, often the one in which they are now teach- 
 ing. It was found that 183 of the 265 have had from one to 
 four years of college training, and 117 hold the bachelor's 
 degree. 
 
 A large number of the Pennsylvania colleges which many of 
 the normal school teachers attended, however, are very small 
 and lead a precarious existence; and many of them, probably 
 40 per cent, give work not more than one or two years above a 
 good high school course. 
 
 This naturally leads to the question of the value of degrees, 
 both earned and honorary. In each instance the highest degree 
 of the individual has been taken as the most representative. Of 
 the 47 A. M. degrees reported, 27 or 57.4 per cent were earned. 
 Of the 22 doctor's degrees reported, 45.4 per cent were earned. 
 Six of these degrees as well as six of the master's were con- 
 ferred by such institutions as Kansas City University, Washing- 
 ton and Jefferson College, and Worcester University for work 
 done in absence. 
 
 The higher educational institutions of Pennsylvania and other 
 
 74 
 
The Faculty 75 
 
 states have conferred, all told, seventy-seven honorary' degrees 
 upon the teachers in these thirteen state normal schools. At 
 Bloomsburg five of the teachers have received the honorary A.B. 
 and six the honorary A. M. degree. Most of these titles have 
 been conferred by Lafayette College. It is surprising to learn that 
 thirty-six honorary A. M. degrees have been given, but it is 
 still more surprising to find that eleven men have received the 
 honorary title of Doctor of Philosophy. These titles have been 
 conferred by Lafayette, Wittenberg, Bucknell, Washington and 
 Jefferson, and Wesley an University (Ohio), and one or two 
 other institutions. Bucknell College has also given the honorary 
 Doctor of Science degree to two teachers. 
 
 A study has been made of the teaching experience of the 
 members of the normal school faculties before they accepted 
 their present positions. Thirty, or 11.4 per cent of the 265 re- 
 porting the amount of previous experience, had never taught 
 before. Only 226 state specifically the kind of position they had 
 previously held. Eight had been city superintendents, and a 
 majority of these eight have since become normal school prin- 
 cipals; nineteen had been high school or ward principals; 
 twenty-six had been engaged in teaching in some of the smaller 
 Pennsylvania colleges ; one hundred and fifty-six had been only 
 common- or graded-school teachers: and but 17, or 7.5 per cent, 
 had had previous normal school experience. Most of these 17 
 had been employed in other Penns)dvania normal schools, which 
 indicates that it has been the policy of a majority of the prin- 
 cipals never to go outside the state to supply vacancies. As a 
 consequence, the Pennsylvania normal schools have too seldom 
 been able to compare their methods and results with those of 
 other state normal schools. This is made still more evident, 
 when it is considered that as many as 156, or 69 per cent, of the 
 226 had taught only in the grades or common schools. 
 
 These figures undoubtedly indicate that the normal schools 
 are willing to take persons with no experience whatever, or per- 
 sons who have simply become skilled in teaching the common 
 school branches, rather than to engage individuals who have 
 specialized in a particular subject at a first-rate college, univer- 
 sity, or school of education. There are exceptions, but this un- 
 doubtedly is the tendency. One exception to this is found at the 
 
76 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 Indiana normal where a large group of graduates from the best 
 colleges in the east and the middle-west has recently been added 
 to the faculty. 
 
 A tabulation of the native residence of 289 of the normal 
 school teachers shows that 84 of these persons, or 29 per cent, 
 were reared in the thirteen counties where these schools are 
 situated. A more significant fact is that 201, or 69.5 per cent of 
 the 289 teachers whose residences were obtained, claim Pennsyl- 
 vania as their native residence. 
 
 It is reasonable to assume that a very large proportion of men 
 should come from within the state itself; it is most desirable 
 that this should be so; but it is unfortunate that not more often 
 a leading educator from an adjoining state has been chosen, 
 since few of the principals or other leading normal men have 
 availed themselves of any opportunity to go abroad and compare 
 their system of schools with those of other countries. 
 
 One notable exception, and only one can be cited to this 
 sweeping assertion, and that is the case of the former principal 
 of the California state normal, the late Doctor Theodore B. 
 Noss, who had enough faith in himself and his work to go 
 abroad for two years to discover first-hand what other countries 
 were doing to make the teaching profession stronger and more 
 serviceable. The loss of this man to the educational interests 
 of the state of Pennsylvania is severe. 
 
 A study of the salaries shows that the average pay for the 
 284 teachers is $1,274.40, with 223 below and 61 above the 
 average, and with the central tendency at $961.^ One hundred 
 and fifty-five teachers receive between $700 and $1,100 inclusive. 
 An investigation of the comparative salaries of the men and 
 women teachers shows that the former are much better paid. 
 The average salary paid the 137 women is $782.88,^ and the 
 average paid the 134 men (the thirteen principals being ex- 
 cluded) is $1,176.67. These averages are very close to the cen- 
 tral tendency since 65 women have higher and 72 lower salaries 
 than their average indicates, and yy of the 137 women receive 
 
 ^ The central tendency is used in place of the technical work median, 
 which is defined as the measure above which and below which are an 
 equal number of cases. 
 
 ^ Two hundred dollars has been added to the salary of each teacher liv- 
 ing free of charge in the school dormitory for ten months of the year. 
 Often, however, this teacher is compelled to do extra work in the way of 
 hall duty and disciplining to pay for this increase in salary. 
 
The Faculty 7 7 
 
 salaries ranging from $700 to $900 inclusive; and 64 men have 
 higher and 70 have lower salaries than their average given above, 
 and 73 of the 134 men receive salaries ranging from $1,000 to 
 $1,400 inclusive. Only 23 women receive $1,000 or over, and 
 but one woman has a salary of above $1,200. Her salary, which 
 is $1,400, is equaled or surpassed by 38, or over one-fourth, of 
 the entire number of men teachers. 
 
 The amount of service required for these ordinary salaries 
 is considerable. Practically all the normal teachers in the state 
 institutions have six recitations per day or thirty per week; in 
 but one of the thirteen schools, California, is there a tendency 
 to keep the number down to five a day or twenty-five a week. 
 One normal school principal believes that thirty a week is not 
 excessive. 
 
 To add very much to the labor of the teachers, many of the 
 classes are extremely large. Probably no high school in the 
 state has such enormous classes. Since the details as to the size 
 of classes have been given in the chapter on the normal school 
 students, the subject is considered here only as it adds to the 
 burden of the teachers. 
 
 Undoubtedly these instructors can do little in the way of self- 
 improvement during the regular school term. Under the cir- 
 cumstances it is surprising that they are able to keep well since 
 besides the regular teaching many of them are expected and 
 practically compelled to aid in the social life of the school. A 
 number of the men look after the coaching and management of 
 athletic teams, while the women are called upon to assist the girls 
 in their social activities. Because of the dormitory life in all 
 these institutions, the extra demands upon the teachers are many 
 and heavy. 
 
 Since it is practically impossible for these teachers to improve 
 their scholarship under these adverse conditions, it is important 
 to discover how many have been able or willing to obtain leave 
 of absence from their work for such a purpose. Of all the 
 teachers whose records have been obtained, only five or six 
 have had a full year's leave of absence since beginning work 
 in their present position. The case of the late Doctor Noss, of 
 the California normal, who went abroad for two years, has 
 already been cited as a distinct exception. Only 90 of the 
 
78 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 Pennsylvania normal school teachers have done any advanced 
 work since taking their present position and forty-eight of these, 
 or ^^ per cent of the 90, have had work for but one or two sum- 
 mers in some of the eastern universities or at a Chautauqua ; 
 very few of the others have gone abroad for even two or three 
 months ; while five or six others have taken special work in 
 some nearby higher educational institution for a semester at 
 week-ends. 
 
 Since 156, or more than 50 per cent of these teachers have not 
 had anything more than graded-school or common-school experi- 
 ence, we can understand what the present situation means. 
 Because of the large classes, skill in schoolroom management is 
 \rery important, and this is assured by getting practical teachers 
 from the field. Scholarship is not in considerable demand in any 
 one of the institutions. If a man. or woman of true scholarship 
 is employed, his zeal for research and his desire for growth 
 are soon lost in the treadmill of six or seven recitations per day 
 and in the additional duties that are required in the dormitories, 
 the athletic activities, and in the social life. 
 
 Here again are to be found other evils largely due to the 
 domination by private lay boards. In accordance with the inter- 
 pretation of the laws by the state superintendent, the selection 
 and remuneration of teachers lie wholly in the hands of the 
 trustees. Many of these boards are composed of men who have 
 very limited incomes and naturally do not look with favor upon a 
 proposition to give " school teachers " what they consider 
 enormous salaries. Even men of large incomes cannot under- 
 stand how school teachers can expect to receive reasonable com- 
 pensation. When suit was brought against officials of the West 
 Chester normal to prevent them from taking from the normal 
 school treasury between $25,000 and $26,000, they replied by 
 criticizing the school expenditures, and they especially objected 
 to the " high salaries " paid the instructors. The officials of all 
 the Pennsylvania normal schools have gone out into the open 
 market to secure teachers for the smallest amount of money. 
 Their refusal to pay reasonable salaries has resulted in the fol- 
 lowing adverse conditions : 
 
 I. Often they obtain in the local normal school district rather 
 efficient teachers who in order to remain near home are willing 
 
The Faculty 7 9 
 
 to work for a lower salary than they would accept elsewhere, 
 but who are not financially able to continue their studies in 
 higher institutions. This accounts for much of the inbreeding. 
 
 2. Occasionally they employ teachers from outside the state 
 who through lack of initiative, or perhaps ambition, or by acci- 
 dent, accept positions in these schools. Some of them are 
 content to remain in spite of the low salaries. 
 
 It may be added that a number of the Pennsylvania teachers 
 can bear comparison with the best in other states ; but many 
 cannot, and the longer they remain in these institutions the 
 greater will be the contrast since low salaries, an abnormal num- 
 ber of recitations per day, lack of reward for graduate study 
 and high scholarship, and additional burdens due to the dormi- 
 tory life of the schools have prevented the best teachers in these 
 institutions from reaching their highest efficiency and have 
 enabled the poorly equipped and inefficient to continue for a long 
 time in their present positions. 
 
 It is a simple economic question: if the state normal schools 
 in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, and practically 
 all the other northern and western states pay better salaries, they 
 will eventually attract the best men and women in Pennsylvania 
 and only those of second-rate ability will remain. Pennsylvania 
 must enter into competition with these states or her educational 
 interests will continue to suffer. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE RELATION OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS 
 TO THE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS 
 
 The Pennsylvania State normal schools and the public high 
 schools are to-day in direct conflict. In previous chapters it has 
 been shown that a large number of the normal school students 
 belong to the high school period, and their academic preparation 
 is such that they should be attending the secondary schools in 
 their own neighborhood. In the past it was undoubtedly true 
 that the high schools of the state were so few and so inadequate 
 that it was absolutely necessary for the state normal schools 
 to give academic work of secondary grade. For the last ten 
 years, however, there has been increasingly less need for the 
 normal schools to devote time and energy to academic instruc- 
 tion, but strange to say the normal school principals as late as 
 1910 agreed upon a four-year course of study that possesses 
 many characteristics of the ordinary high school and places their 
 institutions in direct competition with the rapidly increasing 
 public high schools. 
 
 The increasing demand for v/ell-equipped teachers caused the 
 early educational leaders of Pennsylvania to look about for some 
 type of institution that would meet the needs of the public 
 school system. The plan of leaving the preparation of teachers 
 wholly to private initiative had failed; the plan to subsidize 
 church and private academies and colleges had likewise failed. 
 The efforts of the educators finally resulted in the normal school 
 act of 1857, which promised no financial assistance, but set a 
 standard of work for one institution in each of the twelve (later 
 thirteen) districts. Graduates of these schools were to receive 
 permanent teachers' certificates. 
 
 Many of these normal schools were established on the ruins of 
 old academies which had suspended operation or were on the 
 verge of closing their doors. Because of the fact that these old 
 academies had done high school work, and because of the need in 
 
 80 
 
Relation of State Normal Schools to Public High Schools 8 1 
 
 certain communities for such grade of work, these new institu- 
 tions became and have remained in many respects more Hke 
 academies of the old type than what they, pretended to be, — 
 professional schools. At the beginning the lack of high schools 
 was not due so much to the existence of the state normals as to the 
 independence of each school district and the failure of the lead- 
 ing school men of Pennsylvania to induce the legislature to pass 
 laws encouraging the establishment of secondary schools. 
 Occasionally, cities like Philadelphia or Harrisburg would ask 
 the legislature for permission to erect a high school. But the 
 state of Pennsylvania had few first-class high schools as late as 
 1890, and the following year, Doctor D. J. Waller, Jr., then state 
 superintendent, in his annual report commented at length on the 
 great lack of high schools and the need for proper legislation. 
 
 The first general law authorizing the establishment of public 
 high schools was passed in 1895, long after many eastern and 
 middle western states had completed the establishment of a 
 system of secondary schools which enabled the children of any 
 community to continue their education in preparation for college, 
 for business, or for a profession. 
 
 This law as State Superintendent Schaeffer has explained, 
 " divides high schools into three classes, specifies the basis upon 
 which money appropriated in aid of high schools shall be dis- 
 tributed, and prescribes the scholarship of at least one of the 
 teachers to be employed in a high school receiving State aid." 
 The law defines a first grade high school as one " maintaining 
 four years of study beyond the branches of learning prescribed 
 to be taught in the com.mon schools ;" a second grade as one 
 maintaining three years; and a third grade as one maintaining 
 two years. High schools of the first grade were to receive 
 $800, those of the second $600, and those of the third, $400. 
 It was also stipulated that no high school could receive state aid 
 unless one teacher is " legally certified to teach bookkeeping, 
 civics, general history, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, includ- 
 ing plane surveying, rhetoric, English literature, Latin, including 
 Caesar, Virgil and Cicero, and the elements of physics, chemistry, 
 including the chemistry of soils, botany, geology and zoology, 
 including entomology, and no teacher shall be employed to teach 
 any branch or branches of learning other than those enumerated 
 
82 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 in his or her certificate."^ This requirement is of great advantage 
 to the state normal schools, and proves that these institutions 
 have been a factor in restricting, or at least determining all the 
 high school legislation. This requirement will be discussed later 
 in some detail. 
 
 The first state aid for secondary education was given in 1901 
 when the legislature appropriated $50,000 for township high 
 schools. In some respects this appropriation was injurious 
 because practically no standards were laid down. Since no pro- 
 vision was made for high school inspection, the State Superin- 
 tendent of Public Instruction was compelled to distribute money 
 to many schools that in no real sense met these few standards. 
 As a consequence many " advanced grammar schools " were 
 called high schools and received state aid. Since that time, the 
 public school officials of Pennsylvania have had to devote much 
 time and energy to the reconstruction of these so-called high 
 schools. 
 
 The greatest good accomplished by this first appropriation was 
 in committing the state of Pennsylvania to a policy which has 
 proved of immense value to Massachusetts, New York, Minne- 
 sota, and other progressive states. Some time in the future the 
 wealthy state of Pennsylvania may provide for " the pupils of 
 the country districts school advantages equal to those within 
 reach of boys and girls in the cities." 
 
 Later, the state legislature was induced to extend its appropri- 
 ations and include borough high schools ; but it was not until 
 1907 that it gave $12,000, more by accident than by design, for 
 high school inspection which should naturally have been provided 
 for when the first money was appropriated. As a consequence, 
 thousands of dollars of the state's money have been wasted and 
 many communities have been taught to accept poor for excellent 
 high school facilities for their children. The first year high 
 school inspectors were employed, they refused state aid to over 
 seventy schools, thereby saving between $25,000 and $30,000 
 to the state. At the same time, they prevented the establishment 
 of new high schools that could not oifer proper educational 
 facilities to boys and girls. 
 
 It was asserted at the beginning of this chapter that the 
 
 ^ The essential features of this classification remain in the Act. of 191 1. 
 
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Relation of State Normal Schools to Public High Schools 83 
 
 Pennsylvania state normal schools are to-day in opposition to 
 the growth and efficiency of the high schools. A study of the 
 distribution of the three grades of high schools in the state bears 
 out the assertion that the conflict is disastrous to the better 
 secondary schools. 
 
 Most of the normals are surrounded by high schools of the 
 third grade. At Millersville, one of the largest incorporated 
 villages in the state, which has a population of 1,600, there is no 
 high school except that belonging to the model school at the state 
 normal. This high school, established in 1906, maintains but 
 a three-year course. Most of the teaching is done by eighteen 
 practice teachers, who are seniors in the normal. The total 
 enrollment is but forty-five. In a like town in the middle-west, 
 the enrollment would be over one hundred. At Slippery Rock, 
 the high school is part of the model school and is a feeder for the 
 local state normal. 
 
 At East Stroudsburg, with a population of about 3,500, the 
 local high school has a three-year course and an enrollment of 
 but fifty-seven. The attendance should be between one hundred 
 and fifty and two hundred. The main business of this school 
 is to prepare students for the normal. The names of the classes 
 have been changed to conform to those of the normal grades, — 
 Junior, Middle, Senior. This high school has poor library and 
 laboratory facilities. 
 
 The little town of Mansfield has been content to maintain a 
 poor high school. The pupils have three years' work above that 
 of the grades, and devote much time to the study of arithmetic, 
 English grammar, and American history so that they may be 
 admitted to the middle-year at the local state normal. At 
 Shippensburg, a city of 3,500, the total high school enrollment 
 is ninety-five. Two of the three teachers employed are simply 
 normal graduates; in fact it is the policy of the Shippensburg 
 board of education to select normal graduates as teachers. The 
 laboratory equipment in this school is worth less than two 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 At Edinboro, a town of 1,000 inhabitants in a good agricultural 
 district, the three-year high school enrolls sixty pupils. The 
 supervising principal, a college graduate, teaches nine classes 
 each day, and his assistant, a graduate of the local normal, has 
 
84 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 ten classes. The high school has no laboratory facilities. Many 
 who would otherwise attend this high school have been enrolled 
 as students in the local state normal. 
 
 Kutztown has a third grade school with but one teacher and 
 Avith an enrollment of fourteen, though the school district has a 
 population of three thousand. The normal enrolls many of the 
 students who should be attending the local high school. At 
 Indiana, a city of 7,000 inhabitants, the high school, which should 
 have over three hundred students, last year enrolled but one 
 hundred and thirty-seven. The laboratory equipment is prob- 
 ably worth one hundred dollars. This school has been rated 
 by the high school inspectors as third grade.^ At Clarion, a city 
 of 3,000 or over, the two-year high school has an enrollment 
 of thirty-six and but one regular teacher. 
 
 In practically all the normal school towns, the only way of 
 reaching a first class college or professional school is by attending 
 the local state normal, or by going to a first grade high school 
 away from home and frequently outside the county. 
 
 This state of affairs is both undemocratic and wasteful. If 
 the thousands of dollars given to the state normals of Pennsyl- 
 vania for purely high school teaching were devoted to the estab- 
 lishment and support of public high schools under adequate and 
 wise supervision, the result would be both startling and salutary. 
 In the end it would enable the normal schools to become strictly 
 professional, and it would encourage the establishment of an 
 adequate system of secondary schools which would raise con- 
 siderably the educational standards for the entire state. 
 
 The condition of secondary education in Pennsylvania even 
 outside the normal school environment is far from satisfactory. 
 In order to understand the status of the secondary schools, 
 blanks asking for detailed information were sent to representa- 
 tive high schools of each grade, in every county in the state, 
 and replies were received from a majority. In addition, high 
 schools in various parts of the commonwealth were personally 
 inspected and many public school men were consulted. 
 
 The facts thus obtained reveal several striking defects. They 
 show that even many of the first grade high schools have meagre 
 laboratory equipment, and little money has been spent recently 
 
 ^ The state high school inspectors in 1910-1911 rated the Indiana high 
 school as second grade. 
 
Relation of State Normal Schools to Public High Schools 85 
 
 by the school directors to rectify this defect. The first and 
 second grade schools have spent more money for physics than 
 for all the other sciences combined. Less than half as much 
 has been used for chemistry, while the laboratory facilities for 
 botany, zoology, and physical geography are practically worth- 
 less. The average total expenditure for laboratory equipment for 
 the first grade high schools is $1,069.60 and for the second grade 
 but $280.40, while the central tendency for the first is $750 and 
 for the second $200. Practically none of the third grade high 
 schools have any laboratory. Few of the schools of even the 
 first grade have good working libraries and reference books. 
 
 The teachers in these high schools have too many recitations : 
 the average for those in the first grade is 6.5, with the central 
 tendency at 6.93 per day; for those in the second, the average 
 is 7.87, with the central tendency at 8.25 ; and for those in the 
 third grade the average is 8.48, and the central tendency 7.88, 
 with 44 per cent teaching from ten to thirteen daily recitations. 
 
 The salaries of the Pennsylvania high school teachers are too 
 low. In the schools of the first grade reporting, the central 
 tendency in salary is $84.06; for the second grade, it is $77.50, 
 and for the third grade, $70.63. The central tendency in salary 
 for all the teachers is $80.10. These salaries, running from seven 
 to nine m.onths, are so meagre that the best teachers soon find 
 positions in the large city high schools or leave the profession 
 altogether, and the tendency is for only those of mediocre ability 
 to be retained for any length of time. 
 
 The attendance in all grades, as shown by the facts obtained, 
 is very small. For all these schools, the average attendance is 
 83 pupils with the central tendency at 58.75 per school. At the 
 same time, the average population for a school district was found 
 to be 5,318 with the central tendency at 3,087. This indicates 
 conclusively that comparatively few boys and girls in Pennsyl- 
 vania are attending high schools. 
 
 In quality, size and number, the Pennsylvania high schools are 
 in contrast to those of many other states, due largely to the fact 
 that the state has not aided and directed them properly. In 1902 
 when " sixty-six Pennsylvania town-ship high schools came up 
 to the legal standard and received their share of aid," the first 
 ever given by that state, Ohio, with much less wealth and with 
 
86 
 
 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 over two million less population, had six hundred and ninety- 
 nine township high schools. This contrast was discussed by 
 State Superintendent Schaeffer, of Pennsylvania, in his annual 
 report for that year. A few years ago, New Jersey gave to her 
 state board of education the authority to supervise all public 
 high schools. At present it gives from three to four hundred 
 dollars for every teacher employed in secondary schools maintain- 
 ing a definite standard. In fact for the past ten years most of the 
 northern and western states have given annually many thousands 
 of dollars for the betterment of their system of secondary 
 schools. Moreover, they have taken care to have this money 
 wisely and legitimately expended. 
 
 The following table, Table 7, made from statistics given 
 in the annual report of the United States Commissioner of 
 Education for 1908-1909, compares Pennsylvania with six other 
 states as to population, wealth, total number of secondary schools 
 with their enrollment and teachers, and proportion of secondary 
 pupils to the entire population : 
 
 TABLE 7. — Comparing Pennsylvania with six other states as to population, 
 wealth, number of high schools, number of teachers and pupils in these 
 schools and relative number of high school pupils to the population.* 
 
 Name of State 
 
 No. 
 
 of 
 
 schools 
 
 No. 
 
 of 
 
 teachers 
 
 No. 
 
 of 
 
 students 
 
 Popula- 
 tion 
 
 Total 
 assessed 
 valuation 
 
 No. of 
 students 
 to every 
 1,000 
 popu- 
 lation 
 
 Pennsylvania . 
 New York. . . . 
 Massachusetts 
 Ohio 
 
 731 
 596 
 223 
 812 
 629 
 565 
 199 
 
 2520 
 4041 
 1983 
 2638 
 1955 
 2500 
 1086 
 
 59,183 
 101,497 
 51,823 
 60,280 
 42,322 
 58,991 
 23,613 
 
 6,302,115 
 7,268,894 
 2,805,346 
 4,157,545 
 2,516,462 
 4,821,550 
 1,751,394 
 
 •15,769,777,327 
 9,666,118,681 
 4,574,136,145 
 2,352,680,824 
 1,776,132,096 
 1,263,500,487 
 1,090,684,936 
 
 9 
 14 
 18 
 15 
 
 Indiana 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Minnesota. . . . 
 
 17 
 12 
 14 
 
 * Statistics as to schools, teachers, and pupils, were taken from the re- 
 port for 1908-1909 of the United States Commissioner of Education. Sta- 
 tistics as to population and wealth were obtained from the World's Almanac. 
 
 A casual glance at this table shows an advantage for Pennsyl- 
 vania since during the year 1908- 1909, that state claimed to have 
 731 high schools, which is in excess of the number in any of 
 the others except Ohio. But an analysis of the table shows that 
 
Relation of State Normal Schools to Public High Schools 87 
 
 this superiority is apparent, not real : a large number of these 
 Pennsylvania high schools are such in name only. For this same 
 year, the Pennsylvania state high school inspectors reported that 
 over 490 of these secondary schools belonged to the third 
 grade, — a two-year course, with one or two teachers, and prac- 
 tically no library or laboratory equipment. 
 
 The table shows that Pennsylvania with 18 per cent more 
 schools has 38 per cent less teachers than the state of New York ; 
 and though it has 69 per cent more high schools than Massachu- 
 setts, it has only 21 per cent more teachers. Such differences 
 are not to be explained by the congested condition of Massachu- 
 setts and New York ; distinctly agricultural states like Ohio and 
 Indiana make as good a showing as Pennsylvania, while Illinois 
 and Minnesota with more territory and considerably smaller 
 population provide superior advantages in the way of better 
 equipped schools. 
 
 The last column of the above table tells its own story: a fair 
 proportion of the boys and girls of Pennsylvania are not enrolled 
 in the secondary schools. The condition in Pennsylvania is much 
 worse than it is in Massachusetts, which has added a very large 
 foreign population to its citizenship within the past fifteen years. 
 Minnesota has also a large foreign population, probably as difficult 
 to assimilate as the foreigners that have been attracted to many 
 districts in Pennsylvania. Yet Minnesota through state aid and 
 wise state supervision has carefully distributed her first class 
 high schools in an area nearly twice as large as that of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and among a population less than a fifth as numerous so 
 that equal opportunities could be afforded the country boys and 
 girls and the children of foreign-born parents who are unable 
 to pay tuition in private acadamies. As a consequence, out of 
 every one thousand persons in Minnesota, 14 attend public 
 high schools, which is 36 per cent greater than the number 
 attending similar institutions in Pennsylvania. Massachusetts 
 makes even a better showing, since it exceeds Pennsylvania by 
 50 per cent ; but even agricultural states like Ohio, Indiana, and 
 Illinois, with a much smaller population and much less wealth, 
 are able to put Pennsylvania to shame. 
 
 An analysis of other figures given by the Commissioner of 
 Education shows the following interesting facts as to the per- 
 
88 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 centage of high schools having a full four-year course in each 
 of these states : 
 
 ^ In Pennsylvania 
 
 34.4 per cent have a four-year course. 
 
 In New York 
 
 83.0 per cent have a four-year course. 
 
 In Massachusetts 
 
 90.5 per cent have a four-year course. 
 
 In Ohio 
 
 55.7 per cent have a four-year course, 
 
 In Indiana 
 
 66.9 per cent have a four-year course. 
 
 In Illinois 
 
 68.7 per cent have a four-year course. 
 
 In Minnesota 
 
 98.9 per cent have a four-year course. 
 
 This comparison shows that Pennsylvania stands last among 
 the seven states in spite of her large population and great wealth, 
 which morally obligate her to establish and maintain a complete 
 system of well-equipped first grade high schools. 
 
 What is the safest and most desirable avenue leading out of 
 this chaos? Under what condition can Pennsylvania have an 
 efficient system of secondary schools? 
 
 1. The section of the high school law of 1895^ relating to 
 the certification of high school teachers should be changed. At 
 present it is required by this law that each school receiving state 
 aid shall have at least one teacher legally certified to teach 
 practically all the secondary schools subjects. By accident or 
 design, these are the identical subjects found to-day in the normal 
 school curriculum, and therefore, a normal diploma is a license 
 to teach in any high school of the state. It is difficult for a 
 college graduate to com.ply with this law, especially if he has 
 been sensible enough to concentrate his time and energy upon 
 a specialty. The law tends to place in the high schools of the 
 state many normal graduates who are not qualified since their 
 academic work in the normal school is purely secondary in 
 character. 
 
 2. The third grade high schools should be combined into 
 
 ^ In the report of the Pennsylvania state high school inspectors for 1908- 
 1909, only 96 four-year high schools were rated as first-grade. If this fact 
 is considered, then Pennsylvania drops to 17 per cent. This report of the 
 inspectors excludes a very few city high schools which receive no state aid. 
 
 "The law of 1911, though much like the law of 1895, is an improvement. 
 It provides that " a sufficient number of the teachers " shall be employed 
 to teach any of the following branches : " bookkeeping, civil government, 
 general history, algebra, geometry, rhetoric, English Literature, Latin (in- 
 cluding Caesar, Virgil, and Cicero) physical geography, and the elements 
 of botany, of zoology, of physics, and of chemistr}^ But no teacher shall 
 be employed to teach any branch other than those enumerated in his cer- 
 tificate." 
 
Relation of State Normal Schools to Public High Schools 89 
 
 fewer joint high schools with a full four-year course, with well- 
 prepared teachers, and good laboratory and library facilities/ 
 
 3. Districts not containing a first grade high school should be 
 required to pay the tuition of all pupils who desire to attend 
 such a school outside these districts.- It should be added that 
 one hundred thousand dollars has already been granted by the 
 Pennsylvania legislature for this purpose. The public school 
 system of every district and of every county should be such as 
 to lead by direct steps from the country and graded school to 
 the local high school, and from the local high school to the best 
 colleges, universities, technical and professional schools of the 
 country. Otherwise the children of parents of limited means 
 have no opportunity to compete with the children of the wealthy. 
 A democracy means equal opportunity, and this cannot come 
 to the thousands of Pennsylvania children until they have opened 
 to them a system of secondary education as good as that found 
 in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, and 
 many other states. 
 
 4. In the near future, Pennsylvania should have two or three 
 additional high school inspectors with increased authority. The 
 state must also provide more money to the first grade high 
 schools. To make the secondary system of schools still more 
 efficient, the state should also provide elementary school in- 
 spection.^ 
 
 5. The conflict of interest between the state normal schools 
 and the struggling public high schools should cease. The state 
 normal schools should not be permitted to enroll a single stu- 
 dent until he has been graduated from a first grade high school. 
 
 So long as the Pennsylvania normal schools are publicly sup- 
 ported and privately controlled and so long as they admit stu- 
 dents from the common schools and the third-grade high 
 schools, they will not be able to discharge their proper func- 
 tion, and they will retard the establishment and development of 
 a splendid system of high-grade secondary schools. The state 
 normals or private high schools of Pennsylvania receive pay for 
 doing work which if done by high schools would be both more 
 thorough and less expensive, and would reach thousands of chil- 
 dren that today are sadly neglected. 
 
 Such is the condition in a state, which though surpassed by 
 but one other of the entire forty-eight states in either population 
 
 ^ The new law makes provision for the establishment of such joint 
 schools. 
 
 ^ This provision is embodied in the new law. 
 
 ^ The new school law has made provision for additional inspectors. 
 
go Pemisylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 or wealth, gives meagre opportunities to the children of the 
 middle classes to obtain a thorough education. The president of 
 a state university in the middle-west has said that " the people 
 want open paths from every corner of the state, through the 
 schools, to the highest and best things which men can achieve. 
 To make such paths, to make them open to the poorest and lead 
 to the highest, is the mission of democracy." This mission is 
 yet to be fulfilled by the Pennsylvania public school system, and 
 the leadership of the normal school principals cannot be enlisted 
 in the solution of these important secondary problems until the 
 normal schools leave the field of secondary education and con- 
 fine themselves to their legitimate professional work. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 The greatest defect of the Pennsylvania Normal School 
 system is the present management. This weakness, bad in itself, 
 is especially harmful because to it can be ascribed, directly or in- 
 directly, most of the other existing evils. 
 
 The thirteen Pennsylvania state normal schools are controlled 
 by lay boards that look upon these institutions largely as busi- 
 ness ventures, and are primarily interested in their financial 
 prosperity and indifferent to their educational influence. They 
 are, moreover, ignorant of the larger educational needs of the 
 commonwealth. In spite of the fact that the state does not own 
 these schools, it gives annually thousands of dollars for their 
 support and maintenance. But worst of all it does not even 
 supervise the expenditure of the appropriations so that these 
 institutions may do their work satisfactorily and lead in the 
 educational progress and reforms of the state. 
 
 Up to the present time, the state has invested in the normal 
 schools between two and three million dollars in the form of 
 buildings, equipment, and land. This money cannot be lost or 
 surrendered entirely to these private corporations, and it seems 
 that the only remedy will be for the state to assume entire con- 
 trol by buying up at par the outstanding stock of these school 
 corporations. This would require at most an expenditure of 
 five hundred thousand dollars,^ but the state would then be able 
 to conduct these institutions for professional purposes and put a 
 stop to their use for private gain to the great detriment of public 
 education. 
 
 After this first important step is taken, the other reform will 
 come more easily, since, as has already been explained in the 
 
 ^The act of 191 1 provided an appropriation of $200,000 for this purpose, 
 and decreed that a similar appropriation shall be made by each succeed- 
 ing session of the legislature " until all of the state normal schools which 
 are offered on terms acceptable to the state Board of Education have been 
 bought." 
 
 91 
 
92 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 various chapters, many other defects spring largely from the 
 fact that these publicly-supported institutions are under the con- 
 trol of private corporations. 
 
 The next two defects to be discussed are the diversity in pre- 
 paration of the students enrolled, and the low entrance require- 
 ments ; and since these two are so closely related, they will be 
 considered together. First of all the lay boards demand a large 
 enrollment rather than well-prepared students ; they are en- 
 couraged in this demand by the state itself through the law 
 which though making no stipulation as to a student's previous 
 preparation or fitness to enroll in a professional school, grants 
 to each institution sixty dollars a year for any student seventeen 
 years old or above who takes " Methods." The resulting in- 
 tense desire for students in order to obtain " state aid " keeps 
 the entrance requirements so low that at graduation a student 
 would find difficulty in obtaining Freshman standing in any one 
 of the leading universities of the country. These conditions will 
 undoubtedly be improved as soon as the state assumes control, 
 for then a large enrollment will not be essential, and the stan- 
 dards for admission can be raised at once. 
 
 A superficial and over-crowded curriculum naturally results 
 from a wide diversity in the preparation of the entering stu- 
 dents. In classes, often enrolling from forty to sixty pupils, are 
 to be found graduates of first-grade high schools and boys and 
 girls who have not satisfactorily completed the work of the com- 
 mon schools. The result is disastrous to all the students, for a 
 majority are poorly prepared when they enter, and, because of 
 an over-crowded course of study and abnormally large classes, 
 all are poorly equipped when they are graduated. One reform 
 leads logically to another : as soon as the state takes control and 
 raises the entrance requirements, the regular course of study can 
 be modified and improved, and the many special courses, offered 
 for the purpose of increasing the enrollment, will disappear al- 
 together. 
 
 At present the faculties of the state normal schools are both 
 overworked and underpaid. In the main, the lay boards of con- 
 trol attempt to secure cheap rather than efficient service. Little 
 encouragement is offered to real scholarship: the time and 
 energy of the teachers are taken up with school duties of one 
 
Conclusions 93 
 
 sort or another and self-improvement during the school term is 
 impossible. At the same time the small salaries are effective 
 barriers to advanced work in the summer or during a year's 
 leave of absence. The present condition is bad, but if continued, 
 only those of very limited scholarship, initiative, and ability will 
 remain, while the most competent will leave to accept more lu- 
 crative positions in other states, or possibly in other professions. 
 The remedy for this condition is clear : the state must reward 
 efficient service with reasonable salaries. 
 
 Still further evidence of the evils of lay control and lack of 
 state supervision by educational experts is found in the conflict 
 existing between the normal schools and other parts of the 
 public school system. This conflict has retarded the growth of 
 high schools of the first grade, while it has fostered high schools 
 of the lowest grade. The normal schools must leave the secon- 
 dary field or the result will continue to be disastrous to the 
 public school system as well as costly to the state. This evil 
 will also disappear when a premium is no longer placed upon 
 mere numbers and when the normal schools become really pro- 
 fessional in character. 
 
 These are, in the main, the evils that arise from the fact 
 that the Pennsylvania normal schools are privately-controlled 
 but publicly-supported institutions. But as this summary should 
 include all the more prominent defects, it is necessary to con- 
 sider the conduct of the state board examinations, for which the 
 state, and not lay control, is directly at fault. The examina- 
 tions were created to maintain uniform standards, but this pur- 
 pose was soon lost sight of, and to-day, because of large classes, 
 additional duties imposed upon the examiners, and somewhat to 
 the personnel of the boards, the system has degenerated into a 
 formal endorsement of the recommendations of the normal 
 school faculties. The only effect these superficial examinations 
 have is to transform the work of the schools, especially for a 
 month or two at the end of each year, into a cramming process 
 in preparation for the ordeal. When the state assumes control, 
 these examinations will be abolished, and the faculties will be 
 held directly responsible for the work of their graduates as 
 public school teachers. 
 
 In the introduction it was stated that the Pennsylvania school 
 system was in such condition that it was impossible to describe 
 
94 Pennsylvania State Normal Schools 
 
 it accurately without extending the study one or two years, and 
 owing to this fact it was decided to examine but one type of 
 institution. The state normal schools were selected, first because 
 they are fairly representative of the system in vogue in Penn- 
 sylvania to-day except that in the other types, private local con- 
 trol is displaced by public local control; secondly because it was 
 believed that one of the most potent reasons for reconstructing 
 the Pennsylvania public school system lies in the fact that these 
 so-called state normal schools do not have reasonably high stan- 
 dards of scholarship and do not co-ordinate their work with 
 that of the public high schools. As a consequence, they do not 
 occupy their proper sphere in the educational system, and they 
 have not accomplished the purpose of their establishment and 
 maintenance, since their leadership has not succeeded in placing 
 the teaching profession on a worthy plane. 
 
 These normal schools were chosen also because their mis- 
 management and inefficiency are undoubtedly due to the greatest 
 defect of the Pennsylvania school system ; namely, that of leav- 
 ing the direction of education to local initiative and control, 
 public or private. 
 
 This study has shown first, that reform in a state school 
 system is futile until the state assumes control of all exam- 
 inations for those desiring to enter the teaching profession ; sec- 
 ondly, that inevitable and costly conflicts and duplication of 
 work will continue until a unified system is established and large 
 supervisory powers are given to educational experts appointed 
 for the state. Since this is true, the state should immediately 
 assume control of the normal schools and radically change them. 
 In fact this will be the first and most important step toward 
 a well-correlated and unified public school system in place of 
 the antiquated and thoroughly inadequate one now in existence. 
 This reconstruction will eventually be made through the co- 
 operation of the leading educators and public spirited citizens. 
 Not until then will the wealthy state of Pennsylvania be able to 
 say she considers her schools as important to her future welfare 
 as her factories, her mines, and her prosperous cities. Not until 
 then will she be able to establish an open pathway leading di- 
 rectly from the country and village schools to the professional 
 schools, colleges and universities, and thereby give adequate edu- 
 cational facilities to the children of the poor as well as the rich. 
 
SEP 19 1912