ClassL^ V Asm lOEMAL SCHOOLS, AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS, AGENCIES, AND MEANS DESIGNED FOR THE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. BY HENRY BARNARD, SOPEEINTENDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS OF CONNECTICUT. PART I.-UNITED STATES AND BRITISH PROVINCES. PART IL-EUROPE. HARTFORD: PUBLISHED BY CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY. 1851. CIRCULAR. The following pages constitute the second of the series of Essays which the undersigned was authorized by the Legislature in 1850 to prepare for general circulation in Connecticut, on topics connected with the condition and improvement of our Conunon Schools. The necessity and importance of specific preparation for the business of teaching are recognized by the State in its recent legislation for the establishment of an institution to be devoted exclusively to this object. The gradual development of this idea from its first formal presentation by Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudetj in 1825, to its partial realization in the State Normal School at New Britain, in 1850, is traced in the documents which are here embodied. While Connecticut was discussing the subject, or slumbering over it, ' with the half patriarchal, half poetical dream," which is apt to come over us when we think of our "venerable common school system," Massachusetts was acting not only in this but in other departments of educational improve- ment, with a vigor and liberality which has placed her public schools over at least one half of her territory, at least a half century in advance of our own in towns of the same wealth and population. New- York, too, whose school system as originally drafted by a native of Connecticut, was copied in its essential features from our own, under the lead of De Witt Clinton in 1826, commenced a series of improvements which resulted in Teachers Departments, District Libraries, Union Schools, County Inspection Teachers' Institutes, and a Normal School, which have done more, and are doing more now to develop the resources of the State than her gigantic system of railroads and canals. The city of Philadelphia, whose system of public schools, made free by taxation on property, went into operation only two years before Connecti- cut passed a law exempting the people from the obligation of raising a tax on property for a portion of the expense of supporting common schools — {the most disastrous law ever placed on her statute book) — has now a system of public instruction from the Primary School for children four years of age, to the Normal School in which the female teachers of all her schools can be trained, maintained with a liberality, and embracing opportunities of an extended English, classical, and business education, which is free to all and practically enjoyed by the children of the rich and poor — of which we have no approach in any city of our State. The State of Michigan, which has been admitted into the Union since the idea of a Normal School was first presented in Connecticut, has set 4 CIRCtJLAK. apart, not. the bonus of a bank as a temporary experiment, but a permanent fund for the endowment of an institution devoted exclusively to the pro- fessional education of teachers. The province of Upper Canada, stimulated by the example of the neigh- boring State of New- York, has within ten years organized a system of common schools more complete in its plan, more efficient in its administra- tion, and embracing more of the agencies of educational progress, than the system of any one of the United States. At the head of these agencies of progress stands the Provincial Normal School,for which,besides a standing appropriation of $10,000 a year for the current expenses, the sum of $55,000 has just been almost unanimously voted by the Legislature, to provide a suitable building and apparatus for the accommodation of the school. Some notice of these institutions will be given in the following pages, together with the republication of a number of documents and addresses setting forth the origin, nature, and advantages of Normal Schools, and her institutions, agencies, and means, for the prof essional education and improvement of teachers, in the United States. This Essay will be followed by a volume on the same great topic, in which an account will be given of the organization and course of instruc- tion of several of the best Normal Seminaries in Europe, together with an outline of the system of Public Schools in the countries where these Sem- inaries have been longest in operation. Although not prepared exclusively or originally for this series of publications, copies will be furnished to all orders from any part of the State, on the same terms with the Principles of School Architecture, viz : at half the cost of publication. HENRY BARNARD, Superintendent of Common Schools. Hartford, January 6th, 185L NORMAL SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES, CONTENTS. Page. Introduction, . . . . • "? Table. Number, location, and date of erec- tion of Normal Schools, ... 8 CONNECTICUT. • LegislativeHistoryof Normal Schools, . 9 I>aw establishing State Normal School, 23 First Annual Report of Board of Trustees, 27 Reportof Superintendent for 1850, . 30 Topics for Lectures, Discussion, and Compo- sition on the Theory and Practice of Edu- cation, ...... 37 Remarks on Teachers' Seminaries, by Rev. T. H.Gallaudet, in 1825, ... 39 Circular — Terms of Admission, Course of In- struction, &c.. .... 47 Hints respecting Applicants for Admission, 51 MASSACHUSETTS. History of Normal Schools, ... 61 Resolves establishing Normal Schools, . 62 Regulations respecting Admission, Studies, &c. 55 Normal School at West Newton, . . 59 Letter from Cyrus Peirce, . . . 61 | Normal School at Bridgewater, . . 65 Letter from Nathan Tillinghast, . . 66 Condition of State Normal Schools in 1850, 67 Report of Board of Education, . . 67 " Visitors of West Newton School, 69 Westfield " 70 " " Bridgewater, " 66 Report of Secretary of the Board, . 74 Addresses and other Documents connected with the History of J^Tormal Schools in Massa- chusetts, Outline of an Institution for Teachers, by James G. Carter, 1825, ... 75 Memorial of American Institute of Instruc- tion, 85 Teachers' Seminary at Andover, . . 92 Remarks of Dr. Channing on Education, Teachers, and Normal Schools, . 93 Normal Schools and Teachers' Seminaries, by Calvin E. Stowe, . . . . 101 Necessity of, in each State, • . 102 Preparation for Admission, . . 104 Model School and School of Practice, 105 Course of Instruction, . . . 10.') Advantages, 113 Objections, 115 Notes. Chinese Education, . . 117 Page. Prussian Schools prior to 1819, . 118 School Counsellor Dinter, . . . 119 Teachers' Conferences in Prussia, . 120 Educational Convention in Plymouth County, 125 Rev. Charles Brooks, . . . 125 Ichab(j|l Morton, .... 128 Robert Rantoul, . . . . 128 Rev. Dr. Putnam, .... 129 John Ciuincy Adams, . . . 130 j, Daniel Webster, . . . . 131 Rev. Dr. Robbins 131 Special Preparation, aPre-requisite to Teach- ing, a Lecture by Horace Mann, 1838, 131 Address at the opening of the Normal School at Barre, by Edward Everett, . . 147 Remarks by Horace Mann and others on the opening of the new Normal School house in Bridgewater, ..... 161 Dedicatory Address at Bridgewater, by Wil- liam G. Bates, 1846, . . . . 167 Dedicatory Address at Westfield, by Rev. Heman Humphrey, .... 179 Teachers' Associations and Agencies . 189 Teachers' Institutes 189 County Teachers' Association, . . 190 Massachusetts Teachers' Association, 191 American Institute of Instruction, . 191 List of Lectures delivered before, . 192 Agents of Board of Education, . . 194 Educational Periodicals, . . . 194 NEW YORK. History of Normal Schools, . . . 195 Plan of Teachers' Departments in Academies, 197_' Report of Prof. Potter, . . . 198' State Normal School at Albany, . . 201 Address of Samuel S. Randall, . . 202 PENNSYLVANIA. Normal School in City of Philadelphia, . 209 RHODE ISLAND. Modes of Professional Improvement adopted from 1843 to 1848, .... 219 Professorship of Didactics in Brown Univer- sity, 223 MICHIGAN. State Normal School at Ypsilanti, . . 223 BRITISH PROVINCES. Upper Canada, ..... 224 Nova Scotia, 224 INTRODUCTION. In the winter of 1825, there appeared, almost simultaneously,* but without any knowledge of each other's views, and even without any per- sonal knowledge of each other, in the Connecticut Observer, printed in Hartford, over the signature of a " Father," and in the Patriot, printed in Boston, over the signature of " Frankhn," a series of articles in which the claims of Education as a science, and Teaching as an art, were ably die- cussed, and an Institution was proposed in each series, having the same general features, for the special training of teachers for their profession., These articles were collected and published by their respective authors, in pamphlet form, the first with the title of " Plan of a Seminary for the Education of Instructors of Youth, by Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet. Bos- ton, 1825," — and the last, with the title " Essays on Popular Education.^ containing a particular examination of the Schools of Massachusetts, and an Outline of an Institution for the Education of Teachers, by James G. Carter. Boston, 1826." In the same year, 1825. Walter R. Johnson, then residing in German- town, Penn., without any knowledge of the views of Mr. Carter or Mr. Gallaudet, in a pamphlet, entitled " Observations on the Improvement of Seminaries of Learning,^'' set forth the necessity and advantages of schools for the special training of teachers. In the same year, in which appeared the earliest publication on the subject in Connecticut, Governor Clinton commended to the consider- ation of the Legislature of New York, " the education of competent teachers;" and in 1826, "the establishment of a seminary" for this pur- pose. From this time, the importance of the professional education of teachers, and of institutions specially devoted to this object, began to at- tract the attention of statesmen and educators, until, at the close of a quarter of a century, the idea is practically realized in each of the four states in which the enterprise was first proposed. The history of the efforts made by the friends of educational improvement to estabhsh Normal Schools in these states is full of instruction and encouragement to those who are laboring in the same field, and for the same object, in other states. _ ' The article by Mr. Gallaudet, containing the statement of his plan of a Seminary, was pub- lished on the 4th of .January, 182.5, and those of Mr. Carter, devoted to his Outline of an Insti- tution, appeared the 10th and 15th of February, 1825. 8 INTRODUCTION. The Normal Schools already established in this country are, it is be- lieved, doing much good, and realizing the promises of those who have been active in getting them up ; but as compared with European Insti- tutions of the same kind, and the demands for professional training in all our schools, they labor under many disadvantages. 1. Pupils are admitted without adequate preparatory attainments, and without sufficient test of their " aptness to teach." 2. A majority of the pupils do not remain a sufficient length of time, to acquire that knowledge of subjects and methods, and especially that intel- lectual power and enlightenment, which are essential to the highest suc- cess in the profession. 3. There are no endowments to reduce the expense of a prolonged resi- dence to a class of poor but promising pupils. 4. They are not provided with a sufficient number of teachers for the number of pupils admitted. 5. From the want of a well-defined and limited purpose in each institu- tion, they are aiming to accomplish too much — more for every class of pu- pils, — those with, and those without previous experience, — the young, and ' the more advanced, — those intended for country and unclassified schools, and those intended for the highest grade of city and town schools, — than can be well done for either class of pupils. Further experience will make these deficiencies more apparent, not to those who have the immediate charge of these institutions, for they are already painfully conscious of them, but to the people, legislatures, and liberally-disposed men, who must apply the remedies by increased ap- propriations to existing, and the establishment of additional schools. The following is a list of the Normal Schools already established, with the location and date of the establishment of each school. TABLE OF NORMAL SCHOOLS IN AMERICA. State and Location. Massachusetts, "West Newton, . ...... Bridgewater, . ...... Weslfield, New York, Albany, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Connecticut New Britain Michigan, Upsilanti, British Puoyinces, Toronto, for Upper Canada, . St. John's, for New Brunswick, . 1839 1839 1839 1845 1848 1849 1850 1846 1848 CONNECTICUT. The earliest mention of the establishment of a Seminary for Teachers in Connecticut, was made by Mr. William Russell,* in August 1823, in a pamphlet, entitled Suggestions on Education : " The common schools for children, are, in not a few instances, conducted by individuals who do not possess one of the qualifications of an instructor; and, in very many cases, theie is barely knowledge enough ' to keep the teacher at a decent distance from his scholars.' An excellent suggestion was lately made on a branch of this subject, by a writer in a periodical publication. His pro- posal was, that a seminary should be founded, for the teachers of district schools; that a course of study should be prescribed to persons who are desir- ous of obtaining the situation of teachers in such schools ; and that no individu- al should be accepted as an instructor, who had not received a license, or de- gree, from the proposed institution. The effects of such an improvement in education seem almost incalculable. The information, the intelligence, and the refinement, which might thus be diffused among the body of the people, would increase the prosperity, elevate the character, and promote the happi- ness of the nation to a degree perhaps unequalled in the world," In the first number of the Connecticut Observer, published in Hartford, Conn., January 4, 1825, Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudett, then Principal ol the American Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, commenc- ed a series of Essays, with the signature of" A Father," on a Plan of a Seminary for- the Education of Instructors of Youth. These essays attracted much attention in Connecticut, and other parts of New Eng- land, and were collected and published in a pamphlet of 40 pages, in Bos- ton, in the same year. Selections from the same were re-published in the newspapers, and the plan was presented and discussed in the educa- tional conventions which assembled in Hartford, in 1828 and in 1830. The following is the substance of the plan : " Suppose, Mr. Editor, an Institution, call it by what name you please, should be estalDlished somewhere in New England, for the training up of young men for the profession of instructors of youth in the common branches of English education. Suppose such an institution should be so well endowed, by the lib- erality of the public, or of individuals, as to have two or three professors, men of talents and habits adapted to the pursuit, who should devote their lives to the object of the ' Theory and Practice of the Education of Youth,' and who should prepare and deliver, and print, if you and they please, a course of lectures on the subject. ■ Mr. Russell was at that date a teacher in the New Township Academy, New Haven. He afterward removed to Boston, where he engaged earnestly in the work of educational improve- ment. In 1826 he became editor of the Journal of Education, the first periodical devoted exclu- sively to the subject, published in the English language. Mr. Russell is now Principal of the Normal Institute at Merrimacli, New Hampshire. 10 • NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. Let the Institution be furnished with a libranj, which should contain all the works, theoretical and practical, in all languages, which can be obtained on the subject of education, and also with all the apparatus that modern ingenuity has devised for this purpose ; such as maps, charts, globes, orreries, &c. &c. Let there be connected with the Institution a school, smaller or larger, as circumstances might dictate, of indigent children and youth, and especially oj foreign tjouth whom we are rearing for future benevolent efforts, in which the theo- ries of the professors might be reduced to practice, and from which daily expe- rience would derive a thousand useful instructions. To such an Institution let young men resort, of piety, of talents, of industry, and of adaptedness to the business of the instructors of youth, and who would expect to devote their lives to so important an occupation. Let them attend a regular course of lectures on the subject of education ; read the best works ; take their turns in the instruction of the experimental school, and after thus becom- ing qualified for their office, leave the Institution with a suitable certificate or diploma, recommending them to the confidence of the public." In 1838, an '■^ Act to provide for the better supervision of Common Schools,^'' creating a Board of Commissioners, with a Secretary, who was " to devote his whole time to ascertain the condition, increase the interest, and promote the usefuhiess of common schools," was passed by the Le- gislature. In a speech made by the chairman of the Committee that reported the bill, in the House of Representatives, (Henry Barnard, of Hartford.) the following remarks were made in reference to this par- ticular subject : " This measure, if adopted and sustained by the Legislature and the people for ten years, must result in making some legislative provision for the better education, and special training of teachers for their delicate and difficult labors. Every man who received his early education in the district schools of Con- necticut, must be conscious, and most of us must exhibit in our own mental habits, and in the transactions of ordinary business, the evidence of the defec- tive instruction to which we were subjected in these schools. And no one can spfend a half hour in the best common school in his neighborhood, without seeing, both in the arrangements, instruction, and discipline of the teacher, the want, not only of knowledge on his part, but particularly of a practical ability to make what he does know available. He has never studied and practiced his art, the almost creative art of teaching, under an experienced master, and probably has never seen, much less spent any considerable portion of time in visiting, any better schools than the one in which he was imperfectly taught — in which he said his lessons, as the business is significantly described in a phrase in com- mon use. The first step will be to get at the fact, and if it is as I suppose, that our teachers are not qualified, and that there is now no adequate provision made in our Academies and higher seminaries for the right qualification of teachers of district schools, then let the fact be made known to the Legislature and the peo- ple, by reports, by the press, and by popular addresses, — the only ways in which the Board can act, on either the JLegislature or the schools ;— and in time, sooner or later, we shall have the semiDaries, and the teachers, unless the laws which have heretofore governed the progress of society, and of education in E articular, shall cease to operate. It is idle to expect good schools until we ave good teachers, and the people will rest satisfied with such teachers as they have, until their attention is directed to the subject, and until we can demonstrate the necessity of employing better, and show how they can be made better, by proper training in classes or seminaries established for this spe- cific purpose. With better teachers will come better compensation and more permanent employment. The people pay now quite enough for the article they get. It is dear at even the miserably low price at which so much of it can be purchased. Let us have light on the whole subject of teachers, — their qualifi- cations, preparation, compensation and supervision, for on these points there is a strange degree of indifference, not to say ignorance, on the part both of indi- viduals, and of the public generally." NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. { { During the year following the establishment of the Board, the Secre- tary, (Mr. Barnard,) published in the Connecticut Common School Journal a number of articles, original and selected, in which the professional edu- cation of teachers was discussed, and the history of Normal Schools in Prussia, Holland, and France presented. In the course of the four years in which the Journal was published, the Essays of Mr. Gallaudet, the Report of Prof Stowe on Normal Schools and Teachers' Seminaries, all that portion of Prof Baches Report on Education in Europe, devoted to an account of particular institutions for the education of teachers, and many other documents and articles on the same subject, were spread before the people of this state. Of several numbers of the Journal devo- ted to these publications, more than ten thousand copies were circulated. In the First Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board of Commis- sioners of Common Schools, submitted to the General Assembly, in May, 1839, the establishment " of at least one seminary for teachers," is urged in the following manner : " As there are some who still regard it as an experiment, it can be at first for the training of female teachers for the common schools. Such an institution, ■with a suitable principal and assistants, and especially a model school con- nected with it, in which theory could be carried into practice, and an example given of what a district school ought to be, would, by actual results, give an impulse to the cause of popular education, and the procuring of good teachers, that could be given in no other way. The time of continuance at such an insti- tution could be longer or shorter according to circumstances. Even a short continuance at it would often be of vast benefit. It would furnish an illustra- tion of better methods of instruction and government than " the district school as it is" can give, which is the only model a large majority of our teachers are now familiar with. The expense to those attending, need not be great, if such a seminary were moderately endowed from the public treasury, and the contri- butions of towns and public spirited individuals. To secure this most desirable co-operation, the state appropriation might be made on condition that an equal or greater amount be raised from other sources. Once established, it would speedily draw to it numbers of our young women, to improve the qualifications they already possess for teaching, and give the experience and skill which are necessary. If wisely managed, it would give credentials to none but the best of teachers. They will command good wages. Those employing them would expect to gis'-e such wages. For the object in applying to this source would be to get teachers of superior qualifications at an enhanced price. The supply would create a demand. The demand would in turn secure a greater supply of well- educated teachers for the primary schools. Through them, better methods of teaching, by which an increased amount of instruction, and that of a more practical character, would be disseminated through a large number of districts. The good done would thus not be confined to the comparatively few who should pursue the studies of the seminary, or acquire skill and experience in the model school. Each would carry out the same methods. Enterprising teachers, too, who had not enjoyed the same opportunity for improvement, would strive to excel those who had ; and thus a wholesome spirit of emulation would be pro- voked among teachers. One such seminary, with the model school annexed, or rather forming an essential part of the institution, where the best methods of school government, and all the numerous and complicated processes of teaching, developing, and guiding the human mind, and cultivating the moral nature, could be taught and illustrated, would be the safest and least expensive way of testing the practica- bility of introducing others, both for males and females, into every county of the state, as a part of our common school system." 12 NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. This document was referred to a " Joint Select Committee on Common Schools," of the two Houses of the General Assembly, to whom the fol- lowing ^^ Report and Resohition respecting the Education of Teachers,^'' was submitted, May, 1839: " The Joint Select Committee on Common Schools, to whom was referred the Report of the Board of Commissioners of Common Schools, together with the Report of their Secretary, have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to report in part, that in their estimation, the main deficiency in the com- m;i schools of the State, is an inadequate supply of well-qualified teachers, and tiiat to supply this deficiency, and thereby improve the quality, and in- crease the amonnt of instruction communicated in these schools, which must forever remain the principal reliance of a vast majority of parents for the edu- cation of their children, the experience of other states and countries demon- strates the necessity of making some legislative provision for the education of teachers. With this view, and to secure the co-operation of counties, towns and individuals who may be more directly benefitted by this appropriation, or who may choose to unite with the State in elevating the character of the com- mon schools in the mode attempted, the Committee recommend the passage of the accompanying resolution. All of which is respectfully submitted, By order of the Committee, JOHN A. ROCKWELL, Chairman. Resolved, That the Coinptroller of public accounts is hereby authorized to draw an order on the Treasurer, in favor of the Board of Commissioners of Common Schools, for the sum of $5000, or such portions thereof as they may request, to be paid out of any money not otherwise appropriated; provided said Board shall certify that an amount equal to that applied for, has been placed at their disposal ; both sums to be expended under the direction of said Board in promoting and securing the qualifications in teachers for the common schools of Connecticut." The resolution called forth a full expression of opinion in the House of Representatives, and was finally passed in that body without a dissent- ing voice. The Secretary of the Board, who was a member from Hartford, in the course of discussion, made the following remarks in the House of Repre- sentatives : " The report of the Committee, brief as it is, embodies the substance of all I should have to say, if I should review in detail the condition of our common schools, with a view of proposing a series of measures for their improvement. The great want of these schools is that of better teachers. Good teacliers will make better schools, and schools made better by the labors of good teachers, is the best argument which can be addressed to the community in favor of improv- ed school- houses, a judicious selection of a uniform series of text books in the schools of the same society, of vigilant and intelligent supervision, and liberal appropriations for school purposes. Give me good teachers, and in five years I will work not a change, but a revolution in the education of the children of this State. I will not only improve the results, but the machinery, the entire details of the system by which these results are produced. Every good teach- er will himself become a pioneer, and a missionary in the cause of educational improvement. The necessity of giving such a teacher every facility of a well- located, well-ventilated, and' well-seated school-house, ofgivmg the teacher a timely supply of the best text books and apparatus, and of keeping him em- ployed through the year, and from year to year, with just such pupils and stu- dies as he can teach to the best advantage— these things will be seen and felt by parents, and by districts. And the public, as represented m the Legislature, will see to it that much of our defective legislation is supplied by that which will create and sustain a popular interest in the subject, lead to the appoint- ment of faithful officers, assign to each class of officers appropriate duties, subject all appropriations of school money to severe scrutiny, provide for the NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. 1^ training and adequate compensation of good teachers, and the employment of such teachers in schools of dilferent grades. The idea of employing a gradu- ate of a college to teach the alphabet to young children, will be given up, not only as poor economy, but as leading to the neglect of accomplished female teachers, who can do not only that work, but the whole work of education in primary and in small district schools, much better than the best male teachers. But let us not deceive ourselves. Five thousand dollars will not make ade- quate provision for the training of teachers. The entire sum will not properly endow a Normal School. Small as the sum is, it is the largest sum I dare pro- pose at this time, and so advised the Committee. But as one of those who may be intrusted with its expenditure, I should not advise its appropriation at this time, to the establishment of a Normal School. This sum should be so expen- ded as to reach, if practicable, every teacher in the state. The teachers should be induced to come together for a week, or a month, and attend a course of instruction on the best methods of school teaching and government. They should profit by the lectures and practical hints of experienced teachers. They should have access to, and be induced to purchase and read good books on the theory and practice of teaching. They should be induced to form associations for mutual improvement, the advancement of their common profession, and the general improvement of education, and the schools of the state. They are the natural guardians of this great interest — at least they are the co-operators with parents in this work of educating the rising generation, to take the place of that which is passing off the stage. They are the chosen priesthood oi edu- cation — they must bear the ark on their shoulders. The appropriation thus applied, so as to improve the teachers now in he school, and create in them a thirst for something higher and better than can be given in any temporary course of instruction, will lead to the establishment of an institution for the profession- al education and training of teachers, the great agency by which the cause of education is to be carried upward and onward in this state. Though the pros- pect is dark enough, I think I can see the dawning of a better day, on the mountain tops, and the youngest members of this house, if they live to reach the age of the oldest, will see a change pass over the public mind, and over public action, not only in respect to the professional education of teachers, but the whole subject of common schools. Old, dilapidated, inconvenient school- houses will give place to new, attractive, and commodious structures. Young children will be placed universally under the care of accomplished female teachers; female teachers will be employed in every grade of schools as assist- ants, and in most of our country districts, as sole principals : a school of a 'higher order' than the district school will receive the older boys and girls, not only of a district, but of a society, and the common school will no longer be regarded as common, because it is cheap, inferior, and patronized only by the poor, and those who are indifferent to the education of their children, but com- mon as the light and the air, because its blessings are open to all, and enjoyed by all. The passage of this resolution will hasten on that day ; but whether the resolution is passed or not, that day will assuredly come, and it will bring along a train of rich blessings which will be felt in the field and the workshop, and convert many a home into a circle of unfading smiles. For one, I mean to enjoy the satisfaction of the labor, let who will enter into the harvest." In the Senate it was referred to the Board of Commissioners of Com- mon Schools, to report to the next General Assembly a specific plan of expenditure. What the Legislature thus refused to do, the Secretary undertook to do at his own expense, in order " to show the practicability of making some provision for the better qualification of common school teachers, by giving them an opportunity to revise and extend their knowledge of the studies usually pursued in district schools, and of the best methods of school arrangements, instruction and government, under the recitations and lectures of experienced and well-known teachers and educators." A class was formed from such teachers of Hartford county as were dis- 14 NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. posed to come together on public notice, and placed under the general charge of Mr. Wright, the Principal of the Grammar School. Mr. Wright gave instruction in Grammar and in methods of school keeping^ Mr. Post, a teacher in the Grammar School, reviewed the whole subject of Mental and Practical Arithmetic, with full explanations of the difficult points in Fractions, Roots, &c. Professor Davies explained the different parts of the higher Mathematics, so far as they were ever taught in dis- trict schools, or would help to explain elementary Arithmetic. Rev. Mr. Barton, formerly connected with the Teachers' Seminary at Andover, gave lessons in Reading. Rev. T. H. Gallaudet explained how Compo- sition could be taught even to the younger classes in s hools, and gave several familiar lectures on school government, and the instruction of very young children by means of the slate. Mr. Brace, Principal of Hartford Female Seminary, explained the first principles of Mathematical and Astronomical Geography, the use of Globes, &c. Mr. Snow, Principal of the Center District School, gave several practical lessons in methods of teaching, with classes in his own school. Mr. Barnard delivered several lectures explanatory of the relations of the teacher to the school system, to parents and their pupils ; also on the laws of health to be practically observed by pupils and teachers in the school-room ; and on the best modes of conducting Teachers' Associations, and interesting parents. A portion of each day was also devoted to oral discussions and written essays on subjects connected with teaching, and to visiting the best schools in Hartford. Before separating, the members of the Teachers' Class pub- lished a " Card," expressing " their most cordial thanks, for the very excellent course of instruction which they have been permitted to enjoy during a few weeks past. They also beg leave to present their sincere thanks to those gentlemen who have so kindly instructed them, for the very familiar, lucid and interesting manner in which the different subjects have been presented." On the success of this experiment, the Secretary of the Board, in the Connecticut Common School Journal, for November, 1839, says, " We have no hesitation in saying that a judicious application of one-fifth of the sum appropriated unanimously by the House of Representatives, to pi'omote the education of teachers for common schools, in different sections of the State, would have accomplished more for the usefulness of tlie coming vt'inter schools and the ultimate prosperity of the school system, than the expenditure of half the avails of the School Fund in the present way. One thousand at least of the eighteen hundred teachers, would have enjoyed an opportuniiy of critically revising the studies which they will be called upon to teach, with a full expla- nation of all the principles involved, and with reference to the connection which one branch of knowledge bears to another, and also to the best methods of com- municaiing each, and the adaptation of different methods to different minds. They would have become familiar with the views and methods of experienced teachers, as they are carried out in better conducted schools than those with which they had been faiiailiar. They would have entered upon their schools with a rich fund of practical knowledge, gathered from observation, conversa- tion and lectures; and with many of their own defective, erroneous, and per- haps mischievous views, corrected and improved. Who can tell how many minds will be perverted, how many tempers ruined, how much injury done to the heart, the mirrals, and the manners of children, in consequence of the injudi- NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. Jg cious methods of inexperienced and incompetent teachers, the coming winter*? The heart, the manners, the morals, the minds of the children are, or should be in the eye of the state, too precioas materials for a teacher to experiment upon, ■with a view to qualify himself for his profession ; and yet the teacher is com- pelled to do so under the present order of things. He has no opportunity afford- ed him, as every mechanic has, to learn his trade ; and if he had, there is but little inducement held out for him to do this. No man is so insane as to employ a workman to construct any valuable or delicate piece of mechanism, who is to learn how to do it for the first time on that very article. No one employs any other than an experienced artist to repair a watch. No parent intrusts the management of a lawsuit, involving his property or his reputation, to an attorney who has not studied his profession and given evidence of his ability. No one sends for a physician to administer to his health, who has not studied the human constitution and the nature and uses of medicine. No one sends a shoe to be mended, or a horse to be shod, or a plough to be repaired, except to an experienced workman; and yet parents will employ teachers, who are to educate their children for two worlds — who are to mould and fashion and develop that most delicate, complicated, and wonderful piece of mechanism., the human being, the most delicate and wonderful of all God's creations — to fit them for usefulness in life, to become upright and intelligent witnesses, jurors, electors, legislators, and rulers, safe in their power to resist the manifold temp- tations to vice and crime which will beset their future path, strong and happy in the ' godlike union of right feelings with correct principles.' " From the proceedings of the Board of Commissioners, it appears that the subject received their attention, and they tlius refer to it in their Report of 1840 : " Wherever Normal Schools have been established and ably sustained, the experiment has uniformly resulted in supplying teachers of a superior order. As in every other art whose principles are reduced to rule, and matured into a system, the learner is not limited to the slow and scanty results of his single, unaided experience, but is at once enriched with the accumulated treasures ot all who have labored in the same mine before him. Without such an oppor- tunity, he Ynay be compared to the medical practitioner, who commences his labors without the knowledge of any settled principles of his art, but expects to acquire his knowledge of his profession in the course of his practice. If it is plain that the physician needs, at the commencement of his career, that knowl- edge of the healing art, which contains the embodied experience of those who have gone before him, and carried his profession to the highest degree of excel- lence, no less does the instructor of a school need the wisdom of his predeces- sors to guide him, at his first setting out ; nor can he any better afford to wait for the slow returns of his own experience. Indeed, there is in the case of the young teacher, a peculiar need of this wisdom in advance, since the employ- ment is not usually a business for life, but only of a few years at farthest, — a period in itself too short to gain much of the wisdom of experience, and termi- nated almost as soon as such wisdom begins to be acquired. In the opinion of the Board, we can no^ make an adequate provision for the supply of the requisite number of teachers, who shall be at once capable of teach- ing, in the best manner, all that the pupils of our common schools are capable of learning, and of conducting the order and government of their institutions, according to the most approved methods, without the establishment of normal SCHOOLS, devoted exclusively to the education of teachers in the principles and practice of their profession, and guided by men eminent for their talents and practical wisdom. But if it is thought that we are not prepared to erect and sustain seminaries of this independent and elevated description, the Board would suggest the expediency of commencing the work of educating teachers on a limited scale, by connecting a department for this purpose, with some of the existing academies in different sections of the state. A small amount of funds, judiciously expended in the modes indicated by the Secretary in his Report, would, in the opinion of the Board, accomplish a great, immediate good in improving the qualifications of our common school teachers. The resolution appropriating five thousand dollars from the Treasury, to be expended by the Board, in promoting and securing the requisite qualiiica- 16 NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. tion of teachei's for the comnion schools of the state, provided, that an amount equal to that applied for should be placed at their disposal from other sources, for the same object, which passed the House of Representatives, at the last ses- sion cf the Legislature, and was afterward, by a joint vote of both Houses, referred to the Board for some specific plans of expenditure, has received the consideration of a Committee of their number, and of the Board at its last meet- ing. In their opinion, the sum is too small, even with such local and individual subscriptions, as could now be raised, to authorize the establishment of a tho- roughly organized Normal School. If this sum, therefore, had been placed at their disposal, they would have expended it in the different counties of the state, under such circumstances as would have called forth as widely extended co-operation and contributions from towns and individuals as possible, and have diffused its agency over a period of three years." The Secretary, in his Report to the Board, in 1840, discusses the whole subject in the following manner : " The most efficient instrumentality, however, on which we can rely for the permanent and almost indefinite improvement of education in our common schools, is the employment of teachers properly qualified for their duties. The want of such teachers is widely felt, and the absence of all arrangements for securing the necessary supply, is the principal defect in our system. What can be done to remove this defect 1 Upon the practical solution of this problem depends the immediate and permanent prosperity of our schools. 1. The first and necessarily imperfect method of securing well-qualified teachers, would be to raise the standard of qualification now required by law, and to create a county or senatorial district board for the examination of teach- ers. This would operate to induce candidates to prepare themselves more extensively and thoroughly in the studies which they are to teach, and on which they are to be examined, and would exclude in a great measure the ope- ration of local, family, and personal influences, in granting or withholding the necessary certificates. There is, however, no sure test of ability and skill in instruction and government, but actual demonstration in the school-room. To secure this practical knowledge, other means than those of examination, how- ever strict and impartial, such as now exist in the State, must be provided. 2. A second method would be to improve the present sources relied on for supporting teachers. These sources are the common schools, and the higher seminaries of education. Both might be made far more efficient than they now are in this respect, by engrafting upon them a class or department for the edu- cation of teachers. From the older and more advanced scholars of either sex of the district schools, or the high school if it exists, such as have distinguished themselves by their scholarship and good conduct, and manifest the requisite talents, as well as desire to become teachers, might be selected to receive, in. the evening and at such other times as might be found convenient, specific instruction in the theory and practice of teaching. These might be allowed to assist in their respective schools under the direction of the teacher, with great profit to them- selves, and to the younger classes especially. They would thus have an oppor- tunity of applying their instructions to practice, they would not be educated above their business, and would acquire the habits and methods of teaching in the very class of schools which they would afterward be called upon to instruct. If school societies understood their own interest, they would estab- lish a common school of a higher order, if for no other purpose than to provide a home supply of better teachers for their respective districts. In Holland this method was formerly the sole resort for the training of teachers, but in per- fecting her system of primary instruction, regularly organized Normal Schools have been lately established. In the public schools of the city of New York, this plan is thoroughly organized and carried out. In Boston and Philadelphia, a model school is connected with it. Academies and similar institutions can become more useful than they now are in supplying good teachers^ — First, by instituting a ' teachers' class' in the winter and spring, for young ladies, and in the summer and autumn for young men, who have been teach- ers, or expect to become such soon. Here they should have an opportunity to NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. { 7 revise the studies of the district school, and receive such knowledge of the best methods and familiar practical illustrations as the principal and other friends of education can give during the period allotted to the course. An experiment of this kind was tried at Hartford, in the Grammar School, with a class of twenty-six young men, and in the Female Seminary with a class of sixteen yoong ladies, with the most gratifying results. Second, by organizing a department for the more liberal and thorough edu- cation of teachers. Such a department should include a professor, who should devote his whole time to the theory and practice of education, a course of instruction embracing all the studies of the common schools, with the best methods of communicating them to others, and a model school. The model school might be a primary department of the academy, under an appropriate assistant, or the neighboring district school, in which, under the supervision of the professor, the best methods should be pursued. The students of the depart- ment should have an opportunity, not only of witnessing frequently and famil- iarly the exercises and management of this school, but should receive expla- nations and lectures there, as to the modes pursued, be allowed to conduct the recitations, and on return to the class-room, be required to give their views, in writing and orally, on what they had seen or heard. In giving the above outline of a properly organized 'Teachers' Department,' I have in reality incorporated the Normal School with the Academy. The advantages of this arrangement are the saving of much additional expense for buildings, apparatus, and assistants, and the liberalizing influence of associa- tion in the recitation-room, and out of it, with persons destined to other pursuits, on the mind and manners of those who are to become teachers. The disadvan- tages are, in the present comparatively low social and literary position, accord- ed to the profession, in public estimation, lest the department and those con- nected with it, should be regarded as only an appendage to the Academy ; and those destined for a longer or shorter time to become teachers, lose that enthu- siasm to the proposed calling, which is essential to eminent success, and ac- quire, what under the most favorable circumstances is likely to come soon enough, a partiality for those pursuits, which they see command a higher social rank, more honorable fame, and a richer pecuniary return. What is now wanted in this Slate, and in the country, are institutions in which the exclu- sive attention of men of the first talents and experience in education, should be devoted to the distinct object of giving the greatest practical elevation and efficiency to the profession of common school teacher, and where all the ar- rangements, to the minutest detail, should be shaped to establish this great end. This want can be in no way so effectually supplied as by the establishment of, at least, one thoroughly organized Normal School." The Board, in the Third Annual Report for 1841, again recommend : That some provision be made for the establishment of Normal Schools, or Seminaries for the training of teachers, where a practical knowledge of the best methods of arranging the classes and studies, and conducting the govern- ment and instruction of district schools, can be communicated and illustrated. One such school, under an experienced principal and assistant, with a model school connected with it, where theory can be carried into practice, and an example given of what a district school ought to be, would draw to it numbers of our young men, and young women, to improve the qualifications they already possess for teaching, and gain the experience and skill which are necessary. An appropriation for this object will supply a radical defect in our system, and give an impulse of the most powerful and salutary character to the cause of school improvement." Again, in his Third Annual Report, the Secretary of the Board returns to the subject, dwelling more particularly on the establishment of one Normal School: "But the most effectual way of improving the qualifications of teachers, of creating in them, and in the community, a proper estimate of the true dignity and usefulness of the office, of carrying out into practice the soundest views of education, is to establish at least one institution for their specific training. Such an institution, in the outset at least, had better be confined to the pre- . B 18 NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. paration of female teachers. The course of instruction should have special reference to common schools in the country. The model school should, as far as practicable, bear a close resemblance in its elements to an ordinary district school. The pupils should be such as are willing to meet a portion of the expense of residence at the institution, by the assistance they would render at such times as would not interfere with the studies and exercises of the place. The whole spirit of the institution should be such as to invite those only to come, who have a natural fondness for the office of teaching, and are animated in their preparatory work, by higher motives than the hope of pecuniary returns they are likely to receive. The establishment of one or more schools of this description, is recommend- ed in nearly every communication from school visitors. They have been objected to. in four instances, for the following reasons. ' They are of foreign origin.' They need not necessarily be modeled, and indeed ought not to be, after foreign institutions. They should be adapted to meet our own wants, to raise up Connecticut teachers for Connecticut schools. The objection is as valid against institutions for the deaf and dumb, or the blind, or the insane, or colleges, or even the common school, which is only an improvement on the parochial schools of Germany. ' They are unnecessary : our colleges, academies and private schools, can furnish teachers for the higher order of common schools, and these last for the district school.' It is possible that much might be done in this way. but at present, there are no adequate means provided in any of the institutions for the specific training, or the apprenticeship required. We have good teachers, but they have become such, by improving their native tact by experience in the school- room : but who knows how many minds and hearts have been ruined or injured by the experiments of beginners 1 The best teachers universally, acknowledge the value and necessity of such schools. ' Those who are educated there, will not become teachers for life, or teachers in common schools.' They will, however, be more likely to make teaching a profession, than any other class. It would answer a good purpose, even if they taught for a few years. To provide against the last result, the institution should be confined to females, and those who receive its benefits, should come under obligations to teach two or three years in common schools ; but above all, they should be such only as are actuated by the highest devotional feelings. ' The teachers thus educated, will be few compared with the number of schools.' But a beginning must be made, and in the present state of the public mind, and of the public schools, a single demonstration of what can be done, and of the best manner of doing it, is needed. The good which a few teachers properly trained, would do, would not be confined to the districts in which they labored. Their schools would become model schools for other districts, and the awakening influence of their example and precept would be felt all around them. Teachers who have not enjoyed the advantages of such training, would strive to excel those who had, and thus a wholesome spirit of emulation would be provoked among teachers. ' Districts Avill not pay wages sufficient to employ teachers who are thus pre- pared.' There are districts which pay liberally, and who look long and far to find good teachers. Such districts would go directly to such an institution for their teachers. Besides, an imp;-ovement in the qualifications of teachers, would to some extent increase the demand for them, and the demand would increase the compensation. ' The time required for this preparation is more than most teachers can give.' Although it would be desirable to extend the course of instruction to two years at least, still much can be accomplished in a brief period. Six months' residence in such an institution, with daily practice or observation in the model school, or even a shorter period, vv^ould be of incalculable service. ' The expense of such an institution will be great.' Like other good insti- tutions, it will cost something, but the cost will depend somewhat on the scale with which it is commenced. An appropriation of $10,000 on the part of the State, united with what could be raised by individual subscriptions, would be sufficient to make a fair trial." In 1844, a Committee of eight members, one from each county, was appointed by the General Assembly, to take into consideration the state NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. J 9 of Common Schools in Connecticut, and report on the subject to the next session, with plans and suggestions for their improvement. This Com- mittee, in their Report of May, 1845, which was printed and widely circu- lated, remark, that true economy, as well as the higher inducement of the best interests of the State, in the improved education of its children, would be promoted by the establishment of a Normal School. " There is one other improvement which your Committee deem of great im- portance, but which they do not think the present state of the public mind would justify, Yiz—the establishment of a Normal School or Teachers' Seminary. Teaching is an art, subject to certain rules and principles like any other art. It is true, that individuals may attain some degree of skill in teaching, without having had regular and systematic instruction in the art; as some men do in the arts of the painter, the carpenter, or the smith, without having served a regu- lar apprenticeship. It is true, too, that every one gets some idea of teaching while he is himself obtaining the rudiments of knowledge. But who would intrust an important work in building, machinery, or painting, or send a son to serve an apprenticeship, with an artisan who had not been regidarly taught his pro- fession, unless indeed he were satisfied that by long study and experience, he had fully made up for the deficiency in his early education. How much more, then, should we hesitate to coinmit the education of our children to unskillful hands — to those who have barely sufficient attainments to entitle them to the certificate required by law, without having had the slightest instruction, or experience, in the art of teaching, and who even acquired the rudiments of knowledge from those who were themselves exceedingly deficient both in art and learning. By far the greater part of our teachers, when they begin to instruct, are of this character. Many never teach but a single season. Others, who continue in the profession, change their school, season after season, giving no satisfac- tion to their employers, and deriving none themselves from their pursuit. A few only become successful teachers, and these soon find their way, as has before been said, into such common schools as duly appreciate their talents, or are employed in private schools' and academies. It is said by experienced teachers, that every child in the State might obtain, at twelve years of age, under proper instruction in the common schools, a good practicalknowledge in all the branches required by law to be taught in those schools. How different is the fact now ! Your Committee are of the opinion that trv£ economy, as well as the higher inducement of the best interests of the state, in the improved education of its children, would be promoted by the establishment of a Normal School. The annual expense of a school adapted to this state, would probably be about $4,000, or 5 cents a year for each child in the state. The public, however, have at present but little information on the subject. There can be no doubt, that sooner or later, these institutions will be deemed an indispensable part of every common school system." In 1846, the General Assembly, by a concurrent vote, approved "in the main," of a plan, submitted by the Joint Standing Committee on Educa- tion, for the improvement of the school system, which embraced among oth- er features, the establishment of a Normal School. This plan, with the Report of the Committee, was ordered to be printed, and two thousand copies circulated with the laws relating to common schools. The atten- tion of the school visitors in every school society, was specially called to the subject by the Superintendent, with a request that they would com- municate their views to this department on its various features. In almost every instance the Normal School feature of the plan was approv- ed, and most heartily in those societies where the schools were in the best condition, and the subject had received the most attention. In hia 20 NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. Report to the General Assembly in May, 1847, the Superintendent sub- mitted the results of his reflections on the subject as follows : " The most important improvement recommended by the Committee, is the establishment of a Normal School, or Seviinartj for the instrioction of teachers, or the training of the yovmg men and young women of the state, who have the requisite qualifications of talent, tact, and character, to a practical knowledge of the best methods of school instruction and government. This subject has long been before the people of this state. The first distinct presentation of its claims, and one of the ablest ever made, was given by the Rev. T. H. Gallau- det, of Hartford, in a series of articles in the Connecticut Observer, commenc- ed in January, 1825, and afterward published in a pamphlet. This pam- phlet has been republished entire, or in copious extracts, in most of the educa- tional periodicals of the country, and has undoubtedly aided in preparing the public mind for the action which has already followed in several states, and which is likely to take place still more generally. From the communications received from school visitors on this point, both for this and the last year, it will be seen that the friends of school improvement, from every section of the state, are calling for some legislative action on this subject. The plan of a Normal School or Teachers' Seminary, embraces a thorough course of instruction in the studies pursued in common schools under compe- tent teachers, with reference to teaching the same things to others. This last includes the art of teaching, or a knowledge of human nature and of the human mind, and of the order in which its several faculties should be called into exer- cise ; of the best motives by which good habits of study can be cultivated in the young ; of the arrangement and classification of scholars, and of the best means and appliances for securing obedience and order, and for keeping alive an interest in the daily exercises of the school. To accomplish these things thoroughly, there must be all the necessary apparatus for illustration and ex- periment in reference to the studies pursued, and a model school where the^ future teacher may, as it were, serve an apprenticeship in the workshop of education. The Normal School shoitld do for the teacher what the directions of the master- workman, and the usual term and duties of the apprenticeship do for the future mechanic; and the law school, or the medical school, or the theological semhiary, does for the professions of law, medicine or theology. It should give a thoroug?i knowledge of what is to be done, and the practical skill how to do it. We have teachers who have acquired this knowledge and skill, but in too many instances they have acquired the same by experience and ex- periments in the school-room, at the expense of time lost, tempers ruined, and minds distorted, of the children of the state. The Normal School affords an opportunity to such persons as have the requisite natural qualifications, of acquiring the knowledge and experience necessary for the highest success, without subjecting the schools to the ruinous waste of time and mind to which they are now exposed. This subject has already attracted the attention of the Legislatures of other states, and it will not probably be long before a large number of our sister states will enjoy the benefits of these institutions. Surely Connecticut, which was the first seriously to agitate the subject, ought not to be the last to avail her- self of the wise suggestions of her own citizens, and the experience of two such states as New York and Massachusetts. If the Legislature would pledge the means to sustain the annual expense of one such school, on an economical scale, for a period long enough to give the institution a fair trial, it is believed that there are towns in which it should be located, and individuals, ready to pro- vide the necessary buildings, furniture and apparatus." This document was referred to the Joint Standing Committee on Education, who in their remarks on " the establishment of schools, where teaching as an art shall be taught," say, " From these returns, your Committee have been led to suppose that the time has come for the State to do something for the establishment of such seminaries." The Committee deemed it best for the Legislature to proceed with caution in the matter, and therefore, after recommending provision for NORMAL SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT. 21 temporary Normal Schools, or Teachers' Institutes, proposed the appoint- ment of a Committee, " to make due examination, and report to the next Legislature a definite plan for the support, location, and internal arrange- ment of one or more schools for teachers," This Committee was accor- dingly appointed, and after visiting the Normal Schools in New York and Massachusetts, submitted a Report to the Legislature, in which they in 1848, recommend an appropriation of $2,500 a year for four years, toward the support of a Normal School, to be located by a Board of Trustees, con- sisting of eight members, one for each county, to be chosen by the Gen- eral Assembly. The Committee state that liberal offers were received from several towns, which guarantee that tlie State shall be at no expense for buildings, &c. The plan of the Committee was embodied in a Bill which passed the House of Representatives by a large majority, and was lost in the Senate by one vote. The Committee in their Report remark : " That in the course of their examination, whatever doubts any of them had previously entertained with regard to the utiUty of such schools, and the expe- diency of establishing them, those doubts have been entirely removed ; — such schools are no longer to be regarded as a doubtful experiment:" The Superintendent, in his Report for 1849, after enumerating the va- rious instances in which the establishment of Normal Schools has been presented to the Legislature, adds : " Such is a brief history of the manner in which the special training of teachers for their work, has been brought before the Legislature and the people of the state. To this it may be added, that many essays on the eubject have been published in the public prints and in pamphlet form, and that in the course of the last six years it has been distinctly present- ed in the written reports of the school visitors of more than half of the school societies of the state. It would be an insult to the common inteUi- gence of the people of the state to suppose that the subject was not un- derstood. And as no considerable opposition has been manifested, it may fairly be presumed that they are prepared for some action on the subject." And such was the opinion of the General Assembly in 1849, as will ap- pear by the documents which follow. To the Report of the Superin- tendent for 1849, was appended a Plan of a Teachers' Seminary by Rev. Merrill Richardson, of Terryville, who in an address delivered be- fore the School Society of Plymouth, in 1842, and in the Connecticut School Manual, from 1846 to 1848, and in addresses delivered before the Teachers' Institutes, and in other ways by lip and pen, proved himself an earnest and efficient advocate before the people, of a Normal School or Teachers' Seminary. To this gentleman, to the Hon. Seth P. Beers, to John P. Norton, Esq., of Farmington, to Hon. Lorin P. Waldo, of Tol- land, and particularly to James M. Bunce, Esq., of Hartford, are the friends of school improvement indebted for the estabhshment of a Normal School in Connecticut, in just ten years after the subject was first offi- cially brought before the Legislature. LEGISLATION OF CONNECTICUT RESPECTING NORMAL SCHOOLS. An act for the establishment of a State Normal School. Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened, There shall be established, as hereinafter provided, one Normal School, or seminary for the training of teachers in the art of instructing and gov^erning the common schools of this state ; the object of which Normal School, or seminary, shall be, not to educate teachers in the studies now required by law, but to receive such as are found competent in these studies, in the manner hereinafter provided, and train them in the best methods of teaching and conducting common schools. Sec. 2. There shall be appointed, by the Legislature, eight trustees of said Normal School, one from each county in the state ; two of whom shall, in the first instance, hold their office for one year, two for two years, two for three years, and two for four years, the term of office to be by them determined, by lot or otherwise 5 the vacancies to be fified by ap- pointment by the Legislature, for the residue of the term which shall so become vacant; and the Superintendent of Common Schools, ex-officio, shall also be a member of said board. Sec. 3. The expenses necessarily incurred by said trustees, in the discharge of their duties, shall be defrayed out of the funds herein appro- priated for the support of said school ; and they shall receive no compen- sation for their services. Sec. 4. To said board of trustees shall be committed the location of said school; the application of the funds for the support thereof; the ap- pointment of teachers, and power of removing the same; the power to prescribe the studies and exercises of the school, rules for its management, and granting diplomas ; and they shall report annually to the Legisla- ture their own doings, and the progress and condition of the school, and the said trustees are hereby authorized to change the location of said Normal School, from time to time, as they deem best for the interest of said school, and for the accommodation of the pupils in the different parts of the state, provided suitable buildings and fixtures are furnished with- out expense to the state. Sec 5. The number of pupils shall not exceed' two hundred and twenty ; and the visitors of each school society in the state shall be re- quested to forward to the Superintendent of Common Schools, annually, the names of four persons, two of each sex, applicants for admission to said school, whom the said visitors shall certify they have examined and approved as possessed of the qualifications required of teachers of com- mon schools in this state ; which applicants shall have given to said visit- ors a written declaration, signed with their own hands, that their object in seeking admission to the school is to qualify themselves for the em- ployment of common school teachers ; and that it is their intention to engage in that employment in this state, which applicants the said visit- ors shall recommend to the trustees as suitable persons, by their age, character, talents and attainments, to be received as pupils in the Normal School. The trustees shall select by lot, from the whole number of apph- cants from each county, the proportion of pupils to which such county is en- titled by its population, of male and female, each an equal number : Provi- 24 AN ACT CONCERNING EDUCATION. ded, that not more than one shall be admitted from any school society, till each society, from which an application is made, shall have a pupil in the school. The trustees shall forward to each pupil, so appointed, a certifi- cate of his appointment, returning also to the principal a list of pupils ap- pointed to the school. If there shall not be a sufficient number of appli- cants from any county, to fill the number of appointments allowed to such county, the trustees sJiall fill the vacancy by lot from among the whole number of remaining applicants. To all pupils so admitted to the school, the tuition and all the privileges of the school shall be gratuitous. Sec. 6. The said trustees are authorized to make provisions for a Model Primary School, under a permanent teacher approved by them, in which the pupils of the Normal School shall have opportunity to practice the modes of instruction and discipline inculcated in the Normal School. Sec. 7. For the support of said Normal School, there is hereby appro- priated the bonus derived from the " State Bank," and the interest which may accrue thereon; from which the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, annually, for the term of four years, shall be paid to said trustees, with said interest, by order of the Comptroller, on the Treasurer of the State; no part of which sum shall be expended in any building or fixtures for said school. Approved, June 22d, 1849. Public Acts, May session, 1849. ExTRACTjfrom Section 1st of an Act incorporating the State Bank at Hartford. " Provided, That the President and Directors of said bank shall pay into the treasury of this state the sum of ten thousand dollars, as a bonus, which sum shall be appropriated to the support of a Normal School in this state, in such ways and at such place as shall be provided by the Legislature." Resolutions and Private Acts, May session, 1849. Extract from Section 12th of an Act incorporating the Deep River Bank. Provided, That before said bank shall commence discounting notes, the Directors of said bank shall pay to the treasurer of this state the sum of one thousand dollars for the purpose of sustaining a Normal School in this state." Resolutions and Private Acts, May session, 1849. " Resolved, That the Comptroller of Public Accounts be, and he hereby is directed to draw an order on the Treasurer of the State, payable to the trustees of the State Normal School, for the sum of one thousand dollars, heretofore deposited with said Treasurer, by the Deep River Bank, for the use of said School." Resolutions and Private Acts, May session, 1850. An act in alteration of " An Act concerning Education." Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened, The Principal of the State Normal School. AN ACT CONCERNING EDUCATION. 25 shall be, ex-officio, Superintendent of Common Schools, whose duty it 'shall be to exercise a general supervision over the common schools or the state, to collect information from school visitors in the manner provided m the twenty-fifth section of the Act concerning Education, and from other sources, to prepare and submit an annual report to the General Assembly, containing a statement of the condition of the common schools of the state, plans and suggestions for the improvement and better organ- ization of the common school system, and all such matters relating to his office and to the interests of education as he shall deem expedient to com- municate. Sec. 2. That the Superintendent appointed by virtue hereof be, anc he is hereby authorized and directed to hold at one convenient place in each county of the state, in the months of September, October or Novem- ber annually, schools or conventions of teachers, for the purpose of in- structing in the best modes of governing and teaching our common schools, and to employ one suitable person to assist him at each of said schools. Sec. 3. That the compensation of the Superintendent shall be three dollars per day, in full for his services while actually employed in per- forming the duties required of him by law, and shall be allowed his neces- sary disbursements for traveling expenses, stationery, printing and clerk- hit;e, in the business of said office. And the person or ^persons by him employed in assisting at said school, shall be allowed not exceeding three dollars per day for the time occupied in traveling to and from, and attend- ing said school conventions; which compensation and disbursements shall be paid from the civil list funds of the state, after being taxed and allowed by the Comptroller, who shall draw an order on the State Treasurer therefor. Sec. 4. That the Superintendent of Common Schools be, and he is hereby directed to give seasonable notice to each school society of the times and places of holding said schools or conventionSj and such other notice to the teachers as he may deem expedient. Sec. 5. That so much of the tenth section of the Act concerning Edu- cation as constitutes the Commissioner of the School Fund, ex-officio, Su- perintendent of Common Schools, and the resolve, passed in 1848, provi- ding for employing persons to hold schools of teachers, and for holding the same, be, and the same are hereby repealed. Provided, that the Commissioner of the School Fund shall, ex-officio, remain Superintendent of Common Schools, exercising all the powers heretofore conferred on him, until the Principal of the State Normal School shall be appointed, and enter on the duties of said appointment. Approved, June 22d, 1849. Public Acts, May session, 1849. FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OP THE TRUSTEES OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL OF CONNECTICUT, SUBMITTED MAY 15tH, 1850. To the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut : The Board of Trustees of the State Normal School, in conformity to a requisition of the act for the establishment of the same, respectfully pre- sent their first Annual Report. The Board, at its first meeting, on the 7th of August, after duly organ- :zing, resolved to issue a public notice, inviting proposals for the location of the school, either permanent, or otherwise, as the act provides. To this invitation but one town made a prompt response, and for a time the pro- jected institution seemed in danger of prospective defeat, from public apathy and indifference. After the lapse of some two or three months, the cause of this alarming silence was understood to proceed from the general impression which had gone abroad, that the institution was to be of a migratory nature, and pass from place to place, Avithout remaining long enough anywhere, to gain a residence, and make its acquisition desirable. No adequate inducement was offered to the people of any locality in the state, to make the necessary outlay, and offer the proposals Bohcited. To obviate this embarrassment, and induce the requisite proposals, the Board, at a subsequent meeting, in the exercise of the discretionary power vested in it, resolved, that, wherever located, the institution should be per- manently established during four years, at least, the period contemplated by the act. Soon after it was understood that such action had been taken by the Board, the cloud of uncertainty which had hung over the fate of the projected institution, disappeared, and liberal offers were made by several towns in the central part of the state, which will be further noticed in the sequel of this report. Another question of great moment, deeply involving the welfare of the institution, claimed and received the early attention of the Board, viz. who shall be its Principal 1 On the decision of this question, the Board felt that very much of the character and usefulness of the institution was de- pending ; and it received that careful attention and anxious deliberation, which its importance seemed to demand. After consultation with the friends of the enterprise, in different parts of the state, and thoroughly canvassing the merits of several candidates, whose names had been pre- sented, the Board came, unanimously, to the choice of the Hon. Henry Barnard, a gentleman well known in this state, by his former labors in the cause of popular education, as Secretary of the late Board of Education, and more recently Commissioner of Common Schools in the state of Rhode Island. His distinguished ability and zeal in the cause, couplea with his entire self-consecration, and large experience, constitute the surest guaranty of the successful discharge of the duties of the appoint- ment, and that no effort will be lacking on his part, to give to the institu- tion efficiency and utility. From the time when this appointment was conferred on Mr. Barnard, he has co-operated with the Board of which he is, ex officio, a member, in the preparatory labors of locating the school, and putting it in operation. Up to the time of the meeting of the Board on the 15th of January, proposals for the location of the school had been received from the city of 28 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OP THE TRUSTEES Middletown, and from the villages of Farmington, New Britain, and Southington. A Committee on Location was, thereupon, appointed, to visit each of these localities, and ascertain, from personal observation and inquiry", their comparative advantages. A full hearing was, subsequent- ly, given to the several applicants, in vindication of their respective claims to the location of the institution, and the spirit of competition elicited on the occasion was truly gratifying, inasmuch as it evinced a proper appre- ciation of the institution, on the part of those, at least, who were so lauda- bly zealous for its acquisition. Of all the several offers thus made to the state, it may justly be said, that they were liberal, and highly creditable to the parties by whom they were presented. No one of them was so clearly superior to the others, as to preclude all doubt relative to their comparative eligibility. But lest, after all, there should be some misun- derstanding between the parties and the Board, the following propositions were adopted by the latter, as the conditions on which the school should be established : " The Trustees will expect a building, or buildings, to be provided, suffi- ciently large to accommodate 220 pupils, with suitable rooms for recita- tions and lectures, furnished with the necessary fixtures, and on a site ac- ceptable to the Trustees. The plans and specifications thereof shall be furnished by the Principal of the School, and the building or buildings shall be acceptable to the Trustees. They will also expect such an ap- paratus to be furnished, as will be needed by the school, to the value of not less than one thousand dollars : and a library of books, chiefly on ed- ucation, to the value of not less than five hundred dollars. They will also require one school to be placed at their disposal, as a Model School, the teacher of which shall be approved by the Trustees, but paid by the Dis- trict. And, finally, while the Trustees will do all in their power to make the institution of such a character as shall reflect honor on the state, and be calculated to insure its perpetuity, yet, they wish it to be distinctly un- derstood, that they can not, in any way, bind the state to continue the school for a longer period than four years, from April 1st, 1850 ; and they can not accept of any proposals which shall imply, directly, or indirectly, any obligation, on the part of the state, to make any reimbursement, at the end of four years, if the school should be discontinued at that time. To the conditions thus set forth, the people of New Britain promptly and fully acceded, and raised, by private subscription, the sum of sixteen thousand dollars ; four thousand of which they propose to expend on their own schools of practice, to be connected with the Normal School, and the residue of twelve thousand dollars, they offer to the state for the purposes above specified. On the subsequent organization of the subscribers into a Joint Stock Company, they fixed the amount of their stock at twenty thousand dollars." While the Normal School edifice is in process of building, the present season, the Company have furnished and fitted up. for the temporary ac- commodation of the state, a spacious and commodious room in a public build- ing, located near the center of the village, in which the Board is pleased to be able to announce the opening of the State Normal School, this day, (May 15th,) with thirty pupils in attendance, under the immediate super- vision and instruction of Mr. T. D. P. Stone, as Associate Principal, a na- tive citizen of this state, but for many years a highly successful teacher in the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and for the last year the teacher of the Massachusetts State Reform School, located at West- borough. It may be proper to add, that Mr. Stone presented to the Board the most satisfactory credentials of excellence of character, and accom- plishments as a teacher ; and no doubt is entertained, but that he will magnify the office thus confidently conferred upon him, and so far, at least, OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 29 as he is concerned, enable the friends of the institution to realize the fulfil- ment of their most sanguine hopes. Superadded to the commendable liberality thus exhibited by the people of New Britain, the Board was particularly gratified by the spirit of unanimity and cordiality which accompanied and crowned their donation ; and there can be no doubt, from the interest and enthusiasm already man- ifested on their part, that they will continue to foster and encourage an institution which they so highly and so justly appreciate, and which is so closely identified with the prosperity and reputation of their goodly vil- lage. The nascent germ, which they have so sedulously procured, and generously planted in their midst, will long receive their fostering care, and loving kindness, and, rising in growth and grandeur, is destined to be- come, not only the crowning ornament of the beautiful village in which it flourishes, but the ornament of the entire state. The Board take this occasion to inform the Legislature, that the bonus of the Deep River Bank, which, by the condition of its charter, was to be applied for the benefit of the State Normal School, has been appropriated and deposited for this object ; but no authority having been given to the Trustees, by the last Legislature, to receive the same, they would sug- gest that this inadvertency be remedied, by the passage of a resolution, authorizing the Board to receive the deposit, that it may be applied to its legitimate object. The Trustees would moreover inform the General Assembly of the occurrence of four vacancies in their Board, two of which arise from the expiration of the shortest term of service prescribed by the act instituting the same ; one for Fairfield, and the other for New London County ; the third, owing to the decease, in the early part of the year, of our lamented associate, Francis Bacon, Esq., occurs for Litchfield County; and the fourth has been made by the resignation of the Rev. J. D. Baldwin, he having removed from the county of Windham, for which he was appoint- ed ; all of which the Legislature will please to fill by the appointment of men who, in addition to their other qualifications, shall be especially pre- eminent for that high degree of patriotism, and devotion to the Repubhc, which shall secure their services to the state, icithout compensation^ agreeably to Section 3d of the act, which so plentifully provides, that the Trustees of the State Normal School " shall receive no compensation for their services." In conclusion, the Board would take occasion to express the sincere gratification which they derive from the auspicious indications which attend the infancy of the institution committed to their charge ; and with the harmonious and zealous co-operation of all concerned in its prosperity, they confidently anticipate for it a career of great usefulness and benefi- cence, in imparting increased efficiency to our system of public instruction, and in multiplying, augmenting, and diffusing the blessings of popular education. In behalf of the Board, FRANCIS GILLETTE, Chairman, New Britain, May 15th, 1850. EXTRACT PROM THE Fifth Annual Report of the Superintendent {Renry Barnard) of the Cowr mon Schools of Connecticut to the General Assembly, May session, 1850. After the lapse of a quarter of a century since the attention of the people of Connecticut was first called to the importance of providing for the spe- cial preparation of teachers of common schools for their arduous and re- sponsible labors, the Legislature in 1849 appropriated the sum of ten thousand dollars, paid by the State Bank, and of one thousand dollars paid by the Deep River Bank, as a bonus for their respective charters, to meet the annual expenses of a State Normal School, or Teachers' Sem- inary, for a period of four years. Apart from my official connection with the institution, I felt it to be my duty as Superintendent of Common Schools, to do every thing in my power, not only to make its objects known, but to facilitate its early organization and opening, as the most important agency which could be employed by the state to increase the usefulness of the common schools, both as to the quality and amount of education given. So anxious were the trustees and officers of the insti- tution to make a beginning of their enterprise, that without waiting for the complete outfit of buildings, apparatus and library, which the people of New Britain had pledged themselves to furnish on the location of the Normal School in that village, the school was opened on the 15th of the present month, (May,) under as favorable auspices, as to pupils and oppor- tunities for imparting practical knowledge, as any of the seven Normal Schools which are now in successful operation on this continent. At the close of the first week, there were thirty-five Normal pupils in attendance, under the immediate instruction of Rev. T. D. P. Stone, the Associate Principal of the School, and upward of three hundred pupils from the village, in four Schools of Practice, under the charge of Mr. Stone, assisted by Prof Guion, three female teachers and pupils of the Normal School. The four Schools of Practice are supported by the Central District of the New Britain School Society. In the absence of any published rules of the Board of Trustees, regu- lating permanently the number of sessions in the year, and the length ot each session, the subject and course of instruction, the period of attend- ance or degree of proficiency to entitle a pupil to the diploma of the insti- tution, I will venture to set forth the general plans and aims of the officers who have been entrusted with the immediate care of the institution, foi tlie purpose of making known its objects, and showing its probable influ- ence on our common schools. 1. The officers of the Normal School believe that they could best pro- mote the permanent improvement of the common schools of the state, by truly educating, and thoroughly training a few efficient teachers of the right stamp of character, physical, intellectual, esthetical and moral, and then securing their permanent employment at fair remunerating wages, at central points in different sections of the state, as Normal teachers in model school-houses; or, by being allowed to select every year out of such candidates as may be presented by the visitors for the several school societies, a small number of pupils who possess the health, gentleness of manners, fondness for children, purity of character, singleness of purpose and tact, that indicate a natural fitness for teaching, and then, retain them long enough to superadd such appropriate knowledge of the studies to be taught, and practical skill in arranging the classes and conducting the in- MR. BARNARD'S REPORT. g J struction and discipline of an elementary school, under the ordinary con- ditions of an agricultural district. But as either of these courses are im- practicable under present circumstances, they will aim to benefit in such measure as they can, as many pupils as may apply for admission ; to co- operate every year in such ways as shall be open to them, with as many teachers of the state as they can meet for professional improvement, whether the same shall be pupils of the school or not ; to act by personal visits to the schools, and by public addresses, on as many societies and districts as their engagements ar the Normal School will admit ; and to pre- pare the public mind of the state generally, by precept and example, by voice and pen, as far and fast as they can, for more thorough and pro- gressive steps of improvement in every department of the educational field. 2. The benefit of the Normal School to any pupil will be measured by the preparation each may bring in character, attainments and aptitude for the business, and the time and industry which may be devoted to the work. The officers of the school cannot encourage for a moment, the idea that a person who does not understand a subject thoroughly, can ever teach that subject well, or that a residence of a few weeks or months in the institution, however diligently and wisely employed, will be sufficient to gain a knowledge of the human mind, and of a child's mind in particu- lar ; of the studies which it is desirable to have well taught in our common schools, and of the best methods of teaching the same ; of the motives which are to be appealed to to secure habits of study, order and obedi- ence ; and of all the technical and practical details of school keeping. They believe, however, that a person of quick observation, of some natu- ral aptitude for the business, and a clear intellect of the average power and cultivation, can, with ordinary diligence and devotion, obtain much additional information, and some practical experience, correct many old errors and appropriate many valuable hints, and above all catch the true professional spirit, by even one term's residence at the school. A single visit to a good school ; an hour's conversation with a good teacher ; the reading of a single chapter in Emerson's " Schoolmaster," or Page's " Theory and Practice of Teaching," may be not only a help, but the starting point of a new life to the young teacher. The officers of the Normal School will, therefore, welcome any teacher or candidate for teaching; to the institution under their charge, for a visit of an hour or a residence of years. 3. By means of the regular classes in the Normal School and in the Schools of Practice, an opportunity will be offered to every member of the school to review thoroughly any one or all of the elementary studies re- quired to be taught in the common schools of the state, and to extend his attainments in any of these studies, and such kindred branches as will facilitate his success as a teacher in any grade of common schools. The reviews and recitations will be so conducted, as to methods and practical illustrations, as to make the studies far more interesting and profitable than they now are, whether regarded in the way of informa- tion, or as means of intellectual discipline, preparatory to those labors and duties of life which are most important and universal. A knowledge of tlie elements and structure of the English language, is justly deemed of paramount importance, and it is proposed so to teach it, as to give to every child who shall attend a common school with ordinary regularity and dil- igence, not only the ability to spell and read with accuracy and facility, but to converse and compose in it with a good degree of readiness and power, and at the same time acquire an earnest and discriminating taste for the choicest productions of American and English literature. Pen- manship is now taught in every district school, and it is proposed to con- nect the exercises in this branch not only with constant practice in Eng- lish composition, with book-keeping and other forms of business, but also 22 MR- BARNARD S REPORT. with the art of drawing, thus educating to a higher degree than mere writing can do, both ilae eye and tlie hand, rendering the one observant, and the other exact, and at the same time, training several important faculties of the mind, and imparting a power which can be turned to many useful purposes in every department of practical life. In addition to the studies now generally taught in our schools, it is pro- posed to give some practical instruction in vocal music and physiology ; and to those, whose previous training, or whose residence at the institu- tion will be long enough to allow of this extension of the course without abridging the time and attention which are due to the elementary studies, a general view of the principles of agricultural chemistry and of domestic economy, will be pi-esented. 4. Subjects will be taught in the Normal School rather than text books ; and the manner in which the same subject is treated by several of the best authors, will be compared and discussed, in order that the grad- uates may be prepared to decide on the comparative merits of school books, whenever a change of text books is desirable in a school, and at the same time be able to teaeh the subjects properly, even if pupils of the same class should study the subject in different books. 5. The elementary studies will be thoroughly reviewed with constant practice on the blackboard, and by the aid of such maps, and cheap and simple apparatus as are now furnished in our best class of common schools, and are indispensable in all schools, not only that these studies may be more vividly apprehended, but that the teachers may be prepared to use means of practical and visible illustration whenever the same shall be furnished. For the want of knowledge of many useful applications of the blackboard in all of the elementary studies, even the blackboard is but little used at the present time by the teachers of our district schools. 6. In addition to familiar and practical suggestions on particular points in the organization, instruction and discipline of schools, as occasion may ■■ the same in the daily routine of the institution, lectures will be gix'cii on the history of education and schools ; on the object and princi- ples of public instruction in general, and of our own system in particular ; on the art of teaching and its methods, and the application of these meth- ods to each particular study ; on the theory of discipline and its practice ; on the peculiarities of a district school, as well as of other grades of schools ; on the general principles of school architecture ; on tlie legal position and relations of a teaclier in our system of common schools ; and a variety of other topics which need not be enumerated in this place. [ Topics for Discussion.'] These topics will be examined by the pupils in the light of their own previous experience and observation, will be tested by contrast and com- parison with the matter and manner of instruction and discipline in the institution, and its associated schools of practice, will be further investi- gated in the books on the history of education and schools, and the theory and practice of teaching in the library, and will be made the themes of oral discussion and written essays which will constitute a part of the regu- jir routine of the Normal School. 7. The various principles which come under the general department o' the theory and practice of teaching, will not only be exemplified as far as practicable in the management, instruction and disciphne of the Normal Schools and the Schools of Practice, but an opportunity will be afforded to the pupils of the first, to apply the same in practice to such extent and in sucli manner as the previous education of each shall render expedient and desirable. To give the most thorough familiarity with the theory and practice of organizing and conducting common schools, and at the same time to enable a few at least of each class to continue their connec- tion with the school, a certain number will be employed as assistant teach- MR. BARNARD'S REPORT. 33 ers in the schools of the village, and, as far as practicable, of the neigh- boring districts. Opportunity will be given to such pupils to spend a por- tion of the vacations in visiting the best schools in different parts of the state, and in attending educational meetings of various kinds which may- be appointed by the Superintendent of Common Schools. The pupils thus employed will embody in written reports ihe results of their observ- ation and experience, which will be subject to the examination and criti- cism of the officers of the institution. 8. To cultivate a truly religious feeling, to lay the foundation and im- plant the motives for a truly rehgious life, to enable the teachers by pre- cept and example rightly to develop the moral faculties, and to define and enforce the performance of all the great primary moral duties, in the schools which may be placed under their charge, will be one of the car- dinal objects of the Normal School. Every suitable effort, consistent with perfect religious toleration, will be made, to give a deep moral and reli- gious tone to all the exercises, and to the whole character of the institu- tion, from a deep conviction that a sense of responsibility to God, and of love to man, must form the main-spring of a teacher's activity, while it is the surest pledge of success. 9. Occasional lectures on important topics of education, or even courses of lectures on subjects of intrinsic value, and which reflect light on the studies, labors and duties of the teacher's calhng, will be secured from time to time from persons who have given to these subjects special pre- paration. In this way it is anticipated that the pupils will have the ben- efit of the counsel, experience and study of many wise and distinguished teachers and educators from this and other states. 10. No efforts will be spared, by correspondence and personal applica- tion, to assist the Normal pupils in obtaining permanent situations as teach- ers, according to the qualifications of each, and to promote their advance- ment from a school of a lower grade and compensation, to one of a more desirable character in both respects. Any aid which can be given to the graduates of the school by advice and cooperation, in their several fields of labor, will be cheerfully extended. An opportunity will be afforded to such as may wish to return to the institution for a short period to perfect or practice themselves in particular departments of instruction, in which on trial they may find themselves deficient. An anniversary meeting, or reunion of all the members of the school, will be encouraged at least once in a year. The State Teachers' Association will be invited to hold at least one meeting every year within the walls of the institution, where every facility at the command of its officers will be extended to make the teachers of the state welcome, and their session profitable and interesting. Every thing will be done by the officers of the school, which a strong de- sire can suggest, and unwearied efforts accomplish, to make the school worthy of the kind feeling and prompt cooperation of all who are, and of all who propose to become teachers in any grade of public or private schools in the state, to grapple as with bands of steel, and yet only by the sympathy of a common pursuit and the sense of reciprocal benefit, the pupils to the school, and the teachers of the state to each other, and to unite all hearts and all hands in the great work of the more complete, practical and universal education of the children of Connecticut. 11. To make the objects of the Normal School generally known, to in- terest young persons of the right character and views in the business of teaching, and induce them to connect themselves with the institution tor a sufficient length of time to obtain the full benefits of a methodical course of theoretical and practical instruction, to cooperate with such pupils as may go out from the Normal School to teach in different parts of the state, to visit schools of different grades in large and small, in village and coumry districts, for the purpose of ascertaining their condition, suggest- G 34 MK. BARNARD'S REPORT. ing improvements, and adapting the instruction of the Normal School to the real deficiencies of elementary education, to establish pleasant social and professional relations with teachers, school officers and parents, it is the intention of the officers of the institution to attend Institutes, Teach- ers' Associations, and common school meetings of every name, to which they may be invited, or where they have reason to suppose their presence and cooperation will prove acceptable. It is believed, that in the course of the Ibur years for which the enterprise is now planned, every school society, and a large majority of the sixteen hundred and fifty districts, will be visited by one or more of the teachers of the Normal School. This department of labor is as necessary to the success of the enter- prise as the instructions which may be given within the walls of the Nor- mal School. Among the results which will follow from the successful management Df the State Normal School for a period of four years, now provided for by law, may be specified the following. 1. It will make an institution or institutions of this character, in some foi'm, an indispensable feature of our common school system. This has been the uniform result in every country and every state where the ex- periment has been tried under favorable auspices. There is not on record a single instance of the abandonment of this agency for providing good teachers for public schools, whenever it has been tried under liberal legis- lative or governmental patronage. There are more than two hundred such schools now in successful operation in this country and in Europe, and every year is adding to the number. 2. It will thus supply the want which has long been known to exist by those who have given most attention to the improvement of common schools, of a place where young men and young women of the requisite natural qualifications, can acquire the science and the art of teaching without a series of experiments which are annually made at the expense of the health, faculties, and affections of the children placed under their charge. It will do for the future teacher what the direction of the master workman and the usual term and duties of apprenticeship do for the future mechanic ; what the law school, and clerkship in the office of an older practitioner at the bar, do for the young lawyer ; what the medical school, the practice in the hospital, or dissecting room, or study in the office of the experienced physician, do for the medical student. It is applying to the business of teaching the same preparatory study and practice which the common judgment of the world demands of every other profession and art. In this case it is provided for by the state, because the state has found it to be a matter of interest and duty ; — of right in its strongest and best sense ; — to look after the education of children, and to contribute to- ward the wages of the teacher ; and to protect her own appropriations she should see that the teachers are properly qualified. X 3. It will help to make teaching a permanent employment. The more truly efficient a teacher becomes, the more thoroughly the habits of his mind and Hfe are moulded to his occupation, the more deeply his soul is imbued with the spirit of his profession, the less likely he is, and the less capable he becomes of changing his career, and the more he is fortified against the temptations to forsake it ; and the example and success of one such teacher will have a powerful influence in determining the choice of many others just starting in the profession. 4. It will help to verify the vocation of the pupils to the profession for which they are preparing. The Normal School will be a very uncom- fortable place for any person whose heart is not in the work, and who losks upon teaching, not as a calling, a mission, but as a meaningless routine, a daily task, imposed by necessity, or taken up because nothing better offered, and to be thrown aside as soon as a more lucrative occupa- MR. BARNARD'S REPORT. 35 tion shall tufn up, or open. It will be soon ascertained who enters upon the prescribed round of observation and practice, of reading and discus- sion, of study and lectures, with che enthusiasm of persons in earnest and in love witli their business ; and only such will be encouraged to perse- vere, or will be recommended as teachers on leaving the school. 5. While it is probable that much the largest number of teachers who become connected with the school will not remain long enough to experi- ence the full benefit of what is understood to be a course of Normal in- struction and training, stih it is believed a small number at least will, and the good which a few teachers properly trained will do, will not be con- fined to the districts in which they are employed. Their schools will be- come model schools for other districts, and the awakening influence of their example and labors will be felt all around them. Teachers who have not enjoyed the advantages of such training, will strive to excel those who have, and thus a wholesome spirit of emulation will spring up among the teachers of the same neighborhood. 6. Through the direct and necessary influence of even a few good schools scattered all over the state ; of schools made good, and seen and felt and acknowledged to be made good, by teachers who have gone out from this institution with improved and improving views of the nature, objects and methods of teaching, and by the many other modes in which the officers and pupils of this school propose to act on the public mind, the standard of teachers' qualifications and wages will be gradually and per- manently raised. Good teachers will be in demand, and their services will command good wages. The contrast between a good teacher, and a poor one, will be seen and felt ; and then the great commercial law of demand and supply will begin to operate. The want of good teachers will be felt; and then will follow the corresponding demand. The de- mand will induce young men and young women so to quahfy themselves as to meet this want. And with a demand for and supply of the better article, the poor one will remain a drug in the market. The other obsta- cles which now remain in the way of the employment of good teachers will gradually and forever disappear. Old, dilapidated, inconvenient, and unhealthy school-houses will give place to new, attractive and comfort- able structures ; for districts having the first will find it difficult to secure the services of a good teacher, who will understand well the relations which a good house bears to his own health and his success both in gov- ernment and instruction. That relic of barbarism, the practice of " board- ing round," of compelling the teacher to live homeless and without the ordinary facilities and seclusion for study, ofbeing subjected to inconven- iencies to which the lawyer, or clergyman, or mechanic are not subjected by their employers, will no longer remain a hindrance to the formation of a permanent, well qualified body of professional teachers. 7. It will do much in connection with Teachers' Institutes, Conventions, and Associations, to inspij-e and strengthen a professional feeling among teachers. All the advantages felt by those who prepare in common for other professions, or act in concert, — friendships, mutual encouragement and assistance in studies, discussions and comparisons of view, and the social position and influence which follow the association of large num- bers in the same pursuit, — will be experienced. There has been till within a few years but little of this professional spirit. Good teachers have grown up and remained isolated. Their experience has furnished them Avith excellent methods, a social position, and adequate pecuniary return. But their number has been small and their influence has been hardly felt beyond their own school-rooms, much less has it been made to give eleva- tion, character and amelioration to the profession generally. 8. It will do something toward building up a professional literature which shall embody the experience, reflection, and discussions of our own 3Q MR. BARNARD'S REPORT. teachers on the science and art of education as applied and -developed in our common schools. The practice of writing essays in the Normal School on educational topics ; of discussing the same subjects in public meetings of teachers and parents ; of making reports to the Principal on the state of the schools in which they may be engaged, or which they may visit, will lead to the establishment and support of an Educational Periodical for their own benefit. By means of such a periodical, an active spirit of inquiry will be awakened and kept alive ; improvements in each district will be announced and made the common property of the profes- sion; wrong ideas in education will be exposed and exploded ; and the sound practice of good teachers will be embodied in words and reduced to the precision of scientific principles. 9. The officers of this institution expect to find in many of the mem- bers of the school a strong natural impulse to the study of education, and an enthusiastic attachment to their future profession, as the noblest, holi- est department of human exertion. Upon that class, be the same large or small, as they appear, do they rely for giving an impulse of a most powerful kind to educational improvement, and especially in fields for which the laborers are at present few. Whoever else may doubt, or falter or fail, these will not. Though called upon to labor in obscurity, they will toil on and find their happiness in their work. New difficulties will only nerve their hearts for sterner encounters. These anticipations of good to the teachers, the schools, and the state, may all be darkened, postponed and defeated. Public confidence, which must be the breath of life to this enterprise, may be withheld, or with- drawn through the influence of sectarian jealousy, sectional prejudice, or party spirit. All that the ofiicers of the Normal School can do, to avoid studiously all just occasions of offense, and to deserve the entire confidence of the people, the Legislature, and the teachers of the state, will be done. All they ask is a fair field, a reasonable amount of coope- ration from school teachers and school. officers, the charitable judgments of their fellow citizens, good health, and the blessing of God upon their labors. TOPICS DISCUSSION AND COMPOSITION ON THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF EDUCATION. 1. The daily preparation which the teacher should bring to the school- room. 2. The circumstances which make a teacher happy in school. 3. The requisites of success in teaching. 4. Causes of failure in teaching. 5. The course to be pursued in organizing a school. 6. The order of exercises or programme of recitations. 7. The policy of promulgating a code of rules for the government of a school. 8. The keeping of registers of attendance and progress. 9. The duties of. the teacher to the parents of the children and to school- officers. 10. The opening and closing exercises of a school. 11. Moral and religious instruction and influence generally. 12. The best use of the Bible or Testament in school. 13. Modes of promoting a love of truth, honesty, benevolence, and other virtues among children. 14. Modes of promoting obedience to parents, respectful demeanor to elders, and general submission to authority. 15. Modes of securing cleanliness of person and neatness of dress, respect for the school-room, courtesy of tone and language to companions, and gentle- ness of manners. 16. Modes of preserving the school-house and appurtenances from injury and defacement. 17. Length and frequency of recess. IS. The games, and modes of exercise and recreation to be encouraged during the recess, and at intermission. 19. Modes of preventing tardiness, and securing the regular attendance df children at school. 20. Causes by which the health and constitution of children at school are impaired, and the best ways of counteracting the same. 21. The government of a school generally. 22. The use and abuse of corporal punishment. 23. The establishment of the teacher's authority in the school. 24. Manner of treating stubborn and refractory children, and the policy of dismissing the same from school. 25. Prizes and rewards. 26. The use and abuse of emulation. 27. Modes of interesting and bringing forward dull, or backward scholars. 28. Modes of preventing whispering, and communication between scholars in school. 29. Manner of conducting recitations generally ; and how to prevent or de- tect imperfect lessons. 30. Methods of teaching, with illustrations of each, viz : a. Monitorial. b. Individual. c. Simultaneous. d. Mixed. e. Interrogative. /. Explanative. g. Elliptical. A. Synthetical. i. Analytical. . 31. Modes of having all the children of a school (composed as most District schools are, of children of all ages, and in a great variety of studies,) at all times something to do, and a motive for doing it. 38 TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION. 32. Methods of teaching the several studies usually introduced into pubii« schools — such as — a. The use, and nature, and formation of numbers. h. Mental Arithmetic. fc. Written Arithmetic. A. Spelling. e. Reading. /. Grammar — including conversation, composition, analysis of sen- tences, parsing, &c. g. Geography — including map-drawing, use of outline maps, atlas, globes, 6z;c. A. Drawing — ^with special reference to the employment of young children, and as preliminary to penmanship. i. Penmanship. j. Vocal music. U. Physiology — so far at least as the health of children and teacher in the school-room is concerned. 33. The apparatus and means of visible illustration, necessary for the schools of different grades. 34. The development and cultivation of observation, attention, memory, association, conception, imagination, &c. 35. Modes of inspiring scholars with enthusiasm in study, and cultivating habils of self-reliance. 36. Modes of cultivating the power and habit of attention and study. 37. Anecdotes of occurrences in the school, brought forward with a view to form right principles of moral training and intellectual development. 38. Lessons, on real objects, and the practical pursuits of life. 39. Topics and times for introducing oral instruction, and the use of lectures genera] Iv. 40. Manner of imparting collateral and incidental knowledge. 41. The formation of museums and collections of plants, minerals, &c. 42. Exchange of specimens of penmanship, map and other drawings, mine- rals, plants, fee, between the different schools of a town, or of different towns. 43. School examinations generally. 44. How far committees should conduct the examination. 45. Mode of conducting an examination by written questions and answers. 46. School celebrations, and excursions of the school, or a portion of the scholars, to objects of interest in the neighborhood. 47. Length and frequency of vacations. 48. Books and periodicals on education, schools and school systems. 49. Principles to be regarded in the construction of a school-house for schools of different grades. 50. Principles on which text-books in the several elementary studies should be composed. 51. The use of printed questions in text-books. 52. The private studies of a teacher. 53. The visiting of each other's schools. 54. The peculiar difhculties and encouragements of each teacher, in respect to school-house, attendance, supply of books, apparatus, parental interest and co-operaiion, support by committees, &c., &c. 55. The practicability of organizing an association of the mothers and females generally of a district or town, to visit schools, or of their doing so without any special organization. 56. Plan for the oganization, course of instruction, and management gener- ally of a Teachers Institute. 57. Advantages of an Association or Conference of the Teachers of a Town or State, and the best plan of organizing and conducting the same. ^ 58. Plan of a Normal School or Seminary, for the training of Teachers for Common or Public Schools. REMARKS ON SEMINARIES FOR TEACHERS, BY KEV. THOMAS H. GALLAPDET. The following remarks originally appeared in the Connecticut Observer, published in Hartford, Conn., in a series of articles, with the signature of " A .Father." The first article was dated the 5th of January, 1825. J No important result can be attained with regard to the accomplishment of any object which affects the temporal or eternal well-being of our spe- cies, without enlisting an entire devotedness to it, of intelligence, zeal, fidelity, industry, integrity, and practical exertion. What is it, that has furnished us with able divines, lawyers, and physicians 1 The undivided consecration of the talents and efforts of intelligent and upright individuals to .these profes- sions. How have these talents been matured, and these efforts been trained, to their beneficial results ■? By a diligent course of -preparation, and a long discipline in the school of experience. We have our theological, law, and medical institutions, in which our young men are fitted for the pursuit of these respective professions, by deriving benefit from the various sources of infor- mation which libraries, lectures, and experiments afford. Unaided by such auxiliaries, genius, however brilliant ; invention, however prolific ; observa- tion, however acute ; ingenuity, however ready ; and perseverance, however indefatigable, have to grope their way, through a long and tiresome process, to the attainment of results which a little acquaintance with the labors of oth- ers in the same track of effort, would render a thousand times more easy, rapid, and delightful. Experience is the storehouse of knowledge- Now why should not this experience be resorted to as an auxiliary in the education of youth ? Why not make this department of human exertion, a profession, as well as those of divinity, law, and medicine T Why not have an Institu- tion for the training wp of Instructors for their sphere of labor, as well as institutions to prepare young men for the duties of the divine, the lawyer, or the physician 1 _j_ Can a subject of more interest present itself to the consideration of the public "! Does not the future improvement of our species, to which the phi- lanthropist and the Christian look forward with such delightful anticipation, depend on the plans which are adopted for the development and cultivation of the intellectual and moral powers of man 1 Must not these plans begin with infancy and childhood'? Do not the attainments of the pupil depend upon the talents, the fidelity, and the integrity of those by whom he is taught! How will he learn to think, to speak, to read, and to write with accuracy, unless his instructors are able to teach him ! Shall their ability depend upon their individual experience and attainments "? Are you satisfied with a divine, a lawyer, or a physician, who has qualified himself, or pretended to do so, for his profession, by solitary, unaided, unadvised, untaught, inexperienced efforts ■? You do not do this. Why not, then, require in the instructors of youth, to whom you commit the training up of your offspring, an adequate preparation for their most important and responsible employment ■? But this preparatory discipline is considered indispensable not merely for the learned professions, but for the ordinary occupations of life. A term of years is required to fulfil the duties of an apprenticeship to any of the me- chanical trades. An artisan does not venture to solicit the patronage of the public, till he has undergone this apprenticeship. This training under the instruction of experienced masters, is deemed of still more importance in 40 MR. GALLAUDET, ON TEACHERS' SEMINARIES. what are termed the liberal arts, such as painting, sculpture, and engraving. To foster them, academies are formed ; models -are collected ; lectures are de- livered ; and the young novitiate is willing to devote years of patient and assiduous labor, to fit himself for success in his profession. We hear, too, of what is termed a regularly-bred merchant ; and the drilling of the counter and the counting-house is considered indispensable to prepare one for' all the complicated transactions of trade and commerce. And if men are to be train- ed to arms, academies are established, at which experience, ingenuity, and science are put in requisition, to qualify the young and inexperienced for mili- tary exploits. In fact, there is scarce any pursuit connected with the busi- ness of life, but what men have endeavored to render successful, by a process predicated on well-known principles of human nature ; — by making it, in the first place, a distinct profession or calling ; then, by yielding to those who have long been engaged in it the deference which their experience justly demands ; and finally, by compelling those who would wish to adopt it, to devote themselves to it, and to pass through all the preparatory steps which are necessary for the consummation of their acquaintance, both with its theory and practice- In this way only we hope to form good mechanics, painters, engravers, sculptors, farmers, merchants, physicians, and lawyers. Perhaps some of my illustrations may be considered of too humble a kind. But my subject is a very practical one, and I intend to treat it in a practical way. Permit me, then, to inquire of my readers, when they wish to get a shoe made, to whom they apply 1 Do they not take considerable pains to find a first-rate workman ; one who has learned his trade well, and who can execute his work in the best manner 1 And when our wives and daughters want a new bonnet, or a new dress, will they not make a great many inquiries, and take not a few steps, and consume no small portion of very valuable time, to ascertain the important fact, who is the most skillful and tasteful milliner and seamstress within their reach ; and are they not willing to undergo many inconveniences, and to wait till their patience is almost exhausted, and their wants very clamorous, in order to obtain the precious satisfaction of having the work done by hands whose skill and ingenuity have been long tested, and on whose experience and judgment in adjusting colors, and qualities, and pro- portions, and symmetry, and shape, they can safely rely"? Is a shoe, or a bonnet, to be put in competition with an immortal mind ? In your very articles of dress, to clothe a frail, perishable body, that is soon to become the prey of corruption, will you be so scrupulous in the choice of those whom you employ to make them ; and yet feel no solicitude in re- quiring of those to whom is intrusted the formation of the habits, and thoughts and feelings of a soul that is to live for ever, a preparation for their most responsible task ; an apprenticeship to their important calling ; a devotedness to a pursuit which involves all that can affect the tenderest sympathies of a kind parent, — the most ardent hopes of a true patriot, — the most expanded views of a sincere philanthropist, — the most benevolent wishes of a devout Christian 1 I am told that the Patent-office at Washington is thronged with models of machines, intended to facilitate the various processes of mechanical labor ; and I read in our public prints, of the deep interest which is felt in any of those happy discoveries that are made to provide for the wants, and comforts, and luxuries of man, at an easier and a cheaper rate ; and I hear those eulo- gized as the benefactors of our race, whose genius invents, and whose patient application carries into effect any project for winnowing some sheaves of wheat a little quicker, or spinning some threads of cotton a little sooner, or propelling a boat a little faster, than has heretofore been done ; and, all this while, how comparatively few improvements are made in the process of edu- cating the youthful mind ; and in training it for usefulness in this life, and for happiness in the life to come ! Is human ingenuity and skill to be on the alert in almost every other field of enterprise but this ] How can we reconcile our apathy on this subject with the duties which we owe to our children, to our country, and to our God? Let the same provision, then, be made for giving success to this depart- MR. GALLAUDET, ON TEACHERS' SEMINARIES. 41 ment of eiFort that is so liberally made for all others. Let an institution be established in every state, for the express purpose of training up young men for the profession of instructors of youth in the common branches of an Eng- lish education. Let it be so well endowed, by the liberality of the public, or of individuals, as to have two or three professors, men of talents and habits adapted to the pursuit, who should devote their lives to the object of the " Theory and Practice of the Education of Youth," and who should prepare and deliver, and print, a course of lectures on the subject. Let the institution be furnished with a library, which shall contain all the works, theoretical and practical, in all languages, that can be obtained on the subject of education, and also with all the apparatus that modern ingenuity has devised for this purpose ; such as maps, charts, globes, orreries, &c. Let there be connected with the institution, a school, smaller or larger, as circumstances might dictate, in which the theories of the professors might be reduced to practice, and from which daily experience would derive a thou- sand useful instructions. To such an Institution let young men resort who are ready to devote them- selves to the business of instructors of youth. Let them attend a regular course of lectures on the subject of education ; read the best works ; take their turns in the instruction of the experijnental school, and after thus becoming qualified for their office, leave the Institution with a suitable cer- tificate or diploma, recommending them to the confidence of the public. I have scarcely room to allude to the advantages which would result from such a plan. It would direct the attention, and concentrate the efforts, and inspire the zeal, of many worthy and intelligent minds to one imforlant ob- ject. They would excite each other in this new career of doing good. Eve- ry year would produce a valuable accession to the mass of experience that would be constantly accumulating at such a store-house of knowledge. The business of instructing youth would be reduced to a systein, which would embrace the best and the readiest mode of conducting it. This system would be gradually diffused throughout the community. Our instructors would rank, as they ought to do, among the most respectable professions. We should know to whom we intrusted the care and education of our off- spring. These instructors, corresponding, as they naturally would, with the Institution which they had left, and visiting it, at its annual, and my imagina- tion already portrays, delightful festivals, would impart to it, and to each other, the discoveries and improvements which they might individually make, in their separate spheres of employment. In addition to all this, what great advantages such an institution would afford, by the combined talents of its professors, its library, its experimental school, and perhaps by the endowment of two or three fellowships, for this very object, iox \}iv& formation of the best books to be employed in the early sta- ges of edueation ; a desideratum, which none but some intelligent mothers, and a few others who have devoted themselves to so humble, yet important an object, can duly appreciate. Such an Institution, too, would soon become the center of information on all topics connected with the education of youth ; and thus, the combined results of those individuals in domestic life, whose attention has been direct- ed to the subject, would be brought to a point, examined, weighed, matured, digested, systematized, promulgated, and carried into effect. Such an Institution ivould also tend to elevate the tone of -public sentiment, and to quicken the zeal of public effort loith regard to the correct intellectual and moral education of the rising generation. To accomplish any great object, the co-operation of numbers is necessary. This is emphatically true in our republican community. Individual influence, or wealth, is inadequate to the task. Monarchs, or nobles, may singly devise, and carry into effect, Herculean enterprises. I3ut we have no royal institu- tions ; ours must be of more gradual growth, and perhaps, too, may aspire to more generous and impartial beneficence, and attain to more settled and im- movable stability. Now to concentrate the attention, and interest, and exer- tions of the public on any important object, it must assume a definite and pal- pable form. It must have "a local habitation and name." For instance, 42 MR. GALLAUDET, ON TEACHERS' SEMINARIES. you may, by statements of facts, and by eloquent appeals to the sympathies of others, excite a good deal of feeling with regard to the deaf and dumb, or to the insane. But so long as you fail to direct this good will in some par- ticular channel of practical effort, you only play round the hearts of those whom you wish to enlist in the cause. They will think, and feel, and talk, and hope that something will be done ; but that is all. But erect your Asy- lum for the deaf and dumb, and your Retreat for the insane. Bring these objects of your pity together. Let the public see them. Commence your plans of relief Show that something can be done, and how and ivhere it can be done, and you bring into aostion that sympathy and benevolence which would otherwise have been wasted in mere wishes, and hopes, and expecta- tions. Just so with regard to improvements in education. Establish an Institution, such as I have ventured to recommend, in every state. The public attention will be directed to it. Its Professors will have their friends and correspondents in various parts of the country, to whom they will, from time to time, communicate the results of their speculations and efforts, and to whom they will impart a portion of the enthusiasm which they themselves feel. Such an Institution, too, would soon become an object of laudable curiosity. Thousands would visit it. Its experimental school, if properly conducted, would form a most delightful and interesting spectacle. Its library and various apparatus would be, I may say, a novelty in this depart- ment of the philosophy of the human mind. It would probably, also, have its public examinations, which would draw together an assembly of intelli- gent and literary individuals. Its students, as they dispersed through the community, would carry with them the spirit of the Institution, and thus, by these various processes of communication, the whole mass of public senti- ment, and feeling, and effort, would be imbued with it. Another advantage resulting from such an Institution, would be, that it would lead to the investigation and establishment of those principles of disci- pline and government most likely to promote the progress of children and youth in the acquisition of intellectual and moral excellence- How sadly vague and unsettled are most of the plans in this important part of education, now in operation in our common schools. What is the regular and well- defined system of praise and blame ; of rewards and punishments ; of excit- ing competition or appealing to better feelings ; in short, of cultivating the moral and religious temper of the pupil, while his intellectual improvement is going on, which now pervades our schools 1 Even the gardener, whom you employ to deck your flower beds, and cultivate your vegetables, and rear your fruit trees, you expect to proceed upon some matured and well-under- stood plan of operation. On this subject I can hardly restrain my emotions. I am almost ready to exclaim, shame on those fathers and mothers, who inquire not at all, who almost seem to care not at all, with regard to the moral discipline that is pursued by instructors in cultivating the -temper and disposition of their children. On this subject, every thing depends on the character and habits of the instructor ; on the plans he lays down for him- self; on the modes by which he carries these plans into effect. Here, as in every thing else, system is of the highest importance. Nothing should be left to whim and caprice. What is to be this system! Who shall devise if? Prudence, sagacity, affection, firmness, and above all, expedience, should combine their skill and effort to produce it. At such an Institution as I have proposed, these requisites would be most likely to be found. Then might we hope to see the heart improved, while the mind expanded ; and knowl- edge, human and divine, putting forth its fruits, not by the mere dint of arbi- trary authority, but by the gentler persuasion of motives addressed to those moral principles of our nature, the cultivation of which reason and religion alike inculcate. It is feared by some that it will be impossible ever to produce a sufficient degree of public interest in such a 'project to carry it into effect. I am not so sanguine as to think, that the whole mass of the community can, at once, be electrified, as it were, by any appeals, however eloquent, or any efforts, however strenuous, into one deep and universal excitement on this or any other topic. Information must be gradually diffused ; the feelinga MR. GALLAUDET, ON TEACHERS' SEIVnNARIES. 43 of influential men in various sections of the countiy must be enlisted ; able writers in our public prints and magazines must engage their hearts and their pens in the cause. In addition to all this, suppose that some intelligent and respectable indi- vidual, after having made himself master of the subject in all its bearings, and consulted vi^ith the wise and judicious within his reach, who might feel an interest in it, should prepare a course of lectures, and spend a season or two in delivering them in our most populous towns and cities. The novelty of this, if no other cause, would attract a great many hearers. Such an indi- vidual, too, in his excursions, would have the best opportunity of conferring with well-informed and influential men ; of gaining their views ; of learning the extent and weight of all the obstacles which such a project would have to encounter, and the best modes of removing them; and, if it should indeed appear deserving of patronage, of enlisting public sentiment and feeling in its favor. But after all, I do not deem it, at present, necessary for the commence- ment of the plan which I have proposed, that any thing like an universal public interest should be taken in it. If the experiment could, at first, be made upon a small scale ; if such an Insti- tution could be moderately endowed with funds sufficient to suppori one or two professors, and procure even the elements of a library, afterward to be enlarged as public or private bounty might permit ; if it could be established in some town large enough to furnish from its youthful population, pupils to form its experimental school; and if only a few young men, of talents and worth, could be induced to resort to it, with an intention of devoting them- selves to the business of instruction as a 'profession, — it would not, I think, be long before its practical utility would be demonstrated. The instructors, although few in number, who would, at first, leave the Institution, would probably be located in some of our larger towns. Their modes of instruction would be witnessed by numbers of the influential and intelligent, and, if suc- cessful, would soon create a demand for other instructors of similar qualifi- cations. And as soon as such a demand should be produced, other individu- als would be found willing to prepare themselves to meet it. And tbus we might hope that both private and public munificence, so bountifully bestowed, at the present day, on other useful objects, would eventually contribute a portion of its aid to an establishment designed to train up our youth more successfully to derive benefit from all the other efforts of benevolence, or institutions of literature and religion, which are so widely extending their influence through every part of our highly-favored country. Another obstacle, in the prosecution of such a plan, is the difficulty of indu- cing young men of character and talents to embark in it, and to devote them- selves to the business of instruction for life- I can not but hope that the time is not far distant, when the education of youth will assume, in the minds of intelligent and pious individuals, its proper place among the various other benevolent exertions which are made, through the aids of private and public bounty, for meliorating the temporal and eternal condition of man. In the mean while, can not a few young men, of talents and piety, be led to feel that the thousands of our rising generation, the hope of the church and the state, have strong claims upon their benevolence ; and that to concentrate their time and their eff'orts to such an enterprise, may be as much their duty as to engage in the missionary cause ! Missionaries make great sacrifices, and practice much self-denial, and endure weighty labors, without any prospect of temporal emolument, in order to train up hea- then youth for usefulness in this world, and for happiness in the next ; and can not those be found who will undergo some sacrifices, and self-denial, and labor, to bring about so great a good as a reformation in the instruction of those youth who are bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh? Only admit the importance of the object, (and who can deny if?) and it almost looks like an impeachment of their Christian sincerity, to suppose that among those hundreds of young men who are pressing forward into the ranks of charita- ble enterprise, none can be persuaded to enter upon a domestic field of labor, which promises so much for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom. 4^ MR. GALLAUDET, ON TEACHERS' SEMINARIES. No, only let the project be begun, let the way of usefulness be opened, let the countenance and support of even a few pious and influential individuals be afforded, and I am persuaded that agents to carry on the work, at least to commence it, will not be wanting. The difficulty is not in being unable to procure such agents : it lies deeper : it arises from the very little interest that has yet been taken in the subject ; from the strange neglect, among parents, and patriots, and Christians, of a well-digested and systematic plan for the education of children and youth ; from the sluggish contentment that is felt with the long established modes of instruction ; and from the apprehensions that all improvements are either unsafe or chimerical. Once rouse this apathy into the putting forth of a little exertion, and invest the subject with its true dignity and importance, and let it be felt that the church is under the most solemn obligations to feed the lamhs of her flock, and your young men will come at her bidding, to spend their strength and their days in this delightful service. But these young men are poor and cannot defray the expense of a prepara- tory education at such a Seminary as has been proposed. Poor young men are taken by the hand of charity, and prepared for other spheres of benevolent exertion ; and shall this wide, and as yet almost uncul- tivated field of benevolence be quite neglected, for the want of a little pecu- niary aid % Who gave the first impulse to Foreign Missionary efforts 1 Was nothing done until the whole Christian public was awakened to a sense of its duty ? Did this mighty enterprise begin in the collected councils of the grave and the venerable fathers of the church i Was the whole plan of operation digested and matured in all its parts, and no steps taken until all obstacles were removed, and patronage, and influence, and means collected and con- centrated to insure the successful prosecution of the vast design ] No ; long, long before all this complicated machinery was put in motion, the mas- ter-spring was at work, and a few pious and prayerful young men gave an impulse, at first to private zeal, and afterward to public co-operation, and the result fills us with gratitude and astonishment. Let a Mills and his associates arise to a hearty engagedness in the project of diffusing throughout our country a system for the best mode of conducting the education of youth ; let their faith be strong, and their perseverance unwavering ; and influence and wealth will soon contribute their share in the prosecution of the work ; and poverty on the part of those who are willing to endure the heat and burden of the day, will cease to be an obstacle in the way of accomplishing their benevolent designs. Providence can, in this, as in all the other departments of his dispensations, make even the selfish pas- sions of our nature contribute to the promotion of good and charitable exer- tions. Those who should devote themselves to the business of the instruction of youth as a profession, and who should prepare themselves for it by a course of study and discipline at such a Seminary as I have proposed, would not find it necessary, as our missionaries do, to depend on the charity of their country- men for support. Their talents, their qualifications, and their recommenda- tions, would inspire public confidence, and command public patronage. For experience would soon prove, if it can not be now seen in prospect, that to save time in the education of youth, and to have this education complete instead of being imperfect, and to prepare the youthful mind for accurate thought, and correct feeling, and practical, energetic action, in all the busi- ness of life, is to save money ; and even those who now expend a few dollars with so niggardly a hand, in the education of their dear, immortal offspring, would soon learn how to calculate on the closest principles of loss and gain, in the employment of instructors, and be willing to give twice as much to him who would do his work twice as well and in half the time, as they now give to him who has neither skill nor experience in his profession. Am I extravagant in these speculations ? I think I am not ; and if my readers will exercise a little more patience, I hope to show, that in adopting the plan which I have proposed, there will be an actual saving of money to individuals and to the ste--' in addition to those numerous advantages in a MR. GALLAUDET, ON TEACHERS' SEMINARIES. 45 social, political, and religious point of view, that would result from it, and which are, if I mistake not, so great, that if they could not be attained in any other way, a pecuniary sacrifice ought not for a moment to stand in com- petition with them. My reasoning is founded on two positions which, I think, can not be con- troverted ; — that the present modes of instructing youth are susceptible of vast improvement ; and that if these improvements could be carried into operation, by having a more effectual system of education adopted, and by training up instructors of superior attainments and skill, there would be a great saving, both of time and labor, and of all the contingent expenses necessary to be incurred. Suppose, for the sake of argument, though I believe it falls short of the truth, that eight years of pretty constant attendance at school, counting from the time that a child begins to learn his letters, is necessary to give him what is called a good English education. I do not fear to hazard the assertion, that under an approved system of education, with suitable books prepared for the purpose, and conducted by more intelligent and experienced instructors, as much would be acquired in five years, by our children and youth, as is now acquired in eight. Now with regard to those parents who calculate on receiving benefit from the labor of their children, it will easily be seen that, by gaining three years out of eight in the course of their education, there will be an immense saving to the state. This saving alone would, I apprehend, if youth were usefully employed, more than defray the additional wages which would have to be given to instructors of skill and experience, and who should devote themselves to their employment as a profession for life. But if even the advantage to be derived from the labor of children is not taken into the account, it is evi- dent that, for having the same object accomplished in five years that now consumes eight, you could at least afford to pay as much for five years of instruction as you now pay for eight. In addition to this, as it is the custom in many of our country towns for the instructor to board in the families of those who send children to school, there would be a saving also in this respect. There would be a saving, too, with regard to all the contingent expenses of the school, such as books, stationery, wood, &c. In a community constituted like that of New England, where so great a proportion of its population is devoted to agricultural and mechanical pursuits, any system of education which could save the public three years out of eight of the time and labor of all its children and youth, would, it is manifest, add an immense sum to the pecuniary resources of the country, and recommend itself to every patriot and philanthropist, even on the most rigid principles of a calculating economy. Besides, the grand objects of education — to prepare the rising generation for usefulness and respectability in life, and to train them up for a better and happier state of existence beyond the grave — would not only be accomplished in a shorter space of time, but they would be much more effectually accom- plished. At present, with all the time, and labor, and expense bestowed upon it, the work is only half done ; and the effects of our imperfect modes of instruction are to render youth far less competent to succeed in any pursuits in which they may engage, than if their education was conducted by intelli- gent instructors, on a well-digested plan, and made as thorough and complete as it might be. How often has the individual of native vigor of intellect and force of enter- prise to lament, through a long life of unremitted effort, his many disap- pointments in the prosecution of his plans of business, arising altogether from the defects of his early education ! And if this early education were prop- erly conducted, what an accession it would yield to the resources of the community, in the superior ingenuity and skill of our artists ; in the more accurate and systematic transactions of our merchants ; in the profounder studies and more successful labors of our professional men ; in the wider experience and deeper sagacity of our statesmen and politicians ; in the higher attainments and loftier productions of our sons of literature and sci- 46 MR. GALLAUDET, ON TEACHERS' SEMINARIES. ence ; and, permit me to add, in the nobler patriotism, the purer morals, and the more ardent piety of the whole mass of our citizens. I know it is no easy task to convince some minds that all these advantages yield just so many dollars and cents to the private purse, or to the public treasury. But my appeal is to those who take a more comprehensive view of what constitutes the real wealth of any community, and who estimate objects not by v^fhat they will to-day fetch in the market, if exposed to sale, but by their effects upon the permanent well-being and prosperity of the state. With such I leave the candid consideration of the remarks which I have offered in this and the preceding Essays ; in the mean while, cherishing the hope, that that Being who is now most wonderfully adjusting the various enterprises of benevolence, that distinguish the age in vvhich we live from all others which have preceded it, to the consummation of His gracious designs for the universal happiness of man, on the principles which the gospel of Jesus Christ inculcates, and which it alone can produce, will, sooner or later, and in some way or other, rouse the attention, and direct the efforts of the Christian world to that department of 'philanthropic exertion, the neglect of which must retard, if not quite counteract, complete success in all others, — the education of youth.'''' After the lapse of a quarter of a century, the author of the above remarks had the satisfaction of being present on the 15th of May, 1850, at New Britain, and of taking part in exercises appropriate to the open- ing of the " Normal School, or Seminary for the training of teachers in the art of instructing and governing the common schools of this state." The members of the school, during the first term, formed an Association for mutual improvement, to which they have given the name of the " Gallaudet Society," as an evidence of their appreciation of his early and long-continued labors to bring about the establishment of a Normal School in Connecticut. FIRST ANNUAL CIRCULAR OF THB STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT NEW BRITAIN. The State Normal School or " Seminary for the training of teachers in the art of teaching and governing the Common Schools" of Connecti- cut, was established by act of the Legislature, May session, 1849, and the sum of eleven thousand dollars was appropriated for its support for a period of at least four years. The sum appropriated for the support of the school is derived not from the income of the School Fund, or any of the ordinary resources of the Treasury, but from a bonus of ten thousand dollars paid by the State Bank, at Hartford, and of $1000 paid by the Deep River Bank, for their respective charters. No part of this sum can be expended in any build- ing or fixtures for the school, or for the compensation of the trustees. The entire management of the Institution, as to the application of the •funds, the location of the school, the regulation of the studies and exerci- ses, and the granting of diplomas, is committed to a Board of Trustees, consisting of the Superintendent of Common Schools, ex officio, and one member for each of the eight counties of the state, appointed by the Legislature, two in each year, and to hold their office for the term of four years, and serve without compensation. The Board must submit an annual report as to their own doings, and the progress and condition of the seminary. The Normal School was located permanently in New Britain, on the 1st of February, 1850, after full consideration of the claims and offers of other towns, on account of the central position of the town in the state, and its accessibility from every section by railroad ; and also in considera- tion of the liberal offer on the part of its citizens, to provide a suitable building, apparatus, and library, to the value of $16,000, for the use of the Normal School, and to place all the schools of the village under the man- agement of the Principal of the Normal School, as Schools of Practice. The building provided for the accommodation of the Normal School, and the Schools of Practice, when completed, will contain three large study-halls, with nine class-rooms attached, a hall for lectures and ex- hibitions, a laboratory for chemical and philosophical experiments, an office for the Principal and trustees, a room for the library, and suitable accom- modations for apparatus, clothes, furnaces, fuel, &c. The entire building will be fitted' up and furnished in the most substantial manner, and with special reference to the health, comfort and successful labor of pupils and teachers. In addition to the Normal School building, there are three houses located in different parts of tlie village, for the accommodation of the primary schools belonging to the Schools of Practice. The immediate charge of the Normal School, and Schools of Practice, is committed to Rev. T. D. P. Stone, Associate Principal, to whom all communications relating to the schools, can be addressed. The school was opened for the reception of pupils, on Wednesday, the 15th of May, 1850, and the first term closed on Tuesday, October 1st. The number of pupils in attendance during the term, was sixty-seven ; thirty males, and thirty-seven females. The second term will commence on Wednesday, the 4th of December, 48 FIRST ANNUAL CIRCULAR. 1S50, and continue till the third Wednesday in April, 1851, divided into ' two sessions as given below. Terms and Vacations. — The year is divided into two terms, Sum- mer and Winter, each term consisting of two sessions. The first session of the winter term commences on the first Wednesday of December, and continues fourteen weeks. The second session of the v/inter term commences on the third Wednesday of March, and contin- ues six weeks. The first session of the summer term commences on the third Wed- nesday of May. and continues twelve weeks. The second session of the summer term commences on the third Wednesday of August, and con- tinues six weeks. To accommodate pupils already engaged in teaching, the short ses- sion of each term will, as far as shall be found practicable, be devoted to a review of the studies pursued in the district schools in the season of the year immediately following, and to a course of familiar lectures on the classification, instruction and discipline of such schools. Admission op Pupils. — The highest number of pupils which can be received in any one term, is two hundred and twenty. Each school society is entitled to have one pupil in the school ; and no society can have more than one in any terra, so long as there are ap- plicants from any society, at the time unrepresented. Until the whole number of pupils in actual attendance shall reach the highest number fixed by law, the Principal is authorized to receive all applicants who may pre- sent themselves, duly recommended by the visitors of any school society. Any person, either male or female, may apply to the school visitors of any school society for admission to the school, who will make a writ- ten declaration, that their object in so applying is to qualify himself (or herself) for the employment of a common school teacher, and that it is his (or her) intention to engage in that employment, in this state. The school visitors are authorized to forward to the Superintendent of Common Schools, in any year, the names of four persons, two of each sex, who shall have applied as above, for admission to the school, and who shall have been found on examination by them, "possessed of the quahfi- cations required of teachers of common schools in this state," and whom they " shall recommend to the trustees as suitable persons, by their age, character, talents, and attainments, to be received as pupils in the Normal School." Applicants duly recommended by the school visitors, can forward their certificate directly to the Associate Principal of the Normal School at New Britain, who will inform them of the time when they must report themselves to be admitted to any vacant places in the school. Persons duly recommended, and informed of their admission, must re- port themselves within the first week of the term for which they are admitted, or their places will be considered as vacated. Any persons, once regularly admitted to the Normal School, can remain connected with the same, for three years, and will not lose their places, by temporary absence in teaching common schools in the state — such expe- rience, in connection with the instruction of the Institution, being consid- ered a desirable part of a teacher's training. Studies. — The course of instruction will embrace : — 1. A thorough review of the studies pursued in the lowest grade of common schools. 2. An acquaintance with such studies as are embraced in the highest grade of common schools, authorized by law, and which will render the teaching of the elementary branch more thorough and interesting. 3. The art of teaching and its methods, including the history and progress FIRST ANNUAL CIRCULAR. 49 of education, the philosophy of teaching and discipline, as drawn from the nature of the juvenile mind, and the application of those principles under the ordinary conditions of our common schools. The members of the school will be arranged in three classes — Junior, Middle and Senior. All pupils, on being admitted to the school, will be ranked in the Junior Class, until their familiarity with the studies of the lowest grade of common schools have been satisfactorily tested. The Middle Class will embrace those who are pursuing the branches usually taught in Public High Schools. The Senior Class will comprise those who are familiar with the studies of the Junior and Middle Classes, or who are possessed of an amount of experience in active and successful teaching, which can be regarded as a practical equivalenfi All the stu- dies of the school will be conducted in reference to their being taught again in common schools. Practice in the Art of Teaching and Governing Schools. — The several schools of the First School District, comprising the village of New Britain, are placed by a vote of the District, under the instruction and discipline of the Associate Principal, as Model Schools, and Schools of Practice, for the Normal School. These schools embrace about four hun- dred children, and are classified into three Primary, one Intermediate, and one High School. The course of instruction embraces all the stu- dies pursued in any grade of common schools in Connecticut. The in- struction of these schools will be given by pupils of the Normal School, under the constant oversight of the Associate Principal and Professors. Text Books. — A Library of the best text books, in the various stu- dies pursued in the schools, is commenced, and already numbers up- ward of four thousand volumes. Pupils are supplied with text books in such studies as they may be engaged, at a charge, barely sufficient to keep the books in good condition, and supply such as may be injured or lost. Arrangements have also been made to furnish teachers who wish to own a set of text books at the publishers' lowest wholesale price. Apparatus. — The sum of one thousand dollars is appropriated for the purchase of apparatus, which will be procured from time to time, as the wants of the school may require. As^far as practicable, such articles of apparatus will be used in the class-rooms of the Normal School, as can be readily made by teachers themselves, or conveniently procured at low prices, and be made useful in the instruction of District Schools. Library. — The school is already furnished with the best works on the Theory and Practice of Education, which the Normal pupils are expected . to read, and on several of which they are examined. The library will be supplied with Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and other books of refer- ence, to which free aiccess will be given to members of the school. Board. — Normal pupils must board and lodge in such families, and under such regulations, as are approved by the Associate Principal. The price of board, including room, fuel, lights and washing, in private families, ranges from $2,00 to $2,50 per week. Persons, expecting to join the school, should signify their intention to the Associate Principal, as early as practicable, before the commencement of a term, that there may be no disappointment in the place and price of board. Discipline. — The discipline of the institution is committed to the Associate Principal, who is authorized to secure the highest point of order and behavior by all suitable means, even to a temporary suspension of a pupil from the schools. The age of the pupils, the objects which bring them to a Normal School, and the spirit of the institution itself, will, it is D 50 FIRST ANNUAL CIRCULAR. believed, dispense with the necessity of a code of rules. The members are expected to exemplify in their own conduct, the order, punctuahty, and neatness of good scholars, and exhibit in all their relations, Christian courtesy, kindness and fidelity. Examination and Inspection. — The school will be visited each term by a committee (4f the trustees, who will report the results of their exami- nation to the Board. There will be an examination at the close of each term, before the wliole Board, and at the close of the summer term, the examination will be public, and will be followed by an exhibition. The school is at all times open to inspection, and school visitors, teach- ers, and the friends of education generally ua the state, are cordially invi- ted to visit it at their convenience. Diploma. — The time required to complete the course of instruction and practice, which shall be deemed by the trustees a suitable prepara- tion for the business of teaching, and entitle any applicant to a Diploma of the Normal School, will depend on the age, attainments, mental disci- pline, moral character, and evidence of practical tact in instruction and government of each applicant. No diploma will be given to any person who does not rank in the Senior Class, and has not given evidence of possessing some practical talent as a teacher in the Schools of Practice, or in the District Schools of the state. teachers' institutes. A portion of the vacation in the spring and autumn, will be devoted by the Officers of the Normal School, to Teachers' Institutes, or Conven- tions, in different parts of the state. At least two of these Institutes will be held in the spring, for the spe- cial benefit of teachers who may be engaged, or expect to teach district schools in the summer following. COUNTY teachers' ASSOCIATION. The Principal, or one of the Professors of the Normal School, will attend, on invitation and due notice, at every regular meeting of anjr County Teachers' Association, which shall continue in session through two evenings and one day, and assist in the lectures, discussions and oth- er exercises of the occasion. STATE teachers' ASSOCIATION. The State Teachers' Association has voted to hold an annual meeting at New Britain during the examination at the close of the summer term of the Normal School, and a special meeting at the dedicatory exercises at the completion of the Normal School in the spring. Arrangements will be made to entertain all members of the Association, during the meeting. Adopted at a meeting of the Board of Tntstees, held at Neio Britain. Oct. 1, 1850. FRANCIS GILLETTE, President. HINTS TO SCHOOL VISITORS RESPECTING APPLICANTS FOR ADMISSION TO THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. By the First Annual Circular of the Trustees of the State Normal School, the undersigned are directed, for the present, to receive as pupils, all persons whom the visitors of any School Society shall recommend as suitable persons, by their age, character, and attainments, for this purpose. Upon your recom- mendation will depend, in no small degree, the character and usefulness of this institution. We beg of you, therefore, as far as you can, to send us candidates for admis- sion to the Normal School, who possess 1. Purity and strength of moral and religious character, — an exemplary life, and the habit of self-government, and of subjecting their own actions to the test of moral and religious principle. 2. Good health, — a vigorous and buoyant constitution, and a fund of lively, cheerful spirits. The business of leaching demands liveliness and activity both of mind and body. 3. Good manners, — and by this, we mean those manners which are dictated by the spirit of our Saviour's Golden Rule, of doing unto others as we would that others should do unto us, — in manner as well as in matter. 4. A love of, and sympathy with, children. 5. A competent share of talent and information, — such as the law (Section 22) demands of every teacher, and which you are required by the Act estab- lishing this School, to ascertain by actual examination. The proposed course of-instruction in the Normal School can not create, it can only improve, the talent and information of its pupil-teachers. 6. A native tact and talent for teaching and governing others. No amount of instruction and practice can supply a deficiency in these respects. 7. A love for the occupations of the school-room, and a desire to engage in Ae business of teaching for life. 8. The Common School spirit — if need be, a martyr spirit, to live and die, for the more thorough, complete and practical education of all the children"of the State in the Common Schools — to be made, by their exertions, in co-opera- tion with parents and school officers, good enough for the best, and cheap enough for the poorest. 9. Some experience as teachers. Even a short experience will serve to de- velope, if they possess them, the germs of the above qualities and qualifications, and will make even a brief course of instruction in the Normal School highly profitable. HENRY BARNARD, Principal of State Normal Sclwol. T. D. P. STONE, Associate Principal. EXTRACT FROM SECTION 22, CHAPTER 11., OP THE STATtJTES OF CONNECTICUT. " The Board of Visitors shall themselves, or by a Committee by them ap- pointed for that purpose, examine all candidates for teachers in the Common Schools of [each] society, and shall give to those persons with whose moral character, literary attainments, and ability to teach, they are satisfied, a certifi- cate, setting forth the branches he or she is found capable of teaching : provi- ded that no certificate shall be given to any person, not found qualified to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, and grammar thoroughly, and the rudiments oi geography and history." 52 teachers' associations. teachers' institutes. The earliest of the class of meetings now known as Teacliers' Institutes in Connecticut, was held at Hartford in 1839, and continued in session four weeks._ A similar meeting for the benefit of female teachers was held in the spring of 1840. In 1846 a convention of two hundred and fifty teachers assembled in Hartford, and continued in session five days. In 1847 the Legislature made provision for holding two meetings of this kind, of one week each, in each county of the State ; and by the act of 1849, it is made the duty of the Super- intendent "to hold at one convenient place in each county of the State, in the months of September, October, or November annually, schools or conventions of teachers, for the purpose of instructing in the best modes of governing and teaching our common schools, and to employ one suitable person to assist him at each of said schools." EDUCATIONAL PERIODICALS AND PUBLICATIONS. The State makes no provision for the publication of an educational paper. In 1838, the Connecticut Common School Journal was commenced by the Sec- retary of the Board of Commissioners of Common Schools, and continued by him till the abolition of the Board in 1842. In 1846, the Connecticut School Manual was commenced by Rev. Merril Richardson, and continued for two years, when it was suspended for the want of patronage. In 1850, the Super- intendent, in pursuance of a plan set forth in his report to the Legislature of that year, was authorized to prepare and issue a series of publications on the most important topics connected with the condition and improvement of com- mon schools. The series will embrace, 1. Legislation of Connecticut respect- ing Common Schools. 2. Condition of the Common Schools in each town and district. 3. &,chool houses. 4. Normal Schools and other agencies for the professional education of teachers. 5. Attendance and classification of chil- dren at school. 6. System of organization for common schools in cities and large districts. 7. Means of popular education in manufacturing villages 8. Course of instruction in a small country district school. 9. Text Book and Apparatus. 10. School Inspection. 11. Means and mode of supporting schools. 12. Parental and public interest in common schools. 13. Public schools in other states and countries. PUBLIC ADDRESSES AND SCHOOL INSPECTION. The Legislature in 1850 authorized the Superintendent to secure the deliver ry of at least one address in a public meeting of parents, school officers, and teachers in each School Society, on topics connected with the improvement of the common schools in respect to organization, administration, instruction, and discipline. Under this power, the superintendent is aiming to illustrate some of the advantages of a system of county inspection and reports. TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS. The first association of tenchers in Connecticut, and as far as we have any knowledge, in the United States, was formed at Middletown, in 1798, under the name of the "School Association for Middlesex County." Its objects, as set forth in a printed circular in 1799, were "to promote a systematic course of instruction, and elevate the character and qualifications of teachers." A State Teachers' Asscciation was formed in 1847, and County Associations of teachers exist in the counties of Fairfield, Windham, New-Haven, New- London, and Litchfield. The State does not make any appropriation in aid of the objects of tliese associations, and the attendance of teachers is not en- couraged by local school officers. MASSACHUSETTS To James G. Carter, of Lancaster, belongs the credit of having first called public attention in Massachusetts, to the necessity and advan- tages of an institution devoted exclusively to the professional training of teachers, in a series of articles in the Boston Patriot, with the signature of '• Franklin," in the winter of 1824-5. After fifteen years of constant appeals to the people and the Legislature, by himself and others^ through the press and in every form of pubhc address, report, and memorial, he had the satisfaction of seeing his plan realized by two brief Resolves of the Legislature, passed on the 19th of April, 1838. For this action of the Legislature, the gratitude of the friends of educa- tion in Massachusetts, and in the whole country, are specially due to the munificence of the late Edmund Dwight, of Boston, as set forth in the Report and Resolves on the following page. We intended to preface this account of the Massachusetts State Normal Schools, with a sketch, mainly documentary, of the efforts put forth by many individuals, — in public stations and in private life — in the Legislature and out of it — in conventions and associations of teachers and school officers — through the periodical press, from the country newspa- per to the quarterly review — and in every form of public address and re- port, whether prepared for the district school meeting or for halls of legis- lation, — for the professional improvement of teachers in all departments. With much diligence, and by an extensive correspondence, we have collected the writings and notices of the labors of Carter, Lincoln, Rus sell, Woodbridge, Alcott, Burnside, Baily, Emerson, Brooks, Morton Everett, Rantoul, Channing, Mann, Stowe, Humphrey, and others ; with an account of the experiment of the Teachers' Seminary at Andover, of the proceedings of the American Institute of Instruction, the Essex County Teachers' Association, and the State Teachers' Association, the Board of Education, the Journal and Annals of Education, the Com- mon School Journal, the Massachusetts Teacher, the Annual Reports of Town School Committees, and other institutions and agencies by which the public mind of Massachusetts has been enlightened on the necessity and means of common school improvement, beyond any other state. But ill health, and other causes, forbid the completion of my original plan at this time. 54 MASSACHUSETTS STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. State Normal Schools in Massachusetts. The following brief account of the history and organization of the State Normal Schools, in Massachusetts, is copied from the " Tenth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board of Educa- tion." " In a communication made by the Secretary of the Board of Education to the Legislature, dated March 12, 1838, it was stated that private mu- nificence had placed at his disposal the sum of ten thousand dollars, to be expended, under the direction of the Board of Education, for qualiiying teachers for our Common Schools, on condition that the Legislature would place in the hands of the Board an equal sum, to be expended lor the same purpose. On the 19th of April, of the same year, resolves were passed, accepting the proposition, and authorizing the Governor, with the advice and con- sent of the Council, to draw his warrant upon the treasurer for the sum of ten thousand dollars, to be placed at the disposal of the Board for the purpose specified in the original communication." The following is a copy of the Resolve and of the Report of the Committee on the subject : " The Joint Committee, to whom was referred the commmiication of the Hon. Horace Mann, Secretary of the Board of Education, relative to a fund for the promotion of the cause of popular education in this Commonwealth, and also the memorial of the Nantucket County Association for the promotion of educa- tion, and the improvement of schools, and also the petition and memorial of the inhabitants of the town of Nantucket, on the same subject, having duly con- sidered the matter therein embraced, respectfully report, That the highest interest in Massachusetts is, and will always continue to be, the just and equal instruction of all her citizens, so far as the circumstances of each individual will permit to be imparted ; that her chief glory, for two hundred years, has been the extent to which this instruction was diffused, the result of the provident legislation, to promote the common cause, and secure the perpetuity of the common interest; that for inany years a well-grounded apprehension has been entertained, of the neglect of oitr common town schools by large portions of our community, and of the comparative degradation to which these institutions might fall from such neglect; that the friends of uni- versal education have long looked to the Legislature for the establishment of one or more seminaries devoted to the purpose of supplying qualified teachers, for the town and district schools, by whose action alone other judicious provi- sions of the law could be carried into full effect ; that at various times, the delib- eration of both branches of the General Court has been bestowed upon this, among other subjects, most intimately relating to the benefit ol the rising gen- eration and of all generations to come, particularly when the provision for instruction of school teachers was specially urged on their consideration, in 1827, by the message of the Governor, and a report thereupon, accompanied by a bill, was submitted by the chairman, now a member of the Congress of the United States, following out to their fair conclusions, the suggestion of the Ex- ecutive, and the forcible essays of a distinguished advocate of this institution at great length, published and Avidely promulgated ; that although much has been done within two or three years, for the encouragement of our town schools by positive enactment, and more by the liberal spirit, newly awakened in our sev- eral communities, yet the number of competent teachers is foimd, by universal experience, so far inadequate to supply the demand for them, as to be the prin- cipal obstacle to improvement, and the greatest deficiency of our republic ; that we can hardly expect, as in the memorials from Nantucket is suggested, to re- move this deficiency even in a partial degree, much less to realize the comple- tion of the felicitous system of our free schools, without adopting means foi MASSACHUSETTS STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS 55 more raiifonn modes of tuition and government in them, without better observ- ing the rules of prudence in the selection of our common books, the unlimited diversity of which is complained of throughout the State, and that these ben- efits may reasonably be expected to follow from no other course than a well- devised scheme in full operation, for the education of teachers ; that the announcement, in the communication recently received from the Secretary of the Board of Education, of that private mimificence, which offers ^10,000 to this Commonwealth, for removal of this general want, at least in the adoption of initiatory measures of remedy, is received by us with peculiar pleasure, and, in order that the General Court may consummate this good, by carrying forward the benevolent object of the unknown benefactor, the committee conclude, with recommending the passage of the subjoined resolutions. All which is respectfully submitted, James Savage, per order. RESOLVES RELATIVE TO aUALIFYING TEACHERS FOR COMMON SCHOOLS. Whereas, by letter from the Honorable Horace Mann, Secretary of the Board of Education, addressed, on the I2th March current, to the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, it appears, that private munificence has placed at his disposal the sum of ten thousand dollars, to promote the cause of popular education in Massachusetts, on condition that the Commonwealth will contribute from vuiappropriated funds, the same amount in aid of the same cause, the two sums to be drawn upon equally from time to time, as needed, and to be disbursed under the direction of the Board of Education in qualifying teachers for our Common Schools ; therefore. Resolved, That bis Excellency, the Governor, be, and he is hereby authorized and requested, by and with the advice and consent of the Council, to draw his warrant upon the Treasurer of the Commonwealth in favor of the Board of Education, for the sum of $10,000, in such installments and at such times, as said Board may request : pTovided, said Board, in their request, shall certify, that the Secretary of said Board has placed at their disposal an amount equal to that for which such application may by them be made ; both sums to be ex- pended, under the direction of said Board, in qualifying teachers for the Com- mon Schools in Massachusetts. Resolved, That the Board of Education shall render an annual account of the maimer in which said moneys have been by them expended." "The Board, after mature deliberation, decided to establish three Normal Schools ; one for the north-eastern, one for the south-eastern, and one for the western part of the State. Accordingly, one was opened ■ at Lexington, in the county of Middlesex, on the 3d day of July, 1839. This school, having outgrown its accommodations at Lexington, was re- moved to West Newton, in the same county, in Sept., 1844, where it now occupies a commodious building. The second Normal School was opened at Barre, in the county of Worcester, on the 4th day of September, 1839. This school has since been removed to Westfield, in the county of Hampden, both on account of the insufficiency of the accommodations at Barre, and because the latter place is situated east of the centre of population of the western counties. The third school was opened at Bridgewater, on the 9th day of Sept., 1840, and is permanently located at that place. For the two last-named schools, there had been, from the beginning, very inadequate school-room accommodations. In the wmter of 1845, a memorial, on behalf of certain friends of education in the city of Boston and its vicinity, was presented to the Legislature, offering the sum of five thousand dollars, to be obtained by private subscriptions, on condition that the Legislature would give an equal sum, for the purpose of erecting two Normal School-houses; one for the school at Westfield and one for that at Bridgewater. By resolves of March 20, 1845, the proposition of 56 MASSACHUSETTS STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. the memorialists was accepted and the grant made ; and by the same re- solves it was ordered, 'that the schools heretofore known as Normal Schools, shall be hereafter designated as State Normal Schools.' The school at West Newton is appropriated exclusively to females ; those at Bridgewater and Westfield admit both sexes. Among the standing regulations adopted by the Board, for the govern- ment of tlic State Normal Schools, are the following — most of which were adopted in the beginning, and have been constantly in force ; only a few modifications, and those very slight ones, having since been intro- duced : Admission. As a prerequisite to admission, candidates must declare it to be their intention to qualify themselves to become school teachers. If they belong to the State, or have an intention and a reasonable ex- pectation of keeping school in the State, tuition is gratuitous. Otherwise, a tuition-fee is charged, which is intended to be about the same as is usually charged at good academies in the same neighborhood. If pupils, after having completed a course of study at the State Normal Schools, immediately engage in school keeping, but leave the State, or enter a private school or an academy, they are considered as having waived the privilege growing out of their declared intention to keep a Common School in Massachusetts, and are held bound in honor to pay a tuition-fee for their instruction. If males, pupils must have attained the age of seventeen years com- plete, and of sixteen, if females ; and they must be free from any disease or infirmity, which would unfit them for the office of school teachers. They must undergo an examination, and prove themselves to be well versed in ortliography, reading, writing, English grammar, geography and arithmetic. They must furnish satisfactory evidence of good intellectual capacity and of high moral character and principles. Examinations for admission take place at the contimencement of each term, of which there are three in a yea;r. Term op Study. At West Newton and Bridgewater, the minimum of the term of study is one year, and this must be in consecutive terms of the schools. In regard to the school at Westfield, owing to the unwillingness of the pupils in that section of the State to remain at the school, even for so short a time as one year, the rule requiring a year's residence has been from time to time suspended. It is found to be universally true, that those applicants whose qualifications are best, are desirous to remain at the school the longest. Course of Study. The studies first to be attended to in the State Normal Schools, are those which the law requifes to be taught in the district schools, namely, orthography, reading, writing, English grammar, geography and arithmetic. - When these are mastered, those of a higher order will be progressively taken. For those who wish to remain at the school more than one year, and for all belonging to the school, so far as their previous attainments will permit, the following course is arranged : 1. Orthography, reading, grammar, composition, rhetoric and logic. 2. Writing and drawing. 3. Arithmetic, mental and written, algebra, geometry, book-keeping, navigation, surveying. ' 4. Geography, ancient and modern, with clironology, statistics and general history. 5. Human rhysiology, and hygiene or the Laws of Health. 6. Mental Philosophy. 7. Music. . , ^ MASSACHUSETTS STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. g^ 8. Constitution and History of Massachusetts and of the United States. 9. Natural Pliilosophy and Astronomy. 10. Natural History. 11. The principles of piety and morality, common to all sects of Christians. 12. The science and art of teaching with reference to ail the above named studies. Religious Exercises. A portion of the Scriptures shall be read daily, in every State Normal School. Visiters. Each Normal School is under the immediate inspection of a Board of Visiters, who are in all cases to be members of the Board of Education, except that the Secretary of the Board may be appointed as one of the visiters of each school. The Board appoints one Principal Instructor for each school, who is responsible for its government and instruction, subject to the rules of the Board, and the supervision of the Visiters. The Visiters of the respective schools appoint the assistant instructors thereof To each Normal School, an Experimental or Model School is attached. This School is under the control of the Principal of the Normal School. The pupils of the Normal School assist in teaching it. Here, the know- ledge wliich they acquire in the science of teaching, is practically applied. The art is made to grow out of the science, instead of being empirical. The Principal of the Normal School inspects the Model School more or less, daily. He observes the manner in which his own pupils exemplify, in practice, the principles he has taught them. Some- times, all the pupils of the Normal School, together with the Principal, visit the Model School m a body, to observe the manner in which the teachers of the latter, for the time being, conduct the recitations or exer- cises. Then, returning to their own school-room, in company with the assistant teachers themselves, who have been the objects of inspection, each one is called upon to deliver his views, whether commendatory or otherwise, respecting the manner in which the work has been performed. At tliis amicable exposition of merits and defects, the Principal of the Normal School presides. After all others have presented their views, he deUvers his own ; and thus his pupils, at the threshold of their practice, have an opportunity to acquire confidence in a good cause, of which they might otherwise entertain doubts, and to rectify errors which otherwise would fossiUze into habit. The salaries of the teachers of the State Normal Schools are paid by the State." The following Rules were adopted for the regulation of the Normal Schools, at a meeting of the Board of Education, held in December, 1849. 1. No new applicants for admission to the Normal Schools shall be received) except at the commencement of the term. 2. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Board and of one of the visitors to be present on the first day of the term, for the examination of the candidates for admission. 3. There shall be two periods for the admission of new members, the time to be fixed by the visitors of each school. 4. Candidates for admission at the West Newton Normal School must pro- mise to remain four consecutive terms; and at the other Normal Schools, three consecutive terms. An exception may be made in the case of persons of more than ordinary experience and attainments. 5. It shall be the duty of the principals of the several Normal Schools to make a report, at the end of each term, to the visitors, and if, in their judgment, any do not promise to be useful as teachers, they shall be dismissed. 6. The course of study in each of the Normal Schools shall begin v/ith a re- gg MASSACHUSETTS STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. view of the studies pursued in the common schools, viz : reading, writing, or- thography, English grammar, mental and written arithmetic, geography, and physiology. 7. The attention of pupils, in the Normal Schools, shall be directed, 1. To a thorough review of elementary studies ; 2. To those branches of knoAvledge which may be considered as an expansion of the above-named elementary studies, or collateral to them; 3. To the art of teaching and its modes. 8. The advanced studies shall be equally proportioned, according to the fol- lowing distribution, into three departments, viz. : 1. The mathematical, includ- ing algebra through quadratic equations; geometry, to an amount equal to three books in Euclid ; book-keeping; and surveying. 2. The philosophical, in- cluding natural philosophy, astronomy, moral and intellectual philosophy,natural history, particularly that of our own country, and so much of chemistry as relates to the atmosphere, the waters, and the growth of plants and animals. 3. The literary, including the critical study of the English language, both in its struc- ture and history, with an outline of the history of English literature ; the history of the United States, with such a survey of general history as may be a suitable preparation for it ; and historical geography, ancient and mediaeval, so far as is necessary to understand general history, from the earliest times to the period of the French Revolution. 9. " The art of teaching and its modes" shall include instruction on the philosophy of teaching and discipline, as drawn from the nature and condition of the juvenile mind ; the history of the progress of the art, and the application of it to our system of education ; and as much exercise in teaching under con- stant supervision, toward the close of the course, as the circumstances and in- terests of the model schools will allow. 10. Members of the Normal Schools may, with the consent of the respective boards of visitors, remain as much longer than the period required, as they may desire. STATE NORMAL SCHOOL WEST NEWTON. The State Normal Schools, of which there are three in Massachusetts, are designed for those only who purpose to teach, and especially for those who pur- pose to teach in the common schools. The school at West Newton is for females. It was opened at Lexington, July 3d, 1839, with the examination of three pupils, who were all that presented themselves as candidates. At the close of the first term it numbered twelve pupils. The school continued at Lexington five years. In May, 1844, having by far outgrown its accommodations, it was removed to "West Newton, where the lib- erality of the Hon. Josiah Gluincy, Jr., of Boston, had provided for it by the pur- chase of a building, formerly used as a private academy, which he generously gave to the Institution. The whole number of graduates is 423, nearly all of whom have engaged in teaching, the most of them in the public schools of this state. Conditions op Entrance. — 1. The applicant must be at least sixteen years old. 2. She must make an explicit declaration of her intention toiecome a Teacher. 3. She must produce a certificate of good physical, intellectual and moral CHARACTER, from some responsible person. It is exceedingly desirable that this condition be strictly complied with on the part of those who present candidates. 4. She must pass a satisfactory examination in the common branches, viz : — Reading, spelling and defining, arithmetic, grammar, writing and geography. 5. She must give a pledge lo remain in the school at least four consecutive terms, and to observe faithfully all the regulations of the Institution, as long as she is a member of it. 6. All candidates for admission must be at the school-room on the morning of the day which precedes that on which the term commences, at half-past eight o'clock. None will be admitted after the day of examination. 7. Each pupil, at entrance, must be supplied with slate and pencil, blank book, Bible, Worcester's Comprehensive Dictionary, and Morse's Geography. Many of the other books used will be furnished from the library of the school. Studies. — The course of study in each of the State Normal Schools begins with a review of the studies pursued in the Common Schools, viz: — Reading, writing, orthography, English grammar, mental and written arithmetic, geogra- phy and physiology. The attention of pupils is directed, 1st, to a thoro'ugh review of elementary studies ; 2d, to those branches of knowledge which may be considered as an ex- pansion of the above-named elementary studies, or collateral to them ; to the art of teaching and its modes. The advanced studies are equally proportioned, according to the following distribution, into three departments, viz:— 1. The mathematical, including algebra through quadratic equations ; geometry, to an amount equal to three books in Euclid ; book-keeping and surv^eying. 2. The philosophical, including natural philosophy, astronomj^, moral and intellectual philosophy, natural his- tory, particularly that of our own country, and so much of chemistry as relates to the atmosphere, the waters, and the growth of plants and animals. 3. The literary, including the critical study of the English language, both in its struc- ture and history, with an outline of the history of English literature ; the history of the United Slates, with such a survey of general history as may be asuitable preparative for it; and historical geography, ancient and mediseval, so far as is necessary to understand general history, from the earliest time to the period of the French Revolution. QQ WEST NEWTON STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. "The art of teaching and its modes," includes instruction as to the philoso- phy of teaching and discipline, as drawn from the nature and condition of the juvenile mind; the history of the progress of the art, and the application of it to our system of education; and as much exercise in teaching under constant supervision, toward the close of the course, as the circumstances and interests of the Model schools may allow. Members of the higher classes give teaching exercises before the whole school, several each week. Members of the senior class spend three weeks, each, in the public grammar school of District No. 7, which is connected with the institution as its Model department. Pupils who have had considerable experience in teaching, and are otherwise qualified for it, will be allowed to enter existing classes. Pupils who may desire to study the Latin and French languages, and to pre- pare themselves to instruct in those branches usually taught in High Schools, can have an opportunity to do so, by giving a pledge to remain in the school for a term of three years, provided the number is sufficient to warrant the forming of a class. Examinations. — The school is visited and examined by the Visiting Com- mittee of the Board of Education, at the close of each term; and a public ex- amination is held whenever a class graduates. The school is open to visitors at all times. Library and Apparatus. — A well-selected Library, consisting mostly of works on education, belongs to the school, and also a well-assorted Apparatus, for the illustration of principles in natural philosophy, chemistry, mathematics, &c. &c. Tuition. — For those who purpose to teach in the public schools of the state, tuition is free; for such as intend to teach elsewhere, it is $10 per term, payable at entrance, and such can not be admitted to the exclusion of those first men- tioned. At the beginning of each term, each pupil pays to the Principal Si, 50, to meet incidental expenses. Board. — Board may be had in good families at from $2 to $2,50 per week, including washing and fuel. Some of the pupils take rooms and board them- selves at a lower rate. The whole annual expense is about $100. Terms and Vacations. — There are three terms in the year. The winter term commences on the second Wednesday in December, and continues fifteen weeks. The summer term commences on the second Wednesday in April, and continues fifteen weeks. The autumn term commences on the first Wed- nesday in September, and continues twelve weeks. Between the summer and autumn terms, there is a vacation of six weeks ; between the other terms a vacation of two weeks. No session is held on the week of the anniversaries in Boston. Pupils who reside in the vicinity, and whose friends request it, have leave to go home on Saturday morning and stay until Monday morning, provided this can be done without interference with school duties. Pupils are not permitted to boai'd at such a distance from the institution, as to render it impracticable for them to be present during all regular exercises. Study Hours, &c. — It is expected, as a matter of course, that the young ladies will conform to the general order and usage of the families in which they reside. Where it can be done conveniently, it is desirable- that they should breakfast about one hour after rising, dine at a quarter past two o'clock, and sup from six to six and a half o'clock. The hours for rising, studying, &;c., will vary somewhat with the season of the year. For the winter and autumn terms, the pupils will rise at six o'clock, and study one hour, either before or cfier breakfast, as may suit the custom of the family. In the summer term, they will rise at five o'clock, and study two hours. In the afternoon, they will study from four till five and a half o'clock. Evening study hours for the winter and autumn terms commence at seven o'clock, and continue two hours, with a short recess ; for the summer term, eve- ning study hours commence at eight o'clock, and continue one hour. All study hours are to be spent in perfect quietness. At all seasons of the year pupils are to retire at te?i o'clock. Evety light must be extinguished at half-past ten, at the utmost. WEST NEWTON STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 61 It is expected that the pupils will attend public worship on the Sabbath, health, weather, and walking permitting; preserve order and quiet in their rooms, and throughout the house ; and refrain from every thing like a desecra- tion of the da}''. Order, pumctualtty and neatness, in their fersons and in their rooms, and a kind and respectful demeanor, are expected of all. It is expected that the young ladies will avoid all ground of complaint, and endeavor to make themselves agreeable in their family intercourse, thus secur- ing honor to themselves and the institution. The Principal requests that any marked and continued disregard of these regulations may be reported to him. The school sessions commence at eight and a half o'clock, a. m., and close at two o'clock, p. M. On Saturday no session is held. Pupils who desire to leave town for home, or for other places, are expected to confer with the Principal. The following letter from Mr. Peirce, the first Principal of the West Newton State Normal School, will exhibit the views with which this eminent teacher and educator conducted the first institution of the kind opened on this continent : " Dear Sir: — You ask me 'what I aimed to accomplish, and would aim to accomplish now, with my past experience before me, in a Normal School.' I answer briefly, that it was my aim, and it would be my aim again, to make better teachers, and especially, better teachers for our common schools ; so that those primary seminaries, on which so many depend for their education, might answer, in a higher degree, the end of their institution . Yes, to make better teachers; teachers who would understand, and do their business better; teachers, who should know more of the nature of children, of youthful devel- opments, more of the subjects to be taught, and more of the true methods of leaching; who would teach more philosophically, more in harmony with the natural development of the young mind, with a truer regard to the order and, connection in which the different branches of knowledge should be presented to it, and, of course, more successfully. Again, I felt that there was a call for a truer government, a higher training and discipline, in our schools ; that the ap- peal to the rod, to a sense of shame and fear of bodily pain, so prevalent in them, had a tendency to make children mean, secretive, and vengeful, instead of high-minded, truthful, and generous ; and I wished to see them in the hands of teachers, who could understand the higher and purer motives of action, as gratitude, generous affection, sense of duty, by which children should be influ- enced, and under which their whole character should be formed. In short, I was desirous of putting our schools into the hands of those who would make them places in which children could learn, not only to read, and write, and spell, and cipher, but gain information on various other topics, (as accounts, civil institutions, natural history, physiology, political economy, &c.) which would be useful to them in after life, and have all their faculties, (physical, intellectual and moral,) trained in such harmony and proportion, as would re- sult in the highest formation of character. This is what I supposed the object of Normal Schools to be. Such was my object. But in accepting the charge.of the first American Institution of this kind, I did not act in the belief that there were no good teachers, or good schools among us ; or that I was more wise, more fit to teach, than all my fellows. On the contrary, I knew that there were, both within and without Massachusetts, excellent schools, and not a few of them, and teachers wiser than myself; yet my conviction was strong, that the ratio of such schools to the whole number of schools were small ; and that the teachers in them, for the most part, had grown up to be what they were, from long observation, and through the discipline of an experience painful to themselves, and more painful to their pupils. It was my impression also, that a majority of those engaged in school-keep- ing, taught few branches, and those imperfectly, that they possessed little fat- ness for their business, did not understand well, either the nature of children or the subjects they professed to teach, and had little skill in the art of teaching or governing schools. I could not think it possible for them, therefore, to make g2 WEST NEWTON STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. their instructions very intelligible, interesting, or profitable to their pupils, or present to them the motives best adapted to secure good lessons and good con- duct, or, in a word, adopt such a course of training as would result in a sound development of the faculties, and the sure formation of a good character. I admitted that a skill and power to do all this might be acquired by trial, if teachers continued in their business long enough ; but while teachers were thus learning, I was sure that pupils must be suffering. In the process of time, a man may find out by experiment, (trial,) how to tan hides and convert them into leather. But most likely the time would be long, and he would spoil many be- fore he got through. It would be far better for him, we know, to get some knowledge of Chemistry, and spend a little time in his neighbor's tannery, be- fore he sets up for himself. In the same way, the farmer may learn what trees, and fruits, and seeds, are best suited to particular soils, and climates, and modes of culture, but it must be by a needless outlay of time and labor, and ' the incurring of much loss. If wise, he would first learn the principles and facts which agricultural experiments have already established, and then com- mence operations. So the more I considered the subject, the more the convic- tion grew upon my mind, that by a judicious course of study, and of discipline, teachers may be prepared to enter on their work, not only with the hope, but almost with the assurance of success. I did not then, I do not now, (at least in the fullest extent of it,) assent to the doctrine so often expressed in one form or another, that there are no general principles to be recognized in education ; no general methods to be followed in the art of teaching; that all depends upon the individual teacher; that every principle, motive and method, must owe its power to the skill with which it is applied; that what is true, and good, and useful in the hands of one, may be quite the reverse in the hands of another; and of course, that every man must invent his own methods of teaching-and governing, it being impossible successfully to adopt those of another. To me ) it seemed that education had claims to be regarded as a science, being based on 4 immutable principles, of which the practical teacher, though he may modify ( them to meet the change of ever-varying circumstances, can never lose sight. " That the educator should watch the operations of nature, the development of the mind, discipline those faculties whose activities first appear, and teach that knowledge first, which the child can most easily comprehend, viz., that Avhich comes in through the senses, rather than through reason and the imagi- nation ; that true education demands, or rather implies the training, strength- ening, and perfecting of all the faculties by means of the especial exer- cise of each ; that in teaching, we must begin with what is simple and known, and. go on by easy steps to what is complex and unknown; that for true progress and lasting results, it were better for the attention to be concen- trated on a few studies, and for a considerable time, than to be divided among many, changing from one to another at short intervals ; that in training chil- dren we must concede a special recognition to the principle of curiosity, a love of knowledge, and so present truth as to keep this principle in proper action; that the pleasure of acquiring, and the advantage of possessing knoAvledge, may be made, and should be made, a sufficient stimulus to sustain wholesome exertion without resorting to emulation, or medals, or any rewards other than those which are the natural fruits of industry and attainment; that for securing order and obedience, there are better ways than to depend solely or chiefly upon the rod, or appeals to fear ; that much may be done by way of prevention of evil ; that gentle means should always first be tried ; that undue attention is given to intellectual training in our schools, to the neglect of physical and moral ; that the training of the faculties is more important than the communication of knowledge ; that the discipline, the instruction of the school-room, should bet- ter subserve the interests of real life, than it now does ; — these are some of the principles, truths, facts, in education, susceptible, I think, of the clearest de- monstration, and pretty generally admitted now, by all enlightened educators. ,The old method of teaching Arithmetic, for instance, by taking up some printed treatise and solving abstract questions consisting of large numbers, Jyorking blindly by what must appear to the pupil arbitrary rules, would now be regarded as less philosophical, less in conformity to mental development, than the more modern way of beginning with mental Arithmetic, using practi- cal questions, which involve small numbers, and explaining the reason of eve- ry step as you go along. WEST NEWTON STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. g3 So in the study of Grammar, no Normal teacher, whether a graduate or not, of a Normal School, would require his pupils to commit the whole text-book to memory, before looking at the nature of words, and their application in the structure of sentences. Almost all have found out that memorizing the Gram- mar-book, and the exercise of parsing, do very little toward giving one a knowledge of the English language. Neither is it learning Geography, to read over and commit to memory, sta- tistics of the length and breadth of countries, their boundaries, latitude and lon- gitude, cfec, &c., without map or globe, or any visible illustration, as was once the practice. Nor does the somewhat modern addition of maps and globes much help the process, unless the scholar, by a previous acquaintance with ob- jects in the outer world, has been prepared to use them. The shading for mountains, and black lines for rivers on maps, will be of little use to a child who has not already some idea of a mountain and a river. And the teacher who should attempt to teach reading by requiring a child to repeat from day to day, and from month to month, the whole alphabet, until he is familiar with all the letters, as was the fashion in former days, would de- serve to lose his place and be sent himself to school. Could any thing be more injudicious 1 Is it not more in harmony with Nature's work, to begin with sim- ple, significant words, or rather sentences, taking care always to select such as are easy and intelligible, as well as short 1 Or, if letters be taken first, should they not be formed into small groups, on some principle of association, and be combined with some visible object? "Surely, the different methods of teaching the branches above-mentioned, are not all equally good. Teaching is based on immutable principles, and may be regarded as an art. Nearly thirty years' experience in the business of teaching, I thought, had given me some acquaintance with its true principles and processes, and I deem- ed it no presumption to believe that I could teach them to others. This I at- teu'fpted to do in the Normal School at Lexington ; 1st. didactically, i. e. by precept, in the form of familiar conversations and lectures ; •2d. by giving every day, and continually, in my own manner of teaching, an exemplification of my theory ; 3d. by requiring my pupils to teach each other, in my presence, the things which I had taught them; and 4th. by means of the Model School, where, under my general supervision, the Normal pupils had an opportunity, both to prove and to improve their skill in teaching and managing schools. At all our recitations, (the modes of which were very various,) and in other con- nections, there was allowed the greatest freedom of inquiry and remark, and principles, modes, processes, every thing indeed relating to school-keeping, was discussed. The thoughts and opinions of each one Avere thus made the proper- ty of the whole, and there was infused into all hearts a deeper and deeper inter- est in the teachers' calling. In this way the Normal School became a kind of standing Teachers' Institute. But for a particular account of my manner and processes at the Normal School, allow me to refer you to a letter which I had the honor, at your request, to address to you from Lexington, Jan. 1, 1841, and which was "published in the Common School Journal, both of Connecticut and Massachusetts, (vol. S.) What success attended my labors, I must leave to others to say. I acknowl- edge, it was far from being satisfactory to myself Still the experiment con- vinced me that Normal Schools may be made a powerful auxiliary to the cause of education. A thorough training in them, I am persuaded, will do much to- ward supplying the want of experience. It will make the teachers' work easier, surer, better. I have reason to believe that Normal pupils are much indebted for whatever of fitness they possess for teaching, to the Normal School. They uniformly profess so to feel. I have, moreover, made diligent inquiry in regard to their success, and it is no exaggeration to say, that it has been manifestly great. Strong testimonials to the success of many of the early graduates of the Lexington (now W. Newton) Normal School, were published with the 8th Re- port of the late Secretary of the Board of Education, and may be found in the 7th vol. of the Massachusetts Common School Journal. But it is sometimes asked, (and the inquiry deserves an answer,) Allowing that teaching is an art, and that teachers may be trained for their business, have we not High Schools and Academies, in which the various school branch- es are well taught 1 May not teachers in them be prepared for their work 1 g^ WEST NEWTON STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. Where is the need then of a distinct order of Seminaries for training teachers 1 I admit we have Academies, High Schools, and other schools, furnished with competent teachers, in which is excellent teaching; but at the time of the es- tablishment of the Normal Schools in Massachusetts, there was not, to my knowledge, any iirst-rate institution exclusively devoted to training teachers for our common schools; neither do I think there is now any, except the Nor- mal Schools. And teachers can not be prepared for their work anywhere else, so well as in seminaries exclusively devoted to this object. The art of teach- ing must be made the great, the paramount, the only concern. It must not come in as subservient to, or merely Collateral with any thing else whatever. And again, a Teachers' Seminary should have annexed to it, or rather as an integral part of it, a model, or experimental school for practice. Were I to be placed in a Normal School again, the only difference in my aim would be to give more attention to the development of the faculties, to the spirit and motives by which a teacher should be moved, to physical and moral education, lo the inculcation of good principles and good manners. In conclusion, allow me to recapitulate. It was my aim, and it would be my aim again, in a Normal School, to raise up for our common schools especially, a better class of teachers, — teachers who would not only teach more and better than those already in the field, but who Avould govern better; teachers, who would teach in harmony with the laws of juvenile development, who would se- cure diligent study and good lessons and sure progress, without a resort to emula- tion and premiums, and goodorderlrom higher motives thanthefear of therodor bodily pain ; teachers, who could not only instruct well in the common branch- es, as reading, writing, arithmetic, &cc., but give valuable information on a va- riety of topics, such' as accounts, history, civil institutions, political economy, and physiology; bring into action the various powers of children, and prepare them for the duties of practical life ; teachers, whose whole influence on their pupils, direct and indirect, should be good, tending to make them, not only good readers, geographers, grammarians, arithmeticians, &c., but good scholars, good children, obedient, kind, respectful, mannerly, truthful ; and in due time, virtuous, useful citizens, kind neighbors, high-minded, noble, pious men and women. And this I attempted to do by inculcating the truth in the art of teach- ing and governing, — the truth in all things; and by giving them allying exam- ple of it in my own practice." STATE NORMAL SCHOOL BRIDGEWATER. THE JNormal School at Bridgewater, as v/ell as that at Westfield, re- ceives both male and female pupils. The regulations respecting the admission of pupils, course of study, number and length of each session, are set forth in the Regulations of the Board. The following communi- cations from Mr. N. TilHnghast who has been the Principal of this Insti- tution from its first establishment, and has now the longest experience of any Normal School teacher in this country, gives the general results of his experience, and the experience of this Institution in the work of educa- ting teachers. " Tlie main facts about this school you are already acquainted with. It went into operation September 9tli, 1840, with 28 pupils, lliere have entered the school in all, 657 pupils ; 365 females, 292 males. Up to August, 1846, pupils were re- ceived for two terms, which were not necessarily successive. Since that time they have been required to remain three successive terms, of 14 weeks each. The aver- age number at present is between 60 and 70. The whole number of pupils since August, 1846, is 252 ; of these, 32, from various causes, have left the school after one or two terms. Of the 220, two have not been, and apparently, do not intend to be, teachers. It seems to me that these schools are doing good. My own scholars have, I think, succeeded as well as I could reasonably expect. Many have failed ; indeed many from whom I looked for success ; others have continued to keep schools, but doing no better, for aught that I know, than they would have done without staying a year here ; but still I can not feel disappointed. There are, it seems to me, grave defects in the constitution of my school. Four years would, in my judgment, be profitably given to the subjects which we touch on in one. If pupils must be taught subjects in these schools, as I think they must for a time under the best organization, the course ought to extend over three years at least. I tliink it would be a better plan than the present, to receive pupils for, say twenty-one weeks, and to give that time to reading, spelling, arithmetic, and geography ; and in another twenty-one weeks, to take up reading, spelling, physio- logy, grammar 5 so that only a few studies should be in the school at a time, and teachers might go for a term without interfering with their teaching school. The great evil now, in my school, is the attempt to take up so many studies, most per- sons inverting the ti'uth, and supposing the amount acquired the important thing, and the study unimportant. But I should be content if I could bring pupils into such a state of desire that they would pursue truth, and into such a state of knowl- edge that they could recognize her when overtaken. A very few studies, and long dwelling on them — this is my theory. I have no especial belief in teaching others methods of teaching : I do not mean, that the subject should be entirely passed by ; but that pupils should not be trained into, or directed into particular processes ; it seems to me that each well-instructed mind wall arrive at a method of imparthig, better for it than any other method. I therefore have tried to bring my pupils to get at results for themselves, and to show them how they may feel confi- dent of the truth of their results. I have sought criticism from my scholars on all my methods, processes, and results ; aimed to have them, kindly of course, but fii-eely criticise each other ; and they are encouraged to ask questions, and propose doubts. I call on members of the classes to hear recitations, and on the others to make re- marks, thus approving and disapproving one another ; they are called upon to make E 66 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT BRIDGEWATER. up general exercises, and to deliver tliem to their classes, sometimes on subjects and in styles fitted to those whom they address ; sometimes they are bid to imagine themselves speaking to children. I find I am getting more into details than I intend, or you wish. My idea of a Normal School is, that it should have a term of four years ; that those studies should be pursued that will lay a foundation on which to build an education. I mean, for example, that algebra should be thoroughly studied as the foundation for arithmetic ; that geometry and trigonometry should be studied, by which, with algebra, to study natm-al philosophy, &c. ; the number of studies should be comparatively small, but much time given to them. I, of course, do not intend to write a list of studies, and what I have said above is only for illustration : the teacher should be so trained as to be above his text books. Whatever has been done in teaching in all countries, dififerent methods, the thoughts of the best minds on the science and the art of instruction, should be laid before the neophyte teachers. In a proper Normal School there should be departments, and the ablest men put over them, each in his own department. Who knows more than one branch well ? I send herewith a catalogue of my school, which will give you some idea of its osteology ; what of life these bones have, others must judge. But when shall the whole vision of the Prophet be fulfilled in regard to the teachers of the land, — " And the breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, (not on those of any author) an exceeding great army." God prosper the work, and may your exertions in the cause be gratefully remem- bered." The Visitors of the Bridgewater Normal School, in their Report to the Board, in December. 1850, present the following statement : — That at the first term of the normal year, seventeen pupils entered ; and during that term the whole number was fifty-nine. At the second term, tliirty-one en- tered ; during which term the whole number was seventy-two. At the third term, ending November 12, twenty-five entered; and the whole number during that term was seventy-nine. The whole number received during the year was seventy- three. Fifteen graduated at the end of the year. Two of the graduating class left the school on account of ill health. The young men of the graduating class are all engaged for the winter schools. Of the young ladies, some are teacliing now, and all intend to take schools as they have opportunity. The visitors have repeated their attendance upon the school, at different times during the year, witli the liighest satisfaction. They have witnessed, with great pleasure, the enlightened zeal and earnestness with which the principal and his as- sistants have done their work, and bear testimony to the evident thoroughness with which the training of the pupils has been conducted. Tliey regard this school as an honor to the state, and as doing a most important service in regard to the great cause of education." CONDITION or THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS IN MASSACHUSETTS IN 1850. The following facts and suggestions respecting the condition and im- provement of the State Normal Schools of Massachusetts at the close of the year 1850, are gathered from the " Fourteenth Annual Report of the Board of Education,^'' dated Dec. 12, 1850. The whole document is highly creditable to the commonwealth of Massachusetts. The large amount voluntarily raised by the people of the several cities and towns, for the support of common schools, is without a parallel in the history of popular education. The appropriation of a portion of the avails of the school fund, for the general purposes of Teachers' Institutes, Normal Schools, State and County Associations of Teachers, Agents of the Board of Education for Inspection of Schools and Addresses to the People, does more for the prosperity of the school system, than a much larger sum expended directly on the schools, and which, in most cases, would only diminish to that extent the sum raised by the people of the towns. TEACHERS' INSTITUTES. " Twelve different Teachers' Institutes have been held, and attended by the secretary, in as many different and distant parts of the state. By an improved organization, and by the use of somewhat permanent teachers for the more important branches in which instruction was given, these Institutes have been made to act with, it is believed, very beneficial effects, upon a larger number of teachers than have been reached in any former year. The Board continue to think very highly of the usefulness and efficiency of well-managed Teachers' Institutes, and would respect- fully urge the continuance of the means necessary for their support. Not less than 1,750 individuals, nearly all of them actual teachers in the common schools, have, this year, been members of the Institutes ; very much larger numbers have listened to the lectures and course of instruc- tion given at them ; and the testimony is abundant and uniform, as to the beneficial effects upon the schools of the influence thus exerted." NORMAL SCHOOLS. " But the most important organ for the advancement of the teachers, and with them of the schools in the commonwealth, and the most prolific of hopeful results, is the Normal Schools ; and to these the Board have continued to give their especial attention. The citizens of most of the towns in the state, have reason to look with pride and satisfaction upon what they have done in regard to the building, furnishing, warming, and ventilating of school-houses ; and they have reason to rejoice that their example has been followed in many of the sister states. These improvements are valuable in themselves, and still more as evidence of the interest which the people take in their schools. But they are external. They do not directly touch the most 08 STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS IN MASSACHUSETTS IN 1850. essential interests of tlie schools : the education of the teachers is the im portant thing. Nearly all the evils complained of in the present con .dition of the schools will diminish, and finally, almost disappear, under the influence, of highly qualified teachers. The greatest of them, irregu larity of attendance and truancy, can be removed in no other way. They may be lessened, but can not be prevented, by enactments. The remedy in each school is a good teacher ; one who knows how to interest his pupils, and make them feel that absence fronti school is an absolute personal loss, and who knows how to win the affections, so as to make his pupils earnestly desire to do what he wishes. The better education of teachers, then, in whatever may render them more able tO' teach, and more powerful to influence, is the object which, most of all. the Board desire to keep in view ; and the most efficient agency for this object, with which they are acquainted, is the Normal School. They refer, with satisfaction, to the several reports which they herewith submit, upon the condition of^ the Normal Schools. It was expected that the numbers in these schools would be somewhat diminished by the increase in the length of time required to be spent at them. In this expectation the Board have been agreeably disappointed, the attendance not having been less than in any former year. Still, notwithstanding what has yet been done by these schools, and by the Teachers' Institutes, the supply of competent teachers is entirely inadequate to the wants of the schools ; and there is danger lest, to meet this demand, persons superficially instructed shall be sent out as teachers from the Normal Schools. To guard against this danger, and, at the same time, to elevate the standard in the schools from which the pupils of the Normal Schools come, and in the Normal Schools themselves, the Board deem it advisable to make the requisitions for admission higher; and, to render the annual examinations for the classes within the Normal Schools more minute, more thorough and more extended than heretofore, they propose to have them condhcted in such a way as to bring these schools into more intimate relations with the distinguished teachers in other institutions in the state, and to make their true character and con- dition better and more extensively known to the citizens. Such examin- ations would, they believe, operate as a healthful stimulus both to teachers and pupils, and, if made publicly, might lead to more thorough and effective examinations in the other schools in the state. The house for the Normal School, at West Newton, is situated in such immediate proximity to the Worcester railroad, that the exercises of the school are, at all seasons, seriously interrupted by the noise ; and, during the warmer months of the year, when the windows are required to be open, the inconvenience and loss of time are very considerable. The school, also, in consequence of its rapid increase, is now but poorly accommodated, although the house, when placed, not many years ago, at the disposal of the Board, was considered very ample. It is, therefore, much to be desired, that the Board should have the means of erecting a more commodious house, in a more retired and quiet situation. For the present building, the school was indebted to the munificence of a gentle- man who is willing to consent to its being disposed of for some other use, provided the benefit he intended to confer upon the school may be still enjoyed by it. The lot on which it stands is well situated for the purposes of business, and likely to meet with a ready sale. Landholders in the neighborhood have expressed a generous and liberal disposition toward the school; and there is a probability that a desirable lot could be obtained on favorable terms. Remembering that this was the earliest Normal School in America, that, being near the seat of government and the center of population of the state, and on one of the great lines of communication with the interior and with the west, it is frequently STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS IN MASSACHUSETTS IN 1850. gg visited by strangers who come to examine the Massachusetts school system, we confidently hope that the Legislature will consent to make such an appropriation as will enable the Board to erect a building which shall be, in all respects, internally and externally, creditable to the state, and worthy of the purpose for which it is erected. We should be glad to point it out to the visitor as a building which, in structure, arrange- ment, furniture, and apparatus, might be regarded as a model, and placed in a situation, the choice of which should not seem to have been left to accident or necessity. In their last Annual Report, the Board made known to the Legislature some regulations recently made in regard to the studies to be pursued at the Normal Schools. Among the advanced studies, they proposed to include " so much of chemistry as relates to the atmosphere, the waters. aod the growth of plants and animals." So much instruction in chem- istry as this, was thought desirable to be given, especially with reference to its application to agriculture, that the teachers educated at the expense of the state, may have some acquaintance with the principles of science, which lie at the foundation of the most essential and important of all the arts. To provide the means of giving instruction in this subject by lectures and experiments, it is desirable, in the view of the Board, that the annual appropriation for the support of the Normal Schools should be somewhat increased. In their last Annual Report, the Board had the pleasure of acknowl- edging a munificent bequest from the late Henry Todd, Esq., of Boston, made for the purpose of aiding the Normal Schools. On the 7th of June, 1850, Thomas P. Gushing, Esq., executor of Mr. Todd, paid into the hands of the treasurer of the commonwealth, as the amount of that bequest, the sum of $10,797 72. As it is known to have been the inten- tion of the donor to have the whole interest of his bequest appropriated so as to be a clear addition to what would otherwise have been at the disposal of the Board for the Normal Schools, the Board propose to use the interest of Mr. Todd's bequest in providing for stated annual examinr ations of these schools, and in such other ways as may seem best for their advancement and immediate usefulness." SCHOOL FUND " On the first of December, 1850, the school fund amounted to $958,921 19 Having been increased, during the year, by the sum of . 74,580 45 Of this fund, the sum of 218,559 73 consists of land notes not productive, leaving the sum of 740.361 4Q productive, and so invested aa to yield about $40,000 for distribution among the towns for the support of schools. The school fund, it thus appears, has vei;y nearly "reached the limit ($1,000,000) fixed by the act of 1843, by which it was estabhshed. The benefits which have been derived from the wise and economical use of this fund, are every where manifest in all the public schools of the commonwealth. As hitherto managed, the fund has been productive of unmixed good. The danger incident to a large fund for the benefit of schools is, that the people, relying upon this fund, shall neglect to take a personal interest in the support of the schools, in consequence of being relieved from the necessity of taxing themselves. But no evil of this kind has yet come near us. During the year 1850, 162 cities and towns 70 STATK NORMAL SCHOOLS IN MASSACHUSETTS IN 1850. have raised more than twice the sum required by law to entitle them to their portion of the school fund. All the towns, except five, have raised more, and the greater part much more than the required sum ; two only- have raised just the required sum, and only two, out of 321 cities and towns, have fallen below that sum. A single town has made no return. The average of all the sums raised in the several towns and cities, for the instruction of the children between the ages of five and fifteen years, is nearly three times the sum required by law. Thrice the sum required by law would be $4 50 for each child. The aggregate actually raised is $4 42 for each. It thus appears that the effect of this bounty of the state has been most beneficent, and nothing but beneficent, so far as can be judged from the sums voluntarily raised for the support of schools. In view of the benefits thus accruing to the great interest of which they have charge, the Board can not but look with favor upon a proposition which promises to enhance and prolong these benefits, by widening the limit within which the school fund is now prospectively confined. And this provision they deem the more important, as the time may come when the sale of the public lands, from a moiety of the proceeds of which appropriations for educational purposes are now drawn, shall cease to be productive. The charges made upon these proceeds during the past year, have been: The grant made to Amherst College, For the Normal Schools, .... For Teachers' Institutes, .... The Massachusetts Teachers' Association, County Teachers' Association, . School District Libraries, . Salary of the Secretary of the Board, Salary of Clerk and Assistant Librarian Agents of the Board of Education, . Expenses of the Board of Education, Incidental expenses of the Secretary, Expenses of the office. Expenses of the Annual Reports of the Board and Secretary, Expenses of the Committee on Education, $5,000 00 7,500 00 3,050 00 150 00 550 00 320 00 1,600 00 1.266 67 iJOOS 33 224 49 157 30 664 29 3,930 73 246 80 $25,668 61 WEST NEWTON NORMAL SCHOOL. ExTRiCT from the Report of the Committee of Visitors of the West Nezoton Normal School. "The whole number of pupils connected with the school, during the year, is 132. The greatest number at any time, 102 ; the least, 70. The average age at entrance was 18 years. The number of towns represented is 45. Hampshire County sends one pupil; Worcester, two; Barnstable, two; Nantucket, two; Franklin, three; Plymouth, three ; Essex, six ; Norfolk, fifteen ; Middlesex, thirty ; and Suffolk, fifty-seven. Eleven pupils are from other states ; from Rhode Island, one ; Maine, three ; Vermont, three ; New Hampshire, fom\ Of the parents of these pupils, 23 are farmers, 21 merchants, 8 carpenters, 4 ship- masters, 3 clergymen, 3 custom-house officers, 3 superintendents of railroads, 2 physicians, 2 editors ; 29 are widows ; 5 pupils are orphans ; and the pursuits of the remainder are distributed among almost all the occupations known in our com- munity. WEST NEWTON NORMAL SCHOOL. 71 Fifty-five young ladies have graduated, after having honorably completed the term prescribed for pupils at this institution. Two classes have been received during the year. For the first, fifty-seven candi- dates presented themselves for examination, and forty-seven were received. The average age of this class, at entrance, was 18| years. For the second class, forty- seven candidates presented themselves, and thirty-seven were admitted. The num- ber of pupils who have remained at the school for a longer time than that required by the rules of the school, is 44. The number pledged to a thi'ee years' course is 12. Besides the usual studies, the pupils have had the benefit of twenty-one lectures on educational and scientific subjects, which have been delivered gratuitously to' the school, by gentlemen eminent in their various departments. In regard to the model school connected with this institution, the committee beg leave to make an extract from the repoi't of the principal, made at the close of the term, in December. He says : — " By an agreement entered into between the District No. 7, Oi Newton, and the principal of this institution, on the 7th of December last, the gram- mar school of the district became connected with the State Normal School, as its model department. By the terms of the agreement, the district furnishes school- room, &c., and one permanent male teacher, approved by both parties, and allow such addition to their number, by pupils from abroad, on a small tuition, as circum- stances justify. The State Normal School furnishes a portion of apparatus, &c., and two assistant teachers, each to observe one week previous to teaching, and to teach two weeks under constant supervision. The number of young ladies who have been thus employed, during the year, is 35 ; the whole number of pupils for the year, in the model school, is 125 ; the number from abroad, 50 ; the average age of the pupils, 14 years. By an additional agreement between the same parties, the primary school of this village became also connected with the State Normal School, May 1, 1850. Since this time, the insti'uction and management of this school have mainly devolved upon pupils of this institution, under the direction of the permanent teacher of the gram- mar department. Teachers have been furnished on the same principle as to the other school. The number of teachers furnished to the primary school, is 22 ; the whole number of pupils is 75, and their average age, 7 years. The model school has continued under its former permanent teacher, Mr. Allen, who has greatly distinguished himself as a successful educator, and who is worthy of great commendation for the earnestness and faithfulness with which he has devoted himself to the interest both of the district and of this institution. It is enough, per- haps, to say of the model school, that its efficiency has been continually increasing, and that, in the opinion of those competent to judge of it, it has already a rank con- siderably above the average of schools of the same grade elsewhere. It was expected that the arrangement with the primary department would be a temporary one, each party reserving the right to give it up at any time. It is the opinion of the school committee of the town, and of the permanent teacher of the model school, as it is my own, that the experiment has proved eminently successful, and that the general character of the school has essentially improved. It is, how- ever, our opinion, that a still better arrangement may now be properly made for it, by giving it one permanent female teacher, and an assistant from this school." On another topic, the principal says in his report — " It is believed that, without a single exception, the 1 32 pupils at the school, this year, have had not only an honest and steady purpose to become teachers, but have a strong desire to do good in this most excellent way. Of the fifty-five graduates, which includes those who leave us to-day, the greater portion are already engaged in the work ; several have places secured, which they are expecting to occupy in a few days ; several more continue yet longer here, and a small number only wait for an opportunity to teach." The committee are gratified to be able to state, that notwithstanding the rule adopted by the Board at its last annual meeting, by which no pupil, " except those of more than ordinary experience and attainments, can be received into this school for a less period than four consecutive terms," and the further regulation restricting examinations for admission to the commencement of two instead of three terms in Y2 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT WESTFIELD. the year, tlie number of pupils lias not diminished ; a result which shows the public appreciation of the advantages afforded by the Normal Schools for the education of ^ teachers. Two examinations of this school have been made by the committee, during the year — one in April, and one in December — both of wMch, conducted in a mannei* which precluded the idea of special preparation for the occasion, were highly satis- factory. The committee having ordered, for the use of the school-house, one of Mr. Chil- son's furnaces, were informed, when they waited on him for the purpose of paying for it, that the bill was canceled ; Mr. Chilson desiring in this way to express the interest he felt in the Normal Schools. The committee desire gratefully to acknowl- edge this gratuity, coming as it does from a gentleman to whom the public are greatly indebted for improvements in warming and ventilating apparatus for private houses, churches, and schools." STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT WESTFIELD. Extract from the Report of the Visitors of th School. "" The number of pupils in this school has been somewhat diminished, by requir- ing those who enter to remain three terms instead of two. The whole number for the yeai' ending November, 1850, was 119 ; the whole number for the year previous was 148. It was expected the number would be reduced, and in fact it seemed neces- sary it should be :; for the school-room had become crowded. By prolonging the time of continuance, those who go out from the school hereafter wUl be better quali- fied for their work. Tile average age of the pupils, the last term, was 22 years. A large proportion of them had taught more or less. Two have attended, the last year, who have taught twenty t«rms each ; and a large number that have taught from five to ten terms. The wages of teachers have very much increased within three years. Several young men are receiving $40 per month, and board themselves, instead of $25 and $30 ; and several young ladies are receiving $3.50 per week, and board, instead of $2. The pupils during the last year have been from the following counties : — From Berkshire, 18; from Hampden, 41; from Hampshire, 12; from Fi'anklin, 15; from Worcester, 15 ; from Middlesex, 5 ; from Essex, 2 ; from Norfolk, 3 ; from Bristol, 1 ; from other states, 7. Mr. D. S. Rowe, the principal, is assisted by Mr. E. G. Beckwith, a graduate of college, and Miss J. E. Avery. The instruction is thorough and accurate, and the discipline good. The number of males in the school, the last yeai", has been 31, and the number of females, 88. The pupils, with very few exceptions, have redeemed their pledge to teach in the schools of this Commonwealth ; and as great a proportion of them as could reason- ably be .expected, are excellent teachers." The visitors of this school are Rev. E. Davis, D.D., of Westfield, and Rev. Mark Hopkins D.D,, President of Williamstown College. DR. SEARS' REPORT FOR 1850. ^3 EXTRACT FROM THE Fourteenth Annual Report of the Secretary {Rev. Barnas Sears, D. D.) of the Board of Education. The State Normal Schools are in a flourishing and prosperous condition. Notwithstanding the increased rigor exercised in the examination of candidates for admission, and the extension, in two of them, of the required period of study, the numbers in attendance are about as large as ever. The fears entertained by many, that the increase of expense, occasioned by a more protracted course of study, would materially diminish the attendance, are shown to be groundless. The sentiment in favor of a professional education for teachers is becoming so strong in the community, and the public mind is becoming so enlightened in respect to the character of the teachers required, and the policy to be pursued in the choice of them and in remunerating their services, that teachers are com- pelled either to go through a more thorough course of preparation, or abandon the occupation. In order to keep even pace with the progress of public opinion in regard to an improved system of education, the Normal Schools will need to be gradually elevated till they shall reach that point which is best adapted to teachers designed for the common district school. It will be a question worthy of mature deliberation, whether the higher position designed to be given to the Normal Schools, shall not be attained rather by raising the requisitions for entrance than by prolonging the term of study. I see no good reason why the state should be at the expense of giving, in the Normal Schools, so much of that kind of instruction for which ample provision is already made in the higher public schools. The Normal Schools, to answer their original design, must aim more at furnishing that peculiar training which teachers require, and which the public schools can not give. Then the necessity of their existence will be apparent to all, and no other schools or institutions will complain of being forced into competition with those which enjoy state patronage. A por- tion of the time which is now spent in teaching the elements of arithmetic, grammar, geography, reading and orthography, might be saved for those higher objects for which more particularly Normal Schools were established. Before many years more shall have passed away, three classes, each having a half year's course of study, might be formed in these schools. The first might be devoted to a critical review and thorough mastery of the studies to he taught in common schools, with such collateral branches as should be deemed necessary, the second, to a philosophical and systematic course of instruction in didactics, or the theory of teaching ; the third, to the practice of teaching under the im- mediate and constant inspection of a superior. The arrangement here pro- posed would require that a greater degree of attention be paid to the model schools. But it would remove the embarrassment now caused by the interrup- tion of the studies of the class, portions of which are called away to teach, and would render the time spent in teaching in the model school much more profit- able both to teacher and pupil. The model school, which may just as well be one of the public schools as any other, should have its own full corps of teach- ers. The notion of employing pupils from the Normal School, in rotation, in place of an assistant teacher, merely because it is more economical, is unwor- thy of the liberal policy of the state. When a member of the Normal School enters the model school, the regular teacher or teachers of the latter should not be relieved at all from duty. On the contrary, such teacher should proceed as usual, and the learner should stand by and carefully observe the process, and afterward inquire for the i;easons of it, if they should not be fully understood at the time. After a suitable period of observation, the learner should undertake to give a lesson, or some part of one, the principal teacher standing by, noticing the manner in which the instruction is given, and being ready at any moment to resume the exercise. Two important objects would be gained by such an arrangement. First, the school itself would not suffer in its interests from sur- rendering its classes to be experimented on by young teachers, but would rather be benefited by having all its exercises conducted with reference to illustrating the best methods of teaching. In the second place, the learner would occupy the place of an apprentice, working every moment under the observation and guidance of a master. f^A DR. SEARS' REPORT FOR 1850. Provision has recently been made for advanced classes in the Norma! Schools, and several persons have availed themselves of it during the past year. It is evident that the number of such will be constantly increasing, and will require more of the teacher's time than can be given them Avithout abstract- ing it too much from the regular classes. If such an appendage is to be perma- nently attached to the Normal Schools, it will be necessary to enlarge the number of instructors to correspond with the additional amount of labor im- posed. Perhaps no better course can be recommended for the present. A question of great importance, however, here presents itself for consideration, namely, whether it would not be expedient to make one of our Normal Schools, — that at Bridgewater, for example, — exclusively a school for males, designed to form a higher class of teachers for a corresponding grade of schools. Then each Normal School would have its distinctive character, that at West Newton being for females only, and that at Westfield for both sexes, and every person, who should wish to enjoy the advantages of a Normal School training, could find a school adapted to his particular wants. The difference between the common district school, and the central school of our more populous towns and grammar school of the cities, is becoming so great, that it is no longer possible to look to the same class of individuals for teachers in them all. Besides, the law requiring the establishing of high schools, is rapidly creating a demand for a description of teachers which none of our institutions furnish. The colleges do not educate men with reference to the business of teaching. A young grad- uate, without any experience in teaching, is but little better prepared to take charge of a high school than he is to practice at the bar. Nor do our Normal Schools give the amount of education requisite for teachers aspiring to a place in the high school. It is at this moment more dif&cult to procure suitable teachers for high schools than for any other class of schools. The choice or- dinarily lies between experienced teachers of limited education, and men of liberal education, who either have had no experience and yet wish to become teachers, or, having had some practice in teaching while earning the money to pay their college bills, wish now to earn still more to enable them to study a profession. It is not safe for towns to open high schools under such auspices, and few committees are willing to expose themselves and their enterprise to these hazards. II there were a Normal School of a higher order, persons, who had already received a good literary and scientific education elsewhere, might repair to it and attend exclusively to the theory and practice of teaching. Even graduates from the colleges, who propose to become teachers, would, in many instances, avail themselves of such opportunities for studying the art which they are to practice for life. An air exclusively professional would thus be given to the school, and a shorter period of attendance might suffice than would be neces- sary in the other Normal Schools. OUTLINE OF AN INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. BY JAMES G. CARTER. The following •outliBe constitutes Essay VI. of Essays on Popular Edu- cation, published by Mr. Carter in the Boston Patriot, with the signature of Franklin, in the winter of 1824-25. The series was commenced on the 17th of December, 1824; and the essay containing the outline was published on the 10th and I5th of February, 1825. It will do but little good for the Legislature of the State to make large ap- propriations directly for the support of schools, till a judicious expenditure of them can be insured. And in order to this, we must have skillful teachers at hand. It will do but little good to class the children till we have instructors properly prepared to take charge of the classes. It will do absolutely no good to constitute an independent tribunal to decide on the qualifications of teachers, while they have not had the opportunities necessary for coming up to the proper standard. And it wUl do no good to overlook and report upon their success, when we know beforehand that they have not the means of success. It would be beginning wrong, too, to build houses and to tell your young and inexperienced instructors to teach this or to teach that subject, however desirable a knowledge of such subjects might be, while it is obvious that they cannot know how, properly, to teach any subject. The science of teaching — for it must be made a science — is first, in the order of nature, to be inculcated. And it is to this point that the pubUc attention must first be turned, to eff^ect any essential improvement. And here let me remark upon a distinction in the qualifications of teachers, which has never been practically made ; though it seems astonishing that it has so long escaped notice. I allude to the distinction between the possession of knowledge, and the ability to communicate it to other minds. When we are looking for a teacher, we inquire how much he knows, not how much he can cmnmunicate ; as if the latter qualification were of no consequence to us. Now it seems to me that parents and children, to say the least, are as much inter- ested in the latter qualification of their instructor as in the former. Though a teacher cannot communicate more knowledge than he possesses, yet he may possess much, and still be able to impart but little. And the knowledge of Sir Isaac Newton could be of but trifling use to a school, whUe it was locked up safely in the head of a country schoolmaster. So far as the object of a school or of instruction, therefore, is the acquisition of knowledge, novel as the opinion may seem, it does appear to me that both parents and pupils are even more interested in the part of their teacher's knowledge which they will be likely to get, than in the part which they certainly cannot get. One great object in the education of teachers which it is so desirable on every account to attain, is to establish an intelligible language of communication be- tween the instructor and his pupil, and enable the former to open his head and his heart, and infuse into the other some of the thoughts and feeUngs which he hid there. Instructors and pupils do not understand each other. They do not speak the same language. They may use the same words ; but tliis can hardly be called the same language, while they attach to them such very different meanings. We must either, by some magic or supernatural power, bring chil- dren at once to comprehend all our abstract and difficult terms, or our teachers must unlearn themselves, and come down to the comprehension of children. One of these alternatives is only difficult, while the other is impossible. The direct, careful preparation of instructors for the profession of teaching, must surmount this difficulty ; and I doubt if there be any other way in which ^Q MR. CARTER ON EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. it can be surmounted. When instructors understand their profession, that is, in a -word, -when they understand the philosophy of the infant mind, what powers are earliest developed, and what studies are best adapted to their development, then it will be time to lay out and subdivide their work into an energetic sys- tem of public instruction. Till this step toward a reform, wliich is preliminary in its very nature, be taken, every other measure must be adopted in the dark ; and, therefore, be liable to fail utterly of its intended result. Houses, and funds, and books are all, indeed, important ; but they are only the means of enabling the minds of the teachers to act upon the minds of the pupils. And they must, inevitably, fail of their happiest effects, till the minds of the teachers have been prepared to act upon those of their pupils to the greatest advantage. If, then, the first step toward a reform in our system of populaf education be the scientific preparation of teachers for the free schools, our next inquiry becomes. How can we soonest and most perfectly achieve an object on every account so desirable ? The ready and obvious answer is, establish an institution for the very .purpose. To my mind, this seems to be the only measure which will insure to the public the attainment of the object. It wUl be called a new project. Be it so. The concession does not prove that the project is a bad one, or a visionary, or an impracticable one. Our ancestors ventured to do what the world had never done before, in so perfect a manner, when they established the free schools. Let us also do what they have never so well done yet, and establish an institu- tion for the exclusive purpose of preparing instructors for them. Tliis is only a second part, a development or consummation of the plan of om* fathers. They foresaw the effect of universal intelligence upon national virtue and happiness ; and they projected the means of securing to themselves and to us universal edu- cation. They wisely did a new thing under the sun. It has proved to be a good thing. We now enjoy the results of their labors, and we are sensible of the en- joyment. Their posterity have praised them, loudly praised them, for the wis- dom of their efforts. Let us, then, with hints from them, project and accomplish another new thing, and confer as great a blessing on those who may come after us. Let us finish the work of our fathers, in regard to popular education, and give to it its full effect. Let us double, for we easily may, the happy influences of an institution which has already attracted so much notice from every part of our country, and drawn after it so many imitations, and send it, thus improved, down to posterity for their admiration. If a seminary for the purpose of educating teachers scientifically be essential in order to give the greatest efficacy to our system of popular education, then, in the progress of the discussion, the three following questions arise in the order' in which they are stated. By whom should the proposed institution be estab- lished ? What would be its leading features ? And what would be some of the peculiar advantages to the public wliich would i-esult from it ? To answer these several questions at length would require a book ; while I have, at present, only leisure to prepare one or two newspaper essays. A few hints, therefore, upon the above three topics are all that I dare profess to give, and more than I fear I can give, either to my own satisfaction or that of those readers who may have become interested in the subject. The institution, from its peculiar purpose, must necessarily be both literary and scientific in its character. And although, with its design constantly in view, we could not reasonably expect it to add, directly, much to the stock of what is now called literature, or to enlarge much the boundaries of what is now called science, yet, from the very nature of the subject to which it would be devoted, and upon which it would "be employed, it must in its progress create a kind of literature of its own, and open a new science somewhat peculiar to itself — the science of the development of the infixnt mind, and the science of communicating knowledge from one mind to another while m a different stage of matm-ity. The tendency of the inquiries which must be carried on, and the discoveries which would be constantly made, in a seminary for this new purpose, would be to give efficacy to the pursuits of other literary and scientific institutions. Its influence, therefore, though indirect, would be not the less powerful upon the ca,use of lit- erature and the sciences generally. These remarks may seem to anticipate an- other part of my subject ; but they are introduced here to show that a seminary for the education of teachers would stand, at least, on as favorable a footing in MR. CARTER ON EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. Y7 relation to the public, as other literary and scientific institutions. It seems now to be believed that the Legislature of the State are the rightful proprietors of aU pubhc institutions for the diffusion of knowledge. And if they are of any, they certainly ought to be of one for such a purpose. Because there are none in which the pubhc would be more deeply interested. There are none which would tend so much to diffuse knowledge among the whole mass of the people. And this, as has been before remarked, is a solemn duty enjoined upon our gov- ernment by the constitution under wliich they are organized, and from Avhich they derive their authority. Besides, it is the iirst impulse of every government, operating as quickly and steadily as instinct, to provide for its own preservation. And it seems to be conceded on all hands, by the friends as well as the enemies of freedom, that a government Uke our own can only exist among a people gen- erally enhghtened ; the only question as to the permanency of free institutions being, whether it be possible to make and to keep the whole population of a nation so well educated as the existence of such institutions supposes and re- quu'es. Our government, therefore, are urged by every motive which the constitution can enjoin or self-preservation suggest, to see to it that knowledge is generally diffused among the people. Upon this subject of popular education, a free gov- ernment must be arbitrary ; for its existence depends upon it. The more igno- rant and degraded people are, the less do they feel the want of instruction, and the less will they seek it. And these are the classes of a community which always increase the fastest up to the very point, where the means of subsistence fail. So that if any one class of men, however small, be suffered as a body to remain in ignorance, and to allow thek fainilies to grow up without instruction, they will increase in a greater ratio, compared with their numbers, than the more enhghtened classes, till they have a preponderance of physical power. And when this preponderance becomes overwhelming, what hinders a revolution and an arbitrary government, by which the mind of a few can control the physical strength of the many ? If this reasoning be correct, a free government must look to it betimes, that popular ignorance does not gain upon them. If it do, there is a thistle in the vineyard of the republic, which will grow and spread itself in every direction, till it cannot be eradicated. The ignorant must be allured to learn by every motive wliich can be offered to them. And if they will not thus be allured, they must be taken by the strong arm of government and brought out, willing or unwilling, and made to learn, at least, enough to make them peaceable and good citizens. It would be well, indeed, if the possibihty could be held out to all of successfully aspiring to responsible stations in ' society. A faint hope is better than despair. And though only one chance in a thousand be favorable, even that is worth something to stimulate the young to greater efforts, to become worthy of distinction. The few who, under all the disadvantages which adverse circum- stances impose, can find their way by imtired perseverance to places of trust and influence m the republic, serve to give identity of feehng, of purpose, and pm-- suit to the whole. They harmonize and bind together all those different and distant classes of the community, between which fretful jealousies naturally subsist. These are hints, only, at an argument, perhaps unintelligible ones, to establish the principle, that free governments are the proprietors of all literary and scien- tific institutions, so far as they have the tendency to diffuse knowledge generally among the people. The free schools of Massachusetts, as the most efficient means of accomphshing that object, should therefore be the property and the pecuHar care of government. An argument wlU, at once, be drawn from tliese principles why they should assume the dkection of the schools, so far as to insm-e to the people over whom they are appointed to preside, competent teachers of them. And as this is the main purpose of the proposed institution, the reason- ing seems to be conclusive why they should be its proprietor, or, at least, its patron and protector. An institution for the education of teachers, as has been before intimated, would form a part, and a very important part, of the free-school system. It would be, moreover, precisely that portion of the system which should be rmder the direction of the State, whether the others are or not. Because we should IS MR. CARTER ON EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. thus secure at once, a uniform, intelligent, and independent tribunal for decisions on the qualifications of teachers. Because we should thus relieve the clergy of an invidious task, and insure to the public competent teachers, if such could be found or prepai-ed. An institution for this purpose -would become, by its influence on society, and particularly on the young, an engine to sway the pubHc sentiment, the public morals, and the public rehgion, more powerful than any other in the possession of goveriunent. It should, therefore, be responsible immediately to them. And they should carefully overlook it, and prevent its being perverted to other purposes, directly or indirectly, than those for which it is designed. It should be emphatically the State's institution. And its results would soon make it the State's favorite and pride, among other literary and scientific institutions. The Legislature of the State should, therefore, establish and build it up, without waiting for individuals, at great private sacrifices, to accomplish the work. Such would be the influence of an uistitution for the education of teachers ; and such is the growing conviction of the strength of early associations and habits, that it cannot be long before the work will be begun in some form. If it be not under- taken by the public and for public purposes, it will be undertaken by individu- als for private purposes. The people of Massachusetts are able and willing, yea, more than willing, they are anxious to do something more for popular education, for the diffusion of knowledge generally. The only questions with them are how and where can means be applied to the purpose to the greatest advantage. It may safely be submitted, by the friends of the free schools, to a repubhcan people and their republican government, which institutions on comparison most deserve the pub- lic bounty ; those whose advantages can be enjoyed but by a few, or those which are open to the whole population ; those which have for their main objects good that is remote, or those whose happy influences are felt at once, through the whole community. Which institutions deserve the first consideration, and the most anxious attention of a popular government, those which will place a few scholars and philologists upon a level with the Germans in a knowledge of Greek accents, or those which will put our whole people upon the level of enlightened men in their practical knowledge of common things ? These objects may all be important to us. But the former will be provided for by individuals ; the latter are the peculiar care of government. The next question, mentioned above, as arising in the progress of this discus- sion, was, what would be the leading features of an institution for the education of teachers. If the institution were to be founded by the State, upon a large scale, the following parts would seem to be obviously essential. 1. An appro- priate library, with a philosophical apparatus. 2. A principal and assistant pro- fessor in the different departments. 3. A school for children of different ages, embracing both those desiring a general education, and those designed particu- larly for teachers. 4. A Board of Commissioners, or an enlightened body of men representing the interests and the wishes of the public. 1. A library should of course be selected with particular reference to the ob- jects of the institution. It would naturally and necessarily contain the approved authors on the science of education In its widest sense. It would embrace works of acknowledged merit in the various branches of literature and science intunately connected with education; such as anatomy and physiology, the philosophy of the human mind and heart, and the philosophy of language. Physical education forms a very essential part of the subject, and should be thoroughly understood. This branch Includes the development of all the organs of the body. And works upon the physiology of children should be added to the library. Books on gymnastics, containing directions for particular exercises adapted to the development of the several organs, belong to the library of the accomplished instructor, as well as to that of the surgeon. Indeed, If the former properly use them, they will enable him to give a firmness to the parts of the body which may, perhaps, supersede the necessity of the interference of the lat- ter to set them right in manhood. The philosophy of the Infant mind must be understood by the Instructor before much progress can be made In the science of education ; for a principal branch of the science consists in forming the mind. And the skill of the teacher in this department is chiefly to be seen in his judicious adaptation of means to the de- MR. CARTER ON EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. (79 velopment of the intellectual faculties. Every book, therefore, -wliich -would aid in an analysis of the youthful mind, should be placed in the library of the pro- posed institution. The human heart, the philosophy of its passions and its affections, must be studied by those who expect to influence those passions, and form those affections. This branch of the subject includes the government of cliildren, especially in the earliest stages of their discipline. The success of the teacher here depends upon the good judgment with whicii he arranges and presents to his pupils the motives that will soonest move them, and most permanently influence their actions. The mistaken or wicked principles of parents and instructors, in this department of education, have, no doubt, perverted the dispositions of many hopeful children. If successful experience has been recorded, it should be brought to the assistance of those who must otherwise act without experience. Lastly, the study of the philosophy of language would be essential to the scientific teacher. The term language is not here understood to mean a class of words called Greek, or another class of words called Latin, or even that class of words which we call English. It means something more general, and sometliing which can hardly be defined. It embraces aU the means we use to excite in the minds of others the ideas which we have already in our own minds. These, whatever they are, are included in the general definition of language. Tliis is a great desideratum in our systems of education. We do not possess a language by which we can produce precisely the idea in a pupil which we have in our own mind, and which we wish to excite in his. And impatient and precipitate teach- ers quite often quarrel with their pupils, because they do not arrive at the same conclusions with themselves, when, if they could but look into their minds, they would find that the ideas with which they begin to reason, or which enter into their processes of reasoning, are altogether different. Every book or fact, there- fore, which would do any tiling to supply this desideratum, or enable the teacher better to understand precisely the idea which he excites in the mind of his pupils, should be collected in the instructor's Ubrary. 2. The institution should have its principal and its assistant professors. The government and instruction of a seminary for the education of teachers would be among the most responsible situations which could be assigned to men in literary or scientific pursuits. As many of the objects of the institution would be new, so the duties of its instructors would also be new. JSTo commanding minds have gone before precisely in the proposed course, and struck out a path which others may easily follow. There are no rules laid down for the direction of those who will not think upon, or who cannot understand the subject. Men must, there- fore, be brought to the task who have the abiUty to observe accurately and to discriminate nicely. They must also collect the results of what experience they can from books and from others, in order to enable themselves to form some general principles for the direction of their pupils, who will go abroad to carry their improvements to others. It is not supposed for a moment that all who may receive instruction at the proposed institution with the intention of becom- ing teachers, will necessarily be made thereby adepts in the science, any more than it is believed that all who happen to reside four years within the walls of a college are necessarily made expert in the mysteries of syllogisms and the calcu- lus. But having seen correct general principles of education successfully reduced to practice, they may, at least, become artists in the profession, and be able to teach pretty well upon a system, the philosophy of which they cannot thoroughly comprehend. 3. A school of children and youth of different ages and pursuing different branches of study would form an essential part of the institution. In the early stages of the education of children, the disciphne should consist almost wholly of such exercises as serve to develop the different faculties and strengthen all the powers of the mmd. And in the subsequent education of youth, when the disci- pline comes to consist partly in the development of the mind, and partly in the communication of knowledge, the course of instruction would be the same, whether the pupil were destined to be a teacher or not. The objects of the institution do not, therefore, become peculiar till after the pupil has acquired a certain degree of freedom and strength of mind ; nor till after he has made the acquisition of the requisite amount of knowledge for the profession of teacher. gQ MR. CARTER ON EDUCATION OP TEACHERS. Though a pupil -would necessarily imbibe a good deal of clearness and method in his intellectual exercises by submitting the direction of them to a skillful instruct- or, the study of the science of teaching cannot properly begin till he changes relations with those about him ; and, instead of following a course prescribed by another, and exhibiting the powers of his own mind without an effort to take cognizance of them, he assumes to look down upon humbler minds, to direct their movements, and to detect and classify the phenomena of their subtle workings. After the young candidate for an instructor, therefore, has acquired sufficient knowledge for directing those exercises and teaching those branches which he wishes to profess, he must then begin his labors under the scrutinizing eyes of one who will note his mistakes of government and faults of instruction, and cor- rect them. The experienced and skillful professor of the science will observe how the mind of the young teacher acts upon that of the learner. He will see how far and how perfectly they ujiderstand each other, and which is at fault if they do not understand each other at all. If the more inexperienced teacher should attempt to force upon the mind of a cliild an idea or a process of reason- ing for which it was not in a proper state, he would be checked at once, and told of his fault ; and thus, perhaps, the pupil would be spared a disgust for a par- ticular study, or an aversion to all study. As our earliest experience would in tliis manner be under the direction of those wiser than ourselves, it would the more easily be classed under general principles for our direction afterward. This part of the necessary course in an institution for the education of teachers might be much aided by lectures. Cliildren exhibit such and such intellectual phenomena ; the scientific professor of education can explain those phenomena, and tell from what they arise. If they are favorable, he can direct how they are to be encouraged and turned to account in the development and formation of the mind. If they are unfavorable, he can explain by what means they are to be overcome or corrected. Seeing intellectual results, he can trace them, even through complicated circumstances, to their causes : or, knowing the causes and circumstances, he can predict the result that will follow them. Thus every day's exjDerience would be carefully examined, and made to limit or extend the com- prehension of the general principles of the science. Is there any other process or method than tliis to arrive at a philosophical system of education ? If any occurs to other minds, it is to be hoped that the public may soon have the benefit of it. 4. The fourth branch, which I mentioned above as constituting an important part of an institution for the education of teachers, was a Board of Commission- ers. Although they would, probably, have but Uttle to do with the immediate government and instruction of the institution, they would be valuable to it by representing the wishes of the community, and by bringing it more perfectly in contact with the public interests. Besides, it must occur to every one, that in the general management of such an establishment, many of the transactions would require characters and talents very diftereut from those that would, generally, be found in the principal or professors. Men might easUy be found who would lecture to admiration, and yet be wholly incompetent to assiune the general direction of the establishment. The professors, too, would always want assistance and authority in determining what acquisitions should be required for admission into the institution, and what proficiency should be deemed essential in the can- didates before leaving it to assume the business of teaching. Upon what princi- ples shall the school be collected ? How shall the privilege of attending as new learners in the science of education be settled upon applications from different parts of the State or country ? These and many similar questions would render a body of men, distinct from the professors, important to the institution. Many decisions, too, must necessarily be made, affecting individual and private inter- ests. This would be an invidious duty, and the instructors should be relieved from it as far as possible. It is confidently believed that the peculiar advan- tages to be enjoyed at such an institution by cliildren and youth generally, as well as by those designed for teachers, would command a price sufficient to de- fray nearly the whole expenses of the estabhshment. If not so, then might not each town send one or more young men to the institution to be properly educated for instructors, and require them in return to teach their pubfic schools to liqui- date the expense ? All these means, however, are subjects for future consider- MR. CARTER ON EDUCATION OF TEACHERS, gi ation, and are to be devised after the utility of the institution has been demon- strated. The peculiar advantages of an institution for the education of teachers would be far too numerous and too important to be either embraced or enforced in the space which remains for this topic. A few, therefore, of the most obvious ones are all that can here be alluded to. One advantage, and a very certain one, would be to raise the character of teachers generally ; and consequently, in the same degree, the character of the schools which they teach. Let us pause, for a moment, to consider to what an extent we are interested in every thing which affects our system of public instruction ; and hence derive a motive, before we pass on, to enforce attention to every suggestion for improvement in it. There were in the district of Massachusetts, according to the census of 1820, five hundred and twenty-three thousand one hundred and fifty-nine souls. Of this number, two hundred and forty-one thousand seven hundred and eleven were under the age of eighteen years. The numbers have since been much augmented. If the population has increased only as fast since the last census as it did between the census of 1810 and that of 1820, there are now, in round numbers, about two hundred and fifty thousand children and youth in Massa- chusetts under the age of eighteen years. This, it will be perceived, amounts to almost one -half of the whole number of souls. If we take from the older those between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, and add them to the younger part of the population, we shall find at least half, and probably more than half of the whole, under twenty-one years. These are all flexible subjects of education, in its most comprehensive sense ; though they are not all within the influence of that part of it which can be easily controlled by legislation, or indeed by any means except by an enlightened pub- lic oj)inion. A few of tliis great number have left the schools and aU direct means of education, and entered upon the active business of life. And a portion of the younger part of them are yet subjects only for domestic education. But after these deductions from the two extremes, it will not be extravagant to state, that one-third of the whole population are of a suitable age, have oppor- tunity, and do actually attend school some portion of the year. In Massachusetts we have not the means of knowing accurately the numbers of children and youth who attend our schools ; because we have no system of returns to any public au- thority, by which such facts can be ascertained. But I am confirmed in the be- lief that the above is not an extravagant estimate, by two circumstances. One of them is, several towns have been carefully examined, and this is about the proportion of the population found in their schools. And the other is, ofiicial documents and acknowledged authorities fiom the neighboring State of Connecti- cut informs us that one-third of the population attend their free schools a part of the year. And probably the same would be found to be true of New York, as well as of the remainder of the New England States. These are statistical facts. Others may reason upon them and draw what con- clusions they can, about immigration, the future prospects of New England, her comparative influence in the Union, and the facilities she affbrds for a manufac- turing district. They have been introduced here because they suggest motives stronger than any others, to enforce attention to our means of popular education. One-third of our whole population are now at that period of life when their principles and characters are rapidly forming. Habits, both moral and intellect- ual, are taking their direction, and acquiring the strength of age. In aU tliis, the schools must have a deep influence. Both the degree and the kind of influ- ence are, to a certain extent, within our control, and consequently depend upon our efforts. In twenty years, and surely twenty years are not beyond the ken of a tolerably clear-sighted politician, this part of our population wUl succeed to most of the responsible places and relations of their fathers. They must receive all that we have to leave for them. They must take our names, and attach to them honor or infamy. They must possess our fortunes, to preserve or disperse them. And they must inherit our free institutions, to improve, pervert, or de- stroy them. Here, then, are the strongest poUtical motives, as well as paternal affection, urging upon us attention to all the means of forming correctly the characters of those who are to receive from us our choicest blessings. And what means within our control can be devised more efficient for this purpose, than F g2 MR. CARTER ON EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. those primary seminaries for instruction, -where the mass of the people must receive several years of their education ? Find, if they are to be found, or create, if they are not now to be found, a class of teachers vjell skilled in their profes- sion, and put them into aU our free schools. What an effect would soon be pro- duced in their condition ! And what a renovating influence these same schools "would soon have upon the character of the "whole people "who have access to them ! But these are general advantages of a good class of teachers. I promised to speak of the peculiar advantages of the proposed institution to produce them. The hbrary, collected -with particular reference to the objects of the institution, "would contain the facts of the science of education scattered along in the history of the world. Facts are the materials of philosophy. And we cannot philoso- phize, safely, till we have an extensive stock before us. The hbrary would nat- urally collect, not only those phenomena relating to the subject which have already been observed, but also the records of those which must be daily passing before our eyes. Books connected with and collateral to the science will be as important to the purposes of the institution as those professedly written upon the subject. And frequently they will be found to be much more so. Because the former contain the facts and the phenomena, wliile the latter have only an author's reasonmg and conclusions upon tliem. And the authors who have writ- ten upon education, with very few exceptions, have reasoned speciously, but from very limited and imperfect inductions. So that then- conclusions, though they may be correct, as far as they had the necessaiy means of making them so, are liable to fail, totally, when reduced to practice under circumstances a little dif- ferent from those from which the principles have been formed. We want more experience before we begin to reason at large and to draw sweeping conclusions on the subject. And our library would be chiefly valuable as containing that experience, or the results of it, accurately and authentically recorded. But the conclusions of writers on the subject, though received and repeated by every body, are not binding and beyond question, till we know that the facts from which they reasoned are all which can affect the principles that they de- duce from them. And to believe that the experience of two thousand years, embracing the present age, which is so full of phenomena of all kinds, has not added something to our means of a copious and safe induction to principles of education, requires a stretch of credulity with which my mind is not gifted. It will be safer, as a general rule, to assume that they teach us what to avoid, rather than what to imitate. When we have collected the means of reasoning correctly, which books can afford, and added to them the living materials of philosophy, which will be con- stantly exhibited in the school which is to form a part of the institution, we are to place all these before instructors of discriminating minds, who are able and willing to observe as well as to reason. We are, then, to turn the public attention toward them in good earnest, and let them see that something is expected from them. There is a moral certainty, under such circumstances, that the expecta- tion will be gratified. When the public attention is turned toward any subject, all the ardent and discriminating minds act in concert. And like the rays of the sun converged to a point by a lens, they act with an intensity which must pro- duce an effect. It would be a natm-al result of the proposed institution to organize the teach- ers into a more distinct profession, and to raise the general standard of their intel- lectual attainments. It would therefore concentrate and give energy and direc- tion to exertions and inquiries, which are now comparatively wasted for want of such direction. No one, indeed, can now foresee, precisely, what effect would be produced upon our systems of education and principles of mstruction by sub- jecting them to such an ordeal. To foretell the improvements that would be made, would be to make them, and supersede the necessity of an institution for the purpose. Though the necessity would still remain for some sunilar means to propagate them among the people. But if our principles of education, and particularly our principles'of government and instruction, are not already perfect, we may confidently expect improvements, though we may not know, precisely, in what they will consist. Many persons knew twenty years ago that steam was expansive. But who ME. CARTER ON EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. g3 foresaw tlie degree to wliich its expansion could be raised, or the purposes to which it could be apphed ? Public attention was turned to the subject in earnest, and we now see vessels moving in every direction by its power. It was knowr» long since that light wood would float, and water run down hill. But who fore- saw, twenty years ago, the present state of our internal improvement by means of canals ? Pubhc attention and powerful minds were directed to the subject, and we now see boats ascending and descending our mountains, and traversmg our continent in every direction. Those who were before almost our antipodes, have now, by the facilities of communication, become our neighbors. The most intrepid prophet would hardly have dared, even ten years ago, to predict the present state of oiu- manufactories. This has all been done, because it could be done, and many minds were turned to the subject, and resolved that it should be done. All these are in many respects analogous cases, and go to show that we do not always know how near to us important improvements are ; and that it is only necessary to direct the public attention to a subject in order to insure some inventions in it. A great variety of other peculiar advantages to the public, it occurs to me, must arise fi'om an institution for the education of teachers. But I have confined myself to those only which seemed to be the most striking and important. All others will be found to be mvolved, in a great degree, or wholly, in those which I have stated. And although to enumerate them might add some new motivee for attention to the subject, they could not strengthen much the argument in favor of an institution somewhat like that which has been above described. I must now take my leave of the subject for the present ; my only regrets being that I have not had ability to do more justice to the several topics which I have discussed, nor time to do more justice to my own views of them. Mr. Carter commenced his public labors in the cause of popular edu- cation by the publication of " Letters to the Hon. William Prescott, LL.D., on the Free Schools of New England., with Bemarks on the Principles of Instruction,^'' in 1824. In the same year he commenced in the Boston Patriot, over the signature of " Franklin," a series of Essays on Popular Education, which were subsequently published, in a pamphlet form, in 1826. In this series of essays he first gave to the public his plan of a Teachers' Seminary. These essays, and particularly, his views on the principles of education as a science, and his outline of an institution for the education of teachers, attracted much attention. They were very ably and favorably reviewed in the United States Review, edited by The- ophilus Parsons, and of which Journal Mr. Carter, on its being united with the Literary Gazette, became editor, and devoted a portion of the columes to an advocacy of educational improvements before the public. The essays were made the basis of an article in the North American Review, for 1827, by Prof. Ticknor, and through that article his plan wasmade known to the English public. Prof Bryce, in his " Sketch of a Plan for a System of National Education for Ireland,^'' published in London, in 1828, speaks of the "outline," as the "first regular publication on the subject" of the professional education of teachers which he had heard of In 1827, Mr. Carter presented a memorial to the Legislature, praying for aid in the establishment of a seminary for the education of teachers with a model school attached. The memorial was favorably reported on by a committee, of which the Hon. William B. Calhoun, of Springfield, Mass., was chairman, and a bill, making an appropriation, was lost by one vote in the Senate. In that year, the town of Lancaster appropriated a g^ MR. CARTER ON EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. portion of land, and the use. of an academy building, to aid him in carry- ing out his plan as a private enterprise. He purchased several dwelling- houses to accommodate his pupils and teachers with lodgings and board, hired assistants who were to be taught by himself on his plan, and opened his school. Within a few months after his school opened, the people of Lancaster, who did not comprehend the full and ultimate pub- lic benefits of the new institution, began to manifest opposition, and threw such obstacles in his way, that he was obliged to abandon his project, as a public enterprise, after having embarrassed himself by his pecu- niary outlays for buildings and teachers. He, however, continued to give instruction for many years afterward to private pupils, many of whom are now successful teachers in different parts of the Union. In 1830, Mr. Carter assisted in the establishment of the American In- stitute of Instruction, of which he was for many years an officer and an active member. At its first session he delivered a lecture on " the de- velopment of the intellectual faculties," in which he treats of education as a science ; and in 1831, he gave another lecture on " the necessity and most practicable means of raising the qualifications of teachers." In 1835, and for several j^ears afterward, he was a member of the Le- gislature, and in that position, as chairman of the Committee of Educa- tion, drafted several able reports and bills, to promote the cause of educa- tional improvement. During his first term, he secured the appropriation of three hundred dollars a year in aid of the objects of the American In- stitute of Instruction. In the same session he submitted an elaborate report in favor of " an Act to provide for the better instruction of youth, employed in manufacturing establishments," — which the Hon. Rufus Choate characterized as " a measure of large wisdom and expanded be- nevolence, which makes it practicable and safe for Massachusetts to grow rich by manufacture and by art." In 1836, as chairman of the same committee, he reported a bill for the appointment of a Superintendent of Common Schools, and advocated the establishment of a seminary for the professional education of teachers. In 1837, Mr. Carter made a vigorous effort in the House to secure the appropriation of one half of the United States Surplus Revenue, for the education of Common School teachers. His speech, on the second of February, for this object, is an able exposition of the claims of Cree schools for efficient and liberal legislation, and of the necessity of an institution devoted exclusively to the appropriate education of teachers for them. His amendment was lost ; but he had the satisfaction, at a later period of the session, to draft the bill, establishing the Board of Education, which was adopted. Gov. Everett nominated Mr. Cartel the first member of the Board. MEMORIAL AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION TO THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. (Suhmitted January^ 1837.) To THE HONOEABLE THE LEGISLATURE OF THE Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Memorial of the Directors of the American Institute of Instruction, praying that provision may he made for the better preparation of the teachers of the schools of the Commonwealth, respectfully showeth : That there is, throughout the Common-wealth, a great want of well-qualified teachers : That this is felt in all the schools, of all classes, but especially in the most im- portant and numerous class, the district schools : That wherever, in any town, exertion has been made to improve these schools, it has been met and baffled by the want of good teachers; that they have been sought for in vain ; the iiighest salaries have been offered, to no purpose ; that they are not to be found in sufficient numbers to supply the demand : — That their place is supplied by persons exceedingly incompetent, in tnany respects ; by young men, in the course of their studies, teaching from necessity, and often with a strong dislike for the pursuit ; by meclaanics and others wanting present employment ; and by persons who, having failed in other calhngs, take to teaching as a last resort, with no qualifications for it, and no desire of continu- ing in it longer than they are obliged by an absolute necessity : — That those among this number wlio have a natural fitness for the work, now gain the , experience, without whicli no one, whatever liis gifts, can become a good teacher, by the sacrifice, winter after winter, of the time and advancement of the children of the schools of the Commonwealth : That every school is now liable to have a winter's session wasted by the un- skillful attempts of an instructor, makLag his first experiments in teaching : By the close of the season, he may have gained some insight into the mystery, may liave hit upon some tolerable method of discipline, may have grown somewhat famil- iar with the books used and with tlie character of the children ; and, if he could go on in the same school for successive years, might become a profitable teacher : but whatever he may have gained himself, from his experiments, he wiU have failed too entirely of meeting the just expectations of the district, to leave him any hope of being engaged for a second term: He accordingly looks elsewhere for the next season, and the district receives another master, to have the existing regulations set aside, and to undergo another series of experiments : We do not state the fact too strongly, when we say, that the time, capacities, and opportuni- ties of thousands of the children are now sacrificed, lointer after lointer, to the p-eparation of teachers, who, after tliis enormous sacrifice, are, notwithstanding, often very wretchedly prepared : That many times, no preparation is even aimed at : that such is the known demand for teachers of every kind, with or without qualifications, that candi- dates present themselves for the employment, and committees, in despair of finding better, employ them, who have no degree of fitness for the Avork : that committees are obliged to employ, to take charge of theu children, men to whose incompetency they would reluctantly commit their farms or their workshops : That the reaction of this deplorable incompetency of the teachers, upon the minds of the committees, is hardly less to be deplored, hardly less alarming, as it threatens to continue the evil and render it perpetual : Finding they cannot get suitable teachers at any price, they naturally apportion the salary to the value of the service rendered, and the consequence is, that, in many places, the ■wages of a teacher are below those given in the humblest of the mechanic arts ; 86 MEMORIAL ON NOPx-MAL SCHOOLS— 1837. and instances are known, of persons of tolerable qualifications as teachers, de- cliiaing to quit, for a season, some of the least gainful of the trades, on the gi'ound of the lowness of the teachers' pay. We merely state these facts, without enlarging upon them, as they have already too great and melancholy a notoiiety. We but add our yoice to the deep tone of grief and complaint which sounds from every part of the State. We are not surprised at this condition of the teachers. We should be sur- prised if it were much otherwise. Most of the winter schools are taught for about three months in the year ; the summer not far beyond four. They are, therefore, of necessity, taught, and must continue to be taught, by persons who, for two-thirds or tlii'ee-fourths of the year, have other pursuits, in quaUfying themselves for which they have spent the usual period, and wliich, of course, they look upon as the main business of their lives. They cannot be expected to make great exertions and expensive preparation for the work of teachmg, in which the standard is so low, and for wljich they are so poorly paid. Whatever desire they might have, it would be almost in vam. There are now no places suited to give them the instruction they need. For every other profession requiring a knowledge of the principles of science and the conclusions of experience, there are special schools and colleges, with learned and able professors, and ample apparatus. For the preparation of the teachers, there is almost none. In every other art ministering to the wants and conveniences of men, masters may be found ready to impart whatsoever of skill they have to the willing apprentice ; and the usage of society justly requires that years should be spent under the eye of an adept, to gain the requisite ability. An apprentice to a schoolmaster is known only in tradition. We respectfully maintam that it ought not so to be : so much of the intelli- gence and character, the welfare and immediate and future happiness of all the citizens, now and hereafter, depends on the condition of the common schools, that it is of necessity a matter of the dearest interest to all of the present genera- tion ; that the common education is to such a degree the palladium of our liber- ties, and the good condition of the common schools, in which that education is chiefly obtained, so vitaUy important to the stability of our State, to our very existence as a free State, that it is the most proper subject for legislation, and calls loudly for legislative provision and protection. The common schools ought to be raised to their proper place ; and this can only be done by the better edu- cation of the teachers. We maintain that provision ought to be made by the State for the education of teachers ; because, while their education is so important to the State, theu- condition generally is such as to put a suitable education entirely beyond their reach ; because, by no other means is it likely that a system shall be introduced, which shall prevent the immense annual loss of tune to the schools, from a change of teachers; and because, the qualifications of a first-rate teacher are such as cannot be gained but by giving a considerable time wholly to the work of prep- aration. In liis calling, there is a peculiar difficulty in the fact, that whereas, in other callings and professions, duties and difficulties come on gradually, and one by one, giving ample time, in the intervals, for special preparation, in his they all come at once. On the first day on which he enters the school, his difficulties meet him with a single, unbroken, serried front, as numerously as they ever will ; and they refuse to be separated. He cannot divide and overcome them singly, putting off the more formidable to wrestle with at a future time ; he could only have met them with complete success, by long forecast, by months and years of preparation. The qualifications requisite in a good teacher, of which many liave so low and inadequate an idea, as to tliink them almost the instinctive attributes of every man and every woman, we maintain to be excellent quaUties, rarely united in a high degree in the same individual, and to obtain which one must give, and may well give, much time and study. We begin with the lowest. He must have a thoronyh hnowledge of whatever he undertakes to teach. If it were not so common, how absm-d would it seem, that one should undertake to communicate to another fluency and grace in the MEMORIAL ON NORMAL SCHOOLS— 1837. Qlj beautiful accomplishment of reading, -without having them himself; or to give skill in the processes of ai'ithmetic, while he understood it so dimly himself as to be obliged to follow the rules, as blindly as the cliild he was teaching ! And yet, are there not many teachers yearly employed by committees, from the im- possibihty of finding better, who, in reading and aritlmietic, as in every tiling else, are but one step before, if tliey do not fall behind, the foremost of theh* own pupils ? Is it not so in geography, m English grammar, in every thing, in short, which is now requhed to be taught ? If the teaclier understood thorouglily what is required in the usual, prescribed course, it would be something. But we maintain that the teachers of the pubUc schools ought to be able to do much more. In every school occasions are daily occmTing, on which, from a well-stored mind, could be imparted, upon the most interesting and important subjects, much that would be of the greatest value to the learner, at the impressible period of his pupilage. Ought not these occasions to be provided for ? Besides, there are always at least a few forward pupils, full of talent, ready to make advances far beyond the common course. Such, if their teacher could conduct them, would rejoice, instead of circhng again and again in the same dull round, to go onward, in other and higher studies, so mani- festly valuable, that the usual studies of a school seem but as steps, intended to lead up to them. In the second place, a teacher should so understand the ordering and discipline of a school, as to be able at once to introduce system, and to keep it constantly in force. Much precious time, as already stated, is lost in making, changing, ab- rogating, modeling and remodeUng rules and regulations. And not only is the time xMerly lost, but the changes are a source of perplexity and vexation to mas- ter and pupil. A judicious system of regulations not only takes up no time, but saves time for every thing else. We beheve there are few persons to whom this knowledge of system comes without an eifort, who are borti with such an apti- tude to order that they fall into it naturally and of course. In the third place, a teacher should know hoio to teach. This, we believe, is the rarest and best of liis qualifications. Without it, great knowledge, however pleasant to the possessor, will be of httle use to his pupils ; and with it, a small fund will be made to produce great effects. It cannot, with propriety, be con- sidered a single faculty. It is rather a practical knowledge of tlie best methods of bringing the truths of the several subjects that are to be taught, to the com- prehension of the learner. Not often does the same method apply to several studies. It must vary with the nature of the trutlis to be communicated, and with the age, capacity, and advancement of the pupil. To possess it fully, one must have ready command of elementary principles, a habit of seeing them in various points of view, and of promptly seizing the one best suited to the learner ; a power of awakening his curiosity, and of adaptmg the lessons to the mind, so as to bring out its faculties naturally and without violence. It therefore sup- poses an acquaintance with the minds of cliildren, the order in which theh facul- ties expand, and by what discipUne they may be nm'tured, and their inequalities repaired. This knowledge of the human mind and character may be stated as a fourth quaUfication of a teacher. Without it, he will be always groping his way dai'kly. He win disgust the forward and quick-witted, by making them linger along with the slow ; and dishearten the slow, by expecting them to keep pace with the swift. He wiU fail of the peculiar end of right education, the quickening to life and action those faculties which, without his fostering care, would have been left to he dormant. Whoever considers to how great a degree the successful action of the mind depends on the state of the feehngs and affections, will be ready to admit that an instructor should know so much of tlie connection and subordination of the parts of the human character, as to be able to enhst them all in the same cause, to gain the .heart to the side of advancement, and to make the affections the min- isters of truth and wisdom. We have spoken very briefly of some of the quahfications essential to a good teapher. It is hardly necessary to say, that there are still higher qualifications, which ought to belong to the persons who are to have such an influence upon the character and weU-being of the future citizens of the Commonwealth ; who, be- gg MEMOEIAL ON NORMAL SCHOOLS— 1837. sides parents, can do more than all others toward training the young to a clear perception of right and wrong, to the love of truth, to reverence for the laws of man and of God, to the performance of all the duties of good citizens and good men. The teaclier ouglit to be a person of elevated character, able te> win by his manners and instruct by his example, without as well aa within the school. Now it is known to your memorialists that a very large number of those, of both sexes, who now teach the summer and the winter schools, are, to a mourn- ful degree, wanting in all these qualifications. Far from being able to avail themselves of opportimities of commmiicating knowledge on various siibjects> they are grossly ignorant of what they are called on to teach. They are often without experience in managing a school ; they have no skill in communicating. Instead of being able to stimulate and guide to all that is noble and excellent, they are, not seldom, persons of such doubtful respectability and refinement of charactei', that no one would think, for a moment, of holding them up as models to their pupils. In short, they know not luJiat to teach, nor how to teach, nor in lohat spirit to teach, nor what is the nature of those they undertake to lead, noy what they are themselves, who stand forward to lead them. Your memoriaUsts beheve that these are evils of portentoiis moment to the future welfare of the people of this Commonwealth, and that, wliile they beaT heavUy on all, they bear especially and with disproportioned weight npop the poorer districts in the scattered population of the country towns. The wealthy are less directly affected by them, as they can send their children from home to the better schools m other places. The large towns are not affected in the same degree, as then- density of population enables tliem to employ teachers tkrougii the year, at salaries which command somewhat higher qualifications. "We believe that you have it in your power to adopt such measures as shall forthwith dimmish these evils, and at last remove them ; and that tliis can only be done by providing for the better preparation of teachers. We therefore pray you to consider the expediency of instituting, for the spe- cial instruction of teachers, one or more seminaries, either standing mdependently, or in connection with institutions already existing ; as you shall, m your wisdom, think best. We also beg leave to state what we conceive to be essential to such a semi- nary. 1. There should be a professor or professors, of piety, of irreproachable char- acter and good education, and of tried ability and skill in teaching. 2. A libraiy, not necessarily large, but well cliosen, of books on subjects to be taught, and on the art of teaching. 3. School-rooms, well situated, and arranged, heated, ventilated, and furnished, in the manner best approved by experienced teachers. 4. A select apparatus of globes, majps, and other instruments most useful for illustration. 5. A situation such that a school may be connected with the seminary, access- ible by a sufficient number of children, to give the variety of an ordinary district school. We beg leave also further to state the manner in which we conceive that such a seminary would be immediately useful to the schools within the sjahere of its influence. We do not beheve that the majority of the district schools in the Common- wealth will soon, if ever, be taught by permanent teachers. We believe that they will continue to be taught, as they are now, by persons who, for the greater part of the year, will be engaged in some other pursuit : tliat, as in the early history of Rome, the generous husbandman left his plough to fight the battles of the state, so, in Massachusetts, the free and intelligent citizen will, for a time, quit his business, his workshop, or his farm, to fight, for the sake of his children and the state, a more vital battle against immorality and ignorance. And we rejoice to believe that it will be so. So shall the hearts of the fathers be in tlie schools of their children: so shall the teachers have that knowledge of the world, that acquaintance with men and tilings, so often wantmg m the mere schoolmaster, and yet not among the least essential of liis qualifications. But we wish to see these citizens enjoy the means of obtaining the knowledge MEMORIAL ON NORMAL SCHOOLS— 1837. gg and practical skill in the art of teaching, -wliich shall enable them to perform the duties of their acklitional ofEce wortliily. Establish a seminary wherever you please, and it will be immediately resorted to. We trust too confidently in that desire of excellence which seems to be an element in our New England character, to doubt that any young man, who, look- ing forwai-d, sees that he shall have occasion to teach a school every winter for ten years, will avail liunself of any means within his reach, of preparation for the work. Give him the opportunity, and he cannot fail to be essentially benefited by his attendance at the seminary, if it be but for a single month. In the first place, he will see there an example of right ordering and manage- ment of a school; the spirit of which he may iimnediately imbibe, and can never after be at a loss, as to a model of management, or in doubt as to its im- portance. In the second place, by listening to the teaching of another, he will be con- vinced of the necessity of preparation, as he will see that success depends on thorough knowledge and a direct action of the teacher's own mind. This alone would be a great point, as many a schoolmaster hears reading and spelling, and looks over writing and arithmetic, without ever attempting to give any instruc- tion or explanation, or even thinking them necessary. In the thii-d place, he will see put in practice methods of teaching ; and though he may, on reflection, conclude that none of them are exactly suited to his own mind, he will see the value of method, and will never after proceed as he would have done, if he had never seen methodical teaching at aU. In the next place, he will have new light thrown upon the whole work of edu- cation, by being made to perceive that its great end is not mechanically to com- municate abiUty in certain operations, but to draw forth and exercise the whole powers of the jahysical, intellectual, and moral being. He will, moreover, hardly fail to observe the importance of the manners of an instructor, and how far it depends on himself to give a tone of cheerfulness and alacrity to his school. In the last place, if the right spirit jirevail at the seminary, he will be pre- pared to enter upon liis oflBce with an exalted sense of its importance and respon- sibility — not as a poor drudge, performing a loathsome office for a miserable stipend, but as a delegate of the authority oi parents and the State, to form men ^ to the high duties of citizens and the infinite destinies of immortality, answerable to them, their country, and their God for the righteous discharge of liis duties. Now we beheve that tliis single month's preparation would be of immense advantage to a young instructor. Let him now enter the district school. He has a definite idea of what arrange- ments he is to make, what course he is to pursue, what he is to take hold of first. He knows th.at he is himself to teach, he knows wliat to teach, and, in some meas- ure, how he is to set about it. He feels how much he has to do to prepare him- self, and how much depends on his self-preparation. He has some conception of the duties and resjDonsibilities of his office. At the end of a single season, he will, Ave venture to say, be a better teacher than he could have been after half a dozen, had he not availed himself of the experience of others. He will hardly fail to seek future occasions to draw more lai'gely at the same fountain. Let us not be understood as offering this statement of probable results as mere conjecture. They have been confirmed by all the experience, to the point, of a single institution in this State, and of many in a foreign country. What is thus, from experience and the reason of things, shown to be true in regard to a short preparation, will be still more strikingly so of a longer one. To him, who shall make teacliing the occupation of liis life, the advantages, of a Teachers' Seminary cannot easily be estimated. They can be faintly imagined by him only, who, lawyer, mechanic, or pliysician, can figure to himself what would have been his feelings, had he, on the first day of his apprenticeship, been called to perform, at once, the duties of his future profession, and, after being left to suffer for a time the agony of despair at the impossibility, liad been told that two, three, seven years should be allowed him to prepare liimself, with all the helps and apphances which are now so bountifully furnished to hmi. — which are furnished to every one except the teacher. We have no doubt that teachers, prepared at such a seminary, would be in 90 MEMORIAL ON NORMAL SCHOOLS— 1837. such request as to command, at once, higher pay than is now given, smce it would unquestionably be found good economy to employ them. It raises no objection, in the minds of your memorialists, to the plan of a semi- nary at the State's expense, that many of the instructors there prepared Avould teach for only a portion of the year. It is on that very ground that they ought to be aided. For then- daily callings they will take care to qualify themselves ; they cannot, imaided, be expected to do the same in regard to the office of teacher, because it is a casual and temporary one ; it is one which they will ex- ercise, in the intervals of their stated business, for the good of their fellow- cttizens. They ought, for that especial reason, to be assisted in preparing for it. The gain will be theirs, it is true ; but it will be still more the gain of the com- munity. It will be theirs, inasmuch as they will be able to command better salaries ; but it will be only in consideration of the more valuable services they will render. The gain will be shared by other schools than those they teach. Seeing what can be done by good teachers, districts and committees wiU no longer rest satisfied with poor, and the standard wiU every where rise. If it were only as enabling teachers throughout the State to teach, as they should, the branches now required to be taught, the seminaries would be worth more than their establisliment can cost. But they would do much more. They would render the instruction given more worthy, in kind and degree, the en- lightened citizens of a free State. Without going too mJnutely into this part of the subject, we cannot fully show how the course of mstruction might, in our judgment, be eiJarged. "We may be allowed to indicate a few particulars. The study of geometry, that benignant nui-se of inventive genius, is at present pursued partially, in a few of the town schools. We may safely assert that, under efficient teachers, the time now given to arithmetic would be amply suJR- cient, not only for that, but for geometry, and its most important appUcations in smweying and other useful arts. To a population so full of mechanical talent as ours, tills is a lamentable omission. We may also pomt to the case of drawing in right lines. It might, with a saving of tune, be ingrafted on writing, if the instructors were qualified to teach it. This beautiful art, so valuable as a guide to the hand and eye of every one, especially of every handcraftsman, and deemed almost an essential in every school of France, and other countries of Europe, is, so far as we can learn trom the Secretary's excellent report, enthely neglected in every public school in Massachusetts. We might make similar observations in regard to book-keeping, nov.'' begiiming to be introduced ; natural pliilosophy, physiology, natural history, and other studies, which might come in, not to the exclusion, but to the manifest improve- ment, of the studies akeady pursued. When we consider the many weeks in our long northern winters, during which, all through our bordei's, the arts of the husbandman and budder seem, like the processes of the vegetable world, to hold holiday, and the sound of many a trowel and many an ax and hammer ceases to be heard, and the hours, witliout any interruption of the busy labors of the year, might be given to learning by the youth of both sexes, almost up to the age of maturity, these omissions, the un- employed intellect, the golden days of early manhood lost, the acquisitions that migJd be made and are not, assume a vastness of importance which may well alarm us. It may possibly be apprehended, that should superior teachers be prepared in the seminaries of Massachusetts, they would be invited to other States by higher salaries, and the advantage of then- education be thus lost to the State. We know not that it ought to be considered an undeshable tiling that natives of Massachusetts, who will certainly go, from tim.e to time, to regions more favored by nature, should go witli such characters and endowments as to render their chosen homes more worthy to be the residence of intelligent men. But we ap- prehend it to be an, event much more hkely to happen, that the successful ex- ample of Massachusetts should be miitated by her sister republics, emulous, as New York already shows herself, of surpassing us in what has liitherto been the chief glory of New England, a jealous care of the public schools. For the elevation of the public schools to the high rank which they ought to MEMOKIAL ON NORMAL SCHOOLS— 1837. 91 hold in a community, whose most precious patrimony is their Uberty, and the in- telligence, knowledge, and virtue on which alone it can rest, we urge our prayer. We speak boldly, for we seek no private end. We speak in the name and be- half of those who cannot appear before you to urge their own suit, the sons and daughters of the present race, and of aU, of every race and class of coming gen- erations in all future tunes. For the directors of the American Institute of Instruction. George B. Emerson; S. R. Hall; W. J. Adams; D. Kimball; E. A. Andrews; B. Greenleaf ; N.Cleveland, Committee. The above Memorial was prepared in pursuance of the following votes of the Institute. At the Annual Meeting, in Boston, in August, 1836, the subject of the Professional Education of Teachers was ably discussed, and the following resolutions, offered by Mr. Frederic Emerson, of Boston, were adopted : — Resolved, '' Tliat the business of teaching should be performed by those who have studied the subject of instruction as a profession. Therefore, Resolved, That there ought to be at least one seminary in each state, devoted exclusively to the education of teachers ; and that this seminary should be authorized to confer appropriate degrees." At a later period of the session, Mr. Morton, of Plymouth, proposed another resolution for the purpose of securing some action : — Resolved, " Tlaat a committee be appointed to obtain funds by soliciting our State Legislature the next session, and by inviting individual donations for the purchase of land and the erection of the necessary buildings, and to put in operation a seminary to qualify teachers of youth for the most important occupation of mankind on the earth." After a long and ardent debate, the following was offered as an amend- ment, by Mr. F. Emerson, and was adopted: — Ordered, " That the Board of Directors be instructed to memorialize the Legis- lature on the subject of establishing a seminary for the " education of teachers.''' A memorial was accordingly prepared by Mr. George B. Emerson, in behah' of a committee of the Directors, and submitted to the Legislature in January, 1837, by whose order it was printed and circulated with the other documents of the session. This paper is the ablest argument in behalf of a Normal School which had appeared up to that date ; and will not suffer in comparison with any which the discussion of the subject has at any time called forth. It however did not lead to any legislative ac- tion during that session, but undoubtedly prepared the way. In the mean time, the Legislature, on the recommendation of the Governor, and of the Committee of Education, of which James G. Carter was chairman, and of a Memorial by the Directors of the Institute in 1836. which was drawn up by Mr. George B. Emerson, passed an Act instituting the Board of Education. By the action of this Board, and the labors of its Secretary, and the well-timed liberality of Edmund Dwight, in 1838, the idea of a Normal School, so long advocated by the friends of school improvement, became a recognized fact in the legislation of Massachusetts. Previous to any action on the part of the Legislature, an experiment had been commenced as a private enterprise at Andover, in connection with one of the best conducted academies of the state. TEACHERS' SEMINARY AT ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS. "The Teachers' Seminary at Andover was established in September, 1830, as a department of Phillips' Academy, one of the oldest literary institutions in New England. Its object, as set forth in a circular issued by the Trustees, was ' to afford the means of a thorough scientific and practical education, prepara- tory to the profession of teaching, and to the various departments of business.' Though nominally a department of Phillips' Academy, it Avas from the first a separate institution, having its organization entirely distinct from that of the classical department. The Trustees erected for the seminary a commodious and substantial school- edifice, and expended between two and three thousand dollars in the purchase of apparatus for illustrating the different branches of science. Liberal appro- priations were made from time to time for the purpose of diminishing the ex- penses of the students. The institution was provided Avith a convenient board- ing-house, and rooms for the accommodation of nearly a hundred pupils. The seminary embraced a teachers' department, a general department, and a preparatory department or model school. The course of instruction in the teachers' department occupied a period of three years, and embraced most of the English branches pursued in our colleges, together with lectures and dis- cussions on the theory and practice of teaching, and other kindred exercises. The course of instruction in the general department was shorter and more irregular. The members of this department were allowed to join any of the classes in the teachers' department, which they were prepared to enter. In addition to the ordinary exercises of the general department, the study of civil engineering was introduced during the early history of the institution, and successfully prosecuted for several years, under the direction of the Rev. F. A. Barton. At a later period, special attention was given to the study of scientific and practical agriculture, under the instruction of the Rev. Alonzo Gray. The preparatory department Avas an English school for boys, usually taught by a separate instructor, under the general superintendence of the Principal. Members of the teachers' classes were sometimes emploj'ed to conduct recita- tions in the preparatory department, but this department could not, at any time, be regarded as a school for practice. The first Principal of the seminary Avas the Rev. S. R. Hall, Avho continued in office nearly seven years. In July, 1837, he was succeeded by the Rev. Lyman Coleman, who remained at the head of the institution till "Nov. 1842, Avhen the original object of the Trustees was abandoned, or the Teachers' Semi- nary Avas merged in Phillips' Academy. The number of students in the teachers' classes Avas somcAvhat larger during the first six years than during the last six. The average number for the Avhole period Avas about fifty. The Avhole number of students that completed the pre- scribed course of study, during the existence of the seminary, was a little less than one hundred. The immediate cause for uniting the Teachers' Seminary Aviih the classical department of Phillips' Academy, in 1842, was the Avant of funds to sustain it as a separate institution. The limited number of students in the teachers' classes resulted in part from the same cause. In the classical department, the tuition of indigent students was remitted; but no such provision Avas made for the members of the teachers' classes. The name of Samuel Farrar, Esq., of Andover, is identified Avith the history of this institution. If his generous and untiring efforts in its behalf had been seconded by those who had the means of giving it a liberal endoAAnuent, its use- fulness AH'Ould not have been brought to so abrupt a termination." REMARKS DR. WILLIAM E. CHANNING ON EDUCATION AND TEACHERS. In 1833, Dr. Channing brought the aid of his personal influence and powerful pen, to the service of tlie teacher. In an article in the Christian Examiner, for November, 1833. written for the express purpose of com- mending the Annals of Education, and the great subject to which it was devoted, under the editorial charge of William C. Woodbridge. to the attention of the best class of minds in the community, the following views are presented as to the importance of institutions for the education of teachers, and the true nature and dignity of the office : " We are not aware that in this country a single school for teachers is supported at the public expense. How much would be gained, if every state should send one of its most distinguished citizens to examine the modes of teaching at home and in Europe, and should then place him at the head of a seminai'y for the formation of teachers.". ****** " There is no office liigher than that of a teacher of youth ; for there is nothing on earth so precious as the mind, soul, character of the child. No office should be regarded with greater respect. The first minds in the community should be encouraged to assume it. Parents should do all but impoverish themselves, to in- duce such to become the guardians and gixides of their children. To this good, all their sliow and luxury should be sacrificed. Here they should be lavish, whilst they straiten themselves in every thing else. They should wear the cheapest clothes, live on the plainest food, if they can in no other way secure to their fami- lies the best instruction. They should have no anxiety to accumulate property for their children, provided they can place them under influences which will awaken their faculties, inspire them with pure and high principles, and fit them to bear a manly, useful, and honorable part in the world. No language can express the cruelty or folly of that economy, which, to leave a fortmie to a child, starves his in- tellect, impoverishes his heart." ****** " We know not how society can be aided more than by the formation of a body of wise and efficient educators. We know not any class which would contribute so much to the stability of the state, and to domestic happiness. Much as we respect the ministry of the gospel, we believe that it must yield in importance to the office of training the young. In truth, the ministry now accomplishes little, for want of that early intellectual and moral discipline, by which alone a community can be prepared to distinguish truth from falsehood, to comprehend the instructions of the pulpit, to receive higher and broader views of duty, and to apply general principles to the diversified details of life. A body of cultivated men, devoted, with their whole hearts, to the improvement of education, and to the most effectual training of the young, would work a fundamental revolution in society. They would leaven the community with just principles." ****** " We maintain that higher ability is required for the office of an educator of the young, than for that of a statesman. The highest ability is that which penetrates farthest into human nature, comprehends the mind in all its capacities, traces out the laws of thought and moral action, understands the perfection of human nature, and how it may be approached, understands the springs, motives, applicaUons, by 94 DR- CHANNING ON EDUCATION AND TEACHERS. which the cliild is to be roused to the most vigorous and harmonious action of all its faculties, understands its perils, and knows how to blend and modify the influences which outward circumstances exert on the youthful mind. The speculations of statesmen are shallow, compared with these. It is the cliief function of the states- man to watch over the outward interests of a people ; that of the educator to quicken its soul. The statesman must study and manage the passions and pre- judices of the community; the educator must study the essential, the deepest, the loftiest principles of human nature. The statesman works with coarse instruments for coarse ends ; the educator is to work by the most refined influences on that de- hcate, ethereal essence — ^the immortal soul." ^ ^ ^ 5^ ^ T^f " One gTcat cause of the low estimation in which the teacher is now held, may be found in narrow views of education. The multitude think, that to educate a child, is to crowd into its mind a given amount of knowledge — ^to teach the mechanism of reading and writing — to load the memory with words — to prepare a boy for the routine of a trade. No wonder, then, that they think almost every body fit to teach. The true end of education, is to unfold and direct aright our whole nature. Its office is to call forth power of every kind — power of thought, affection, will, and outward action ; power to observe, to reason, to judge, to con- trive ; power to adopt good ends firmly, and to pursue them efficiently ; power to govern ourselves, and to influence others ; power to gain and to spread happiness. Reading is but an instrument ; education is to teach its best use. The intellect was created, not to receive passively a few words, dates, facts, but to be active for the acquisition of truth. Accordingly, education should labor to inspire a profound love of truth, and to teach the processes of investigation. A sound logic, by which we mean the science or art which instructs us in the laws of reasoning and evidence, in the true methods of inquiry, and in the sources of false judgments, is an essen- tial part of a good education. And yet, how little is done to teach the right use of the intellect, in the common modes of training either rich or poor. As a general rule, the young are to be made, as far as possible, their own teachers — the dis- coverers of truth — the interpreters of nature — the framers of science. They are to be helped to help themselves. They should be taught to observe and study the world in which they live, to trace the connections of events, to rise from particular facts to general principles, and then to apply these in explaining new phenomena. Such is a rapid outline of the intellectual education, which, as far as possible, should be given to all human beings ; and with this, moral education should go hand in hand. In proportion as the child gains knowledge, he should be taught how to use it well — how to turn it to the good of mankind. He should study the world as God's world, and as the sphere in wliich he is to form interesting connections with his feUow-creatures. A spirit of humanity should be breathed into him from all his studies. In teaching geography, the physical and moral condition, the wants, ad- vantages, and striking pecuharities of different nations, and the relations of climate, seas, rivers, mountains, to their characters and pursuits, should be pointed out, so as to awaken an interest in man wherever he dwells. History should be constantly Tised to exercise the moral judgment of the young, to call forth sympathy with the fortunes of the human race, and to expose to indignation and abhorrence that selfish ambition, that passion for dominion, which has so long deluged the earth with blood and woe. And not only should the excitement of just moral feeling be proposed in every study. The science of morals should form an important part of every child's instruction. One branch of ethics should be particularly insisted on by the government. Every school, established by law, should be specially bound to teach the duties of the citizen to the state, to unfold the principles of free insti- tutions, and to ti-ain the young to an enlightened patriotism. From these brief and imperfect views of the natm'e and ends of a wise education, we learn the dignity of the profession to which it is entrusted, and the importance of securing to it the best minds of the community." ****** " "We have said that it is the office of the teacher to call into vigorous action the mind of the cliild. He must do more. He must strive to create a thirst, an in- satiable craving for knowledge, to give animation to study and make it a pleasure, and thus to communicate an impulse which wiU endure when the instructions of the DR. CHANNING ON EDUCATION AND TEACHERS. 95 tlie sclaool are closed. The mark of a good teaclier is, not only that lie produces great effort in his pupils, bat that he dismisses them from his care, conscious of hav- ing only laid the foundation of knowledge, and anxious and resolved to improve themselves. One of the sui-e signs of the low state of instruction among us is, that the young, on leaving school, feel as if the work of intellectual culture were done, and give up steady, vigorous effort for higher truth and wider Imowledge. Our daughters at sixteen, and our sons at eighteen or twenty, have finished their edu- cation. The true use of a school is, to enable and dispose the pupil to learn through life ; and if so, who does not see that the office of teacher requu-es men of enlarged and liberal minds, and of winning manners — in other words, that it requires as cul- tivated men as can be found in society. K to drive and to drill were the chief duties of an instructor — if to force into the mind an amount of Ufeless knowledge — to make the child a machine — to create a repugnance to books, to mental labor, to the acquisition of knowledge — were the great objects of- the school-room, then the teacher might be chosen on the principles which now govern the school-committees in no small part of our country. Then the man who can read, write, cypher, and whip, and will exercise his gifts at the lowest price, deserves the precedence which, he now too often enjoys. But if the human being be something more than a block or a brute — if he have powers which proclaim him a child of God, and which were given for noble action and perpetual progress, then a better order of things should begin among us, and truly enlightened men should be summoned to the work of education." In an address delivered at the Odeon, in Boston, on the 28th of Feb., 1837, he thus advocates the estabUshment of an institution for the pro- fessional training of teachers : " We need an institution for the formation of better teachers ; and, until this step is taken, we can make no important progress. The most crying want in this commonwealth is the want of accomplished teachers. We boast of our schools ; but our schools do comparatively little, for want of educated instructors. Without good teaching, a school is but a name. An institution for training men to train the young, would be a fountain of Uving waters, sending forth streams to refresh pres- ent and futm-e ages. As yet, our legislators have denied to the poor and laboring classes this principal means of their elevation. We trust they will not always prove blind to the highest interest of the state. We want better teachers, and more teachers, for all classes of societj^ — for rich and poor, for children and adults. We want that the resources of the community should be directed to the procuring of better instructors, as its highest concern. One of the surest signs of the regeneration of society will be, the elevation of the art of teacliing to the highest rank in the community. When a people shall learn that its greatest benefactors and most important members, are men devoted to the liberal instruction of all its classes — to the work of raising to life its buried intellect, it wiU have opened to itself the path of true glory. Tliis truth is making its way. Socrates is now regarded as the greatest man in an age of great men. The name of king has gTown dim before that of apostle. To teach, whether by word or action, is the highest function on earth. Nothing is more needed, than that men of superior gifts, and of benevolent spirit, should devote themselves to the instruction of the less enlightened classes in the great end of life — in the dignity of their nature — ^in their rights and duties — in the history, laws, and institutions of their country — in the pliilosophy of their em- ployments — in the laws, harmonies, and productions of outward natm-e, and, espe- cially, in the art of bringing up cliildren in health of body, and in vigor and purity of mind. We need a new profession or vocation, the object of which shall be to wake up the intellect in those spheres where it is now buried in habitual slumber. We want a class of hberal-minded instructors, whose vocation it shall be, to place the views of the most enlightened minds within the reach of a more and more extensive portion of their fellow- creatures. The wealth of a community should flow out like water for the preparation and employment of such teachers — for enhsting powerful and generous minds in the work of giving impulse to theur race. 9Q DR. CHANNING ON EDUCATION AND TEACHERS. IsToi- let it be said that men, able and disposed to carry on this work, must not be looked for in such a world as ours. Christianity, which has wrought so many miracles of beneficence — which has sent forth so many apostles and martyrs — so many Howards and Clarksons, can raise up laborers for this harvest also. Nothing is needed but a new pouring out of the spirit of Christian love — nothing but a new comprehension of the brotherhood of the human race, to call forth efforts which seem impossibilities in a self-seeking and self-indulging age." From the outset. Dr. Channing exhibited great interest in the estab- lishment of the Board of Education, and the permanent organization of the Normal Schools. In a letter addressed to Mr. Mann, in August, 1837, congratulating him and the commonwealth on his acceptance of the office of Secretary of the Board, he says : " You could not find a nobler station. Government has no nobler one to give. You must allow me to labor under you according to my opportunities. If at any time I can tdd you, you must let me know, and I shall be glad to converse with you always about your operations. When will the low, degrading party quarrels of the country cease, and the better minds come to think what can be done toward a sub- stantial, generous improvement of the community ? ' My ear is pained, my very soul is sick,' with the monotonous, yet furious clamors about currency, banks, &c., when the spiritual interests of the community seem hardly to be recognized as having any reality. If we can but turn the wonderful energy of this people into a right channel, what a new heaven and earth must be realized among us ! And I do not despair. Your willingness to consecrate yourself to this work, is a happy omen. You do not stand alone, or form a rare exception to the times. There must be many to be touched by the same truths which are stirring you." A few months afterward, he attended, at Taunton, one of the series of county conventions, which Mr. Mann held, in pursuance of the plan of the Board, to attract attention to the improvement of common schools, and took part in the proceedings by submitting and advocating a reso- lution affirming the immediate and pressing necessity of pubhc and legis- lative action in behalf of common education. We make a few extracts from a newspaper report : " We are told that this or that man should have an extensive education ; but, that another, who occupies a lower place in society, needs only a narrow one : that the governor of a state requires a thorough education, while the humble mechanic has need only to study his last and his leather. But why should not the latter, though pursuing an humble occupation, be permitted to open his eyes on the lights of knowledge ? Has he not a soul of as gi-eat capacity as the former ? Is he not sustaining the same relations as a parent, a citizen, a neighbor, and as a subject of God's moral government ? To educate a child is, in fact, a greater work than to perform the duties of a governor. What is it ? It is to take the direction of mind, to cultivate the powers of thought, and to .jteach the duties which we owe to God and to our neighbor. Can a parent teach his child these duties, imless he has learned them himself? Every one, no matter what is his occupation or place, needs an education, in order that he may have the proper use of his powers, and be enabled to improve them through life. Some say, were these views of education to prevail, there would be littie or no work done— manual labor would fail. But for the purpose of working effectually, one should be intelligent •, he will bring the more to pass, because he labors for some known object, and is stimulated by motives which he understands and feels. We want worthy laborers, who exalt themselves while they benefit others. The circumstances in wliich they are placed, are fitted to call forth their mental powers, to awaken thought, and to impress them with their responsibilities. Tliey are DR. CHANNING ON EDUCATION AND TEACHERS. 97 brought into intimate connection with their fellow-men, and, if qualified by educa- tion, may exert over them, even in the humble walks of life, a most salutary influ- ence. He said, tliat, on the same principle that he would educate one, he would edu- cate all. The poor man, as to his natural capacity, does not differ from others. He is equally susceptible of improvement, and would receive as great advantages as others from a well-bestowed education. Other views, he said, inade him desire that education might be diffused among all classes. Our institutions demand this general diffusion. They are for the com- mon mass of the people ; and unless the people are educated, they both lose the benefit of these institutions and weaken their power.. Liberty requires that every citizen, in order to its proper enjoymeint, should have the means of elevation. Again, all participate in the sovereignty of the country. Men, in other coun- tries, have been fighting to be sovereigns. Here every man is one. Every citizen participates in legislating for the commonwealth, and in administering the govern- ment. Ought not every man who has such duties devolving on him, to receive as hberal a training as possible ? For the sake of union, this should be done ; especially in our country, where there are no titled orders born to higher privileges than others. In other countries, the class in power have the principal means of knowledge, and, in order to keep the civil power in their hands, their object is to withhold from others the means of mental improvement. But, according to the genius of our government, education must bring all conditions and all classes together. He said, in proportion as men are educated, they are more on an equality as to property. They communicate together — maintain a more agreeable intercourse — live in more harmony, and in greater love. Barriers are broken down ; and society, by its general cultm'e, is raised to a liigher state of refmement and happi- ness. He rejoiced that we had colleges liberally endowed ; and he would not divert from them one stream of bounty. But he thought more of the mass than of the few ; and wanted men educated for the comnmnity at large, and not for themselves alone. He rejoiced that we had academies, and that they were rising in impor- tance ; but he felt a deeper interest in the common schools. He desired the edu- cation of all the citizens, not as a politician, or as one seeking public favor 5 he was a candidate for no office ; but he desired it as a man — a friend to his race. He affirmed that the common schools have not kept pace with our wealth ; that it is more essential to the prosperity of a school that it have a good teacher, than it is to the prosperity of a nation that it have wise and able rulers. We have, in many of our schools, teachers who do honor to the name : many, he regretted to say, were untaught and incompetent. They were not so much to blame, because they were not furnished vi-'ith those means for qualifying themselves, which every other profession provides for those who would enter it. He most deeply regretted that our Legislature had not appropriated their surplus funds last winter, in estab- lishing an institution for teachers. How much more good those large funds would have done ! He hoped no more would come into then- hands to be disposed of as these had been. He could speak from experience. He was, for some time, in early life, a teacher, and he ever felt pain in remembering his deficiencies. Though he had no reason to suppose he was then behind others in the same emplo}Tnent, yet the remembrance of his lack of skill in discipline, and ignorance of the modes of access to the youthful mind, ever gave him deep regret. He had not, while filling the responsible station of teacher, learned how to make education a pleasure to a child. But an institution for teachers is not all. There must be funds raised to pay them for their laborious services. How strange that the man who has the care of our children, should be thought to hold so low a place ! But it must be seen and felt that his services are of vital importance, and deserve a generous recompense. In Prussia, where education has made gi'eat progress, teachers are obtained easily, and at a moderate expense, because other lucrative occupations are not open to them. In this country other occupations afford higher wages, and, therefore, that of a teacher has not risen to the honor of a profession. JSTo good teacher can be obtained without ample compensation. Boston, though recently disgi'aced by its G gg DR. CHANNING ON EDUCATION AND TEACHERS. mobs, is doing much in compensating its teachers — is giving as great a salary to one of its teachers as to its mayor. How is Massachusetts, he asked, to sustain its high character and rank ? Look on the map, and you perceive how diminutive it is in size, compared with many of the other states. What is to prevent this Uttle state from falling behind others which have greater natural advantages, and losing its influence ? Nothing but cul- tivating the minds of its citizxns — cultivating them in learning and virtue. On this foundation its eminence and greatness will stand firm." In a discourse on self-culture, delivered in Boston, in 1838, in the course of Franklin Lectures, which were attended mainly by those who were occupied by manual labor, Dr. Channing holds the following lan- guage : " They, whose childhood has been neglected, though they may make progi'ess in futm-e life, can hardly repair the loss of their first j'ears ; and I say this, that we may all be excited to save our children from this loss — that we may prepare them, to the extent of our power, for an effectual use of all the means of self-culture, which adult age may bring with it. With these views, I ask you to look with favor on the recent exertions of our Legislature, and of private citizens, in behalf of our public schools, the chief hope of our country. The Legislature has, of late, ap- pointed a board of education, with a secretarj^ who is to devote his whole time to the improvement of public schools. An individual more fitted to this ofiice than the gentleman who now fills it, (Horace Mann, Esq.,) can not, I believe, be found in our community ; and if his labors shall be crowned with success, he will earn a title to the gratitude of the good people of this state, unsurpassed by that of any other living citizen. Let me also recall to your minds a munificent individual, (Edmund Dwight, Esq.,) who, by a generous donation, has encouraged the Legis- lature to resolve on the establishment of one or more institutions called Normal Schools, the object of which is, to prepare accomplished teacher^ of youth — a work, on which the progress of education depends more than on any other mea- sure. The efficient friends of education are the true benefactors of their country, and their names deserve to be handed down to that posterity for whose liighest wants they are so generously providing. * * * We need for om- schools gifted men and women, worthy, by their intelligence and their moral power, to be in- trusted with a nation's youth ; and, to gain these, we must pay them liberally, as well as afford other proofs of the consideration in which we hold them. In the pres- ent state of the country, when so many paths of wealth and promotion are opened, superior men can not be won to an office so responsible and laborious as that of teaching, without stronger inducements than are now offered, except in some of our large cities. The office of instructor ought to rank, and be recompensed, as one of the most honorable in society ; and I see not how this is to be done, at least in our day, without appropriating to it the public domain. This is the people's prop- erty, and the only part of their property which is likely to be soon devoted to the support of a high order of institutions for public education. This object, interesting to all classes of society, has peculiar claims on those whose means of improvement are restricted by narrow circumstances. Tlie mass of the people should devote themselves to it as one man — should toil for it with one soul. Mechanics, farmers, laborers! let the country echo with your united cry, 'The public lands for edu- cation.' Send to the public council men who will plead this cause with power. No party triumphs, no trades-unions, no associations, can so contribute to elevate you as the measure now proposed. Nothing but a higher education can raise you in influence and true dignity. The resources of the public domain, wisely applied for successive generations to the culture of society and of the individual, would create a new people — would awaken through tliis community intellectual and moral energies, such as the record of no country display, and as would command the re- spect and emulation of the civilized world. In this grand object, the working-men of all pai'ties, and in all divisions of the land, should join with an enthusiasm not to be withstood. They should separate it from all narrow and local strifes. They should not suffer it to be mixed up with the schemes of politicians. In it, they and DR CHANNING ON EDUCATION AND TEACHERS. 99 their cliildi-en have an mfinite stake. May tliey be true to themselves, to posterity, to their countiy, to freedom, to the cause of mankind." In a letter written in 1841, in reply to a communication respecting the Normal School at Lexington, 'he refers to his own experience as a teacher, and to the attempt in the Legislature to break down the Normal Schools : " I have felt, as you well know, a deep interest in their success, (Normal Schools,) though, perhaps, you do not know all the reasons of it. I began life as a teacher, and my own experience has made me feel the importance of training the teacher for his work. I was not more deficient than most young men who pass through college. Perhaps I may say, without presumption, that I was better fitted than most to take charge of a school ; and yet I look back on no part of my life with so much pain as on that which I gave to school-keeping. The interval of forty years has not relieved me from the sorrow and self-reproach which the recollection of it calls forth. How little did I do for the youthful, tender minds intrusted to me ! I was not only a poor teacher, but, what was worse, my inexperience in the art of wholesome discipline led to the infliction of useless and hurtful pmiishments. I was cruel thi'ough ignorance ; and this is the main source of cruelty in schools. Force, brute force, is called in to supply the place of wisdom. I feel myself bound to make this confession as some expiation for my errors. I know the need of a Normal School. I speak not from speculation, but sad experience. But, indeed, does it not stand to reason, that, where all other vocations need ap- prenticeship, the highest of all vocations — that of awakening, guiding, enlightening the human soul — must require serious preparation? That attempts sliould have been made in the Legislature to break down our Normal Schools, and almost with success, is one of the most discouraging symptoms of our times. It shows that the people will not give their thoughts to the dearest interests of society ; for any serious thought would have led them to frown down such efforts in a moment. I rejoice that the friends of education are beginning to visit the Normal School at Lexington. I earnestly implore for it the blessing of Heaven." LofC. NORMAL SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS' SEMIlfARIES. BT CALTIN E. STOWE, D. D, The following remarks were originally prepared and delivered as an Ad- dress before the College of Professional Teachers in Cincinnati and Colum- bus, Ohio. They were first published in the American Biblical Repository for July, 1839, and in the same year republished in Boston by Marsh, Capen, Lyon and Webb, in a little volume, with the author's " Report on Elementary Public Instruction in Europe, which was made to the General Assembly of Ohio, in December, 1837." " Ich versprach Gott : Ich will jedes prenssische Bauerkind fiir ein Wesen ansehen, das raicli bei Gott verklagen kann, wenn ich ihm nicht die beste Menschen-und Christen-Bildung schaiFe, die ich ihm zu sobaffen vermag." " I promised God, that I would look upon every Prussian peasant child as a being who could complain of me before God, if I did not provide for him the best education, as a man and a Chris- tian, which it was possible for me to provide." — Dinter's Letter to Baron Von Altenstein. When the benevolent Franke turned Ms attention to the subject of popular education in the city of Hamburgh, late in the seventeenth century, he soon found that children could not be well taught without good teachers, and that but few good teachers could be found unless they were regularly trained for the profession. Impressed with this conviction, he bent all his energies toward the estabUslunent of a Teachers' Seminary, in which he finally succeeded, at Halle, in Prussia, about the year 1*704;* and from this fii'st institution of the kind in Europe, well qualified teachers were soon spread over all the north of Germany, who prepared the way for that great revolution in public instruction, wliich has since been so happily accomplished under the auspices of Frederick William III. and his praiseworthy coadjutors. Every enlightened man, who, since the time of Franke, has in earnest turned his attention to the same subject, has been brought to the same result ; and the recent movements in France, in Scotland ; in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, and other States in the American Union, all attest the very great difficulty, if not entire impossibiUty, of carrying out an efficient system of public instruction without seminaries expressly designed for the preparation of teachers. Having devoted some attention to this subject, and having spent considerate time m examining institutions of the kind akeady established in Europe, I pro- pose in this paper to exhibit the result of my iuvestigationa. In exhibiting this result, I have thought proper to draw out, somewhat iu detail, what I suppose would be the best plan, on the whole, without expee:ering to narrow the mind and sour the temper of political men, to make them selfish, unpatriotic, and unprin- cipled. It is higlJy necessary for their improvement as men, and as republican lawgivers, that the bitterness and bigotry of party strife should sometimes be checked by some great object of joublic utility, in which good men of all parties may unite, and the contemplation and discussion of which shall enlarge the views and elevate the affections. The legislatures of several states have already had experience of these benefits. The noble institutions for deaf mutes, for the Mind, and for the insane, which have grown up under their care, and been sustained by their bounty, are not less beneficial by the moral influence they exert, every year, on the officers of government wlio witness their benevolent operations, than by the physical and intellectual blessings which they confer on the unfortunate classes of persons for whom thej'' were more particularly designed. Who can witness the proficiency of the bUnd and the mute in that knowledge wliich con- stitutes the charm of life, as witnessed in the annual exliibitions of these insti- tutions at Columbus, during the sessions of the legislature, without feeling the blessedness of benevolence, and inwardly resolving to be himself benevolent ? "Without some such objects in view, political character deteriorates, and the legis- lator sinks to the demagogue. When our American Congress has had noble ob- jects in view ; when it has been struggling for the rights of man, and the great principles which are tlie foundations of free institutions, it has been the nursery 01 patriotism and the theater of great thouglits and mighty deeds ; but when its objects have been mean, and its aims selfish, how sad the reverse in respect to its moral character and national influence ! Colleges, and mstitutions for the higher branches of classical learning, have seldom flourished in this country under legislative patronage ; because the people at large, not perceiving that these institutions are directly beneficial to them, allow then" legislators to give them only a hesitating, reluctant, and insufficient support. ISTo steady, well-digested plan of improvement is carried consistently through, but the measures are vacillating, contradictory, and often destructive, not from want of sagacity to perceive what is best, but simply from want of in- terest in the object, and a consequent determination to maintain it at the cheap- est rate. But an institution of the kind here contemplated, the people at large will feel to be for their immediate benefit. It is to qualify teachers for the in- struction of tlieu- own children ; and among the people throughout most of the free States, there is an appreciation of the advantages and necessity of good' common- school instruction, which makes them willing to incur heavy sacrifices for the sake of securing it. They will, therefore, cheerfully sustain their legislators in any measure which is seen to be essential to the improvement and perfection of the common-school system ; and that the establishment of a N^ormal School is essen- tial to this, I expect to prove in the course of this discussion. Supposing the mstitution to be estabhshed at the seat of government, under proper auspices, the legislature would every year witness its beneficial results ; they would attend the exliibitions of its pupils both in the seminary and in the model-school, as they now, in several States, attend the exhibitions of 'the blind and mute ; their views would be enlarged, their affections moved, their ideas of what constitutes good education settled ; they would return to their constituents fall of zeal and confidence in the educational cause, and impart the same to them ; they would learn how schools ought to be conducted, the respective du- ties of parents, teachers, and school officers ; they would become the most effi- cient missionaries of public instruction ; and, ere long, one of the most important errands from their constituents would be, to find for them, in the Teachers' Sem- inary, a suitable instructor for their district school. Such an influence will be to ]^Q4 STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. the school system, what electricity is to the operations of nature, an influence unceasing, all-pervading, lightning-winged. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, in every State, would be essentially aided by such an institution at the seat of government. He greatly needs it as a fulcrum to pry over, when he would move the legislature or the people. He cannot bring the legislature to the common schools, nor these to the legislature, to illustrate existing deficiencies or recommend improvements; but here is a model constructed under his own eye, •v^hich he can at any moment exhibit to the legislature, and by which he can give complete illustrations of all his views. As the young men in the seminary grow up, he watches their progress, and ascertams the peculiar qualifications and essential characteristics of each indi- vidual ; and, as he passes through the State, and learns the circumstances and wants of each community, he knows whare to find the teacher best fitted to carry out his views, and give efficiency to the system in each particular location. Nothing is lost ; the impression which he makes is immediately followed up and deepened by the teacher, before it has time to cool and disappear. A superin- tendent of schools without a Teachers' Seminary, is a general without soldiers, depending entirely on the services of such volunteers as he can pick up on his march, most of whom enlist but for the day, and go honae to sleep at night. Such is a brief view of the reasons for legislative patronage, and a location at the seat of government. I do not imagine that one institution will be enough to supply the wants of a whole state ; but let the one be established fh-st, and whatever others are needful will speedily follow.* We now proceed to our second general proposition. il. PujDils should not be received into the Teachers' Seminary under sixteen years of age, nor until they are well versed in all the branches usually taught in the common schools. The age at which the pupils leave the common school is the proper age for entering the Teachers' Seminary, and the latter should begin just where the former closes. Tliis is young enough ; for few persons have their judgments suf- ficiently matured, or their feelings under sufficient control, to engage in school- teaching by themselves, before they are twenty years old. It is not the design of the Teachers' Seminary to go through the common routine of the common- school course, but a thorough grounding in this is to be assumed as the founda- tion on which to erect the structure of the teacher's education. HI. The model-school should comprise the various classes of cliildren usually admitted to tlie common schools, and should be subject to the same general dis- ciplme and course of study. The model-school, as its name imports, is to be a model of what the common school ought to be ; and it must be, therefore, composed of like materials, and subject to smiilar rules. The model-school, in fact, should be the common school of the place in which the Teachers' Seminary is situated ; it should aim to keep in advance of every other school in the State, and every other school in the State should aim to keep up with that. It is a model for the constant inspection of the pupils in the teachers' department, a practical illustration of the lessons they receive from their professors ; the proof-stone by which they are to test the util- ity of the abstract principles they imbibe, and on whicli they are to exercise and improve their gifts of teaching. Indeed, as School-counselor Dinter told a no- bleman of East-Prussia, to set up a Teachers' Seminary without a model-school, is like setting up a shoemaker's shop without leather. IV. The course of instruction in the Teachers' Seminary should include three years, and the pupils be divided into three classes, accordingly. The course of study, as will be seen by inspecting it in the following pages, cannot well be completed in less time than this ; this has been found short enough for professional study in the other professions, which is generally 'commenced at a maturer age, and after the pupil .has had the advantage of an academical or collegiate course ; and if it is allowed that five or seven years are not too much to be spent in acquiring the trade of a blacksmith, a carpenter, or any of the * This article was -written in its special reference to Ohio, and the new States of the West. In some of the older States, the expense of living at the seat of govermncnt might operate as an objection to the location of the Seminary there. STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. 205 common indispensable handcrafts, surely three years will not be deemed too much for the difficult and most important art of teacliing. V. The senior class in the Teacliers' Seminary should be employed, under the immediate inspection of their professors, as instructors in the model-school. The model-school is intended to be not only an illustration of the principles inculcated theoretically in the seminary, but is calculated also as a school for practice, in wliich the seminary pupils may learn, by actual experiment, the prac- tical bearing of the principles wliich they have studied. After two years of the- oretical study, the pupils are Avell qualified to commence this practical course, vmder the immediate inspection of their professors ; and the model-school being under the inspection of such teachers, it is obvious that its pupils can suffer no loss, but must be great gainers by the arrangement. Tills is a part of the system for training teachers which cannot be dispensed with, and any considerable hope of success retained. To attempt to traiia prac- tical teachers without it, would be like attempting to train sailors by keeping boys upon Bowditch's Navigator, without ever suffering them to go on board a ship, or handle a ropeyarn. One must begin to teach, before he can begin to be a teacher ; and it is infinitely better, both for himself and liis pupils, that lie should make this beginning under the eye of an experienced teacher, who can give him dii'ections and point out liis errors, than that he should blunder on alone, at the risk of ruining multitudes of pupils, before he can learn to teach by the slow pro- cess of unaided experience. VI. Course of instruction in the Teachers' Seminary. 1. A thorough, scientific, and demonstrative study of all the branches to be taught in tlie common schools, with directions, at every step, as to the beat meth- od of inculcating each lesson on childi'en of different dispositions and capacities, and various intellectual habits. It is necessary here to give a general outline of a course of study for the com- mon schools of this country. The pupils usually in attendance are between the ages of six and sixteen, and I would arrange them in thi-ee divisions, as follows : FmsT Division, including the youngest children, and those least advanced, gen- erally between the ages of six and nine. Topics of Instruction. — 1. Familiar conversational teaching, in respect to ob- jects which fall daily under their notice, and in respect to their moral and social duties, designed to awaken their powers of observation and expression, and to cultivate their moral feelings. 2. Elements of reading. 3. Elements of writing. 4. Elements of numbers. 5. Exercises of the voice and ear — singing by rote. 6. Select readings in the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospels. Second Division, including those more advanced, and generally between, the ages of nine and twelve. Topics of Instruction. — 1. Exercises in reading. 2. Exercises in writing. 3. Aritlunetic. 4. Elements of geography, and geography of the United States. 5. History of the United States. 6. Moral and rehgious instruction in select Bible narratives, parables, and proverbs. 7. Elements of music, and singing by note. 8. English grammar and parsing. Third Division, most advanced, and generally between the ages of twelve and sixteen. Topics of Instruction. — 1. Exercises in reading and elocution. 2. Caligraphy, stenography, and linear drawing. 3. Algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, with their application to civil engi- neering, surveying, &c. 4. English composition, forms of business, and book-keeping. 5. General geography, or knowledge of the earth and of manldud. 6. General history. IQQ STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. "7. Constitution of the United States, and of the several States. 8. Elements of the natural sciences, inchiding their application to the arts of life, such as agriculture, manufactures, &c. 9. Moral uistruction m the connected Bible history, the life and discourses of Christ, the religious observation of Nature, and history of Christianity. 10. Science and art of vocal and instrumental music. Thorough instruction on all these topics I suppose to be essential to a complete common-school education ; and though it may be many years before our schools come up to tliis standard, yet I think nothing short of this should satisfy us ; and, as fast as possible, we should be laboring to train teachers capable of giving in- struction in all these branches. When this standard for the common school has been attained, then, before the pupil is prepared to enter on the three years' course of study proposed in the Teachers' Seminary, he must have studied all the topics above enumerated, as they ought to be studied in the common schools. The study of a topic, however, for the purpose of applying it to practical use, is not always the same thing as studying it for the purpose of teaching it. The processes are often quite different. A man may study music till he can perform admirably himself, and yet possess very little skill in teaching others ; and it is well known that the most successful orators are not unfrequently the very worst teachers of elocution. The process of learning for practical purposes is mostly that of combination or synthesis ; but the process of learning for the purpose of teaching is one of continued and minute analysis, not only of the subject itself, but of all the movements and turnings of the feelers of the mind, the little an- tenncB by which it seizes and retains its hold of the several parts of a topic. Till a man can minutely dissect, not only the subject itself, but also the intellectual machinery by which it is worked up, he camiot be very successful as a teacher. The orator analyzes his subject, and disposes its several parts in the order best calculated for effect ; but the mental processes by which he does this, which con- stitute the tact that enables him to judge right, as if by instinct, are generally so rapid, so evanescent, that it may be impossible for him to recall them so as to describe them to another ; and it is tliis very rapidity of intellectual movement, wliich gives him success as an orator, that renders it the more difficult for him to succeed as a teacher. The musician would perform very poorly, who should stop to recognize each volition that moves the muscles which regulate the movement of his fingers on the organ-keys ; but he who would teach others to perform gracefully and rapidly, must give attention to points minute as these. The teacher must stop to observe and analyze each movement of the mind itself, as it advances on every topic ; but men of genius for execution, and of great prac- tical skill, who never teach, are generally too impatient to make this minute analysis, and often, indeed, form such habits as at length to become incapable of it. The first Duke of Marlborough was one of the most profound and brilliant military men that ever lived ; but he had been so little accustomed to observe the process of his own mind, by which he arrived with such certainty at those astounding results of warlike genius which have given him the first rank among Britain's soldiers, that he could seldom construct a connected argument in favor of his plans, and generally had but one answer to all the objections which might be urged against them, and that was usually repeated in the same words, — " Silly, silly, that's silly." A like remark is applicable to Oliver Cromwell, and several other men distmguished for prompt and energetic action. The mental habits best adapted for effect in the actual business of hfe are not always the mental habits best suited to the teacher ; and the Teachers' Seminary requhes a mode of instruction in some respects different from the practical school. The teacher, also, must revicAv the branches of instruction above enumerated with reference to their scientific connections, and a thorough demonstration of them, whicli, though not always necessary in respect to their practical apph- cation to the actual business of life, is absolutely essential to that ready com- mand which a teacher must have over them in order to put them into the minds of others. Nor is this all. There is a great variety of methods for inculcating the same truth ; and the diversities of mind are quite as numerous as the varieties of method. One mind can be best approached by one method, and another mind by another; and m respect to the teacher, one of the richest treasures of espe- STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. 207 rience is a knowledge of the adaptation of the different methods to different minds. These rich treasures of experience can be preserved, and classified, and imparted in the Teachers' Seminary. If the teacher never studies his profession, he learns tliis part of his duties only by the slow and wasteful process of exper- imenting on mind, and thus, in all probability, ruins many before he learns how to deal with them. Could we ascertain how many minds have been lost to the world in consequence of the injudicious measures of inexperienced and incompe- tent teachers ; if we could exhibit, in a statistical table, the number of souls which must be used up in quaUfying a teacher for his profession, by intrusting liim with its active duties without previous study, we could prove incontrovertibiy that it is great want of economy, that it is a most prodigious waste, to attempt to carry on a system of schools without making provision for the education of teachers. 2. The philosophy of mind, particularly in reference to its susceptibility of re- ceiving impressions from mind. The teacher should learn, at least, not to spoil by his awkward handling what Nature has made well ; he should know how to preserve the intellectual and moral powers in a healthful condition, if he be not capable of improving them. But, through ignorance of the nature of mind, and its susceptibilities, how often are a teacher's most industrious efforts worse than thrown away — perverting and destroying rather than improving ! Frequently, also, the good which is gained by judicious efforts in one du-ection is counteracted by a mistaken course in another. Under this head there should be a complete classification of the sources of influence, a close analysis of the peculiar n^-ture and causes of each, and of its applicability to educational purposes. There should be also a classification of the errors liable to be committed, with a similar analysis, and directions for avoid- ing them. It appears to me that there are some valuable discoveries yet to be made in this branch of knowledge ; and that, for the purposes of education, the powers of the mind are susceptible of a classification much better than that which has hitherto generally been adopted. 3. The peculiarities of intellectual and moral development in children, as mod- ified by sex, parental character, wealth or poverty, city or country, family gov- ernment, indulgent or severe, fickle or steady, &c. These diversities all exist in every community, and exert a most important in- fluence on the developments of cMdren ; and no teacher can discharge his duties diligently and thoroughly without recognizing this extensive class of influences. The influence of sex is one of the most obvious, and no successful teacher, I be- Ueve, ever manages the boys and the guds of his school in precisely the same manner. But the other sources of influence are no less important. Parental character is one. Parents of high-minded and honorable feeling, will be hkely to impart something of the same spirit to their cliildren. Such children may be easily governed by appeals to their sense of character, and perhaps ruined by the application of the rod. If parents are mean-spirited and selfish, great allow- ance should be made for the failings of then* children, and double diligence em- ployed to cultivate in them a sense of honor. The different circumstances of wealth and poverty produce great differences in cluldren. The rich child generally requhes restraint, the poor one encourage- ment. When the poor are brought in contact with the rich, it is natm'al that the former should feel somewhat sensitive as to tlie distinctions which may obtain between them and their fellows ; and in such cases special pains should be taken to shield the sensibilities of the poor child against needless wounds, and maJ^e him feel that the poverty for which he is no way blamable is not to him a deg- radation. Otherwise he may become envious and misanthropic, or be discour- aged and unmanned. But how often does the reverse of this take place, to the great injury of the character both of the poor and the rich ! Surely it is mis- fortune enough to the suffering child that he has to bear the ills arising from ignorance or negligence, vice or poverty, in his parents ; and the school should be a refuge for him, where he can improve himself and be happy. _ Again, city and country produce diversities in cliildren alrnost as great as the difference of sex. City children are incHned to the ardent, quick, glowing tem- perament of the female ; country children lean more to the cooler, steadiei', 208 STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. slower development of the male. City children are more excitable ; by the cir- cumstances in which they are placed, then- feehngs are kept in more constant and rapid motion, they are more easily moved to good, and have stronger tempta- tion to evil ; while country children, less excitable, less rapid in their advances toward either good or evil, present, in thek j^eculiarities, a broad and solid found- ation for characters of stable structure and enduring usefulness. Though human nature is every where the same, and schools present the same general character- istics ; yet the good country teacher, if he remove to the city, and would be equally successful there, will find it necessary to adopt several modifications of his former arrangements. Many other circumstances give rise to diversities no less important. It is the business of the Teachers' Seminary to arrange and classify these modifying influ- ences, and give to the pupil the advantages of an anticipated experience in re- spect to his method of proceeding in regard to them. No one will imagine that the teacher is to let his pupils see that he recognizes such differences among them ; he should be wise enough to keep his own counsel, and deal with each individual in such manner as the pecuhar circumstances of each may render most productive of good. 4. The science of education in general, and full illustration of the difference between education and mere instruction. Science, in the modern acceptation of the term, is a plnlosophical classification and arrangement of all the facts wliich are observed in resjDect to any subject, and an investigation from these facts of the principles which regulate their oc- currence. Education affords its facts, and they are as numerous and as deeply interesting as the facts of any other science ; these facts are susceptible of as philosophical a classification and arrangement as the facts of chemistry or astron- omy ; and the principles which regulate their occurrence are as appropriate and profitable a subject of investigation as the principles of botany or zoology, or of politics or morals. I know it has been said by some, that education is not a sci- ence, and cannot be reduced to scientific principles ; but they who talk thus either make use of words without attaching to them any definite meaning, or they con- found the idea of education with that of the mere art of teaching. Even in this sense the statement is altogether erroneous, as will be shown under the next head. The teacher should be acquainted with these facts, with their classification, their arrangement and principles, before he enters on the duties of his profession ; or he is like the surgeon who would operate on the human body before he has studied anatomy, or the attorney who would commence practice before he has made himself acquainted with the first principles of law. It is a common error to confound education with mere instruction ; an error so common, indeed, that many writers on the subject use the words as nearly, if not entirely, synonymous. Instruction, however, comprehends but a very small part of the general idea of education. Education includes all the extraneous in- fluences which combine to the formation of intellectual and moral character ; while instruction is limited to that which is directly communicated from one mind to another. " Education and instruction (says Hooker) are the means, the one by use, the other by precept, to make our natural faculty of reason both the bet- ter and the sooner to judge rightly between truth and error, good and evil." A man may become well educated, though but poorly instructed, as was the case with Pascal and Franklin, and many others equally illustrious ; but if a man is well instructed, he cannot, without some great fault of liis own, fail to acquire a good edncatioti. Instruction is mostly the work of others ; education depends mainly on the use which we ourselves make of the circumstances by which we are surrounded. The mischiefs of defective instruction may often be repaired by our own subsequent eftorts ; but a gap left down in the line of om- education is not so easily put up, after the opportunity has once passed by. 5. The art of teaching. The art of teaching, it is true, is not a science, and cannot be learned by theo- retic study alone, without practice. The model-school is appropriately the place for the acquisition of this art by actual practice ; but, like all the rational arts, it rests on scientific principles. The theoretical instruction, therefore, in this braach, will be limited mainly to a development of the principles on which it is STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. jQg founded ; while the application of those principles "wUl be illustrated, and the art of teaching acquhed, by instructing in the model-school under the care of the professors, and subject to their direction and remarks. The professor assigns to the pupil his class in the model-school, he observes his manner of teaching, anc' notices its excellences and defects ; and after the class is dismissed, and the stu dent is with him alone, or in company only with his fellow-students, he commends what he did well, shows him how he might have made the imperfect better, and the erroneous correct, pointing out, as he proceeds, the application of theoretic principles to practice, that the lessons in the model-school may be really an illus- tration of all that has been taught in the Teachers' Seminary. 6. The ai-t of governing cliildren, with special reference to the imparting and keeping alive of a feehng of love for children. Children can be properly governed only by affection ; and affection, rightly du'ected, is all-powerful for this purpose. A school governed without love is a gloomy, mind-killing place ; it is like a nursery of tender blossoms filled with an atmosphere of frost and ice. Affection is the natm'al magnet of the muid in childhood ; the child's mind is fitted by its Creator to be moved by a mother's love ; and cold indifference or stern lovelessness repels and freezes it. In gov- erning children there is no substitute for affection, and God never intended there should be any. General rules can be given for the government of a school ; the results of ex- perience can be treasured up, systematized, and imparted ; the candidate for the teacher's ofiice can be exercised to close observation, patience, and self-control ; and all these are essential branches of instruction in the art of governing. StiU, if there be no feehng of love for children, all this wiU not make a good school- governor. There is great natural diversity in individuals in regard to this, as in all other affections ; yet every one whom God has fitted to be a parent has the elements of this affection, and these elements are susceptible of development and improvement. 7. History of education, including an accurate outline of the educational sys- tems of different ages and nations ; the circumstances wlfich gave rise to them ; the jDrinciples on which they were fomided ; the ends which they aimed to ac- complish ; their successes and failures, their permanency and changes ; how far they influenced individual and national character ; how far any of them might have originated in ^jremeditated plan on the part of their founders ; whether they secui'ed the intelligence, virtue, and happiness of the people, or otherwise, with the causes, &c. To insm-e success in any pursuit, the experience of our predecessors is justly considered a valuable, and generally an indispensable aid. What should we think of one who claimed to be a profound politician while ignorant of the his- tory of pohtical science ; Avhile unacquainted with the origin of governments, the causes which have modified their forms and influences, the changes which have taken place in them, the different effects produced by various systems tuider di- verse influences, and of the thousand combinations in which the past treasures wisdom for the future ? What should we think of the lawyer who knew nothing of the history of law ? or of the astronomer, ignorant of the history of astrono- my ? In every science and every art we recognize the value of its appropriate history ; and there is not a single circumstance that gives value to such history, which does not apply, in all its force, to the history of education. Yet, strange to say, the history of education is entirely neglected among us ; there is not a work devoted to the subject in the English language ; and very few, indeed, which contain even notices or hints to guide one's inquiries on this deeply inter- esting theme. I wish some of those wiiters who complain that education is a hackneyed subject, a subject so often and so much discussed, that nothing new remains to be said upon it, would turn their inquhies in tliis direction, and I think they will find much, and that too of the highest utility, wliich wiU be entu-ely new to the greater part even of the reading population. Man has been an educator ever smce he became civihzed. A great variety of systems of public instruction have been adopted and sustained by law, which have produced powerful and enduring influences ; and are we to set sail on this boundless ocean entirely ignorant of the courses, and soundings, and discoveries of our predecessors ? 110 STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. The Hebrew nation, in its very origin, was subjected to a premeditated and thoroughly systematized course of national instruction, wliich produced the most wonderful influence, and laid the foundation for that peculiar hardihood and de- terminateness of character, which hare made them the astonishment of all ages, a miracle among nations. A full development of this system, and a careful illus- tration of the particulars wliich gave it its peculiar strength, and of the circum- stances which perverted it from good to evil, wliich turned strength into the force of hate, and perseverance into obstinacy, would be a most valuable contri- bution to the science of general education. The ancient Persians and Hindoos had ingenious and thoroughly digested systems of public instruction, entirely diverse from each other, yet each wonderfully efficacious in its own pecuUar way. The Greeks were a busily educating people, and great varieties of systems sprung up in their different states and under their different masters, all of them inge- nious, most of them effective, and some of them characterized by the highest excellences. Systems which we cannot and ought not to imitate, may be highly useful as warnings, and to prevent our trying experiments which have been often tried before, and failed to be useful. The Chinese, for example, have had for ages a system wliich is pecuharly and strictly national ; its object has always been to make them Chinese, and nothing else ; it has fully answered the purpose intended ; and what has been the result ?* A nation of machines, a people of patterns, made to order ; a set of men and women wound up like clocks, to go in a certain way, and for a certain time, with minds wonderfully nice and exact in certain little things ; but as stiff, as unsusceptible of expansion, as incapable of originating thought, or deviating from the beaten track, as one of their own gra- ven images is of navigating a sliii?. In short, they are very much such a people as the Americans might become in a few centuries, if some amiable enthusiasts could succeed in establishing what they are pleased to denominate a system ex- clusively American. Education, to be useful, must be expansive, must be imi- versal ; the mind must not be trained to run in one narrow channel : it must understand that human beings have thought, and felt, and acted, in other coun- tries than its own ; that the results of preceding efforts have theu' value, and that all light is not confined to its own little Goshen. When a science has become fixed as to its principles, when its facts are ascer- tained and well settled, then its history is generally written. Why, then, have we no history of education in our language ? Simply, because the science of education, with us, is yet in its infancy ; because, so far from being a hackneyed or an exhausted subject, on which nothing new remains to be said, its fundamen- tal principles are not yet so ascertained as to become the basis of a fixed science. It cannot be pretended that there are no materials for the composition of such a history. We are not destitute of uiformation respecting the educational systems of the most ancient nations, as the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Cartha- ginians ; and in respect to the Hindoos, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese, the modern Europeans, the materials for their educational liistory are nearly as ample as those for then- civil history ; and the former is quite as important to the educator as the latter is to the civilian. The brief and imper- fect, but highlj^ interesting sketches, given by Sharon Turner in liis History of England, afford sufficient proof of my assertion ; and they are to a full history of English education, as the first streaks of dawn to the risen sun. Should Teach- ers' Seminaries do nothing else than excite a taste and afford the materials for the successful pursuit of this branch of study only, they would more than repay all the cost of their establislmient and maintenance. Systems of education which formed and trained such minds as arose in Egypt, in Judea, in Greece — systems under whose influence such men as Moses and Isaiah, Solon, and Plato, and Paul, received those first impressions which had such commanding power over their mighty intellects, may afford to us many valuable suggestions. The several topics to wliich I have above alluded, as particularly worthy of notice in a his- tory of those systems, are too obviously important to require a separate illus- tration. 8. The rules of health and the laws of physical development. The care of the body while we ai-e in this world is not less important than * See Note A, at the close of this article. STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS, 211 the culture of the mind ; for, as a general fact, no mmd can -work vigorously in a feeble and comfortless body ; and Avhen the forecastle of a vessel sinks, the cabin must soon follo-w. The educating period of youth is the time most critical to health ; and the peculiar excitements and temptations of a course of study, add greatly to the natural dangers of the forming and developing seasons of life. Teachers, therefore, especially, should understand the rules of health, and the laws of pliysical development ; and it is impossible that they sliould under- stand them, unless they devote some tune to their study. What a ruinous waste of comfort, of strength, and of life, has there been in our educational establish- ments, iu consequence of the ignorance and neglect of teachers on this point ! And how seldom is this important branch of study ever thought of as a neces- sary qualification for the office of teacher ! As it is a most sacred duty of the teacher to preserve uninjured the powers of the mind, and keep them in a healthfid condition, so it is no less his duty to take the same care of the physical powers. The body should not only be kept in health, but its powers should be developed and improved with as much care as is devoted to the unprovement of the mind, that aU the capabilities of the man may be brought out and fitted for active duty. But can one know how to do this iff he never learns ? And will he be hkely to learn, unless he has op- portunity of learning ? It is generally regarded as the province of teachers to finish out and improve on Nature's plan ; but if they can all be brought to un- derstand their profession so well as not to mar and spoil what Nature made right, it will be a great improvement on the present condition of education in the world. 9. Dignity and importance of the teacher's office. Self-respect, and a consciousness of doing well, are essential to comfort and success in any honorable calling; especially in one subject to so many external depressions, one so little esteemed and so poorly rewarded by the world at large, as that of the teacher. No station of so great importance has probably ever been so slightly estimated ; and the fault has been partly in the members of the profession itself. They have not estimated their official importance suffi- ciently high ; they have given a tacit assent to the superficial judgment of the world ; they have hung loosely on the profession, and too often abandoned it the first opportunity. They ought early to understand that their profession demands the strongest efforts of their whole lives ; that no employment can be more in- timately connected with the progress and general welfare of society ; that the best hojjes and tenderest wishes of parents and of nations depend on their skill and fidelity ; and that an incompetent or unworthy discharge of the duties of their office brings the community into the condition of an embattled host ivhen the standard-hearer faileth. If teachers themselves generally had a clear and definite conception of tlie immensely responsible place they occupy ; if they were skilled in the art of laying these conceptions vividly before the minds of the people among whom they labor, it would produce a great influence on the profession itself, by bringing it under the pressure of a mightier motive, and cause all classes of people more clearly to understand the inestimable worth of the good teacher, and make them more willing to honor and reward him. And this, too, would be the surest method of ridding the profession of such incumbents as are a disgi-ace to it, and an obstacle to its elevation and improvement. Julius Caesar was the ffi'st of the Romans who honored school-teachers by raising them to the rank of Roman citizens, and in no act of his life did he more clearly man- ifest that peculiar sagacity for wliich he was distinguished. 10. Special rehgious obligations of teachers in respect to benevolent devoted- ness to the intellectual and moral welfare of society, habits of entne self-control, purity of mind, elevation of character, (fee. The duties of the teacher are scarcely less sacred or less delicate than those of the mmister of religion. In several important respects he stands in a similar relation to society ; and his motives and encouragements to effort must, to a con- siderable extent, be of the same class. It is not to be expected that teaching will ever become generally a lucrative profession, or that many will enter it for mere love of money, or tliat, if any should enter it from such a motive, they would ever be very useful in it. All teachers ought to have a comfortable sup- . port, and a competency for the time of sickness and old age ; but "what ought ta ■j^Y2 STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. be and what is, in such a world as this, are often very different things. If a com- petency is gained by teaching, very few will ever expect to grow rich by it. Higher motives than the love of wealth must actuate the teacher in the choice of his profession, and animate him in the performance of its laborious duties. Such motives as the love of doing good, and peculiar affection for children, do exist in many minds, notwithstanding the general selfislmess of the world ; and these emotions, by a proper kind of culture, are susceptible of increase, till they become the predominant and leading desires. The teacher who has little benev- olence, and little love for children, must be a miserable being, as well as a very poor teacher ; but one who has these propensities strongly developed, and is not ambitious of distinction in the world of vanity and noise, but seeks his happiness in doing good, is among the happiest of men ; and some of the most remarkable instances of healthy and cheerful old age are found among school-teachers. As examples, I would mention old Ezekiel Cheever, who taught school in New Eng- land for seventy-one years without interruption, and died in Boston in the year 1708, at the advanced age of ninety-three ; or Dr. G-. F. Dinter, now living at Konigsberg in Prussia, in the eightieth year of his age. Indeed, the ingenious author of Hermippus Redivivus affirms, that the breath of beloved children pre- serves the benevolent schoolmaster's health, as salt keeps flesh from putrefac- tion. In Prussia, school-teachers generally enter on their profession at the age of twenty-two or twenty -five, and the average term of service among the forty thousand teachers there employed is over thirty years, making the average du- ration of a teacher's life there nearly sixty years ; a greater longevity than can be found in any profession in the United States. Many teachers continue in the active discharge of their official duties more than fifty years; and the fiftieth anniversary of their induction to oflice is celebrated by a festival, and honored by a 'present from govermnent. The other quahties mentioned, self-control, purity of mind, elevation of char- acter, are so obviously essential to a teacher's usefulness, that they require no comment. We need only remark, that these are moral qualities, and can be cultivated only by moral means ; that they are religious quaUties, and must be excited and kept alive by religious motives. Will any one here raise the cry, Sectarianism, Church arid State ? I pity the poor bigot, or the narrow-souled unbeliever, who can form no idea of religious principle, except as a sectarian thing ; who is himself so utterly unsusceptible of ennobhng emotions, that he cannot even conceive it possible that any man should have a principle of vhtue and piety superior to all external forms, and untrammeled by metaphysical sys- tems. From the aid of such men, we have nothing to hope in the cause of sound education ; and their hostility we may as well encounter in one form as another, provided we make sure of the ground on which we stand, and hold up the right principles in the right shape. 11. The influence which the school should exert on civilization and the prog- ress of society. It requires no great sagacity to perceive that the school is one of the most important parts of the social machine, especially in modern times, when it is fast acquiring for itself the influence which was wielded by the pulpit some two centuries ago, and which, at a more recent period, has been obtained by the pe- riodical press. As the community becomes separated into sects, which bigotry and intolerance force into subdivisions still more minute, the influence of the pul- pit is gradually circumscribed ; but no such causes limit the influence of the school. Teachers need only miderstand the position they occupy, and act in concert, to make the school the most effective element of modern civilization, not excepting even the periodical press. A source of influence so immense, and which draws so deeply on the destinies of man, ought to be thoroughly investigated and con- sidered, especially by those who make teaching their profession. Yet I know not, in the whole compass of English literature, a single work on the subject, notwithstanding that education is so worn out a theme, that nobody can say any thing new upon it. 12. The elements of Latin, together with the German, French, and Spanish languages. The languages of Europe have received most of their refinement and their Bcience through the medium of the Latin ; and so largely are they indebted to STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. H^ this tongue, that the elements of it are necessary as a foundation for the study of the modern languages. That the German should be understood by teachers, especially in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the Western States generally, is obvious from the fact, that more than half the school districts contain German parents and children, avIio are best approached through tlie medium of their own tongue ; and the rich abundance and variety of educational literature in this language, greater, I venture to say, than in ail other languages together, render it an ac- quisition of the highest importance to every teacher. In the present state of the commercial world one cannot be said to have acquired a business education without a knowledge of French ; while our intimate relations with Mexico and South America render the Spanish valuable to us, and, indeed, in the Western country, almost indispensable. The mental discipline which the study of these languages gives is of tlae most valuable kind, and the collateral information ac- quired while learning them is highly useful. Though a foreign tongue is a difiS- calt acquisition for an adult, it is very easy for a child. In the Rhine provinces of Germany, almost every clnld learns, without effort, both German and French, and, in the commercial cities, English also ; and the unschooled children of the Levant often learn four or five ditierent languages merely by the ear. I do not suppose that the modern languages will soon become a regular branch of study in aU our common schools; stiU, many who depend on those schools for their education, desire to study one or more of them, and they ought to have the op- portunity ; and if we would make our common schools our best schools, as they sm-ely ought to be, the teachers must be capable of giving instruction in some of these languages. I have thus endeavored to give a brief view of the course of study which should be pursued in a Teachers' Seminary, and this, I suppose, in itself, affords a strong and complete argument to establish the necessity of such an institution. A few general considerations in favor of this object wiU now be adduced. 1. The necessity of specific provision for the education of teachers is proved by the analogy of all other professions and pursuits. To every sort of business in which men engage, some previous discipline is considered necessary ; and this idea, confirmed by all experience, proceeds on the miiversal and very correct assumption, that the human mind knows nothing of business by intuition, and that miraculous inspiration is not to be expected. A man is not thought capable of shoeing a horse, or making a hat, without serving an apprenticeship at the business. Why, then, should the task of the schoolmas- ter, the most difficult and dehcate of all, the management of the human mind, that most intricate and complex of machines, be left to mere intuition, be sup- posed to require no previous training ? That the profession of school-teacher should so long be kept so low in the scale of professions, that it should even now be so generally regarded as a pursuit which needs, and can reward, neither time nor pains spent in preparation for its important duties, is a plain proof and ex- ample of the extreme slowness of the human race to perfect the most important parts of the social system. 2. A well-endowed, competent, and central institution, in a State, for the edu- cation of teachers, would give, in that State, oneness, dignity, and influence to the profession. It would be a point of union that would hold the profession together, and pro- mote that harmony and co-operation so essential to success. Teachers have been isolated and scattered, without a rallying-point or rendezvous ; and the wonder- ful influence which has been exerted by the Western college of teachers (and other similar institutions in the Eastern States), the whole secret of which is, tliat it affords a central point around which teachers may rally, is but a faint shadow of what might be accomplished by a well-endowed and ably-manned seminary. Let there be some nucleus around which the strength of the profes- sion may gather, and the community will soon feel its importance, and give it its due honor. This object cannot be accomplished by small institutions scattered through the State, nor by erecting teachers' departments in existing institutions. The aggi"e- gate expense of such an arrangement would be quite as great as that of endow- ing one good institution ; and without such an institution it would, after all, H 114 STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. accomplish but very little. It would be like distributing the waters of the canal to every little village iu the State, instead of having them run in one broad and deep channel, suitable for navigation. 3. Such an institution would serve as a standard and model of education tJiroughout the community. The only reason why people are satisfied with an inferior system of common- school instruction is, that they have no experience of a better. No community ever goes voluntarily from a better to a worse, but the tendency and the effort generally are to rise in excellence. All our ideas of excellence, however, are comparative, and there will be little prospect of advancement unless we have a standard of comparison higher than any thing to which we have already attained. A well-managed institution at the seat of government, which should embody all real improvements, and hold up the highest standard of present attainment, being visited by the executive oiEcers, the legislatfjrs, the judges, the members of the bar, and other enlightened and influential men, who annually resort to the capital from every part of the State, would present a pattern to every school district, and excite emulation in every neighborhood. As an example of the rapidity with which improvements are taken, provided only there are appropri- ate channels for them to flow in, I may mention the practice of singing in schools, so recently introduced, and now so generally approved. 4. Such an institution would produce concentration of effort ; its action would possess the vigor which strong sympathies impart ; and it would tend to a de- sirable uniformity in books and modes of teaching. I do not suppose that absolute perfection will ever be attained in the art of teaching ; and while absolute perfection is not reached, it is certain there ought not to be entire uniformity in boolcs and modes of teaching. But in this, as in all other human arts, there may be constant approximation toward the perfect ; and this progress must be gi-eatly accelerated by the concentration of effort, and the powerful sympathetic action of mind on mind, collected in one institution, and determined, as it were, to one focus. The action of such an institution would obviate the principal evils, now so strongly felt, arising from the diversity of books and methods ; it would produce as much uniformity as would be desirable in the existing stage of improvement ; and the more advanced the progress, the greater would be the uniformity. 5. All experience (experience which we generally appeal to as the safest guide in all practical matters) has decided in favor of institutions sustained by govern- ment for the education of teachers. Wo country has ever yet obtained a sufficient number of well-qualified teachers in any other way ; while every government which has adopted this method, and vigorously pursued it, either has already gained the object, or is iu the fair way of gaining it, however luipromising the beginnings might have been. Ho country has ever been so well supplied with competent teachers as Prussia at the pres- ent moment, and yet, thirty years ago, the mass of school-teachers there was probably below the present average standard of i^ew England and Ohio. Din- ter gives several examples of ignorance and incapacity during the first years of Ids official labor in East Prussia, which we should scarcely expect to find any where in the United States ; and the testimony of Dr. Juhus before the British House of Commons, which waa published m connection with my last report to the Legislature of Ohio, gives a similar view of the miserable condition of the Prus- sian schools at that time. Now, what has been the great means of effecting so desirable an object in Prussia ? Obviously, and by universal acknowledgment, the establishment of seminaries for the education of teachers.* The experiment was commenced by placing one in each of the ten provinces into which the kingdom is divided (equivalent to having one in each of the several States of this Union) ; and as their utility was tested, their number was increased ; till now there are more than foi'ty for a population of fourteen millions. Wirtemberg, Bavaria, Austria, Russia, Holland, France, and all other countries which desire to obtain a sufficient number of well-qualified teachers, find it necessary to follow this example ; and I do not believe the United States are an exception to so general a rule. Indeed, * See Notes B and C, at the dose of this article. STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. 115 such institutious must be even moi-e necessary for us than for them, smce, from the crowded state of the professions in old countries, there is much greater com- petition for the appointment of schoolmaster there than here. It now only remains that I state a few of tlie more prominent objections ■which are sometimes made to these institutions, and endeavor to answer them. 1. " Such institutions are unnecessary. We have had good teachers without them, and may have good teachers still." This is the old stereotyped objection against every attempt at improvement in every age. When the bold experiment was first made of nailing hon upon a horse's hoof, the objection was probably urged that horseshoes were entirely un- necessary. " We have had excellent horses without them, and sliall probably continue to have them. The Greeks and Romans never used iron horseshoes : and did not they have the best of horses, which could travel thousands of miles, and bear on their backs the conquerors of the world ?" So, when chimneys and glass windows were first introduced, the same objection would still hold good. " We have had very comfortable houses without these expensive additions. Our fathers never had them, and why should we ?" And at this day, if we were to attempt, in certain parts of the Scottish Highlands, to introduce the practice of wearing pantaloons, we should probably be met with the same objection. " We have had very good men Avithout pantaloons, and no doubt we shall continue to have them." In fact, we seldom know the inconveniences of an old thing till we have taken a new and better one in its stead. It is scarcely a yeai" since the ISTew York and European sailing packets were supposed to afford the very ne plus ultra of a comfortable and speedy passage across the Atlantic ; but now, in comparison with the newly-established steam-packets, they are justly regarded as a slow, uncertain, and tedious mode of conveyance. The human race is pro- gressive, and it often happens that the greatest conveniences of one generation are reckoned among the clumsiest waste lumber of the next. Compare the best printing-press at which Dr. FrankUn ever worked, with those splendid machines which now throw off their thousand sheets an hour ; and who will put these down by repeating, that Dr. Franklin was a very good printer, and made very good books, and became quite rich without them ? I know that we have good teachers already ; and I honor the men who have made themselves good teachers, with so little encouragement-, and so little op- portunity of study. But I also know that such teachers are very few, almost none, in comparison with the pubhc wants ; and that a supply never can be expected without the increased facihties which a good Teachers' Seminary would furnish. 2. " Such an institution would be very expensive." True, it wovild cost more than it would to build a stable, or fence in a few acres of ground ; and in this view of the matter a canal is expensive, and so is a public road, and many other things which the pubhc good requires, and the people are willing to pay for. The only questions worthy of answer are : Whether the expense be disproportionate to the object to be secured by it ? and whether it be beyond the resoiu-ces of the country '] To both these questions I unhesitatingly answer, No. The object to be secm-ed is one which would fuUy justify any amount of expense that might be laid out upon it ; and all that need be done might be done, and not a man in the State feel the poorer for it. We could not expect a perfect institution at once. We must begin where we are, and go forward by degrees. A school sufficient for all present purposes might well be maintained for five thousand dollars a year ; and what is that for States with resources like most of the States of this Union, and for the sake of secur- ing an object so great as the perfection of the school system ? If the kingdom of Prussia, with fourteen millions of people, two-thirds of whom are very poor, and the other third not very rich, can support forty-two Teachers' Seminaries, surely such States as Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and others, with pop- ulations of more than a milUon, none of whom are very poor, and many fast growing rich, can afford to support one. 3. " We cannot be certain that they who study in such institutions would de- vote themselves to the business of teaching." This objection apphes with equal force to all professional institutions ; and if it is of any weight against a Teachers' Seminary, it is equally available against 116 STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. a medical school. The objection, however, has very Utile weight ; for after a man lias prepared himself for a profession, he generally wishes to engage in it, if he is competent to discharge its duties ; and if he is not competent, the pubUc are no losers by his withdrawal. But let it even be supposed that a Teachers' Seminary should be established on the plan above sketched out, and occasionally a man should go successfully through the prescribed course of study, and not engage in teaching; are the pubhc the losers by it ? Is the man a worse member of society after such a course of study, or a better ? Is he less interested in schools, or less able to perform the duties of a school officer, or less qualified to give a useful direction to the system among the people, than he would have been without such a course of study ? Is he not manifestly able to stand on higher ground in all these re- spects, than he otherwise could have done ? The benefit which the public would derive from such men out of the profession (and such would be useful in every school district) would amply remunerate all the expenses of the establishment. But such cases would be too few to avail much on either side of the argument ; certainly, m any view of them, they can argue nothing against the establishment of Teachers' Seminaries. 4. " Teachers educated in such an institution would exclude aU others from the profession." Not unless the institution could furnish a supply for all the schools, and they were so decidedly superior that the people would prefer them to all others ; in which case certainly the best interests of education demand that the statement in the objection should be verified in fact. But the success of the institution will not be so great and aU-absorbing as this. It will not be able at once to supply half the number of teachers needed, and all who are educated in it wUl not be superior to every one who has not enjoyed its advantages. There is great di- versity of natural gifts ; and some, with very slender advantages, wiU be superior to others who have been in possession of every facility for acquisition. That such an institution will elevate the standard of qualification among teachers, and crowd out those who notoriously fall below this standard, is indeed true ; but this, so far from being an objection, is one of its highest recommendations. 5. " One such institution cannot afford a sufficient supply for all the schools." This is readily conceded ; but people generally admit that half a loaf is better than no bread, especially if they are Imngry. K we have a thousand teachers, it is much better that three hundred of the number should be well qualified, than that all should be incompetent ; and five hundred would be still better than three hundred, and seven hundred better than either, and the whole thousand best of all. We must begin as weU as we can, and go forward as fast as we are able ; and not be like the poor fool who will not move at all, because the first step he takes from his own door will not land him at once in the place of his destination. The first step is a necessary preliminaiy to the second, and the sec- ond to the third, and so on till all the steps are taken, and the journey completed. The educated teacher will exert a reforming influence on those who have not been so well prepared ; he will elevate and enlarge theu- views of the duties of the profession, and greatly assist them in their endeavors after a more perfect qualification.* He will also excite capable young men among liis pupils to en- gage in the profession ; for one of the greatest excitements of the young to en- gage in any business, is to see a superior whom they respect in the successful prosecution of it. Every well-educated teacher does much toward qualifying those who are al- ready in the profession witliout sufficient preparation, and toward exciting others to engage in it ; and thus, though the institution cannot supply nearly teachers enough for all the schools, yet all the schools will be better taught in consequence of its influence. Moreover, a State mstitution would be the parent of many others, which would gradually arise, as their necessity would be appreciated from the perceived success of the first. 6. " The wages of teachers are not sufficient to induce teachers so well edu- cated to engage in the profession." At present this is true ; for wages are generally graduated according to the * See Note D, at the close of this article. STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. IIT aggregate merit of the profession, and this, hitherto, has not been very great. People will not pay high for a poor article ; and a disproportionate quantity of poor articles in market, which are offered cheap, will affect the price of the good, with the generality of purchasers. But let the good be supplied in such quanti- ties as to make the people acquainted with it, and it will soon drive out the bad, and command its own price. The establishment of a Teachers' Seminary will raise the wages of teachers, by increasing then- quaUfications, and augmenting the real value of their services ; and people eventuallj'^ will pay a suitable com- pensation for good teaching, with much less grudging than they have hitherto paid the cheap wages of poor teachers, which, after all, as has been well observed, is but " buying ignorance at a dear rate."* NOTES. (A.) CHINESE EDUCATION. There is a regular system of schools in China of two kinds — the people's schools, and schools for the nobles. The course commences when the cliild is five years old, and is continued very rigorously, with but few and short vacations, to the age of manhood. In the people's schools the course consists of four parts, each of which has its appropriate book. The first is called Pe-kia-sing, and contains the names of persons in one hundred families, which the children must commit to memory. The second is called Tsa-tse, and contains a variety of matters neces- saiy to be known in the common business of life. The third is called Tsien-tse- ouen, a collection of one thousand alphabetical letters. The fourth is San-tse- king, a collection of verses of three syllables each, designed to teach the elements of Chinese morals and history. Such is the provision for the common people. For the nobles there is a great university at Pekiu, the Koue-tze-kien, to which every mandarin is allowed to send one of his sons. The candidate for admission must go fii-st to the governor of a city of the third rank for examination, and if approved, he receives the degree of Hien-ming. He then goes to the governor of a city of the first rank, and, if he maintains a good examination there, is ad- mitted to the miiversity. A mandarin is annually sent out from Pekin, to visit the higher institutions in the larger cities, and to confer degrees on the pupils, according to their prog- ress. A class of four hundred is selected, and passes through ten examinations. The fifteen who have acquitted themselves best in all these examinations, re- ceive the degree of Sinoa-tsay, the most important privilege of which is, that they are no longer liable to be whipped with the bamboo. Rich men's sons, who can- not always obtain this degree by a successful passage through the ten examina- tions, can procure the equivalent degree of Kien-song by paying a stipulated sum into the pubhc treasury. Having attained either of these lower degrees, the pupil, after three years, can offer himself at Pekiu for the higher degree of Kin- jin, wliich must be obtained after rigorous examination. The successful appUcants for this honor, after one year longer, can demand at Pekin an examination for the highest academical degi-ee, that of Tsin-tse. He who obtains this is congratu- lated and feasted by his friends ; he is regarded with veneration by the people, is eligible to the highest office in the State, and may be raised by the Emperor to the dignity of Han-lin. Tlie Emperor himself is required to be a man of learning, and the care of his * The New England practice of having district sehools taught by college-students, during their winter vacation, has been of great and acknowledsjed utility both to the teachers and the schools. I have no desire to discourage this good old practice ; for I apprehend that our common district schools, for many years to come, will need the services of temporary teachers of this kind. It is to be wished, however, that our colleges would make some provision for the special instruction •of such students as engage in teaching. It would not only make their teachers much more val- uable, but would fit them also to become school-examiners and inspectors after they have leSi the vocation of schoolmaster for some more lucrative employment. ;^jg STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. early education is committed to a special college of learned men, called Tsclies- 8za-fu ; and he is regarded in law as the educator and instructor of his people, aa well as their ruler. In each village there is a public hall, where the civil and military functionaries assemble on the first and fifteenth of every month, and a discourse is delivered to them on the Sacred Edict. This Sacred Edict contains, 1. The principles of Khong-hi, an ancient emperor. 2. A commentary by his son Young-tching, who reigned about the year 1700 ; and, 3. A paraphrase by Wang- yeou-po. It was translated into English by Rev. W. Milne, Protestant Mission- ary at Malacca, and printed in London in 1817. In the above brief sketch, it is plain that the Chinese have a great veneration for learning, and that the emoluments and honors of the empire are designed to be accessible to those only who have taken academical degrees. But the whole system is arranged to make them Chmese. It excludes every thing of foreign origin, it admits neither improvement nor variation, and the result is manifest iu the character of the people. Some, however, of our modern improvements have long been known and prac- ticed in the Chinese schools. Such as the practice of the children reading and re- peating together in choir, the art of mnemonics, and others of the like kind. — See Schwartz's Geschichte der Erziehung, vol. i. p. 68-75. (B.) PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS, A FEW YEARS AGO. The following questions and answers are from Dr. Julius's testimony, before the Committee of the British House of Commons, in 1834, respecting the Prus- sian School System. " Do you remember, from your own knowledge, what the character and attain- ments of the schoolmasters were previous to the year 1819 ?" " I do not recollect ; but I know they were very badly composed of non-com- missioned oificers, organists, and half-drunken people. It has not risen like a fountain at once. Since 1770, there has been much done in Prussia, and through- out Germany, for promoting a proper education of teachers, and by them of children." ^, " In yom- own observation has there been any very marked improvement in the character and attaiimients of schoolmasters, owing to the pains taken to which you have referred ?" " A very decided improvement." Dinter, in his autobiography, gives some surprising specimens of gross incapa- city in teachers, even subsequent to 1819. The following anecdotes are fsom that mteresting work, Dinters Lehen von ihm selbst beschrieben. In the examination of a school in East Prussia, which was taught by a subal- tern officer dismissed from the army, the teacher gave Dinter a specimen of his skill in the illustration of Scripture narrative. The passage was Luke vii., the miracle of raising the widow's son at Nain. " See, children (says the teacher), Nain was a great city, a beautiful city ; but even in such a great, beautiful city, there lived people wlio must die. They brought the dead youth out. See, chil- dren, it was the same then as it is now — dead people couldn't go alone — they had to be carried. He that wait dead began to speak. This was a sure sign that he was alive again, for if he had continued dead he couldn't have spoken a word." In a letter to the King, a dismissed schoolmaster complained that the district was indebted to him 200705 dollars. Dinter supposed the man must be insane, and wrote to the physician of the place to mquire. The physician replied that the poor man was not insane, but only ignorant of the numeration table, Avriting 200 70 5 instead of 275. Dinter subjoins, " By the help of God, the King, and good men, very much has now been done to make things better." In examining candidates for the school-teachers office, Dinter asked one where the Kingdom of Prussia was situated. He rephed, that he believed it was some- where in the southern part of Lidia. He asked another the cause of the ignis- fatuus, commonly called Jack-with-the-lantern. He said they were specters made by the devil. Another being asked why he wished to become a school- teacher, replied, that he must get a living somehow. STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. Hg A military man of great influence once urged Dinter to recommend a disabled soldier, in whom he was interested, as a school-teacher. " I will do so," says Din- ter, " if he sustains the requisite examination." " 0," says the Colonel, " he doesn't know much about school-teaclaing, but he is a good, moral, steady man, and I hope you will recommend him to oblige me." D. — yes, Colonel, to oblige you, if you in your turn will do me a favor. Col. — "What is that ? B. — Get me ap- pointed drum-major in your regiment. True, I can neither beat a drum, nor play a fife ; but I am a good, moral, steady man as ever lived. A rich landholder once said to him, " Wliy do you wish the peasant children to be educated ? it will only make them unruly and disobedient." Dinter re- plied, " If the masters are wise, and the laws good, the more intelligent the peo- ple, the better they wiU obey." Dinter complained that the military system of Prussia was a great hinderance to the schools. A nobleman replied that the young men enjoyed the protection of the government, and were thereby bound to defend it by arms. Dinter asked if every stick of timber in a house ought first to be used in a fire-engine, because the house was protected by the engine ? or whether it would be good policy to cut down aU the trees of an orchard to build a fence with, to keep the hogs from eating the fruit ? (C.) SCHOOL-COUNSELOR DINTER. GusTAvus Fredeeick Dinter was born at a village near Leipsic, in 1760. He first distinguished himself as principal of a Teachers' Seminar}^ in Saxony, whence he was invited by the Prussian government to the station of School-Counselor for Eastern Prussia. He resides at Konigsberg, and about ninety days in the year he spends in visiting the schools of his province, and is incessantly employed nearly thirteen hours a day for the rest of liis tune, in the active duties of hia office ; and that he may devote himself the more exclusively to his work, he lives umnarried. He complains that his laborious occupation prevents his writing as much as he wishes for the public, yet, in addition to his official duties, he lectures several times a week, durmg term-time, in the University at Konigsberg, and always has in his house a number of indigent boys, whoso education he superin- tends, and, though poor himself, gives them board and clothing. He has made it a rule to spend every Wednesday afternoon, and, if possible, one whole day in the week besides, in writing for the press ; and thus, by making the best use of every moment of time, though he was nearly forty years old before his ca- reer as an author commenced, he has contrived to publish more tlian sixty origi- nal works, some of them extending to several volumes, and all of them popular. Of one book, a school catechism, fifty thousand copies were sold previous to 1830 ; and of his large work, the School-Teacher's Bible, in 9 volumes 8vo, thii-ty thou- sand copies were sold in less than ten years. He is often interrupted by persons who are attracted by his fame, or desu'e his advice ; and while conversing with his visitors, that no time may be lost, he employs himself in knitting ; and thus not only supplies himself with stockings and mittens, suited to that cold climate, but always has some to give away to indigent students and other poor people. His disinterestedness is quite equal to his activity, and of the income of his publications, he devotes annually nearly five hundred dollars to benevolent purposes. Unweariedly industrious, and rigidly economical as he is, he lays up nothing for himself He says, " I am one of those happy ones, who, when the question is put to them, ' Lack ye any thing V (Luke xxii. 35), can answer with joy, 'Lord, nothing.' To have more than one can use is superfluity ; and I do not see how tliis can make any one happy. People often laugh at me, because I Avill not incur the expense of drinking w^ine, and because I do not wear richer clothing, and live in a more costly style. Laugh away, good people ; the poor boys, al^, whose education I pay for, and for whom, besides, I can spare a few dollars for Christmas gifts, and new-year's presents, they have their laugh too." Toward the close of his autobiography, he says respecting the King of Prus- sia, " I live happily under Frederick William ; he has just given me one hundred 120 STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. ' and thirty thousand dollars to build churches with in destitute places ; he has established a new Teachers' Seminary for my poor Polanders, and he has so ful- filled my every wish for the good of posterity, that I can myself hope to live to see the time when there shall be no schoolmaster in Prussia more poorly paid than a common laborer. He has never hesitated, during the whole term of my office, to grant me any reasonable request for the helping forward of the school- system. God bless him 1 I am with all my heart a Prussian. And now, my friends, when ye hear that old Dinter is dead, say, ' May he rest in peace ; he was a laborious, good-hearted, religious man ; he was a Christian.' " A few such men in the United States would effect a wonderful change in the general tone of our educational efforts. (D.) IMPROVEMENT OF SCHOOL-TEACHERS. At the commencement of the late school efforts in Prussia, for the benefit of teachers already in the profession who had not possessed the advantages of a regular training, it was the custom for them to assemble during the weeks of vacation in their schools, and, under the care of a competent teacher, go through a regular course of lessons for their improvement. Of the entke course a care- ful and minute journal was kept and transmitted to the government. The fol- lowing is from the journal of a four weeks' course of this kind, which was held at Regenwald in 1821, under the charge of School-Counselor Bernhardt. The King gave his special approbation of this journal, and caused a large number of copies to be printed and circulated throughout the kingdom. The Minister of Public Instruction expresses himself respecting it in the following terms : — "The view presented and acted upon by School-Counselor Bernhardt, that the important point is not the quantity and variety of knowledge communicated, but its solidity and accuracy ; and that the foundation of aU true culture consists in the education to piety, the feai- of God, and Christian humility ; and, accord- ingly, that those dispositions, before all things else, must be awakened and con- firmed in teachers, that thereby they may exercise love, long-suffering, and cheerfulness, in their difficult and laborious calling — these prmciples are the only correct ones, according to which the education of teachers every where, and in all cases, can and ought to be conducted, notwithstanding the regard which must be had to the peculiar circumstances and the intellectual condition of particular provinces and communities. The Ministry hereby enjoin it anew upon the Re- gency, not only to make these principles their guide in their own labors in the common schools and Teachers' Seminaries, but also to commend and urge them in the most emphatic manner on all teachers and pupils in their jurisdiction. That this will be faithfully done, the Ministry expect with so much the more confidence, because in this way alone can the supreme will of his Majesty the King, repeatedly and earnestly expi-essed, be fulfilled. Of the manner in which the Regency execute tliis order, the Ministry expect a Report, and only remark further, that as many copies of the journal as may be needed will be supplied." The strongly religious character of the instructions in the following journal will be noticed ; but will any Christian find fault with this characteristic, or with the King and Ministry for commending it ? The journal gives an account of the employment of every hour in the day, from half past six in the morning to a quarter before nine in the evening. Instead of making extracts from different parts of it, I here present the entire journal for the last week of the course, that the reader may have the better opportunity of forming liis own judgment on the real merits of the system. FOURTH WEEK. Monday, Oct. 22. — A. M. 6J-7. Meditation. Teachers and parents, forget not that your children are men, and that, as s?ich, they have the ability to become reasonable. God will have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth. As men, our children have the dignity of men, and a right to life, cultivation, honor, and truth. This is a holy, inaUenable right, that is, no man can divest himself oi STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. 121 it without ceasing to be a man. T-S^. Bible instruction. Reading the Bible, and verbal analysis of what is read. Jesus in the wilderness. 9-12. Writing. Exercise in small letters. P. M. 2-5. Wiiting as before. 5^7. Singing. 8-8|. Meditation. Our schools should be Christian schools for Christian children, and Jesus Christ should be daily the chief teacher. One thing is needful. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. The great end of our schools, therefore, is the instruction of children in Christianity ; or the knowledge of heav- enly truths in hope of eternal life ; and to answer the question. What must I do to be saved ? Our children, as they grow up, must be able to say, from the con- viction of their hearts. We know and are sure that thou art the Clirist, tlie Son of the living God. Beloved teachers, teach no Christianity without Chi-ist, and know that there cannot be a living faith without knowledge and love. Tuesday, Oct. 23. — A. M. 6-7. Meditation. Christian schools are the gardens of God's Spirit, and the plantations of humanity, and, therefore, holy places. How dreadful is this place ! Tliis is none other than the house of God. Teachers, venerate yoiu- schools — regard the sacred as sacred. T-SJ. Bible instruction. Reading of the Bible and verbal analysis of what is read. Luke xv. 1-10. 8^9. Catechism. Repeating the second article witli proper emphasis, and the neces- sary explanation of terms. 10-12. Writing. Exercise in German capitals, with the writing of syllables and words. P. M. 1-4. General repetition of the instruc- tions for school-teachers given during the month. 4-5. Brief instruction respect- ing school discipline and school laws. 5-7. Singing. 8-8^. Meditation. Teach- ers, you should make your school a house of prayer, not a den of murderers. Thou shalt not kill — that is, thou shalt do no injury to the souls of thy children. This you will do if you are an ungodly teacher, if you neglect your duty, if you keep no order or discipline in yom- school, if you instruct the children badly, or not at all, and set before them an injurious example. The children will be in- jured also by hurrying through the school-prayers, the texts, and catechism, and by all thoughtless reading and committing to memory. May God help you ! Wednesday, Oct. 24. — 6-6 1. Meditation. Dear teachers, you labor, for the good of mankind and the kingdom of God ; be, therefore, God's instruments and co- workers. Thy kingdom come. In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God. 6|-8|. Bible instruction as before, John iv. 1-15. 8A-9. Catechism. The correct and emphatic reading and repeating of the first section, with brief expla- nation of terms. 10-12. Instruction in school discipUne and school laws. P. M. 1-8. Instruction in the cultivation of fruit-trees. For instruction in tliis branch of economy, the school is arranged in six divisions, each under the care of a teacher acquainted with the business, with whom they go into' an orchard, and under liis mspection perform all the necessary work. General principles and directions are written in a book, of which each student has a copy. More cool- ing is the shade, and more sweet the fruit, of the tree which thine own hands have planted and cherished. 3-5. Instruction in school discipUne and school laws. 5i-^. Singing. 8-9. Meditation. The Christian school-teacher is also a good husband and father. Blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection, with all gravity. He that readeth, let him understand. Thursday, Oct. 25. — A. M. 6-6|. Meditation. Dear teachers, do all in your power to live in harmony and peace with yom* districts, that you may be a helper of tlie parents in the bringing up of their children. Endeavor to main- tain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. As much as in you lies, live peaceably with all men. 6|-9. Bible instruction as before, Luke vii. 11-17. Reading by sentences, by words, by syllables, by letters. Reading according to the sense, with questions as to the meaning. Understandest thou what thou readest ? 10-11. Instructions as to prayer in schools. Forms of prayer suitable for teachers and children are copied and committed to memory. Lord, teach us to pray. 11-12. Writmg. Exercise in capitals and writing words. P. M. 2-3. Instruction respecting prayer in tlie family and in the school. Forms of prayer for morning and evening, and at tlie table, are copied, with instructions that school children should commit them to memory, that they may aid their parents to an edifying performance pf the duty of family worship ; that, as the school 122 STOWE ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. thus helps the family, so the family also may help the school. Use not vain repetitions. 3-5. Bible instruction. General views of the contents of the Bible^ and how the teacher may communicate, analyze, and explain them to his chil- dren, yearly, at the commencement of the winter and summer terms. 5J-7. Singing. 8-9. Meditation. Teachers, acquire the confidence and love of your districts, but never forsake the direct path of duty. Fear God, do right, and be afraid of no man. The world, with its lusts, passeth away, but he that doeth the will of God shall abide forever. Friday, Oct. 26. — Meditation. Teachers, hearken to the preacher, and labor into his hands ; for he is placed over the Church of God, who will have the school be an aid to the Church. Remember them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and esteem them highly in love for their works' sake. Neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth any thing, but God who giveth the increase. 1-9. Bible instruction. Summary of the contents of the Bible, to be committed to memory by children from ten to fifteen years of age. 10-12. Bible instruction. Brief statement of the contents of the historical books of the JSTew Testament. P. M. 1-5. Bible instruction. Contents of the doctrinal and prophetical books of the New Testament. Selection of the pas- sages of the New Testament proper to be read in a country school. A guide for teachers to the use of the Bible in schools. 5-7. Suiging. 8-9. Meditation. Honor and love, as a good teacher, thy King and thy father-land ; and awake the same feelings and sentiments in the hearts of thy children. Fear God, honor the King, seek the good of the country in which you dwell, for "when it goes well with it, it goes well with thee. Saturday, Oct. 27. — 6-6^. Meditation. By the life in the family, the school, and the church, our heavenly Father would educate us and our children for our earthly and heavenly home ; therefore parents, teachers, and preachers, should labor hand in liaud. One soweth and another reapeth. I have laid the founda- tion, another buildeth thereon; and let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. Means of education : 1. In the family — the parents, domestic life, hab- its ; 2. In the school — the teacher, the instruction, the discipline ; 3. In the church — the preaching, the word, the sacraments. 6-^-9-^. Bible instruction. Rules whicli the teaclier should observe in reading the Bible. In analyzing it. In re- spect to the contents of the Old Testament books, and selections from them for reading, written instructions are given and copied, on account of the shortness of the time which is here given to this topic. 10-12. Bible instruction. Gen- eral repetition. P. M. 1-4. Bible instruction. General repetition. 4—5. Reading. Knowledge of the German language, with written exercises. 7-10^. Review of the course of instruction and the journal. lOi-12. Meditation. The prayer of Jesus (John xvii.), with particular reference to our approaching separation. Sunday, Oct. 28. — 6-|— 9. Morning prayer. Catechism. Close of the term. (In the open air on a hill at sunset) singing and prayer. Address by the head teacher. Subject. What our teacher would say to us when we separate from him. 1. What you have learned apply well, and follow it faithfully. If ye know tliese things, happy are ye if ye do them. 2. Learn to see more and more clearly that you know but little. We know m j^art. 3. Be continually learning, and never get weary. The man has never lived who has learned all that he might. 4. Be yourself what you would have your cliildren become. Become as little children. 5. Let God's grace be your highest good, and let it strengthen you in the difii- culties whicli you must encounter. My grace is sufficient for thee — my strength is perfect in thy weakness. 6. Keep constantly in mmd the Lord Jesus Christ. He has left us an example that we should follow his steps. Hymn — Lord Jesus Christ, liearken thou to us. Prayer. Benediction. Review of the hours spent in different studies during the four weeks. Arith- metic, sixty -seven ; writing, fifty-six ; Bible, twenty -five ; meditation, thirty -six ; other subjects, twenty-six ; singing, twenty-eight. Total, two hundred and thirty-eight. From nine to ten, in the morning, was generally spent in walking to- gether, and one hour in the afternoon was sometimes spent in tlie same manner. Familiar lectures were given on the following topics : 1. Directions to teachers as to the knowledge and right use of the Bible in schools. 2. Directions to teach- ers respecting instruction in wi'iting. 3. Directions for exercises in mental arith- metic. 4. Instructions respecting school discipline and school laws. 5. A col- STOVt'E ON NORMAL SCHOOLS. 123 lection of prayers for the school and family, with directions to teachers. 6. The German parts of speech, and how they may be best taught in a country school. •7. The day-book. Printed books were the following: 1. Dinter's Arithmetic. 2. Dinter on Guarding against Fnes. 3. Brief Biography of Luther. 4. On the Cultivation of Fruit-Trees. 5. German Grammar. 6. Baumgarten's Letter- Writer for Country Schools. 1. Luther's Catechism. That which can be learned and practiced in the short space of a few weeks, is only a little — a very little. But it is not of so much importance that we have more knowledge than others ; but most depends on this, that I have the right disposition ; and that I thoroughly understand and faithfuUy follow out the little which I do know. God help me, that I may give all which I have to my school ; and that I, with my dear chUdi-en, may, above all things, strive after that which is from above. Father in heaven, grant us strength and love for this. PROCEEDINGS OF AN EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY, IN 1838. In the autumn of 1834, Rev. Charles Brooks, pastor of a church in Hingham, commenced his labors in behalf of common schools, and parti- cularly of the establishment of a state system of supervision, and of a Nor- mal School. Mr. Brooks had become interested in these features of a system of public education during a visit to Europe, and from an oppor- tunity of becoming well acquainted with the details of the Prussian system, in conversation with Dr. Julius, who was his companion across the Atlantic, during his voyage home, when the latter gentleman was on his visit to this country on a commission from the Government of Prus- sia, to examine into our system of prison discipline. As will be seen hereafter, that visit was twice blessed — it helped, by disseminating a knowledge of our improvements in prisons, and our amelioration of the criminal code, to advance the cause of humanity in Europe, and make known among our statesmen and educators the progress which had been made in Germany in the means and agencies of popular education. Mr. Brooks' first public effort was on the 3d of December, 1835, in a thanks- giving address to his people, in which he gave a sketch of the Prussian system of education, and proposed the holding a series of conventions of the friends of common schools to agitate the subject of establishing a Normal School in the old colony. The first of these conventions was held on the 7th of December, 1836, and continued in session two days. This was followed by a second, at Hingham, on the 11th ; at Duxbury, on the 18th ; at New Bedford, on the 21st and 23d ; at Fair Haven, on the 23d ; and at East Bridgewater, on the 24th and 25th of the same month. Mr. Brooks continued his labors in the county in the autumn and winter following, sometimes before conventions, and sometimes by his in- dividual appointment. He was at Kingston on the 16th of January, 1837; at South Hingham, February 4th; at Q.uincy, February 21st; at Dunbury, May 10th; at Hansen, July 9th; at Plymouth, October 24th; and at Weymouth, November 5th. The labors of this gentleman were not confined to the old colony, or even to the State of Massachusetts. In the course of the same year he lectured at Northampton, Springfield, Deerfield, Boston, Middleborough, and ether places in Massachusetts, in 1836 and 1837, and particularly in the Hall of the House of Representatives on the 18th and 19th of Janu- ary, 1837, during the memorable session of the Legislature, in which the Board of Education was instituted; and on the 28th of January, 1838. during the no less memorable session, by which the first appropriation in behalf of Normal Schools was made. His theme every where was the 126 EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY. Teacher — " As is the Teacher^ so is the School,''^ — and the aim of all his discourses was to induce individuals and legislatures to esitablish Normal Schools and other agencies for improving the qualifications and the pecu- niary and social condition of the teacher, as the source of all other improve- ments in popular education. His facts and illustrations were drawn from the experience of Prussia and Holland. Mr. Brooks closed his active labors in this cause in Massachusetts after he had the satisfaction of see- ing the Board of Education established, and the first Normal School opened ; but not until he had made a powerful eflbrt to get one of these institutions located in Plymouth county, by means of the educational con- vention held at Hanover, on the 3d of September, 1838, which was graced by the presence and address of several of the most distinguished public men in the commonwealth. After noticing the proceedings of that con- vention, we will return to our narrative. At a meeting of the " Plymouth County Association for the Improve- ment of Common Schools," held at Hanover, September 3d, 1838, the question of a Normal School in Plymouth County was discussed by an array of distinguished men, such as the cause has seldom brought together in this country. The following notice of the proceedings is abridged from theHingham Patriot. After an address by Mr. Mann, Secretary of the Board of Education, on " Special Preparation, a Pre-requisite to Teaching,'''' Rev. Mr. Brooks, of Hingham, introduced a resolution approv- ing of a plan, proposed by a committee of the Association, to raise in the several towns in the county a sum sufficient to provide a building, fix- tures, and apparatus, in order to secure the location of one of the three Normal Schools which the Board proposed to establish in Plymouth county. Mr. Brooks excused himself from advocating the resolution, in- asmuch as he had reiterated his views on the subject in every town in the county, and published them in two addresses throvigh the press ; he therefore gave way to friends from abroad, who had come with strong hands and warm hearts to aid in the holy work. Mr. Ichabod Morton, of Plymouth, who had, two years before, out of a large heart, and small resources, offered to meet one tenth of the ex- pense of the enterprise, advocated the raising up better teachers, who, by a Christian education, could carry the happiness of childhood fresh and whole through life. Mr. Rantoul, of Gloucester, thought a reformation in our common schools was exceedingly needed, and this change for the better could only be effected by better teachers, well paid, and permanently employed. Rev. George Putnam, of Roxburg: — " For himself he saw no objection to the establishment of Normal Schools. But perhaps some might say, there was no need of special preparation for a teacher. To this opinion he must emphatiea!ly object. If there be any depart- ment for the able and proper performance of whose duties special instruction be absolutely necessary it is that of the educator. He said he had once kept school, and with tolerable acceptance, he believed, to his employers, but though just from college, he found himself deficient in the veryfirst steps of elementary knowledge. He had studied all the mathematics required at Cambridge, but he did not know how to come at a young mind so as successfully to teach enu- EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY. 227 meration. He had studied the classics; but he could not teach a boy how to construct a simple English paragraph. He found himself wanting in that high- est of arts, the art of simplifying difficult things so that children can grasp them. He therefore, from his own experience, ventured to say, that no liberal profession so comes short of its objects as that of the schoolmaster. Few, very few, apprehend its difficulties. To know how to enter the child's soul, and when there to know what to do, is knowledge possessed but by few, and if there be a province in which specific preparation be necessary it is this ; and this very preparation is what Normal Schools promise to confer. We want no law schools, or any higher schools or colleges at this time, so much as we want seminaries, to unfold the young minds of this community. Another objection might be with some, that a Normal School in Plymouth County was some trick of the rich to get advantage of the poor. He ably refuted this objection. He said it happened to have a directly opposite tendency. It AVas to be a free school ; free in tuition and open to the poorest of the poor. It would eminently benefit the poor. The rich would not go to it except where a great love of teaching actuated a rich young person. On the other hand it would be a free school where a very superior education would be furnished gratis to any one who wished to become a teacher in the county. Another objection might be felt by some, viz., that it may tend to raise the wages of our teachers. To this he replied, that females might become teachers to a wider extent than now. It would, moreover, raise common schools to be the best schools in the commu- nity ; and when they had become the best schools, as they should be, then the money now spent in private schools would be turned in to the public ones, as in the Latin School at Boston, and higher wages could be given without any additional burden on our towns. He asked why should not the great mass of the people have the best schools 1 Why should not talent and money be ex- pended on town schools as well as on academies and colleges 1 Let the town schools be made as good as to force all parents, from mere selfishness, to send their children. Let all our young people come together, as republicans should, find common sympathies, and move by a common set of nerves. The Normal School, while it opens infinite advantages to the poor, will lessen their burdens and elevate them to knowledge and influence." Hon. John Q,uincy Adams : — " He had examined the subject of late, and he thought the movements in this county by the friends of education had been deliberate and wise and Christian; and he thought the plan, contemplated by the very important resolution before the meeting, could not but find favor with every one who would examine and com- prehend it. All accounts concur in stating a deficiency of competent teachers. He said, when he came to that meeting, he had objections to the plan rising in his mind; but those objections had been met and so clearly answered, that he now was convinced of the wisdom and forecast of the project, and that it aimed at the best interests of this community. Under this head, and alluding to his views, he said, the original settlers of New England were the first people on the face of the globe who undertook to say that all children should be edu- cated. On this our democracy has been founded. Our town schools, and town meetings, have been our stronghold in this point ; and our eflfbrts now are to second those of our pious ancestors. Some kingdoms of Europe have been justly praised for their patronage of elementary instruction, but they were only following our early example. Our old system has made us an enlightened people, and I feared that the Normal School system was to subvert the old .system, take the power from the towns and put it into the slate, and overturn the old demo- cratic principle of sustaining the schools by a tax on property ; but, I am happy to find that this is not its aim or wish; but on the contrary, it is accordant to all the old maxims, and would elevate the town schools to the new wants of a growing community. He said, he thought of other objections, but they were so faint as to have faded out of his mind. We see monarchs expending vast sums, establishing Normal Schools through their realms, and sparing no pains to convey knowledge and efficiency to all the children of their poorest subjects. Shall lue he outdone by Kings 1 Shall monarchies steal a march on republics in the patronage of that education on which a republic is based 1 On this great and glorious cause let us expend freely, yes, more freely than on any other. There was a usage, he added, in the ancient republic of Sparta, which now 128 EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY. occurred to him, and which filled his mind wilh this pleasing idea, viz., that these endeavors of ours for the fit education of all our children would be the means of raising up a generation around us which would be superior to our- selves. The usage alluded to was this : the inhabitants of the city on a certain day collected together and marched in procession; dividing themselves into three companies ; the old, the middle-aged, and the young. When assembled for the sports and exercises, a dramatic scene was introduced, and the three parties had each a speaker ; and Plutarch gives the form of phraseology used in the several addresses on the occasion. The old men speak first ; and ad- dressing those beneath them in age, say, — " We have been in days of old Wise, generous, brave, and bold.' Then come the middle-aged, and casting a triumphant look at their seniors, say to them, — " That which in days of yore ye were, We, at the present moment, are." Last march forth the children, and looking bravely upon both companies who had spoken, they shout forth thus : — " Hereafter at our country's call, We promise to surpass you all." Hon. Daniel Webster : — " He was anxious to concur with others in aid of the project. The ultimate aim was to elevate and improve the primary schools ; and to secure competent instruction to every child which should be born. No object is greater than this ; and the means, the forms and agents are each and all important. He ex- pressed his obligation to town schools, and paid a tribute to their worth, con- sidering them the foundation of our social and political system. He said he would gladly bear his part of the expense. The town schools need improve- ment ; for if they are no better now than when he attended them, they are in- sufficient to the wants of the present day. They have, till lately, been over- looked by men who should have considered them. He rejoiced at the noble eiforts here made of late, and hoped they might be crowned with entire success. * * It has become the fashion to teach every thing through the press. Conversation, so valued in ancient Greece, is overlooked and neglected; whereas it is the richest source of culture. We teach too much by manuals, too little by direct intercourse with the pupil's mind ; we have too much of words, too little of things. Take any of the common departments, how little do we really know of the practical detail, say geology. It is taught by books. It should be taught by excursions in the fields. So of other things. We begin with the abstracts, and know little of the detail of facts ; we deal in generals, and go not to particu- lars ; we begin with the representative, leaving out the constituents. Teachers should teach things. It is a reproach that the public schools are not superior to the private. If I had as many sons as old Priam, I would send them all to the public schools. The private schools have injured, in this respect, the pub- lic; they have impoverished them. They who should be in them are with- drawn ; and like so many uniform companies taken out of the general militia, those left behind are none the better. This plan of a Normal School in Plymouth County is designed to elevate our common schools, and thus to carry out the noble ideas of our pilgrim fathers. There is growing need that this be done. But there is a larger view yet. Every man and every woman, every brother and every sister, is a teacher. Parents are eminently teachers. Every man has an interest in the community, and helps his share to shape it. Now, if Normal Schools are to teach teachers, they enlist this interest on the right side; they make parents and all who any way influence childhood competent to their high office. The good Avhich these Seminaries are thus to spread through the community is incalculable. They will turn all the noblest enthusiasm of the land into the holy channel of knowledge and virtue. Now, if our Plymouth school succeeds, they will go up in every part of the state, and who then can compute the exalted character which they may finally create among us 1 In families there will be better teaching, and the efiect will be felt throughout society. This effort thus far has done good. It has raised in many minds a clear "conviction of the importance of competent teachers ; and a clear benefit EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY. 129 to follow this will be, to raise the estimation in which teachers should be held. He hoped that this course of policy would raise, even beyond what we expected, the standard of elementary instruction. He considered the cost very slight. It can not come into any expanded mind as an objection. If it be an experi- ment, it is a noble one, and should be tried." [Mr. Webster has always stood out a bold and eloquent advocate of common schools. In his centennial address at Plymouth, in 1822, he paid the following noble tribute to the policy of New England in this respect : — " In this particular. New England may be allowed to claim, I think, a merit of a peculiar character. She early adopted and has constantly maintained the principle, that it is the undoubted right, and the bounden duty of government, to provide for the instruction of all youth. That which is elsewhere left to chance, or to charity, we secure by law. For the purpose of public instruction, we hold every man subject to taxation in proportion to his property, and we look not to the question, whether he himself have, or have not, children to be benefited by the education for which he pavs. We regard it as a wise and liberal system of police, by which property, and life, and the peace of society are secured. We seek to prevent, in some measure, the extension of the penal code, by inspiring a salutary and conservative principle of virtue and of knowl- edge in an early age. We hope to excite a feeling of respectability, and a sense of character, by enlarging the capacity, and increasing the sphere of in- tellectual enjoyment. By general instruction, we seek, as far as possible, to purify the whole moral atmosphere ; to keep good sentiments uppermost, and to turn -the strong current of feeling and opinion, as well as the censures of the law, and the denunciations of religion, against immorality and crime. We hope for a security, beyond the law, and above the law, in the prevalence of enlightened and well-principled moral sentiment. We hope to continue and prolong the time, when, in the villages and farm-houses of New England, there may be undisturbed sleep within unbarred doors. And knowing that our government rests directly on the public will, that we may preserve it, we en- deavor to give a safe and proper direction to that public will. We do not, indeed, expect all men to be philosophers or statesmen ; but we confidently trust, and our expectation of the duration of our system of government rests on that trust, that by the diffusion of general knowledge and good and virtuous sentiments, the political fabric may be secure, as well against open violence and overthrow, as against the slow but sure undermining of licentiousness." In a speech delivered at Madison, Indiana, after congratulating the people of the state on the attention they had paid to common school education, Mr. Webster adds : — " Among the planets in the sky of New England — the burning lights, which throw intelligence and happiness on her people — the first and most brilliant is her system of common schools. I congi'atulate myself that my fii-st speech on entering public life was in their behalf. Education, to accomplish the ends of good govern- ment, should be universally diffused. Open the doors of the school-house to all the children of the land. Let no man have the excuse of poverty for not educating his own offspring. Place the means of education within his reach, and if they remain in ignorance, be it his own reproach. K one object of the expenditure of your revenue be protection against crime, you could not devise a better or cheaper means of obtaining it. Other nations spend their money in providing means for its deteo- tion and pimishment, but it is for the principles of our government to provide for its never occurring. The one acts by coercion, the other by prevention. On the diffu- sion of education among the people rests the preservation and perpetuation of our free institutions. I apprehend no danger to our coimtry from a foreign foe. The prospect of a war with any powerful nation is too remote to be a matter of calcula- tion. Besides, there is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our over- throw. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government — ^frora their care- I 130 EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY. lessness and negligence — I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail pro- perly to scrutinize their conduct, — that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Make them intelligent, and they will be vigilant — give them the means of detecting the viTong, and they will apply the remedy."] Rev. Dr. Robbins remarked — " As the offer of the Normal Schools had been first made to the Old Colony, that " mother of us all," he hoped that the descendants of the pilgrims would sustain the exalted character of their fathers ; and, as in times past, so now, go forward in improvements which are to elevate and bless all coming gene- rations." The object of the Convention was attained. One of the three Normal Schools which the Board had decided to establish out of the donation of $10,000, by Mr. Dwight, and the appropriation of the same sum by the state, placed at their disposal, was located at Bridgewater, in Plymouth County. A previous convention in Plymouth County, at Halifax, on the 24th of January, 1837, had adopted a petition to the Legislature, drawn up by the Rev. Charles Brooks,* asking for the Establishment of a Board of Education, and a Teachers' Seminary ; and in the same year, the Direc- tors of the American Institute of Instruction presented a memorial on the same subject, drawn up by George B. Emerson,t of Boston. The Board of Education was established in that year, and the Normal School in the year following. * Although not dh-ectly connected with the history- of Normal Schools in Massachusetts, it may be mentioned in this place, that no individual in the whole country has done more to arouse the public mind of New England to the importance of Normal Schools, and to some extent, the leading minds of some other states, than the Rev. Charles Brooks. He lectured be- fore the Legislature of New Hampshire, by their request, at Concord, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of June, 1837 and 183S, and again in 1845, and in the former year at Keene, Portsmouth, Concord, and Nashua ; before the Legislature of Vermont, in 1847, and at several other points in that state ; before the State Convention of the friends of education at Hartford, Connecticut, in November, 1838 ; before the Legislature of New Jersey, March 13, 1839 ; at Philadelphia about the same time; and at Providence in 183S, during the struggle which ended in the re-organiza- tion of the public schools of that city, and at a later period, when the establishment of the Pub- lic High School was in jeopardy. On one of these visits, Mr. Brooks delivered eight addresses in seven days. These, however, are not all the times and places in which we have met with notices of his labors and addresses in behalf of his favorite subject. Although his labors, every where, in his own counti-y and out of it, in his own state and out of it, were gratuitous, he did not escape the assaults of the newspapers. In one of these, he was represented as " Captain Brooks," with ferule in hand, at the head of a troop of schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, marching for a Normal School in the clouds. t Mr. Emerson commenced his career as a teacher, in a district school, and before opening his private school for young ladies, he was principal of the English High School, in Boston, on its first establishment, in 1821. Under his immediate direction, Colburn's "First Lessons in Intellectual Arithmetic," printed on separate sheets for this purpose, were first tested, and the deficiencies ascertained in the classes of this school. If Mr. Emerson had rendered no other service to the cause of educational improvement in this country, than to have success- fully organized the First Public English High School, and have assisted in perfecting the " First Lessons," he would be entitled to a large measure of the gratitude of teachers and the public generally. A LECTURE,* ON SPECIAL PREPARATION, A PREREQUISITE TO TEACHING, 1838. BT HORACE MANN, Gentlemen of the Convention : After the lapse of another year, we are again assembled to hold counsel together for the welfare of our cliildren. On tlus occasion we have much reason to meet each other with voices of congratulation and hearts of gladness. During the past year the cause of Popular Education in this Commonwealth has gained some suffrages of pubhc opinion. On presenting its wants and its claims to citi- zens in every part of the State, I have found that there were many individuals who appreciated its unportance, and who only awaited an opjjortunity to give utterance and action to theh feehngs ; — in almost every town, some, — in many, a band. Some of our hopes, also, have become facts. The last Legislature acted to- ward this cause the part of a wise and faithful guardian. Inquiries havuig been sent into all parts of the Commonwealth to ascertain the deficiencies in our Com- mon-School system, and the causes of failure in its workings ; and the results of those inquiries having been communicated to the Legislature, — together with suggestions for the ajDplication of a few obvious and energetic remedies, — that body forthwitii enacted such laws as the wants of the system most immediately and imperiously demanded. Probably at no session since the origin of our Com- mon-School system have laws more propitious to its welfare been made, than during the last. *** ** *** But among all the auspicious events of the past year, ought not the friends of Popular Education to be most grateful, on account of the offer made by a pri- vate gentlemanf to the Legislature, of the sum of ten thousand dollars, upon the conditions that the State should add thereto an equal smn, and that the amount should be expended, imder the direction of the Board of Education, in qualifying teachers for our Common Schools, and of the promptness and unanimity witli which the Legislature acceded to the proposition? I say, the unanimity, for the vote was entirely unanimous in the House of Representatives, and there was but one nay in the Senate. Vast donations have been made in this Commonwealth, both by the government and by individuals, for the cause of learning in some of its higher, and, of course, more limited departments ; but I beUeve this to be the first instance where any considerable sum has been given for the cause of educa- tion, generally, and irrespective of class, or sect, or party. Munificent donations liave frequently been made, among ourselves, as well as ui other States and countries, to perpetuate some distinctive theory or dogma of one's own, or to re- quite a peculiar few who may have honored or flattered the giver. But this was given to augment the common mass of intelUgence, and to promote univer- sal culture ; it was given with a liigh and enlightened disregard of all local, party, personal, or sectional views ; it was given for the direct benefit of all the heart and all the mind, extant, or to be extant, in our beloved Commonwealth ; and, in this respect, it certainly stands out almost, if not absolutely alone, both iir the amount of the donation, and in the elevation of the motive that prompted it. I will not tarnish the brightness of this deed by attempting to gild it vdth praise. * Copied, by permission, from Lectures on Education by Horace Mann, Secretary of the Mas- sachusetts Board of Education. Boston: William B. Fowle. 1845. Most of the Lectures em- braced in this volume were delivered by Mr. Mann before conventions of the friends of education, held in the several coimties of Massachusetts in the autumn of each year, from 1838 to 1842. The lecture which follows was delivered in 1838, to prepare the public mind for a fair trial of the experiment of providing means for the special qualification of teachers for the common schools (Of the State. t Hon. Edmund Dwight, of Boston. 232 MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. One of the truest and most impressive sentences ever uttered by Sir Walter Scott is, however, so appropriate, and forces itself so strongly upon my mind, that I cannot repress its utterance. When that plain and homely Scotch girl, Jeannie Deans, — the highest of all the characters ever conceived by that gifted author, — is pleading her suit before the British queen, and showmg herself therein to be ten tunes a queen, — she utters the sentiment I refer to : " But when," says she, " the hour of trouble comes to the mind or to the body, and when the hour of death comes, that comes to liigh and low, then it isna what we hae dune for oursells, but what we hae dune for others, that we think on maist pleasantly." There is, then, at last, on the part of the government of Massachusetts, a recognition of the expediency of providing means for the special qualification of teachers for our Common Schools ; or, at least, of submitting that question to a fair experiment. Let us not, however, deceive or flatter ourselves with the belief, that such an opinion very generally prevails, or is very deeply seated. A few, and those, as we believe, best qualified to judge, hold this opinion as an axiom. But this cannot be said of great numbers ; and it requkes no prophetic vision to foresee that any plan for carrying out this object, however wisely framed, will have to encounter not only the prejudices of the ignorant, but the hostility of the selfish. The most momentous practical questions now before our State and country are these : In order to preserve our repubhcan institutions, must not our Com- mon Schools be elevated in character and increased in efiiciency ? and, in order to bring our schools up to the point of excellence demanded by the nature of our institutions, must there not be a special course of study and training to qualify teacliers for then- oifice ? No other worldty interest presents any question com- parable to these in unportance. To the more special consideration of the latter, — namely, whether the teachers of our public schools require a special course of study and training to qualify them for theh vocation, — I solicit your attention, during the residue of this address. I shall not here insist upon any particular mode of preparation, or of prepara- tion in any particidar class of institutions, — whether Normal Schools, special de- partments in academies, colleges, or elsewhere, — to the , exclusion of all other histitutions. What I insist upon, is, not the form, but the substance. In treating tliis subject, duty will reqim-e me to speak of errors and deficien- cies ; and of the inadequate conceptions now entertained of the true oflice and mission of a teacher. This is a painful obligation, and in discharging it I am sure I shall not be misunderstood by any candid and intelligent mind. Toward the teachers of our schools, — as a class, — I certainly possess none but the most fi'a- ternal feelings. Their want of adequate qualifications is the want of the times, rather than of themselves. Teachers, heretofore, have only been partakers in a general error, — an error m which you and I, my hearers, have been as profoundly lost as they. Let this be their excuse liitherto, and let the ignorance of the past be winked at ; but the best service we can now render them, is to take this excuse away, by showing the madequacy and the unsoundness of our former views. Let all who shall henceforth strive to do better, stand acquitted for past dehnquencies ; but will not those deserve a double measure of condemnation who shall set themselves m array against measures, which so many wise and good men have approved, — at least until those measures have been fau'ly tested? When the tree shall have been planted long enough to mature its fruit, then, let it he knoion by its fruit. No one has ever supposed that an individual could build up a material temple, and give it strength, and convenience, and fair proportions, Avithout first master- ing the architectural art ; but we have employed thousands of teachers for our children, to build up the immortal Temple of the Spirit, who have never given to this divme, educational art, a day nor an hour of preliminary study or atten- tion. How often have we sneered at Dogberry in the play, because he holds that " to read and write comes by natm-e ;" when we om-selves have undertaken to teach, or have employed teachers, whose only fitness for givmg instruction, not only in reading and writing, hut iii all other things, has come by nature, if it has come at all ; that is, m exact accordance with Dogberry's philosophy. In maintaining the affirmative of this question, — namely, that all teachers do require a special course of study and trauaing, to quahfy them for their profes- MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. 233 sion, — I will not higgle with my adversary in adjusting preliminaries. ' He may be the disciple of any school in metaphysics, and he may hold what faitli he pleases, respecthig the mind's nature and essence. Be he spiritualist or mate- rialist, it here matters not, — nay, though he should deny that there is any such substance as mind or sphit at all, I wiU not stop to dispute that point with him, — preferring rather to imitate the example of those old knights of the tourna- ment, who felt such confidence in the justness of their cause, that they gave then- adversai'ies the advantage of sun and wind. For, whatever the mind may be, in its inscrutable natui;e or essence, or whether there be any such tiling as mind or spu'it at all, pro23erly so called, this we have seen and do know, that there come beings into this world, with every incoming generation of children, who, although at fii'st so ignorant, helpless, speecliless, — so incapable of all mo- tion, upright or rotaiy, — that we can hardly persuade ourselves they have not lost theu- way, and come, by mistake, into the wrong world ; yet, after a few swift years have passed away, we see thousands of these same ignorant and helpless beings, expiating horrible offenses in prison-cells, or dashing themselves to death against the bars of a maniac's cage ; — others of them, we see, holding " colloquy sublime," in halls where a nation's fate is arbitrated, or solving some of the mightiest problems that belong to tliis wonderful universe ; — and others stiU, there ai-e, who, by daily and nightly contemplation of the laws of God, have kindled that fire of divine truth within their bosoms, by which they become those moral luminaries whose hght shineth from one part of the heavens unto the other. And this amazing change in these feeble and helpless creatures, — this transfiguration of them for good or for evil, — is wi-ought by laws of organization and of increase, as certain in theii* operation, and as infalhble in their results, as those by which the skillful gardener substitutes flowers, and delicious fruits, and healing herbs, for briers, and thorns, and poisonous plants. And as we hold the gardener responsible for the productions of his garden, so is the community re- sponsible for the general character and conduct of its children. Some, indeed, maintain, — erroneously as we believe, — that a difference in edu- cation is the sole cause of aU the differences existing among men. They hold that aU persons come into the world just alike in disposition and capacity, though they go througli it and out of it so amazingly diverse. They hold, in short, that if any two men had changed cradles, they would have changed characters and epitaphs ; — that, not only does the same quantity of substance or essence go to the constitution of every human mind, but that aU minds are of the same quality also, — all having the same powers, and bearing, originally, the same image and superscription, like so many half-dollars struck at the government mint. But deeply as education goes into the core of the heart and the marrow of the bones, we do not claim for it any such prerogative. There are certain substruc- tures of temperament and disposition, which education finds, at the beginning of its work, and whicli it can never wholly aimul. JSTor does it comport with the endless variety and beauty manifested in aU other parts of the Creator's works, to suppose that he made aU ears and eyes to be defighted with the same tunes and colors ; or provided so good an excuse for plagiarism, as that all minds were made to think the same thoughts. This inherent and original diversity, however, only increases the difiiculty of education, and gives additional force to the argument for previous preparation ; for, were it true that all children are born just alike, in disposition and capacity, the only labor would be to discover the right method for educating a single cliild, and to stereotype it for all the rest. This, however, we must concede to those who afiirm the original equaUty and exact sunUitude of all minds ; — ^namely, that all muids have the same element- ary or constituent faculties. This is all that we mean when we say that human nature is every wliere the same. This is, in pai't, what the Scriptures mean when they say, " God hath made of one blood aU nations of men." The contrasts among men result, not ii'om the possession of a different number of original fac- ulties, but from possessiug the same faculties, in different proportions, and in different degrees of activity. The civihzed men of the present day, have neither more nor less faculties, hi number, than their barbarian ancestors had. If so, it would be iuterestuig to ascertain about what year, or centm-y, a new good faculty was given to the race, or an old bad one was taken away. An assembly of civilized men, on this side of the globe, convening to devise measmres for dimia- 134 MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. ishing the number of capital crimes, and thus to reduce the number of capital punishments, were born with the same number and kind of faculties, — though doubtless differing greatly in proportion and in activity, — with a company of Battas islanders, on the opposite side of the globe, who, perhaps at the same time, may be going to attend the holiday rites of a public execution, and, as is their wont, to dijie on the criminal. As each human face has the same number of features, each hmnan body the same number of limbs, muscles, organs, &c., so each human soul has the same capacities of Reason, Conscience, Hope, Fear, Love, Self-love, &c. The differences lie in the relative strength and supremacy of these powers. The human eye is composed of about twenty distinct parts or pieces ; yet these constituent parts are so differently arranged that one man is far-sighted, another near-sighted. When an oculist has mastered a knowledge of one eye, he knows the general plan upon which all eyes have been formed ; but he must still learn the peculiarities of each, or, in his practice, he will ruin all he touches.* When a surgeon, or an assassin, knows where one man's heart is, he knows, substantially, where the hearts of all other men may be found. And so of the mind and its faculties. It is because of this community of original endowments, that all the great works of nature; and art, and science, address a common susceptibility or capacity, existing in all minds. It is because of this kindred nature that the same earth is given to us all, as a common residence. The possession by each of his complement of powers and susceptibilities, confers the common nature, while the different portions or degrees in wliich they exist, and the predominance of one or a few over the others, break us up into moral and intellectual classes. It is impossible to vindicate the propriety of making or of carrying a Revelation to the whole human race, unless that race has common capacities and wants to which the revelation is adapted. And hence we learn the appalling truth, — a truth wliich should strike " loud on the heart as thunder on the ear," — that every child born into this world has tendencies and suscepti- bilities pointing to the furthest extremes of good and evil. Each one has the capacity of immeasurable virtue or vice. As each body has an immensity of natural space open all around it, so each spkit, when waked into Ufe, has an im- mensity of moral space open all around it. Each soul has a pinion by which it may soar to the liighest empyrean, or swoop downward to the Tartarean abyss. In the feeblest voice of infancy, there is a tone which can be made to pour a sweeter melody into the symphonies of angels, or thunder a harsher discord through the blasphemies of demons. To plume these wings for an upper or a nether flight ; to lead these voices forth into harmony or dissonance ; to woo these beings to go where they should go, and to be what they should be, — does it, or does it not, my friends, requu-e some knowledge, some anxious forethought, some enlightening preparation ? You must pardon me, if. on this subject I speak to you with great plaiimess; and you must allow me to appeal directly to your own com-se of conduct in other things. You have property to be preserved for the support of your chil- dren while you hve, or, when you die, for then patrimony ; you have health and life to be guarded and continued, that they may not be bereaved of their natural protectors ; — and you have the cliildren themselves, with their unbounded, un- fathomable capacities of hapjainess and misery. Now, in respect to yom* prop- erty, what is it your wont to do, when a young lawyer comes into the village, erects his sign, and (the most unexclusive of men) gives to the public a general invitation ? Though he has a diploma from a college, and the solemn approval of bench and bar, yet how warily do the public approach him. How much he is reconnoitered before he is retained. How many premeditated plans are laid to appear to meet him accidentally, to talk over indifferent subjects with him, — the weather, the crops, or Congressional matters, — ia order to measure liioi, and probe him, and see if there be any hopefulness in him. And should aU things • I have heai-d that distinguished sm-geon, Doct. John C. Warren, of Boston, relate the follow- ing anecdote, which happened to him in London:— Being invited to witness a very difl3cult oper- ation upon the human eye, by a celebrated English oculist, he was so much struck by the skill and science which were exhibited by the operator, that he sought a private interview with him, to inquire by what means he had become so accomplished a master of his art. "Sir," said the oculist, " I spoiled a hat-full of eyes to learn it." Thus it is with incompetent teachers ; they may spoil schoolrooms-full of children to leai-n how to teach,— and perhaps may not always learn even then. MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838, 23g promise favorably, the young attorney is intrusted, in the first instance, only ■with some outlawed note, or some doubtful account, before a justice of the peace. No man ever thinks of trusting a case which involves the old homestead, to his in- experienced hands. He would as soon set fire to it. So, too, of a young physician. Wo matter from what medical college, home or foreign, he may bring his credentials. From day to day the neighbors watch him without seeming to look at him. In good-wives' parties, the question is confidentially discussed, whether, in a case of exigency, it would be safe to send for him. And when, at last, he is gladdened with a caU, it is only to look at some surface ailment, or to pother a little about the extremities. Nobody allows him to lay his uupracticed hand upon the vitals. Now this common sentiment, — this common practice of mankind, — is only the instinctive dictate of prudence. It is only a tacit recognition of a truth felt by all sensible men, that there are a thousand ways to do a thing wi'ong, but only one to do it right. And if it be but reasonable to exercise such vigUance and caution, in selecting a healer for our bodies which perish, or a counselor for our worldly estates, who shall assign limits to the ckcumspection and fidehty with which the teachers of our children should be chosen, who, in the space of a few short years, or even months, will determine, as by a sort of predestination, upon so much of their future fortvmes and destiny ? Again : it is the universal sense of mankind, that skill and facility, in all other things, depend upon study and practice. We always demand more, where op- portunities have been greater. We stamp a man with inferiority, though he does ten times better than another, if he has had twenty times the advantages. "We know that a skillful navigator will carry a vessel through perilous straits, in a gale of wind, and save cai'go and lives, while an ignorant one wOl wreck both, in a broad channel. "With what a song of delight we have all witnessed, how easily and surely that wise and good man, at the head of a great institution in our own State, will tame the ferocity of the insane ; and how, when each faculty of a fiery spirit bursts away Uke an affrighted steed fi'om its path, this naighty tamer of madmen wUl temper and quell their wUd impetuosity and restore them to the guidance of reason. Nay, the great moral healer can do this, not to one only, but to hundi'eds, at a time ; while, even in a far shorter period than he asks to accomplish such a wonderful work, an ignorant and passionate teacher wUl turn a hundred gentle, confiding spii'its into rebels and anarchists. And, my hearers, we recognize the existence of these facts, we apply these obvious principles, to every thing but to the education of our children. Why cannot we derive instruction even from the foUy of those wandering showmen who spend a Ufe in teaching brute animals to perform wonderful feats ? We have all seen, or at least we have aU heard of, some learned horse, or learned pig, or learned dog. Though the superiority over their fellows, possessed by these brute prodigies, may have been owing, in some degree, to the possession of greater natvual parts, yet it must be mainly attributed to the higher compe- tency of their instructor. Their teacher had acquired a deeper insight into their natm-es ; his sagacious practice had discovered the means by wliich their talents could be unfolded and brought out. However unworthy and even contemptible, therefore, the mere trainer of a dog may be, yet he illustrates a great principle. By showing us the superiority of a well-trained dog, he shows what might be the superiority of a well-trained child. He shows us that higher acquisitions, — what may be called academical attainments, — in a few favored individuals of the ca- nine race, are not so much the results of a more brilliant genius on the part of the dog-pupU, as they are the natural reward and consequence of his enjoying the instructions of a professor who has concentrated all his energies upon dog- teaching. Sm'ely it will not be denied that a workman should understand two things in regard to the subject-matter of his work •.—first, its natural properties, qualities, and powers ; and secondly, the means of modifying and regulating them, with a view to improvement. In relation to the mechanic arts, this is admitted by aU. Every body knows that the strength of the blow must be adjusted to the mal- leability of the metal. It will not do to strike glass and flint either with the same force or with the same implements ; and the proper instrument will never be selected by a person ignorant of the purpose to be effected by its use. If a 136 ■ME. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. man working on wood mistakes it for iron, and attempts to soften it in the fire, his jDroduct is — ashes. And so if a teacher supposes a child to have but one tend- ency and one adaptation when he has many; — if a teacher treats a child as though his nature were wholly animal, or wholly intellectual, or wholly moral and rehgious, he disfigures and mutilates the nature of that child, and wrenches his whole structure into deformity. The being, 3Ian, is more complex and diversified 'm. constitution, and more variously endowed in faculties, than any other earthly work of the Creator. It is in this assemblage of powers and prerogatives that his strength and majesty reside. They constitute his sovereignty and lordship over the creation aroimd him. By our bodily organization we are adapted to the material world in which we are placed ; — our eye to the Ught, which makes known to us every change in the form, motion, color, position, of all objects within visual range ; — our ear and tongue to the air, which flows around us in silence, yet is forever ready to be waked into voice and music ; — our hand to all the cunnmg works of art which subserve utdity or embellishment. Still more wonderfully does the spiritual nature of man befit his spiritual relations. Whatever there is of law, of order, of duty, in the works of God, or in the progressive conditions of the race, aU have their spiritual counterparts within him. By his perceptive and intellectual faculties he learns the properties of created things, and discovers the laws by which they are governed. By tracing the relation between causes and effects, he acquires a kind of prophetic vision and power ; for, by conforming to the un- changing laws of Nature, he enUsts her in his service, and she works with him in fulfilling his predictions. Regarded as an individual, and as a member of a race wliich reproduces itself and passes away, his lower propensities, — those which he holds in common with the brutes, — are the instincts and means to preserve him- self and to perjaetuate his kind ; while by his tastes, and by the social, moral, and religious sentiments of which he is capable, he is attuned to all the beauties and sublimities of creation, liis heart is made responsive to ail the delights of friend- ship and domestic affection, and he is invited to hold that spiritual intercoiu'se with his Maker, which at once strengthens and enraptures. N"ow-the voice of God and of ISTature declares audibly which of these various powers within us are to command, and which are to obey ; and with which, in every questionable case, resides the ultimate arbitrament. Even the lowest propensities are not to be wholly extirpated. Within the bounds prescribed by the social and the divine law, they have their rightful claims. But the moral and the religious sentiments, — Benevolence, Conscience, Reverence for the All- creating and All-bestowing Power, — these have the prerogative of supremacy and absolute dominion. These are to walk the halls of the soul, like a ,god, nor suffer rebellion to live under then- eye. Yet how easy for this many-gifted be- ing to fall, — more easy, indeed, because of his many gifts. Some subject-faculty, some subordinate power, in the spiritual realm, unfortunately inflamed, or, — what is far more common, — unwisely stimulated by an erroneous education, grows importunate, exorbitant, aggrandizes itself, encroaches upon its fellow- faculties, until, at last, obtaining the mastery, it subverts the moral order of the soul, and wages its parricidal war against the sovereignty of conscience within, and the laws of society and of Heaven without. And how unspeakably dreadful are the retributions which come in the train of these remorseless usurpers, when they obtain dominion over the soul ! Take, for instance, the earliest-developed, the most purely selfish and animal appetite that belongs to us, — that for nour- ishing beverage. It is the first wliich demands gratification after birth. Sub- jected to the laws of temperance, it will retam its zest, fresh and genial, for threescore years and ten, and it affords the last corporal solace upon earth to the parched lips of the dying man. Yet, if the possessor of this same pleasme-giving appetite shall be incited, either by examples of inordinate indulgence, or by festive songs in praise of the vine and the wine-cup, to inflame it, and to feed its deceitfid fires, though but for the space of a few short years, then the speU of the sorcerer will be upon him ; and, day by day, he will go and cast himself into the fiery furnace which he has kindled ; — nor himself, the pitiable victim, alone, but he will seize upon parents and wife and his group of iimocent children, and plunge with them all into the seething hell of intemperance. So there is, in human nature, an innate desire of acquiring property, — of own- MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1833. \gfj ing something, — of using the possessives my and mine. Within proper limits, this instinct is laudably indulged. Its success affords a pleasure in ■which reason can take a part. It stimulates and strengthens many other faculties. It makes us thoughtful and fore-thoughtful. It is the parent of industry and frugality, — and industiy and frugality, as we all know, are blood-relations to the whole family of the virtues. But to the eye and heart of one in whom this love of ac- quisition has become absorbing and insane, all the diversified substances in crea- tion are reduced to two classes, — that wliich is gold, and that which is not ; — and all the works of Nature are valued or despised, and the laws and institutions of society upheld or assaded, as they are supposed to be favorable or unfavorable to the acquisition of wealth. Whether at home or abroad, in the festive cu-cle or in the funeral train ; whether in hearing the fervid and thrilling appeals of the sanctuary, or the pathos of civic eloquence, one idea alone, — that of money, money, money, — holds possession of the miser's soul ; its voice ruigs forever in his ear ; and were he in the garden of Eden, — its beauty, and music, and perfume suffu- sing all his senses, — his only thought would be, how much money it would bring ! Such mischief comes from giving supremacy to a subordiaate, though an essen- tial and highly useful faculty. This mischief, to a greater or less extent, parents and teachers produce, when, through an ignorance of the natural and appropriate methods of inducing children to study, they hire them to learn by the offer of pecuniary rewards. So, too, we all have an innate love for whatever is beautiful ; — a sentiment that yearns for higher and higher degrees of perfection in the arts, and in the embellishments of life, — a feeling which would prompt us to " gild refined gold, to paint the hly, to throw a perfume on the violet, and add another hue unto the rainbow." Portions of the external world have been exquisitely adapted to this inborn love of the beautiful, by Him who has so clothed the Idies of the field that they outshine Solomon in all his glory. This sentiment may be too much or too little cultivated ; — so Kttle as to make us disdain gratifications that are at once innocent and pm*e ; or so much as to over-refine us into a hateful fastidiousness. In the works of nature, beauty is generally, if not always, subordinated to utUity. Jn cases of incompatibility, gracefuhiess yields to strength, not strength to grace- fulness. How would the rising sun mock us with his splendor, if he brought no life or warmth in his beams ! The expectation of autmnnal harvests enhances the beauty of vernal bloom. These manifestations of nature admonish us re- specting the rank which ornament or accomplislunent should hold in the char- acter and in the works of men ; and, of course, in the education of children. Christ referred occasionally to the beauties and charms of nature, but dwelt perpetually upon the obligations of duty and charity. But what opposite and grievous offenses are committed on this subject by different portions of society ! The laboring classes, by reason of early parental neglect in cultivating a love for the beautiful, often forego pleasures which a bountiful Providence scatters pro- fusely and gratuitously around them, and strews beneath their feet ; while there is a class of persons at the other extremity of the social scale, who, from never cotnprehending the inuneasurable value of the objects for which they were created, and the vast beneficence of which, from their wealth and station, they are capable, actually try every thing, however intrinsically noble or sacred, by some conventional law of fasliion, by some arbitrary and capricious standard of elegance. In European society, this class of " fasluonables" is numerous. They have their imitators here,— beings, who are not men and women, but similitudes only, — who occupy the vanishing point in the perspective of society, where all that is true, or noble, or estimable in human nature, fades away into nothing. With tills class it is no matter what a man does with the " Ten Commandments," provided he keeps those of Lord Chesterfield ; and, in their society, Beau Brum- mel would take precedence of Dr. Franklin. In a Report lately made by the Agricultural Commissioner for the survey of this Commonwealth, I noticed a statement respecting some farmers in the north- ern part of the county of Essex, who attempted to raise sun-flowers for the pur- pose of extracting oil from the seeds. Twenty bushels to the acre was the largest crop raised by any one. Sis bushels of the seed yielded but one gallon of oil, worth, in the market, one dollar and seventeen cents only. It surely re- quked no great boldness to assert that the experiment did not succeed : — culti- 138 MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. ' vation, one acre : product, three gallons of oil ; value, three dollars and fifty cents ! — wliich would, perhaps, about half repay the cost of labor. Woe to the farmer who seeks for mdejjendence by raising sun-flowers ! Ten times woe to the parents who rear up sun-flower sons or sun-flower daughters, — instead of sons whose hearts glow and burn with an immortal zeal to run the noble career of usefulness and virtue which a happy fortune has laid open before them ; — mstead of daughters who cherish such high resolves of duty as lift them even above an enthusiasm for greatness, into those loftier and serene regions where greatness comes not from excitement, but is native, and ever-springing and ever-abiding. Every son, whatever may be his expectations as to fortune, ought to be so edu- cated that he can superintend some part of the complicated machinery of social life ; and every daughter ought to be so educated that she can answer the claims of humanity, whether those claims requh-e the labor of the head or the labor of the hand. Every daughter ought to be so trained that she can bear, with dignity and self-sustaining ability, those revolutions in Fortime's wheel, which sometimes bring the kitchen up and turn the parlor down. Again ; we have a natm-al, spontaneous feeling of self-respect, an innate sense that, simply in our capacity as human beings, we are worth something, and en- titled to some consideration. This principle constitutes the interior frame- work of some of the virtues, veiled, indeed, by their own beautiful covering, but still necessary in order to keep them m an erect posture, amidst all the overbearing currents and forces of the world. Where this feeling of self-respect exists too weakly, the whole character becomes limber, flaccid, impotent, sinks under the menace of opposition, and can be frightened out of any thing or into any thing. On the other hand, when this propensity aggrandizes itself, and becomes swollen and deformed with pride, and conceit, and intolerance, it is a far more offensive nuisance than many of those which the law authorizes us to abate, summarily, by force and arms. Our political mstitutions are a rich alluvium for the growth of self-esteem ; for, while every body knows that there are the greatest differ- ences between men in point of honesty, of ability, of will to do good and to pro- mote right, yet our fundamental laws, — and rightly too, — ordain a political equality. But what is not right is, that the pohtical equahty is the fact mainly regarded, while there is a tendency to disregard the intellectual and moral in- equalities. And thus a faculty, designed to subserve, and capable of subserving the greatest good, engenders a low ambition, and fills the land with the war- whoop of party strife. These are specimens only of a long list of original tendencies or attributes of the human mmd, from a more full enumeration and exposition of which, I must, on this occasion, refi-ain. But have not enough been referred to, to authorize us to assert the general doctrine, that every teacher ought to have some notions, clear, definite, and comjDrehensive, of the manifold powers, — the various natm'e, — of the beings confided to his hands, so that he may repress the redmidancy of a too luxuriant growth, and nom'ish the feeble with his fostering care ? No idea can be more erroneous than that children go to school to learn the rudiments of knowledge only, and not to form character. The character of children is always forming. No place, no companion is without an influence upon it ; and at school it is formed more rapidly than any where else. The mere fact of the presence of so many children together, puts the social or dissocial natm-e of each into fervid action. To be sent to school, especially in the nuntry, is often as great an event in a child's fife, as it is, in his father's, to be sent to the General Court : and we all know with what unwonted force all things affect the mind, in new places and under new circumstances. Every child, too, when he first goes to school, understands that he is put upon liis good behavior ; and, with man or child, it is a very decisive thmg, and reaches deep into character and far into futurity, when put upon his good behavior, to prove recreant. Ifow, teachers take children under their care, as it were, during the first warm days of the spring of life, when more can be done toward directing their growth and modifying their disposi- tions, than can be done in years, at a later season of their existence. Equally indispensable is it, that every teacher should know, by what means, — by virtue of what natural laws, — the human powers and faculties are strength- ened or enfeebled. There is a principle running tlurough every mental opera- tion, — without a knowledge of which, without a knowledge how to apply which, MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838, 130" the life of the most faithful teacher -will be only a succession of well-intentioned errors. The growth or decline of all our powers depends upon a steadfast law. There is no more chance in the processes of their growth or decay than there is in the Multiphcation Table. They grow by exercise, and they lose tone and vigor by inaction. All the faculties have their related objects, and they grow by being excited to action thi'ough the stimulus or instrumentality of those ob- jects. Each faculty, too, has its own set or class of related objects ; and the classes of related objects differ as much from each other as do the corresponding faculties which they naturally excite. If any one power or faculty, therefore, is to be strengthened, so as to perform its office with facility, precision, and dis- patch, that identical faculty, — not any other one, — must be exercised. It does not strengthen my left arm to exercise my right ; and this is just as true of the powers of the mind as of the organs of the body. The whole pith of that saying of Solomon, " Train up a child in the way he should go," consists in this principle, because " to train" means to diill, to repeat, to do the same thing over and over again, — that is, to exercise. Solomon does not say, " I'ell a child the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Had he said this, we could refute him daily by ten thousand facts. Unfortunately, education among us, at present, consists too much in telling, not in training, on the part of parents and teachers ; and, of course, in hearing, not in doing, on the part of chil- chen and pupils. The • blacksmith's right arm, the philosopher's intellect, the joliilanthropist's benevolence, all grow and strengthen according to this law of exercise. The farmer works sohd flesh upon liis cattle ; the pugUist strikes vigor into his arms and breast ; the foot-soldier inarches strength mto his limbs ; the practical man thinks quickness and judgment into his mind; and the true Chris- tian lives his prayers of love and his thoughts of mercy, until every man becomes his brother. Our own experience and observation furnish us with a life-full of evidence attesting this principle. How did our feet learn to walk, our fingers to write, our organs of speech to utter an innumerable variety of sounds ? By what means does the musician pass from coarse discords to perfect music, — from hob- bhng and shambling in his measure, to keeping time like a chi'onometer, — from a slow and timid touch of keys or chords, to such celerity of movement, that, though his will sends out a thousand commands in a minute, liis nimble fingers obey them aU ? It is this exercise, this repetition, which gives to jugglers their marvelous dexterity. By dint of practice, their motions become quicker than om- eyesight, and thus elude inspection. A knowledge of tliis prmciple solves many of the riddles of hfe, by showing us whence comes the domineering strength of human appetites and passions. It comes from exercise, — from a long indul- gence of them in thought and act, — until the offspring of sinful desire turn back, and feast upon the vitals of the wretch who nurtm-ed them. It is this which makes the miser pant and raven for gain, more and more, just in proportion to the shortness of the hfe during which he can enjoy it. It is this which sends the drunkard to pay daily tribute to his own executioner. It is this which scourges back the gambler to the hell he dreads. It is by this law of exercise that the perceptive and reflective intellect, — I mean the powers of observing and judging, — are strengthened. If, therefore, in the education of the child, the action of these powers is early arrested ; if his whole time is engrossed and his whole energy drawn away, by other things ; or, if he is not supplied with the proper objects or apparatus on which these facul- ties can exert themselves, — then the after-life of such a chUd will be crowded with practical errors and misjudgments. As a man, his impressions of thmgs will be faint and fleeting ; he wiU never be able to describe an object as he saw it, nor to tell a story as he heard it. No handcraftsman or mechanic ever be- comes what we call a first-rate workman, until after innumerable experiments and judgments, — that is, repetitions, or exercises. And the rule is the same even with genius ; — artisan or artist, he must practice long and sedulously upon hues, proportions, rehefs, before he can become the first sculptor of the age, or the fii'st bootmaker in the city. The teacher, then, must continue to exercise the powers of his pupils, until he secures accm'acy even in the minutest things he teaches. Every child can and should learn to judge, almost with mathemati- cal exactness, how long an inch is ; — no matter if he does not guess within a foot of it the fu-st time. "^Hiether the story of Casper Hauser be true or not, it has 140 Mr. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. verisimiKtude, and is thei-efore instructive. It warns us Tvhat the general result must be, if, by a non-presentation of their related objects, the faculties of a child are not brought into exercise. We meet with persons every day -who, in regard to some one or more of the faculties, are Casper Hausers. This happens, almost universally, not through any natm-a,l defect, but because parents and teachers have been ignorant, either of the powers to be exercised, or of the related objects tlu-ough whose instrumentality they can be excited to action. But here arises a demand for great skill, aptitude, and resources, on the part of the teacher ; for, by continuing to exercise the same faculty, 1 do not mean a monotonous repetition of the same action, nor a perpetual presentation of the same object or idea. Such a course would soon cloy and disgust, and thus ter- minate all effort in that direction. Would a child ever learn to. dance, if there were but one figure ; or to sing, if there were but one tune ? Nature, science, art, oifer a boundless variety of objects and processes, adapted to quicken and employ each of the faculties. These resources the teacher should have at his command, and should make use of them, in the order, and for the period, that each particular case may require. Look into the shops of our ingenious artisans and mechanics, and see theu- shining rows of tools, — hundreds in number, — but each adapted to some particular process in their curious art. Look into the shop or hut of a savage, an Indian mechanic, and you will find his chest of tools com- posed of a single jack-knife ! So with our teachers. Sohie of them have appa- ratus, diagram, chart, model ; they have anecdote, epigram, narrative history, by which to illustrate eveiy branch of study, and to fit every variety of disposi- tion ; while the main resom-ce of others, for all studies, for all ages, and for all dispositions, is — the rod ! Again : a child must not only be exercised into correctness of observation, comparison, and judgment, but into accuracy in the narration or description of what he has seen, heard, thought, or felt, so that, whatever thoughts, emotions, memories, are witliin him, he can present them all to others in exact and lumi- nous words. Dr. Johnson said, " Accustom your children constantly to this : if a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, say tliat it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly check them. You do not know where deviation fi-om the truth will end." Every man who sees effects in causes, will fully concur with the Doctor in regard to the value of such a habit of accuracy as is here imphed. If, in the narration of an event, or in the recitation of a les- son, a child is permitted to begin at tlie last end of it, and to scatter the middle about promiscuously, depend upon it, if that child, after growing up, is called into court as a witness, somebody Avill suffer in fortune, in reputation, or perhaps m life. When practicing at the bar, I was once engaged in an important case of slander, where the whole question of the innocence or guilt of the defendant turned upon the point whether, at a certain time, he Avas seen out of one win- dow or out of another ; and the stupid witness first swore that it was one window, then another window, and at last, thought it might be a door ; and doubtless, he could have been made to swear that he saw him tln-ough the sky- light. Would you appreciate the importance of accuracy, in observation and statement, take one of those cases which so frequently occur in our courts of law, where a dozen witnesses, — all honest, — swear one way, and another dozen, — equally honest, — counter-swear; and contrast it with a case, which so rarely occurs, where a witness, whose mind, like a copying macliine, having taken an exact impression of whatever it has seen or heard, attests to complicated facts, in a manner so orderly, luminous, natm-al, — giving to each, time, locality, propor- tion, that when he has finished, every auditor, — bench, bar, spectators, — all feel as though they had been personally present and witnessed the whole transac- tion. Now, although something of this depends, unquestionably, upon soundness in physical and mental organization, yet a vast portion of it is referable to the early observation or neglect, on the part of teacher or parent, of the law we are considering. There is another point, too, which the teacher should regard, especially where only a small portion of non-age is appropriated to school attendance. In exer- cising the faculties for the purpose of strengthening them, the greatest amount of useful knowledge should be communicated. The faculties may be exercised aud strengthened in acquiring useful or useless knowledge. A farmer or a stone- MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. 141- mason may exercise and strengthen the muscles of his body, by pitching or roll- ing timbers or stones backward and forward ; but, by converting the same ma- terials into a house or a fence, he may at once gain strengtli and do good. Erery teacher, at the same time that he exercises the faculties of his pupils, ought to impart the greatest amount of valuable knowledge ; and he should always be above the temptation of keeping a pupil in a lower department of study, be- cause he himself does not understand the higher ; or, on the other hand, of pre- maturely carrying his pupil into a higher department, because of liis own igno- rance of the lower. Suppose a bright boy, for instance, to be studying arithmetic and geography, at school. Now, arithmetic cannot be taught unless it is under- •stood ; but, with the help of an atlas, and a text-book whose margin is all covered with questions, the business of teacliing geography may be set up on a very slender capital of knowledge. And here a teacher who is obhged to be very economical of his ai-ithmetic, would be tempted to keep his pupil upon all the small towns, and tiny rivers, and dots of islands in the geography, in order to delay him, and gain time, — like the ofBcers of those banks whose specie runs low, who seek to pay off thek creditors in cents, because it takes so long to count the copper. Every teacher ought to know vastly more than he is required to teach, so that he may be furnished, on every subject, with copious illustration and instructive anecdote ; and so that the pupils may be disabused of the notion, they are so apt to acquhe, that they carry all knowledge m their satchels. Every teacher should be possessed of a faculty at explanation, — a tact in dis- cerning and solving difficulties, — not to be used too often, for then it would supersede the effort it should encourage, — but when it is used, to be quick and sure as a telescope, brmging distant objects near, and making obscure ones dis- tinct. In the important, but grossly neglected and abused exercise of readmg, for instance, every new fact, every new idea, is news to the child ; and, did he fuUy understand it, he would be as eager to learn it, as we are to learn what is netcs to us. But how, tliink you, should we be vexed, if our news-bringer spoke every third word in a foreign language ; or gave us only a Pennsylvania news- paper printed in German, when we wanted to know how their votes stood in an election for President ? Whatever words a child does not understand, m his reading lesson, are, to liim, words in a foreign language ; and they must be trans- lated into his own language before he can take any interest in them. But if, instead of being translated into his language, they are left unnoticed, or are translated into another foreign language still, — that is, into other words or phrases of which he is ignorant, — then, the child, instead of dehghtful and instructive ideas, gets empty words, mere sounds, atmospheric vibrations only. In Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, the word " Net-worh" is defined to be " any thing reticu- lated or decussated, with interstices between the intersections." Now who, ignorant of the meaning of the word " net-work" before, would understand it any better by being told, that it is " any thing reticulated or decussated, with interstices between the intersections ?" Nor would he be much enhghtened if, on looking further, he found that the same author had given the following defini- tions of the defining words : — " reticulated," "■formed with interstitial vacuities ;" — " decussated," " intersected at acute angles ;" — " interstice," " space bettoeen one thine/ and another ;" — " intersection," "point where lines cross each other." If this is not, as Milton says, " dark with excess of bright," it is, at least, " darkness visi- ble." A few years since, a geography was published in this State, — the preface of which boasted of its adaptation to the capacities of children, — and, on the second page, there was this definition of the words " zenith and nadir :" — " zenith and nadir, two Arabic words importing their own signification!'' A few yeai's since, an English traveler and book-maker, who called himself Thomas Ashe, Esq., visited the Big Bone Licks, in Kentucky, wliere he found the remains of the mammoth, in great abundance, and whence he carried away several wagon-loads of bones. In describing the size of one of the shoulder-blades of that animal, he says, it " was about as large as a hreakfast-tahle !" A child's mind may be dark and ignorant before, but, under such explanations as these, darkness will coagu- late, and ignorance be sealed in hermeticaUy. Let a school be so conducted but for one season, and all life will be abstracted from it ; and it will become the painful duty of the school committee, at its close to attend a post-mortem ex- 242 MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. aminatioii of the children, — without even the melancholy satisfaction of believing that science Avill be benefited by the horrors of the dissection. Every teacher should be competent to some care of the health of his pupils, — not merely for the purpose of regulating the temperatiu-e of the school-room, and, of course, the transition ■which the scholars must undergo, on entermg or leaving it, — though this is of no small unportance, — but so that, as occasion offers, he may inculcate a knowledge of some of the leading conditions upon which health and hfe depend. I saw, last year, in the pubMc town school of Northampton, — under the care of Mr. R. M. Hubbard, — more than a Inmdred boys, from ten or eleven to fiften or sixteen years of age, Avho pointed out the place and gave the name of all the principal bones m their bodies, as well as an anatomist would have done ; who explained the physiological processes of the circulation of the blood and the aliiiientation of food, and described the putrefactive action of ar- dent spirits upon the delicate tissues of the stomach. Now such boys have a chance, nay, a certainty, of far longer life and far better health, than they would otherwise have ; and as they grow up, they will be far less easily tempted to emulate either of tlie tlu'ee cockney graces, — Gin, Swearing, and Tobacco. But I must pass by other considerations, respecting the growth and invigora- tion of the intellectual faculties, and the classes of subjects upon which they should be employed. I hasten to the consideration of another topic, incalculably more important. The moral faculties increase or decline, strengthen or languish, by the same law of exercise. In legislating for men, actions are mainly regarded ; but in the education of children, motives are every thing, motives are evee,t thing. All, this side of the motive, is mere mechanism, and it matters not whether it be done by the hand, or by a crank. There was profound philosophy in the old theological notion, that whoever made a league with the devd, in order to gratify a passion through liis help, became the devil's property afterward. And so, when a teacher stunulates a child to the performance of actions, externally right, by appealing to motives intrinsically wrong, he sells that child mto bondage to the wrong motive. Some parents, finding a desire of luxurious food a stronger motive-power in their cliildren than any other, accomphsh every tiling tlu-ougli its means. They hu'e them to go to school and learn, to go to church and re- member the text, and to behave well before company, by a promise of dainties. Every repetition of this enfeebles the sentiment of duty, through its inaction, while it increases the desire for delicacies, by its exercise ; and as they success- ively come into competition afterward, the vu-tue will be found to have become weaker, and the appetite stronger. Such parents touch the wrong pair of nerves, — the sensual instead of the moral, the bestial instead of the divine. These springs of action lie at the very extremes of human nature, — one class down among the brutes, the other up among the seraphmi. When a cliild, so educated, becomes a man, and circumstances make him the trustee or fiduciary of the friendless and unprotected, and he robs the widow and orphan to obtaiii the means of luxury or voluptuousness, we exclaim, " Poor human nature," and are ready to appoitit a Fast ; when the truth is, he was educated to be a knave under that very temptation. Were a surgeon to operate upon a human body with as little knowledge of his subject as this, and whip round liis double-edged knife where the vital parts lie thickest, he would be tried for manslaughter at the next court, and deserve conviction. Take another example ; — and I instance one of the motive-forces which, for the last fifty or a hundred years, has been mainly relied on, in our schools, academies, and colleges, as the stunulus to intellectual effort, and which has done more than every thing else to cause the madness and the profligacy of those political and social rivalries that now convulse the land. Let us take a child who has only a moderate love of learning, but an inordinate passion for praise and place ; and we therefore allm-e him to study by the enticements of precedents and ap- plause. If he wiU surpass all his fellows, we advance him to the post, and sig- nahze him with the badges of distinction, and never suffer the siren of flattery to cease the enchantments of her song. If he ever has any compassionate mis- givings in regard to the effect which his own promotion may have upon his less brUliant, though not less meritorious fellow-pupUs, then we seek to withdraw his thoughts from this vii'tuous channel, and to turn them to the selfish contempla- MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. 143 tion of Ms own brilliant fortunes in future years ; — if waking conscience erer whispers in liis eai', that that pleasure is dishonorable which gives pain to the innocent ; then we dazzle him with the gorgeous vision of triumphal honors and applauduig multitudes ; — and when, in after-Ufe, this victim of false influences deserts a righteous cause because it is declining, and joins an um-ighteous one because it is prospering, and sets his name in history's piUory, to be scoffed and jeered at for ages, then we pour out lamentations, in prose and verse, over the moral suicide ! And yet, by such a course of education, he was prepared be- forehand, like a skillfully organized machine, to prove a traitor and an apostate at that very conjuncture. No doubt, a college-boy will learn more Greek and Latin if it is generally understood that college-honors are to be mainly awarded for proficiency in those languages ; but what care we though a man can speak seven languages, or di'eams in Hebrew or Sanscrit, because of their faniiUarity, if he has never learned the language of sympathy for' human suffering, and is deaf when the voice of truth and duty utters then holy mandates ! We want men who feel a sentiment, a consciousness, of brotherhood for the whole human race. We want men who will instruct the ignorant, — not delude them ; who will succor the weak, — not prey upon them. We want men who will fly to the moral breach when the waters of desolation are pouring in, and who wfll stand there, and, if need be, die there, — applause or no applause. K'o doubt, every one is bound to take watchful care of that portion of his happiness which right- fully depends upon the good opinion of others ; but before any teacher attempts to secure the proficiency of his pupUs by inflaming then' love of praise and place, ought he not to appeal, with earnest and prolonged entreaty, to every higher sentiment ? and even then, should he fail of arousing a deske for improvement, would it not be better to abandon a pupil to mediocrity, or even insignificance, than to insure him the liighest eminence by awakening an unholy ambition in his bosom ? It is mfinitely better for any nation to support a hospital for fools, than to have a parliament or a congress of knaves. And thus it is with aU moral developments. Ignorance may appeal to a wrong motive, and thus give inordinate strength to an inferior sentiment, wliile honestly in quest of a right action. For a few times, perhaps even for a few years, the appeal may be successful ; but, by-and-by, the inferior sentiment, or propensity, will gain predominance, and usurp the throne, and rule by virtue of its own might. So, too, a train of circumstances may be prepared, or a system of government adopted, designed by their author for good, yet productive of a venomous brood of feelings. Suppose a teacher attempts to secure obedience by fear, instead of love, but still lacks the energy or the talent requisite for success. Forthwith, and from the necessity of the case, there are two hostile parties in that school, — the teacher Avith his government to maintain, the pupils with then various and ever-springing desires to gratify, in defiance of that government. Wot only will there be revolts and mutinies, revolutions and counter-revolutions m such a school, but, what is infinitely worse, because of its meanness and baseness, there will be generated a moral pestilence of deception and trickery. The boldest spirits, — those akeady too bold and fool-hardy, — will break out into open rebell- ion, and thus begin to quaUfy themselves to become, in after-Ufe, violators and contemners of the laws of society ; wliile those who are akeady prone to con- cealment and perfidy, will sharpen their wits for deception ; they will pretend to be saying or doing one thing when saying or doing another ; they will sever the connection between tongue and heart; they will make the eyes, the face, and all the organs that contribute to the natural language behe the thoughts ; and, in fine, will turn the whole body into an instrument of dissimulation. Such cMdi-en, under such management, are every day preparing to become, — not men of frankness, of ingenuousness, of a beautiful transparency of disposition, — but sappers and miners of character, — men accomphshing all their ends by strata- gem and ambush, and as full of guile as the first serpent. Who of us has not seen some individual so secretive and guileful as to be impervious to second- sight, or even to the boasted vision of animal magnetism ? I cannot but believe that most of those hateful specimens of dupUcity, — I might rather say, of tripli- city, or multipUcity, — which we sometimes encounter in society, had their origin in the attempts made in early life to evade commands injudiciously given, or not J 4.4 MR. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. enforced when given. If any thing pertaining to the education of childi'en de- mands discretion, prudence, wisdom, it is the commands which we impose upon them. In no case ought a command ever to be issued to a child without a moral certainty either that it will be voluntarily obeyed, or, if resisted, that it can be enforced ; because disobedience to superiors, who stand at first in the place of the child's conscience, prejjares the way for disobedience to conscience itself, when that faculty is developed. Hence the necessity of discriminating, as a preliminary, between what a cliUd will do, or can be made to do, and the con- trary. Hence, when disobedience is apprehended, the issue should be tried rather on a case of prohibition than of injunction, because a child can be deterred when he cannot be compelled. Hence, also, the necessity of discriminating be- tween what a child has the moral power to do, and what it is in vain to expect from him. Take a child who has been brought^up luxmiously, indulgently, self- ishly, and command him, hi the first instance, to incur some great sacrifice for a mere stranger, or for some object wliich he neither understands nor values, and disobedience is as certain as long days ia the middle of June ; — I mean the dis- obedience of the spirit, for fear, perhaps, may secure the performance of the out- ward act. Such a child knows nothuig of the impulsions of conscience, of the joyful emotions that leap up ia the hearf after the performance of a generous deed ; and it is as absurd to put such a weight of self-denial upon his benevo- lence, the first time, as it would be to put a camel's load upon his shoulders. Such a chUd is deeply diseased. He is a moral paralytic. In regard to all benevolent exertion and sacrifice, he is as weak as an infant ; and he can be re- covered and strengthened to virtuous resolutions only by degrees. "What should we think of a physician, who, the first time his patient emerged from a sick chamber, — pallid, emaciated, tottering, — should prescribe a match at wrestling, or the running of races ? Yet this would be only a parallel to the mode in which selfish or vicious children are often treated ; nay, some persons prepare or select the most difficult cases, — cases requiring great generosity or moral intre- pidity, — by which to break new beginners into the work of benevolence or duty. If, by a bad education, a child has lost all generous affections (for no child is born without them) ; if he never shares his books or divides his luxuries with his playmates ; if he liides his playthings at the approach of liis little visitors ; if his eye never kindles at the recital of a magnanimous deed, — of course I mean one the magnanimity of which he can comprehend, — then he can be won back to kindness and justice only by laborious processes, and in ahnost imperceptible degrees. In every conversation before such children, generosity and self-denial should be spoken of with a fervor of admiration and a glow of sympathy. Stories should be told or read before them, in which the principal actors are signalized by some of the quaUties they delight in (always provided that no element of evil mingles with them) ; and when their attachments are firmly fastened upon hero or heroine, then the social, amiable, and elevated sentiments which are deficient in the cliildren themselves, should be developed in the actors or charac- ters whom they have been led to admhe. A chdd may be led to admire quali- ties on account of theh relationships and associations, Avhen he would be indif- ferent to them if presented separately. If a child is selfish, the occasion for kind acts should be prepared, where all the accompaniments are agreeable. As the sentiment of benevolence gains tone and strength, and begins to reaUze some of those exquisite gratifications which God, by its very constitution, has annexed to its exercise, then let the collateral inducements be weakened, and the experi- ments assume more of the positive character of virtue. In this way, a child so selfish and envious as to be grieved even at the enjoyment of others, may be won, at last, to seek for dehght in offices of humanity and self-sacrifice. There is always an avenue through which a child's mind can be reached ; the failures come from our want of perseverance and sagacity in seeking it. We must treat moral more as we treat physical distempers. Week after week the mother sits by the sick-bed, and welcomes fasting and vigils ; her watchfulness surrounds her child, and with all the means and apphances that wealth or life can com- mand, she strives to bar up every avenue through which death can approach him. Did mothers care as much for the virtues and moral habits as for the health and hfe of their offspring, would they not be as patient, as hopeful, and ME. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. I45 as long-suffering in administering antidote and remedy to a child who is morally, as to one who is physically, diseased ? Is it not in the way above described, — after a slowly brightening twilight of weeks, perhaps of months, — that the ocuhst, at last, lets in the Ught of the merid- ian sun upon the couched eye ? Is it not ia this way, that the convalescent of a fevered bed advances, from a measured pittance of the weakest nutrition, to that audacious health which spurns at all restraints upon appetite, whether as to quantity or quahty ? For these healings of the diseased eye or body, we de- mand tlie professional skill and science of men, educated and trained to the work ; nay, if any impostor or empkic wantonly tampers with eye or life, the injured party accuses liim, the officers of the law arrest him, the jurors upon their oaths convict liim, the judges pass sentence, and the sheriff executes the mandates of the law ; — while parties, officers, jurors, judges, and sheriffs, with one consent, employ teachers to direct and train the godlike faculties of their children, who never had one hour of special study, who never received one lesson of special instruction, to fit them for then- momentous duties. K, then, the business of education, in all its departments, be so responsible ; if there be such habihty to excite and strengthen any one faculty of the opening mind, instead of its antagonist ; if there be such danger of promoting animal and selfish propensities into command over social and moral sentiments ; if it be so easy for an unskillful hand to adjust opportunity to temptation in such a way that the exposed are almost certain to fall ; if it be a work of such delicacy and difficulty to reclaim those who have wandered ; if, in fine, one, not deeply con- versant with the human soul, with all its various faculties and propensities, and with all the circumstances and objects which naturally excite them to activity, is in incomparably greater danger of touching the wrong spring of action, than one unacquainted with music is of toucliing the wrong key or cliord of the moat comphcated musical instrument, — then, ought not every one of those who are installed into the sacred office of teacher, to be " a workman who needeth not to be ashamed ?" Surely, they should laiow, beforehand, how to touch the right spring, with the right pressure, at the right time. There is a terrible disease that sometunes afflicts individuals, by wliich all the muscles of the body seem to be unfastened from the volitions of the mind, and then, after being promiscuously transposed, to be refastened ; so that a wrong pair of muscles is attached to every vohtion. In such a case, the afflicted patient never does the thing he intends to do. If he would walk forward, his will starts the wrong pair of muscles, and he walks backward. When he would extend his right arm to shake hands with you, in salutation, he starts the wrong pair of muscles, thrusts out his left, and slaps or punches you. Precisely so is it with the teacher who knows not what faculties of his pupils to exercise, and by what objects, motives, or processes, they can be brought into activity. He is the will of the school ; they are the body which that wiU moves ; and, thi'ough ignorance, he is perjDetually applying his will to the wrong points. What wonder, then, if, sjjending day after day in pulhng at the wrong pahs of muscles, the teacher in- volves the school in inextricable disorder and confusion, and, at last, comes to the conviction that they were never made to go right ? But, says an objector, can any man ever attain to such knowledge that he can touch as he should this " harp of thousand strings ?" Perhaps not, I reply ; but ask, m my turn, Cannot every man know better than he now does ? Cannot something be done to make good teachers better, and incompetent ones less in- competent ? Cannot sometiiuig be done to promote the progi-ess and to dimin- ish the dangers of aU our schools ? Cannot something be done to increase the intelligence of those female teachers, to whose hands ova: children are committed, in the earliest and most impressible periods of childhood ; — and thus, in the end, to increase the intelligence of mothers, — for every mother is ex officio a member of the College of Teachers ? Cannot something be done, by study, by discus- sion, by practical observation, — and especially by the institution of Normal Schools, — which shall diffuse both the art and the science of teaching more widely through our community, than they have ever yet been diffused ? My friends, you cannot go for any considerable distance in any du-ection, within the limits of our beloved Commonwealth, without passing one of those edifices professedly erected for the education of our children. Though rarely an archi- • J 146 MB. MANN'S LECTURE IN 1838. tectural ornament, yet, always, they are a moral beauty, to the land in -whicli we dwell. Enter with me, tor a moment, into one of these important, though lowly mansions. Sm'vey those thickly seated benches, Before us are clustered the children of to-day, the men of to-morrow, the immortals of eternity ! What costly works of art ; what splendid galleries of sculjDture or of painting, won by a nation's arms, or purchased by a nation's wealth, are comparable in value to the treasures we have in these childi-en? How many living and palpitating nerves come down from parents and friends, and center in their young hearts l and, as they shall advance in life, other living and palpitating nerves, which no man can number, shall go out from their bosoms to twine roimd other hearts, and to feel their throbs of pleasure or of pain, of rapture or of agony ! How many fortunes of others shall be linked with their fortunes, and shall share an equal fate. As yet, to the hearts of these young beings, crime has not brought in its retinue of fears, nor disappointment its sorrows. Their joys are joys, and their hopes more real than our reaUties ; and, as visions of the futm-e burst upon their imaginations, their eye kindles, like the young eagle's at the morning sunbeam. Grouping these children into separate cu-cles, and looking forward, for but a few short years, to the fortunes that await them, shall we predict their destiny, in the terrific language of the poet : — " TUese shall the fury passions tear The vultures of the mmd, Disdainful Anger, pallid Fear, And Shame that skullis behind. " Ambition this shall tempt to rise, Then whirl the wretch from high, To bitter Scorn a sacrifice, And grummg Infamy. "The stings of Falsehood, those shall try, And hard uiikindness' alter'd eye That mocks the tear it forced to flow ; And keen Remorse, with blood defiled, And moody Madness, laughing wild, Amid severest woe ; — " or, concentrating our whole souls into one resolve, — ^highvand prophetically strong, — that our duty to these diildren shall h^: don<; shall we proclaim, in the blessed language of the Savior; — "It is not the will of, voue Father which IS IN HEAVEN, THAT ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES SHOUlt) PH^ISH." AN ADDRESS* BT EDWARD EVERETT, GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, AT THE OPENING OP THE NORMAL SCHOOL AT BARRE, SEPTEMBER 5, 1839. We are assembled to take a suitable public notice of the opening of an in- stitution in this place, destined, as we hope, to exercise a salutary influence on the cause of common school education. The visitors of the institution have thought it expedient that a public explanation should be made, at this time, of its nature and objects, and of the hopes and expectations with which it is founded ; and they have requested me, on their behalf, to appear before you for this purpose. I have compiled with their request cheerfully. My official con- nection with the Board of Education, which, under the authority of the Legisla- ture, has established the school, and the deep personal interest I take in the result of this experiment for the improvement of popular education in the com- monwealth, (convinced as I am that the time has come when it is incumbent on the people of Massachusetts to do more than has yet been done for the im- provement of their common schools,) are the motives which have led me, at considerable personal inconvenience, to undertake the duty which has been assigned to me on this occasion. The institution which is now opened in this pleasant and prosperous village, is devoted to the education of teachers of common schools, and is called a Normal School. The name normal is derived from a Latin word, which signi- fies a rule, standard, or law. Schools of this character were called Normal Schools, on their establishment in France, either because they were designed to serve in themselves as the model or rule by which other schools should be organized and instructed, or because their object was to teach the rules and methods of instructing and governing a school. This name has been adopted to designate the schools for teachers established in Massachusetts, because it is already in use to denote similar institutions in Europe ; because it applies ex- clusively to schools of this kind, and prevents their being confounded with any others; and because it is short, and of convenient use. It has been already adopted in England and in our sister states, in writing and speaking of institu- tions for the education of teachers. Schools of this kind are of comparatively recent date. In 1748, a private school for teachers was established by the Rev. John Julius Hecker, a minister of the gospel at Berlin, and chief counselor of the consistory of that place. A document cited by M. Cousin, in his celebrated report on the subject of public instruction in Prussia, speaks of Hecker as "the first individual who undertook to train young men for the art of teaching." This little institution was founded at a very critical period in the history of Prussia, and even of Europe ; in fact, it was an era of mighty movement throughout the world. Frederic II., com- monly, and by a somewhat questionable title, called the Great, was projecting the plans of aggrandizement by which he aimed to raise Prussia, before his time a secondary state, to the rank of a leading power in Europe. It would have been happy for his subjects and mankind if all his measures had been as wise or as innocent as those which he adopted for the improvement of educa- tion. He seems early to have comprehended the importance of the systematic education of teachers ; and in the year 1754, the private school, established under the auspices of Mr. Hecker, was raised to the rank of a royal primary school for the education of schoolmasters and parish clerks. It was directed, by a royal ordinance of that year, that all schoolmasters and parish clerks, whose places were ia the gift of the crown, should be appointed from this insti- tution. It is probable that at the same time funds were appropriated by the government for its support. ' Copied by permission from " Orations and Speeches on various occasions, by Edward Everett. 2 vols. Boston : Charles C. Little andJames Brown. 1850." 148 GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. Scarcely, however, was this beginning made in the systematic education of teachers, when the dreadful Seven Years' war came on ; a war which spread from our western wilderness, where it broke out, to the bounds of the civilized world, and the remotest European settlements in India. Frederic was the hero of this war on the continent of Europe. He conducted it with a perseverance, skill and resolution, which astonished mankind, and came out of it with an ex- hausted treasury, shattered health, and a wasted kingdom. The Normal School at Berlin, in common with all the other institutions of the country, languished under the pressure of the times. It remained, with the exception of a few incon- siderable establishments of the same character in the city of Berlin, the only institution for the education of teachers, and was, of course, wholly inadequate to the wants of the kingdom. In 1770, a fund of four thousand dollars annu- ally was appropriated by Frederic for the general improvement of the Prussian schools, and it was expended in raising the salaries of teachers. A considera- ble impulse was given to the cause of education by this endowment ; but I do not find any further notice of the progress of Normal Schools during the residue of his reign. Shortly after his death, the French Revolution began ; and in the disastrous wars and convulsions to which it gave rise, the various states of Germany, and none more so than Prussia, were trampled to the dust. The etfects were felt in all their institutions ; but, as often happens in human affairs, the moment of extremest depression is the moment of commencing regeneration. The Prus- sian monarchy, broken by the fatal battle of Jena, in 1806, seemed on the verge of dissolution, and to owe a precarious existence to the clemency of Napoleon. At this gloomy period, it occurred to some noble minds to attempt the restora- tion of affairs by a strong appeal to the popular mind, and by awakening a powerful sentiment of patriotism. Every thing was resorted to which could promote this end. The clergy were appealed to ; the high schools and univer- sities were agitated ; a secret association, rnider the name of the Union of Virtue, (Tugendbund,) was formed throughout the country; the ancient German cos- tume was revived; a jealousy of foreigners inculcated ; and, as an important instrument toward the end in view, the attention of the government was, in 1809, again particularly turned to the subject of education of teachers. In 18]0, the Normal School at Berlin was re-organized; but before the result could be seen, the great and final struggle of the northern powers of Europe with Napo- leon look place. The conflict was for the independence or subjection, the life or death, of nations. The entire population rose as a man at the call of the governments; the universities and academies sent their young men, scarce able to bear the weight of a musket, to the war; and it terminated in the overthrow of the invader. From that moment, every thing in Germany seemed animated with new life. Prussia, in particular, with the establishment of a general peace, bent all the power of the monarchy upon national education, as the great safeguard of na- tional independence. The Normal School of Berlin was transferred to Potsdam, as a situation more retired and favorable for its objects. Similar schools were proposed throughout the kingdom, and in other parts of Germany ; and in the year 1819, the subject of education was referred to a separate department of the government, under a minister of state exclusively devoted to its administration. The present organization of the Prussian system of education dates from this period, and by the provisions of an ordinance of the government of the same year, a royal Normal School is established in each of the tisn provinces of the kingdom, as an essential part of the system. From these seminaries, with the aid derived from various local establishments of the same character, teachers thoroughly trained in the art of instruction are furnished for all the public schools of Prussia. The same process has been going on contemporaneously in Saxony, in Bavaria, in Wirtemberg, in Baden, and other German states. The example early spread to France, and more recently to Holland. One or two institutions of a private character have, it is believed, been established in England for the formation of teachers ; and it has been proposed at the present session of parliament, by a committee of the privy council of the realm, to found a central Normal School in the city of London.* * Since the delivery of this address, this and other similar projects have gone into highly suc- cessful operation in England, under the auspices of the committee of the privy council for edu cation. - GOV, EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. 149 The attention of the friends of education in several of the states of the Union has for some time been turned to this subject. In New York, some provision has been made by the Legislature for training teachers at the incoiporated acad- emies of the state. In some of our own respectable academies, the qualifying of teachers of both sexes has been particularly attended to, and these establish- ments, in point of fact, have served as the nurseries from which many of our schools have been furnished with instructors. In addition to what has been done in this way, an institution, amply endowed by private liberality, has ex- isted for some time at Andover, expressly devoted to the education of instruct- ors. Many respectable teachers have, it is believed, been formed at this school. The subject of special provision by public authority for the education of teachers has at many different times, within the last few years, been considered by the committees of education of the two branches of the Legislature. Their establishment has been strongly urged in the reports which, from time to time, have emanated from this source. Among those who have recommended such a provision with the greatest zeal and intelligence, it would be unjust not to mention the name of a citizen of this county, (Mr. Carter, of Lancaster,) who, both in a separate publication and in ofhcial reports as a member of both branches of the Legislature, has rendered distinguished service in this way. In the first report of the Board of Education, at the beginning of the year 1838, the attention of the Legislature was invited to this subject. In the course of the ensuing session, the secretary of the board was authorized by a friend of education, whose name was not communicated to the public,* to inform the Legislature that ten thousand dollars would be furnished by him whenever the same sum should be appropriated from the public treasury, to be expended under the direction of the Board of Education in qualifying teachers for the common schools of Massachusetts. This offer was promptly accepted by the Legislature, and the requisite appropriation made. The steps taken by the Board of Education, in discharge of the important trust thus devolved upon them, are minutely set forth in their second annual report, which was made to the Legislature at the commencement of the last ses- sion. It will be suflicient to observe, on the present occasion, that after delib- erate and anxious reflection, and a careful comparison of the claims of various places- proposed, in different parts of the commonwealth, Lexington, in Middle- sex county, and Barre, in Worcester county, have been selected as the sites of two of the Normal Schools. A confident expectation is entertained that a third may shortly be established in some other part of the state.t These institutions are, of course, to some extent experimental. They are so of necessity. The funds provided for their support, with all the subsidiary aid which can reasonably be expected from the friends of education in the neigh- borhood of the schools, although highly creditable to the generous spirit by which they are furnished, are quite inadequate to the endowment of permanent establishments. For reasons set forth in the report to which I have alluded, it was thought proper not to stake the result of the whole trial on one school ; but to afford to different parts of the commonwealth an opportunity of judging for themselves. It was further considered that three years is the shortest period which would authorize any safe conclusion as to the operation of the system. It will readily be perceived that when the funds to be disposed of are divided among three schools, and distributed over three years, it becomes necessary to adopt the most frugal scale of expenditure not inconsistent with the object to be attained. Our situation in this respect is widely different from that of foreign countries, where ample funds for objects of this kind are appropriated by wealthy governments; Avhere buildings, apparatus, libraries, and the maintenance of pupils, are provided for by permanent dotations ; and as many instructors are supported as are deemed necessary for the fullest development of the system. The narrowness of the means from which the experiment of our Normal Schools is undertaken may (though we trust it will not) defeat its success. We hope that so much good will manifeslly be done Avithin the range of our re- sources, that the Legislature will be disposed, and private benefactors encour- aged, to convert our temporary Normal Schools into permanent foundations for the qualification of teachers. Still, however, we trust, in justice to all con- * The late Hon. Edmund Dwight. 1" Since this address was delivered, a third Normal School has been founded at Bridgewater, and those at Lexington and Barre have been transferred to Newton and Wcstfield. 150 GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. cemed, that it will be borne in mind, that this experiment is conducted under considerable disadvantages, independent of the difficulties incident to the organ- ization of every new institution. This consideration, we trust, will secure us the sympathy and co-operation of the community in which the schools are estab- lished, and of the jDublic at large. It is always of great importance to a youth- ful institution, that it should be kindly regarded in the place where it is estab- lished. We trust that the respected principal of this school, and all who may have a joint care with him in conducting it, and all who resort to it to qualify themselves as teachers, will enjoy the good will, and be favored with the coun- tenance and kind offices, of the reverend clergy of all denominations, of the indi- viduals of lead and influence in the other professions, and of the citizens generally in this part of the commonwealth. While no pains will be spared to make the school creditable to the community in which it is placed, nothing will do more to promote its prosperity than the friendly regard of an enlightened public. This occasion requires a few remarks on the character and objects of Normal Schools, and the importance of a systematic education of teachers. Much has been said and written of late on this subject. Not to mention foreign publica- tions, it is discussed at length in the legislative reports to which I have alluded, and a very valuable essay by Professor Stow-e, on Normal Schools and Teach- ers' Seminaries, has recently been given to the public. The necessary limits of an address of this kind will require my remarks to be of a very general char- acter. The office of the teacher, in forming the minds and hearts of the young, and training up those who are to take our places in life, is all-important. After all that has been said, in all ages, on the subject, more than justice has not been, and never can be, done to the theme. With no small part of the children in the community, the intercourse of the teacher with the young is scarcely inferior, in closeness and the length of time for which it is kept up, to that of the pa- rents ; — not at all inferior, in the importance of the objects to be attained by it. As soon as the child is old enough to be sent to school, the teacher is relied upon to furnish occupation for the opening faculties of the mind, to direct its efforts in the acquisition of the elements of knowledge, and to suggest the first distinct ideas on some of the most important questions in conduct and morals. The child is committed to the teacher's hands in the very morning of life, when the character, still more than the young limbs, is, so to say, still in the gristle. They have, both limbs and character, acquired some of their proper consistency and power of resistance ; but to how much of the intellectual and moral frame are not the first impress and shaping to be given at school ■? Is this a light matter 1 If the teacher was to fashion your child's personal proportions, or to remold his features, with what jealousy would you inquire after his qualifica- tion for that task 1 Is it of less importance how he fashions and molds the features of the mind ? Is it of small account, whether your child's germinating faculties — to use a proverbial expression, to which no rhetoric can add force — shall be " nipped in the bud," a bud in which seeds of immortal life and heav- enly intelligence have been curiously wrapped by the Creator 1 The husband- man can tell us if it is a matter of little or no consequence whether you employ a skillful or an unskillful person to raise a cro ;: of corn, the growth of a few months, under a simple process of culture. And yet so much depends on pro- per management, that from the same seed you may see, in one field, the corn towering up, vigorous, swelling with life and strength, its broad, healthy leaves crackling till the farmer thinks he can both hear it and see it grow, the graceful tassel dancing on the summit of the stalk, and dropping its fertilizing powder on the silken filaments, which force their way from the top of the husk to receive the vital principle, and convey it to the ripening ear ; and perhaps on the other side of the way, in a corner of the sluggard's garden, struggling with rank weeds for the joint possession of the unenriched soil, you will see, from the same seed, a scanty, blighted, sickly crop, yellow as saffron when it ought to be green, and black when it ought to be yellow, and scarce promising a few meager stalks for the barn-yard. Whenever I witness such a contrast in the natural world, I ask myself, with trembling, whether the mind is a principle so much less delicate than a blade of grass, — whether the proper care and culture of the intellect, the raising up and the training up of that unspeakable mystery on earth, a tliinking, reasoning, discoursing, immortal creature, — are so inferior in importance, in GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. 151 difficulty, and in the amount of the consequences involved, that while we would triist the tillage of our field, the sowing of our corn, and the gathering of the harvest, only to an expert and a judicious hand, any one may be trusted to keep our schools and cultivate the minds of our children? These inquiries scarcely need an answer. Every man's reflection who is able to reason on the subject, — every one's observation who has turned his at- tention to it, — every one's experience who has had children of his own confided to a succession of teachers, and still more, who, at any time, has himself been engaged in the business of instruction, will satisfy himself that the teacher's duty is important, complicated, and arduous. It is not a mere piece of job-work, to which any one may turn his hand, but a professional calling, which requires knowledge, judgment, and experience. There is scarce such a thing conceivable, as even a solitarj'- act, consisting of several parts or movements, which does not admit of every degree of excel- lence in the manner and success of the performance. See two men handle an ax, in cutting down a tree, one a raw hand, the other a practiced woodman. Look at two persons on horseback, of equal courage and strength, the one for the first time in his life in the saddle, the other an expert rider. One seems to realize the fable of the Centaur, as if he were himself a part of the animal on which he is moving ; the other can scarce keep his seat. Let an inexperienced person go to work with a handsaw or a paint brush ; or imdertake to conduct a piece of cloth through a power-loom, or to cover a whip-handle with its myste- rious network; and he will be very sure, for several times, to fail. I think there are few persons in this assembly, except those who may have had con- siderable practice, who can drive a nail straight into a board, without striking their fingers with the hammer. In fact, " to hit a nail on the head," simple as the operation seems, is in reality one of so much nicety, that it has become a proverbial expression for dexterity and skill. We might cast our eyes over the entire circle of human pursuit, and find new illustrations of the necessity of diligent preparation for every calling ; and no one can seriously suppose that the office of an instructor makes an exception. But inasmuch as institutions for the education of teachers are as yet hardly known by name among us, it is a natural question how teachers in oar country have hitherto been able to prepare themselves for the discharge of their duties. May not the means which have hitherto proved adequate for the supply of our schools with competent instructors, still suflice for thatpurpose ? The question is a fair one, and deserves a candid answer. Whoever thinks that we are favored with an ample supply of teachers, as well qualified as can be wished, needs no furiher answer. Whoever considers that of the teachers in times past and at the present day in our schools, there are those possessing all degrees of qualification, from veiy high to very low, it will seem a pertinent inquiry, what their means of preparation have been ; and such an inquirer will probably be of opinion that we need a more systematic and efficient preparation for this purpose. We must assume, then, first, that natural aptitude goes very far, on the plan hitherto pursued, in deciding the qualification of the teacher. This, under all circumstances, will be an important element. One man will be a better teacher, with little or no training or experience, than some others, who pass their lives in the business. This, however, is equally the case in every pursuit or calling. — in law, physic, and divinity, in trade, manufactures, and farming, — and is never thought to supersede the necessity of education. Some remain inefficient and incapable afier every imaginable advantage ; others, with slender opportunities, bound, as it were, at a single leap, to the front rank. I have seen a person, who, from his infancy, never knew a want ; who passed from the arms of a careful nurse into the care of the best of teachers; who enjoyed, from the first, every conceivable aid and encouragement, (except the most efficient of all, the spur of necessity,) the best of masters, the best of books in abundance, and steady schooling, and, at the close of his school education, grossly ignorant in every branch of knowledge ; while another, of the same age, educated under the stern discipline of necessity, with limited means, the ordinary chance of in- structors, the old books which his father wore out before him, and attendance at school far from steady, has advanced from one branch to another, mastering each as he goes, with a keen relish for learning, and an ever-craving appetite for new truth. Whatever may be the calling of these two men, one is destined 252 COV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. to eminence, the other to failure. Should circumstances call them to the in- structor's desk, it is quite evident that he who has learned little will have slill less to teach, while the other will be very likely to exhibit the same facility in the communication as in the acquisition of knowledge. In the next place, the teacher's fitness, at the present day, depends very much on the kind of instruction which he received himself while at school. If he was so fortunate as to be taught by a sound, accurate, and judicious instructor, he will be not unlikely to exhibit that character himself A good degree of the school-keeping capacity, and I may say, also, incapacity, are traceable to this source. Our schools are under a kind of traditionary discipline. To a consid- erable extent they are kept by young men and women, who make a pretty ra- pid transition from the pupil's bench to the master's and mistress's chair. Unless they possess strong, original minds, — which are not very common, — there is not much likelihood that they will rise above the standard of the schools where they were themselves taught. If these were very good, they will be more apt to fall below it. Mediocrity is much more apt to be propagated than ex- cellence. If a teacher of average capacity keep the school for a few years, he will not be likely to make any improvements, and will do very well if he hands it over to his successor as good as he found it. When this state of things pre- vails in a community for a long course of years, we behold the painful spectacle of schools in the rear of every thing else. There is progress in every thing else, but the schools are stationary, and even degenerating. I have heard judi- cious observers express the doubt, whether the average of our district schools, at the present day, are better than they were thirty years ago. If the remark is jusi, it is a state of things not very creditable to the commonwealth. To keep pace with the general progress of Improvement, they ought to be much better. We should be ashamed to be quoted hereafter, as a proof that there is a law in the intellectual and moral, like that which has been observed in the natural world, with respect to many of the products of the earth — that the fruit which is borne on the graft runs out with the original stock. Good husbandry requires that attention should be constantly given to the discovery of improved methods, and the introduction of new varieties raised from the seed. Tradition is closely allied to degeneracy. Where the teacher engages in his pursuit for life, a new source of qualifica- tion presents itself of great value; I mean experience. He qualifies himself. But such teachers are not found, I presume, in many of our common schools. They rise to higher stations. Besides this, it may happen, when Experience is the teacher, as with teachers of other kinds, the pupil is by no means sure to excel his master. Self-instruction is not always improving. It depends on the character of a man's mind, how much advantage he derives from experience. The experience of one man is clear and decisive. He commits an error, per- ceives it, and henceforward avoids it. He is struck with the advantage of some procedure or method, traces that advantage to its principle, builds a rule upon it, and enlarges or amends his practice to the end of life. The experience of other men yields them no such fruit. It is vague and irresolute. They live and act, but have no experience, properly so called. Proceeding without steady principles of conduct, without the intelligence or the moral aptitude to profit by their mistakes, the working of one day counteracts that of another. It is only where order, the first law of earth, as well as Heaven, presides, that day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth forth knowledge. Without this guide of conduct, experience may perplex instead of directing. The mis- take of to-day produces the mistake of to-morrow ; and life is exhausted in half- finished experiments and constantly-repeated blunders, so that whether a man's experience profit him depends upon whether it is good experience, which may be either successful experience, or unsuccessful experience wisely heeded ; and it may often happen that the recorded experience of another more judicious mind will in reality guide a man better than his own. The recorded experience of others, then, — that is, books, — is another means by which the teacher at present qualifies himself for his calling. Unquestiona- bly, the conscientious instructor may derive the greatest advantages from the careful study of judicious publications on the subject of his pursuit. The num- ber of these is greatly multiplied of late years. It is a branch of literature com- paratively of recent growth; and without doing injustice to the works of the patriarchs in this science, of Plato and of Cicero to the writings of Ascham, GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. I53 of Milton, of Locke, I am inclined to think that, for practical views, what has been written within the last tifly years exceeds, both in amonnt and value, all that had before been given to the world on the subject of education. As far as my acquaintance with the subject extends, the works of Miss Edgeworth are entitled to the credit of having first promulgated, in the English language at least, sound and judicious views as to the whole business of education. A per- son thoroughly possessed of every thing in her works, would have but little to learn, as to general principles, (with one exception.) from other sources. There are, however, many things, of course, in her publications, not applicable to the condition of things in this country ; and on one all-important topic, the subject of religious instruction, there is a deeply to be lamented deficiency. For the practical purposes oi' the American teacher, some good works, have appeared in our own countiy, of which that of Mr. Jacob Abbott appears to me decidedly the best, No person can peruse it without gaining new conceptions of the importance of the teacher's duty, and practical hints as to the best method of discharging it. Whether a perusal of it will not, in most cases, leave on the reader's mind a painful impression as to the imperfection of our schools, in con- dition and management, is a question which each must answer for himself Prom the various useful works on the business of instruction, the faithful teacher will, under all circumstances, flerive great benefit. But neither in this nor any other calling, will the solitary study of books effect all that is to be de- sired, to say nothing of the objection to this and all the other sources of self- instruction, which arises from the condition of the schools, while the master is endeavoring to improve himself Those of our children may do well who have the advantage of his teaching, after he has qualified himself by experience in office and the study of good books ; but what is to become of those who are to get their education while this process is going on, and before it has proceeded to any valuable extent 1 As a general remark, perhaps it would not be unjust to say, that most of our teachers retire from that pursuit about the time they become well qualified to carry it on to the greatest advantage. We are thus brought to the necessity of some specific preliminary preparation for the office of teacher — a preparation which shall fit him in some degree be- forehand for his duties. To afford this preparation, is the precise object of a Normal School. Nothing is farther from my purpose than to set up the preten- sion that there can be no well-qualified teacher without such a school ; but that great advantages may be expected from a regular plan of instruction, in semi- naries devoted to this object ; a plan of instruction to come in aid of all the other means of improvement, on which the faithful teacher must now exclu- sively depend. To afford this instruction, is the object of the Normal Schools now established in the commonwealth. It is impossible that it should be so thorough and comprehensive, as the theory of a perfect institution of the kind requires. There are no funds applicable to the expense of such an establish- ment; and our young men and women .could not generally afford the time re- quisite for a very long course of preparation, because the majority of our districts do not require, and would not support, teachers who, having been at great ex- pense of time and money in fitting themselves for their calling, would need a proportionate compensation. We suppose that many of those who resort to these institutions, will, at present, be able only to pass but a part of one year in the enjoyment of their advantages ; but while provision is made for the shortest period for which any individual could reasonably wish to be received, a thorough course of instruction will also be arranged for those who desire to devote a longer time to their preparation as teachers. Such a course of instruction will obviously consist of the following parts : 1. A careful review of the branches of knowledge required to be taught in our common schools ; it being, of course, the first requisite of a teacher that he should himself know well that which he is to aid others in learning. Such an acquaintance with these branches of knowledge is much less common than may be generally supposed. The remark may sound paradoxical, but I believe it will bear examination, when I say, that a teacher thoroughly versed in those branches of knowledge only which are taught in our common schools, is as difficult to find as a first-rate lawyer, divine, or physician, statesman, man of business, or farmer. A good schoolmaster should be able to read and speak the English language with propriety, ease, and grace ; and this can not be done with- out a thorough knowledge of its grammar. He should possess, at the same 154 GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. time, a clear, shapely, and rapid hand-writing, and be well versed in the ele- mental principles and operations of numbers. "Without going beyond these three branches, — best designated by the good old-fashioned names of reading, writing, and arithmetic. — -I venture to say that a man who possesses them thoroughly is as rare as one of corresponding eminence in any of the learned professions. And yet the law requires such masters for our district schools. What says the statute 1 "In every town containing fifty families or house- holders, there shall be kept, in each year, at the charge of the town, by a teacher or teachers of competent abilities and good morals, a school for the instruction of children in orthography, reading, writing, English grammar, geography, arith- metic, and good behavior." How few, even of those considered men of education, are thoroughly versed even in the branches required by law in our common schools ! How much fewer who know them as a teacher should know them ! for a teacher ought to know of every thing much more than the learner can be expected to acquire. The teacher must know things in a masterly way, curiously, nicely, and in their reasons. The great mistake in monitorial instruction is, that it supposes that the mo- ment the bare knowledge of a fact in its naked form is attained, it qualifies a person to teach it to others. The teacher must see the truth under all its aspects, with its antecedents and consequents, or he can not present it in just that shape in which the young mind can apprehend it. He must, as he holds the diamond up to the sun, turn its facets round and round, till the pupil catches its luster. It is not an uncommon thing to hear it said of a grown person that he is too learned to teach children ; that he knows too much, is too far in ad- vance of their minds, to perceive their difiiculties. I imagine the trouble gen- erally to be of the opposite character. The man of learning either never understood the matter thoroughl}'', or he has forgotten what he once knew. He has retained enough of his school learning for the particular calling of life he has chosen; but he has not retained a clear recollection of the elemental truths which it is necessary the learner should comprehend. If in this state of things he can not comprehend the schoolboy's difficulty, it is not his superior wisdom, but his ignorance, which is at fault. These remarks apply particularly to the science of numbers, over which most of our children pass languishing days and weeks, vainly striving to master a hard " sum " or a hard rule, which they finally give up in despair, or of which they content themselves with some false explanation, from pure want of capacity on the part of the teacher. A child of eight or nine years of age, at one of our district schools, had run through the chief rules of arithmetic, as it used to be taught, doing all the sums, and setting them down in his ciphering book, M^thout the slightest comprehension of the reason of any one of the operations. At last, after going for a second or third time through the rule of decimals, he, for the first time, caught a glimpse of the real nature of a decimal fraction, of which he had been wholly ignorant before, and which, in his simplicity, he thought a discovery of his own. It was not till some time afterward that he found out that mankind had for a great while been aware that a decimal is the numerator of a fraction whose denominator is a unit with as many ciphers as the numerator has places. The first object of instruc- tion in a Normal School is, as far as possible, in the space of time assigned to its instructions, to go over the circle of branches required to be taught, and see that the future teacher is thoroughly and minutely versed in them. 2. The second part of instruction in a Normal School is the art of teaching. To know the matter to be taught, and to know it thoroughly, are of themselves, though essential, not all that is required. There is a peculiar art of teaching. The details of this branch are inexhaustible, but it is hoped that the most im- portant principles may be brought within such a compass as to afibrd material benefit to those who pass even the shortest time at these institutions. The sub- ject should be taken up at its foundation, in those principles of our nature on which education depends ; the laws which control the faculties of the youthful mind in the pursuit and attainment of truth; and the moral sentiments on the part of teacher and pupil which must be brought into harmonious action. The future teacher must be instructed in the most efifectual way of reaching untaught mind— a process subtile, diflicult, various. The first thing requisite often will be to ascertain what has to be unlearned, both as to positive errors and bad habits of mind. The child who has been accustomed to add numbers together GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. Jgg by counting on his fingers, instead of learning a simple addition table by rote at the outset; who has formed to himself a small, ill-looking, and illegible scrawl, under the name of a running hand, without ever having learned to shape the letters in bold and fair proportions ; or who, under the notion of re- finements beyond the common standard, has been taught such barbarisms as " he shew me the book," " I have began to read it," " had I have had time to go," — such a child, I say, comes into the hands of the teacher heavily laden with a cargo, which it must be the first labor and care to throw overboard. But the art of teaching is not confined to a correction of the errors, or a re- form of the bad habits, of the mistaught pupil. Where nothing of this kind is to be done, the mind of the learner is still to be guided, aided, and encouraged in its progress. The perfection of the art of teaching consists in hitting the precise point between that which the studious pupil must do for himself, and that which the instructor may do with him and for him. It is not enough, in teaching a child to read, to correct with a harsh voice some gross error which he may make in reading a verse or two in the New Testament or the" National Reader. The teacher must himself, patiently, kindly, and with a gentle voice, read the passage over repeatedly, and see that the learner understands the meaning of every word, and of the whole sentence. It is peculiar to arithmetic, that though there are degrees of readiness in performing its operations, there are no degrees of clearness and certainty in the knowledge of its principles. The incredible vexation which attends the study of this branch with many children, generally arises from the unskillfulness of the teacher, in not taking care that the learner, as he goes along, understands thoroughly each successive step. If this be done, the child often years old will know what he knows at all as well as Sir Isaac Newton. Some simple schoolboy muse, in former times, has recorded its sorrowful experience on this subject in the following plaintive and, in my day, very popular strain — " Multiplication is vexation, Division is as bad, The rule of three doth puzzle me, And practice makes me mad." But if proper care be taken that every step be thoroughly understood before advancing to the next, multiplication and division will be found as simple as addition or subtraction; while the rule of three and practice have been shown, in the recent and best school books, to be wholly unnecessary, inasmuch as all questions usually performed by their aid can be more readily performed by sim- pler processes. One thing is certain ; that though there can be no difierence in the average capacity of equal numbers of the children in two schools in the same commu- nity, there is often a vast difierence in the average scholarship, after the same amount of schooling. To what can the difierence be ascribed, but to the dif- ferent degrees of skill on the part of teachers "? It is not an uncommon thing to find children who, after having been months, and even years, employed either on the lower elements or on the higher branches of learning, leave school, at last, knowing nothing thoroughly, and not much superficially. They can not read with fluency, force, and intelligence, to say nothing of grace and beauty; they write a poor, unsteady, hieroglyphical hand ; they have no clear notions of grammatical construction, and are awkward and incorrect in the use of numbers. Perhaps this is the description of nearly half the children who leave school in town or country. The little that is learned of Latin and Greek is equally inaccurate and shallow. The fault is commonly laid at the pupil's door, especially if he has had what is usually called schooling enough. I think, however, generally, that the fault is with the teacher, who is frequently not thoroughly versed himself in what he undertakes to teach — more frequently un- skilled in the art of teaching. The astonishing difference sometimes noticed in the progress of the same school under different teachers, in successive sea- sons, shows how much is justly attributable to this cause. Besides the general art of teaching, there are peculiar methods, applicable to each branch of knowledge, which should be unfolded in the instructions of a Normal School; but this is a topic in which my limits do not permit me to en- gage. I hasten to 3. The third branch of instruction to be imparted in an institution, which concerns the important subject of the government of the school, and which 150 GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. might perhaps more justly have been named the first. The best method ot governing a school — that is, of exercising such a moral influence in it as is most favorable to the improvement of the pupils — will form a very important part of the course of instruction designed to qualify teachers for their calling. It is this part of their duty which is probably least considered by themselves or their employers ; for the reason, perhaps, that qualification in this respect is least capable of being estimated by an external standard. But how much is not im- plied in the words " to govern a school !" For several hours in the day, the teacher is to exercise the authority of a parent over fifty or sixty, perhaps over ninety or a hundred children. Parents can form an opinion whether this is a task to be executed without system, without principles, and as a matter of course ; or whether it is not that in which the youthful teacher will most stand in need of all the preparation which it is possible to acquire. Without the aid of that instinct of natural affection which fortifies parental authority, he is expected, with a parent's power, to control alike the docile and the obstinate, the sullen and the gay. While his entire intercourse with his pupils is that of constraint and requisition, he must acquire an absolute control over many a youthful spirit, which has already been irritated by caprice, soured by tyranny, or spoiled by indulgence at home. And he is to do this not by violence and storm, but by wisely threading the maze of that living labyrinth, the affections of the youthful heart. In this department perhaps greater improvement has taken place of late years than in any other; there has been a general call for moral influence, in- stead of physical power. I do not say that this last should never be resorted to, but I trust the day is wholly past for that ferocious warfare between master and pupil which was once so general, and with no other effect than that of turning the teacher's office into a hateful tyranny, and the happy season of childhood into a long martyrdom. Dr. Johnson, in composing a legal argument to be used by another person, puts into his mouth the sentiment, " that a school can be governed only by fear." It would, I think, have been much nearer the truth to say, that a school can be governed only by patient, enlightened. Christian love, the master principle of our natures. It softens the ferocity of the savage; it melts the felon in his cell. In the management of children it is the great source of influence ; and the teacher of youth though his mind be a storehouse of knowledge, is ignorant of the first principles of his art, if he has not em- braced this as an elemental maxim. But let it not be thought that these are smooth sa3dngs, and that moral dis- cipline is unattended with difficulty, and preferred by an indolent age for its comparative ease. The reverse is nearer the truth. To walk the rounds of the school with a ratan in the hand, to be bestowed as liberally on the thought- less exuberance of youthful spirits, on the restlessness of the little urchin un- used to his confinement, and on the mistakes of mere inadvertence or absolute ignorance, as on hardened perversity and resolute disobedience, is a much easier task than to graduate each of these cases on the scale of moral demerit, and to treat them accordingly. It is related of the late Dr. Bowditch, that he very early manifested that skill in numbers which afterward raised him to the level of tire first mathematicians of the day. While quite a child at school, he performed a difficult sum in arithmetic with astonishing readiness. His school- master was at once so ignorant of the mode of governing a school, and had so little acquainted himself with the powers of his pupil's mind, that he thought it impossible the task should have been performed without assistance, and asked who had helped him. On being told by young Bowditch that he had done it himself, the coarse tyrant severely chastised him for falsehood — a treatment well calculated to subvert the entire moral frame of a sensitive lad, but much more simple than it would have been for an understanding such as this master possessed to enter into a careful analysis of the capacities of his forward pupil. The instruction of the Normal School will therefore dwell on the government of youth as of paramount importance; as that part of the teacher's duty which demands the rarest union of qualities, which most tries the temper, and I will add, when faithfully and judiciously performed, is most important in its results. Give me the child whose heart has embraced without violence the gentle lore of obedience, in whom the sprightliness of youth has not encroached on defer- ence for authority, and I would rather have him for my son, though at the age of twelve he should have his alphabet to learn, than be compelled to struggle with the caprice of a self-willed, obstinate youth, whose bosom has become a GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. i^ij viper's nest of the unamiable passions, although in early attainments he may be the wonder of the day. There are many other topics connected with the teacher's duty, on which it may be expected that instruction will be afforded in the Normal School. Among these is the all-important subject of direct instruction in morals and re- ligion, the relations of teachers and parents, of teachers and the higher school authorities, and the duties of teachers to each other and to the community, and of the community to them, as the members of a respectable profession. I am necessarily prevented by the limits of the occasion from entering upon any of these subjects. 4. In the last place, it is to be observed, that in aid of all the instruction and exercises Mithin the limits of the Normal School, properly so called, there is to be established a common or district school, as a school of practice, in which, under the direction of the principal of the Normal School, the young teacher may have the benefit of actual exercise in the business of instruction. This, of course, is a very interesting portion of the system ; but I am obliged to dismiss it with this simple mention. Such then, briefly, are the nature and objects of a Normal School, and such the manner in which it proposes to qualify teachers. We do not expect that it A?ill work miracles ; we shall be satisfied if it does good ; and of this only we feel a reasonable degree of confidence, that no young man or young woman can pass even three months in the institution without leaving it better qualified for the business of instruction. We trust the result will be such as eventually to contribute to the improvement of our schools. We have spared no pains, with the means at our command, to secure in advance the confidence of an en- lightened public. The talent, the services, and the distinguished character of the gentlemen to whom the schools already founded have been intrusted, are a pledge to the commimity of what may be expected from their labors in tliis cause. Among the fundamental principles laid down by the Board of Educa- tion for the government of the Normal Schools, it has been provided that a por- tion of Scripture shall be daily read ; and it is their devout hope that a fervent spirit of prayer, pervading the heart of both principal and pupils, may draw down the Divine blessing on their pursuits. I can not forbear, sir,* to express to you, on this occasion, the deep sense which is felt by the Board of Education of the importance of the trust wltich they have confided to your hands. I have the pleasure to assure you, that all their proceedings in reference to the school, and your own connection with it, have been entirely imanimous, and that a large measure of confidence is re- posed both in your ability and disposition to fulfil their expectations. The re- putation which you bring to this place, acquired by a long course of faithful labor in a highly responsible station elsewhere, (Bowdoin College,) is a suffi- cient guaranty to the public of the services which may be expected from you in this new and untried position. On you and the highly respected principal of the Normal School at Lexington, (Mr. Cyrus Pierce,) it will depend at present, in no small degree, whether institutions of this description shall win the public favor, and be incorporated into our system of common school education. We are sensible of the deep responsibility which this consideration devolves upon you, and shall, at all times, extend to you, to the utmost of our power, the support and encouragement you may need. Should this effort succeed to improve our schools by the increased qualifications of our teachers, you will have the satis- faction of being the first in our country to engage in an enterprise of the most eminent usefulness. Ages may pass away before an opportunity will present itself of working greater good than will be effected by those in this generation, who shall lay the foundations of decided improvements in popular education. We commend you, sir, to the support of this enlightened community, and the care of a watchful Providence. To you, my young friends of either sex, who have entered yourselves as pupils of the Normal School, we would say that the eyes of the friends of edu- cation, in all parts of the commonwealth, will be anxiously fixed upon you, and those who, with you, may be among the first to take advantage of the means of improvement which this institution affords. You are about to prepare your- selves, under great advantages, for the important office of instruction. This * Professor S. P. Newman. 158 GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. momentous trust, which hitherto, almost without exception, in this country, has been assumed without specific preparation, will be approached by you, after having had its principles carefully unfolded to you, with some opportunity of putting them to practice, in the model school, which will form a part of ihe in- stitution. When you shall engage in the business of instruction, the community will reasonably expect of you that you should exhibit unusual fitness for the work. Let this thought engage you to enter upon your studies with redoubled zeal. A failure on your part to meet the public expectation, will have an inju- rious etTect, for some time, on this attempt to improve the' qualifications of teachers, in institutions expressly devoted to that object. On the oiher hand, your spirit and devotion to the object you are pursuing, and your visible im- provement in the noble skill of aiding in the development of mind and the for- mation of character, while they will put you upon the path of acknowledged usefulness and prosperity, will contribute essentially to the permanent adoption of Normal Schools, as a part of the Massachusetts system of public education. May a higher motive than human approbation animate your conduct, and the Divine blessing crown your studies with success. Permit me, fellow-citizens and friends, in bringing this address to a close, to congratulate you on the establishment, in the bosom of this community, of an institution, destined, we trust, to be an instrument of great good. We place it under the protection of an intelligent public. Its organization is simple ; its action will be wholly free from parade and display ; its fruits, we trust, will be seen in raising the standard of common school education. This object, we confess, we regard as one of paramount importance, — second to no other not immediately connected with the spiritual concerns of man. If there be any persons to whom the words "common schools" and -'common school educa- tion" convey an idea of disparagement and insignificance, such persons are ignorant, not merely of the true character of our political system, but of the na- ture of man. I certainly intend nothing derogatory to our higher seminaries of education, in town or in country. They are recognized by the constitution of the state. It is made the duty of all magistrates to encourage and promote them, and they are justly strong in the public favor. But whether we consider the numbers who enjoy their benefit, the relative importance to the state of an entire well-educated population, and of the services of those who receive the advantages of an education at the higher seminaries, taken in connection with the fact that a liberal education may be had elsewhere, but that a common school education must be bad at home or not at all, no rational man, as it seems to me, can fail to perceive the superior importance of the common schools. They give the keys of knowledge to the mass of the people. The child learns more by his fourth year, than the philosopher at any subsequent period of his life ; he learns to affix an intelligible sign to every outward object and inward emotion, by a gentle impulse imparted from his lips to the air. In like manner, I think it may with truth be said, that the branches of knowledge taught in our common schools, when taught in a finished, masterly manner, — reading, in which I include the spelling of our language, — a firm, sightly, legible hand- writing, and the elemental rules of arithmetic, are of greater value than all the rest which is taught at school. I am far from saying that nothing else can be taught at our district schools; but the young person who brings these from school can himself, in his winter evenings, range over the entire field of useful knowledge. Our common schools are important in the same way as the com- mon air, the common sunshine, the common rain, invaluable for their common- ness. They are the corner-stone of that municipal organization which is the characteristic feature of our social system ; they are the fountain of that wide- spread intelligence, which, like a moral life, pervades the country ; they are the nursery of that inquiring spirit to which we are indebted for the preservation of the blessings of an inquiring, Protestant, spiritual faith. Established as they were by special legislation in the infancy of the colony, while they are kept up and supported with a liberality corresponding with the growth of the country, no serious evil can befall us. Whatsoever other calamities, external or internal, may overtake us, while the schools are supported, they will furnish a perennial principle of restoration. With her three thousand district schools, supported at the public expense, nothing but the irreversible decree of Omnipotence can bring the beaming forehead of Massachusetts to the dust. Vicissitudes may blight the foliage, but there will be vigor in the trunk, and life at the root. GOV. EVERETT'S ADDRESS AT BARRE. igg Talent will constantly spring up on her barren hill-sides, and in her secluded vales, and find an avenue, through her schools, to the broad theatre of life, where great affairs are conducted by able men. Other states may exceed her in fertility of soil, but the skillful labor of her free citizens will clothe her plains with plenty. Other states may greatly outnumber her, but her ingenuity will people her shady glens and babbling waterfalls with half-reasoning engines, which will accomplish the work of toiling myriads. Other states will far sur-* pass her in geographical domain ; but the government of cultivated mind is as boundless as the universe. Wheresoever on the surface of the globe, and in the long line of coming ages, there is a reasonable being, there is a legitimate sub- iect of mental influence. From the humblest village school, there may go forth a teacher who, like Newton, shall bind his temples with the stars of .Orion's belt, — with Herschel, light up his cell with the beams of belbre undiscovered planets, — with Franklin, grasp the lightning. Columbus, fortified with a few sound geographical principles, was, on the deck of his crazy caravel, more truly the monarch of Castile and Arragon, than Ferdinand and Isabella, enthroned beneath the golden vaults of the conquered Alhambra. And Robinson, with the simple training of a rural pastor in England, when he knelt on the shore of Delft Haven, and sent his little flock upon their gospel errantry beyond the world of waters, exercised an influence over the destinies of the civilized world which will last to the end of time. REMAEKS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL-HOUSE AT BRIDGEWATER. Augzi^t 19, 1846. The completion of a new edifice to accommodate the State Normal School at Bridgewater was signalized by appropriate exercises, on the 19th of August, 1846. Addresses were made during the day by His Excellency, Governor Briggs, Hon. William G. Bates, of Westfield, Amasa Walker, Esq., of Brookfield, at the church, and in the new school-room. After these addresses the company partook of a collation in the Town Hall, on which occasion the health of the Secretary of the Board of Education was given by the president of the day, and received by the company with enthusiastic applause. To this sentiment Mr. Mann responded as follows, as reported in the Boston Mercantile Journal. Mr. President : Among all the lights and shado-ws that have ever crossed my path, this day's radiance is the brightest. Two years ago, I would have been willing to compromise for ten years' work, as hard as any I had ever performed, to have been insured that, at the end of that period, I should see what our eyes this day behold. We now witness the completion of a new and beautiful Nor- mal School-house for the State N"ormal School at Bridgewater. One fortnight from to-morrow, another house, as beautiful as this, is to be dedicated at West- field, for the State Normal School at that place. West Newton was already provided for by private munificence. Each Normal School then will occupy a house, neat, commodious, and well adapted to its wants; and the Principals of the schools will be relieved from the annoyance of keeping a Normal School m an aJ-Normal house. I shall not even advert to the painful causes which have hastened this most desirable consummation, — since what was meant for evil has resulted m so much good. Let me, however, say to you, as the moral of this result, that it strengthens in my own mind what I have always felt ; and I hope it will strengthen, or cre- ate, in aU your minds, a repugnance to that sickly and cowardly sentiment of the poet, which made him long " For a lodge in some vast wilderness. Some boundless contiguity of sbade, Where rumor of oppression and deceit, Of unsuccessful or successful wars. Might never reach him more." There is oppression in the world which almost crushes the life out of humanity. There is deceit, which not only ensnares the unwary, but almost abolishes the security, and confidence, and dehght, wliich rational and social beings ought to enjoy in theu* intercourse with each other. There are wai"s, and the question whether they are right or wrong tortures the good man a thousand times more than any successes or defeats of either belligerent. But the feehng which springs up spontaneously in my nimd, and which I hope springs up spontaneously in your minds, my friends, in view of the errors, and calamities, and iniquities of the race, is, not to flee from the Avorld, but to remain in it ; not to hie away to forest sohtudes or hermit cells, but to confront selfishness, and wickedness, and ignorance, at whatever personal peril, and to subdue and extirpate them, or to die in the attempt. Had it not been for a feeling hke this among your friends, and the friends of the sacred cause of education in which you have enhsted, you well know that the Normal Schools of Massachusetts would have been put down, and that tills day never would have shone to gladden our liearts and to reward our K IQ2 *tR- MANN'S REMARKS AT BRIDGE WATER. toils and sacrifices. Let no man who knows not what has been suffered, what has been borne and forborne, to bring to pass the present event, accuse me of an. extravagance of joy. Mr. President, I consider this event as marking an era in the progress of edu- cation, — which, as we all know, is the progress of civilization, — on this western continent and throughout the world. It is the completion of the first Normal School-house ever erected in Massachusetts, — in the Union, — in this hemisphere. It belongs to that class of events which may happen once, but are incapable of being repeated. I believe Normal Schools to be a new instrumentahty in the advancement of the race. I behave that, without them. Free Schools themselves would be shorn of their strength and theh healing power, and wotdd at length become mere charity schools, and thus die out in fact and in form. Neither the art of printing, nor the trial by jury, nor a free press, nor free suffrage, can long exist, to any beneficial and salutary purpose, without schools for the training of teach- ers ; for, if the character and qualifications of teachers be allowed to degenerate, the Free Schools will become pauper schools, and the pauper schools will pro- duce pauper souls, and the free press will become a false and licentious press, and ignorant voters will become venal voters, and thi'ough the medium and guise of republican forms, an oligarchy of profligate and flagitious men will gov- ' ern the land ; nay, the universal diffusion and ultimate triumph of all-glorious Christianity itself must await the tune when knowledge shaU. be diffused among men through the instrumentality of good schools. Coiled up in this institution^ as in a spring, there is a vigor whose uncoiling may wheel the spheres. But this occasion brings to mind the past history of these schools, not less than it awakens our hopes and convinces our judgment respecting their future success. I hold, sir, in my hand, a paper, which contains the origin, the source, the punctum saliens, of the Normal Schools of Massachusetts. [Here Mr. Mann read a note from the Hon. Edmund Dwight, dated March 10th, 1838, authorizmg him, Mr. Mann, to say to the Legislature, that the siim of ten thousand dollars would be given by an individual for the prej)aratioa of teachers of Common Schools, provided the Legislature would give an equal sum. The reading was received with great applause.] It will be observed, resumed Mr. Mann, that this note refers to a conversation held on the evening previous to its date. The time, the spot, the words of that conversation can never be erased from my soul. This day, triumphant over the past, ausi^icious for the future, then rose to my sight. By the auroral hght of hope, I saw company after company go forth from the bosom of these institutions, Uke angel ministers, to spread abroad, over waste spiritual reahns, the power of knowledge and the dehghts of virtue. Thank God, the enemies who have since I'isen up to oppose and malign us, did not cast then* hideous shadows across that beautiful scene. The proposition made to the Legislature was accepted, almost without oppo- sition, in both branches; and on the tliird day of July, 1839, the first Normal School, consisting of only three pupils, was opened at Lexington, under the care of a gentleman who now sits before me, — Mr. Cyi'us Pierce, of Nantucket, — then of island, but now of continental fame. [This called forth' gi-eat cheeviug, and Mr. Mann said he should sit down to give Mr. Pierce an oppoj'tunity to respond. Mr. Pierce arose under great embarrassment; starting at the sound of his name, and half doubting whether the eloquent Secretary had not intended to name some other person. He soon recovered, however, and in a very happy maimer extricated himself from the " fix" in which the Secretary had placed him. He spoke of his children, the pupils of the first Normal School, and of the honorable competition which ought to exist between the several schools ; and to the surprise, as well as regret, of all who heard him, he spoke of being admon- ished by infirmities which he could not mistake, that it was time for him to retire from the pro- fession. The audience felt as if, for once in his life, this excellent teacher had threatened to do wrong. He then told an amusing anecdote of a professor who retained his olBce too long, and was toasted by the students in the words of Dr. Watts,—" The Rev. Dr. , Hush, my babe, lie still and slumber." And then he sat down amidst the sincere plaudits of the company, who seemed to think he was not " so plaguy old" as he wished to appear.] I say, said Mr. Mann, on resuming, that, though the average number of Mr. Pierce's school is now from sixty to eighty ; and though this school, at the pres- ent term, consists of one hundred pupUs, yet the first term of the first scliool opened with three pupils only. The truth is, though it may seem a paradox to MR. MANN'S REMARKS AT BRIDGEWATER. Ig3 jgay so, the Norman Schools had to come to prepare a way for themselves, and to show, by practical demonstration, what they were able to accomplish. Like Chi'istianity itself, had they waited till the world at large called for them, or was ready to receive them, they would never have come. In September, 1839, two other Normal Schools were established : one at Barre, in the county of Worcester, since removed to "Westfield, in the county of Hamp- den ; and the other at this place, whose only removal has been a constant mov- ing onward' and upward, to higher and higher degrees of prosperity and use- fulness. In tracing down the history of these schools to the present time, I prefer to bring into view, rather the agencies that have helped, than the obstacles which have opposed them. I say, then, that I believe Massachusetts to have been the only State in the Union where Normal Schools could have been established ; or where, if estab- lished, they would have been allowed to continue. At the time they were established, five or six thousand teachers were annually engaged in our Common Schools ; and probably nearly as many more were looking forward to the same occupation. These incumbents and expectants, together with their families and circles of relatives and acquaintances, would probably have constituted the greater portion of active influence on school affairs in the State ; and had they, as a body, yielded to the invidious appeals that were made to them by a few agents and emissaries of evil, they might have extinguished the Normal Schools, as a whirlwind puts out a taper. I honor the great body of Common School teachers in Massachusetts for the magnanimity they have displayed on this sub- ject. I know that many of them have said, almost in so many words, and, what is nobler, they have acted as they have said : — " We are conscious of our defi- ciencies ; we are grateful for any means that will supply them, — nay, we are ready to retire from our places when better teachers can be found to fill them. We derive, it is true, om- daily bread from school-keeping, but it is better that our bodies should be pinched with hunger than that the souls of children should staiwe for want of mental nourishment ; and we should be unworthy of the husks which the swine do eat, if we could prefer om- own emolument or comfort to the intellectual and moral cultm'e of the rising generation. We give you om- hand and our heart for the glorious work of improving the schools of Massachusetts, Avhile we scorn tlie baseness of the men who woidd appeal to our love of gain, or of ease, to seduce us from the path of duty." This statement does no more than justice to the noble conduct of the great body of teachers in Massachusetts. To be sure, there always have been some who have opposed the Normal Schools, and who wUl, probably, continue to oppose them as long as they live, lest they themselves should be superseded by a class of competent teachers. These are they who would arrest education wliere it is ; because they cannot keep up with it, or overtake it m its onward progress. But the wheels of education are rolling on, and they who wiD. not go with them must go under them. The Normal Schools were supposed by some to stand in an antagonistic rela- tion to academies and select schools ; and some teachers of academies and select schools have opposed them. They declare that they can make as good teachers as Normal Schools can. But, sh, academies and select schools have existed in this State, in great numbers, for more than half a century. A generation of school-teachers does not last, at the extent, more than three or four years ; so that a dozen generations of teachers have passed thi-ough our PubUc Schools within the last fifty years. Now, if the academies and high schools can supply an adequate number of school-teachers, why have they not done it ? We have waited half a century for them. Let them not complain of us, because we are unw illin g to wait half a century more. Academies are good in their place ; colleges are good in their place. Both have done invaluable service to the cause of education. The standard of intelligence is vastly higher now than it would have been without their aid ; but they have not provided a sufficiency of com- petent teachers ; and if they perform their appropriate duties hereafter, as they have done heretofore, they cannot supply them ; and I cannot forbear, Mr. Presi- dent, to express my firm conviction, that if the work is to be left in their hands, we never can have a supply of competent teachers for our Common Schools, without a perpetual Pentecost of miraculous endowments. 2g4 MR. MANN'S REMARKS AT BRIDGEWATER, But if any teacher of an academy had a right to be jealous of the Normal Schools, it was a gentleman now before me, who, at the time when the Bridge- v/ater Normal School came into his town, and planted itself by the path which led to his door, and offered to teach gratuitously such of the young men and women attending his school, as had proposed to become teachers of Common Schools, instead of opposing it, acted with a high and magnanimous regard to the great interests of humanity. So far from opposing, he gave his voice, his vote, and his purse, for the establishment of the school, whose benefits, you, my young friends, have since enjoyed. (Great applause.) Don't applaud yet, said Mr. Mann, for I have better things to tell of him than this. In the winter ses- sion of the Legislatm-e of 1840, it is well known that a powerful attack was made, in the House of Representatives, upon the Board of Education, the Nor- mal Schools, and all the improvements wliich had then been commenced, and Avhich have since produced such beneficent and abundant fruits. It was pro- posed to abolish the Board of Education, and to go back to the condition of things in 1837. It was proposed to abolish the Normal Schools, and to throw back with indignity, into the hands of Mr. Dwight, the money he had given for their support. That attack combined all the elements of opposition which selfishness and intolerance had created, — whether latent or patent. It availed itself of the argument of expense. It appealed invidiously to the pride of teachers. It menaced Prussian despotism as the natural consequence of imitating Prussia in preparing teachers for schools. It fomented political partisanship. It mvoked religious bigotry. It united them all into one phalanx, animated by various motives, but intent upon a single object. The gentleman to whom I have re- ferred was then a member of the House of Representatives, and Chairman of the Committee on Education, and he, in company with Mi*. Thomas A. Greene, of New Bedford, made a minority report, and during the debate which followed, he defended the Board of Education so ably, and vindicated the necessity of Normal Schools and other improvements so convincingly, that their adversaries were foiled, and these institutions were saved. The gentleman to whom I refer is the Hon. John A. Shaw, now Superintendent of schools in New Orleans. [Prolonged cheers ; — and the pause made by Mr. Mann, aflforded an opportunity to Mr. Shaw, in his modest and unpretending manner, to disclaim the active and efficient agency which he hiid had in rescuing the Normal Schools from destruction before they had had an opportunity to commend themselves to the public by their works; — but all this only increased the animation of the company, who appeared never before to have had a chance to pay off any portion of their debt of gratitude. After silence was restored, Mr. Shaw said that every passing year enforced upon him the lesson of the importance and value of experience in school-keeping. Long as he had taught, he felt himself improved by the teachings of observation and practice ; and he must therefore express his joy and gratitude at the establishment and the prosperity of the school at that place, whatever might be the personal consequences to himself.] Nor, continued Mr. Mann, is this the only instance of noble and generous con- duct which we are bound tliis day to acknowledge. I see before me a gentle- man who, though occupying a station in the educational world far above any of the calamities or the vicissitudes that can befall the Common Schools, — though, pecuniarily considered, it is a matter of entire indifference to him whether the Common Schools flourish or decline, — yet, from the beginning, and especially in the crisis to which I have just adverted, came to our rescue, and gave all his influence, as a citizen and as a teacher, to the promotion of our cause ; and whom those who may resort hither, from year to year, so long as this building shall stand, will have occasion to remember, not only with warm emotions of the heart, but, during the wintry season of the year, with warm sensations of the body also.* I refer to Mr. Geo. B. Emerson. [Mr. Emerson was now warmly cheered, until he rose, and in a heartfelt address of a few mo- ments, expressed his interest in the school, and in the cause of education, which he begged the young teachers not to consider as limited to this imperfect stage of our being.] These, said Mr. Mann, are some of the incidents of our early history. The late events which have resulted in the generous donations of individuals, and in the patronage of the Legislature, for the erection of tliis, and another edifice at West- field, ae a residence and a home for the Normal Schools, — these events, I shall * Mr. Emerson has furnished, at his own expense, the furnace by which the new school-house is lo be warmed. MR. MANN'S REMARKS AT BRIDGEWATER. 165 consult my own feelings, and perhaps I may add, the dignity and forbearance which belong to a day of triumph, in passing by without remark. [This pai-t of the history, however, was not allowed to be lost. As soon as the Secretary had taken his seat, the Rev. Mr. Waterston, who had been instrumental in getting up the subscrip- tion to erect the two school-houses, arose, and eloquently completed the history. He stated, in brief, that the idea of providing suitable buildings for the Normal Schools originated ynth some thirty or forty friends of popular education, who, without distinction of sect or party, had met, in Boston, in the winter of 1844-5, to express their sympathy with Mr. Mann in the vexatious con- flict which he had so successfully mamtained ; and who desired, in some suitable way, to express their approbation of his course in the conduct of the great and difficult work of reforming our Ck)mmon Schools. At this meeting, it was at first proposed to bestow upon Mr. Mann some token evincive of the personal and public regard of its members ; but, at a subsequent meeting, it was suggested that it would be far more grateful and acceptable to him to furnish some sub- stantial and efiicient aid in carrying forward the great work in which he had engaged, and in removing those obstacles and hinderances both to his own success and to the progress of the cause, which nothing but an expenditure of money could effect. No way seemed so well adapted to this purpose as the placing of the Normal Schools upon a firm and lasting basis, by fm-nishing them with suitable and permanent buildings; and the persons present thereupon pledged themselves to furnish $5000, and to ask the Legislatiu'e to furnish a like sum for this im- portant pui-pose. The grant was cheerfully made by the Legislature, whose good-will has since been further expressed by a liberal grant, to meet the expenses of those temporary Normal Schools, called Teachers' Institutes. Mr. Mann, who had not yet taken his seat, then continued as follows :] I have, my young friends, former and present pupUs of the school, but a single word more to say to you on this occasion. It is a word of caution and admoni- tion. You have enjoyed, or are enjoying, advantages superior to most of those engaged in our Common Schools. Never pride yourselves upon these advan- tages. Think of them often, but always as motives to greater diligence and exertion, not as points of superiority. As you go forth, after having enjoyed the bounty of the State, you will probably be subjected to a rigid examination. Submit to it without complaint. More will sometimes be demanded of you than is reasonable. Bear it meekly, and exhaust yom- time and strength in perform- ing your duties, rather than in vindicating yom- rights. Be silent, even when you are misrepresented. Tm-n aside when opposed, rather than confront oppo- sition with resistance. Bear and forbear, not defending yourselves, so much as trusting to your works to defend you. Yet, in counseling you thus, I would not be understood to be a total non-resistant, — a perfectly passive, non-elastic sand- bag, in society ; but I would not have you resist until the blow be aimed, not so ^much at you, as, through you, at the sacred cause of human improvement, in wliich you are engaged, — a point at which forbearance would be alhed to crime. To the young ladies who are here — teachers and those who are preparing themselves to become teachers, — I would say, that, if there be any human being whom I ever envied, it is they. As I have seen them go, day after day, and month after mouth, with inexhaustible cheerfulness and gentleness, to their ob- scure, unobserved, and I might almost say, unrequited labors, I have thought that I would rather fill their place, than be one in the proudest triumphal pro- cession that ever received the acclamations of a city, though I myself were the crowned victor of the ceremonies. May heaven forgive them for the only sin which, as I hope, they ever commit, — that of tempting me to break the com- mandment, by coveting the blissfulness and purity of their quiet and secluded virtues. ADDRESS AT TBB DEDICATION OF THE BRIDGEWATER STATE NORMAL SCHOOL-HOUSE, BY M^ILLIAM G. BATES, August IQtJi, 1846. Gentlemen of the Board of Education, Teachers, and Friends : The sagacious enactment of the Legislature of 1845, and the enlightened lib- erality of philanthropic individuals, placed at the disposal of the Board of Edu- cation the means of erecting two edifices for the accommodation of the State Normal Schools. One of those edifices is now completed ; and this day it is to be set apart to the uses for which it was designed. The occasion has been deemed one of sufficient importance to justify a public and joyful commemoration ; and, at the request of the other members of the Board, and by their appointment, I appear before you, to bear a part in the performances of the day. We have assembled, then, to dedicate a school-house ! The executive authority of this ancient Commonwealth, the Board of Education, the wise and the learned from the different sections of the State, and the friends of progressive improve- ment in the cause of education, without regard to conventional lines or state boundaries, have convened to rejoice in the dedication of a building which hence- forth is to be appropriated to the education of those who are to instruct the children of the State in the rudiments of learning. " Is not this," methinks I hear an objector exclaim, " a trivial matter ? Are there not other and more appropriate occasions of rejoicing ? Are there not bright days in our national calendai*, events in our history, to fire the soul of song, and to swell the anthem of joy ? Have you no voice of praise for that recent consummation wliich has extended our institutions, in peaceful perpetuity, to the distant shores of the Pacific ? Give over, then, this inapposite attempt to dig- nify so unimportant an event as that which has called us together this day." Every nation has its own, its pecuKar days of rejoicing. The buth of a prince, the accession of a king, the yielding up of a charter, the overtlii-ow of a dynasty, have swelled the hearts of many an oppressed and suffering people. Our own country has even nobler themes than these. But, if it be the object of social lifie to increase our pleasures here ; if the cultivation of our moral powers is to minis- ter to om- enjoyments hereafter ; if the aim of political institutions is to secure to a people the inalienable rights of life, hberty, and the pm'suit of happiness, there can be no more heart-cheering vision than to behold a rich and powerful State solemnly pledging its wealth and its energies to the promotion of a cause upon which all these interests depend. Indeed, of all the events in our historic annals of which orators have discoursed and poets have sung, there is not one, worthy of a lasting commemoration, which is not intimately connected with the cause which has convened us to-day. Take, for example, that ever-memorable event, which stands out in our history as the brightest and the noblest, since the great triumph of Columbus, and ask yourselves why we celebrate the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. Is it that a few adventurers succeeded in establish- ing a colony which has been ripened, by subsequent wisdom, into this great empire ? that, driven by persecution from their native land, they fled to the soUtude of a new continent, and converted a refuge from present distress into an asylum for the oppressed of every clime ? The feelings which animated them were nobler than these, and their plans more enduring. They came hither to found a State ! All their desires and their energies tended to this one object. Danger could not appaJ, suffering could not deter them from its pursuit. When they left the harbor of DeKt-haven, and while their frail bark staggered under the fearful billows, their breasts were laboring for the development of those great principles of govern- ment which were destined to win for them the gratitude of a world. When they landed upon the rock of Plymouth, they stood upon the territory of a civ- 168 DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT BRIDGEWATER. ilized state ; and the sun which woke the fii-st morning of their occupancy, shone upon a regularly organized government. ISTor, amid the gloom which enshrouded them, and the dangers which threat- ened to ingulf their infant colony, did they falter in the designs wliich had their birth in suffering. Havmg elicited the great principle of the capability of man for the duties of self-government, they set forth, at once, to provide the means of demonstrating that capability ; and, in the midst of a mighty struggle for the very existence of their colony, they provided by enactment, witliin the first quarter of a century of its existence, for the futiu-e education of its children. The first provision for public instruction in the colony of Massachusetts Bay, was passed in the year 1642. Five years after, in 164*7, another act was passed, securing, still more effectually, the education of the young; but in the year 1692, just two centuries after the discovery of this continent, the means of diffusing the light of learning and rehgion, not only throughout that continent, but through- out the world, were provided in the enactments of the Pilgrim Fathers.* Other patriots and other sages, before them, had labored earnestly for the dissemina- tion of intelligence— and, in the early ages, some of them had fallen martyrs to their zeal in this noblest cause— but it was reserved for " the Fathers " to in- graft that great principle on the laws of a country, as a maxim of government, that all the people of a State should he educated by the State. This provision is entitled " An Act for the settlement and support of ministers and schoolmasters." " The Fathers " evidently considered Learning to be the handmaid of Religion, and whUe, in the law, they provided for the former, by making it the duty of the magistracy to supply any want of the stated means of grace by the appointment of a suitable pastor at the expense of the neglect- ful town, they secm'ed the promotion of learning by heavy penalties for each case of neglect. But then, as now, there were enlightened men whose zeal and intelligence were m advance of their age. The act of lY01,f after reciting the former act, proceeds as follows : " The observance of wliich wholesome and necessary law is shamefully neglected by divers towns, and the penalty thereof not required, tending greatly to the nourishment of ignorance and irreligion, whereof grievous complaint is made." It then provides for the redress of these evUs, and enacts that the penalties for future neglect shall be doubled ; that every grammar- master shall be approved by the minister of the town and the ministers of two adjoining towns, or any two of them ; that no minister of any to,wn shall perform such services, as a teacher, as to discharge the town from the performance of its duties under the act ; and that justices of the peace, and all grand-jurors, shall diligently inquire and true presentment make of all breaches and neglect of the same, that due prosecution may be made against the offenders. Nor were they more zealous in providing the means of instruction for the rising generation, than they were solicitous as to the characters of the teachers ; and their wisdom, in this respect, far transcends the legislation of modern days. We provide, in reference to our security in the quahfication of teachers, that they shall be examined by a competent board of judges, and, if not found to be quali- fied, why, then, that their employers shall be under no obligation to pay them for their services. Under the operation of tliis law, a grossly incompetent teacher, who has been rejected for the want of proper moral or literary qualifications, may form the minds and morals of om- children, according to his own standard of character ; and yet, if his employers are so inclined, he may receive a reward for his work of evil. But even this safeguard applies only to the public schools. In our academies, and in the numerous private schools with which, unfortunately, cm- country abounds, there is no legal check ujDon the injury which a bad man may work upon the minds and hearts of those who, by misjudging parents, may be committed to his charge. No matter how much he may lack in intelligence or in morals ; no matter how positively depraved he may be in his sentiments or in his conduct ; he is, nevertheless, a teacher under the law, or rather in spite of the law, and may exert a most deleterious influence upon the minds of those whose education should be under its especial guardianship. Not such were the views of those wise men who have transmitted to us that * Province Laws, c. XIII. p. 245. t Province Laws, c. LXXXIL p. 37L DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT BRIDGE WATER. JQ9 glorious system, under the operation of which the liitherto discordant elements of government have moved on in imbroken harmony. They considered the teacher as the former of the man ; and that, to secure a virtuous and an intelli- gent community, it "was necessary, not only to provide the means of good instruc- tion, but to guard against the influences of bad. Their opinions on this subject "were fully and forcibly expressed in the act of I'? 12, "whicli is kno"wn as the " Reformation Act."* Its preamble recites, that, " forasmuch as the "well edu- cating and instructing of children and youth, m families and schools, are a neces- sary means to propagate religion and good manners, and the conversation and examjole of heads of famihes and schools having great influence on those under their care and government, to an imitation thereof," no person " shall presume to set up or keep a school," "without the allo"wance and approbation of the proper authority ; and, the Ia"w continues, if any person " shall be so hardy" as to ofi^end against its provisions, he shall forfeit a heavy penalty, to be inflicted as long as bis school shall continue, and as often as he may be prosecuted therefor. Such "were the vie"ws and feelings of the Pilgrims. Such "were the objects at which they aimed, and the means by "wliich those objects "were sought to be ac- complished. And "when "we consider the "wise adaptation of the means to the end, when "we contemplate the sure and rapid progress "which has marked our course as a nation, the more sure, and the more rapid, accordingly as "we have adhered to and maintained those principles "wliich tJiey established — Avho shall say that the first vision of a free and an independent republic did not break upon their sight, "while they "were tossing upon the ocean in the cabin of the May Flower ? If we are correct in the opinion which has been incidentally expressed, and which has obtained a general credence throughout the world, that the secm-ity of om- free institutions depends upon the enactment of the provisions for the uni- versal education of the people, at the expense of the State, it surely cannot be inappropriate to the present occasion, nor can the occasion itself be trifling and unimportant, which leads us to consider the manner in which that provision affects the people in relation to our government. If the consideration subserves no other purpose than to renew om* recollections of those whose stout hands and whose stouter hearts provided for us this goodly land, it is, at least, but a fitting tribute paid at the call of gratitude. But the consideration may produce a more useful result ; and, as Old Mortality, among the tombs of the Covenanters, " con- sidered himself as fulfilling a sacred duty, while renewing to tlie eyes of posterity the decaying emblems of the zeal and sufi^erings of their forefathers, and thereby trimming, as it were, the beacon-light which was to warn future generations to defend their religion even unto blood," so we, in the contemplation of this noblest of the monuments of the Pilgrims, may be led to emulate them in their zeal, to catch the fire of their devotion, and to resolve to hand down to future ages this splendid memorial of theu- undying fame. The country from which the Pilgrims fled is a monarchy. In it the three essential modifications of government are arranged with so nice an adaptation to the liberty of the subject, as to make the British constitution the wonder of the world. There, is the freedom of the press ! There, is the trial by jury ! There, every man's property is secured to him under the provisions of the law, and every man's house is his castle. There, the path to Avealth is open to every traveler, and honors and rewards are ready to be showered upon the successful and the deserving. How sedulously they labor to promote their national pros- perity ! And, to secure that object, how carefully they watch over the welfare of those who may become their monarchs ! The birth of a royal infant is an- noimced as a subject of national congratulation, and the announcement is hailed with a response of national enthusiasm. The most experienced and celebrated physicians watch over even its healthful hours, and ladies of ranlv and fortune are proud to be its nm-ses. Learning waits upon and calls forth the development of its intellect, and science strengthens its powers by well-adapted and judicious exercise. Learned treatises and controversial publications discuss the means for the cultivation of all its faculties, and the whole nation watches for its progress with more than a parental anxiety. And why ? Because this infant may be a * Province Laws, c. CV. p. 398. lYO DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT BRIDGEWATER. component part of their own government ; and they know how much the happi- ness and welfare of a people depend upon the virtue and intelligence of their rulers. Nor is their zeal for the blessings of a good government expended in their efforts for the education of the executive power only. Tlieir judicial and their legislative departments are equally the objects of their fostering care. Of their judiciary, it is sufficient to remark, that the exorbitant salaries of the office, and the pension which follows its resignation, have ever called the highest talent from the bar to the bench, and made the judges of England, from the earliest ages, the true expounders of the law and the pure ministers of justice. Of the Legislative branch, the House of Lords is composed principally of those who derive, from a long line of ancestry, the office of hereditary rulers of the realm. And, to guard against the deteriorations which inevitably follow the accident of birth, the most distinguished citizens of the nation are promoted to the peerage, to superadd to the distinctions of rank the dignity of intelligence. The remaining branch of the Legislature consists of that body of men which is designed to represent the great interests of the people. But so guarded is the election of the members of the House of Commons by the controlling powers of the crown and the peers, and the dictates of a cautious and wary policy, that the people of England depend, for then- immunities, rather upon the opinion of the higher estates of the realm, than upon the influence of their own voice in the national comicils. I refer to these principles of British legislation with no view to the consideration of their expediency and wisdom. I advert to them only to show with what solicitude they endeavor to guard against the irruptions of ignorance, and with what feelings they regard educational training, even in a monarchical govern- ment. If such is the policy of England, what should be that of the United States ! If such is the practice of a monarchy, what should be that of a republic ! If such are the feehngs of a people where, although the rights of man are secured, yet his interests are subordinate to the rights of property, what should be the feehngs of that people whose system of government recognizes man as the very organ of its action, and his interests as the choicest objects of its care ! When om" fathers fled from religious persecution, to seek the " pure shrine" of faith, they sought also the blessings of civil liberty. They rejected the long- cherished doctrine of usurped agency, and gave back to man liis heaven-born birthright. They repudiated the cumbrous machinery of a system which, wliile it protected liis rights, pressed like an incubus upon his interests, and they relied upon a scheme of self-government founded upon his intelligence and virtue. And, truly, it was the sublimest conception which ever broke upon the mind of a patriotic statesman. Conceive, if you can, of an intelligent people, " nm-sed up from brighter influences, with souls enlarged to the dimensions of spacious art and high knowledge," cognizant of their rights, governed by their duties, demand- mg nothing wrong, yielding ever to the right, just in all the relations of private life, and acting upon these principles m all their foreign mtercourse ; and where is the Utopia wliich is the abode of a more well-imagined happiness ? And yet, bright as the conception is, it is the home designed for us by our heroic fathers. It is no Oceana, it is no Utopia. The realization of this plan is in our own power ; and our approach to it will be proportionate to the ardor of our zeal and the warmth of our devotion. Have we been true to our obhgations in the performance of the duties which have been assigned to us to perform? Have we imitated even the zeal and the wisdom of a monarchy ? Who are om- rulers ? Are they those who claim a descent from a long line of illustrious ancestors ? Are they those who by their wealth clothe themselves with the right to rule ? Or are they those who purchase the offices of the State as in the most venal of the days of the Roman State ? Who are the persons, that, in this country, are to stand in the place of the monarch ? Every native-born male child in the Union is the heir-apparent to the throne of tliis great empire. Who are to compose our House of Lords ? Every citizen of the age of thirty years, who shall have resided within the United States for the space of nine years, is eligible to that exalted station. DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT BRffiGE WATER. j^l Who are to constitute that popular branch, which in England is denominated the House of Commons ? The age of twenty -five years, seven of wliich shall have been passed within the limits of the Union, is a legal qualification for the peo- ple's representative. These are the persons who, together with the judicial department, form the thi'ee constituent parts of the most complex government upon earth. These are the persons to whom are intrusted those powers which are guarded with so much care by the educational poHcy of a monarchy. And now, let us ask if we rival the wisdom of this policy ? Are the youth, the future presidents, and senators, and representatives of this country, thus cai'efully instructed in a knowledge of those duties wliich they will and must be called upon to perform ? Ai'e they trained, in their early years, according to the great laws of health, so as to produce " a sound mind in a sound body ?" Do the wise and the learned watch over and guide their intellectual progress, and imbue then- impressible minds with the love of virtue ? Or are they not, rather, suffered "to come up," like neglected plants, ignorant of the relations of civil Mfe, and unknowing of those important trusts which are to be committed to them ? Who can well estimate the vast responsibilities which rest upon the conduct of these rulers ! How fraught may be their conduct with good ; how pregnant with evil ! Their acts may destroy the balance of this well-adjusted confederacy, and array brother against brother in the strife of blood. Then- con- duct may embroil nation with nation, and convert our smiling fields into the G-olgothas of battle. Their decision may change the industrial character of the whole people, and turn tlu-ift into idleness, and plenteousness into famine. Their examples may exalt vice, debase virtue, and give respectabiUty and character even unto crime. And, on the other hand, powerful to good, and strong against evil, they can unseal the hidden springs of thek country's prosperity, and read the nation's gratitude in the nation's eyes. But let us advance more directly to what is suggested by the occasion, and contemplate this subject in its relation to our own State. Whatever may be the fate of the government of which it forms a component part, and whatever may be our feelings or our duties toward it, yet, in the Commonwealth of Massachu- setts, our first civil obligations were assumed, and in its cause shall our latest efforts be made. Like that of other States, the government of Massachusetts consists of three departments. The Legislative, consisting of our Senate and House of Represent- atives, enact those laws which are intended to secure our rights and promote our welfare. The judicial department declares what those laws are, and settles the conflicting rights of individuals under them. The Executive power cames into execution the will of the people, as thus expressed and declared. We have adopted, as a part of its system, the doctrine of universal suffrage ; and practi- cally, the avenues to office, as well the highest as the lowest, are open to every citizen. Such is the theory of the government of Massachusetts. Such is that system of laws and institutions, by which we prosper, and under which we live. No well-informed person will deny, not merely how important, but how indis- pensable is a government of laws to the prosperity of a people. But still, there are few who are aware of the extent of its influence, through all the relations and circumstances of life. Indeed, there are thousands whose whole knowledge of its effects is derived from the experience of others. They are not impleaded themselves, nor do they implead then- fellows. They are not charged with crime, and, of course, feel no alarm at its undirected terrors. They know that it is around them, with its invisible shield, and they inquire not whence it comes, or whither it goes. They regard it as they do the sun that warms, and the air which surrounds them. They know that the sun wiU shine, and that the atmos- phere will breathe around them the elements of life ; and they seem to consider that man, in his imperfect institutions, is to rival the wisdom and the beneficence of the Creator. When they walk abroad, they know that the arm of the law is over them, to protect them from peril. They visit, without fear, the most re- mote and sequestered scenes ; for they feel that it will restrain the hand of violence, and blunt the steel of the assassin. They repose in their habitations during the long hours of night ; for the law makes then* house their castle, and protects it, as well against secret mischief as open aggression. They consider, in short, that their property is protected by the nation's strength, and that jij2 DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT BRIDGE WATER. ' millions of bayonets are the sure guaranties for the preservation of their liber- ties. There are, however, moral influences, resulting from the operations of law, which are still more striking. How does it pervade the very spirit of society, and control the whole conduct of men in their daily intercouj'se ! How does it strengthen the sentiment of justice in their hearts, and induce them to do right, almost without voUtion ! How it extends even to the domestic relations — re- strains the excess of parental authority, and deepens the feelings of filial obe- dience ! How it binds the husband to the wife, in the most endearing relation, and renders more indissoluble those holy ties which are the unspeakable charm of social existence ! And when, at last, they feel that they are about to depart from those who are to live after them, and to leave them to live on, without their natural j^rotection, with what confidence do they turn from the trusts of interested men to the laws and institutions of their country ! And yet, these laws and mstitutions, with all the momentous interests which grow up and flourish under them, depend for their existence upon these three co-ordinate departments of the govermnent. They sprang forth, at fu-st, full- armed in wisdom, like Minerva from the brain of power, but they cannot, like her, rely upon a native-born immortality. They are the mere creations of legis- lative AviU, and the power which made them can again destroy. Look at the affluence wliich successful acquisition has concentrated in this, the richest of the States. It is held only by a lega;l tenure. The law can tax it ; the law can ap- propriate it ; and what shall protect it from the inroads of fraud, and the aggres- sions of violence, if the law were to withhold its protecting arm ? Our houses and our lands we hold, as we imagine, by the securest of all tenures ; but a single act of the Legislature of the State may destroy the muniments of our title, and our respective portions of " the great globe itself" may take to them- selves the light wings of the morning. It may, perhaps, be conceded that our rulers should be both virtuous and in- telligent, and yet that the same necessity does not exist for a virtuous and intelligent constituency. This supposition assumes that the principles of legisla- tion are so complex and mtricate, that the people are to choose others to do for them those governmental acts of which they cannot perceive the wisdom. Such a doctrine is upheld in other governments, in the other hemisphere ; but it is repudiated by the very principles of republicanism. As well might the legisla- tive power be delegated m perpetuity, as well might the offices of our rulers depend upon the accident of birth, as that the results of their authority should rest upon any other foundation than the consent and the approval of the people governed. We employ a physician, mdeed, to do for us what we are presumed to be unable to do for ourselves, and we submit ourselves, uuarguing, to his guidance. " What he wills, miargued, we obey." But in matters of legislation, however complicated, we are presumed to be the judges. We vote for a pubHc ofKcer because we know his opinions, and our vote, therefore, should be but the true expression of our own ; and we might, in ignorance of the healing art, as properly administer remedies to a diseased patient, as, m ignorance of political information, thrust our nostrums into the body politic. And who that has watched our legislative history does not know that the acts of our rulers are but the embodiment of the popular will ? Who does not know that no legislation can be permanent or useful which does not rest upon the sen- timent of an approving people ? The act may be wise in its inception and beneficent in its operation ; but it is the pubhc sentiment alone wliich can give it vitahty ; and unless the public mind can be made to perceive and approve its wisdom, it will slumber, as though it were useless, until another law shall abro- gate its provisions. But, if it were granted that ignorant and vicious men wiU choose wise and virtuous rulers ; that those who cannot perceive the wisdom of wise laws will yet acquiesce in their permanency ; in short, that a system of government founded upon the virtue and mtelligence of the people, and upheld by these conservative principles alone, has within itself that miraculous efficacy of winning to it the support of ignorance and vice — still, let me ask whether, in the choice of wise and virtuous rulers, we fulfill to the government all the duties of good citizens ? Let any one, who is inclined to give an affirmative answer, go into our courts DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT BRIDGEWATER. 273 of justice, and see ho'W^ those rights of life, liberty, and property, -wliich the con- stitution upholds, depend as much upon their administration as upon the laws themselves ! How compUcated are the subjects which are presented at a judi- cial trial ! How strangely intermmgled are questions of fact with the principles of law ! How subtle and astute are the arguments of those who often make the worse appear the better reason ! How profoundly logical are the reasonings of the judge ! And then, too, how harassing are often the questions of evidence 1 The treach- erous memory, the mistaken apprehensions, the corrupt misstatements of wit- nesses, leave the truth in doubt. How adroitly the opposing counsel labor through a long and searching examination to unravel the web of eiTor and de- stroy the equipoise of a suspended judgment ! Now all these nice questions of fact, these applications of law, these arguments of counsel, these reasonings of the court, and this weighing in the nicest of scales the conflicting evidence, are to be settled and passed upon by a jury of twelve men, approved by the people and coming fi'om among the people ! How momentous is often the result of theu- opinions ! Property, hberty, and hfe itself, hang upon thek verdicts ; and yet how often is it that their verdict is wrong ! And is it not necessary that jurors should be intelligent ? Go to the litigant, who watches the progress of his cause with an intensity of interest, and upon whose heart every circumstance of trial tells, like the puuctm'e of a nerve, and ask him if his rights are safe in the hands of an ignorant jury. Recently, in one of the counties of our own Commonwealth, an incompetent juryman was observed to slumber during the progress of an important trial. The fact was communicated by a party to his counsel. " Let him sleep," was the reply ; " his dreams will be as inteUigent as his waking thoughts." " I be- heve it," said the party, as he sat down, heartsick, in his seat ; and the juror slumbered till his laborious breatliing attracted the attention of the judges. Tt is not, however, the mijust loss of 'property, of liberty, or even of hfe itself, which alone should prompt us to labor for the promotion of increased intelli- gence among those who may act upon our juries. Every wrong adjudication has a more deleterious effect than the mere loss of either of these rights, how- ever valuable they may be to their possessor. It weakens the confidence of man in the honesty of his peers ; it jeopai-ds that feelmg of security which is essential to individual happiness ; it impairs the strength of our reUance upon that great conservative featm-e of a representative government ; and, by forcing upon the mind the remembrance of a wrong endured, it weakens our deske to give per- manency to those institutions which have partially failed to answer the end of their creation. But stUl, when the suffering litigant, under the mfluence of these feelings, calls for increased intelligence and vii-tue in the jmy-box, let him reflect, that however embarrassing, and arduous, and important are the duties of a juror, they are not more important, and require no more consideration, than those pohtical duties which are performed sometimes, almost without even a thought of duty. There are other modes in which education ministers to the prosperity and the security of the institutions of the State, to some of which I can only refer, and to otliers I cannot even allude. The more tlian three hundred flomishing towns and cities in our Commonwealth have municipal duties, which education alone can enable them to perform. The annual election of their municipal ofiicers, the construction and repair of roads and bridges, the sanitary regulations for the preservation of the public health, the adoption of precautionary measm'es against the commission of crime, the pre- ventives against, the remedy for, and the support of honest poverty, the regula- tions for the security of individual property, the appropriations for beneficent municipal objects, the applications of money for those institutions of learning, the sustenance of which the law has wisely thrown upon them, and the appointment of persons to watch over these nurseries of virtue and knowledge — all these ob- jects require the exercise of those liigher qualities, both of the mind and heart, without which we are neither faithful to our trusts, just to ourselves, nor mind- ful of our posterity. Having thus far considered the necessity of popular education in a popular government, and, to some extent, the manner in which it affects the operation 2^ij^ DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT BRIDGEWATER. of this vast, wise, and complex system, let me ask of you whether the people are equal to the responsibihties which have been thrown upon them by the framers of our government. I do not now refer to that great State, in one of the con- gressional districts of which there is not a single newspaper, because its inhab- itants cannot read ! nor to those constituent parts of our great confederacy, where candidates for office advocate their own claims by oral addresses, because the ear is the only organ of communication between them and their constituents ! nor to those other sections of our Union, where vice and ignorance reign trimn- phant over the institutions of the ballot, and " fools rush in where angels fear to tread ;" but here, in our own venerated State, and in reference to our own be- loved Massachusetts, I ask of you, her citizens, if the people have arrived at that consummation in the education of the young, when efforts for improvement may safely cease. There is not, I trust, in all the mass of people within her borders, a single individual who will give an affirmative answer. They know that the offices and interests of our towns have again and again depended upon a single vote ! They know that more than once the vote of a single individual has dis- placed or elevated the very highest of om- officers ! They know, too, that often the character of the legislation of our Commonwealth has depended upon the votes of those Avho never read, who never heard read, I might almost say, who never heard of, the people's constitution ! Thus feehng, thus beMeving, there is not a man of them who would consent to stay the march of improvement ; and, if not for the sake of education itself, if not for the sake of his children and of the people, yet for the sake of those institutions which are perhaps om- too constant boast, he will look with eager de- sh'e for that period Avhen the will of the people shall be dkected by intelligence and virtue. The question then arises, how are these hopes to be realized ? How is this people to be educated ? How is every man, who assumes the duties of the citi- zen, to be fitted for the performance of them ? Will you point me to the family relatioiii and affirm that those who are the creators of the body are also to be the educators of the mind and heart ? It is true that aroimd the knees of the mother many a youth is yet to receive what so many illustrious citizens have akeady received — those invaluable precepts which alone 'can form the man. It is true that from the hps of many a fixther the cliild is to be inspired with those holy impulses which are to quicken his march along the path of virtue. But not all parents are sufficiently capable, not all have the requisite opportimity, for the performance of this great duty. And besides, how true is the doctrine which has received the approbation of the great orator of the age, thattall the children of a republic should be educated in the people's schools ! Will you point me to our colleges and our university ? Alas ! how few of the children of our State receive the enlightenment of their instruction ! Founded by the wisdom of the Pilgrims, and fostered by their children, they are ever to be cherished by succeedmg generations. But, though they may gild the emi- nences of society, they can never irradiate the sequestered vales of hfe. They may stand, mdeed, as the great Bethesdas of heaUng, but there is a great multi- tude of folk, halt, blind, and withered, who can never rejoice in the heahng of their waters. Will you refer me to those academic institutions which shine as lesser lights in our hterary horizon ? They have exercised, and are destined still to exercise, an important office in the dissemination of vu-tue and sound learning ; but they can never rival in their usefulness the seminaries of the people. And besides, they are not free schools. They have been, and must still be, supported by the price paid for labor ; and however useful they may be as places of preparation for the higher seminaries of learning, or for the acquisition of an elegant or use- ful education by a large class of our citizens, they can never form a hnk in that vast chain of intercommunication which is to give an enkindling impulse to every citizen in the land. There are in the State more than 200,000 children, between the ages of 4 and 16 years. Of these, about 500 are supposed to be students of om* colleges and university, and about 12 000 to be members of the various academical institu- DEDICATOR Vr ADDRESS AT BRIDGEWATER. | (^g tions There are, then, about 190,000 children, who, if educated at all, are to be educated in our Common Schools. And in view of the momentous interests which rest upon these institutions of the State, the question naturally occurs to us, Are they adequate to the fulfillment of the designs of those who created, and of those who fostered, and who still foster them ? No one expects an affirmative answer. Every one admits that there, in the school-room, our children are to be imbued with the knowledge and with the love of duty ; that there it is that their powers are to be trained, their views expanded, and their hearts improved ; but no one believes that those by whom all these results are to be accompMshed are competent to the task. I might confidently appeal to the experience of those who, either long ago or at a later period, have left the Common Schools, as to the competency of their teach- ers. I might confidently refer to the very teachers themselves. I might refer also to the opinions of those parents whose children are now fitting themselves for the field of usefulness, or preparing for that harvest of evil wliich is sm-e to follow the years of neglected childhood. But many a parent has never seen the teacher of his cliild ; and in this respect they rival the apathy of those ignorant citizens whose votes give authority to the voice which speaks from the baUot. Recently, a Uttle gui objected to join the model school connected with one of our State Normal institutions. " Why," said her father, " you will receive the instruction of your regular teachers, assisted by those ]S"ormal jDupUs, who wiU instruct you, under the inspection and direction of the Normal teacher himself" " I know that," she rejoined, " but I don't want to go there to be practiced upon !" How long have ignorance and immoraUty " practiced upon " the forming minds of childhood ! and while, with the keenness of avarice, Ave have guarded the subordinate interests of property, to what rash hands have we committed the inappreciable interests of the mind and heart ! Assuming the necessity, or even the' desirableness of elevating the standard of Common-School education, and adding to the quahfications of those teachers in whom is invested a charge of such vast responsibility, let us refer to the modes which have been proposed for the accomplishment of these objects. It has been thought advisable that the means for the- education of teachers should be provided in our colleges and universities. But no one supposes that teachers can be educated there without some change, both h\ the expenses and in the mode of teaching, A change in one particular alone would be productive of no beneficial result. If, for instance, the expenses should be dimu:iished, and if, indeed, those persons who propose to devote themselves to the business of teaching were to be supported wholly at pubfic expense, there wouldiptiU remain the objection, that the course of studies pm'sued at these institutions, with a view to the learned professions, is not the one best adapted for the creation of a sym- pathy with the mind of a child ; and, on the other hand, if the required changes were made in the course of instruction, there are few districts wliich Avould feel themselves able to employ a teacher so expensively educated. Suppose both these objections to be anticipated by a diminution of the expense, and the creation of a depai'tment for the education of teachers. That depart- ment would then be subordinate to the other departments of the college, or those departments to the former ; and, in either case, disunion of feeling and coUision of interests would impau" the usefulness of both. But, apart from this effect, the creation of such a department for the purposes indicated, or, to obvi- ate still further the objection, the appropriation to them of all the departments of the college, would be, in one case, to ingraft a Normal School upon the insti- tution of a college, and, in the other, to convert the college itself into a Normal School. The same general views apply to the use of our incorporated academies, for the purposes indicated, and their correctness has been fully verified by actual expei-iment. In the exercise of that enlightened liberahty which for a long time has characterized the educational poUcy of the great State of New York, this identical plan was resorted to as a system of means to qualify the teachers of their Common Schools. An academy was selected in each of the eight senatorial districts, upon which was ingrafted a teachers' department. An ample appro- priation was made for a library and apparatus, and a further sum for the salary of an additional instructor. The system won to itself the confidence of the com- munity. The schools were well attended ; the pupils were eagerly sought for aa JijQ DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT BRIDGEWATER. instructors ; and such was thek success as to induce the Legislature to make still further appropriations for the extension of the system. But it is in the science of education as in the laws of natiire and the principles of art. One discovery or one improvement only prepares us for another, until we look with a feeling of derision upon those original developments which once commanded our unbounded admiration. Such, it would seem, was the progress of opinion as to this reform upon the educational system of N"ew York. Great even as the advantages were which attended this provision, it was found that the plan was only a vem in the vast mine of improvement ; and it was rightly supposed that, if the establishment of a department subordinate to other depart- ments was attended with important results to the greatest interests of the State, surely the endowment of an entire institution for the same objects, having no rival aims, engrossed by no partial pursuits, weakened by no mcidental or col- lateral purposes, not, hke the mistletoe, msinuating its fibers into the substance of another body, and dependmg upon it for a precarious, parasitical existence, but striking its supporting roots deeply into the soil over which it was destined to throw its healthful shade, would concentrate, more effectually, the power of effort, and of course extend more widely and more deeply the advancement of learning. Accordingly, the system of combining teachers' seminaries with academies has been abandoned. A J^ormal School has been established, with an endowment worthy of the wealth and character of that State. AJi-eady the effects of its establishment are visible, and the people look forward to its future influence with a firmer belief than the faith of prophecy. We come to the consideration of the wisdom of that institution which has been established in our own State — which, in imitation of our example, has been adopted by New York, and which has long existed in other countries. Let us advert briefly to our own State history of Normal Schools. The law of 1837, creating the Board of Education, made it its duty to submit to the Legislature such observations as experience and reflectionmight suggest upon the condition and efficiency of our system of popular education, and the most practicable means of improving and extending it. In obedience to this call, tlie Board, in its First Annual Report, presented to the Legislature its views of the propriety of the establisliment of an institution for the education of teachers, with a well-digested summary of the reasons in favor of such an institution ; and the summary concluded witli the exjDression of a sanguine hope that the resources of pubUc or private liberality, applied to such an institution, would soon remedy the existing defects in the character of the teacher. This appeal to the liberality of mdividuals was promptly met by one who places a proper estimate upon the usefuhiess of wealth. Prompted by the im- portance of the caU, Edmund DAvight (I mention it for the hundredth time, because, upon an occasion like the present, our duties would be incomplete with- out a recognition of tiie generosity of tlie act) at once placed the svun of $10,000 conditionally at the disposal of the Board, for the purposes indicated in their report. The same Legislature, to wliich the report was made, accepted the donation, fulfilled the condition of its acceptance, and placed at thek disposal a sum of equal amount, to be expended in qualifying teachers of our Common Schools. In carrying out the expressed intention of the Legislature, the Board estabhshed, at successive periods, three institutions for the instruction of teachers in " the theory and practice" of school-teaching ; and when the fund which had been placed at then disposal was expended, the Legislature of 1842 appropriated the further sum of $6000 annually, for three years, to secure their continuance. Has this conduct, both of our Legislature and of the Board, proceeded from the dictates of a wise policy ? To strip this representation of its illustrations, the propositions may be pre- sented thus : The provision for the education of the people of the State, at the expense of the State, is essential to its prosperity. That people can only be educated in tlie Common Schools. Those schools are inadequate to the proper educational training of that )eople, by reason of the want of a proper degree of attainment DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT BRIDGEWATER. -j^tjfj m the teachers. These teachers cannot be educated at our colleges and our acade- mies. No other means are proposed for this purpose than those institutions in which they are to be taught the rules and principles for harmoniously unfolding the physical, the intellectual, and the moral nature of man. And theti recurs the question — Is the estabUshment of such institutions the dictate of a wise policy ? It is not necessary to sustain the affirmative by argument. It needs none. The very statement is argument. Illustration cannot strengthen, reason cannot enforce it. What ! Here, in Massachusetts, in the Old Colony, " that mother of us all," shall v?e sit down gravely to discuss a proposition of which even barbarian ignorance has perceived the truth ? For now, even now, when the skeptic cavils, and the cautious doubt, the sultan of Turkey has spoken ! and, in lus zeal for the introduction of the improvements of the age, he has followed an act of reli- gious toleration by the establishment of a Normal School. France, too, has spoken ; and her voice comes to us in tones at once of encour- ag-ement and of warning. She has cultivated the intellect, but she has corrupted the heart. She has awakened the susceptibilities of the soul, but she has incited them to crime ; and while she has shown us, by the example of intellectual training, of what the system is capable, she has admonished us to neglect not the improvement of those other powers, the harmonious development of which is alone the education of the man. Prussia also has spoken; and when we contemplate the wonderful effects which the operation of her Normal Schools, for a generation, has wrought upon her people — the more strikingly wonderful, from the disparity which it has created between those who have enjoyed their benefits, and that other and more teachable sex, which, by its exclusion, has been cut off from a common sym- pathy — we are led to prize the more highly that beneficent provision of our own polity which declares that all the people shall be educated. But, more than all, and above all, Massachusetts has spoken ; and her voice sounds harmoniously with that of the great State of New York. She has watched the rise and progress of these institutions with a cautious dread of injudicious innovation, and yet with an earnest zeal for well-considered improvement. She has seen her doubts of their usefulness resolved by the hght of experience, and she has incorporated them into her educational policy. The three State Normal Schools are now her recognized offspruig, and until perfection shall have super- seded the necessity of effort, she stands pledged to theh support, by her past history and her present fame. The institution at Newton is Normal in its teach- ers. Normal in its accommodations, and Normal in the results which it has pro- duced and is stiU. producing. The institution at Westfield will start forth on the Sd of September next, with the means of renewed usefulness ; and this day witnesses the commencement of a new effort, which is to extend a benignant influence through future ages. And now, who will pronoilnce as unimportant and trifling the occasion of our assembling ? Let us draw within the circle of our contemplation the prospective advantages which tliis histitution promises, and see if our imagination clothes with too bright a hue the visions of the future. We behold its teachers working with the plastic hand of an artist upon the inunortal mind. We behold them, not like the painter, who makes the canvas glow with those delineations of genius which a few years will obliterate ; not like the sculptor, who fashions and works out the features of greatness, the enduring marble of which the hand of time will soon destroy ; but we contemplate them forming, and fashioning, and moulding beings who are to exist forever. Here they are to discipline the intellect, to train the feelings, to curb the passions, to inspire true motives of action, to inculcate pure principles of morality, and to instm that deep feeling of religious obligation which superadds to the precepts of pliilosophy the impulse of an enlightened conscience. Here are to be taught those doctrines of relation, a knowledge of which is essential to the security of pohtical rights and the performance of social duties. Here are to be drawn out, and developed, and expanded, the illimitable faculties of a being formed in God's own image. Here, in a word, man is to be educated. If this was to be the ultimate object of the establishment of this institution, and the pupils, who shall thus be educated, were to go forth only as future M ■|(jQ DEDICATOKY ADDRESS AT BRIDGEWATER. fathers and mothers, and citizens, what might we not expect from their enlight- ened example ! But it has a more enlarged and extended purpose. Tire pupils who shall carry from these walls those principles which enlightened wisdom can alone ira- pai't, are to enter, year by year, those ten thousand seminaries, in which, day by day, are formed the hearts of the arbiters of this nation's destiny. They are to transfuse those principles into other minds. They are to multiply and extend those streams of improvement wliich, proceeding from tliis fountain, are destined to increase as they roll, and to fertiUze as they flow. Let, then, those two great States which have committed themselves to the fulfillment of this great effort, go on, hand in hand, with a unity never to be dis- severed. Let their example be for the imitation of other States and the praise of all posterity. Then shall the hardest difficulties wMch beset the path of free governments smooth themselves out before us, and then shall the blessings of free uistitutions be bestoAved upon the people, like the all-dispensing bounty of the rain and the sunshine. ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE WESTFIELD STATE NORMAL SCHOOL-HOUSE, BY llEV. HEMAN HUMPHREY, D. D., September 3, 1846. Friends and Patrons of Popidar Education : Under the smiles of a beneficent Providence, this beautiful edifice has been reared and finished ; and "we are assembled to exchange our mutual congi-atula- tions upon the occasion. It is now ready for the reception of the Normal School, and it is fitting that, before its ample accommodations are thrown open, it should be dedicated to the cause for which its munificent benefactors designed it. , Next to the church, the school-house rose in the wildernesses of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, under the saws and hammers of those sturdy Christian adventm-ers, " of whom the world was not worthy." Their deep and far-reaching pohcy was to educate then- children for both worlds ; to prepare them, by early intellectual and moral traming, to glorify God here, and to enjoy him forever in his kingdom. By providing every facility in our power for the extension and thoroughness of popular education, we are only following out the wise forecast of the men who scarcely waited for the thawing ofif of the icy mail with which they were clad when they landed, before they began to execute their purpose, that every child, however poor, in then- infant Commonwealth, should receive at least what we now denominate a Common-School education. Their school-houses, indeed, were cheap and humble structures, compared with the noble Grecian edifice which is henceforth to adorn this prosperous village, and open its doors indiscriminately to all the youth, far and near, who may wish to avail themselves of its advantages. They had no schools of a higher order for the traimng of their teachers ; but they did what they could. It would be a shame and a sin, if, with all our wealth, and all the experience and advance of two such centuries as the past, we should content ourselves with the standard of popular education as they left it, or as our fathers of the last generation left it. It is our duty to leave the first principles, and go on unto perfection. The instructions of those who taught us in the primary schools, when we sat with our feet dangling upon the four-legged slabs, just from the saw-mill, are not to be undervalued. Considering the disadvantages under wliich they labored, it is remarkable that they accomplished so much as many of them did. But the best of our prunary teachers have felt and do feel the want of a suitable educa- tion for the discharge of their responsible duties ; and there has for some time been a growing conviction in the public mind, that teaching ought to be elevated to the rank of a hberal profession, and that to meet the demand we must have a new class of jjrofessional seminaries. It is to supply this desideratum in our own State, that the Normal Schools of West Newton, Bridgewater, and West- field have been established by individual and public munificence. It is confess- edly an experiment of very great importance, and every facility ought to be afforded for testing its claims to public favor. In presenting my own thoughts on the subject to this enlightened audience, I shall touch Upon the urgent demand for better qualified teachers in our Common Schools : Upon the reasons why those who are to be teachers should be educated with special reference to the profession ; Upon what is embraced in a good professional teacher's education ; and Upon the adaptation of the Normal system of instruction to give such edu- cation. Each of these topics affords ample scope for an opening discourse ; and upon more than one of them I would gladly dwell much longer than my liinits wiU allow. To glance at the first. The proposition is that there is an lu-gent demand fe«iso« Olmstead, L.L.D. Lecture W. 'Ph.ys\o\ogy,'by Edward Jarvis,^.X>. Lecture V. Intellectual Arithmetic, by F. A. Adams. Lecture VI. County Teachers' Institutes, by Salem Town. Lecture VII. Geography, by William B. Fowle. Lecture VIII. Vocal Mu- sic in Common Schools, by A. N. Johnson. Lecture IX. History, by George 8. Hillard. Vol. XVII, for 1846. — Journal of Proceedings. List of Officers. Annual Report. Lec- ture I. Home Preparation for School, by Jason Whtiman. Lecture H. The Influence of Moral upon Intellectual Improvement, by H. B. Hooker. Lecture III. The Essentials of a Common School Education, and the conditions most favorable to their Attainment, by Rufus Putnam. Lecture IV. The Education of the Faculties, and the Proper Employment of Young Children, by Samuel J. May. Lecture V. The Obligation of Towns to Elevate the Character of our Com- mon Schools, by Luther B. Lincoln. Lecture VI. Importance of Cultivating Taste in Early Life, by Ariel Parish. Lecture VII. On Phonotypy and Phonography, or Speech-Writing and Speech-Printing, by Stephen P. Andrews. Lecture VIII. On the Study of the English Lan- guage, by D. Huntington. Vol. XVIII, for 1847.— .Tournal of Proceedings. List of Officers. Lecture 1. On the Study of Language, by Hubbard Win sloie. LectureU. Onthe Appropriateness of Studies to the State of Mental Development, by Thomas P. Rodman. N 294 EDUCATIONAL PERIODICALS. AGENTS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. In 1850, the Board of Education were authorized to appoint two Agents to visit schools, dehver addresses, and in other ways to co-operate with their Secretary in his labors. EDUCATIONAL PERIODICALS. Although the State has not granted aid to any Educational Journal, there has been one or more published in the state since 1826. On the 1st of January, 1826' the first number of the American Journal of Education, the first periodical devoted to the subject, which had ap- peared in the English language, was commenced, and with that title, and as the Annals of Education, under which name it was published after 1830, continued until 1839. Month after month, year after year, this ably- conducted periodical spread before a limited number of minds, broader and more generous views of education — its nature, objects, and methods — than had been before entertained. To William Russell, William C. Wood- bridge, and Dr. William A. Alcott, are the friends of education largely indebted, for their valuable services rendered amid many discourage- ments, as editors of this periodical. Hardly a number appeared for fifteen years in which the special education of teachers was not advocated and enforced. The following extract of the origin of this Journal, is taken from a letter by William Russell, Esq. " The Journal of Education had its origin in the mind of the late Thomas B. Wait, of Boston, whose attention had been peculiarly attracted to the subject of education, during his residence in Portland, Maine, at the time when the first movements were there made for the introduction of a pubhc system of primary schools. Mr. Wait had retired from business ; but on the return of one of his sons from the West, on whom he could devolve the active duties of pubUshing, he applied to Mr. John Frost, now of Philadelphia, to edit the intended peri- odical. Mr. Frost, however, was suddenly attacked with a pulmonary disease, which compelled him to resort to the climate of the West Indies lor lelief; and Mr. Wait made application to the late Dr. Coffin, of Bo.?ton, then engaged in editing the Boston Medical Journal. Dr. Coffin referred Mr. Wait to my- self; and to this circumstance was owing my subsequent connection with the Journal, as its editor, for nearly three years. ' Early in the second year of that period, Mr. Wait, finding the business connected with publishing a periodical too burdensome, disposed of it to Mr. S. G. Goodrich, whose attention, ere long, was attracted to more profitable branches of the business of publishing ; and the Journal, through the agency of Mr. T. H. Carter, was taken up by Messrs. Carter & Hendee, and, under the designation of Annals of Education, was edited by Mr. William C. Woodbridge, assisted by Dr. William A. Alcott. Subsequently the work was published by Otis, Broaders, & Co., in whose hands it was discontinued in 1839." In August, 1838, the first number of the Common School Journal was published under the editorship of the Hon. Horace Mann, during his continuance in the office of Secretary of the Board of Education, until 1849, when it passed into the hands of William B. Fowler, by whom it is still edited and published at Boston. In January, 1848, the Massachusetts Teacher was commenced under the editorial charge of a Committee, appointed by the Massachusetts Teachers' Association. Its publication is still continued at Boston. NEW YORK. Among the earliest and most earnest advocates of legislative provi- sion for the professional training of teachers, stands the name of Governor De Wit Clinton. In his message to the Legislature in 1825, he recom- mends " to their consideration, the education of competent teachers ;" and in 1826, he again adverts to the subject in the following language : " Our system of instruction, with all its numerous benefits, is still, however, susceptible of improvement. Ten years of the life of a child may now be spent in a common school. In two years the elements of instruction may be acquired, and the remaining eight years must either be spent in repetition or idleness, unless the teachers of common schools are competent to instruct in the higher branches of knowledge. The outlines of geography, algebra, mineralogy, agricultural chemistry, me- chanical philosophy, surveying, geometry, astronomy, political economy and ethics, might be communicated in that period of time, by able pre- ceptors, without essential inteference with the calls of domestic industry. The vocation of a teacher in its influence on the character and destiny of the rising and all future generations, has either not been fully under- stood, or duly estimated. It is, or ought to be, ranked among the learned professions. With a full admission of the merits of several who now officiate in that capacity, still it must be conceded that the information of many of the instructors of our common schools does not extend beyond rudimental education ; that our expanding population requires constant accession to their numbers ; and that to realize these views, it is neces- sary that some new plan for obtaining able teachers should be devised. I therefore recommend a seminary for the education of teachers in those useful branches of knowledge which are proper to engraft on elementary attainments. A compliance with this recommendation will have the most benign influence on individual happiness and social prosperity." And again, in his message in 1828, Governor Clinton urges the subject on the attention of the Legislature. " It may be taken for granted, that the education of the body of the people can never attain the requisite perfection without competent in- structors, well acquainted with the outlines of literature and the elements of science." He recommends with this view, " a law authorizing the supervisors of each county to raise a sum not exceeding $2000, provided 196 NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. that the same sum is subscribed by mdividuals, for the erection of a suii- able edifice tor a Monitorial High School, in the county town. I can conceif-e'of no reasonable objection to the adoption of a measure so well calculated to raise the character of our school masters, and to double the powers of our artizans by giving them a scientific education." In 1826, Hon. John C. Spencer, from the Literature Committee of the Senate, to whom the message of Governor Clinton for that year had been referred, made a report, recommending among other plans for the improvement of common schools, that the income of the " Literature Fund" be divided among the academies of the State, not in reference to the number of classical students in each, but "to the number of persons in- structed in each, who shall have been Hcensed as teachers of common schools by a proper board." He thus introduces the subject : " In the view which the committee have taken, our great reliance for nurseries of teachers must be placed on our colleges and academies. If they do not answer this purpose, they can be of very little use. That they have not hitherto been more extensively useful in that respecl is owing to inherent defects in the system of studies pursued there. When the heads of our colleges are apprised of the great want of teachers which it is so completely in their power to relieve, if not supply, it is but reasonable to expect that they will adopt a system by which young men whose pursuits do not require a knowledge of classics, may avail them- selves of the talent and instruction in those institutions, suited to their wants, without being compelled also to receive that which they do not want, and tor which they have neither time nor money." " In 1827, Mr. Spencer, from the same Committee, reported a bill en- titled ' An act to provide permanent funds for the annual appropriation to common schools, to increase the Literature Fund, and to promote the education of teachers,' by Avhich the sum of $150,000 was added to the Literature Fund. And the Regents of the University were required annually to distribute the whole income of this fund among the several incorporated academies and seminaries, which then were or might there- after become subject to their visitation, 'in proportion to the number of pupils instructed in each academy or seminary for six months during the preceding year, who shall have pursued classical studies, or the higher branches of English education, or both.' In the report accompanying this bill, which, on the 13th of April, became a law, the committee ex- pressly observe, that their object in thus increasing this fund is 'to pro- mote the education of young men in those studies which will prepare them for the business of instruction, which it is hoped may be accom- plished to some extent, by olTering inducements to the trustees of acade- mies to educate pupils of that description.' 'In vain will you have established a system of instruction ; in vain will you appropriate money to educate the children of the poor, if you do not provide persons compe- tent to execute your system, and to teach the pupils collected in the schools. And every citizen who has paid attention to it and become ac- quainted practically with the situation of our schools, knows that the in- competency of the great mass of teachers is a radical defect which impedes the whole system, frustrates the benevolent designs of the Legislature, and defeats the hopes and wishes of all who feel an interest in disseminating the blessings of education.' 'Having undertaken a system of public instruction, it is the solemn duty of the Legislature to make that system as perfect as possible. We have no right to triile with NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 197 the funds of our constituents, by applying them in a mode which fails to attain the intended object. Competent teachers of common schools must be provided ; the academies of the State furnish the means of making that provision. There are funds which may be safely and properly applied to that object, and if there were none, a more just, patriotic, and in its true sense, popular reason for taxation cannot be urged. Let us aid the efforts of meritorious citizens who have devoted large portions of their means to the rearing of academies ; let us reward them by giving success to their efforts ; let us sustain seminaries that are falhng mto decay; let us revive the drooping and animate the prosperous, by cheer- ing rays of public beneficence ; and thus let us provide nurseries for tlae education of our children, and for the instruction of teachers who will expand and widen and deepen the great stream of education, until it shaU reach our remotest borders, and prepare our posterity for the main- tenance of the glory and prosperity of their country.' " The legal provision for the better education of teachers rested on this basis until 1834, when an act was passed, by which the surplus in- come of the Literature Fund over twelve thousand dollars was placed at the disposal of the Regents of the University, to be by them distributed to such academies, subject to their visitation as they might select, and to be exclusively devoted to the education of teachers for the common schools, in such manner and under such regulations as they might prescribe. In pursuance of the provisions of the act of 2d of May, 1834, author- izing the Regents of the University to apply a part of the income to the Literature Fund to the education of common school teachers, a plan was reported on the 8th of January, 1835, by Gen. Dix, frona the committee appointed for that purpose, to the Regents with the view of carrying into effect the intention of the act. This plan was approved and adopt- ed by the Regents ; and one academy was selected in each of the eight Senate districts, charged with the establishment of a Department spe- cially adapted to the instruction of teachers of common schools. To sup- port these departments, each academy received from the Literature Fund, a sufficient sum to procure the necessary apparatus for the illus- tration of the various branches required to be taught ; the sum of $191 to be appropriated to the enlargement of the academical library ; and an annual appropriation of $400 to meet the increased expense which might devolve upon the institution in consequence of the establishment of the teachers' department. In his annual Report for 1836, the Superintendent (Gen. Dix,) again adverts to the fact, that in the adoption of this system ' the Legislature has merely provided for the more complete execution of a design long entertained, so far as respects the employment of the academies for this purpose. The propriety of founding separate institutions," he continues, 'upon the model of the seminaries for teachers in Prussia, was for several years a subject of public discussion in this State. It was contended, on the one hand, that such institutions would be more likely to secure the object in view ; and on the other, that it might be as effectually and more readily accomplished through the organized academies.' After again referring to the act of April 13, 1827, he concludes : " Thus although the plan of engrafting upon the academies, depart- ments for the preparation of teachers, may not have been contemplated at the time, yet this measure is to be regarded only as a more complete development of the design of the Legislature in passing the act refer- red to." •'' By the 8th section of the act of April 17, 1838, appropriatmg the in- come of the United States Deposite Fund to the purposes of educatioo. 298 NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. &c. Uie sum of $28,000 was directed to be annually paid over to the Literature Fund, and apportioned among the several academies of the State ; and by the 9th section, it was made the duty of the Re- gents of the University ' to require every academy receiving a distributive share of public money, under the preceding section equal to seven hundred dollars per annum, to establish and maintain in such academy, a department for the instruction of common school teachers, under the direction of the said Regents, as a condition of receiving the distributive share of every such academy.' Under this provision eight academies, in addition to those designated specially for this purpose by the Regents, established departments for the education of teachers. Desirous of knowing the practical operation of the departments thus organized, the superintendent (Mr. Spencer) during the summer of 1840, commissioned the Rev. Dr. Potter of Union College, and D. H. Little, Esq. of Cherry- Valley, to visit these institutions, and report the result of their examinations to the department, accompanied by such suggestions as they might deem expedient. Prof Potter in his report, after enumerating the various advantages and defects which had pre- sented themselves to his observation in the course of his examination, observes in conclusion : ' The principal evil connected with our present means of training teachers, is, that they contribute to supply instructors for select rather than for common schools ; and that for want of special exercises, they perform even that work imperfectly. I would suggest whether some means might not be adopted for training a class of teachers, with more especial reference to country common schools, and to primary schools in villages and cities ; teachers whose attainments should not extend much beyond the common English branches, but whose minds should be awa- kened by proper influence ; who should be made familiar by practice with the best modes of teaching ; and who should come mider strong obhgations to teach for at least two or three years. In Prussia and France, normal schools are supported at the public expense ; most of the pupils receive both board and tuition gratuitously ; but at the close of the course they give bonds to refund the whole amount received, unless they teach under the direction of the government for a certain number of years. That such schools, devoted exclusively to the preparation of teaching, have some advantages over any other method, is sufficiently apparent from the experience of other nations : and it has occurred to me that, as supplementary to our present system, the establishment of one in this State might be eminently useful. If placed under proper auspices and located near the Capitol, where it could enjoy the supervision of the Su- perintendent of Common Schools, and be visited by the members of the Legislature, it might contribute in many ways to raise the tone of in- struction throughout the State.' From an examination of these reports, the Superintendent comes to the conclusion that ' these departments ought not to be abandoned, but sustained and encouraged, and the means of estabUshing a large numbei in other academies provided. They, with the other academies and col- leges of the State, furnish the supply of teachers indispensable to the maintenance of our schools.' He recommends ' the extension of the pubhc patronage to all the academies in the State, to enable them to estabUsh teachers' departments ; and in those counties where there are no academies, the establishment of normal schools.' ' One model school or more,' he thinks, ' might be advantageously established in some cen- tral parts of the State, to which teachers, and those intending to be such, might repair to acquire the best methods of conducting our common schools.' NEW YORK STATE NORIMAL SCHOOL. jgQ By a resolution adopted by the Regents of the University, on the 4th of May of the same year, eight additional academies were designated for the establishment and maintenance of teachers' departments ; and the appropriation to each of the institutions in which such departments had been organized by the Regents, reduced to $300 per annum. At this period, including the academies which were required, mider the act of 1838, to maintain such departments in consequence of the receipt of a specified portion of the Literature Fund, the number of academies in which departments for the education of teachers were organized was twenty-three, and the number of students taught in them about six hundred." The above facts and extracts have been principally gathered from a ''Report of the Committee on Colleges, Academies, and Common Schools," to the House of Representatives in 1844, of Avhich Mr. Hiil- burd, of St. Lawrence, was chairman, and the author of the able docu- ment referred to. The Committee, on passing to the consideration of a State Normal School, remark : " From this recapitulation, it will appear that the principal rehance of the friends and supporters of the common schools, for an adequate supply of teachers, has, from a very early period, been upon the acade- mies; thattheinability of the latter to supply this demand, induced, in 1827, an increase of $150,000 of the fund, applicable to their support ; and this for the express purpose of enabling them to accomplish this object; thattlie Regents of the University, the guardians of these institutions, charac- terized this increase of the fund as an unwonted and " extraordinary " act of liberality on the part of the State towards them ; exphcitly recog- nized the condition, or rather the avowed expectations on which it was granted ; accepted the trust, and undertook to perform those conditions, and to fulfill those expectations ; that, to use the language of one of the superintendents, ' the design of the law was not sustained by the measures necessary to give it the form and effect of a system ;' that to remedy this evil, one academy was specially designated in each Senate district with an endowment of $500 to provide the necessary means and faciU- ities of instruction, and an amiual appropriation of $400, for the main- tenance of a department for the education of teachers ; and soon after- wards the sum of $28,000 added to the Literature Fund from the avails of the U. S. Deposite Fund, while eight additional academies were required to organize and maintain similar departments ; that, finally, the number of these departments was augmented to twenty-three, and every exertion put forth to secure the great results originally contemplated in their' establishment ; and that in the judgment of successive superinten- dents of common schools, the Regents of the University and the most eminent and practical friends of education throughout the state, these institutions, whether considered in the aggregate or with reference to those specially designated, from time to time, for the performance of this important duty, of supplying the common schools with competent teachers, have not succeeded in the accomplishment of that object. Having, therefore, to revert again to the language of the superintendent before referred to, ' proved inadequate to the ends proposed,' may not now ' a change of plan be insisted on without being open to the objection of abandoning a system which has not been fairly tested V And have the academies any just reason to complain, if they are not longer permitted to enjoy undiminished the liberal appropriations conferred upon them by the State /or a specific object ; an object which they have not been able satisfactorily to accomplish 7" 200 NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. This committee having satisfied themselves that all former legislation on this subject was inadequate, and having examined, by a sub-com- mittee, the Normal Schools of Massachusetts, and inquired into their operation in other countries, recommended the establishment of a Normal School at Albany, " for, the education and training of teachers for com- mon schools," and that the sum of $9,600 for the first year, and $10,000 annually for five years thereafter, in appropriations for its support. This recommendation was adopted by an almost unanimous vote. This institution is required to be located in the county of Albany ; and is to be under the supervision, management and direction of the Superin- tendent of Common Schools and the Regents of the University, who are authorized and required " from time to time to make all needful rules and regulations ; to fix the number and compensation of teachers and others to be employed therein ; to prescribe the preliminary examination, and the terms and conditions on which pupils shall be received and instructed therein — the number of pupils from the respective cities and counties, conforming as nearly as may be to the ratio of population — to fix the lo- cation of the said school, and the terms and conditions on which the grounds and buildings therefor shall be rented, if the same shall not be provided by the corporation of the city of Albany ; and to provide in all things for the good government and management of the said school.'' They are required to appoint a board, consisting of five persons, inclu- dmg the Superintendent of Common Schools, who are to constitute an executive committee for the care, management and gpvernment of the school, under the rules prescribed by the Board of Regents. Such executive committee, are to make full and detailed reports from time to time to the Superintendent and Regents, and among other things to re- commend such rules and regulations as they may deem proper for said schools. The superintendent and Regents are required annually to transmit to the Legislature an account of their proceedings and expenditures, together with a detailed report from the executive committee, relating to the pro- gress, condition, and prospects of the school. The city of Albany tendered the use of a suitable building, free of rent, for the use of the institution, and the school was organized and commenced the business of instruction in December, 1S44, imder the charge of David P. Page, Esq., of Newburyport, Mass., as Principal. The following members composed the Executive Committee, under which the institution was organized: Hon. Samuel Young, State Superintendent, Rev. Alonzo Potter, D. D., Rev. Wm, H. CampbeL Gideon Hawley and Francis Dwight, Esqrs. NEW YOKK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT ALBANY. The Normal School for the state of New York, was established by an act of the Legislature in 1844, "for the instruction and practice of Teach- ers of Common Schools, in the science of Education and the art of Teach- ing." It was first established for five years, as an experiment, and went into operation on the 18th of December, 1844, in a building provided gra- tuitously by the city of Albany, and temporarily fitted up for that purpose. In 1848, an act was passed by the Legislature " for the permanent estab- lishment of the State Normal School," appropriating $15,000 toward the erection of a suitable building. The following year an additional appro- priation of $10,000 was made for its completion. A large and commodious edifice, (.See Fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,) containing a dwelling-house for the Prin- cipal, has accordingly been erected on the corner of Lodge and Howard streets, adjoining the State Geological and Agricultural Rooms. To this building the school was removed on the 31st of July, 1849. At the expiration of the term of five years for which this institution was originally established, and in connection with the closing exercises of the Summer 202 NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. Session ending September 27, 1849, Samuel S. Randall, Esq., Deputy Superintendent of Common Schools, pronounced an address in which the origin and progress of the Normal School is thus graphically set forth: For several years prior to 1844, the attention of the friends of Common School education in this state had been strongly directed to the inadequacy of the existing agencies for the preparation of duly qualified teachers for our elementaiy institutions of learning. Liberal endowments had. from time to time, during a long series of years,been bestowed upon the acade- mies in different sections of the state, with a view to the attainment of this object; but the practical inabihty of these institutions to supply the de- mand thus made upon them with all the resources at their command, soon became obvious and undeniable. The establishment of Normal Schools for this special and exclusive purpose in various portions of Europe, where popular education was most flourishing, and in the adjoining state of Mas- sachusetts, long and honorably distinguished for her superior public and private schools, and the manifest tendency of these institutions to elevate and improve the qualifications and character of teachers, had begun to attract the regard of many of our most distinguished statesmen. On a winter's afternoon, early in the year 1844, in a retired apartment of one of the public buildings in this city, might have been seen, in earnest and prolonged consultation, several eminent individuals whose names and services in the cause of education are now universally acknowledged. The elder of them was a man of striking and venerable appearance — of commanding intellect and benignant mien. By his side sat one in the prime and vigor of manhood, whose mental faculties had long been disci- plined in the school of virtuous activity, and in every lineament of whose countenance appeared that resolute determination and moral power, which seldom fails to exert a wide influence upon the opinions and actions of men. The third in the group was a young man of slight frame and pale, thoughtful visage ; upon whose delicate and slender form premature de- bihty had palpably set its seal ; yet whose opinions seemed to be hstened to by his associates with the utmost deference and regard. The remain- ing figure was that of a well-known scholar and divine, whose potent and beneficial influence had long been felt in every department of the cause of popular education, and whose energy, activity and zeal had already ac- complished many salutary and much needed reforms in our system of public instruction. The subject of their consultation was the expediency and practicability of incorporating upon the Common School system of this state an efficient instrumentality for the education of teachers. The utiUty of such a measure, and its importance to the present and prospective interests of education, admitted, in the minds of these distinguished men, of no doubt. The sole question was whether the public mind was sufficiently prepared for its reception and adoption ; whether an innovation so great and striking, and involving as it necessarily must a heavy and continued expenditure of the public money, might not be strenuously and successfully resisted : and whether a premature and unsuccessful attempt then to carry into ex- ecution a measure of such vital importance, might not be attended with a disastrous influence upon the future prospects of the cause of education. These considerations after being duly weighed, were unanimously set aside by the intrepid spirits then in council; and it was determined that, backed by the strong and decided recommendation of the head of the Common School Department, immediate measures should be forthwith adopted for the establishment of a State Normal School. The men who thus gave the first decided impetus to the great enterprise, whose gratifying resuhs are now before us, were Samuel Young, Calvin T. HuLBURD, Francis Dwight, and Alonzo Potter. NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 203 Mr. Hulburd, the able and enlightened Chairman of the Committee on Colleges, Academies and Common Schools, of the Assembly, visited the Normal Schools of Massachusetts, and after a thorough examination of their merits and practical operations, submitted an elaborate and eloquent report to the House, in favor of the immediate adoption of this principle in our system of public instruction. The bill introduced by him, and sus- tained in all its stages by his powerful influence and indefatigable exer- tions, and the cooperation of the most zealous friends of education through- out the state, became a law, and appropriated the sum of $10,000 annu- ally for five successive years, for the purpose of establishing and main- taining a State Normal School in this city. The general control of the Institution was committed to the Regents of the University, by whom an Executive Committee, consisting of five persons, one of whom was to be the Superintendent of Common Schools, was to be appointed, upon whom the direct management, discipline and course of instruction should devolve. In pursuance of this provision, the Board of Regents, in June, 1844, ap- pointed a Committee comprising the Hon. Samuel Young, then Super- intendent of Common Schools, the Rev. Alonzo Potter, Rev. Wm. H. Campbell, Hon. Gideon Hawley, and Francis Dwight, Esq. This committee forthwith entered upon the executioa of their responsible du- ties ; procured on very liberal and favorable terms from the city of Albany the lease for five years of the spacious building in State street, recently occupied by the Institution ; prescribed the necessary rules and regula- tions for the instruction, government and disciphne of the school, the course of study to be pursued, the appointment and selection of the pupils, &c., and procured the services of the late lamented and distinguish- ed Principal, then of Newburyport, Massachusetts, together with his col- league. Prof. Perkins, of Utica, the present Principal, as teachers. On the 18th day of December, 1844, the school was opened in the presence of a large concourse of citizens and strangers, by an eloquent address from Col. Young, and by other appropriate and suitable exercises. Twenty-nine pupils, thirteen males and sixteen females, representing fourteen counties only, of both sexes were in attendance, who, after listen- ing to a brief but clear and explicit declaration from Mr. Page, of his ob- jects, views and wishes in the management and direction of the high duties devolved upon him, entered at once upon the course of studies prescribed for the school. Before the close of the first term on the 11th of March, 1845, the number of pupils had increased to ninety-eight, com- prising about an equal number of each sex, and representing forty of the fifty-nine counties of the state. During this term the musical department of the school was placed under the charge of Prof Ilsley, of this city, and instruction in drawing was imparted by Proi". J. B. Howard, of Rensselaer. On the commencement of the second term, on the 9th of April. 1845, 170 pupils were in attendance, comprising a nearly equal proportion of males and females, and representing every county in the state, with a single exception. Of these pupils about nine-tenths had been previously engaged in teaching during a longer or shorter period. The term closed on the 2Sth of August, with a public examination and other suitable ex- ercises, and thirty-four of the students received the certificate of the Ex- ecutive Committee and Board of Instruction, as in their judgment well qualified in all essential respects, to teach any of the Common Schools of the state. On the 15th of October succeeding, the school re-opened with 180 pu- pils, which was increased during the progress of the term to 198 from every county in the state but one. The death of Mr. Dwight, which took place on the 15th of December, and the transfer of the Rev. Dr. Potter to the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, created vacancies in 204 NEW York state normal school. the Executive Committee, which were supplied by the appointment ol the Hon. Harmanus Bleecker, and the Hon. Samuel Young, the latter gentleman having been succeeded in the office of Superintendent of Com- mon Schools by the Hon. N. S. Benton, of Herkimer. The sudden death of Mr. Dwight, who had taken a deep interest in the prosperity and success of the Institution, and had given to its minutest details the bene- fits of his supervision and constant attention, cast a deep gloom upon the inmates ; and the peculiar circumstances under which it took place were strikingly indicative of the vain and illusory nature of all human expecta- tions. For several weeks previous to his death, Mr. Dwight had mani- fested much interest in devising appropriate means for the celebration of the opening of the school, on the 18th of December. Alas ! how little could he imagine that the long line of Normal pupils, with the children of the various public schools of the city, to whom also he had been a signal benefactor, and hundreds of his fellow-citizens should, on that day, follow his lifeless remains to their long home ! At the close of the third term, March 18, 1846. a public examination was held, which continued during four successive days, and convinced all who felt an interest in the Institution, that the work of preparation for tlie teacher's life was, in all respects, thorough and complete. The diplo- ma of the Institution was conferred on forty-seven graduates. During this and the preceding term a valuable addition had been made to the Board of In.?truction, by promoting to the charge of several of the princi- pal departments, those graduates of the Institution who now so ably and successfully preside over these departments. The Experimental School, organized at the commencement of the second term, was placed under the general supervision of its present teacher, and has proved an exceed- ingly valuable auxiliary in the practical preparation of the pupils of the principal school for the discharge of their duty as teachers. Two hun- dred and five pupils were in attendance at the commencement of the fourth term, on the first Monday of May, 1846, of whom sixty-three re- ceived a diploma at its close in September following. During the fifth term, commencing on the second of November, one hundred and seventy- eight pupils only appeared, forty-six of whom graduated in March, 1847. At the commencement, however, of the sixth term in May subsequently, two hundred and twenty-one pupils were in attendance, of whom sixty- four received the diploma of the Institution in September ; and at the re- opening of the school in November, two hundred and five pupils appear- ed. Up to this period the number of names entered on the Register of the school as pupils, including those in attendance at the commencement of the seventh term, was seven hundred and thirty-seven. Of these two hundred and fifty-four had received their diploma as graduates, of which number two hundred and twenty-two were actually engaged in teaching in the Common Schools of the state ; and the residue, with few excep- tions, in the different academies or in private schools. Of those who had left the school without graduating, nearly all were engaged during a longer or shorter period in teaching in the several Common Schools. And now came that dark and gloomy period when the hitherto brilliant prospects of the Institution were overcast with deep clouds of melancholy and despondency — when that noble form and towering intellect which, from the commencement of the great experiment in progress, had assid- uously presided over and watched its development, was suddenly struck down by the relentless hand of the great destroyer — when the bereaved and stricken flock, deprived of their revered and beloved guide, teacher, friend, mourntlilly assembled in their accustomed halls on that dreary and desolate January day at the commencement of the year 1848, to pay the last sad obsequies to the remains of their departed Principal. In the prime and vigor of his high faculties — in the meridian brightness of his NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 205 lofty and noble career — in the maturity of his well-earned fame as " first among the foremost" of the teachers of America, he passed away from among us, and sought his eternal reward in that better land where the ills and the obstructions of mortality are forever unknown ; where the emancipated spirit, freed from the clogs which here fetter its high action and retard its noblest development, expands its illimitable energies in the congenial atmosphere of infinite knowledge and infinite love. It is not for me, on the present occasion, to pronounce his eulogy, although I knew and loved him well. That has already been done by an abler hand, and it only remains to say that the impress which his masterly and well- trained mind left upon the Institution, the child of his most sanguine hopes and earnest efforts, and upon the interests of education generally through- out the state, of which he was the indefatigable promoter, has been of the most marked character, and will long consecrate his name and memory. Since this period the progress of the Institution, under the auspices of its present enlightened Principal, and his devoted corps of assistants, has been uniformly onward and upward. At the close of the seventh terra fifty pupils were graduated, and the eighth term opened with two hun- dred and eight, of whom forty-six received their diploma at its close. The ninth term opened on the first day of November last with one hun- dred and seventy-five pupils, and at its close forty-three were graduated ; and the tenth term, which has now just closed, opened with upward of two hundred pupils, of whom thirty-six are now about to graduate. The following account of the State Normal School is copied from the Annual Circular of the Executive Committee, for 1850 : " Each county in the state is entitled to send to the school a number of pupils, (either male or female,) equal to twice the number of members of the Assembly in such county. The pupils are appointed by the county and town superintendents at a meeting called by the county superintend- ent for that purpose. This meeting should be held and the appointment made at least two weeks before the commencement of each term, or as soon as information is received as to the number of vacancies. A list of the vacancies for each term will be published in the District School Jour- nal, as early as the number of such vacancies can be ascertained, usually before the close of the former term. Pupils once admitted to the school will have the right to remain until they graduate ; unless they forfeit that right by voluntarily vacating their place, or by improper conduct. Persons failing to receive appointments from their respective counties, should, after obtaining testimonials of a good moral character, present themselves the first day of the term, for examination by the Faculty. If such examination is satisfactory, they will receive an appointment from, the Executive Committee, without regard to the particular county, pro- vided any vacancies exist. In such case the pupil will receive mileage. By an act of the Legislature, passed April 11, 1849, " every teacher shall be deemed a qualified teacher, who shall have in possession a Diploma from the State Normal School." Q,UALipicATioN OF APPLICANTS. Females sent to the school must be sixteen years of age, and males eighteen. The superintendents, in making their appointments, are urged to pay no regard to the political opinions of applicants. The selections should be made with reference to the moral worth and abilities of the candidates. Decided preference ought to be given to those, who, in the judgment of the superintendents, give the highest promise of becoming the most effi- cient teachers of common schools. It is also desirable that those only 206 NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. should be appointed who have already a good knowledge of the common branches of study, and who intend to remain in the school until they graduate. Entrance. All the pupils, on entering the school, are required to sign the following declaration: ' We the subscribers hereby declare, that it is our intention to devote ourselves to the business of teaching district schools, and that our sole ob- ject in resorting to this Normal School is the better to prepare ourselves for that important duty.'' As this should be signed in good faith on the part of the pupils, they should be made acquainted with its import before they are appointed. It is expected of the superintendents, that they shall select such as will sacredly fulfill their engagements in this particular. Pupils on entering the school are subjected to a thorough examination, and are classified according to their previous attainments. The time re- quired to accomplish the course will depend upon the attainments and talents of the pupil, varying from one to four terms. Very feto, however, can expect to graduate in one term. Privileges of the Pupils. All pupils receive their tuition free. They are also furnished with the use of text-books withoirt charge; though if they already own the books of the course, they would do weU to bring them, together with such other books for reference as they may possess. Moreover, they draw a small sum from the fund for the support of the school, to defray in part their expenses. It is proposed to apportion the sum of ^1,700 among the 256 pupils, who may compose the school during the next term. 1. Each pupil shall receive three cents a mile on the distance from his county town to the city of Albany. 2. The remainder of the $1,700 shall then be divided equally among the students in attendance. The following list will show how much a student of each county will receive, during the ensuing term : Albany, $2.41; Allegany, $10.09; Broome, $6.76; Cattaraugus, $11.17; Cayuga, $7.09; Chautauque, $12.49; Chemung, $8.35; Che- nango, $5.41; Clinton, $7.27; Columbia, $3.28; Cortland, $6.67;' Dela- ware, $4.72; Dutchess, $4.66; Erie, $10.93; Essex, $6.19; Franklin, $8.77; Fulton, $3.76; Genesee, $9.73 ; Greene, $3.43 ; Hamilton, $4.87; Herkimer, $4.81; Jefferson, $7.21; Kings, $6.97; Lewis, $6.28; Living- ston, $9.19; Madison, $5.44; Monroe, $8.98; Montgomery, $3,61 ; New- York, $6.85; Niagara, $10.72; Oneida, $5.29; Onondaga, $6.40; Ontario, $8.26; Orange, $5.44; Orleans, $10.12; Oswego, $7.21; Otsego, $4.39; Putnam, $5.59; Q,ueens, $7.63; Rensselaer, $2.59; Richmond, $7.32; Rockland, $6.07; Saratoga, $4.78; Schenectady, $2.86; Schoharie, $3.07; Seneca, $7.54; St. LaAvrence, $8.59; Steuben, $8.89; Suffolk, $9.16; Sullivan, $5.80; Tioga, $7.42; Tompkins, $7.31; Ulster, $4.15 Warren, $4.27 ; Washington, $3.85 ; Wayne, $7.84; Westchester, $6.46, Wyoming, $9.85 ; Yates, $7.96. It is proper to state, that if the number of pupils is less than 256, the sum to be received will be proportionately increased. The above sched- ule shows, therefore, the minimum sum to be received by each pupil. His apportionment cannot be less than as above stated, and it may be more. Thia money will be paid at the close of the term. Apparatus. A well assorted apparatus has been procured, sufficiently extensive to illustrate all the important principles in Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Human Physiology. Extraordinary facilities for the study of Physiology are afforded by the Museum of the Medical CoUege, which is open at all hours for visiters. NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 207 Library. Besides an abundant supply of text-books upon all the branches of the course of study, a well selected miscellaneous library has been procured, to wliich all the pupils may have access free of charge. In the selection of this hbrary, particular care has been exercised to pro- cure most of the recent works upon Education, as well as several val- uable standard works upon the Natural Sciences, History, Mathematics, &c. The State library is also freely accessible to all. Terms and Vacations. The year is divided into two teriAs, so as to bring the vacations into April and October, the months for holding the Teachers' Institutes. This also enables the pupils to take advantage of the cheapness of traveling by the various means of water communication in the State, in going to and from the school. The Summer Term commences on the first Monday in May, and continues twenty weeks, with an intermission of one week from the first of July. The Winter Term commences on the first Monday in November, and continues twenty-two weeks, with an intermission from Christmas to New Year's day inclusive. Prompt Attendance. As the school will open on Monday, it would be for the advantage of the pupils, if they should reach Albany by the Thursday or Friday preceding the day of opening. The Faculty can then aid them im securing suitable places for boarding. As the examinations of the pupils preparatory for classification will commence on the first day of the term, it is exceedingly important that all the pupils should report themselves on the first morning. Those who arrive a day after the time, will subject not only the teachers to much trouble, but themselves also to the rigors of a private examination. After the first week, no student, except for xlie strongest reasons, shall be allowed to enter the school. Price of Boa.rd. The price of board in respectable famihes, varies from il.50 to $2.00, exclusive of washing. Young gentlemen by taking a room and boarding themselves, have sustained tliemselves at a lower rate. This can better be done in the summer term. The ladies and gentlemen are not allowed to board in the same fam- ilies. Particular care is taken to be assured of the respectability of the families who propose to take boarders, before they are recommended to the pupils. Experimental School. Two spacious rooms in the building are appropriated to the accommodation of the two departments of this school. These two departments are under the immediate supervision of the Per- manent Teacher, who is a graduate of the Normal School. The object of this school is to afibrd each Normal Pupil an opportunity of practising the methods of instruction and discipline inculcated at the Normal School, as well as to ascertain his 'aptness to teach,' and to dis- charge the various other duties pertaining to the teacher's responsible office. Each member of the graduating class is required to spend at least two weeks in this department In the experimental School there are ninety-three pupils between the ages of six and sixteen years. Fifty-eight of these are free pupils. The free seats will be hereafter given exclusively to fatherless chaldren, residing in the city of Albany. This is in consideration of an appropria- tion by the city to defray in part the expense of fitting up one of the rooms of the school. The remaining thirty-five pupils are charged $20 per year for tuition and use of books. This charge is made inerelv to defray the expense of sustaining the school." 208 NEW YORK STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. CoDRSE OF Study. — The following is the course of study for the School ; and a thorough acquaintance with the whole of it, on the part of the male pupils, is made a condition for graduating. The School is divided into three classes. Juniors, Middles and Sen- iors. These classes are arranged in divisions to suit the convenience of recitation. Juniors. Reading and Elocution. Spelling. Orthography, Normal Chart. Writing. Geography and Outline Maps, (with Map Drawing,) MitcMl. Drawing, (begun.) Intellectual Arithmetic, Colhimi. Elementary Arithmetic, Perkins. English Grammar, (begun,) Brown. History of United States, Willson. Higher Arithmetic, (begun,) Perkins. Elementary Algebra, (begun,) Perkins. Middles. Reading and Elocution. Spelling. Orthography, . Normal Chart. Writing. Geography and Outline Maps, (with Map Drawing,) Mitchell. Drawing. Intellectual Arithmetic, . . . . Colburn. English Grammar, Broivn. History of United States, Willson. Higher Arithmetic, Perkins. Elementary Algebra, Perkins. Human Physiology, Cutter. Geometry, (begun,) Perkins. Perspective Drawing, Lectures. Mathematical Geography and Use of Globes. The division of this class composed of the Juniors of the former term, will not be required to review such studies as they have already completed. Seniors. Higher Algebra, Chaps. VII. and VIII, (omitting Multinominal Theorem and Recurring Series,) Perkins. Geometry, Six Books, Perkins' Elements. Plane Trigonometry, as contained in ... . Daviei Legendre. Land Surveying, Davies. Natural Philosophy, Olmstead. Chemistry, with (Experimental Lectures,) . . SilUman. Intellectual Philosophy, . • Abercrombie. Moral Philosophy, Wayland, abridged. Rhetoric, Lectures. Constitutional Law, with select parts of the Stat- ( y ,^ -^^^^^ ^^ ^ utes of this state naost intimately connected I -^ ^^^ ...^^ ^/^^^^^^^_ with the rights and duties of citizens, . . f ' i Lectures, Theory and Prac- tice of Teaching, and Ex- perimental School. Elements of Astronomy, . • Lecttcres. Lessons in Vocal Music, to be given to all. The same course of study, omitting the Higher Algebra, Plane Trigo- nometry and Surveying, must be attained by females as a condition of graduating. Any of the pupils who desire further to pursue mathematics, can be allowed to do so after completing the above course of study. NORMAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. In the Act " to provide for the education of children at the public ex- pense within the city and county of Philadelphia," passed in 1818, it was made the duty of the Controllers, who were intrusted with the administra- tion of the schools, " to establish a Model School, in order to qualify teachers for the sectional schools, and for schools in other parts of the state." One of the public schools, located in Chester street, was accord- ingly organized as a Model School, under the direction of Joseph Lan- caster, whose system of school organization and instruction was introduced. This school was used to some extent, as a pattern after which to conduct the other schools, and as a school of practice to train the teachers, and to some extent the monitors of the other schools, up to 1836, when the system of Lancaster was modified so far as to substitute an older class of females, graduates of the school, as assistants, in the places of the monitors selected from the pupils themselves. From this date the school in Chester street did not differ materially from any other school of the same grade until 1848, when, on the solicitation of the present accomplished and devoted Principal, and the recommendation of a committee of the Controllers, it was re-organized as a Normal School, according to the present idea of such an institution. The Normal School was opened on the 13th of January, 1848, by an Address from James J. Barclay, Esq., in which he gave a brief history of the public schools of Philadelphia, and of this new agency in the sys- tem, " which contemplates the thorough training of the female teachers in those branches of a good English education, and in such practical ex- ercises, as will discipline and develop the mind, adorn and elevate the character, insure the best mode of imparting knowledge, and of instruct- ing children in their studies, establish uniformity in teaching, prevent > fruitless experiments, manifold mistakes, and irreparable loss of time, with all their sad consequences to teachers and pupils." In reference to this last point, the Principal, in his Report for 1850, observes : " How wide the difference, in point of usefulness as well as happiness, between the teacher trained to a proper realization of her duty as an ed- ucator, conversant with the true principles of her art, with ability to apply them, and one with just knowledge sufHcient to pass an examination and secure a situation ; discovering, when too late, her deficiency, confined from day to day to the same round of unsuccessful exertion, discouraged by the consciousness of her incompetency, and humiliated by the irresist- ible conviction of her want of integrity, in continuing to occup)/^ a place 210 NORMAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. for which every day's experience proves her unfit. And, if prompted by a sense of duty to her pupils, she attempts to remove her deficiences by study, her health yields to her over-taxed strength, and she is compelled to abandon a profession, which, but for the w^ant of proper training before engaging in it, she would have ornamented, and the pursuit of which would have added to her happiness, instead of rendering her miserable." The following account of the school is gathered from the Reports of the Principal, for 1849 and 1850. Number of Pupils. — The first term of the school was commenced February 1st, 1848, with one hundred and six pupils ; since which time there have been admitted one hundred and fifty-five, exclusive of those admitted at the end of the last term ; consequently, the whole number who have enjoyed the advantages of the school, is two hundred and sixty-one. The following statement will exhibit the number belonging to the school at the beginning and end of each term, and also the admissions and withdrawals during the year : Attending school August 27tli, 1849, 143 Discontinued at the close of the term ending February I5th, 1850, ... 46 Remaining, 97 Admitted at the close of the term, .............. 53 Attending school, February 18th, 1850, ............ 150 Discontinued at the close of the term ending July 26th, 1850, ..... 40 Remaining, 110 Admitted at the close of the term, 40 Attending school, September 2d, 1850, 150 Average number belonging to the school during the year, 135 Average daily attendance, 128 Admission of Pupils. — Pupils are admitted twice a year, in February and July. After evidence of sufficient age (15 years) is presented, the whole test of the qualifications of candidates consists in determining their proficiency in the branches prescribed for examination. Previous to the last examination, the candidates were required to answer one set of ques- tions orally, and one in writing ; the oral examination being a guide in determining whether the written answers were given by the candidate herself, or through the aid of some one sitting near her ; it being imprac- ticable always to arrange them so as to prevent communication. The general correspondence between the results of the oral and written ex- amination, proved the double examination to be unnecessary. Acting upon this conclusion, at the end of the last term, the examination in or- thography, definition of words, English grammar, history of the United States, geography and arithmetic, was conducted entirely in writing. The method of conducting the examinations, as modified, by omitting the oral part, is as follows : Questions upon each subject are prepared by the teachers of the re- spective branches, and submitted to the Principal, from which he selects a sufficient number, to be used in conducting the examination. To prevent any improper influence that might result from a knowledge of the names of the candidates, a ticket having a number upon it, is given to each ; by which number the applicant is known during the examina- NORMA.L SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. 211 tion ; her name not being communicated, until after the decision is made as to her admission. In determining the candidate's average of scholarship in any particular branch, the whole number of facts embraced in the answers to the ques- tions is used as a denominator, and the number answered correctly as a numerator ; and the part of 10 expressed by this fraction gives the aver- age. Thus, if the number of facts in a branch is forty, and the candidate answers thirty-five correctly, the average is obtained by taking f^ of 10, and is expressed by 8.75. The several averages in each branch, being added together, and di- vided by the number of subjects of examination, the general average of each candidate is obtained. The lowest average of scholarship which shall entitle the candidate to admission is then determined upon. At the last examination, those having averages above 6 were considered quali- fied for admission. In pursuing the plan of examination thus indicated, although some errors may occur, yet they can not be numerous or important. The method leaves no room for partiality, as the averages indicating the scholarship of the candidates must correspond with the written evidences, which are always preserved as vouchers for the accuracy of the results. Notwithstanding the small number of pupils admitted to the Normal School, compared with the number of applicants, I ami not aware of a single instance in which a controller, director, teacher or parent, was not satisfied with the propriety of the rejections, after having examined the written answers of the candidates. And, in every instance, I have found the teachers more surprised at the deficiency exhibited by their pupils, than disappointed that they were not admitted. The number of appli- cants, admissions and rejections, at each examination, has been as follows : Candidates. Admitted. Rejected. At the organization of the school, . . . 156 106 50 Second examination, 56 40 16 Third " 67 35 32 Fourth " . 58 27 31 Fifth « 100 53 47 Sixth « 79 40 39 Total, 516 301 215 The number of admissions being but little more than 58 per cent, of the applicants. The lowest age required of candidates for admission is fifteen years ; the average age of pupils admitted has been fifteen years and ten months. Course op Instrdction. In arranging the plan of instruction, a primary object is to keep the mind of the pupil constantly in contact with subjects immediately or incidentally connected with the great object of her training, and to habituate her to think in reference to communicating her thoughts to others. In accomplishing this, the pupil necessarily at- tains that mental discipline, essential to the formation of habits of exact investigation and quick discrimination, which enable her readily to com- prehend and acquire the knowledge of a subject, as well as to illustrate it with perspicuity and clearness. As the name imports, the Normal School is designed to be a pattern school ; the instruction, therefore, in all its departments, from the most elementary to the highest, is adapted, as far as possible, to the methods of teaching Avhich are intended shall be pursued by its pupils. It is a well-known fact that all children of natural endowments possess an innate desire to know ; the eager inquisitiveness of children is pro- verbial. Consequently, the conclusion is self-evident, that the business 212 NORMAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. of the elementary educator is to encourage this propensity. With this view, the method of instruction pursued in the Normal School excludes altogether routine recitations, with the text book before the teacher as a guide, and the pupils reciting from memory, that which they have learned merely as a lesson. No teacher uses a text book during the recitations ; meeting the classes with a full knowledge of the subject, and a perfect acquaintance with the widest range of incidental facts which may present themselves in its discussion, she invites inquiry ; and questioning becomes as much the business of the pupils as of the teacher. At every stage of instruction, it is made a prominent object to imbue pupils with a just sense of the importance of their relations as teachers, and to cause them to realize, that the whole duty of a teacher does not consist in hearing lessons; but that her business is thoroughly to develop all the intellectual and moral powers, and awaken and call forth every talent that may be committed to her care. Carefully watching the results of the training desdVibed, the pleasing conclusion presents itself to my mind, that, as the methods of teaching are good in the opinion of the pupils themselves, and as mechanical modes give place to systems adapted to the development of the faculties, so the interest of the pupils is awakened ; illustrating the important fact that, whether in schools or communities, the interest excited in education is al- ways in proportion as the system of instruction is good, and efficiently carried out. Infuse into the minds of the pupils of our schools that spirit which prompts them to seek knowledge for the sake of itself, and they will reach forward from elements to principles, from lower to higher branches of study, until the mind's own food creates the desire for more. It excites that spirit which constantly cries "give" — the outbursting of that innate principle — the spur to mental acquirement — the desire to know. Studies. — At the organization of the school, in the selection of sub- jects of instruction, next to imparting a thorough knowledge of the branches taught in the public schools, preference was- given to those branches best calculated for mental discipline, in connection with their utility in the practical duties of the pupils in after life. All the subjects embraced in the original plan of the school are now taught in the regular exercises of each term. While the range of study is extended, so as to occupy the full period of the pupil's connection with the school, it is suffi- ciently limited, to enable all of ordinary industry and talents to complete it in the prescribed period, if the pupil is possessed of sufficient knowledge at the time of her admission. Theory and Practice of Teaching. — Lectures on the Principles of Ed- ucation ; embracing mental, moral and physical education. Also, in- struction in school government, and teaching the elementary branches, and practice in teaching. Mathematics. — Review of elementary arithmetic, and instruction in higher arithmetic, algebra, geometry and elementary astronomy. Grammar. — Review of English grammar, and instruction in etymol- ogy, rhetoric and elements of composition. Reading. — Instruction in English literature, and the art of reading. HiMory. — Review of geography and history of the United States, and instruction in the history of America, history of England, and general history of the world. Writing. — Instruction in plain and ornamental penmanship. Drawing. — Instruction in linear drawing, exercises in drawing from models, and principles of perspective. NORMAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. 213 Music. — Instruction in the elements and practice of vocal music. MisceUaneous. — Instruction in natural philosophy, chemistry and phys- iology, is imparted entirely by lectures and examinations, by the Prin- cipal. Instruction in the constitutions of the United States and Pennsyl- vania, is given by the Principal and teacher of history. In arranging the subjects and course of instruction, the aim is to restrict them chiefly to such branches or subjects, as are essential to a complete ful- fillment of the duties of a teacher, under whatever circumstances she may be placed ; and not only in the instruction, but in every relation the pupil holds to the school, her future destination as a teacher is kept prominently in view. A very important feature of the exercises, is the recitation of the pupils to each other ; in which a free expression of opinion, in the way of criti- cism, is encouraged ; the modes of illustration being suggested by the pupils themselves, to meet the particular cases under consideration. This leads to originality of thought, and the application of methods not attain- able in any other way. Thus, from the very entrance of the pupil into the school, to the completion of her course of study, practice in teaching is blended with positive instruction ; and the powers of the pupil to com- municate her ideas to others, are successfully cultivated ; while exactness in the use of language becomes habitual. The purpose of the school, being particularly to develop the talents of the pupils as instructors, after a prescribed course of instruction on any topic is indicated by the Princi- pal or teacher of the class, the recitations are left to be carried on by the pupils themselves. The method of instruction is founded upon strictly inductive princi- ples; — always proceeding from the known to the unknown. In pursuing this course much time is required, and the patience and skill of the teacher are subjected to the severest test ; — while mere routine teaching, or sim- ply imparting positive instruction, so generally practiced because attended with less labor, is carefully avoided. In the application of the first method, the mind being necessarily the active agent in obtaining knowl- edge, is unfolded, while in the latter, by its being the passive recipient, it is liable to be overburdened and the memory only improved. If the posi- tive knowledge acquired by the inductive method is ever lost, the habit of thinking remains ; and the reasoning powers are developed and dis- ciplined. In inculcating general principles, the theories are reduced to practice ; and the danger of forming theoretical teachers is thus avoided. By ap- plying principles, under circumstances where error is sure to be pointed out, and corrected by the observation of class-mates and teachers, every lesson becomes an exercise of thought and reason. Schools of Practice. — The schools of practice consist of a girls' grammar school with 230 pupils, and two teachers, female principal and assistant ; and a boys' secondary school with 147 pupils, and two female teachers, a female principal and assistant, in the same building with the Normal students. At least three pupils of the Normal School are em- ployed at one time, in teaching in each school. The period occupied by the pupil-teacher is about four weeks in the term. The pupil-teachers give instruction, under the immediate direction of the principals of the schools of practice ; whose duty it is to teach with them and for them ; — to aid them by advice, suggestions and example ; — in effect, to instruct the classes through them as aids — not as substitutes. To enable the principal to give her undivided attention to the inexperi- enced pupil-teacher on first taking charge of a class, those engaged in the school are changed at such intervals, as to leave two experienced teach- ers occupied in teaching at one time ; and on the introduction of the third, 214 NORMAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. the principal remains with her, until she can manage the class alone ; a new teacher is then substituted for the one having been longest in prac- tice. Before placing a pupil in charge of a class, the principal of the school carefully informs her as to the particular duties connected with its instruction and management. If after a brief trial, the pupil-teacher is found deficient in ability, readily to adapt herself to the circumstances of her new position, she is immediately withdrawn, her deficiencies noted, and her instruction in the Normal School directed to their removal. The duty of assigning lessons is performed entirely by the principal ; the pupils being previously examined, at the close of the exercise, upon the subject of recitation. Thus making them immediately responsible to her, for their progress in learning. The successful management and instruction of the classes in the schools of practice, depend to a great extent upon the principals of these schools; and this success will be in proportion to the attention given to the minutiEP. of the practical duties of the schools, with which all experienced teachers are familiar ; guarding the pupil-teacher from falling into errors, instantly checking them when discovered, cultivating and bringing into exercise that tact required to arouse the dull, to keep in check the restless, to secure the attention of the indolent, and maintain a continued and uniform interest throughout the whole class while reciting. The position of the principal thus occupied, is peculiar in its charac- ter ; — requiring in a remarkable degree promptitude, patience and indus- try ; her duty being not merely to teach^ but to impart through others intellectual and moral instruction ; to foster correct habits, and cultivate and bring into action the powers of both teachers and pupils, through the agency of the former. The character of these schools will therefore de- pend entirely upon the manner in which the principals perform their duties, whether they are really schools of practice, or mere experimental schools, in which the pupil-teachers are left to learn to correct errors, by first making them ; — wasting their own time and that of their pupils, in attempts to discover methods, instead of putting them into practice. In affording an opportunity to the Normal pupils to acquire practice in teaching and discipline, the question may arise, whether the pupils whom they teach have equal advantages with those taught entirely by perma- nent teachers. The success of any school, depends in a great measure upon the ability and tact of the principal in its general management. In a small school, where the instruction is all given by one teacher, but little qualification is necessary, besides ability to teach properly ; but as the school becomes larger, the duties devolving upon its head are so far extended in the general management and discipline, as to render the ability to teach of comparatively little value, in the absence of tact in school government. Therefore, as an increase in the number of subordi- nate teachers becomes necessary, so, different qualifications are requisite on the part of the principal ; and while aptness to teach is an indispensable qualification, it must be accompanied by ability to control, and bring into exercise the best powers of the assistant teachers, to insure the effective teaching of the whole school. In substituting for permanent assistants, {)upil-teachers who remain in charge of the classes for a comparatively imited period, the tact of the principal, and her skill in school govern- ment, form so important an element in the success of the school, that no qualifications which the pupil-teachers may possess, can compensate for their absence. Under corresponding circumstances, young teachers will be more thorough in their instruction, and accomplish more work than older ones : the novelty of their position, their desire to gain the approbation of those directing them, and of the pupils themselves ; the great pleasure derived from bringing into practice qualifications they are conscious of possessing. NORMAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. 215 are incentives to exertion, which contribute largely to success. Again, the pupil-teachers are frequently found to communicate in a manner more intelligible to the pupils than those who are further removed by age ; the difficulty of acquiring a knowledge of a particular subject, being for- gotten by the older teacher, while not only the difficulty, but the proper means to overcome it, are yet fresh in the memory of the younger ones. The zeal and energy of the young teacher are imparted to her pupils 5 they exert themselves more than if under a teacher less their equal in age. There is more sympathy existing between the pupils and the young teachers ; friendships are formed, a desire to please is engendered, and the discipline is maintained more by self-control than by forced obedience. The deep interest manifested by the pupil-teacher in the progress of her scholars, seldom fails to produce great exertion on the part of the latter, and instances are not unfrequent, where the teacher and pupils emulate each other, in their efforts to promote one another's happiness. If to all these, is added the watchful care of the principal, the results can not be other than satisfactory. The pupil-teachers, before meeting their classes, are required carefully to study the lessons to be recited during the day, that they may add interest to the exercises, by imparting instruction on subjects incidental to the lesson. The confidence of the class is thereby gained ; and finding that their instructor is not compelled to rely upon the text book, they look upon her as the teacher, not the mere agent to compel the recitation of the contents of the book. Thus, an interesting fact or an appropriate narra tive, introduced into the exercises, is often found to give to the young teacher greater influence over the class, than all the ordinary means of discipline. The pupil-teacher, accustomed herself to rigid thoroughness, insists upon it from habit, in the recitations of her pupils ; the constant explana- tion leads to inquiry, and this to thought ; and in this manner the founda- tion of correct education is laid. While the general control of the school, and even much of the teaching, devolve upon the principal, the pupil- teachers are made accountable to her for the deportment of the pupils while under their care, and also for their progress in learning. It is therefore made their duty to report promptly to the principal all cases of misconduct, or neglect of studies. To render the mode of instruction pursued in the schools of practice, conformable to the methods taught in the Normal School, the principal of the latter devotes a portion of time daily, to the supervision of those teaching in them. Examinations. — Written examinations of the pupils of the Normal School are made quarterly, in all the regular branches in which instruc- tion has been given during the term. As the pupil's continuance in the school, her position in the class, or her promotion to a higher one, depends upon these tests of scholarship, their results are looked to with much anxiety. The intervals of iheir occurrence are not sufficiently great to lessen their influence on the recitations of the pupils, or the every-day dis- charge of duty ; while their repetition is frequent enough to afford suffi- cient means of estimating the improvement. The results of these examina- tions, with the register of the daily recitations, are preserved ; affording a complete history of the pupil's standing and progress, during the whole time of her connection with the school. Graduating Classes. — Twice a year certificates are granted to such pupils as have completed the prescribed course of study, and were con- sidered properly qualified to perform the duties of teachers in the public schools. 216 NORMAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. In determining the pupil's claim to a certificate as a properly qualified teacher three leading requisites are considered, besides her moral qual- ities : 1. Her knowledge of the branches to be taught. 2. Her ability to communicate what she knows. 3. Her general literary attainments. Every teacher should be so thoroughly conversant with the branches she professes to teach, as to be able to conduct the recitations without the use of text books ; as, in proportion to her ability to do this, she will succeed in imparting to her pupils a knowledge of the subject, instead of its mere definition — the certain result of mere routine teaching from text Dooks. It is obvious that ability to illustrate the subject of instruction, must depend entirely upon the teacher herself being so familiarized with It, as readily to meet the pupil's difficulties by prompt and clear illus- trations. Although a perfect acquaintance with the subjects proposed to be taught, is essential to the teacher, yet, to possess knowledge without ability to communicate it, would not constitute a qualified teacher ; while the greatest powers to impart, could not compensate for ignorance of the branches proposed to be taught. Thus, the perfect scholar may be an unsuccessful teacher, while the perfect teacher must be a perfect scholar, at least to the extent of the branches she teaches. The casual observer, or even the inattentive child, does not fail to distinguish between the mystifying, misleading, stultifying, and inefficient attempts of the mere scholar to teach, and the developing, educating, and even creating power of the thorough teacher. Adopting these views of the relative importance of scholarship and apt- ness to teach, and their inseparable connection as essential qualifications in forming the perfect teacher, no certificate is granted to a pupil de- ficient in either. As a test of the candidate's literary qualifications, the results of every examination, from the time of her admission to the completion of the full course of study, in connection with her daily recitations, are considered. In estimating her ability to teach, and tact in school discipline, her per- formances in the schools of practice, occupying more than one-sixth of the time of her pupilage in the Normal School, are taken as a guide. The moral character, industrious habits, and integrity of purpose of the candidate, are determined from an acquaintance extending through a period of time amply sufficient to arrive at a correct conclusion. The following is a copy of the certificate given to graduates of the Normal School : NORMAL SCHOOL. First School District of Pennsylvania. This is to Certify, That has pursued and completed, in a satisfactory manner, the course of study of the Normal School, and is deemed competent to impart instruction in the branches taught in the Public Grammar Schools. Principal. By authority of the Controllers of Public Schools. This Certificawb is granted to , a pupil of the Normal School, in testimony that her literary attainments, industrious habits, and integrity, qualify her to discharge properly all the duties of a Teacher. President of the Board of Controllers. Secretary. Committee of the Normal School Philadelphia, 18 — NORMAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN PHILADELPHIA. 217 Teachers and Expense of Normal Schools. — The following statis- tics of the Normal School, and Model Schools, or Schools of Practice are taken from the Report of the Controllers, for 1850. Normal Schools located in Chester Street, above Race. Number of Pupil Teachers — Girls 136. Average attendance 129. A. T. W. Wright, Principal, Sl,000 00 Mary E. Houpt, Teacher of Grammar, &c., 300 00 Mary E. Brown, Teacher of Reading, &c., 300 00 Anna Vanarsdalen, Teacher of Arithmetic, &c., 300 00 Mary E. Tazewell, Teacher of History, &c., 300 00 E. W. Mumford, Teacher of Drawing, 150 00 George Kingsley, Teacher of Music, 150 00 Model Schools, Chester Street, above Race. Girls' Grammar Schools. — Total 230. Average attendance 200. Sally P. Dawes, Principal, S500 00 Mary Hunt, Assistant, 250 00 Boys' Secondary School. — Total 157. Average attendance 140. Martha C. Brodie, P in cipal, $300 00 Margaret Bell, Assistant, 200 00 Total expense of the Normal School, . . $2,694 66 " " " Model Schools, . 2,382 39 $5,077 05 The total expense of the Normal School to the city, exclusive of the expense of the Model Schools, which would be increased by their discon- nection from it, can not exceed $2,000, and for this sum, every Primary, Secondary, and Grammar School, will derive benefits which could not be secured by the direct expenditure of a much larger sum. The Control- lers bear the following testimony to the results of the school for 1850 : " The Normal School has been in successful operation through the year, and has fully met the expectations of its most sanguine friends. Already a number of the pupils have been elected as teachers in several of our schools ; and from their efficiency and aptness to teach, we may look to this school for a constant supply of teachers, not only well instructed in the different branches taught in our public schools, but capable also of imparting it to their pupils." The following statistics of the Public Schools of Philadelphia, are gath- ered from the " Thirty-second Annual Report of the Controllers of the Public Schools of the City and County of Philadelphia, composing the First School District of Pennsylvania, for the year ending June 30, 1850." pp. 244. The whole document is highly creditable to the city, and the Report of John S. Hart, LL.D., Principal of the High School, as well as that of Dr. Wright, Principal of the Normal School, should be read and studied by every officer and teacher connected with the administration and instruction of Public Schools in every large city in our country. It must lead to the establishment of a High School where it does not now exist, and of a Normal School in each city, as Boston, Providence, New York, Cincinnati, New Orleans, &c. 218 NORMAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALE TEACHERS IN PHILADELPHIA, Population of First School District, in 1850, 425,000 Number of Public Schools, 256 Classification of the Schools,— High School for Boys, 1 Normal School, 1 Grammar Schools, 53 Secondary Schools. 29 Primary Schools, 132 District or unclassified Schools, ........ 40 Number of Scholars, — Males, 23,706 Females, 21,677 Total, 45,383 Number of Teachers, — Male, 81 Females, 646 Total, 727 Average number of pupils to each Teacher, 62 Amount expended during the year, for Salaries and Teachers, $178,325 84 Books and Stationery 36,213 07 Sites, Buildings and Furniture, 40,906 63 Fuel, Furnaces and Stoves, 13,422 72 Total expense for all School purposes, $332,433 21 Amount of current expenses, exclusive of houses and furniture, $291,526 58 Average of current expense to each pupil, ...... : . 6 42 Average of expense for each pupil, exclusive of books &c., . . 5 67 Average expense of books and stationery to each pupil, .... 75 RHODE ISLAND. The following extracts from the Report of the Commissioner of Public Schools for 1845, will show the steps which were taken from 1843 to 1848, to improve the qualifications for teachers, and make their labors more ser- viceable to the schools. BOOKS ON EDUCATION. "As a permanent depository of the most valuable books and documents rela- ting to schools, school systems, and particularly to the practical departments of education, I have nearly completed arrangements, to establish a library of education in every town, either to be under the management of the school com- mittee of the town, or of some district or town library association, and in either case to be accessible to teachers, parents, and all interested in the administra- tion of the school system, or the work of the more complete, thorough and prac- tical education of the whole community. Each library will contain about thirty bound volumes, and as many pamphlets. To these libraries, the Legislature might from time to time hereafter, forward all laws and documents relating to the public schools of this state, and at a small annual expense, procure the most valuable books and periodicals which should be published on the theory and practice of teaching, and the official school documents of other states, and thus keep up with the progress of improvement in every department of popular education." MODEL SCHOOLS. " Whenever called upon by school committees, and especially in reference to schools which from their location might become, under good teachers, modehm all the essential features of arrangement, instruction and discipline, for other schools in their vicinity, I have felt that I was rendering an essential service toward ' the improvement and better management of the public schools,' by aiding in the employment of such teachers. If but one good teacher could be permanently employed in each town, the direct and indirect influence of his teaching and example would be soon felt in every school ; and his influence would be still more powerful and extensive if arrangements could be made so as to facilitate the visitation of his school by other teachers, or so as to allow of his making a circuit through the districts and towns in his vicinity, and give famil- iar and practical lectures and illustrations of his own methods of instruction. It is necessary to the rapid progress of education that parents, committees and teachers, should see and know what a good school is, and feel that ' as is the teacher so is the school.' " TEACHERS' INSTITUTE, AND ASSOCIATIONS. " By Teachers' Associations as now generally used, is understood the per- manent organization of teachers among themselves ; and by Teachers' Institutes, a temporary meeting, under the appointment of themselves, or the school officer of the slate, for professional improvement. Teachers in every town have been urged to hold occasional meetings, or even a single meeting, for the purpose of 220 EDUCATION OF TEACHERS IN RHODE ISLAND. listening to practical lectures and discussions, or what would in most cases be better, of holding familiar conversation together on topics connected with the arrangement of schools, or methods of instruction now practised, or recom- mended in the various periodicals or books which they have consulted, and on the condition of their own schools. But something more permanent and valu- able than these occasional meetings, has been aimed at by an organization of the teachers of the state, .or at least of a single county, into a Teachers' Insti- tute, with a systematic plan of operations from year to year, which shall afford to young and inexperienced teachers an opportunity to review the studies they are to teach, and to witness, and to some extent practice, the best methods of arranging and conducting the classes of a school, as well as of obtaining the matured views of the best teachers and educators on all the great topics of ed- ucation, as brought out in public lectures, discussions and conversation. The attainments of solitary reading will thus be quickened by the action of living mind. The acquisition of one will be tested, by the experience and strictures of others. New advances in any direction by one teacher, will become known, and made the common property of the profession. Old and defective methods will he held up, exposed and corrected, while valuable hints will be followed out and proved. The tendency to a dogmatical tone and spirit, to one-sided and narrow views, to a monotony of character, which every good teacher I'ears, and to which most professional teachers are exposed, will be withstood and ob- viated. The sympathies of a common pursuit, the interchange of ideas, the discussion of topics which concern their common advancement, the necessity of extending their reading and inquiries, and of cultivating the power and habit of written and oral expression, all these things will attach teachers to each other, elevate their own character and attainments, and the social and pecu- niary estimate of the profession." ITINERATING NORMAL SCHOOL AGENCY. "With the co-operation of the Washington County Association, the services of a well-qualified teacher were secured to visit every town in that county, for the purpose, among other objects, of acting directly on the schools as they were, by plain, practical exposures of defective methods, which impair the usefulness of the schools, and illustrations of other methods which would make the schools immediately and permanently better." NORMAL SCHOOL. " Although much can be done toward improving the existing qualifications of teachers, and elevating their social and pecuniary position, by converting one or more district schools in each town and county, into a model school, to which the young and inexperienced teacher may resort for demonstrations of the best methods ; or by sending good teachers on missions of education through- out the schools of a county; or by associations of teachers for mutual improve- ment, — still these agencies can not so rapidly supply, in any system of public education, the place of one thoroughly-organized Normal School, or an institu- tion for the special training of teachers, modified to suit the peculiar circum- stances of the state, and the present condition of the schools. With this conviction resting on my own mind, I have aimed every where so to set forth the nature, necessity, and probable results of such an institution, as to prepare the public mind for some legislative action toward the establishment of one such school, and in the absence of that, to make it an object of associated effort and liberality. I have good reason to believe that any movement on the part of the state, would be met by the prompt co-operation of not a few liberal- minded and liberal-handed friends of education, and the great enterprise of pre- paring Rhode Island teachers for Rhode Island schools, might soon be in suc- cessful operation." ADDRESSES AND PUBLICATIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF EDUCATION. The following extract from Remarks of the Commissioner before the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction, will exhibit his mode of preparing the way for a broad, thorough and liberal system of public instruction, by EDUCATION OF TEACHERS IN RHODE ISLAND. 221 interesting all who could be reached by the living voice or the printed page, in the nature and means of education, the condition and wants of the schools, and the best modes of introducing desirable improvements. " To this end public meetings have been held, not only in every town, but in every village and neighborhood, more numerous and more systematic in their plan of operations than was ever attempted in any other community, or than could have been carried out in the same time in any state of greater territory, and with a population less concentrated in villages than this. More than eleven hundred meetings have been held expressly to discuss topics connected with the public schools, at which more than fifteen hundred addresses have been deliv- ered. One hundred and fifty of these meetings have continued through the day and evening ; upward of one hundred, through two evenings and a day ; fifty, through two days and three evenings ; and twelve, including the Teachers' In- stitutes, through an entire week. In addition to this class of meetings and ad- dresses, upward of two hundred meetings of teachers and parents have been held for lectures and discussions on improved methods of teaching the studies ordinarily pursued in public schools, and for exhibitions or public examinations of schools, or of a class of pupils in certain studies, such as arithmetic, reading, &c. These meetings have proved highly useful. Besides these various meet- ings, experienced teachers have been employed to visit particular towns and sections of the state, and converse freely with parents by the way-side and the fire-side, on the condition and improvement of the district school. By these various agencies it is believed that a public meeting has been held within three miles of every home in Rhode Island, except in sections of a few towns where an audience of a dozen people could not be collected in a circuit of three or four miles. To the interest awakened by these addresses and by the sympathy of num- bers swayed by the same voice, and by the same ideas, must be added the more permanent and thoughtful interest cultivated by the reading of books, pam- phlets, and tracts on the same topics at home. More than sixteen thousand pamphlets and tracts, each containing at least sixteen pages of educational matter, have been distributed gratuitously through the state ; and in one year, not an almanac was sold in Rhode Island without at least sixteen pages of ed- ucational reading attached. This statement does not include the ofiicial school documents published by the state, nor the Journal of the Institute, nor up- ward of twelve hundred bound volumes on schools and school systems, and the theory and practice of teaching, which have been purchased by teachers, or which have been added to public or private libraries within the last four years. In addition to the printed information thus disseminated, the columns of the dif- ferent newspapers published in the state have always been open to original and selected articles on education, and to notices of school meetings." The author of the Remarks above quoted was obliged, from impaired health, to resign his office of Commissioner of Public Schools, before he could organize these various agencies into a complete and permanent system for the professional training and improvement of the teachers of Rhode Island. His plan contemplated a thoroughly-organized and equipped Normal School, and ultimately two Normal Schools — one to be located in the city of Providence, having a connection, under the auspices of the school committee, with a Public Grammar. Intermediate and Pri- mary School, or Schools of Observation and Practice, and also with Brown University, under a distinct professorship, and with access to libraries, ap- paratus, and courses of lectures, so far as the same could be made available ; — and the other in the country. The Normal School at Providence was to receive two classes of pupils — young men, whose previous studies and talent fitted them for the charge of the most advanced classes in public schools in the cities and villages, and the other for female teachers. The plan of a Normal School in the country, was modeled in some of 222 EDUCATION OF TEACHERS IN RHODE ISLAND.) its features after the institution of Verhli, at Kruitzlingen, in Switzerland, of which an account was published in the Journal of the Rhode Island In- stitute of Instruction, in 1846, and of the Training School at Battersea, in England. In this school the teachers were to support themselves in whole, or in part, or at least the expense of board was to be reduced, after the plan of the Seminary at Mount Holyoke, in Massachusetts. In both in- stitutions, the course of instruction was to enicbrace the principles of science as applied to the leading industrial pursuits of the people of the state ; and in this department of the plan, the co-operation of the " Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry," was antici- pated. No state in the Union possesses such facilities. As was remarked by the Commissioner, in taking final leave of the Legislature, and the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction, in 1848 : " Her territory is small, and every advance in one town or district, can easily be known, seen and felt in every other. Her wealth is abundant, — more abundant, and more equally distributed, than in any other state. Her popula- tion is concentrated in villages, which will admit of the establishment of public schools of the highest grade. The occupations of the people are diverse, and this is at once an element of power and safety. Commerce will give expan- sion ; manufactures and the mechanical arts will give activit}'', power, inven- tion and skill ; and agriculture, the prudence and conservatism which should belong to the intellectual character and habits of a people. Rhode Island has a large city, to which the entire population of the state is brought by business or pleasure every year, and which should impart a higher tone of manners, in- telligence and business, than can exist in a state without a capital; and fortu- nately, Providence has set a noble example to the rest of the state in her edu- cational institutions, — in the provision of her citizens for schools, libraries, and institutions for religion and benevolence." PROFESSORSHIP IN DIDACTICS IN BROWN UNIVERSITY. In the reorganization of the course of instruction in Brown University as presented in the Report of President Wayland, on the 19th of July, 1850, provision is made for a course in " Didactics, or the Theory and Practice of Teaching." The following explanation is given in the Report. " The course in Didactics is designed at present especially for the benefit of teachers of common schools. There will be held two terms a year in this de- partment, of at least tAVO months each. It shall be the duty of the'professor of Didactics to review with the class the studies taught in common schools, and then to explain the manner of communicating knowledge to others. The other professors in the University will be expected to deliver to this class such lec- tures in their several departments as may be desired by the Executive Board." The course as thus explained, if entrusted to a competent professor, will accomplish much good to a limited number of teachers, who shall bring a suitable preparatory knowledge, and be able to meet the expenses of a residence in Providence. But unless greatly enlarged, and accompa- nied with opportunities of observation and practice in the public schools of the city, it will fall far short of meeting the wants of the female teach- ers of the state, and much the larger portion of ihe male teachers. It is to be hoped that the plan will be so far extended, as to embrace a Normal School under the auspices of the School Committee of Providence, and in connection with a Grammar, Intermediate and Primary School, as Schools of Practice, for female teachers, like that in successful operation in Philadelphia. MICHIGAN. The importance of making early and efficient provision for a sufficient number of well-qualified teachers, was pointed out by the Superintend- ent of Public Instruction, in his preliminary report to the Legislature, on the organization of the system, in 1837. The subject was repeatedly pre- sented to the public in subsequent recommendations from the same offi- cer, until 1849, when the Legislature passed an act to establish a State Normal School, " the exclusive purposes of which shall be the instruction of persons, both male and female, in the art of teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good common school education ; also to give instruction in the mechanic arts and in the arts of husbandry and agricultural chemistry, in the fundamental laws of the United States, and in what regards the rights and duties of citizens." For the purpose of providing the necessary expenses of building, books and apparatus, " ten sections of salt-spring lands," were appropriated, as the "Normal School Fund;" and to meet the salaries of the Principal and Assistants, the Board of Education, to whom the management of the School is intrusted, are authorized " to locate fifteen sections of salt- spring lands," as the " Normal School Endowment Fund," the interest of which only can be applied to the above purposes. The School has been located in Ypsilanti, the citizens of that beautiful village having tendered for the use of the School an eligible lot of ground, a subscription of $13,500 toward a suitable building, and the payment of the salary of the teacher of the Model School, to be com- posed of the children of the village. The plan of the building has been decided on, and is to be ready for the occupation of the School, in the course of 1850. NORMAL SCHOOLS IN BRITISH PROVINCES. NEW BRUNSWICK. By aa Act of the Provincial Legislature of New Brunswick, in 1848, two Training Schools were established, one at Fredericton, and the other at St. Johns, as an experiment, for a period of two years. In 1850, the act was continued in force two years longer, to give time to prepare a more comprehensive measure for the education of teachers. In 1850, the school at Fredericton was united with that at St. Johns, which is in suc- cessful operation under the charge of Mr. E. H. Duval. UPPER CANADA. The Provincial Normal School for Upper Canada, was established at Toronto, in 1846, and since its first organization has been under the im- mediate instruction of Professor J. B. Robertson, who was for many years one of the chief Inspectors of Schools, in connection with the Board of National Education for Ireland. In 1850, the Provincial Legislature ap- propriated the sum of $60,000 for procuring a site, and erecting buildings for the " Provincial Normal and Model School." The September num- ber of the Journal of Education, published at Toronto, under the editorial charge of Dr. Ryerson, and sent at the expense of the province to every school district, contains the following notice : " A site has been purchased, consisting of nearly eight acres of ground, beautifully situated in a central part of the city of Toronto, composing an entire square. This ground will afTord facilities for a botanical garden — the proper accompaniment of the Normal School lectures in vegetable physiology; also for agricultural experiments on a limited scale — an appropriate illustration of the Normal School course of instruction in agricultural chemistry and science. The Council of Public Instruction has also advertised for designs and plans for the Normal and Model School buildings, including rooms for a school of art and design, — offering liberal premiums, so as to insure the contributions of the highest architectural science and skill in the country." Not one of the United States has made more progress in the last ten years than the province of Upper Canada, in carrying into successful operation a system of common schools, under the auspices of the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D., chief superintendent of the department. Dr. Ryerson's " Report on the Organization of a System of Elementary In- struction for Upper Canada," in 1846, embodies the results of nearly two years' observation on the practical workings of schools and school sys- tems in the different states of Europe, and is a valuable contribution to the literature of education. NORMAL SCHOOLS. AND aXHER INSTITUTIONS, AGENCIES, AND MEANS DESIGNED FOR THE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. BY HENRY BARNARD, 3UPERIHTKNDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS OF CONNECrjClTT. PART II -EUROPE. PIARTFORD: PUBLISHED BY CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY. 1851. CIRCULAR, This volume, although prepared from documents originally col- lected, from time to time, to assist the undersigned in maturing his own views and plans for the improvement of the common schools of Connecticut, and particularly in devising modes of operating benefi- cially for the advancement of the teacher's profession, here and in Rhode Island, is not intended, exclusively or mainly, for circulation in this State. It embodies information which the author believes can be made available in organizing new, and improving existing sys- tems of public instruction, and particularly institutions and agencies, designed for the professional education of teachers, in every State of this Union. Its value does not consist in its conveying the specula- tions or limited experience of the author, but the matured views and varied experience of wise statesmen, educators and teachers, through a succession of years, and under the most diverse circumstances of government, society and religion. It is believed that every teacher, and every school officer, who will peruse these pages with any de- gree of attention, can gain valuable hints and reliable information, as to the experience of States and Institutions, which caa be turned to good account in his own school, and his own sphere of administra- tive duty. HENRY BARNARD, Superintendent of Common Schools. Hartford, January 13, 1851. INTRODUCTION. Whatever may be thought of the practical value of the experience of Germany and other European States in the organization and admin- istration of Systems of Public Instruction, to t' ose who are engaged in the work of establishing and improving Public Schools in this ■country, no one who has reflected at all on this subject, can doubt the •applicability, with some modifications, of many of the institutions and agencies which are employed there, especially in Germany, Hol- land, and Switzerland, to secure the thorough professional education, and progressive improvement of teachers of elementary schools. Among these institutions and agencies are, 1. Institutions supported by the government, wholly, or mainly c?evoted to a course of instruction in the theory of education as a science, and in methods of teaching as an art. In most of the Ger. man States these institutions are known as Teachers' Seminaries, and are not composed of children, but of teachers, or of candidates for admission to the profession, with one or more schools for children annexed but subordinate to them as schools of practice. Institutions of this class are not confined to training teachers for primary or elementary schools, but are established for the prepara- tion of professors and teachers in universities, and schools of second- ary and superior education. 2. Courses of lectures on the principles and practice of teaching, to classes of young persons who have gone through the studies of the primary school, and who enjoy opportunities of observation and prac- tice as assistants, in the classification, instruction and discipline of the schools, in which these lectures ai*e given. These schools composed of children, are always located in large towns, and were originally denominated Normal Schools, because they were patterns, or models, for the imitation of the class of teachers, — the rule or law of their practical operation. The name was first applied in Austria, where 8 INTRODUCTION. this system of training teachers still prevails, and was adopted in France to designate institutions which are properly Teachers' Sem- inaries. Through the reports and treatises of French writers on education, the word Normal has been introduced into the English language, as synonymous with Teachers' Seminaries, when used in connection with schools. Courses of Lectures on Didactics and Pedagogy are common in the Universities and Theological Schools of Germany, and are frequented by those who expect to teach in the Gymnasia, and other schools of Secondary and Superior Education, In some of the German States students of theology are required to attend these lectures as a necessary preparation for the right per- formance of the duties of school committees, which are always, although not exclusively, composed of clergymen of different denom- inations. 3. A combination of the Teachers' Seminary and the Normal School, (in its original acceptance, of courses of lectures and prac- tice as assistants in model or pattern schools,) with a system of ap- prenticeship in the business of teaching. This is the plan of pre- paring teachers which has worked admirably in Holland, and has recently been introduced into England, under the auspices of the Committee of Council on Education. 4. Institutions, composed, not of teachers or candidates for teach- ing, in attendance only for a limited period, ranging from six months to four years, as in Teachers' Seminaries and Normal Schools, but of members, who, having passed through a novitiate, or preparatory course to test their vocation, are devoting themselves for life, from religious motives, under a rule of celibacy and poverty, but without a vow, to the education of the poor. These institutions, {Ecoles- maire, or Mother Schools,) originated in France, and the principal congregations are known as Brothers of the Christian Doctrine. The teachers are models of industry and Christian devotion in their vocation, and their Schools for the poor are among the best element- ary schools in Europe. A modification of these institutions has been recently introduced at Kaisersworth, and Berlin, in Prussia. 5. An Itinerating Normal School Agency, by which superior teachers, of experience and the requisite tact and talent for the busi- ness circulate among the schools of a particular district, not mainly for the purposes of inspection^ but for familiar conversation with teachers, and practical illustrations in their school-rooms, of improved methods of arranging the studies, and conducting the recitations and discipline of the schools. INTRODUCTION. 9 6. A system of examination, by whicli only persons of the right spirit, character, attainments, and practical skill, are licensed to teach, combined with modes of school inspection, by which incompe- tent and unworthy members are excluded from the profession. 7. Plans of associations of the teachers of a town or larger district^ for periodical conferences for mutual and professional improvement. 8. Legal recognition of the true value of the teacher's office, by exemption from duties which will interfere with the full performance of its duties, and by provision for its permanence and adequate com- pensation, independent of the negligence or parsimony of parents and municipal authorities. 9. A system of promotion from a less desirable school, to one more so in respect to studies, location, and salary, dependent not upon favoritism, but generally on the results of an open and impartial ex- amination. 10. Access to books on the theory and practice of teaching, and to educational periodicals, by which the young and inexperienced teacher is made acquainted with the views of experienced teachers- in his own and other times, in his own and other countries. 11. Facilities for the acquisition of some industrial pursuit, out of school hours, which will add to the happiness and emoluments of the teacher, without diminishing his personal influence as the educator of the community. 12. A system of savings, aided and guaranteed by the govern- ment, but founded in habits of thrift and forecast in the teachers, by which provision is made for themselves in old age, or sickness, and! for their families, in case of death. By these and other institutions, agencies and means, recognized or established in some of the best systems of public instruction in Europe, the office of teacher has been greatly elevated in useful- ness, and in social and pecuniary consideration. It is the object of this volume to bring together the experience of different states in this most important department of the whole field of educational labor, as presented in official documents, and the observations of intelligent and trustworthy educators. For the imperfect manner in which the work is done, and for many omissions of historical facts, the au- thor can offer no other apology than the simple statement that he has found the time he could devote to its performance altogether too short and that a portion of this time has been occupied by official duties, or rendered useless for this purpose by ill health. In conclusion, it may save some misapprehension of his own views 10 INTRODirCTION. to remark, that with all these agencies for the education and im- provement of teachers, the public schools of Europe, with their in- stitutions of government and society, do not turn out such practical and efficient men as our own common schools, acting in concert with our religious, social, and political institutions. A boy educated in a district school of New England, taught for a few months in the winter, by a rough, half-educated but live teacher, who is earning his way, by his winter's work in the school-room out of the profes- sion into something which will pay better, and in the summer by a young female, just out of the oldest class of the winter school, and with no other knowledge of teaching than what she may have gath- ered by observation of the diverse practices of some ten or twelve instructors, who must have taught the school under the intermittent and itinerating system which prevails universally in the country dis- tricts of New England — a boy thus taught through his school life, but subjected at home and abroad, to the stirring influences of a free press, of town and school district meetings, of constant intercourse with those who are mingling with the world, and in the affairs of public life, and beyond all these influences, subjected early to the wholesome discipline, both moral and intellectual, of taking care of himself, and the afl^airs of the house and the farm, will have more capacity for business, and exhibit more intellectual activity and ver- satility than the best scholar who ever graduated from a Prussian school, but whose school life, and especially the years which imme- diately follow, are subjected to the depressing and repressing influ- ences of a despotic government, and to a state of society in which every thing is fixed both by law and the iron rule of custom. But this superiority is not due to the school, but is gained in spite of the school. Our aim should be to make the school better, and to bring all the influences of home and society, of religion and free institu- tions, into perfect harmony with the best teaching of the best teacher. Hartford, January 13, 1851. NORMAL SCHOOLS IN EUROPE, CONTENTS. • Page. hfTROBUCTlON, . . , . . 7 Table of Normal Schools in Europe, . 15 GERMANY. History of Education, , , , , 17 Parochial Schools, .... 18 Public Schools, , . . . 18 Martin Luther, .... 19 Augustus Herman Franke, . . 21 Orphan-house at Halle, — first Seminary for Teachers, .... 24 Basedow, ...... 25 Pestalozzi, ..... 25 Zeller, 29 Centennial Birth-day of Pestalozzi, . 30 Progress of Normal Schools, . . 31 General features of the School Systems, 32 Table. Normal Schools in Germany in 1848, 34 Results of the Normal School System, . 35 Testimony of Professor Stowe, . 35 " President Bache, . 39 " Mr. Mann, ... 39 " Rev. Dr. R3^rson, , 45 " Professor Stephens, . 46 PRUSSIA. History of Primary Instruction, . . 49 Outline of System, .... 53 Table. State of Public Schools in 1846, 5C Legal Provision respecting Normal Schools, and the Education of Teachers, . 57 Location and Classifica;tion of Normal Schools, 6 1 Table I. Classification by Provinces, . 61 Table IL Location and Number of Pupils,. 62 Secondary or Small formal Schools, . 63 Small Normal School at Laetadie, . 64 Small Normal School at Pyritz, . . 66 Superior JVormal Sahools, ... 69 NormaJ Seminary at Potsdam, , , 69 Normal Seminary at Bruhl, . . 79 Normal Seminary at Eisleben, . , 90 Normal Seminary at Weissenfels, . 91 Seminary for City Teachers at Berlin, 99 Seminary or Model School, . . 101 Seminaries for Female Teachers, . . 107 Female Education in Germany, , 107 Siaconissen Anstalt Bt Kaisersworth, 108 Examination of female teachers, Preparatory Schools, SAXONY. System of Primary Education, Statistics of Education, Normal Schools Fletcher Normal Seminary in Dresden, PxGlt, 113 114 115 117 118 US WIRTEMBERG. Statistics of Education in 1847, . . 121 Outline of System of Primary Instruction, 122 Denzel's Introductory Course for Teachers, 153 Normal Seminary at Esslingen, . , 120 HESSE CASSEL. Normal Seminary at Schluchtern, , NASSAU. Norma! Seminary at Idstein, HANOVER. Normal Seminary for Jewish Teachers, MECKLENBERG SCHWERIN. Normal Course at Rostock, . BAVARIA. Outline of System of Primary Instruction, Number and Location of Normal Seminaries, Normal Seminary at Bamberg, Plan of Normal Seminary by Director Jacobi, Educational Statistics in 1846, BADEN. Educational Statistics in 1844, Outline of System of Public Instruction, School Authorities and Inspection, School Attendance, . Internal Organization, Plan of Instruction, . Normal Seminary at Carlsruhe, AUSTRIA. System of Public Instruction, Primary or Popular Schools, Superior and Secondary, Inspection, . . ^ . laB 125 125 127 127 128 128 129 131 131 131 132 132 134 136 137 138 138 13S l3 CONTENTS. 147 148 149 152 153 154 157 160 163 170 173 174 176 178 184 186 179 Paqe. Statisticsof Education in Austria, . 142 Elementary Education, . . . 142 Superior and Secondary Education, . 143 Academies and Boarding Schools, . 144 Academies of Science, Literature and the Fine Arts, 1-14 Normal School System of Austria, . 145 SWITZERLAND. History and Condition of Primary Education, Compulsory Attendance, . Normal Schools, .... Course of Instruction, System of Inspection, Results of the System on Pauperism, . Educational Establishment at Hofwyl, . Labors, and Principles of Fellenberg, Normal Course at Hofwyl, Berne Cantonal Society of Teachers, Normal School at Kruitzlingen— Turgovia, Educational Views of Vehrli, Religious Education of the Poor, Course of Instruction, Normal School at Lausanne, . Normal School at Lucern, Normal School at Kussnacht, HOLLAND. History of Primary Instruction, . . 187 Outline of System, .... 188 Plan of School Inspecction commended by Cuvier, Cousin, Hickson, NichoUs, Bache, 189 Regulations respecting Inspection, . 192 Regulations respecting Examination . 192 Regulations as to general order of Schools, 197 Regulations respecting Religious Instruction, 198 Table. Primary Education in 1846, . 199 Normal School at Haarlem, . . • 201 BELG1UIV|. State of Primary Education, FRANCE. History of Primary Education, Prior to the Revolution, Ordinance of National Convention, . Action of Napoleon Government of Revolution of 1830, . Report of Cousin on Schools in Germany, Remarks of Guizot on the Bill, . Society for Elementary Instruction, . Educational Periodicals, . Outline of System of Public Instruction, Department of Public Instruction, University of France, Primary Instruction, Governmental Appropriations for Education, Educational Statistics for 1843, Table I. Number ofSchools embraced in the University of France, . II. Primary Schools in 1843, III. Distribution of Primary Schools according to Sects, IV. Number of Scholars and Teachers, 199 205 205 205 205 206 207 211 214 214 215 215 215 217 219 220 220 221 221 222 Page. Table V. Classes for Adults, Evening Schools, and Infant Schools, VL Normal Schools, &c., in 1843, VII. Secondary Schools in 1843, History of Normal Schools in France, Reportof Guizot in 1833, . Report of Cousin, Plan of Organization proposed by Cousin, 227 Outline of System of Normal Schools, . 225 Conferences or Associations of Teachers, 237 Libraries for the use of Teachers, . . 239 iVIeans of Improving the Condition of Teachers, 243 Normal School of the Christian Brothers 249 Normal School at Versailles and Dijon, . 255 Normal School for Teachers of Colleges » and Secondary Schools, . . . 259 IRELAND. History of National Education, Legislation of Henry VIII., Protestant Charter Schools, . Kildare Place Society, . . Commission of English Parliament, Commissioners of National Education, Results of the doings of the Commissioners, 1. Attendance of Protestant and Catholic children, 2. Teachers, . . . . • 3 Schools of different kinds. Evening Schools, Industrial Schools, Agricultural School. School Libraries, . 4. School-houses, 5. National Series of School Books, 6. System of Inspection, . 7. Parliamentary Appropriations, 8. Influence on England, . Training Department and Model Schools i Dublin General I-esson and Practical Rules, Model Farm at Glasnevin, List of Lectures on Agriculture, Agriculture in Ordinary Schools, . ENGLAND, History of Elementary Education, . Committee of Council on Education, School-houses Normal School buildings, . Normal School pupils. Teachers' Salaries, . . • • Apprentice Pupils, .... Supply of School-books, Inspection of Schools, Condition of Grants, . . . Normal School of British and Foreign School Society, Normal Department for Young Men, . Course of Conversational Reading, Questions to test a School, . Model School Female Department of Normal School, Hints to Candidates for Admission, . Normal and Model Schools of the Home and Infant School Society, Qualifications of Candidates, CONTENTS. 14 Page. Course of Instruction for Teachers, 333 Graduated Course in the Model School, 339 St. Mark's College, or Training Establish- ment for Masters for National Schools, 345 General Plan, by Rev. Derwent Coleridge, 346 Musical Instruction, .... 352 Industrial Occupations, . . . 354 Schools of Practice 356 Oral Teaching 360 Battersea Normal School, . . . 363 Condition of the Laboring Poor, . 363 Training of Pauper Children, . . 364 Results of an Examination of the Normal Schools of Switzerland, . . . 366 External Training of the Pupils, . 369 Gymnastic Exercises, . . . 370 Excursions into the Country, . . 371 Household Life, .... 372 Intellectual Training, . . . 373 Phonic Method of Teaching Reading, 376 Arithmetic, 378 Elements of Mechanics, . . . 379 Geography, 379 Rrawina 380 Vocal Music, 382 Paqe. Lectures on Pedagogics, . . . 383 Motives and Habits, .... 383 Training of Teachers for Large Towns, 384 Formation of Character, . . . 386 Religious Life 389 Theory and Practice of Teaching, . 390 Resultsof the Experiment,. . . 392 Chester Diocesan Training College, . 395 Commercial and Agricultural School, 402 Model School 402 Statistics of the Diocese, . . . 403 Industrial Training, .... 407 Regularity of Attendance, . . 412 Normal Schools for Female Teachers, . 415 VVhiteland Institution for School Mis- tresses, . . . . . . 415 Salisbury Diocesan Institute, . . 416 SCOTLAND. History of Parochial Schools, Glasgow and Edinburgh Normal Schools, Syllabus of Lectures on the Theory and Art of Teaching, .... 417 427 434 TABLE NUMBER OF NORMAL SCHOOLS IN THE DIFFERENT STATES OF EUROPE. Prnssia Saxony, Austria, ...... Bavaria, Wirtemberg, .... Hanover, Baden, Hesse-Cassel, .... Hesse-Darmstadt, . . Anhalt, Saxe-Cobnrg-Gotha, . Saxe-Meininger, . . . Saxe Weimar, . . . Oldenburg, Holstein Nassau, Brunswick, Luxemburg, .... Lippe, Mecklenburg Schwerin, Mecklenburg Strelitz, . Lubec, Bremen, Hamburg, Frankfort, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, France, England and Wales, . Scotland, Ireland, 51 1735 10 1785 11 1775 9 1777 7 1757 7 1750 4 1768 3 2 3 o 1779 1 2 2 1 1788 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1816 2 2 1 97 1808 23 1840 2 1835 1 1836 264 GERMANY. To Germany,* as a whole, as one people, and not to any particular state of Germany, as now recognized on the map of Europe, belongs the credit of first thoroughly organizing a system of public education under the administration of the civil power. Here, too, education first assumed the form and name of a science, and the art of teaching and training children was first taught systematically in seminaries established for this special purpose. But not to Germany, or to any one people or any civil authority any where, but to the Christian Church, belongs the higher credit of first in- stituting the public school, or rather the parochial school, for the elemen- tary education of the poor, which was the earliest form which this mighty element of modern society assumed. After the third century of the Christian era, whenever a Christian church was planted, or religious in- stitutions established, there it was the aim of the higher ecclesiastical authorities to found, in some form, a school for the nurture of children and youth for the service of religion and duties of society. Passing by the ecclesiastical and catechetical schools, we find, as early as 529, the council of Vaison strongly recommending the establishment of village schools. In 800 a synod at Mayence ordered that the parochial priests should have * Mr. W. E. liickson, in his valuable pamphlet, entitled '■'■Dutch and German Schools,'- published in London in ]840, well says : " We must bear in mind that the German states, although under different governments, are not nations as distinct from, and independent of each other, as France and Spain, or as Russia and Great Britain. Each of the German states is influenced more or less by every other ; the whole lying in close juxta-position, and being linked together by the bond of a common lan- guage and literature. The boundary line that separates Prussia from Hesse on one side, or from Saxony on another, is not more defined than that of a county or parish in England. A stone in a field, or a post painted with stripes, in a public road, informs the traveler that he is passing from one state into another, that these territorial divisions make no change in the great characteristics of the people ; whatever the name of the state, or the color of the stripes, the people, with merely provincial differences, are the same : from the Baltic to the Adriatic, they are still Germans. " The national spirit may always be gathered from the national songs, and in Germany the most popular are those whicli speak of all Germans as brothers, and ail German states asbelonging to one common country, as may be gathered from the following passage of a song of IVI. Arndt : — "What country does a German claim? Adorn the landscape of the Rhine 1 His Fatherland ; know'st thou its name'? Oh no, oh no, not there, alone, Is it Bavaria, — Saxony t The land, with pride, we call our own, An inland state, or on the seal Not there. A German's heart or mind There, on the Baltic's plains of sand t Is to no narrow realm confined. Or mid the Alps of Switzerland? Where'er he hears his native tongue, Austria, the Adriatic shores 1 When hymns of praise to God are sung, Or where the Prussian eagle soars f There is his Fatherland, and he Or where hills covered by the vine, Has but one country— Germany !" 18 HISTORY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. schools in the towns and villages, that the little children of all the faith- ful might learn letters from them ; " let them receive and teach these with the utmost charity, that they themselves may shine as the stars for ever. Let them receive no remuneration from their scholars, unless what the parents through charity may voluntarily offer." A council at Rome, in 836, under Eugene II., ordained that there should be three kinds of schools established throughout Christendom ; episcopal, parochial in towns and villages, and others wherever there could be found place and opportunity. In 836, Lothaire I. promulgated a decree to establish eight public schools in some of the principal cities of Italy, " in order that oppor- tunity may be given to all, and that there may be no excuse drawn from poverty and the difficulty of repairing to remote places." The third council of Lateran, in 1179, says: " Since the Church of God, as a pious mother, is bound to provide that opportunity for learning should not be withdrawn from the poor, who are without help from patrimonial riches, be it ordained, that in every cathedral there should be a master to teach both clerks and poor scholars gratis." This decree was enlarged and again enforced by Innocent III. in the year 1215. Hence, in all colleges of canons, one bore the title of the scholastic canon. The council of Lj'-ons, in 1215, decreed "that in all cathedral churches, and others pro- vided with adequate revenues, there should be established a school and a teacher by the bishop and chapter, who should teach the clerks and other poor scholars gratis in grammar, and for this purpose a stipend should be assigned him."* Such was the origin of the popular school, as now generally under- etood — every Avhere the offspring, and companion of the Church ; sharing with her, in large measure, the imperfections which attach to all new institutions and all human instrumentalities ; encountering peculiar diffi- culties from the barbarism of the age and people through which it passed, and which it was its mission to enlighten ; and every where crippled by insufficient endowments, unqualified teachers, and the absence of all text books, and necessary aids to instruction and illustration. The discoverj?' of the art of printing, in 1440, and the consequent multiplication of books at prices which brought them more within reach of the great mass of the people ; the study and use of the vernacular language by scholars and divines, and particularly its employment in the printing of the Bible, hymns, popular songs, school books, and in religious instruction gener- ally; the recognition by the municipal authorities of cities, and at a later period by the higher civil power, of the right, duty and interest of the state, in connection with, or independent of the church, to provide liberally and efficiently for the education of all children and youth; and above all^ the intense activity given to the human mind by the religious movement of Luther, in the early part of the sixteenth century ; the assertion of the right of private judgment in the interpretation of the scriptures ; the break- ing up of' existing ecclesiastical foundations, and the diversion of funds * Digby's Mores CathoUci. HISTORY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. jg from religious to educational purposes, — all these causes, combined with the general progress of society, co-operated to introduce an advantageous change in the organization, administration, instruction and discipline ol the popular school. But the progress actually made from year to year, and century even to century, was slow, and after three hundred years of effort, there is much yet to be done even in those states and communities which have accomplished the most toward improving the outward or- ganization and instrumentalities of the schools, and above all its internal life in the improved qualification and position of the teachers — for as is the teacher, so is the school. A brief reference to a few of the more prominent names in the history of popular education in Germany, and through Germany, of Modern Europe, is all that can be attempted at this time and in this connection. Among these names stands prominent that of Martin Luther. In a letter to the Elector of Saxony, in the year 1526, Luther says:* "Since we are all required, and especially the magistrates, above all other things, to educate the youth who are born and are growing up among us, and to train them up in the fear of God and in the ways of virtue, it is needful that we have schools and preachers and pastors. If the parents will not reform, they must go their way to ruin, but if the young are neglected, and left without education, it is the fault of the state ; and the effect will be that the country will swarm with vile and lawless people, so that our safely, no less than the comm.and of God requireth us to foresee and ward off the evil." He maintains in that letter that the government, " as the natural guardian of all the young," has the right to compel the people to support schools. " What is necessary to the well-being of a state, that should be supplied by those who enjoy the privi- lege of such state Now nothing is more necessary than the training of those who are to cotoe after us and bear rule. If the people are too poor to pay tiie expense, and are already burdened with taxes, then the monastic funds, which were originally given for such purposes, are to be employed in that way to re- lieve the people." The cloisters were abandoned in many cases, and the difii- cult question, what was to be done with their funds, Luther settled in this judi- cious manner. How nearly did he approach to the policy now so extensively adopted in this country, of supporting schools partly by taxation and partly by funds appropriated for that purpose. In 1524 he wrote a remarkable production, entitled " An Address to the Common Councils of all the Cities of Germany in behalf of Christian Schools," from which a few passages may here be extracted. After some introductory remarks, he comes directly to his point, and says to his countrymen collec- tively : " I entreat you, in God's behalf and that of the poor youth, not to think so lightly of this matter as many do. It is a grave and serious thing, affecting the interest of the kingdom of Christ, and of all the world, that we apply our- selves to the work of aiding and instructing the young If so much be expended every year in weapons of war, roads, dams, and countless other things of the sort for the safety and prosperity of a city; why should not we expend as much for the beneht of the poor, ignorant youth, to provide them with skillful teachers 1 God hath verily visited us Germans in mercy and given us a truly golden 5'ear. For we now have accomplished and learned young men, adorned with a knowledge of literature and art, who could be of great service if employed to teach the young. . . . Even if the parents were qualified, and were also inclined to teach, they have so much else to do in their business and household affairs that they can not find the time to educate their children. Thus there is a necessity that public teach- * The foUowin? extracts are taken from Dr. Sears' "Life of Martin Luther," published bv the American Sunday School Union. 20 HISTORY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. ers be provided. Otherwise each one would have to teach his own children, which would be for the common people too great a burden. Many a fine boy- would be neglected on account of poverty; and many an orphan would suifer from the negligence of guardians. And those who have no children would not trouble themselves at all about the whole matter. Therefore it becometh rulers and magistrates to use the greatest care and diligence in respect to the education of the young. The diligent and pious teacher who properly instructeth and traineth the young, can never be fully rewarded with money. If I were to leave my oflice as preacher, 1 would next chose that of schoolmaster, or teacher of boys; for I know that, next to preaching, this is the greatest, best, and most useful voca- tion ; and I am not quite sure which of the two is the better; for it is hard to reform old sinners, with whom the preacher has to do, while the young tree can be made to bend without breaking." In 1527, a visitation was made of the churches and schools of the elec- torate of Saxony, in vvhicii more than thirty men were employed a whole year. The result in respect to education was, that tlie " Saxon school system," as it was called, Avas drawn up by the joint labors of Luther and Melancthon ; and thus the foundation was laid for the magnificent organ- ization of schools to which Germany owes so much of her present fame. In a letter to Margrave George, of Bradenburg, July 18, 1529: — , " I will tell you what Melancthon and myself, upon mature consideration, think best to be done. First, we think the cloisters and foundations may con- tinue to stand till their inmates die out Secondly, it would be exceedingly well to establish in one or two places in the principality a learned school, in which shall be taught, not only the Holy Scriptures, but law, and all the arts, from whence preachers, pastors, clerks, counselors, &c., may be taken for the whole principality. To this object should the income of the cloisiers and other religious foundations be applied, so as to give an honorable support to learned men ; iwo in theology, two in law, one in medicine, one in mathematics, and four or five for grammar, logic, rhetoric, &*c Thirdly, in all the towns and villages, good schools for children should be es- tablished, from which ihose who are adapted to higher studies might be taken and trained up for the public." Under these instructions and appeals a school law was adopted in Wirtemberg in 1559, and modified in 1565; in Saxony in 1560, and improved in 1580; in Hesse in 1565; and in Brandenberg, still earlier; which recognized and provided for the classification, inspection, and sup- port of pubhc schools on substantially the same plan which prevails to this day throughout Germany. The pedagogical work of Luther — his labors to improve the method of instruction — were continued by Trotzendorf,* in Goldberg, from 1530 to 1556; by Sturm, in Strasbourg, from 1550 to 1589; by Neander. in Ile- feld, fiom 1570 to 1595, whose schools were all Normal Schools, in the original acceptation of the terra, 'pattern or model schools, of their time. They were succeeded by Wolfgang Ratich, born at Wilster, in Holstein, in 1571 ; by Christopher Helwig, born near Frankfort, in 1581 ; and by Amos Comenius, born at Comna, in Moravia, in 1592 ; who all labored, by their writings, and by organizing schools and courses of instruction, to disseminate improved methods of teaching. Comenius was invited by an act of parliament in 1631, to visit England for the purpose of intro- • Trotzendorf practiced the monitorial system of Instruction two hundred and fifty years be- fore Ur. Bell or Joseph Lancaster set up their claims for its discovery. fflSTORY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. 21 ducing his method into the public institutions of that country. But in- ternal commotions interrupted and ultimately defeated his plans. In 1618, the religious war — known as the Thirty Years^ war — broke out in Germany, and for an entire generation swept over the land, wasting harvest fields, destroying cities, tearing fathers from the protection ot their families, scattering teachers and schools, and arresting the progress of all spiritual and educational improvement. At the close of the war, and in some of the smaller states during its progress, the civil government be- gan to take effectual steps to secure the attendance of children at school, by making it compulsory on parents, on penalty of fine and imprisonment for neglect, to send them during a certain age. This was first attempted in Gotha, in 1643 ; in Heildesheim, in 1663; and in Prussia, in 1669 ; and Calemberg, in 1681. About this period, two men appeared, Philip J. Spener. born in the Alsace in 1635, and Augustus Herman Franke, born at LCibeck in 1663 ; who, the first by the invention of the catechetic method, and the last, a pupil of the former, by the foundation of the orphan-house at Halle in 1606, were destined to introduce a new era in the history of education in Germany. The history of the orphan-house at Halle, is a beautiful illustration of practical Christian charily, and the ever-extending results of educational labor. While pastor of Glaucha, a suburb of Halle, he Avas in the habit of distributing bread to the poor, with whose poverty and ignorance he was equally distressed. To relieve at once their physical and spiritual destitution, he invited old and young into his house, and while he distributed alms, he at the same time gave oral and catechetical instruction in the principles of the Christian faith. To benefit the orphan children still more, he took a few into his family in 1694, and to avail himself of the gifts of the charitable, he resorted to the following expedient, according to his biographer. Dr. Guerike : "He caused a box lo be fa.stened up in the parlor of the parsonage-house, and wrote over it, ' Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwellelh the love of God in him V (1 John iii. 17,) and underneath, ' Every one according as he purposefh in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly or of Keressity; for God loveth a cheerful giver,' (2 Cor. ix. 17.) This box, which Was destined for the reception of the casual gifts of those who visited Franke, Was fixed up at the commencement of 1695; and not in vain. The passage (\^ Cor. ix. 8,) had fallen in his way, a short time before this circumstance, and mVw occurred the Incident related in his letter to Schade. ' This,' says he, 'sensed to show me, how God is able to make us abound in every good work.' \ ' After the poor's-box had been fixed up in my dwelling about a qliarter of a year,' relates Franke, ' a certain person piit, at one time, four dollaiy. and six- teen groschen into it. On taking this sum into my hand, I exclaimed with great liberty of faith, — This is a considerable sum, with which somethiing really good must be accomplished; I will commence a school with it for the poor. Without conferring, therefore, with flesh and blood, and acting undei\ the im- pulse of faith, I made arrangement for the purchase of books to the amount of two dollars, and engaged a poor student to instruct the poor children for a couple of hours daily, promising to give him six groschen weekly for so doing, \ui the hope that God would meanwhile grant more; since in this manner a coupkt^of dollars would be spent in eight weeks.' Franke, who was ready to offer up whatever he had to the service of his neighbor, fixed upon the ante-chamber of his study, for the school-room of the 22 HISTORY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. poor children, who began regularly to receive instruction at Easter, 1695. In this school-room, he caused a second box to be fixed up, with the inscription, ' For the expenses of the instruction of the children, needful books, &c.,' and un- derneath, ' He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth to the Lord ; and that which he hath given, will he pay him again,' (Prov. xix. 17.) At Whitsuntide, Franke was visited by some friends, who were much pleased at his efforts in behalf of the poor, to which they contributed a few dollars. Others also gave small donations, from time to time, to the school-box. Soon after Whitsuntide, when some of the townspeople saw how regularly the children of the poor received instruction, they became desirous of sending their children likewise to the same teacher, and offered to pay him weekly a gros- chen for each child ; so that the teacher now received sixteen groschen weekly for a five-hours' daily instruction. The number of his scholars, that summer, amounted to between fifty and sixty, of which the poor, besides gratuitous in- struction, also received alms, twice or thrice a-week, to incite them to attend school the more willingly. Donations in money, and linen, for shirts for tlie poor children, began now to arrive from other places. About Whitsuntide of the same year, Franke laid also the first foundation lor what was subsequently called the royal school. The widow of a nobleman desired him to send her a domestic tutor for her own, and one of her friend's children. He found no one who was sufficiently far advanced in his studies, and therefore proposed to the parents, to send their children to Halle, and that he would then provide for their education, by able teachers and guardians. The parents agreed to this plan ; and a few months afterward, an additional number of youths were sent, and thus originated the seminary above mentioned, which, in 1709, consisted of an inspector, twenty-three teachers, and seventy- two scholars ; and in 17U, by means of Franke's exertions, had a building ap- propriated exclusively to it. In the summer of the same year, 1695, Franke unexpectedly and unsolicit- edly received a very considerable contribution ; for a person of rank wrote to hitn Avith the offer of five hundred dollars, for the purpose of distribution among the poor, and especially among the indigent students. This money was shortly afterward paid over to him. He then selected twenty poor students, whom he assisted with a weekly donation of four, eight, or twelve groschen; 'and this,' says he, ' was in reality the origin of the poor students' participating to the pres- ent hour, in the benefits of the orphan-house.' In the autumn there was no longer sutficient room in the parsonage for the increasing number of scholars ; he therefore hired a school-room of one of his neighbors, and a second in the beginning of the Avinter. He then divided the scholars into two classes, and provided a separate teacher for the children of the townspeople, and another for the children of the poor. Each teacher gave four hours instruction daily, and received a guilder weekly, besides lodging and firing gratis. But Franke was soon made to see, that many a hopeful child was deprived, when out of school, of all the benefit he received in it. The idea therefore occurred to him, in the autumn of 1695, to undertake the entire charge and edu- cation of a limited number of children ; ' and this,' says he, ' was the first in- citement I felt, and the first idea of the erection of an orphan-house, even before I possessed the smallest funds for the purpose. On mentioning this plan to some of my friends, a pious individual felt induced to fund the sum of five hundred dollars for that purpose,— twenty-five dollars for the interest on which were to be paid over every Christmas, which has also been regularly received. On reflecting upon this instance of the divine bounty, I wished to seek out some poor orphan child, who might be supported by the yearly interest. On this, four fatherless and motherless children, all of the same family, were brought to me. I ventured, in confidence upon God, to receive the whole four; but as one of them was taken by some other good people, only three were left ; but a fourth soon appeared in the place of the one that had been taken. I took therefore these four; placed them with religious people, and gave them weekly half a dollar for the bringing up of each. On this, it happened to me, as is generally the case, that when we venture to give a groschen to the poor in faith, we feel afterward no hesitation in venturing a dollar upon the same principle. For after having once begun in God's name, to receive a few poor orphans without any human prospect of certain assistance, (for the interest of the five hundred HISTORY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. 23 dollars was not sufficient to feed and clothe a single one,) I boldly left it to the Lord to make up for whatever might be deficient. Hence the orphan-house was by no means commenced and founded upon any certain sum in hand, or on the assurances of persons of rank to take upon themselves the cost and charges, or upon any thing of a similar nature, as was subsequently reported, and as some were inclined to suppose; but solely and simply in reliance on the living God in heaven. ' The day after I had undertaken the charge of the four orphans above-men- tioned, two more were added; the next day, another; two days afterward, a fourth, and one more after the lapse of a week. So that, on the iGth November, 1695, there were already nine, who were placed with pious people.' He fixed upon George Henry Neubauer, a student of divinity, to have the oversight of their education and their bringing up. ' Meanwhile,' continues he, ' the faithful God and Father of the fatherless, who is able to do abundantly above what we can ask or think, came so powerfully to my aid, that foolish reason could never have expected it. For he moved the hearts of those persons of rank, who had given me the five hundred dollars already mentioned, to present me with an additional sum of a thousand dollars in the beginning of the winter. And in the middle of the winter, another person of rank was incited to send me three hundred dollars to enable me to continue my attention to the poor. Another individual gave a hundred dollars, and others gave donations of smaller sums.' Franke had hitherto distributed the money destined for the poor students weekly ; but in 1G9G, the idea occurred to him, instead of a weekly allowance, to give them dinner gratuitously ; ' in the firm confidence in God, that he would from time to time send such supplies, as to enable this arrangement to be con- tinued.' By this he expected to be of greater service to the poor students ; he could also, in this manner, become better acquainted with them, and possess a better insight into their life and conduct ; and lastly, restrain the applications of the less need}', ' who would gladly have been more delicately fed.' Two open tables were therefore provided— each for twelve poor students; and that one thing might assist the other, he selected the teachers of the charity-school from them. This was the origin of the teachers' seminary, which afterward gradually arose out of it. The schools of the children of the townspeople who paid a certain sum for their instruction, though inadequate to the expense, were separated from the school for the poor, at the request of the townspeople themselves; and in Sep- tember, 1697, another school was added for those tradesmen's children who were instructed in the elements of superior science. About this time also, more classes were required in the orphan school, on account of the increased number \ of the pupils. The boys and girls received separate instruction, and when any of the former manifested abilities, they were again separated from the rest, and instructed in languages and the sciences by particular teachers. In May, 1699, Franke united this class of the orphan children with the class of the trades- men's children, who likewise received superior instruction. These arrange- ments for imparling a more learned education, show us the rudiments from whence the Latin school or Gymnasium afterward developed itself in Franke's institutions, which in 1709 was attended by two hundred and fifty-six children, of whom sixty-four were orphans, divided into seven classes ; and in 1730, by more than five hundred pupils. At the time of his death, the Orphan House, or HalUsche Waisen- haus, embraced all the institutions which now belong to it. 1. The Orphan Asylum^ established in 1694, in which over 5,000 or- phans had been educated, up to 1838, gratuitously. Such of the boys as manifest pecuhar talent, are prepared for the university, and supported there. 2. The Royal Pcedagogium, founded in 1696, for the education of children of rich and noble families. Up to 1839, 2,850 individuals had been educated in this boarding institution. The profits of this school are paid over to the orphan asylum. 24 HISTORY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. 3. The Latin School, established in 1697, for pupils from abroad, of less wealthy condition than the former, and for boys of the city of Halle. 4. The German School, for boys and girls whose parents do not wish to give them a classic education. These several schools number from 3.000 to 4,000 pupils,* of every age, and in every study. Besides these schools there are other features in the institution. 5. The Canstein Bible Press, established in 1712, to furnish the Bible at a cheap rate. The profits on the sale of an edition are applied to diminish the expense of the next edition. 6. A Librartj, commenced by Franke by setting apart his own books for the use of his schools, and which now number 20,000 volumes. 7. An Apothecarifs Shop, commenced by Franke as a medicine chest for the poor, and the profit of which, after furnishing the wants of the orphan-house, are applied to the support of the institution. 8. A Bonk Establishment, in which the classics, and school books, are published at a low price, not only for the institution, but for the trade generally. 9. A house for widows. We have dwelt on the labors of Franke, because he proved his faith in God by his works, and because he was an educator in the largest and best sense of that designation. According to his biographer, the first teachers' class was founded by Franke in 1697, by providing a table or free board for such poor students as stood in need of assistance, and selecting, a few years later, out of the whole number, twelve who exhibited the right basis of piety, knowledge, skill and desire for teaching, and constituting them his " Seminarium Prseceptoruni;" Teachers' Seminary. These pupil teachers received separate instruction for two years, and obtained a practical knowledge of methods, in the classes of the several schools. For the assistance thus rendered they bound themselves to teach for three years in the institution after the close of their course. In 1704, according to Raumer, this plan was matured, and the supply of teachers for all the lower classes were drawn from this seminary. But besides the teachers trained in this branch of Franke's great establishment, hundreds of others, attracted by the success of his experiment, resorted to Halle, from all parts of Europe, to profit by the organization, spirit, and method of his various schools. Among the most distinguished of his pupils and disciples, may be named, Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the communities of United Brethren, or Moravians, in Herrnhut, in 1722; Steinmetz, who erected a Normal School in Klosterbergen, in 1730; Hecker, the founder of the first Real • It is interesting to a visitor to remark in the chief cities of Germany, during cei-tain hours the silence of tlie streets, withi tlieir entire desertion by children, and the contrast of the change produced by the clock striking twelve. The road and footway then suddenly swarm with children, carrying books and slates, and returning from the studies of ttie morning. The most striking sight of the kind we ever witnessed was at Halle, where, as we approached a large educational establishment, called the "Hallische Waisenhaus," the whole of its juvenile in- mates, 3.000 in number, burst forth into the street, and filling up the entire roadway, formed an unbroken stream of a quarter of a mile in length.— if icAson's Butch and German Schools. HISTORY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. 25 School in Berlin, to which a seminary for teachers was attached in 1748 ; Rambalt, who lectured in the Universities in Jena and Giessen in pedagogic, and reformed the schools in Hesse-Darmstadt ; Felbiger, wlio reorgan- ized the schools of Silesia, and afterward those of Austria; — these, and others scarcely less distinguished, were among the most eminent and suc- cessful teachers of the day, and Avere known as the school of Pietists. The educational school of Franke was followed by Basedow, (born at Hamburg, in 1723,) Campe, and Salzman, who acquired for themselves a European reputation by the Philanthropinum, founded by the former at Dessau, in 1781. This institution gave its name to the school of educationists, known as Philanthropinic, and which prevails at this day in some sections of Ger- many. Its earliest development on the continent was made by Rous- seau, in his " Emile," and by John Locke, in England, in his '• Thoughts on Education." Its great aim was the formation of a practical charac- ter, and this was to be accomplished by following the indications of na- ture. The body, as well as the mind, was to be hardened and invigora- ted, and prepared to execute with energy the designs of the mind. The discipline of the family and school was softened by constant appeals to the best principles in the child's nature. Particular attention was paid to instruction in language, music, and the laws and objects of nature. Many of these principles became engrafted on to the teachers of Normal Schools, and through their pupils were introduced into the common schools. About this time appeared Henry Pestalozzi, who followed in the track of the Philanthropinic School, and by his example and writings, dif- fused a new spirit among the schools of primary instruction, all over Eu- rope. Although born in Switzerland, at Zurich, in 1746, and althoiigh his personal labors were confined to his native country, and their immedi- ate influence was weakened by many defects of character, still his gen- eral views of education were so sound and just, that they are now adopted by teachers who never read a word of his life or writings, and by many who never heard of his name. They have become the common property of teachers and educators all over the world. A brief notice* of the lead- ing principles of the system, which now bears his name, and which has moulded the entire character of the schools of Germany, during the last half century, can not be deemed irrelevant. " The father of Pestalozzi, who was a physician, died when he was quite young, and his early education was left to his mother, and an old domesiic of the family, until he was of an age to pass into the grammar school of Zurich. In .consequence of such an education, corresponding entirely to his natural dis- position, he retained a remarkable gentleness and simplicity of manners, which continued through his long life, and produced that agreeable mixture of manly and female excellence, which rendered him peculiarly interesting to children,,. to whom his person was unattractive. Oppressive treatment at school, and misapprehension of his views in riper years, gave him, however, a keen sense of justice, which roused him to vindicate the cause of the oppressed among the lower classes of the people, and often made his language as a writer, bitter and sarcastic. • Abr'dgert from an article by William C. Woodbridge, in the Annals of Education, for Janu- ary, 1847. 26 HISTORY OP PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. V Pestalozzi first lived in the midst of the people, in order that he might under- fitand their misery, and endeavor to discover its source. He believed that he found it in the want of an observation of nature and mankind — in the absence of spiritual elevation and religious sentiment — in the prejudice, thoughtless- ness, levity and disorderly conduct which were the natural results, and the distrust, and obstinate and revengeful disposition which necessarily followed toward those who profited by their weaknesses, or punished their offenses. He believed that a good education for the children of the people was the only means of remedying this evil. The ravages of war had left a multitude of des- titute orphans in the small cantons of Switzerland. His first attempt to carry his benevolent plan' into execution, was in collecting a number of these poor children at Stanz, devoting himself to their instruction and care in the sacri- fice of most of the comforts of life, and providing for their support from his own resources, or from the charity which he solicited from others. Here, he la- bored to discover the true and simple means of education. He treated his pu- pils with uniform sympathy and tenderness, and thus attempted to awaken love and confidence in their hearts, and to sow the seed of every good feeling. He therefore aasumed faitk a7id love as the only true foundation of a system of edu- cation. He subsequently established a school in more regular form in Burgdorf, in the canton of Berne, to which his benevolence and talents attracted a number of fellow-laborers. Here he endeavored to ascertain the principles which should govern the development of the infant faculties, and the proper period for the commencement and completion of each course of instruction in this view. As the result of his investigations, Pestalozzi assumed as a fundamental prin- ciple, that education, in order to fit man for his destination, must proceed ac- cording to the laws of nature. To adopt the language of his followers — that it must not act as an arbitrary mediator between the child and nature, between man and God, pursuing its own artificial arrangements, instead of the indica- tions of Providence — that it should assist the course of natural development, in- stead of doing it violence — that it should watch, and follow its progress, instead of attempting to mark out a path agreeably to a preconceived system. I. In view of this principle, he did not choose, like Basedow, to cultivate the mind in a material way, merely by inculcating and engrafting every thing rela- ting to external objects, and giving mechanical skill. He sought, on the con- trary, to develope, and exercise, and strengthen the faculties of the child by a steady course of excitement to self-activity, with a limited degree of assistance to his efforts. II. In opposition to the haste, and blind groping of many teachers without system, lie endeavored to find the proper point for conmiencing, and to proceed in a slow and gradnal, but uninterrupted course, from one point to another — always waiting until the first should have a certain degree of distinctness in the mind of the child, before entering upon the exhibition of the second. To pur- sue any other course would only give superficial knowledge, which would neither afford pleasure to the child, nor promote its real progress. III. He opposed the undue cultivation of the memory and understanding, as hostile to true education. He placed the essence of education in the harmoni- ous and uniform development of every faculty, so that the body should not be in advance of the mind, and that in the development of the mind, neither the physical powers, nor the aflections, should be neglected; and that skill in ac- tion should be acquired at the same lime with knowledge. "When this point is secured, we may know that education has really begun, and that it is not merely supeificial. IV. He required close attention and constant reference to the peculiarities of every child, and of each sex, as well as to the characteristics of the people among whom he lived, in order that he might acquire the development and qualifications necessary for the situation to which the Creator destined him, when he gave him these active faculties, and be prepared to labor successfully for those among whom he was placed by his birth. V. While Basedow introduced a multitude of subjects of instruction into the schools, without special regard to the development of the intellectual powers, Pestalozzi considered this plan as superficial. He limited the elementary sub- jects of instruction to Form, Number and Language, as the essential condition HISTORY OP PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. 27 of definite and distinct knowledge ; and believed that these elements should be taught with the utmost possible simplicity, comprehensiveness and mutual con- nection. VI. Pestalozzi, as well as Basedow, desired that instruction should com- mence with the intuition or simple perception of external objects and their rela- tions. He was not, however, satisfied with this alone, but wished that ihe art of observing should also be acquired. He thought the things perceived of less con- sequence than the cultivation of the perceptive powers, which should enable the child to observe completely, — to exhaust the subjects which should be brought before his mind. VII. While the Philanthropinists attached great importa'nce to special exer- cises of reflection, Pestalozzi would not make this a subject of separate study. He maintained that every subject of instruction should be properly treated, and thus become an exercise of thought; and believed, that lessons on Number, and Proportion and Size, would give the best occasion for it. VIII. Pestalozzi, as well as Basedow, attached great importance to Arithme- tic, particularly to Mental Arithmetic. He valued it, however, not merely in the limited view of its practical usefulness, but as an excellent means of strengthening the mind. He also introduced Geometry into the elementary schools, and the art connected with it, of modeling and drawing beautiful ob- jects. He wished, in this way, to train the eye, the hand, and the touch, for that more advanced species of drawing \¥hich had not been thought of before. Proceeding from the simple and intuitive, to the more complicated and diffi- cult forms, he arranged a series of exercises so gradual and complete, that the method of leaching this subject was soon brought to a good degree of perfection. IX. The Philanthropinists introduced the instruction of language into the common schools, but limited it chiefly to the writing of letters and preparation of essays. But Pestalozzi was not satisfied with a lifeless repetition of the rules of grammar, nor yet with mere exercises for common life. He aimed at a development of the laws of language from within — an introduction into its in- ternal nature and construction and peculiar spirit— which would not only culti- vate the intellect, but also improve the affections. It is impossible to do justice to his method of instruction on this subject, in a brief sketch like the present — but those who have witnessed its progress and results, are fully aware of its practical character and value. X. Like Basedow, Rochow and others, Pestalozzi introduced vocal music into the circle of school studies, on account of its powerful influence on the heart. But he was not satisfied that the children shotild learn to sing a few melo- dies by note or by ear. He wished them to know the rules of melody and rhythm, and dynamics — to pursue a regular course of instruction, descending to its very elements, and rendering the musical notes as familiar as the sounds of the let- ters. The extensive work of Nageli and PfeiSer has contributed very much to give this branch of instruction a better form. XI. He opposed the abuse which was made of the Socratic method in many of the Philanthropinic and other schools, by attempting to draw something out of children before they had received any knowledge. He recommends, on the contrary, in the early periods of instruction, the established method of dictation by the teacher and repetition by the scholar, with a proper tegard to rhythm, and at a later period, especially in the mathematical and other subjects which involve reasoning, the modern method, in which the teacher merely gives out the problems in a proper order, and leaves them to be solved by the pupils, by the exertion of their own powers. XII. Pestalozzi opposes strenuously the opinion that religious instruction should be addressed exclusively to the understanding; and shows that religion lies deep in the hearts of men, and that it should not be enstamped from with- out, but developed from within ; that the basis of religious feeling is to be found in the childish disposition to love, to thankfulness, to veneration, obedi- ence and confidence toward its parents; that these "should be cultivated and strengthened and directed toward God; and that religion should be formally treated of at a later period in connection with the feelings thus excited. As he requires the mother to direct the first development of all the faculties of her child, he assigns to her especially the task of first cultivating the religious feelings. XIII. Pestalozzi agreed with Basedow, that mutual affection ought to reign between the educator and the pupil, both in the house and in the school, in or- 28 HISTORY OP PRIMARY EDUCATION IN GERMANY. der to render education effectual and useful. He was, therefore, as little dis- posed as Basedow, to sustain school despotism ; but he did not rely on artificial excitements, such as those addressed to emulation. He preferred that the chil- dren should find their best reward in the consciousness of increased intellectual vigor ; and expected the teacher to render the instruction so aitraciive, that the delightful feeling of progress should be the strongest excitement to industry and to morality. XIV. Pestalozzi attached as much importance to the cultivation of the bodily powers, and the exercise of the senses, as the Philanthropinists, and in his publications, pointed out a graduated course for this purpose. But as Guts- mutlis, Vieth, Jahn, and Clias treated this subject very fully, nothing further was written concerning it by his immediate followers. Such are the great principles which entitle Pestalozzi to the high praise of having given a more natural, a more comprehensive and deeper foundation for education and instruction, and of having called into being a method which is far superior to any that preceded it. But with all the excellencies of the system of education adopted by Pesta- lozzi, truth requires us to state that it also involves serious defects. 1. In his zeal for the improvement of the mind itself, and for those modes of instruction which were calculated to develop and invigorate its faculties, Pes- talozzi forgot too much the necessity of general positive knowledge, as the ma- terial for thought and lor practical ifse in future life. The pupils of his estab- ' lishment, instructed on his plan, were too often dismissed wiih intellectual poweis which were vigorous and acute, but without the stores of knowledge important for immediate use — well qualified for mathematical and abstract reasoning, but not prepared to apply it to the business oi' common lite. 2. He commenced with intuitive, mathematical studies too early, attached too much importance to them, and devoted a portion of time to them, which did not allow a reasonable attention to other studies, and which prevented the regular and harmonious cultivation of other powers. 3. The »i;f teaclnng these elements without adopting his notions of passive obedience to government, or of blind adherence to the articles of a church. By the ordinance of nature, the human faculties are substantially the same all over the world, and hence the best means for their development and growtli in one place, must be substantially the best for their devehjpment and growth every wliere. The spirit which shall control the action of tliese faculties when matured, which shall train them to self-reliance or to abject submission, which sliall lead them to refer all questions to the standard of reason or to that of authority, — tliis'spirit is wl)olly distinct and distinguishable from the manner in which the faculties tliemselves onglit to be trained ; and we may avail our- selves of all unproved methods in the earlier processes, without being contami- nated by tlie abuses winch may be made to follow them. The best style of teaching arithmetic or spelling has no necessary or natural connection with the doctrine of hereditary right ; and an accomplished lesson in geography or gram- mar commits the human intellect to no particular dogma in religion. In tlie second place, if Prussia can pervert the benign influences of education to tiu! support of arbitrary power, wt; purely can employ them for the support and perpetuation of republican institutions. A national spirit of liberty can be cultivated more easily than a national spirit of bondage ; and if it may be made one of the great prerogatives of education to perform the unnatural and unholy work of making slaves, then surely it must be one of the noblest instrumentali- ties for rearing a nation of freemen. If a moral power over the understandings and affections of the people may be turned to evil, may it not also be employed for the highest good ? Besides, a generous and impartial mind does not ask whence a thing cwmes, but what it is. Those who, at the present day, would reject an improvement ■because of tlie place of its origin, belong to the same school of bigotry with those who inquired if any good could come out of Nazareth ; and what infinite bless- ings would the W(jrld have lost had that party been punished by success ! Throughout my whole tour, no one principle has been more frequently exempli- fied than this,— that wherever I have found the best institutions, — educational, ref(jrmatory, charitable, penal, or otherwise, — there I have always found the greatest desire to know how similar institutions were administered among our- selves ; and Avhere I have found the worst, there I have found most of the spirit of self-complacency, and even an offensive disinclination to hear of better methods. -;f -x- -x- ■?:- 4:- -x- -X- * * -Jf * * All the subjects I have enumerated were taught in all the schools I visited, whether in city or*country, for the lich or for tlie poor. In the lowest school in the smallest and obscurest village, or for the poorest class in overcrowded cities; in the schools connected witli pauper establishments, Avith houses of correction, (?r Avith prisons, — in all these, there was a teacher of mature ape, of simple, unaf- fected, and decorous manners, benevolent in his expression, kind and genial in his intercourse with the young, and of such attainments and resources as qualified him not only to lay down the abstract principles of the above range of studies, but, by familiar illustration and apposite example, to commend them to the at- tention of the children. I speak of the teachers whom I saw, and with whom I had more or less of personal intercourse ; and, after some opportunity for the observation of public assemblies or bodies of men, I do not hesitate to say, that if those teachers were brought together, in one body, I believe they would form as dignified, intelligent, benevolent-looking a company of men as could be collected from the same amount of population in any country. They were alike free from arrogant pretension and from the affectation of huniility. It has been often remarked, both in Eng- land and in this country, that the nature of a school-teacher's occupation exposes him, in some degree, to' overbearing manners, and to dogmatism in the statement of his opinions. Accustomed to the exercise of supreme authority, moving among those who are so much his inferiors in point of attainment, perhaps it is proof of a very well-balanced mind, if he keeps himself free from assumption RESULTS OF NORMAL SCHOOL SYSTEM. 41 in opinion and haughtiness of demeanor. Especially are such faults or vices apt to spring up in weak or ill-furnislied minds. A teacher who cannot rule by love, must do so by fear. A teacher who cannot supply material for the activity of his pupils' minds by his talent, must put down that activity by force. A teacher ■who cannot answer all the questions and solve all the doubts of a scholar as they arise, must assume an awful and mysterious air, and must expound in oracles, which themselves need more explanation tlian the original difficulty. When a teacher knows much, and is master of his whole subject, he can afford to be mod- est and unpretending. But when the head is the only text-book, and the teacher has not been previously prepared, he must, of course, have a small library. Among all the Pjussian and Saxon teacliers whom I saw, there were not half a dozen instances to remind one of those unpleasant characteristics, — what Lord Bacon Avould call the ' idol of the tribe,' or profession, — which sometimes de- grade the name and disparage the sacred calling of a teacher. Generally speak- ing, there seemed to be a strong love for the employment, always a devotion to duty, and a profound conviction of the importance and sacredness of the office they filled. The only striking instance of disingenuousness or attempt at decep- tion, which I saw, was that of a teacher who looked over the manuscript books of a large class of his scholars, selected the best, and, bringing it to me, said, ' In seeing one you see aU. Whence came tliis beneficent order of men, scattered over the whole coun- try, molding the character of its people, and carrying them forward in a career of civilization more rapidly than any other people in tlie world are now advanc- ing ? This is a question which can be answered only by givmg an account of the Seminaries for Teachers. From the year 18 20 to 1830 or 1835, it was customary, in all accounts of Prussian education, to mention the number of these Seminaries for Teachers. This item of information has now become unimportant, as there are seminaries sufficient to supply the wants of the whole country. The stated term of resi- dence at these seminaries is three years. Lately, and in a few places, a class of preliminary institutions has sprung up, — institutions where pupils are received in order to determiue whether they are fit to become candidates to be candi- dates. As a pupil of the seminary is liable to be set aside for incompetency, even after a three years' course of study ; so the pupils of these preliminary in- stitutions, after having gone through with a shorter course, are liable to be set aside for incompetency to become competent. Let us look for a moment at the guards and securities which, in that country, environ this sacred calling. In the first place, the teacher's profession holds such a high rank in pubHc estimation, that none who have failed in other employments or departments of business, are encouraged to look upon school-keeping as an ultimate resource. Those, too, who, from any cause, despair of success in other departments of business or walks of life, have very slender prospects in lot)king forward to this. These considerations exclude at once all that inferior order of men who, in some countries, constitute the main body of the teachers. Then come, — though only in some parts of Prussia, — these preliminary schools, where those who wish eventually to become teachers, go, in order to have their natural qualities and adaptation for school- keeping tested ; for it must be borne in mind that a man may have the most unexceptionable character, may be capable of mastering all the branches of study, may even be able to make most brilliant recitations from day to day ; and yet, from some coldness or repulsiveness of manner, from harshness of voice, from some natural defect in his person or in one of his senses, he may be adjudged an unsuitable model or archetype for children to be conformed to, or to grow by ; and hence he may be dismissed at the end of his probationary term of six months. At one of these preparatory schools, which I visited, the list of subjects at the examination, — a part of which I saw, — was divided into two classes, as follows : — 1. Readiness in thinking, German language, including orthography and composition, history, description of the earth, knowl- edge of nature, thorough bass, calligraphy, drawing. 2. Religion, knowledge of the Bible, knowledge of nature, mental arithmetic, singing, violin-play uig, and readiness or facility in speaking. The examination in all the branches of the first class was conducted in writing. To test a pupil's readiness in thinking, for in- etance, several topics for composition are given out, and, after the lapse of a cer- 42 RESULTS OF NORMAL SCHOOL SYSTEM. tain number of minutes, -whatever has been written must be handed in to the examiners. So questions in arithmetic are given, and the time occupied by the pupils in solving them, is a test of their quickness of thought, or power of com- manding their own resources. This facility, or faculty, is considered of great im- portance in a teacher.* In the second class of subjects the pupils were exam- ined orally. Two entire days were occupied in examining a class of thirty pupils, and only twenty -one were admitted to the seminary school ; — that is, 'only about two-thirds were considered to be eligible to become eligible, as teachers, after three years' further study. Thus, in this first process, the chaff is winnowed out, and not a few of the lighter grains of the wheat. It is to be understood that those Avho enter the seminary directly, and with- out this preliminary trial, have already studied, under able masters in the Com- mon Schools, at least all the branches I have above described. The first two of the three years, they expend mainly in reviewing and expanding theii" element- ary knowledge. The German language is studied in its relations to rhetoric and logic, and as sesthetic literature ; arithmetic is carried out into algebra and mixed mathematics ; geography into commerce and manufactures, and into a knowledge of the various botanical and zoological productions of the different quarters of the globe ; linear drawing into perspective and machine drawing, and the drawing from models of all kinds, and from objects in nature, Ac. The theory and practice, not only of vocal, but of instrumental music, occupy much time. Every pupil must play on the violin ; most of them play on the organ, and some on other instruments. I recollect seeing a Normal class engaged in learning the principles of Harmony. The teacher first explained the principles on which they were to proceed. He then wrote a bar of music upon the black- board, and called upon a pupil to write such notes for another part or accompa- niment, as would make harmony with the first. So he would write a bar with certain intervals, and then require a pupil to write another, with such intervals as, according to the principles of musical science, would correspond with the first. A thorough course of reading on the subject of education is imdertaken, as well as a more general course. Bible history is almost committed to memory. Con- nected with all the seminaries for teachers are large Model or Experimental Schools. During the last part of the course much of the students' time is spent in these schools. At first they go in and look on in silence, while an accom- jDlished teacher is instructing a class. Then they themselves commence teaching under the eye of such a teacher. 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