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Hide 4 a A Aiet | wi yh + ' 7 ¢ Li ¥ 5 hth t sey ie , 1A) ps ease Rue tak ie ! qe see mieten gt Meats hb te ys j a j e| "i Labia Wiegita bi ud , K i Foose ; ‘ ‘ Y fee r : i a roel i f + ; i ‘ } } ’ ' Rylajed? ii ¢ ' Leh ) ; ow tA ¥ THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 370.735 D340 Cop. 2 Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. University of Illinois Library L161—H41 Pha ; ( ane THE OSWEGO MOVEMENT IN. AMERICAN EDUCATION BY NED HARLAND DEARBORN EVUGATI DEPARTMENT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Contribution 16 edueation ,no. \¥3 Published by Teachers College, Columbia Anibersitp New York City 1925 r Copyright, 1925, by TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY TO those who have contributed to the fame of the Oswego State Normal and Training School and to those who are now striving and who in the future will strive to maintain its honorable position in American ’ education 660308 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2021 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign https://archive.org/details/oswegomovementinOOdear ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express his profound gratitude for the unusual opportunities he has enjoyed in preparing this dissertation. Many friends of the Oswego State Normal and Training School have provided sources of information which have been invaluable. Much help has been given in the interpretations of the Oswego Movement by those who know its work through intimate associa- tion with its founder and with its development since Dr. Sheldon’s regime. Special credit is due Dr. James G. Riggs, the present principal of the school, for his untiring efforts in assisting the writer in the location of source material and in his great interest in the perpetua- tion of the Oswego spirit. The present faculty members have given freely of their time and energy, notably those who knew Dr. Sheldon personally. Direct reference is made to each one of the group in the appendix of this volume. For further inspiration and guidance the author is greatly indebted to the interest and advice of Dr. William C. Bagley, Dr. Edward H. Reisner, and Dr. E. S. Evenden of Teachers College, Columbia University. The acknowledg- ments would be incomplete without special reference to the co- operative spirit of the author’s wife and son. N.H. D. a ra i ey 4 Li Le te! » rs reese ‘ *y iy Prey ee. « ; Rp ohai My “i pf v a E Aide 5 " Ph A ‘ K , ty? Oy bey *! ar rer SEA des nw PIN ha rE es ne CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. CAUSAL FACTORS IN THE ORIGIN OF THE OSWEGO STATE PEMMALCIAND 1 P RAINING SCHOOL. boul hoe en wae, I A. Edward Austin Sheldon’s First Work in Oswego . . ie 1. The Ragged School B. The Movement for Free Schools in Oswego .. . . 3 C. Organization of the Oswego Board of Education . . 3 D. Mr. Sheldon’s Work as Ros of the Matas Board of Education .. . | A . Reorganization of the City Schools . The Arithmetic Schools The Evening Schools The Unclassified School . School Attendance Moral Training . Teachers’ Conferences . Pupil Examinations COON ANP WN A eeducational Needsiin Oswego ©.) 0.64.2 Fae a IT 1. Primary Instruction 2. Mr. Sheldon’s Trip to Toronto in 1859 3. The Introduction of Object Teaching a. The New Course of Study for the Primary Schools . The Need of Well Prepared Teachers . The Training Class The Advent of Miss Margaret E. M. Jones . Herman Kriisi, Jr. . Growth of the Training Class . Pestalozzi and Edward Austin Sheldon Oo on Nn > II. A DESCRIPTION OF THE OSWEGO STATE NORMAL AND MAING OCHOOL . 1 S6I1—1886. 2. ew ee as : 18 ° Pees stirdent Personnel se. )ca coy) danas teh levee nae eeh dee 18 1. The Students’ Attitude 2. Geographical Distribution a. Outside of New York State b. Within New York State c. Residents of Oswego City . Age Data . Proportion of Men and Women . Total Number of Graduates . Students Not Graduated . Salaries of Graduates: a. Comparison ‘with’ General Existing Conditions of That Time NAM W Viii CHAPTER Contents PAGE B. Student Life at Oswego (Social and Professional) Gl ee I. 2. a Living Conditions Student Organizations a. Literary Societies b. The Normal Christian Association Student Social Activities C. The Staff: of Instructors) 444)) 4) +h ee a5 1. Academic and Professional Training 2. Teaching Experience 3. 4. Distribution of Duties Age Data 1D) The Practice, ocuuol wale ae =) tye Renae re BEY x . Origin and Purpose of the Training aie . The Course of Study for the Training Class Organization of the Practice School Relation of the Practice School to Other Work III. THe CHARACTERISTICS OF OBJECT TEACHING .. . 42 A. Object Teaching in the Pe eats Home and Colona Infant Society’s Schools. . . ate cBN apt Bnet I. Ze 4. 5. The Origin of the “Society ”’ The Organization of the “‘Society”’ a. The Model Schools b. The Practising Schools c. The Training Schools . The Curriculum of the Training Taseeuion a. General Subjects of Instruction b. The Courses in Education c. Practice Work of Student-teachers Principles of Pestalozzi Pestalozzian Principles in the English Schools ° B. Object Teaching in Oswego *.. >>. 171) th Pas Be mn Organization of the Oswego Work Entrance Requirements at Oswego Program of Studies for the Student-teachers a. The Elementary English Course b. The Advanced English Course: c. The Classical Course . Principles of Object Teaching . The Oswego Psychology and Philosophy a. The Natural Development of the Child’s “Faculties” b. The Order of Development of the Studies c. The Importance of the Teacher . Critical Analysis of the Oswego “ Principles’’ Contents ix CHAPTER PAGE 7. Considerations in the Practical Applications of the Principles of Object Teaching 8. Outside Criticism of the Oswego Methods of Instruction with Comment : g. Analysis of a Typical Object Lesson 10. Summary of the Advantages of Object Teaching PY wowEGO SE DUCATIONAL INFLUENCE). 00. 00 u60))) 904 A. Growing Recognition of the Work’... ..... 94 . Visitation by Outside Individuals and Committees . Newspaper Publicity . The New York State Teachers’ Association . The National Teachers’ Association . Opinions of Noted Educators, Contemporaries of Dr. Sheldon mae WW NO = B. The Extent.of the Educational Influence of Oswego. . 96’ 1. Growth of Normal Schools (State and City) 2. Distribution of Graduates Among Normal Schools 3. Representation in Southern Schools 4. Geographical Distribution of Graduates a. Teaching Positions Outside of New York State b. Teaching Positions Within New York State . Influence upon Private Schools . Indirect Influence through Distinguished Educators Who Visited Oswego Non C. The Practice School Influence REY la ie et he ONS 6 I. Procedure in Other State Normal Schools 2. Oswego’s Precedent in Practice School Work Prmeraweoa StL earring Attitude iy i. det dole di as von ot LOT 1. Introduction of Kindergarten Work 2. Introduction of Industrial Work 3. The Herbartian Doctrine at Oswego 4. Introduction of New Methods SEIIRG MESSING Tey id a To Ao a A OT TORI S EEN Wis be eines atk Nigh Ma MN eit ie aha LOO REECE Sie ee ees ER ae ak SS TTA T 89 APPENDICES APPENDIX a; Li: Ill. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. XI. XII. ALI, XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. Editorial from a local Oswego newspaper regarding the financial difficulties of the ‘‘ Ragged School’”’ at Oswego in 1849 Editorial froma local Oswego newspaper showing the local interest in Oswego for free schools in 1849... . “SxS ee Courses of study in the Primary Department of the schools of the city of Oswego for 1859 and for 1860 . Sketch of the life of Margaret E. M. Jones . Sketch. of the life of Herman Kriisi « \.\2.). 3 uijoe oe Copy of the legislative act establishing the Training Class at Oswego Residence distribution of graduates by states, villages, towns and cities outside of New York State . Residence distribution of graduates by counties in New York State Residence distribution of Oswego graduates by cities and villages in New York State . . Brief sketches of faculty members of the Oswego State Normal and Training School who served with Dr. Sheldon from 1861 to 1886 Sketch of an object lesson given at the end of the training course by Miss Kate H. Davis, a member of the first graduating class. Reproduction of a list of examination questions in School Manage- ment given at the English Home and Colonial Training Institu- tion Reproductions of sketches of object lessons taken from Dr. Shel- don’s original manuscripts and publications . Letter to Dr. Sheldon in 1863 regarding criticisms of the Oswego system of object teaching by Dr. H. B. Wilbur A letter from Miss Elizabeth Mayo of the English Home and Colon- ial Training Institution regarding the same point mentioned in Appendix XIV Teaching distribution of graduates by cities and states outside of New York Statewe dou et es Teaching distribution of graduates by cities and counties in New York ‘State siied.g 0. “yas a ee i ee Brief sketches of those members of the present faculty of the Oswego State Normal and Training School who were associated with Dr. Sheldon either as students or as teachers . . PAGE I21I I22 124 130 132 135 137 139 140 144 157 158 159 170 176 178 183 188 FIGURE hi i. III. IV. VI. VII. VIII. IX. XI. XII. ILLUSTRATIONS Map showing residence distribution of the Oswego State Normal and Training School graduates at time of entrance. The period studied is 1861 to 1886. The map shows actual number of graduates by states Map showing the New York State residence distribution of graduates of the Oswego State Normal and Training School at entrance from 1861 to 1886. Map shows actual number of graduates by counties Chart showing median ages at entrance of graduates of the Oswego State Normal and Training School for the years 1865 to 1886. The number of graduates in each year group and the range of ages are included. The median for the entire period is 19.65 years Chart showing the organization of the English Home and Colonial Infant Society in 1862 . Chart showing the organization of the Oswego State Normal and Training School (1861-1886) Cut made from Dr. Sheldon’s original notes taken in Miss Jones’ class at Oswego in the school year 1861-1862 Cut made from Dr. Sheldon’s original manuscript prepared for a parents’ meeting in Oswego . Cut made from an original letter from Miss Jones to Dr. Sheldon in 1863 regarding Dr. Wilbur’s criticisms of the Oswego system of object teaching Cut made from a letter written in 1863 by Miss Elizabeth Mayo of the Home and Colonial Training Institution in London, regarding some criticisms of object teaching . Cut made from a letter to Dr. Sheldon, regarding his work at Oswego, from Francis W. Parker, in 1876 Map showing distribution of Oswego teachers (graduates of the State Normal and Training School) by states, from 1861 to 1886. The numbers show different communities in which Oswego graduates taught . Map showing distribution by counties in New York State of graduates of the Oswego State Normal and Training School from 1861 to 1886 PAGE 19 23 27 45 62 790 72 86 89 97 IOI 104 LIST OF TABLES TABLE A. Showing residence distribution of Oswego State Normal and Training School graduates from 1861 to 1886, outside of New York State, and showing the number of separate communities represented . B. Showing from what states the Bridgewater (Massachusetts) State Nor- mal School received students, and the number from each state from 1840 to 1876 C. Residence study of Oswego graduates for years 1861 to 1886 outside of New York State and outside of Oswego city. Showing by years the number of Oswego graduates covering the following points: (1) the number of states represented outside of New York State, (2) the num- ber of Oswego graduates from each state represented, (3) the number of cities represented by these graduates, (4) the number of Oswego graduates from New York State, (5) total number of Oswego gradu- ates, (6) the number of Oswego graduates who were residents of the city of Oswego, and (7) the percentage of Oswego graduates not resi- dents of Oswego city D. Showing the median ages in years at date of entrance for given numbers of graduates of the classes in the Oswego State Normal and Training School from 1865 to 1886 E. Showing distribution of 1173 Oswego Normal graduates by ages at date of entrance. The median age is 19.65 years. The period studied is from 1861 to 1886 it F. Showing the number of men and women graduated from the Oswego State Normal and Training School from 1862 to 1886. Data arranged for both sexes by years and by courses, together with totals G. Showing average salaries for both men and women for twenty-three states and territories for the school years 1875-76 and 1876-77 H. Distribution of graduates of the Oswego State Normal and Training School by counties in New York State from 1862 to 1886 PAGE 20 2i 24 25 26 30 32 103 THE OSWEGO MOVEMENT IN AMERICAN EDUCATION CHAPTER -I CAUSAL FACTORS IN THE ORIGIN OF THE OSWEGO STATE NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL Students of educational development and especially students of American education quite commonly pay tribute to the tremendous influence of the Oswego State Normal and Training School. Its importance is generally characterized as ‘The Oswego Movement’’ or “‘The Oswego Plan.’’ The introduction of Pestalozzian princi- ples, object teaching, emphasis upon sense perception, and the administrative organization of the school are in greater or less degree associated with Oswego. Such conceptions are too vague to accomplish more than the identification of the school with an important period in the history of American education. Any study of this phase of normal school education, to be adequate, must not only clarify the generalizations just indicated, but ought to render an account of the origin of this historic educational land- mark. As a landmark, the Oswego State Normal and Training School merits its greatest significance in the educational world with reference to the first twenty-five years of its existence. It was during that period (1861-1886) that the institution enjoyed its greatest prominence, the attention and interest of educators later being directed to the work of Francis W. Parker, and to the Herbartian and Froebelian Movements. A. Epwarp AUSTIN SHELDON’S First WoRK IN OSWEGO To appreciate fully the growth of an institution one must trace its development to the first, and many times inconspicuous factors which constitute its ultimate source. This study is not an excep- tion. In the autumn of 1848 Edward Austin Sheldon was faced by the necessity of finding something to do. The business firm in which he had been financially and actively interested in Oswego had become insolvent and he was without employment and without 2 The Oswego Movement in American Education means.! Possessing a strong missionary spirit he became interested in the poor children of the city. He found that literally hundreds were illiterate and that the homes from which they came were often destitute of the very necessities of life.2 As he visited these poor people he became more and more convinced that some means should be taken to furnish the children with free education and to attempt to improve their living conditions. Mr. Sheldon, at that time twenty-five years old, was successful in enlisting the interest and financial assistance of a group of influential and philan- thropic citizens and so was able to organize what he called ‘‘The Orphan and Free School Association.’’ The first meeting of the ‘‘prominent, benevolent, active citizens’’ took place October 31 and the organization was launched November 28.‘ Article I of the constitution indicates the purposes of the association: The object of this association shall be the intellectual and moral education and improvement of such poor and orphan children in this city as are not other- wise provided for in these respects. At this time Mr. Sheldon was planning to enter Auburn Theologi- cal Seminary as a student but the insistence of the citizens of Oswego that he become the teacher for this new school caused him to change his plans.* He accepted this responsibility as an urgent duty. Until this opportunity arose Mr. Sheldon had not given any serious thought to the possibility of becoming a teacher and so when faced by this problem he hesitated because of his unfitness, as he conceived it, for the task to be done. He received $300 a year for his services.’ The “‘ragged school,’’ as it was called, assembled in the basement of an old building with an enrollment of between 120 and 130.8 The work was strenuous and, coupled with the visits Mr. Sheldon made to the homes of the various children, time was no burden to the young teacher. The school was an innovation and the sight of the youthful schoolmaster walking through the streets surrounded by these ‘wild Irish and French” boys aroused a great deal of local interest and enthusiasm for the undertaking.® 1 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, p. 68. 8 Tbid., p. 78. 2 Ibid., p. 74. ® Ibid., p. 70. 5’ From a letter to his sister, November 23, 1848. 4 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, p. 74. 5 Ibid., p. 77. 6 Tbitd., p. 77. 7 Ibid., p. 78. Causal Factors in Origin 3 B. THE MOVEMENT FOR FREE SCHOOLS IN OSWEGO Like many other worthy enterprises this one in time suffered from a waning interest and young Sheldon, believing so thoroughly in the local need for free education, and foreseeing the failure” of the ‘Orphan and Free School Association,’’ urged upon the mem- bers of his committee the importance of making all public schools of the city free." The response to his suggestion was encouraging and the result was a public meeting to discuss the advisability of such a proposal.” C. ORGANIZATION OF THE OSWEGO BOARD OF EDUCATION In 1849 Oswego had a population of about 12,000.% The city was divided into twelve school districts, each having complete autonomy in all respects. Each district was jealous of its pre- rogatives and on this ground opposition arose to the plan which provided for one governing board. The most unfortunate antagon- ism developed at the first public meeting when it was alleged by a local politician that the whole plan was a scheme to build a system of Protestant educational institutions which the Roman Catholics would be forced to support.!® This appeal to religious prejudices was effective and did much to delay the legal procedure necessary to make the plan operative. It was not until the winter of 1852-53 that a bill was passed by the state legislature authorizing the organization of a free school system in Oswego. This Act provided for special elections, from year to year, beginning 1853 at which time ward representatives were to be elected to serve as school commissioners. This group of public officials was designated as a corporate body with power to appoint a secretary and librarian, to fix his compensation, determine his tenure of office, and pre- scribe his duties. The board of education was authorized to deter- mine and certify to the common council (in which body the taxing power was vested) regarding all items of operation and maintenance; they were empowered and obligated to provide educational facili- ties for the children in the city not otherwise provided for by law, 10 See Appendix I. ll Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, p. 89. 12 See Appendix II. 18 According to the report of the United States Census Bureau of 1850 the population of Oswego, N. Y., was 12,205. P: 14 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, pp. 90, 99. 15 Tbid., p. 90. 4 The Oswego Movement in American Education and to provide the necessary school officers to make effective the educational program adopted. They were further entrusted with the custodianship of all public school properties subject to final action by the common council. The common council acting directly for the city as a corporate unit was not only authorized to levy taxes, pass regulations for the protection of school property, etc., but was obligated by this Act to observe the recommendations of the school commissioners.!® The first board of education there was organized May 11th, 1853.17 When the movement for free schools seemed fairly launched (1850) and because the “‘ragged school’? was no longer being adequately supported, Mr. Sheldon became principal of a private school in the city.* He stayed in Oswego in this capacity until 1851 when he was invited to become superintendent of public schools in Syracuse, New York, which position he accepted at an annual salary of $600.'° In 1853 when the Oswego Board of Education was organized, Mr. Sheldon, quite without solicitation, was elected secretary at an annual salary of $800.2? Even though he had enjoyed but a brief admini- stration at Syracuse he accepted the position and the opportunities thus afforded in organizing a school system from its beginning, and in this capacity began what proved to be his life work.” D. Mr. SHELDON’S WorK AS SECRETARY OF THE OSWEGO BOARD OF EDUCATION Conditions demanded radical changes and the effective accom- plishment of needed reorganization required infinite tact on the part of the responsible head of the new school system. A quotation from Mr. Sheldon’s autobiography will clearly picture the piri situation and describe the new plan of organization :” In several districts I found a single teacher instructing all grades. In a few others, the work of instruction was divided between two teachers. In two schools algebra was taught, but with these exceptions no branches above the common English were taught. In a few cases the teaching was good, in others poor, very poor. My plan was soon perfected. I decided to wipe out all present dis- trict boundaries and establish new ones on an entirely new plan, as follows: I 16 First Annual Report of the Board of Education of the City of Oswego for the year ending March 31, 1854. 17 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, p. 93. 18 [bid., p. 90. 19 Tbid., p. 92. 20 Tbid., p. 93. 21 Mary Sheldon Barnes. Biographical Sketch of Edward Austin Sheldon. 22 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, pp. 101, 102. Causal Factors in Origin 5 arranged the city into twelve primary school districts, as nearly equal in number of children as I could estimate. The schools should embrace the first three years of the child’s school life, from five to seven, or practically that. I divided the city again into four Junior School districts, which were to include children in the fourth, fifth, and sixth years of their school life, or from eight to ten years of age. I endeavored to distribute the children of these ages around four schools as nearly equally as possible. I then arranged for two Senior Schools, one on each side of the river, providing a three years’ course after the Junior Schools, and including ages from eleven to thirteen. Where buildings were located conveniently for the accommodation of one or more of these groups, they were accordingly utilized. In the outskirts or sparsely populated portions of the city, the small buildings, if conveniently located, were occupied by primary groups alone. If any building was suitably located for a primary and a Junior group to be together, it was so utilized. Sometimes the plan arranged for a Junior group in a separate building, sometimes for a Senior group in the same way. In but one instance were all the groups found in a single building. The High School course was arranged for four years, embracing all the branches at present (1897) taught in the high schools of this State. This com- pleted a continuous course of thirteen years. A definite course of study was marked out for each year, comprising an entire continuous course from the Primary School through the High School. Due to the efficiency of Mr. Sheldon’s educational organization, his choice of teachers, and the quality of the members of the Board of Education, the community on the whole was well satisfied by the results of the new system at the end of the first year.7 During the second year the most important new feature of his work was the organization of what was called ‘‘arithmetic schools.’’4 These classes were planned for a large number of older and larger boys who were for a part of the year without employment, especially during the winter months. They were on the whole earnest stu- dents although rough and untutored. Their chief interest was arithmetic, hence the name given to that part of the school or- ganization which attempted to meet their needs. Frequently, in addition to arithmetic, they studied reading, writing, spelling, and sometimes, geography or bookkeeping.”» The creation of these schools, of which there were two, one on each side of the river, is significant in studying the development of educational thought on the part of the man to whom credit has been constantly and justly given as the founder of the institution whose growth and % Ibid., pp. 105, 108. % Tbid., p. 109. % Ibid., p. 109. 6 The Oswego Movement in American Education influence is the subject of this thesis. First, it is significant be- cause it indicates the seriousness and the earnestness with which Mr. Sheldon undertook to solve the educational problems with which he was faced from the beginning. The result was a keen sensitivity to needs and a prompt and certain response which ulti- mately gained for him the confidence and respect of those for whom he unceasingly labored. In the second place, it is evidence of not only educational insight but of educational outlook as well. There was little precedent in the country for such part-time work and we may very properly trace the roots of part-time and continu- ation school work as it is known in this country to-day to such sporadic attempts as that in the United States, of which the action taken at Oswego to provide a remedy for an urgent need is an example. In the third place, the plan providing instruction for this extraordinary group of students is indicative of very credit- able educational statesmanship. Had it been possible to place these students in the regular classes of the school system, it is al- together likely that the evil social results thereby resulting would have counterbalanced any advantages which were to be expected by furnishing these boys with desired instruction. It would have been humiliating to them to be compelled to do the same work that children younger than themselves were able to do, and the possible dangers in having the younger pupils in direct contact with this uncouth group loom large. An educational as well as a social problem existed in the range of ages in this group, from eleven to twenty-one years. All these questions Mr. Sheldon met with rare wisdom, with the consequence that the dangers were avoided and a real need was adequately met. This educational statesmanship to which reference has already been made showed itself in other forms. From the outset, evening schools were included as a part of the school system. In these evening schools one hundred and thirty-nine pupils registered the ~ first winter.2° The difference in student personnel between the ‘‘arithmetic schools’’ and the evening schools made little difference in the subjects offered. In the Third Annual Report of the Board of Education it is stated that algebra was given in the evening schools but not in the ‘‘arithmetic schools.’’ There were no girls in the ‘‘arithmetic schools.”’ The boys of these day-schools repre- sented laborers, clerks, sailors, millers, farmers, carpenters, cabinet- 26 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, p. 110. Causal Factors in Origin , makers, machinists, coopers, tinners, firemen, boatmen, shoemakers, blacksmiths, teamsters, rope-makers, tanners, butchers, masons, soldiers, and a considerable number (76, or 34.2%, the third year) who had no regular employment. There was an average daily attendance of less than forty per cent. There was a large per- centage of girls (32.8%, the third year) in the evening-schools.?? In these schools the various occupations represented that year were laborers, machinists, farmers, carpenters, chair-makers, clerks, millers, servant girls, seamstresses, sailors, tinners, surveyors, saddlers, bookbinders, masons, housekeepers, dressmakers, and some without any special business. Their nationalities, Irish, American, English, Scotch, Canadian, German, French, and African furnish an additional sidelight upon the composition of both schools. How well the subjects offered in these day- and evening-schools met the educational needs of this heterogeneous group may well be a matter of some speculation, but the important things to emphasize are their own interest in the work and the fact that an effort was made by the educational authorities to provide free instruction to the youth of the community. Another important achievement was the establishment of an Unclassified School. This, too, seems to have had little precedent in this country. At Oswego at that time it served to provide better for those pupils who had been transferred from other schools where there had been no system of classifying pupils by grades, or where the system was unlike that at Oswego. It helped to meet the needs of those who for economic or social reasons could take advantage of only a short term of school attendance, and who because of their particular problems wished to pursue some special subjects. The Unclassified School was, too, a serious attempt to deal in an effec- tive way with the problems of over-ageness and over-sizeness which are often vexatious in the school system which does not provide for special class activities. At the end of the first year of the experi- ment (March 31, 1860) the Unclassified School was pronounced a success and considered a part of the school organization.*° 27 Third Annual Report of the Board of Education of the City of Oswego for the year ending March 31, 1856, p. 34. % Ibid., p. 35. 29 Ibid., p. 36. 30 Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Education of the City of Oswego for the year ending March 31, 1860, p. 40. 8 The Oswego Movement in American Education — The inauguration of these plans at Oswego to provide for the treatment of special problems which arose from time to time, through the establishment of the ‘‘arithmetic schools,”’ of the even- ing schools, and of the Unclassified School, are among the earliest forms of our modern part-time or continuation schools, our night- schools, and our special classes for retarded, deficient, and delin- quent children. It is remarkable that Mr. Sheldon in the midst of organizing a whole city school system could find the means of executing plans designed to care for so many special educational problems. Many fail even to see the problem. He not only saw the needs but he formulated effective ways of dealing with them and was able in the first seven years of his work as superintendent of the city schools to put those plans into actual operation. The annual reports of the board of education show that Mr. Sheldon’s work was composed in a large measure of many problems much more common to the average school superintendent than those to which reference has been made. He was faced from the beginning with problems of adequate housing facilities and equipment, and as the schools increased in numbers of pupils attending, the question could never be considered as settled. The enrollment nearly doubled in about three years’ time after the city system of free schools was installed.* The problem of school attendance is mentioned in the Third Annual Report of the Board of Education with some asperity. In the absence of compulsory attendance laws much of the responsi- bility for regular attendance rightfully rested with the parents. Mr. Sheldon pointed out that in the matter of tardiness over 7046 hours or 293 days had been lost during the school year just closed, and that 67,923 days, or about 186 years, had been lost through irregular attendance.*? In the Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Education nine and one-half pages are devoted to the matter of school attendance. It presents an argument for better cooperation from parents and for legislation which will be just and at the same time will be drastic enough to result in a higher percentage of daily attendance.** It is interesting to note that at the time Dr. Sheldon wrote his autobiography (1897) he had modified his views regarding 31 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, p. 111. 82 Third Annual Report of the Board of Education of the City of Oswego for the year ending March 31, 1856, pp. 27, 28. 33 Fourth Annual Report, March 31, 1857, pp. 17-26. Causal Factors in Origin 9 compulsory school attendance laws to the extent that he seriously questioned the wisdom of having any such laws.*4 Moral training had been emphasized from the beginning of Mr. Sheldon’s work in Oswego, separate courses on formal moral in- struction having been given. This phase of the work was changed later in favor of more indirect methods, yet the teachers were re- quired to be mindful of the need of rigorous discipline to the end that moral training might be effectively realized. The board of education had a regulation that every teacher should attend the weekly conferences (Saturdays, 9 to I2 A.M.) was ‘“‘mutual instruction and Page er ete i ise “recita- Be ncral exercises’ the teachers were to systematize and perfect f methods of teaching. The merit of each teacher in the recitation work of these Saturday classes was reported to the board of education by the teachers in charge of the class exercises.*® Mr. Sheldon laid great stress upon the value of the work accom- plished by these meetings and it is quite probable that the pro- fessional character of these conferences under his direction explains the progress of the whole city school system educationally.*? The organization of the school work day by day was carried to an extreme. Mr. Sheldon could tell at any hour of the day what was being done by the various teachers** and the work was vigor- ously checked at the end of the year by a rigid examination.®® The accounts of these examinations, found in the annual reports of the Oswego Board of Education, reveal their nature: they consisted of fact questions, problems to be solved, words to be spelled, and definitions and rules to be given; all subjects were included in the tests which were given orally by the teachers from marked text book copies, not placed in the hands of the teachers before the time for the test. Public recitals including oral and written composition, and vocal music, together with the strict check upon the informa- tional achievements of the pupils indicate the formal character of the work done during the school year. Ideals, attitudes, apprecia- tions, individual interests, etc., were not mentioned in the reports 34 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, pp. 113 f. % Tbid., p. 114. 36 First Annual Report of the Board of Education of the City of Oswego for the Year ending March 31, 1854, Dp. 43- 37 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, Patr2: 38 Tbid., p. I15. 39 Tbid., p. I14. 10 The Oswego Movement in American Education of the examinations. On the other hand the tests were held to be a great stimulus to good work. One can only conclude that the stimulation was in the direction of careful preparation for these tests, and since the tests were designed to test progress in gaining information, it follows that the preparation would be mainly the acquisition of knowledge. That great emphasis was placed upon the annual tests is shown by the nature of some of his early reports upon the progress of the schools. The following is from ue Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Education :*° The whole number of pupils examined was ........ . 1,966 Whole number of questions asked ... . . «. . «+. . es) see Number answered right .) < 7 (0.0) Ya Number answered wrong .° 20. 4) 4... 1) S520 A Per cent: right)% |'.: 2. > poe ee US! RE Mie fe 92 The per cent. was in 1858 ih de Bia Qe Gee ee 87 The: per ‘cent. was,in.1857) 0's sis) » ail te 81 The per cent. wasin 1856 ..... 74 This shows an advance of 18 per cent. Saree the teat 4 years, or an average yearly advance of 6 per cent. Many of the problems have been mentioned and briefly discussed to illustrate the educational development which lead to the estab- lishment of a Training Class. The greatest problem which faced Mr. Sheldon and his staff of teachers was the certainty that there was something lacking in the scheme of things in spite of the ade- quacy with which the several problems, already referred to, had been met. In the Sixth and in the Seventh Annual Reports of the Board of Education extensive discussions of the difficulties were given. Following are quotations from each of these reports respectively which clearly indicate what were the most urgent needs and which eventually led to the establishment of the Train- ing Class that in turn grew into a state normal school: Those with quick and active minds where they have strong physical consti- tutions, must be passed on more rapidly, without the formality of a regular transfer, while those in delicate health, with slender constitutions, must be content to take more time, and occasionally drop out a year. As this subject is one that has elicited much discussion among some of the most intelligent friends of our schools, a committee, consisting mostly of those who were known to have manifested the deepest interest, and among them three highly intelligent medical gentlemen, were invited to meet at the offices of the Board and examine care- fully the course of study; what it required each year, and each term of the year, 40 Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Education of Oswego, March 31, 18509, p. 5. ™~ Causal Factors in Origin II and make any suggestions in regard to any point wherein they might think any improvement could be made. Two sessions were had, with a week intervening, and the whole subject was carefully investigated and discussed, and the con- clusion to which all seemed to arrive, was, as little as could be reasonably as- signed—that the standard was, in fact, a low one.*! There has, for some time, been felt a necessity for a change, or at least some modification, of the program of studies in our primary Schools. There has been too much teaching by formulas, and not enough by oral and collateral instruction. We are quite too apt, in the education of children, ‘to sail over their heads’; to present subjects that are quite beyond their comprehension, or in a manner which fails to leave in the mind of the learner a clear perception of the truths inculcated. How to get out of the rut into which we have fallen, seemed difficult to tell. By means of moral and object lessons, teachers have endeavored to awaken new interests, and break up, in some measure, the old routine of study and recreation. These exercises were, however, without much system or order and with but little idea of what was to be accomplished by them, and no satis- factory results were obtained. In every exercise it is of the highest importance that there should be some definite aim and purpose on the part of the teacher, and that she should work with reference to obtaining certain results. We have felt the need of proper text books or manuals, as guides for the teacher in oral in- struction.” E. EpucAaTIONAL NEEDS IN OSWEGO After discussing the educational needs of the schools in Oswego with the superintendent of the city schools of Elmira, Mr. Sheldon made a tour of inspection of the Toronto school system and was astonished to find just what he felt was needed in the Oswego schools in the way of collections of pictures, charts of colors, form, reading charts, and books for teachers. These were found, not in the schools of Toronto, but in a museum where they had been placed by the Minister of Education for Ontario who had been abroad collecting educational materials from various parts of the world.“ It will be observed that at the time Mr. Sheldon made his Seventh Annual Report (1860) that he was thoroughly impressed by the importance of the work which was being done under the auspices of the ‘‘Home and Colonial Infant and Juvenile School Society’’ of London, about which he learned from an exhibit which he found in the National Museum in Toronto the year previous. Mr. Sheldon invested $300 in some of these materials from the English schools indicated above, submitted them to the board of 41 Tbid. pp. 2of. 42 Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Education of the City of Oswego for the year ending March 31, 1860. p. 12. 4 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, p. 116, 117. I2 The Oswego Movement in American Education education, obtained their approval, and put into operation the new system or course of study which attracted so much attention later.“4 The essential differences between the old course of study and the new one are clearly discernible in a comparative examination of the courses of study for the primary department for the school years ending March 31, 1859, and March 31, 1860. In the first place there was apparent in the outlines an increased emphasis upon moral instruction. At this time it was given in regular class exercises—discussion of moral issues suggested by textbooks on the subject, by stories in prose or poetry, and by Bible references used in connection with incidents arising in the child’s study. There is no suggestion in the outlines that moral instruction grew out of the natural experiences of the children. In fact, now and then, sketches of lessons in moral instruction used years later show that the subject was based upon the analysis of selections in current, classical, and Biblical literature. How this formal teaching of moral standards functioned was determined in a prescribed manner, only by the examinations which called for a repetition of principles memorized. Another difference lies in the change from reading, spelling, and arithmetic to lessons in form, color, size, weight, animals, plants, the human body, place, and number. In the outlines the distinc- tions are not always clear, but the general trend was toward the use of familiar objects and ideas. Natural history emerged as a subject for emphasis; drawing seems to have been used more and more as a means of expression and illustration in the study of objects. . A third point of difference is found in the reference to ‘‘steps”’ in teaching the various subjects. There appears to have been a distinct effort at this time (1860) to grade the units of instruction to conform to the mental, moral and physical development of the child. How well this was done cannot be determined from the outlines of the work for these two years. Sketches of lessons used in the primary department later in the development of object teaching at Oswego show that the attempt to provide graded lessons was best exemplified in the lessons on reading and number. A fourth distinction between the courses of study outlined for 1859 and 1860 is expressed in the stated purposes of the new course. 44 Tbid., p. 117. # In Appendix III these two courses of study are reproduced in outline form. ~ Causal Factors in Origin 13 jvt he apparently accepted principles signify the shift of emphasis, <. theory at least, from the acquisition of knowledge to the stimula- tion and development of powers of observation, and the spirit of Y inquiry as primary considerations in the educative process. | To the realization of these ends the children were to be encouraged to do most of the talking and acting, and to form their own conclu- sions. The teacher was accordingly designated as a quickening and a leading force in school activities. The type or work indicated by these differences represented strange and unexplored territory to the Oswego teachers. Mr. Sheldon with his characteristic dili- gence from the outset undertook to surmount the difficulties which were indigenous to the inauguration of the new course of study. Throughout the first year he concentrated his effort upon the work of the first grade or first year. He met the teachers every Saturday, discussing with them the principles and methods concerning the work of the coming week, and then gave his whole time during that week to careful classroom supervision. The second year he did the same thing for the second grade.4® Mr. Sheldon soon saw the futility of this plan of procedure for his local purposes, for as soon as his teachers were well trained they were invited elsewhere at salaries which the Oswego Board of Education could not meet.*? This condition was virtually the progenitor of the plan for establish- ing a training school. With the trained teachers frequently leaving for other positions and with the problem of constantly preparing new teachers to replace those who went elsewhere, Mr. Sheldon was confronted by the impossibility of accomplishing his purpose, viz., the adequate introduction of the new methods of teaching into the Oswego school system. Consequently, he proposed to the board of educa- tion that a city training school be established for the training of primary teachers. He recommended that graduates from their “own and other high schools, or persons of equal scholastic attain- ments,’’ be admitted to a special course for primary teachers which would be “‘strictly professional’ in character. ‘‘One half of the time was to be given to a discussion of educational principles and their application to teaching the elementary branches, and the other half to teaching under criticism.’’8 The board of education approved the proposition. 46 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, p. 133. 47 Thid., pp. 1336. 48 Ibid. p. 134. 14 The Oswego Movement in American Education A question, more baffling than the plan for the Oswego Primary Teachers’ Training School, developed in finding a suitably prepared teacher to advance the new methods adopted. Nowhere in America was the work of schools organized in the fashion indicated by the outline previously discussed (the new outline). The English Home and Colonial Infant and Juvenile Society schools, while organized under a different plan,*? employed Pestalozzian principles. This society was organized in England in 1836 and had for its principles the following: That, as the different faculties of children are developed at different periods, care should be taken to adapt their lessons to the state of their minds, in order that all the faculties may be called out in the right order. That the education of the mind must begin when the exercise of the mind begins and should follow precisely, both in degree and amount, the natural order of this development. That education consists, not in the amount which you can put into the mind from without, but in the amount which it can gain from its own development and exercise from within. These principles expressed the general objectives of Mr. Sheldon and he accordingly wrote to the secretary of the Society to as- certain if a teacher could be obtained and if so, under what condi- tions.*° The reply to his letter stated that Miss Margaret E. M. Jones*!, who had been a teacher with them for eighteen years, would come for a salary of one thousand dollars and all living expenses. The Oswego Board of Education was staggered by such a sum but consented to make the appointment when assured by Mr. Sheldon that ‘it should not cost the city one cent.” This extraordinary financial feat®? was accomplished in three ways: (1) by charging the non-resident students a tuition fee of fifty dollars, (2) by con- tributions’ from Oswego teachers interested in the new plan of education, and (3) by converting one of the schools into a practice school thereby saving the salary of one teacher.™ In May, 1861, Miss Jones assumed her duties as head of the Os- wego Primary Teachers’ Training School. She proved herself fully equal to the work she had undertaken. At the beginning there 49 Tbid., p. 135. 50 Tbid., p. 135. 51 Appendix IV presents a brief account of Miss Jones’ life. 52 In fact at the end of the year the sum of three hundred dollars over and above actual ex- penses was put into the school treasury. See Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, p. 135. 53 These contributions amounted to one-half of the annual salary of the teachers so interested. 54 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, pp. 135f. Causal Factors in Origin 15 were nine pupils in the regular Training Class. The work was conducted in a primary school of about two hundred children. The school was closed at an early hour in the afternoon in order to provide an opportunity for those teachers interested in the “new methods”’ to meet Miss Jones to discuss the underlying principles of the new forms of teaching, and their applications in the various subjects. This group of teachers met with the regular class every afternoon at three-thirty and every Saturday morning.® The teachers of the city exhibited every degree of interest in Miss Jones’ work from enthusiasm to total indifference or active opposition. The disinterested and antagonistic groups were small and exerted little influence upon the progress of the enterprise, while those who carefully studied the new problem of education later enjoyed a wide influence in pedagogical circles.*® In addition to the practice school there was a model school used exclusively for observation purposes, and one school taught ex- clusively by members of the Training Class. While this organiza- tion was not the first normal school in America, Mr. Sheldon main- tained that it was the first teachers’ training school ever estab- lished on this continent.*” At the end of the year Miss Jones returned to England and Mr. Sheldon, against his wishes, was made principal of the new Training School. Miss Jones, upon leaving, recommended a friend, a former associate in the English Home and Colonial School, to carry for- ward the work she had begun. This friend was Hermann Kriisi, Jr.,°8 son of the Hermann Kriisi who had been personally associated with Pestalozzi. Mr. Sheldon was for the second time extremely fortunate in securing an apostle of object teaching who, as in the case of Miss Jones, was both by training and experience admirably fitted to further the work of the Training Class. The activities of the Training School had, by the second year, been considerably extended. Following is a list of instructors showing the duties of each faculty member as far as the Training Class was concerned: E, A. SHELDON, A.M., Principal Subjects of Instruction—Natural History and School Organization and Discipline. 55 Tbid., pp. 137f. 56 Tbid., pp. 137f. i Thtd., p. 138. 58 Appendix V reproduces a sketch of the life of Hermann Kriisi, Jr. 16 The Oswego Movement in American Education HERMANN KrutsI Teacher of Method in Form, Number, Drawing, and in Mental Philosophy. E. D. WELLER Teacher of Method in Reading and Language. Miss A. P. FUNNELL Teacher of Method in Lessons on Animals and Moral Instruction, and Princi- pal of the Practicing Schools. Mrs. M. H. SmitH Teacher of Method in Object Lessons, Color, and Geography. Miss ELLEN SEAVER Teacher of Method in Advanced Lessons on Plants and Objects. Only one of the group, Miss Funnell, devoted full time to the enter- prise; the others had a variety of duties related to other phases of the school system. Each class of the practice school had its permanent teacher under whose direction, together with the general supervisor (Miss Funnell), the students of the Training School were initiated into the responsibilities and privileges of classroom teaching.®® During the second year of the life of the Training School the state legislature was asked for an appropriation to aid in the sup- port of the school. In February, 1863, an appropriation was made but due to some technicality in the law no benefit was derived that year. In 1864 the law was amended and on May 5, 1865, and on March 31, 1866, the sums of $2,128.50 and $1,781.67 were received by the Oswego Board of Education subject to certain con- ditions®® regarding the provision by the City of Oswego of buildings, grounds, equipment, etc., and also concerning such matters as the length of school term, number of students enrolled, management, and reports. Thus, slowly but surely, the educational problems of Oswego crystallized and accumulated until in 1863, fifteen years after Mr. Sheldon’s ‘‘ragged school’? began its work, the Training School took form as an institution meriting state recognition. In closing this chapter it is interesting to note the similarities in the early experiences of Edward Austin Sheldon and of Pestalozzi whose principles of teaching the Oswego Movement advocated. Both came from parentage poor but respectable and respected; both 59 Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, pp. 1578. 60 Appendix VI is a copy of the Act establishing the Training School. Causal Factors in Origin 17 developed a passionate interest in the welfare of the poorer classes of humanity (Pestalozzi relinquished his plans to study law; Sheldon sacrificed his hopes for a theological career) ; each possessed a natural kindness of character, which adversity only strengthened into an enthusiastic benevolence; each held a profound faith in a Supreme Providence, directed by a merciful God; both established schools for the poor, and were locally characterized in their daily lives by crowds of admiring, affectionate, and trusting children; each saw his ‘‘poor’’ school fail for lack of adequate support; and both re- established schools which attracted wide attention in educational circles. ® 61 Parallels were drawn from readings in the Autobiography of Edward Austin Sheldon, and from a lecture on the life of Pestalozzi given in May, 1826, by the Reverend Charles Mayo, LL.D. of Cheam, Surry, and St. John’s College, Oxford. (Printed for the Home and Colonial School Society in 1856, Depot, Gray’s-Inn-Road, London.) CHAPTER II A DESCRIPTION OF THE OSWEGO STATE NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL (1861-1886) A. THE STUDENT PERSONNEL The professional character of the work of the Oswego State Nor- mal and Training School throughout the period with which this study is concerned accounts in part at least for the earnestness of the student body. Academic instruction was the orthodox form of classroom education then practised generally throughout the country. It follows that those who were sufficiently interested in professional training to the extent of risking criticism because of a lack, real or alleged, of cultural training would pursue their work with unusual zeal. There is further evidence to support this argument. In the case of the Oswego school the type of pro- fessional work was so new that it attracted country-wide attention. As a result students came from a great many parts of the country and the interest in the new object teaching created such a demand! for Oswego graduates that many school communities encouraged their best students to attend.? Historical sketches of the school bear testimony to the intelligence and diligence of its students and the missionary spirit of its graduates may be traced to the character of the work done in preparation for their professional activities. . The drawing power of the institution as pictured by the map (Fig. 1) showing the residence location*® of the students by states bears out the contention that the reputation of the work of the school exerted a powerful influence upon the personnel of the stu- dent body. Distances were greater then than in days of modern transportation facilities. The railroad had penetrated the Middle West or Mississippi Valley region only a short time before 1861 and transcontinental railroad travel became common much later. Of the 1251 graduates for whom data on this point are available, one hundred seventy-five came from states outside of New York. 1 An account of this demand will be elaborated in a later section. 2 “History of the Normal School,’’ a paper read by Herman Kriisi at the Quarter Centennial Celebration in 1886, from the First Quarter Century Report, p. 54. 3 Residence data could be obtained from the alumni records for 1251 of the 1284 graduates. SALVIS Ad SALVAdVA AO SUAAWAN IWALIY SMOHS dVJI FH] “9SQI-I9QI SI GaIldNIS Golwag AH], “AONVYINY AO AWI, LY IOOHOS ONINIVAL GNV IVNYON ALVLS OOTMSO AHL JO SALVAGVAD AO NOILASIALSIG AONAGISAY ONIMOHS AVIA “] TAN Seo eee ceepan comme OSE ge » cum omeere ’ 7 \ /O0HIS ONINIVEL ere / ONY , | uo TIWANYON 3LVLS OS3MSO me \ 5 Lr . ¥ } on — soul ome oo tereee = ee Pe > Beal. ahs ome om ’ "i N\ } 20 The Oswego Movement in American Education In fact, twenty-four other states were represented and four stu- dents came from Canada and one from Japan. This large group of students came from one hundred thirty-one separate communities. Table A reveals the actual number of villages, towns, and cities by states. The inclusion of the numbers of students by states in this table is made because of the variations from the numbers of different communities which tend to indicate that the reputation of the school was well established in individual communities as well as wide-spread.* TABLE A Showing Residence Distribution of Oswego State Normal and Training School Graduates from 1861-1866, Outside of New York State, and Showing the Number of Separate Communities Represented. No. of No. of No. of No. of Communities| Students Communities} Students APEANGAS (bdr UOln I 1.) Nebraska 4 tee I 4 Cognernictity sins New Hampshire. . I 2 Delawares. os... ¥ed: I 1 |New Jersey...... IO 15 AUASTs Tae Cae ia 8 ‘10 12/ JON eoh 1. ae 16 22 Aidtania...5.-Ge yee 15 20 |Pennsylvania..... 16 21 LOW eh rors he ae 2 2 |Rhode Island.... 3 3 IRBHSAG Ee ed ulin alie I 1 |South Carolina... “1 I KOMP UCICVe ess Uw sity I LW Wermongis. |} ore 16 25 DISine ty. 4 ulema I SA Ving inin J aon ae 2 2 Maryland)... accuse 2 2 |West Virginia.... I I Massachusetts...... 9 11. |Wisconsitts:. 0, a 5 6 Waweipan.). eas 7 UE wmercescwmmmy to MSSOUII ule hig cee I 1. /iCanada /..y eee 4 4 Japan waite I I Dotals:. te cae eve 131 175 Bridgewater (Mass.) State Normal School, one of the earliest institutions of its kind in the United States, from 1840 to 1876 had 2324 students, 1440 of whom were graduated.> Table B shows the states from which students came to this historic institution. Only forty-three or 1.7 per cent came from states and countries outside of the New England States and the total number outside of Massachusetts is only 290 or 12.4 per cent of the total number of stu- 4 Appendix VII gives the residence distribution by states and by villages, towns, and cities within each state of one hundred and seventy-five students outside of New York. 5 From the Bridgewater Quinquennial Report and Register. Description 21 dents. Fourteen per cent of Oswego’s graduates came from outside of New York State. Theland area of New York State insquare miles is about three fourths that of all of the New England States com- bined and nearly six times that of Massachusetts. There are two points to remember in making this comparison between Bridge- water and Oswego. The figures for Bridgewater showing the resi- dence distribution of students represent the entire student groups the period studied in the case of Oswego is twenty-five years in length while that for Bridgewater is thirty-five years long. The comparison leads to the conclusion that OswegoWwas more national in character than Bridgewater or, to state the case in a different way, Bridgewater drew its students from a On ae local area compared to Oswego. TABLE B Showing from What States the Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Normal School Received Students, and the Number from Each State 1840 to 1876. MPSPMACONBCTIS es)... vans otic ase | oat oiNew Hampshire: , ants tained 100 SS RE RD RO Oe nS Beh node Telancs. 2. uo Ae al 40 a ae Ce ae a Rae CC ONTOCCEICUE js ore atoe sin Pare 10 MemeuIvaMla sv. ee pe 4 District of Columbia.......... 2 Peemrerse ye i Sead. OIL VTC) cate) SS Se oe 3 DEER eae iy PLO, PRa OOO fine ye ON es ey s ESCO ES e PR TCOMCUCEY sista WU iisntil pate set I a SE aa Pie VAC IG AN bos 2.% Rint. taseulnuiep eeu at I Ge SieoOuth Garona o)..0 ores oye a I RCO Se yas EI RERAG i las lcctecs asalenius sea ee I 0 GS VS Ag ARR ie a PAVClanaday tam ae Uae. Deen & I Ch SSS ee Be Span ee SR I ASS ye a ee ae ae 2 PPOLELLS TAP Ae ene Medes ahs Moo eiinel send teen: 8 2324 Graduates. 24nle ema’ 1440 Not/Graduatesin i) oa. GY uys 884 The residence distribution of students within the state is scarcely less impressive. Fifty-seven, or nearly 92 per cent, of the sixty-two counties are represented by 1049 students.® It needs to be remem- bered that in 1861 the Albany Normal School, as it was then called, was the only other public institution in the state for the professional 6 According to the alumni records twenty-seven other students were from New York State but their residences as given could not be located by counties. Appendix VIII gives the residence distribution of Oswego graduates by counties within New York. Appendix IX gives the residence distribution of Oswego graduates from New York State by cities and villages. 22 The Oswego Movement in American Education preparation of teachers. The proportion of students from the city of Oswego did not increase as time passed; in fact, in actual numbers there were six fewer students from the city of Oswego the last five years of the first quarter century than there were the first five years. That fact coupled with the fact that the number of students from without the state remained fairly constant during the entire twenty-five-year period suggests that the development of new normal schools in New York did not affect the influence exerted by Oswego within the state from the beginning of its history. The state residence distribution of 1049 graduates by counties upon date of entrance is clearly shown by Figure 11—and their actual residences, including the frequency distribution, is given by counties in Appendix VIII. Table C indicates from another viewpoint the influence of the Oswego school. The table shows the number of states outside of New York State represented by Oswego graduates from year to year. It also shows this outside representation in terms of the numbers of Oswego graduates annually and the actual number of different communities from which these same graduates came. The number of states represented, the number of Oswego graduates from these states, and the number of different communities re- presented do not vary significantly throughout the entire period. This tends to confirm the point made earlier that the Oswego influence expressed in terms of the numbers and residences of Oswego graduates outside of New York was a relatively constant factor.: The table shows four other studies;—(1) the number of Oswego graduates by years whose residences at entrance were in New York State, (2) the number of Oswego graduates by years whose residences at time of entrance were in the city of Oswego, (3) the total number of Oswego graduates by years, and (4) the percentage by years which the Oswego resident graduates were of the total number graduated. Due allowance must be made for the variation in percentages by years because of the small numbers involved. In expressing the ratio between graduates who were residents of Oswego and the whole number of graduates, one should perhaps use the percentage obtained from the totals of the two columns of data related to the point in question. The computa- tion shows this to be 72.5%. This figure may be interpreted as a rough index of the educational importance of the institution outside the city Oswego, chiefly for whose needs it was originally established. SHIINNO7) AM SALVNAGVA AO uAAWAN IVALOY HHL SMOHS dVIN JH] ‘O88I OL 1981 WONT AONVUINY JO AWI], LV IOOHDS DNINIVAL GNV TVWYON ALVIS ODAMSQ AHL AO SALVAAVA AHL JO NOILAGIMISIQ AONAGISAY ALVIS WAOX MAN AHL ONIMOHS AVN “[] FAN ips? EE BERS Vv Sa Ai ; } J kK it ; we . | : pa) Speen ae ss “GUC Gil (Geese ve SP 700, 24 The Oswego Movement in American Education TABLE C Residence Study of Oswego Graduates for Years 1861 to 1886 outside of New York State and outside of Oswego City. Showing by years the number of Oswego graduates according to the following points: (1) the number of states represented outside of New York State, (2) the number of Oswego graduates from each state represented, (3) the number of cities represented by these graduates, (4) the number of Oswego graduates from New York State, (5) the total number of Oswego graduates, (6) the number of Oswego graduates who were residents of the city of Oswego, and (7) the percentage of Oswego graduates not residents of Oswego. Total Number of | Percentage Number | Graduates | of Graduates of Grad- | Residents | not Residents: Number | Number | Number | New York Date of of of State States! |Graduates!} Cities! Graduates uates of Oswego | of Oswego 1862 I 2 2 37 39 26 are 1863 4 7 7 16 23 12 43.4 1864 I I I 10 II 8 Zia 1865 Be 5 5 25 30 20 33-3 1866 2 2 2 27 29 10 65.5 1867 2. 2 2 56 58 25 56.9 1868 3 5 5 46 51 ‘s 86.2 1869 4 ’ 6 65 . 72 10 86.1 1870 6 8 7 47 55 II 80.0 1871 ‘ij 8 8 41 49 2 95-9 1872 ye II 10 53 64 I2 81.2 1873 10 19 17 47 66 19 Fie 1874 6 10 8 27 37 6 83.7 1875 4 ree 5 51 57 19 66.6 1876 4 8 fi 45 53 17 67.9 1877 hs z 7 55 62 18 70.9 1878 4 7 7 47 54 16 79.3 1879 6 II 10 40 51 18 64.7 1880 7 10 9 49 59 16 72.8 1881 4 4 4 58 62 20 67.7 1882 5 5 5 35 40 6 85.0 1883 5* 6 6 45 51 4 92.1 1884 6* 8 8 43 51 14 72.5 1885 6 10 10 62 re. 26 63.9 1886 6 6 6 AL Fors. 55 12 78.1 1New York State excluded. *One from Canada. **One from Japan. It has been possible to secure from the alumni records preserved by the school, age data for 1173 graduates. The ages given are those at entrance. Since practically all of the entering students remained without interruption until graduation the entrance age: Description 25 may be used as a fair index of the maturity of the student group. Table D gives the median ages by years. TABLE D Showing the Median Ages in Years at Date of Entrance for Given Numbers of Graduates of the Classes from 1865-1886 in the Oswego State Normal and Train- ing School. Date No. of Median Entrance Graduates Ages in Years Bea Meigs Hl wit a 55 23 18.91 POO aaa W6 33 20.37 RO ees eo his xtces 50 20.00 ‘ip on Fg LOR a a aa 49 21.15 So) aie aS a ee ee 73 20.75 Reet wy cee 4 es 55 21.70 UP el Rat Ge aera a i 46 21.25 Pieri. ene rie feeb 65 19.75 CPR ch wie os ti bla 64 19.80 Pot: Ca, A a ma 37 19.50 TRG res. ae thiaie 57 18.81 Deh ns Rees 48 21.00 OE ¢ RE a aN Bi adi 61 19.70 Dae ee lira Ny oenounue eles 73 18.72 Rae Po ph! Srstctbea see 53 19.70 Ree oy dea ee 59 18.58 BOK Wass oe ee otis 58 18.50 eRe es. din Aus hohe 41 18.75 DEAE nS 52 19.62 RR ee tn a wn Oo 49 19.10 DMEM he eS he oe 3 70 18.82 1 cel elena eter a elmore eae 57 19.37 That range of these medians from 18.5 years to 21.7 years is of little significance except when used in observing the tendency ex- pressed in Figure III. This graph shows a gradual trend toward less mature groups of entering students. The explanation of this tendency may be found in the theory that as the demand for Oswego graduates became more widely recognized there was an increasingly larger number who went for their preparatory work in teaching without waiting for practical experience. In a statistical report of the school by Mr. Sheldon, covering its history to January 31, 1877, it was stated that the number of students who had taught before entering the normal school was 1,014, or 53.4% of the whole number registered, each having taught onan average, three years. 26 The Oswego Movement in American Education This may account in part for the maturity of the students during the early history of the school. In Table E the range of ages at date of entrance is given for the 1173 cases studied. The fact that the extremely young student could enter is explained by the admission requirements which pre- vailed during the twenty-five-year period. Admission was in the main, dependent upon an entrance examination in spite of the fact that the training school was originally planned to prepare Oswego high school graduates to teach in Oswego. TABLE E Showing Distribution of 1173 Oswego Normal Graduates by Ages at Date of Entrance. The Median Age is 19.65 Years. The Period Studied is from 1861-1886. Age at Entrance Frequency Be aig © ig lity ve om, (alia habia des ngs R’ wthe ny ea aie lle Ta 3 TB eis ete ve, bars oa he, Oat ie tes ie 21 TO ss bp # peste veal Sid a eR we ae ee 158 Gs wh of we ato tse api on ote tS oipieee g oebeta’ ya arpa tat Sin 169 TY oie a dE Selphy ata’ Benson hip NP hata sc oe 167 EQS D iiafeiik Ri &, bine, 2-09 Wiens aie ge AER a a ERE ee 105 DO ain FAL Na ok pitch Vela LER weeny be 2 ata er 102 AUN se gina puke th.s wheat AMtee Dict diiete Gene 102 See ee Ok idl baa Man ew te ney deg hh ROA re I 83 23 e ehidtia'y BANG 5 eek lh be lalaie) aiain eka Reo alts el -@n e e 54 SPL | a: hn pick pee ha alte gS eye. ee a nT Re nate a 50 DEE cin! A io tisathstth lei be lelminhatn a cerlhd ERG, We x Part tt ya are en 42 BON se ahy Bs gl b's aes die res ve ae 27 TY ei intitle te os oth sie eth nue > asta whe ees ga 19 QB lative ew ogee a My cccialy fe ie Oe 12 BO sre Melle ah Wm Bligh wreath, Glee hay pee uate eae 17 BO 12: Liha dob sak Pes ort PR ee ee I2 BE iy scales eal g mirada did = et wip tkaaha cape acoeelch dae oo nt am 4 Be eis Ci te eal love ha aon ero RU eee ef 7 BG) + ele eee duals diaacd Mey viene oan is anne eS ac 7 iy SPENCE MERU y WI 4 kh, ee en COPE METAP each i GI ef 3 BO ss vyela gs seceded wine le OR OIR Ree Oe ee 5 CY ee oe ee errs crea Mu to fe) BS i bide eek kine Sip gh die Ov Weil olas Lvl ae ea I BQ bk ehle vie e's Bn wie ara ala ee sve) an eee I If Sip yada h Koatccn id wh ecnbbe ha Sci CRU 0 oa Eas oa I AB AD LW otis Wintastclk eGR Se lose hte tase eee 6 ae eee I AyD sali tataie ch dwg hoh ste Bekely' sed, Sk ee ee ee en I 1173 suvak SQ°6I SI GOIWAg AYIINY AHL AOA NVIGAJY AHL, “GAGNTON] FAV SANY JO AONVY AHL GNV dnouy AVaA HOV NI SALVAGVAD JO YATWAN AH] ‘Oggl OL SOgI SUVAA AHL AOA TOOHOS ONINIVAL GNV IVWYON FLVLS ODAMSQ AHL JO SALVAGVA) JO AONVYLNY LV SHOW NVIGAW, ONLMOHS LYVHD [I] FAAS sel eel col ez| zel vel ez| ve] col ve] ee] ze| ee] se] 9e| zel e2| ze] 22 | 62] 26) /e lost oi sv | oc | ov) | oc) 74 9s) sv) ov | | of sz | bay 97 | 974 674 97 | 97 | 97 | 97 OIINV A wl locletlze|selesles| eslezc| 79) 94] 26 | Le | 49] $9] 961 SS | 62 | 67 | OF | ee | O27 MOLD SitL | IM/ YSPWAN 999/\s9e/ waa) CeeNZEE/| COVES ELONOLENLLENSLENSLENDLENELENZLO/| /LENOLENE9BI\99G1|2981| 99BN 9 8! S7L ee g = TF 2/ ee ee ee J JINVEULNI LY SFIV 28 The Oswego Movement in American Education The median age of this group at entrance was 19.65 years. It was assumed by Kriisi in 1886 that the average age of the Oswego students was much higher than it was in other schools of the same grade.’ No data are available which enable a comparison to be made of age-entrance conditions existing from 1861-1886, but recent studies show that the median age at date of entrance now is lower than it was for Oswego for the years studied. In a study of the state normal schools of Louisiana by a survey commission composed of W. C. Bagley, Thomas Alexander, and John M. Foote, the following figures were compiled: DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENTS AS TO AGE AT NEAREST BIRTHDAY Number of Median Cases Age INSTONTCOCHES. | Cis: Yet oat horas et 832 18.86 Lata yetier ease see ite VES oe ey 302 18.76 BRAIDS CORN S (sows Ielpeoicn ae, oes) Ae eR eee ee 472 19.35 Most of these were enrolled in the first and second years of the collegiate level courses. In this same table the median ages of Michigan and Massachusetts State Normal School Students were used comparatively. They were respectively 18.91 years and 18.54 years. Making due allowance for these medians and those at time of entrance, it seems quite reasonable to conclude that the Oswego students during the period studied, whose median age at time of entrance was 19.65 years, were in general a more mature group of students than is at present true of normal school students’ in the states cited. Women students greatly outnumbered the men. This condition is mentioned in a letter written by Dr. Sheldon (February 6, 1877) in which he accounts for the difference in numbers by calling atten- tion to the fact that in the public schools of the State there were ‘‘more than three times as many lady teachers . . . . as men.” In Table F the exact numbers of men and women graduates are given by years and by courses. For the entire period the ratio of men to women is approximately one to ten for all three courses combined. Nearly a third more men were graduated from the 7 “History of the Normal School,’ a paper read by Herman Kriisi at the Quarter-Centennial Celebration, from the First Quarter Century Report 1886, p. 54. 8 Report published by Commissioner T. H. Harris, of the State Department of Education. of Louisiana, 1925. ° Description 29 advanced course than from both of the others. The ratio of men to women in the elementary course was about one to forty; in the Advanced English course, one to three and a half; and in the Classi- cal course, one to one and one-half. The number of men from year to year does not vary enough to mark any distinct trend. Only three men were graduated before the close of :the Civil War, one of whom was Dr. Sheldon himself who was a member of Miss Jones’ classes while performing the duties of city superintendent of schools. The fact that so few men were enrolled in the Elementary English course is explained by the nature of the work—chiefly preparation for teaching in the primary grades which was considered essen- tially a woman’s work. The Advanced English course did not enlist any considerable number of men for the same reason. The ratios are misleading unless notice is taken of the actual numbers of the two groups. The Classical course attracted more men pro- portionately probably because it offered work which was similar to the secondary level of the academies which was preparatory to college and collegiate professional study. Lack of sufficient data regarding the post graduate records of individual men, prevents a definite conclusion regarding the larger proportion of men in the Classical course. The total number of graduations including the classes graduated in 1886 was 1373. Of this number 956 were graduated from the Elementary English, 336 from the Advanced English, and 81 from the Classical course. These differences may be explained in several ways. First, the greatest demand for teachers was in the elementary schools. The public high school movement did not gather its full strength in this country until the latter half of the nineteenth century. The academies offered the chief opportunities for secondary education and these institutions were not public tax-supported institutions aided by compulsory school attendance laws. A second reason for the larger number of graduates from the Elementary course may be found in the length of the three different courses: two, three, and four years respectively for the Elementary, the Advanced English, and the Classical. This argument is further strengthened by the fact that the first year’s work was the same for all three courses. A third explanation may be found in the fact that Mr. Sheldon wanted a professional and not an academic train- 9 These courses are described in detail in a later section of the study. 30 The Oswego Movement in American Education TABLE F Showing Number of Men and Women Graduated from the Oswego State Normal and Training School from 1862-1886. Data Arranged for Both Sexes by Years and by Courses Together with Totals. Elementary Advanced Classical Total Date English Course English Course Course Total Total Grad- Men Women Total |Men Women Total | Men Women Total} Men Women uates TRO2 oid Vola bk ila 3 4 f£:3O. 4939 TEORs, 22 aes 23 23 LSG4. v5: 8 OO Py II II 136057... aL List 3I 3I 1866.49. P28 Haas I 28 29 LSO7 2 5). 52 52 ae & hae I 65 66 1868.... Di 33 ela 2A PRE Ne: I 2 3 47 54 1869.... Rai ead 1 AI Op Si ie | 12 69) °BE Lea 20) 2G a wine e 2 I 3 10 54 64 Tovrea SAO wT ae ad iS agra | I 3 4 9 59 68 ee oe BA 48 48 a WAR2 VIE SA 4 4 8 6 74 80 Oa sc eee 45 45 Sir wx, pao I I 2 4 65 69 1874.... 24) 24 0 ine Mie #8 I I 39 39 TOs ay 20° 20 Aico 2 3 5 6 53 59 1S 7D, 7% a2) 42 2 Ones I I 2 3 52 55 1877. Bee eta ran es, 3.03 lee ae ea | 1878. P60 7 6 Olea ers 2 2 9 72 8I 1879 2 32 34 Di Veet its 3 2 7 8 45 oe 1880. 2) AS iSO 3 5 8 I 4 5 6 57 63 1881. 1 aa Lag pr Eo ne | I 4 5 2 62 65 1682.5)": A) Bees he Gi I 5 6 2 4 7 6 38 44 1633... a5 20 5 ieee! 14 4 4 3 53 56 1884.... S333 5 ight I 3. Ga 6S aE 1835 .'<5. 2 A TZiE AG 5: Chests 2 5 7 9 63 72 1886 Ly ok Ton 3 NEZ BES 3.4 ooh ee 7°} 49 Gee Total 23 933 956 72) eee AG 33 48 81.) 128 Seaee eae ing for teachers. The Classical course was less in accordance with this emphasis for which he had stood from the founding of the institution. Of the 1373 graduates there were eighty-nine (eighty-one women and eight men) who received diplomas from two courses making the actual number of individual students graduated 1284. There are no records available covering the entire twenty-five years Description 31 which show the ratio between the total number graduated and the total number of students enrolled. A statistical report giving data regarding various matters from the beginning of the school’s history to January 3Ist, 1877 was made by Dr. Sheldon, and published in one of the local newspapers.'!° In this report it was stated that 719, or 38%, had been graduated of a total of 1896 registered. There is no conclusive evidence to explain this condition. Three theories may be advanced: (1) that many were offered attractive teaching positions at the end of the first year of study due to the great demand for Oswego trained teachers, (2) that high professional standards may have accounted in part for the failure of a large number to graduate, and (3) that miscellaneous causes, such as death, marriage, financial burdens, etc., probably operated to reduce the percentage. From this report of 1877 other interesting data are found. At that time 98.5% of the graduates were still in the profession ex- clusive of the class graduated January 30, 1877, those who left the profession on account of marriage, and the deceased. Women graduates received salaries ranging from $350 to $2,000 with an average of $584.14; men graduates were paid from $600 to $2500 with an average of $1,165.10. Table G shows the average salaries paid to men and to women in twenty-three states and territories during the school years 1875-76 and 1876-77.!%. According to this comparison Oswego men gradu- ates were paid on an average over two and a half times as much as the average salary of school men in various types of positions, and Oswego women graduates over twice the average school salary for women. In New York State the average annual salary for both men and women was, according to this same report, $411.83 in 1875-76 and $401.04 in 1876-77. The difference is again markedly in favor of Oswego graduates. B. STUDENT LIFE AT OSWEGO (SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL) In 1865 the Oswego Board of Education acquired a home for the new Normal School. Hotel property was bought, enlarged, and remodeled at a total cost of $26,000 and soon after the work of training teachers was transferred from the city’s public school 10 The Oswego Daily Palladium, February 13, 1877. 10a Table derived from data in Report of the Bureau of Education for the years indicated. 32 The Oswego Movement in American Education TABLE G Showing Average Salaries for Both Men and Women for Twenty-Three States and Territories for the School Years 1875-76 and 1876-77. Average Annual Salaries States Men Women Men Women 1875-76 1876-77 Seibor nate Wie sn Shon elas 611.15 490.00 608.24 505.88 Colorado ssc wk Re a ek eee 300.00 240.00 GAPE Keys Sala cege Meet etna atts a aaa eX 360.66 250.42 TAA wi. a ee ek chain! 407.64 267.03 392.13 250.88 LOW ce eee eick eu eae 254.86 I91.57 253.58 208.58 FRAN SAS T RCRMIA Th ei ee ea 174.02 139.75 179.23. 161.63 PAUSINI ds a 150.35 150.35 303.75 236.25 PVLAING. 2 ieeaaees utah ietoe hy tae ale 217.17 108.40 201.38 106.29 ISSear liters out waaes nea uetcat 746.06 310.25 719.43 299.25 VIRERGUTI AG ices vata ad ae ne ete 188.10 146.02 PREDTASKA ii antics ere ce ee 177.90 157.30 225.17 201.93 INEVACAY De Siac es wenecos See aE 867.25 656.04 Dewi Lianpebiren 2c. at eh 196.23 120.37 176.1241 3gi42 Newalersey yy. otieecctkes das’ sabia 637.63 358.94 586.78 340.77 New Work 0). aaah sues 411.83* 401.04* PeNNeViVahia. cee oe bee aaa 298.20 252.00 278.48 240.64 MhOde | slatd?.22 xa aeee ae eee 733A (830/57 730.24 415.49 Mermort bd Te eae eee, ees 224.93 135.78 210.08 131.76 VAATA i De ho oa ee 197.47 171.59 185.36 153.27 BPIFONS. oo aul Oe eer aia Bag Dee 950.00 475.00 District of Columbia fain o..ceeee 1,146.00 764.00 904.00 669.37 PRGA cok vin MERE ee oe 386.10 185.90 328.50 164.25 WASINgTON 1.) ctownre ener fy gots ne 260.00 195.00 Averages...... Reed SEE Pane 389.88 262.64 439.98 290.69 *Men and women. buildings to this new location.! Until this time the students had lived in private homes and had carried on their professional activi- ties in various schools of the city, but with the occupancy of the new quarters there is some evidence that the institutional character of the school assumed tangible proportions due to the group life thus effected. The student organizations date their origin from ul “*History of the Normal School,’”’ a paper read by Herman Kriisi at the Quarter-Centennial Celebration in 1886. Description aires 1866. In the fall of that year the Avalonian Society was organized. The name has its direct connection with the legends of King Arthur and its literary connotation is supported by the declared purposes of the society, viz., the promotion of intellectual and social growth in its membership. The society held its meetings twice a month, and its programs were characterized by music, charades, essays, recitations, declamations, debates, etc. The organization was purely a student group, memberships being optional; there was no direct faculty supervision. In the spring of 1879 the Avalonian Society was succeeded by the Athenean Society which was still in existence at the end of the first twenty-five year period of the school’s history The reorganization effected only one radical change in policy—instead of the subjects of study changing from one meet- ing to another there was a choice made, usually of two topics, at the beginning of each term. This greater unification of study, they maintained, resulted in greater rhetorical growth and better literary direction, and in the acquisition of more valuable informa- tion.” About the same time (February 4, 1879) the Adelphi Society was formed with an initial membership of fifty-five. Its purposes were not unlike those of its rival sister organization. Greater skill in literary work, greater ease in speaking before an audience, and wider literary culture constituted their main objectives. In the case of this Society as in that of the Athenean Society, membership was optional. Weekly meetings were held and public entertain- ments also were given.” That the work of these two literary societies was considered important is supported by the history of the Keystone Society. As was not the case of the Athenean and the Adelphi Societies, members of the faculty definitely supervised the activities of this new organization which came into being at the time of the re- organization of the Avalonian Society. All entering students were members of the Keystone Society during the first year of their work and the activities of this organization served as a preparatory pro- cess for membership in the other two societies. Public entertain- ments were given under its auspices and the proceeds used to meet some educational, social, or aesthetic need of the school.” 12 ‘History of the Athenean and Avalonian Societies,’’ from the First Quarter Century Report, p. 127. 18 ‘A Brief History of the Adelphi Society,’”’ from the First Quarler Century Report, p. 128. 14 “The Keystone Society,’”’ from the First Quarler Century Report, pp. 128, 129. 34 The Oswego Movement in American Education The emphasis in educational procedure upon the importance of religious teaching was not limited to pedagogical speculations; it assumed real proportions in the Oswego State Normal and Train- ing School under the stimulus of the philosophy of the faculty members, especially that of Mr. Sheldon. In 1869 he invited some students to meet him in his office on Saturday evenings to hold prayer services. The numbers attending became so great that larger quarters were found. Mr. Sheldon urged that the leadership of these meetings be assumed by the student body and the fact that as a student activity these religious gatherings persisted and flourished for over ten years is ample evidence that moral and religious education objectives formulated by Pestalozzi and accepted by the adherents of his principles were reflected in the Oswego Movement. The devotional meetings led to the organization in 1881 of the Normal Christian Association which enrolled one hun- dred seventy-two members the first year. The religious fervor and evangelical spirit of the meetings are expressed in the reports of the secretary of the organization in the following quotations:—“We have celebrated our first anniversary. In reviewing the work of the past year we have realized more than ever before the utility of organization, and feel that ‘all things work for good to them that love God,’’’ and ‘“‘A number have confessed their faith in Christ, and all feel they have been greatly blest.’’! These three literary societies and the religious groups represent the organized social and professional activities arising and persisting primarily as the result of student activity. They typify the earnest- ness of the student group and also reflect the policy of the school administration which was ever to encourage independent, responsible participation in the affairs of student life to the end that independ- ence of action and appreciation of the higher qualities of life might influence the individual student’s behavior in his years of maturity and future service. There is little recorded regarding the social activities enjoyed by the Oswego students. Occasionally one finds in the correspond- ence of alumni, a brief reference to the pleasures of student life in the Welland, a residence hall for women students. This building was used for dormitory purposes for over twenty years after the period in which this study is primarily interested. It did not pro- 16 ‘‘ History of the Normal School Prayer Meeting and Christian Association,” from the First Quarter Century Report, p. 129-130. Description 35 vide accommodations for the entire group and, consequently, the students in some instances found room and board in private homes throughout the city. Members of the faculty who know the early history of the school, often relate the social enjoyment obtained through snow-shoe parties, sleigh rides, skating parties, and excur- sions within the easy reach of Oswego. The eventful history of Oswego and its immediate environment, made such excursions of great educational value. These excursions also provided social diversion and physical recreation. Other stories are told of the spring ‘‘sugar parties”’ in the maple grove at Shady Shore, the home of Dr. Sheldon. His home was always open to his students and many a tender memory was formed of the pleasurable time spent at his fireside and on the lake front at Shady Shore. The delightful spirit of Dr. Sheldon’s home, extended to the student body, was but another means of expressing his philosophy of life and was truly Pestalozzian. To let education proceed in an atmosphere of domesticity was a declared principle of Dr. Sheldon and of the famous Swiss schoolmaster whose educational theories inspired fim.7° | C. THE STAFF OF INSTRUCTORS During the first quarter-century the Oswego State Normal and Training School had sixty-six different instructors, forty-seven women and nineteen men. Of this number the brief biographies contained in the Furst Quarter Century Report, furnish data of a limited kind for fifty-eight.17 Only twelve had had college educa- tion before becoming members of the Oswego faculty; eight had been trained in other normal schools; thirty-four had attended or been graduated from high schools, academies or special institutes, eight of whom were graduates of the Oswego High School; two had carried on extensive study in private, and thirty-nine (67.2% of the fifty-eight) had studied at the Oswego Normal and Training School, all but two of whom were graduates. Of these thirty-nine, there were eight who were also graduates of the local high school 16 Tt should be noted that the social and professional life of the school endured long beyond graduation time in the form of the Normal Alumni Association. This organization was formed in 1865 and held meetings every year or two throughout the first quarter-century period. The organization is still very active. During this early period great stress was placed upon the pro- fessional character of the programs and upon leaving to the school some token of their esteem and affection. 17 Appendix X, contains a list of these fifty-eight faculty members giving ages at date of appointment, scholastic and professional training, previous experience, and professional duties at Oswego. 36 The Oswego Movement in American Education and seventeen had studied elsewhere in an academy, institute, or college. Practically three-fourths (74.1%) had had teaching ex- perience prior to their appointment. Fifteen had been appointed immediately upon graduation from the local institution. Data regarding the age at time of appointment are available for twenty- eight. Of this group the median beginning age was 24.5 years. Twenty-three of these teachers taught after their service at Oswego in other places. They were in great demand in other normal schools and in city training schools, eighteen of them serving in institutions of this type. It is quite clear that Dr. Sheldon selected his teachers for their ability to advance the principles of education which are based upon Pestalozzianism. Training for this could be obtained in relatively few places, hence a large number were taken from those among his own graduates who possessed the proper qualifications. The small number of college-trained people is not surprising in view of the fact that professional training for teachers scarcely existed in the colleges of this country at that time. An examination of their professional duties reveals the fact that the duties of the Training School were in the main kept quite apart from those of the Normal School. This separation did not keep the two groups apart in their professional aims, but presents a striking contrast to present conditions at Oswego in which all but two faculty members have assigned duties in the Practice School and all of those directly responsible for the work of the Practice School have one or more classes with the regular normal school students. Another observation which may be made regarding the duties of the teachers in the Oswego school is that the teachers of one de- partment seldom had teaching assignments in the special field of another department. This arrangement was important because it provided for the teachers an opportunity to concentrate their efforts in one specialized field. A high degree of scholarship and highly developed techniques could be expected as a result of this specialization. D. ‘PHE PRACTICE ScHOon It had been customary before the Training School was founded for the teachers to meet Mr. Sheldon on Saturdays, to discuss class- room problems and administrative details. This procedure was supplemented by a professional emphasis upon the work of the Description 37 last year of the high school curriculum. For example, those who planned to teach formed a group known as the teachers’ class and spent a portion of their time in model class exercises in the primary and junior departments in the same building, and also received special instruction in the theory and practice of teaching. Three serious objections developed regarding this plan: (1) the schedule of work in this direction was so exacting and time-consuming that no time nor energy was left for other studies; (2) the results of the work were seriously limited because with the model class exercises there was a great need for a teacher of successful experience, possess- ing rare judgment and powers of discrimination, who was pro- fessionably able to criticise closely, point out defects, and suggest or demonstrate remedial measures; and (3) the introduction of the new methods in 1860, placed an additional burden upon the regular primary teachers in mastering the new system of instruction, and hence the regular classroom teachers were even less able than form- erly to instruct graduates of the high school, without any experi- ence, who in turn were as a consequence far less likley to succeed as regular teachers upon the completion of their preparatory work. To obviate all these difficulties and at the same time to retain the value of the model-school department as originally conceived, it was proposed in formal resolutions by the Committee on Teachers of the Oswego Board of Education to organize a department composed of Oswego high-school graduates and persons from outside the city of Oswego, which might be called the Model Primary School Teachers’ Department, the object being “‘to prepare teachers for the important work of primary tnstruction.’’® The resolutions carried the following detailed suggestions concerning the subjects of study: First Term—A review of botany, mental philosophy, zoology, and linear draw- ing in its practical application, in delineating objects in nature on the blackboard. Second Term—Mineralogy and review of botany continued, and moral philosophy begun. Linear drawing as last term. Third Term—Moral philosophy and mineralogy continued. Drawing as before. There shall be a course in reading, to be continued through the year. In this same annual report Mr. Sheldon stated that pupils were expected to spend one year in observation and practice in this school, a half day to be used in this way and the rest of the time in 18 Kighth Annual Report of the Board of Education of the City of Oswego for the year ending March 31, 1861, p. 29. 38 The Oswego Movement in American Education the study of natural history and mental science of immediate importance in the new system of instruction. He also announced the appointment of Miss Jones, from the Home and Colonial Infant Society. This marked the beginning of the Training Class. . In the Ninth Annual Report (1862), reference is made to the successful introduction of Pestalozzianism into the Oswego schools by Miss Jones and the announcement is made that she had con- sented to remain a few months longer and that then the work would be under the immediate supervision of Mr. Sheldon with Professor Herman Kriisi assisting him. During this initial year the instruc- tion in theory and methods was given threée‘days each week after 3:30, the regular closing hour, in two lessons of an hour each. One afternoon each week was spent in the criticism of lessons given by members of the Training Class. Every Friday afternoon was de- voted to arranging the work of those engaged in the practice school. The Practice School at that time (1862) consisted of the three regular primary grades making up a primary department and occupied five rooms. In each of four rooms were two divisions, while in the fifth, a recitation room, there was but one division. In three of the rooms were three permanent teachers assisted by members of the Training Class, while in the other two, after the first few weeks, the teaching was entirely done by members of this class. The initial teaching was limited to reading and number but as skill in methods developed, the student teachers practiced in the various object lesson exercises. They observed and practiced alternately, a fortnight each, going from one grade to another, closing each round by taking charge of the main room in which there was no principal teacher. The work was constantly super- vised by the principal of the department and an examination given at the end of the year. The examinations can be best described by reproducing samples of the type of questions given in the various subjects of professional study. ‘‘ Method. State what materials, apparatus, etc., you would require in your own school for teaching Natural History, Plants, and Minerals, Objects and Number. “School Arrangements. Give an account of the organization of the C and A classes. a. The number and average ages of the children. 6. The daily time tables. c. The work done by the principal. d. The work done by assistant teachers. Description 39 Training and Development. Define the terms Perception, Observation, Memory, Conception, Concept, Imagination, Reason, Generalization, Analogy, Judgment. Each member of the Training Class had to give a lesson in the Practice School as a part of this final examination.” In 1865 a junior department was added to the Practice School and not until 1880 was there developed in this connection a senior department. It may be recalled that the work of the schools below the high school was divided into three departments—primary, junior, and senior, each three years in length. The high school course also was three years in length. In 1885 the kindergarten was attached to the Practice School, thus providing opportuni- ties for an unbroken line of work from the home to the high school. In 1886 the Practice School had developed in numbers to four hundred fifty pupils. These classes occupied nineteen classrooms, well arranged and equipped. Classroom cabinets were provided which contained many valuable specimens from nature’s plenty, collected through the efforts of the instructors and donated by loyal alumni. The Practice School library contained juvenile literature and reference books. These were obtained chiefly through the efforts of the children in giving literary entertainments. One of the principles governing the relation of the Practice School to the other work of the institution was that the interests of the student-teachers were best served when the highest good of the children of the Practice School was sought. Consequently, great emphasis was placed upon the educational progress of these pupils and a great amount of dependence was placed upon the regular teachers of the Practice School. The period of apprenticeship for student-teachers was twenty weeks in length, ten in the primary department and ten in either the junior or the senior department. Criticism was conducted in various ways: (1) private and individual; (2) general and specific suggestions for all teachers of a given sub- ject; (3) special lessons for training in criticism; (4) general dis- cussion on problems of method and administration; and (5) dis- cussion of current educational literature as related to teaching problems. The critic teachers, supervisors, and principals of the various departments were unsparing in their criticism and student criticism also was encouraged. 192A ppendix XI consists of the sketch of a lesson given by,a member of the Training Class on examination. 40 The Oswego Movement in American Education It was the aim of the Oswego school authorities to make the - Practice School ‘‘the best in the world”’ as it was the laboratory in which the work of the students was done to fit them for their later work as public school teachers. To this end Oswego held to the principle that the Practice School should lead not follow, in classroom procedure and that methods should first proceed from the classes of the Practice School to the Methods classes, and not in the opposite direction.” The views held by Dr. Sheldon regarding the Practice School and its relation to the professional preparation may be summarized: in these points: 1. Student teachers must have a most thorough preparation. a. They must have an exhaustive knowledge of the subjects to be taught. b. They must have a knowledge of children and know how to study them. c. They must have aclear understanding of the use to be made of the means to be employed in the training of children. This implies a knowledge of educational principles and their application in teaching. 2. Model teaching should be used in demonstrating all educa- tional theories. 3. Only mature students should be admitted to the school of practice as pupil-teachers. 4. Assuming maturity on the part of teachers, the time given to professional (theoretical and practical) training should be not less than one year. 5. Observation by the student-teacher should always precede responsible room-teaching. 6. The student-teacher should assume as much responsibility as will be expected of him when given a regular appointment after graduation. To organize, control, and instruct with complete free- dom is essential. 2 The account of the Practice School was taken from the following sources:— a. The Annual Reports of the Board of Education of the City of Oswego, by E. A. Sheldon. b. ‘‘Report by Sarah J. Walter of the School of Practice’’ in the First Quarter Century Report, mi An article written by E. A. Sheldon printed in the Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1896, pp. 387-391. d. An article by Mary R. Alling, New England Journal of Education, Vol. XI, No. 3. e. A report of Troy (N. Y.) visiting teachers’ committee. Troy Daily Times, May 8, 1862. Description 41 7. The student-teacher should be provided with the most com- petent critic obtainable. It is the business of the critic (a) to super- vise and direct, (0) to give illustrative lessons when necessary, (c) to discover the commendable traits of the student-teacher and give him all possible encouragement, (d) later, and always prefaced by something commendable, to bring to the attention of the stu- dent-teacher his faults, one at a time in the order of their importance, and not to allude to a fault after the student-teacher becomes conscious of it, and (e) to be as unobtrusive as ‘possible (in fact, the constant presence of the critic is not desirable). 8. A practice school cannot be a model school. A model or demonstration school should be maintained in connection with the school of practice. g. Actual public school conditions should prevail in the Practice School. Tuition fees which result in a selected group should not be permitted. 10. For a normal school of four hundred students (Mr. Sheldon thought there should be no more), there should be an equal number of pupils in the Practice School. 11. The Practice School should contain all grades below the high school (Mr. Sheldon believed that the colleges and universities should furnish the necessary scholastic and professional preparation for high school teachers). 12. The Practice School should perform all the functions of, and be equal to, the best organized public schools. CHAPTER III THE CHARACTERISTICS OF OBJECT TEACHING A detailed account of object teaching as it was conducted in the English Home and Colonial Infant Society’s Schools and in the Oswego schools, is included to clarify references made in the preced- ing chapters to object teaching, and to show how completely Oswego adopted the English interpretation. of Pestalozzi’s educational principles. In reading this account it will be evident that not only did Oswego parallel the English practices in object teaching, but that the professional study prescribed for students in the two train- ing institutions, was very similar in that great emphasis in both cases was placed upon courses of educational theory, school man- agement, teachers’ qualifications, and the like. Whether the adap- tations, as here described, of Pestalozzi’s teaching were made as a result of true interpretations of his principles, is not the office of this thesis. A description of the methods used by both English and Americans under the term, “object teaching,” with some critical evaluation of the Oswego practices in terms of present knowledge, are the proper functions of this section of the treatise. A. Osject TEACHING IN THE ENGLISH HoME AND COLONIAL INFANT SOCIETY’s SCHOOLS In 1818 Dr. Charles Mayo, an English clergyman and classical scholar, in charge of a party of English youths seeking education,! visited Yverdon in the Pays de Vaud and was prevailed upon to spend some hours in the school of Pestalozzi. The first class he observed, even though conducted in a language which Dr. Mayo did not understand, so impressed him with the intelligence and vivacious earnestness of purpose manifested in the pupils, that he looked elsewhere in the school for further evidence of this unusual combination of qualities. He found the same animation and interest everywhere, and concluded that Pestalozzi had discovered a secret worth considerable attention. Dr. Mayo’s visit closed at the ex- piration of three months, whereupon he returned to his native 1“A Brief Account of the Home and Colonial Training Institution and of the Pestalozzian System as Taught and Practised in Their Schools.” Margaret E. M. Jones in Quarterly Report of the Society, January, 1862. Characteristics of Object Teaching 43 country and devoted the remainder of his life to inculcating in the English schools the principles and practical truths which were so largely inspired in him by the genius of the benevolent Pestalozzi.? The ‘‘idea of the system”’ of education advocated by Pestalozzi and not ‘‘the form’”’ as Dr. Mayo saw it in Yverdon Institution appealed to him as practically transferable to meet the needs of his own people. Accordingly he established a school at Cheam for the education of the higher classes. Dr. Mayo was assisted for many years by his sister, who became one of the foremost Eng- lish teachers in the advocacy of the Pestalozzian principles.* ORIGIN OF THE ‘‘SOCIETY”’ In 1836 John Stuckey Reynolds, Esq., who was deeply interested in the work of Infant Schools, keenly aware of the lack of good teachers and of the need of a better system of education, decided to establish a training institution. Mr. Bridges, an eminent solicitor, was induced to assist in the enterprise. Each contrib- uted one hundred pounds to start the work. Others soon joined them in promoting the undertaking; Miss Mayo became responsible for the work of the educational department, and facilities were obtained to put into practical operation the educational theories advocated in the training class through the establishment of schools for children. Thus the English Home and Colonial Institution came into being.* The Parliament of Great Britain in 1839 created a Committee of the Privy Council on Education to provide a more extensive and a more efficient system of elementary education. In 1846 this Council determined to raise educational standards chiefly through inspection of schools. Although the pronounce- ments of this body were not mandatory, the Home and Colonial Training Institution soon decided to cooperate with the Council in the effort to raise educational standards and so became a recipient of state financial grants.’ According to an original manuscript® of Miss Margaret E. M. Jones (May 1, 1853) only two other Eng- lish school societies ever compared to the Home and Colonial In- stitution in point of importance and influence: (1) The National 2 “The Life of Pestalozzi.” A lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, May, 1826. Printed for the Home and Colonial School Society, 1856. 3 Op. cit., in footnote No. 1 by Miss Jones, p. 3f. 4 Op. cit., in footnote No. 1, by Miss Jones, p. 4. 5 Tbid., p. 4. § The manuscript was written to refute charges made by Dr. H. B. Wilbur against Pestalozzian- ism and the system of the Home and Colonial Schools. 44 The Oswego Movement in American Education Society, and (2) the Society of the Borough Road, commonly known as the British and Foreign School Society. Miss Jones also main- tained that the Home and Colonial Society carried out, more fully and perfectly than any other, the views of Pestalozzi.7 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE “‘SOCIETY’’ The Institution had developed until by 1862® it consisted of three main divisions: (1) The Model Schools, (2) The Practice Schools, and (3) The Training Schools. (See Figure IV.) The Model Schools were always open to the public to show the practical working of the system, and to the students to indicate the prac- ticability of reaching the standards of teaching at which they, — themselves, were aiming. | The Model Infant Schools The Model Schools were three in number. There was the Model Infant School in which the pupils were under eight years of age. The children of the Infant School were grouped in three sections with a graded course of instruction: The Babies’, the Lower, and the Upper sections. They were given lessons on Religious and Moral subjects, on Colour, Form, Size, Weight, Place, Number, Sounds (including the sounds of the letters and practice in singing), the Human Body, Animals, Plants, Common Objects, Pictures, the first elements of Inventive Drawing, Kindergarten occupations, Writing, and Reading. The aim of this work was ‘‘not to communi- cate knowledge, but to form good impressions and correct habits; to exercise the bodily organs and senses; to lead the children to take an interest in all the objects that surround them; to cultivate attention, the power of accurate observation, and correct expression; and, by storing the mind with ideas suitable to the infantile periods of life, to lay the foundation for future progress.”’ The Model Juvenile School The Model Juvenile School, under a master and mistress and pupil-teachers, was composed of pupils from eight to fifteen years of age, and sometimes older. This group was also divided into three 7From the same manuscript cited in No. 6. 8 It will be observed that the Institution had reached substantially the same development in- dicated above at the time the materials were collected which Mr. Sheldon found in the National Museum of Toronto in 1859. INFANT SOCIETY THE ENGLISH) HOME AND COLOW/AL THE THE MODEL SCHOOLS PRACTICING SCHOOLS THREE DIV/S/ONS - THE TRAINING SCHOOLS 4FOR GOVERNESSES SSTUDENTS UNDER /8 SUBJECTS OF SUBJECTS OF ie een - INSTRUCTION INSTRUCTION SCHOOL SUBJECTS / RELIGIOUS AND 4 CHRISTIAN DOCTRIVES LOBSERVATION'S* OF MORAL SUBI/ECTS SACRED HISTORY MOOEL LESSONS AND 2.COLOYR CLANGUVAGE WRITTEN FEPORTS 3FORM ZARITHMETIC 2 CHARGE OF CLASSES 4AS/ZE 4£LEMENTARY IM READING ANDO GEOMETRY (80¥S5) 5. GEOGRAPHY 6 NATURAL HISTORY ZMISCELLANEOUS INFORMAT/ONM QAISTORY OCHARGE OF DEPARTMENTS IN PRACTICE SCHOOL 13. YMNASTIC EXERC/SES (8) OCCVF4A TIONS LTHE SENSES 2. CHARACTEFRISTIE5 OF CHILDREN ASCHOOL GOVERNMENT OTEACHERS' QUALIFICATIONS UMHINTS FOR ' TEACHERS FiGuRE IV. CHART SHOWING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE EncLisH HoME AND COLONIAL INFANT SOCIETY IN 1862 46 The Oswego Movement in American Education sections: lower, middle, and highest. Here were taught Christian Doctrines and Precepts, and Sacred History; Language—including Reading, Spelling, Composition, Grammar, Etymology, and Paraphrase; Geometry; Geography—Physical, Mathematical, Pol- itical, and Historical; Natural History; Miscellaneous Information —including various courses of lessons on Common Objects, Proper- ties of Matter, Arts and Manufactures, Money Matters, Elements of Architecture, Political Economy; History—including Biography, and the study of the British Constitution; Drawing, taught as an imitative art,and for the cultivation of taste and invention; Writing; Vocal Music; Needle Work and Domestic Economy (Girls); and Gymnastic Exercises (Boys). The work of the Model Juvenile. School differed from the Model Infant School in the manner of instruction as well as in scope of subjects offered for study. In the Model Juvenile School there was greater continuity and system in presentation, requiring the pupils sustained attention and greater reasoning ability. In the lowest section pupils began to acquire knowledge through the use of books. In the highest section their study was so conducted that they might be enabled to answer any question about the particular lesson assigned. Reproduction of lessons in writing was a customary activity of each section. The pupils were thrown to a great extent upon their own responsibility and thus were accustomed to self-government. The Model Mixed Schools The third Model School was known as the Model Mixed School. It contained both Juveniles’ and Infants’ Schools of the country villages where only one school was maintained. This school was divided into four sections, the lowest taught as an infant section, and the other three as Juvenile sections. The subjects offered, in the main, paralleled those of the Juvenile Model School although they were not so advanced in character. The Practising Schools The Practising Schools provided an opportunity for the Training School students to develop the teaching skills set forth as standard in the theory courses of the Training School, and observed in actual practice in the Model Schools. The work of the Practising Schools was under the direct and constant supervision of competent super- intendents, as they were called, but the lessons were for the most Characteristics of Object Teaching 47 part given by untrained student teachers. As a consequence the attainments of the Model School were considered superior to those of the Practising Schools. According to the regulations of the Institution, children were first admitted to the Practising Schools, but by “punctual attendance, diligence, and good conduct”’ were later admitted to the Model Schools. The Training Schools The Training Schools comprised a few less than 200 resident students, divided into five groups: (1) the class for juvenile schools —those who had upon examination received Queen’s scholarships, and those who, not being government scholars, were required to pay for board and residence. (There was no tuition fee, the expenses of the college were aided by private subscriptions); (2) the Infant School Class—composed in very much the same manner as the first group; (3) the six months’ class—members who received no Government aid and who were qualifying for assistantships in either private or public schools, (4) the governesses—who paid a tuition fee in addition to living expenses, lived somewhat apart from the Institution, and selected the courses for which their prep- aration had best fitted them and which best met their anticipated needs as teachers in private homes or superior schools, (5) students under eighteen years of age, who lived in a separate house and who usually became regular students upon reaching the age of eighteen. THE CURRICULUM OF THE TRAINING INSTITUTION The preparation of teachers in the Training Institution was accomplished by a three-fold program of professional activities: (a) a general course of study composed of about the same list of subjects as was prescribed for the Juvenile School;® (6) a course of lessons on the principles and practice of education;!® and (C) participation in a series of professional activities in connection with the Practice School." General Subjects of Instruction Since mastery of subject-matter was considered a prime requisite it may be assumed that the general subjects of instruction, such as 9A Brief Account of the Home and Colonial Training Institution by Margaret E. M. Jones, 1862. 10 Syllabus of Course of Instruction of the Training Institution. 1 Op. cit. 48 The Oswego Movement in American Education Language, Arithmetic, History, Drawing, etc., received attention by the students in the Training Institution on a level of study more advanced than that given by the pupils of the Juvenile School. An advanced state of mental maturity and a definite and immediate objective, namely, a desirable appointment, as a teacher, propor- tionately dependent upon thoroughness of accomplishment in preparation combined to make possible the difference in character of study just indicated. The Courses in Education The lessons in principles and practice of education are of special interest, dealing as they do with the English interpretation of the Pestalozzian principles.” 1.-The Senses. The lessons directly related to this subject included such topics as the use of the senses both from a phys- iological and an intellectual standpoint, the functions and relative importance of the senses, the strong tendency of chil- dren to observe, what children first learn and how, and the method of cultivating the senses and the application of same to school-room practice. 2. Characteristics of Children. In connection with. this subject the following topics are characteristic of the lessons given: (a2) the manner of development, gradual; (b) childhood, a preparatory state; (c) the love of activity, knowledge, curiosity, imitation; (d) the influence of sympathy, love, fright, early associations; (e) problems of attention, forgetfulness, habit formation. 3. The Mental and Moral Constitution of Man. The mind, per- ception (difference between teaching by signs and by things), attention, association, memory, conception, judgment, imagina- tion, abstraction and generalization, reasoning, and the moral feelings typify this group of lessons. 4. Diversities in Intellectual and Moral Character. In these lessons the theory was held that children have a general character but that there are individual differences. Mental and moral differences were stressed. 5. General Truths Respecting the Mind. The following sub-heads indicate the dominant psychology of the day; (a) the faculties 12 Syllabus of Courses of Instruction. Characteristics of Object Teaching 49 are innate, (b) the faculties vary in their degree of power, (c) there is a connection between the faculties, (d) the mind has its own stimulus, (e) the faculties are successively developed, (f) the mind is never unoccupied. 6. The Principles of Education as Set Forth by Pestalozzt. Herein were included the following topics for study and discussion: (a) The aim proposed by Pestalozzi in Education (the development of intellectual and moral character), (0) the influ- ence of a good education (difference between incidental and sys- tematic education), (c) organic education (difference between growth from within carried on by organic action or develop- ment, and increase from without effected by accretion), (d) education begun as entire work (Pestalozzi’s motto, ‘‘ Educa- tion has to work on the hand, the head, and the heart.’’), (e) education should aim at the gradual and progressive develop- ment of the faculties, (f) this development should be harmo- nious, (g) the character or spirit of education (‘‘Not to teach religion alone but all things religiously’’), (#) early educa- tion chiefly by intuition, (z) difference between education and instruction, (7) education of a mixed character, (k) systems of education. 7. The Art of Teaching. The lessons related to this subject were divided into six groups: (a) an introductory course including instruction regarding the methods of conversational lessons, the analysis and comparison of different types of lessons, and examination of the principles and practice of teaching, a study of the art of questioning, and discussion based upon the obser- vation of classes taught in the Model Schools; (0) a course on gallery instruction composed of ‘the study of such topics as the preparation of lessons, the subject-matter, the summary, the application of moral and religious lessons, order of interest, attention, the exercise to be given to the minds of children, the manner of the teacher, attention to the whole gallery, the use to be made of incidental circumstances (especially in moral training), the language given to children, and repetition; 13 A gallery was a special space provided in connection with each infant school for the instruc- tion of a group of children largerthanaclass. Religious or secular instruction of a general character suitable for all the children of a given group in the school, such as the beginners, the second year pupils, etc., was given in these galleries. They accommodated from 80 to 90 pupils and the seating was arranged in stairway fashion. No infant school was thought to be complete without a gallery 50 The Oswego Movement in American Education (c) a group of lessons on class instruction (mechanical arrange- ments, apparatus, amount of class instruction to be given, subjects); (d) a section of the course dealing with the sub- jects of instruction suited to an infant school, the object of these lessons, and principles which should regulate their choice; (e) and (f) lessons dealing with the subjects of instruction" and the points of difference between a Juvenile School and an Infant School. 8. The Schoolroom as to Its Arrangement and Management. The lessons by means of which this subject was developed were clearly of an administerial nature. Cleaning, ventilation, temperature, order, and decoration of the schoolroom; prob- lems related to the opening of a new school, such as admission ~ of children and the register; the importance of good organiza- tion involving programs, distribution of work, and other me- chanical arrangements; classification of pupils; problems of attendance; social and moral lessons of the dinner hour; health, cleanliness, and neatness of children; the relative prob- lems of monitors, pupils, teachers, and paid assistants; advan- tages and abuses of examination, and methods of conducting them; number and use of holidays; relation of parents to the school; visitors and their treatment by the school; and the functions of school inspectors and patrons’ committees con- stitute the outline of the lessons on school management. 9. The Government of a School,—As to the Spirit That Should Ant- mate It, and the Principles That Should RegulateIt. The follow- - ing topics illustrate the general character of this group of lessons; the nature and object of this government, a knowledge of the principles of action in childhood required in order to govern well, parental government, government of authority, of kind- ness, of justice, of fear, of influence, appeal to principle, pre- vention of evil, rewards, punishments, and emulation. 10. The Qualifications of a Good Teacher, and How to Acquire Them: In these lessons the following points were stressed: industry and painstaking; a knowledge of children; desire of progress; perseverance in overcoming difficulties; zeal, devotedness, 14 Listed on p. 26, 27 of the Syllabus of the Course of Instruction. % In Appendix XII, there is a reprint of an examination given to the students in this course. Characteristics of Object Teaching 51 energy, and activity; contentment; self-knowledge and self- command; union of faith and effort; humility and hope; patience; happiness in the work; good habits, manners, taste, etc.; and intelligence. 11. Miscellaneous Hints for Teachers. This course seems to have dealt more particularly with the problems of the teacher after leaving the Training Institution. The pecuniary affairs of teachers, their dress, importance of simplicity in everything, later correspondence with the Society and means of improve- ment after leaving the institution are topics which are typical of this final course.1® Practice Work of Student Teachers The following list of practice school activities comprise the third phase of the teacher-preparation program: (1) observation lessons given as models, giving attention to aim and method, and repro- ducing them in writing; (2) taking charge of classes in reading and number, under the supervision of the teacher in education; (3) giving lessons to galleries under the superintendence of a competent critic; (4) receiving criticisms in class of lessons given to galleries in presence of educational teacher; (5) attending the model schools under charge of their educational teacher, and later to make written reports; (6) taking charge of a department of one of the practice schools, first as assistant, and then as head teacher for some weeks, under the inspection of the chaplain and the superintendent of that practice school. With the chart (Figure IV) as a summary of the foregoing sketch of the organization of the English Home and Colonial Infant and Juvenile Society, together with the brief story of its origin an adequate foundation is provided for a careful examination of the English conception of Pestalozzian principles. PRINCIPLES OF PESTALOZZI While not wholly in sympathy with the form of work done by Pestalozzi, Dr. Mayo was thoroughly enthusiastic about the under- lying principles advocated by this great humanitarian, as he under- stood them. Upon these fundamental factors gleaned from the writings of Pestalozzi and stated by him or his associates to the 16 From the “Syllabus of a Course of Lessons on the Principles and Practice of Education, Physical Geography, and other Subjects.” 52 The Oswego Movement in American Education English students of education, the philosophy emerged which determined the work of the English Schools putting into practice — the so-called object teaching. “The ultimate aim of education,’’ writes Pestalozzi, “‘is not perfection in the accomplishments of the school, but a fitness for life; not the acquirements of habits of blind obedience and of pre- scribed diligence, but a preparation for independent action.” This emphasis recognizes the individual child in his relations to croup life and very explicitly signifies that the materials of learning are but a means to an end. In modern education this distinction is commonplace, in theory at least, but in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century as a theory it was a radical departure from the prevailing educational thought. He held that preparation for life did not exclude the development of those faculties which were most observably: essential for immediate usefulness nor for the future action of the child. The basis of this doctrine was his theory that, regardless of the child’s station in life and of the calling for which he is intended, there are qualities of human nature common to all and that everyone was entitled to a full development of his entire capabilities. The foregoing is better understood in the light of Pestalozzi’s conception of the nature of the child. He likened a child to a bud not yet opened. ‘‘When the bud expands every leaf unfolds, not one remains behind.”’ In the education of the child the same process of complete expansion of the natural faculties should be effected. What faculties have the most important bearing upon the future welfare of the child and how may their development be most effect- ively directed? The answer given by Pestalozzi to the first part of the question is very definitely that no one “‘shall predominate at the expense of another, but that each be excited to its true standard of activity.”?9 The classification of human faculties clearly included the three groups known as the physical, the in- tellectual, and the spiritual or moral.2° Of these three the greatest importance was attached to the moral. The importance of good intentions, amiable dispositions, and zeal for the promotion of social welfare, without a corresponding intellectual accuracy, power of correct judgment, and resoluteness of will, accompanied W [bid., p. 5. 8 [bid., p. 5. 19 ‘What is Pestalozzianism?’’ Quarterly Educational Magazine, London, 1849, p. 6. 20 Tbid., p. 3. ; Characteristics of Object Teaching 53 by adequate physical energy, courage, and skill was held by Pesta- lozzi as basic to his theory concerning the manner of development of man’s faculties. The harmonious expansion of the entire group of a child’s abilities was held to be most effectively accomplished by beginning with the child himself. The beginning should be made with his physical nature, the principal parts of the body, namely, the limbs and the senses, and while the means are being supplied and the attention drawn towards them, exercises ought to accom- pany the knowledge to give it a practical character, rendering the senses active and alert, accustoming the eye to distinguish colors, the ear sound, and strengthening and diversifying the different movements of the body. The senses enable the child to consider the material world, beginning with objects nearest and in most immediate relation to the child. At this point language enters to furnish the names of things, observation to discover their qualities, and experience, assisted by instruction to teach their use and nature. But the material world and the lessons which it teaches are not to arrest the attention of the child exclusively; the relation of the child to other members of his own species should awaken a train of new ideas and feelings. From these feelings should grow a complete consciousness of life’s highest truths and duties in conformity with a true religious spirit.24_ His theories about complete development and the order of the development of the faculties of mankind were put to a practical test in his first experiment at Stantz. He was without books and other means of instruction; his total educational appara- tus consisted of himself, his pupils, and the natural objects about | him. He had ample opportunity to direct his whole attention to the existing intellectual equipment of the child. In the “Life of Pestalozzi’”’ by the Rev. Dr. Biber it is said that “he taught numbers instead of ciphers, living sounds instead of dead characters, deeds of faith and love instead of abstruse creeds, substances in- stead of shadows, realities instead of signs. He led the intellect of the children to the discovery of truth which, in the nature of things they could never forget, instead of burdening their memory with the recollection of words, which, in the nature of things they could not understand. Instead of building up a dead mind and a dead heart, on the ground of the dead letter, he drew forth life to the mind and life to the heart, by working from within.’’” This 21 [bid., p. 12. 22 Ibid. 54 The Oswego Movement in American Education conception of the nature of childhood may be summarized by stating (a) that education means the unfolding of the child’s powers from within, not the deposition of something from without, (0) that there is an analogy between our physical and our mental constitution, (c) that the senses of childhood are ever busy, and (d) that vivid conceptions of truth result from an intimate acquaint- ance with things themselves.” Closely related to the thesis that all the faculties of man, namely, physical, mental, and moral, should be developed without sacrificing the complete expansion of one for another, is another principle which holds that the business of education is to bring the faculties into play in connection with each other to form an organic whole. The development and exercise of the various faculties is designated as instruction which, it is further held, should keep pace with the state of the faculties as they exist in the child during the successive periods of growth. Education as ordinarily carried on, it was con- tended, was a mechanical inculcation of knowledge. The difference in emphasis can be illustrated by Dr. Mayo’s reference to the man- ner in which a stone increases in size, that is, by the mechanical accumulation of matter on its external surface, and the growth of a plant which is by continued expansion from within.“ In other words, the child’s educational development should maintain an equipoise between his physical, intellectual, and moral faculties and within each classification in an harmonious progressive, con- nected, and simultaneous manner. Instruction on these principles implies that the natural should precede the artificial, that in the mastery of the elements of a science analysis should precede syn- thesis, that physical conception leads to metaphysical abstractions, and that accurate observation of facts or data is placed before the reasoning upon them. Such a connected scheme of education would in the judgment of Pestalozzi not only facilitate the acquisition of knowledge but would show the relation of different truths to each other. This process would result in ‘‘an organic whole.’ From the conception of education leading to the development of an organic whole, emerges a fourth. principle, namely, unity. Unity is dependent upon simultaneous action,—for example, the pleasing effect of a regiment of soldiers on the march. This inter- pretation of unity in educational practice leads to uniform repeti- 3 [bid., p. 18. 4 Tbid., p. 3. % Ibid., p. 4. Characteristics of Object Teaching 55 tion of sounds. It was argued that the stimulation of effort pro- duced by unity of action measured by time units could be materially increased by the addition of tone,—hence the rhythmic exercise of the human voice in classroom learning which took the form of a class drill in unison,—for example, the repetition of words or groups of words after their meaning had been made clear.?® Closely associated with the development of the moral faculties of the child was the insistence that education should be essentially religious.2”7. Not only should the child be made constantly aware of the beneficence of Divine power through his observation of natural wonders, but the teacher in his daily conduct with the child, should exemplify the relations of God to the individual human being. The execution of this ideal would be a continual illustration of the temper and spirit of the doctrines of Christianity. How Pestalozzi practised this principle is well shown in the story of the destruction by fire of Altdorf, a village near Stantz. In relating the distressed conditions of the survivors he reminded his pupils of their own previous want and suffering, and asked if they felt that the Government should be solicited to send them twenty of the children of Altdorf. None of the possible ensuing difficulties was withheld and yet so sincere were his pupils as a result of his religious teaching, that they persisted in their offer to furnish relief.?9 There has been much stress in recent years upon the importance of individual differences and the necessity of differentiated treat- ment of individual pupils in accordance therewith. In Pestalozzi’s memoirs is found this quotation referring to the development of all the faculties of the child—‘‘that in every individual they appear under certain modifications, which render it necessary that the strictest attention should be paid to the shades of individual char- acter and talent; that in different stages of development they require a different and seasonable treatment.’’ In one of his letters the following appears:*° ‘‘We have no right to withhold from any 26 Tbid., p. 16. 27 From a lecture delivered by the Rev. Dr. Mayo at the Royal Institution Albermarle-Street, May, 1826. Also, the Educational Paper of the Home and Colonial Training Institution, April, say, inculcate the leading doctrines of our faith, and to present the main incidents of the Holy Scriptures in such a manner as shall interest the affections of the young, and not alone burden the memory, and to impart some real knowledge applicable to the state of society in which they live, and to the world around them, is the work in hand.’’ Minutes of the Committee, 1840, D. 437. *‘‘What is Pestalozzianism?’’ London, 1849, p. 14. 30 Tbid., p. 8, 3. 56 The Oswego Movement in American Education one the opportunities of developing all his faculties. It may be judicious to treat some of them with marked attention, and to give up the idea of bringing others to high perfection. The diversity of talent and inclination, of plans and pursuits, is a sufficient proof ~ of the necessity of such a distinction.’’ Therefore we may rightfully conclude that the recognition of individual differences and a con- sequent modification of educational practice was distinctly, if not originally, a working premise of Pestalozzi, the teacher and theorist. It has already been shown how the simple elements in the child’s environment were utilized as means of instruction in the school at Stantz. Pestalozzi seemed to be uniquely able to transfer his habits of simplicity in his daily associations with his pupils and others, to a simplification of teaching methods. It is said that he never relaxed his efforts to mature his plans until he considered it physi- cally impossible to proceed further in simplifying them. This trait became an essential characteristic of his system.*! The strict adherence to simplicity on the part of the teacher re- sulted in clear perceptions on the part of the pupil. This principle of teaching was expressed in the theory of intuition in learning, as it was then known. The practice of this thesis had its roots in Pestalozzi’s insistence upon a full development of the senses which lead to accurate observation of objects, their bearing upon human affairs, and relations between human beings. It was urged that only by accurate perception of details could exact knowledge and sound reaosning be gained. Thus, to illustrate, abstract rules of grammar were set aside; arithmetic was taught as nothing but the abridgment of the simple process of numeration, and the numbers themselves an abridgment of the wearisome repetition of ‘‘one, and one, and one, make,’’ etc. The arts had their foundation in lines, angles, curves, etc.®? Rigid observation of simplicity in teaching and accuracy in per- ception in no way ran counter to another principle of the system which recognized the natural activity of childhood and the desirable liberty which should accompany this universal tendency. Dr. Mayo’s interpretation clearly summarized the whole point. He taught that activity is the great means of development, action being the parent of power; that moral, mental, and physical faculties are strengthened by exercise and weakened through disuse; that where 31 Jbid., pp. 12, 20. 82 Tbid., pp. 5, 20. Characteristics of Object Teaching | 57 there is action there must be liberty, restraint being necessary only to prevent injury.*® Another phase of the Pestalozzian pedagogy is expressed in the thought that the liberty of childhood should be directed by an influence essentially maternal. The parallel between the existence of morality and of physical being was indicated in this connection— “Where there is no mother there can be no child.’’ The gentle loveliness of domestic life transferred to educational institutions was the essence of this maternalistic theory. There is no disparity between this theory of education and Pestalozzi’s fundamental philosophy of life. He firmly believed that the amelioration of mankind must commence in the domestic circle. His school at Stantz proved his sincerity in the doctrine; he was compelled to rely upon the power of personal love, and a persisting and an all- prevailing benevolence was the secret of his tremendous personal power over children from all stations of life. This maternally domestic relationship between teacher and pupil becomes a tre- mendously important factor in any account of the system as a whole, and stands in sharp contrast to the principles of political relationship extant in other systems then in vogue.*4 A summary of the foregoing principles may be made as follows: (1) The ultimate end of education is a fitness for life based upon positive, not negative wisdom, and expressed in independent action; (2) education must consider the nature of the child as the funda- mental basis of all teaching; (3) education to be complete requires the harmonious development of all the faculties of man, physical, mental, and moral, into a well-ordered organic whole; (4) education must be gradual and progressive, and should in such a process embody the principles of unity; (5) education is essentially moral and religious; (6) education must be developed in clear recognition of the existence of individual differences as they appear in the different stages of bodily, intellectual, and spiritual growth; (7) the material world, its relation to human affairs, and the inter- relationships of human beings must be reduced to their simplest terms if education is to progress effectively and efficiently; (8) education is based upon powers of intuition, i.e., upon habits of accurate perception; (9) activity is inherent in childhood and must be accompanied by liberty restrained only when social rights are 3% Ibid., p. 4. 4 Ibid. 58 The Oswego Movement in American Education endangered; (10) education should proceed in an atmosphere of domesticity and maternalism. : PESTALOZZIAN PRINCIPLES IN THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS Pestalozzi was severely criticised by many of his contemporaries because of his apparent inability to put his theories into actual practice. To many observers his teaching was anything but well ordered and to the superficial student the cause of the failure was attributable to the unsoundness of the principles upon which the new methods were based. Dr. Mayo was one of the more sagacious observers who recognized the merits of the Pestalozzian views. He was so profoundly convinced of their truth that, as previously indicated, he decided to organize a school in England in which the idea would be religiously preserved and in which the form might be adapted to circumstances. His chief purposes were to exhibit | the system in operation, to develop through experimentation, a course of instruction, and above all, to prepare materials for an appeal to actual results rather than to present the system to reluct- ant audiences by lectures or through periodical publications of the day. It was thought desirable to begin the work by a series of Lessons on Objects. These lessons were clearly lineal descendants of Pesta- lozzi’s teaching experience at Stantz where, it will be remembered, he was without books and other educational devices. It became, in consequence, necessary to draw upon the child’s own experience and observation, and to find in him the first link in the chain of his instruction. Accordingly, a series of engravings was provided re- presenting those objects which are familiar to children; and the lessons consisted in naming their parts and in describing their structure and use. The children, however, objected to the use of engravings of objects which were available in reality, and the suggestion was adopted. Objects contained in the room, the build- ing, and the premises were used and when thought to be exhausted the pupils were taken to the fields where there seemed to be un- limited resources for the stimulation of educational activity. The weather was an occasional hindrance and there were many distrac- tions in the outdoor study. Consequently, there was little progress. A more systematized form of study was devised of which a course on the parts and functions of the bodily frame was an illustration. The chief difference between these object lessons and those observed Characteristics of Object Teaching 59 by Dr. Mayo in Yverdon, lay in the fact that a previous selection for study was made by the teacher thereby insuring a more orderly presentation, more scientific in character, since they were intended to be preparatory to instruction in Natural History, and thus conducive to greater and more sustained interest.*® As the pupil advanced in his educational experience there was a progressive transition from the miscellaneous lessons on objects to a more orderly arrangement of materials. An example of the trend towards classification was found in that branch of Natural History designated as Lessons on Shells. Conchology, as a sub- ject for younger pupils, was defended on the ground that shells are of themselves interesting because of their strange forms and various colors, and they are simple and easily studied, and that they offer opportunities of studying animals which inhabit them. It was further held that the instruction received through these courses would function as cultural assets in later life and, too, that the pursuit of such study might reveal latent powers of genius which might later extend the boundaries of science.*® The application of Pestalozzianism to the teaching of formal Latin grammar shows the adaptability of the system to forms of educational activity other than the natural sciences. In Dr. Mayo’s school a course in Latin grammar was constructed which had its justification in the principle that the youthful mind is led from the perception of particular truths to the conception of universal propositions. Ideas were to be observed first in their connection with simplest realities and later in their abstract intellectual form. Accurate knowledge and its ready application constituted the pre- dominant feature of the lessons. Forms and principles of grammar were traced in analyzing selected passages of ancient authors and in this manner the value and use of grammatical knowledge would be appreciated, and a clearer conception of its principles would be formed. The memorization was a matter of detail, pro- vided for as the study progressed rather than being left to a later period. Previous observation and analysis, it was held, gave life to the grammar, and the grammar committed to memory gave solidity, permanency, and order to the knowledge practically acquired. This method was further justified on the basis of their 8 Preface to Lessons on Objects by Miss Mayo, written by Dr. Charles Mayo. Seeleys’ 1830. 36 Preface to Lessons on Shells by Miss Mayo, written by Dr. Charles Mayo. Seeleys, 1832. 60 The Oswego Movement 1n American Education faculty psychology which assigned a value to the general improve- ment of the mind through such a form of study.*” One of the best illustrations of the application of Pestalozzian principles is found in connection with lessons on number. It was charged that the work in this field had been superficial in character, subjecting the pupils to a mechanical study of rules without ex- plaining the rationale of the processes involved. The new proposals began by a consideration of the mind of the pupil, making use of facts already known to him dealing with details and proceeding to general truths—from the example to the rule. Consistent with the faculty psychology then in vogue it was contended that the opposite form of instruction, proceeding from the general rules to the specific applications, might be acceptable for students already trained for its reception by previous acquaintance with similar subjects, but that it was by no means suited to the opening faculties of children.** Hence, to illustrate, the child was taught to under- stand the abstraction, three times three equals nine, by first acquir- ing precise ideas attached to the numbers, three and nine. A device used in this process was an arithmometer, a frame strung with wires on which were placed such familiar objects as cubes, nuts, farthings, balls, corks, bullets, etc. The objects themselves, in- dependent of any artificial arrangement, were also used. The teach- ing began with unity and by single integers proceeded, in the be- ginning lessons, to the accurate conception of ten; then followed by gradual progression the conception of abstract combination of numbers. Thus the child was led from an accurate knowledge of particulars to a clear understanding of general truths in arith- metic and to rules and definitions.*® In geometry the same principles applied as in arithmetic. The pupil was led to observe, to determine, to demonstrate, and to create for himself, to learn the conditions of successful investiga- tion, and to be able to make practical application of the processes in- volved which according to their theory, insured a clear apprehension of the subject-matter, and well-formed habits of reasoning. Step by step the learning should proceed—in geometry by making use of such objects as the cone, the pyramid, the prism, and the regular 87 Introduction to the Latin Grammar used by the junior classes in Cheam School. Written by Dr. Charles Mayo. Not published until 1856. 38 Preface to Lessons on Number by C. Reiner, written by Dr. Charles Mayo. Taylor and Walton, 1835. 39 Papers on Arithmetic by Robert Dunning, General Superintendent of the Home and Colonial Infant Society. London, 1842. Characteristics of Object Teaching 61 bodies, e. g., the perfect cube. Accurate perception through careful observation of the details of the various solids should form the basis for abstract reasoning. To illustrate, by observation the child learns that two sides of different planes are necessary to form an edge; he is then asked to determine how many edges an octahedron has. From the data gained the abstract reasoning then proceeds in this fashion: ‘‘Eight triangular faces have twenty-four sides; two sides form one edge; therefore, as many times as there are two sides in these twenty-four sides, so many edges that body must have,—that is, twelve edges.’’ The conclusion is then checked by observation of the actual figure. The aim of teaching is to inculcate correct ideas. of subject-matter, adequate expressions for these ideas, and knowledge of definitions to form the connecting link between physical and abstract truths for immature minds. This more elementary form of study of geometry was followed by a study of Euclidian elements on a more advanced plane of mathe- matical reasoning and deductions. By the methods of the intro- ductory lessons there was in the advanced study less mechanical memorization, less acceptance of ready-made demonstrations, and proportionately more of independent judgment and original reason- ing. It was said that not only did the students learn mathematics, but they became mathematicians. These conclusions led them to the adoption of the principle that ‘‘every course of scientific instruction should be preceded by a preparatory course, arranged on psychological principles. First form the mind, then furnish itn? No critical comment is included regarding the principles and practices of object teaching in the Home and Colonial Schools be- cause the Oswego work was copied so closely from the English plan and evaluation follows in connection with the account of the pro- fessional problems of teaching at Oswego. What applies to one applies in the main to the other too. The detailed descriptions of the English and American practices provide opportunities for three observations: (1) the similarity in the character of the pro- fessional curricula of the training schools, (2) the identity in state- ment of principles, and (3) the reproduction of the essential features in the different kinds of object lessons taught in the practice and model schools, viz., simplicity, concreteness, choice of familiar 40 Preface to Lessons on Form by C. Reiner, written by Dr. Charles Mayo. 62 The Oswego Movement in American Education objects, and methods of developing perception, of forming concepts, and of increasing reasoning abilities. B. OsjEcT TEACHING IN OSWEGO In describing object teaching as it was found in Oswego, the same general order will be followed that was used in describing object teaching in the Home and Colonial Schools, so that comparisons may be facilitated. The origin of the Oswego school, the adoption of the Pestalozzian pedagogy, and the general outline of the work as practised in the Normal School department and in the Practice School department need not be repeated at this point. The follow- ing chart (Figure V) may serve to emphasize the references pre- viously made to the organization of the administrative system. THE STATE OF WEW YORK THE OSWEGO STATE NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL a THE PRACTICING AND THEORY, METHODS, SUBLECT MATTER (THE LABORATORY) CYVRAICULA DEPARTMENTS ELEMENTARY | ADVANCED INDER-\PRIMARV\ SUMIOR\ SENIOR ENGLISH ENGLISH) | CLASSICAL GARTEN COURSE COURSE |COURSE (885 | /86/ | 48635 | /880 FIGURE V. CHART SHOWING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE OswEGO STATE NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOL (1861-1886) Characteristics of Object Teaching 63 PROGRAM OF STUDIES FOR THE STUDENT TEACHERS The curriculum passed through several distinct stages from the inception of the school in 1861 to 1886. At the beginning the nine students who worked with Miss Jones as principal of the Training School, were all experienced teachers. The course was directly professional, ‘‘embracing little more than the theory and practice of teaching’’ and was only one year in length until 1866." At that time the school was placed on a firmer basis and two courses of study were outlined:—(1) an elementary course, extended to one and one-half years, which included instruction in the common branches, principles, philosophy of education, methods of teach- ing the common branches, and five months of practice in teaching under criticism; (2) an advanced course, two years in length, includ- ing the branches usually pursued in the academies and high schools, one term of instruction in principles of education and methods of teaching the branches of study included, and practice in teaching. The Classical course, four years in length, was added in 1867 and in August 1869 the Elementary course was extended to two years. A circular of the Oswego State Normal and Training School under date of February 1, 1870, sets forth entrance requirements, the general character of the courses, instructional facilities, living con- ditions, etc. At this time admission was granted through appoint- ments made by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, subject to the required examination, upon the recommendation of the several school commissioners or other educational authorities whose duty it was to assist in the selection of suitable candidates. The minimum age-limit was set at sixteen; candidates were expected © to possess good health, good moral character, and at least average abilities; they were required to pass a ‘‘fair examination in Reading, Spelling, Geography, and Arithmetic (as far as the roots), and be able to analyze and parse simple sentences.’’ Tuition and the use of all textbooks were free. The school year was divided into two terms of twenty weeks each. The courses were outlined as shown on pages 64 to 67. ' 41‘*The State Normal School at Oswego,’”’ by E. A. Sheldon. New York School Journal, Feb- ruary 12, 1872. 64 The Oswego Movement 1n American Education FIRST YEAR COURSES ELEMENTARY ADVANCED CLASSICAL ENGLISH ENGLISH First Term Arithmetic Grammar Geography Reading (last half) Same as first yearof Ele- Same as first year of Spelling and Impromptu = mentary English Course elementary English Composition course Linear Drawing (daily) Penmanship (last half) Second Term Arithmetic Grammar and Analysis (first half) Botany (second half) Rhetoric (first half) Reading (second half) Physiology and Zoology (first half) United States History (second half) Object and Perspective Drawing Composition (semi-weekly) Penmanship (first half) Vocal Music (second half) Light Gymnastics (daily) Characteristics of Object Teaching 65 ELEMENTARY ENGLISH First Term Philosophy and history of education School Economy, Civil Government, and School Law Methods of giving ob- ject lessons, and of teaching the subjects of the elementary course Declamations, Essays, and Select Readings (The object lessons in- clude lessons on ob- jects, form, size, color, place, weight, sounds, animals, plants, hu- man body, and moral instruction.) Second Term Practice in. Training School, Essays, Select Readings or Declama- tions SECOND YEAR COURSES ADVANCED ENGLISH First Term Algebra Natural Philosophy General History Light Gymnastics Geometry Compositions, Declama- tions Botany (half term) Select Readings Rhetoric and English Literature (half term) Second Term Algebra Bookkeeping Physical Geography Chemistry Geometry and Trigo- nometry Light Gymnastics Compositions, and Declamations, Select Readings CLASSICAL First Term Algebra Geometry General History Light Gymnastics Botany (half term) Latin Compositions Declamations Select Readings Second Term Algebra Light Gymnastics Bookkeeping Latin Physical Geography and Astronomy Geometry and Trigo- nometry Compositions, Decla- mations, Select Read- ings 66 The Oswego Movement in American Education THIRD YEAR COURSES ELEMENTARY ADVANCED CLASSICAL ENGLISH ENGLISH First Term First Term Same as the first term Latin of the second year Light Gymnastics of the Elementary Natural Philosophy English Course Greek or Modern Lan- guages Compositions, Decla- mations, Select Readings Second Term Second Term Moral Philosophy Latin Mineralogy and Geol- Moral Philosophy ogy Light Gymnastics Compositions Greek or Modern Lan- Practice in Training guages School Compositions, Decla- Methods in Higher mations, Select Studies Readings Light Gymnastics ELEMENTARY ENGLISH Characteristics of Object Teaching 67 FOURTH YEAR COURSE ADVANCED ENGLISH CLASSICAL First Term Latin Light Gymnastics Philosophy of Educa- tion Greek or Modern Lan- guages Methods of Giving Ob- ject Lessons, and of Teaching Subjects of the Elementary Eng- lish Course Compositions, Decla- mations, Select Read- ings Second Term Latin Composition Greek or Modern Lan- guages Methods in Higher Studies Mineralogy and Geol- ogy Practice in Training School 68 The Oswego Movement in American Education The foregoing outlines clearly picture the essential differences among the three courses. The Elementary English course included the common English branches; the Advanced course, all the English branches; and the Classical added to the work of the other two, Latin with Greek or French or German. The first course was designed to have one year of preparation and one of training; the second, two years of preparation and one of training; and the third, three years of preparation and one of training.” It has been noticed that the first year’s work in all three courses consisted of instruction in the common branches. This was done to insure a complete mastery of subject matter. The second year in the Elementary course, the third year in the Advanced, and the fourth year in the Classical, were devoted mainly to theory and practice. Text-books dealing with the various courses listed in the outline, written from the educational viewpoint emphasized in Oswego, did not exist in 1861. It was not necessary in the public school practice to have many text-books as object teaching and objective teaching called for instruction proceeding from the use of objects themselves or their representation. During the period some books were written and materials prepared which were used by the Normal School teachers in their theory and methods classes, among which were the following: Set of Phonic Reading Charts by E. A. Sheldon, 1862 Manual of Elementary Instruction by E. A. Sheldon, 1862 Lessons in Objects by E. A. Sheldon, 1863 Sheldon’s Readers (with Teacher’s Manual) by E. A. Sheldon, 1874 Pestalozzi: His Life and Work, by Herman Kriisi, 1875 Textbooks in Geography, by Guyot and Smith, 1866-1875 Studies in General History (with Teacher's Manual) by Mary Sheldon-Barnes, 1885 Kriisi’s Free Hand and Industrial Drawing Course, by Herman Kriisi Revisions in Manuals of the Kriisi Drawing Course, by Herman Kriisi, 1870 Development Lessons by M. K. Smith and E. V. DeGraff, 1883 Syllabus of Arithmetic by I. B. Poucher, 1882 42 “The Oswego State Normal and Training School of New York,’’ by Mary R. Alling, Spring- field, Mass. Inthe New England Journal of Education, Vol. XI, No. 3, January 15, 1880. 43 The Oswego Movement by A. P. Hollis. D.C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1898. Appendix B, pp. I55-158. Characteristics of Object Teaching 69 PRINCIPLES OF OBJECT TEACHING The theory courses such as mental and moral “philosophy or philosophy of education, were a mixture of the history of education, physiological psychology, and general principles of education. As in the Home and Colonial Training Institution the psychology was limited, and comprised discussions concerning the nature and order of development of the various ‘‘faculties’’ of the child—mental, moral, and physical—to which reference has already been made. No better authority can be presented in setting forth the principles which formed the framework of these theoretical or philosophical courses than the notes of Mr. Sheldon taken while attending, as a regular student, the classes at Oswego given in 1861-62 by Miss Jones. The following statement of Pestalozzian principles is trans- cribed from the original manuscript: 1. Begin with the senses. 2. Never tell a child what he can discover for himself. 3. Activity is a law of childhood. Train the child not merely to listen, but todo. Educate the hand. 4. Love of variety is a law of childhood—change is rest. 5. Cultivate the faculties in their natural order. First, form the mind, then furnish it. 6. Reduce every subject to its elements, and present one diff- culty at a time. 7. Proceed step by step. Be thorough. The measure of in- formation is not what you can give, but what the child can receive. 8. Let every lesson have a definite point. 9. First develop the idea and then give the term. Cultivate language. 10. Proceed from the simple to the difficult, i.e., from the known to the unknown, from the particular to the general, from the concrete to the abstract. II. Synthesis before analysis—not the order of the subject, but the order of nature. In elaborating upon the development of the intellectual powers of the child, he held that there is a certain order in which they un- fold and increase in strength. It follows that there should be an vr Lar Sin; Gere Cae a oe Vig Feber hei Le. din Vt fe fro Pee pCa IX Ctyceed Lr file 1s ? Tks oh - Figure VI. Cur MApE From Dr. SHELDON’s oseene NOTES TAKEN IN Miss Jones’ CLAss at OsWEGO IN 1861-1862 Characteristics of Object Teaching 7Y orderly or systematic procedure employed in stimulating and direct- ing the growth of childhood. Two questions, then, emerge for seri- ous consideration. First, in what order do the intellectual faculties of achild develop? Secondly, how shall teachers operate in parallel- ing this order by the educational procedure employed? In answering the first question he presented the following classi- fication: 1. The presentative or perceptive faculty. This is basic to all our knowledge for it is through the medium of our senses that we understand external objects, their properties, qualities, and number. ; 2. The representative or conceptive faculty. This includes what is commonly termed memory and imagination, and by these means form our mental vision or conception of things. Naturally, our powers of conception are directly dependent upon our perceptive ability, and thus we see how important sense train- ing becomes. 3. Comparison. By this faculty we are enabled to study the relation of things and ideas to judge cause and effect. 4. Reason. This faculty enables us to recognize truths through processes of deduction. The answer to the question regarding procedure is prefaced by an appreciation of the purposes of education—‘‘The great end and aim of all human effort should be to understand the attributes of Deity and the laws by which He governs the creations of His hand; to know ourselves, the relations we sustain to Him, and the duties growing out of these relations, in order that we may fulfill all these duties and as faithful stewards work out the great design of our being.’“* To understand the Creator we must study His works and His word. Man, fashioned as he is in the image of God, is the highest type of Divine creation, and man cannot be understood except as we study his deeds and thoughts. In their recorded form man’s physical and mental actions are known as history. But to fully understand God and His divine plan we must study man’s environment—the places and conditions of the material universe in which man’s deeds are wrought. This means a study of natural history. This subject of study requires correct concep- 44 A direct quotation from Mr. Sheldon’s manuscript. ee yi = ee Fat A OL open) ip , hei prolly perce ousted H Jw Uber tidiat, fet Ctu. ee A SLAPS tontze [te rant tof, hafisafeedatn ae Ales wi pdye G Canes“ GfeoF Mituctt. - pe FiGuRE VII. Mapbr From Dr. SHELDON’s ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT PREPARED FOR A PARENTS’ MEETING IN OSWEGO Characteristics of Object Teaching 73 tions of form, size and number included under the general caption of mathematics. Thus we arrive at the primary and fundamental factors from which the natural order of studies proceeds. To retrace the steps, then, in their natural setting, we have: 1. Mathematics, including geometry, arithmetic, and algebra. 2. Natural History, including mechanics, chemistry, and biology. 3. History, including trade, art, language, law. 4. Metaphysics, including intellectual philosophy, aesthetics, ethics. 5. Theology, including natural theology and religion. It becomes quite clear that the classification of steps regarding procedure parallels the steps outlined in the brief answer given to the question concerning the development of the ‘‘faculties.”” The training of the senses in accurate perception is basic to all thorough knowledge. This involves the use in teaching of real tangible objects and in such qualities as color, odor, sound, form, size, and flavor, we find the alphabet for nature’s library. As the child comes from the home at the beginning of his school work the teacher should inquire not about his proficiency in saying his A, B, C’s, but should determine how well he observes. The child should be led from that point by the teacher to increasingly accurate per- ception and then to accurate expression. ‘‘The true idea of school training is not so much to impart knowledge as to prepare the mind to acquire for itself and impart to others. The person who has this power, is in the highest and truest sense well-educated.’’* Mr. Sheldon continues signifying the importance of the teacher in his educational theory: ‘For this all-important work the teacher needs to be well-equipped. Among the many qualifications re- quired the most essential are: (1) a thorough knowledge of subject matter,*® (2) a ready hand at drawing so that accurate representa- tion may supplement the use of real objects, (3) easy communica- tion with children, and (4) the power to arrest and sustain the interest and attention of children. Our normal schools must no longer be preparatory schools in the various branches of study but in the art of teaching alone. This reformation is not the work of a day but of years. That it is destined ultimately to triumph as 45 A direct quotation from Mr. Sheldon’s manuscript. 46 This accounts for the character of the subjects required in the first year of all three courses. See outline previously quoted. 74 The Oswego Movement in American Education education becomes better known as a science, with its well-defined laws and principles, and teaching more thoroughly studied and practical as an art, we have not the slightest doubt. ’’4? THE OSWEGO PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY In these principles there are some theories advanced that are strikingly inconsistent with present accepted theories of education. The first statement which urges that education commence with the senses leaves something to be inferred. Does the principle imply that some other parts of the physical equipment of human beings will maintain the process of education once this process has been initiated by the senses? Does it further imply that education may terminate at some time during the life of the individual human being? If so by what means will the ending be effected and with what results? These questions assume a somewhat extreme representation of the inadequacies of the principle as stated, yet the mere in- completeness of the statement, ‘Begin with the senses’’ leads | to a detection of one of the fundamental errors of Mr. Sheldon’s pedagogy. This error lay in the accepted psychology of the day which assumed the existence of ‘‘faculties.”” These “faculties” were thought to exist in the moral, intellectual, and physical natures of man. The relation of these three groups of “faculties” to each other was not clearly shown nor was the relation of “faculties” within groups ever explained. To ‘form the mind” and then “to furnish it’? was urged as a basic educational principle and was axiomatic in the light of a psychology which held that the mind could be separated into moral and mental faculties, each associated with a generalized function, such as the development of courage, virtue, honor, accuracy, alertness, memory, etc. That these general faculties transferred their powers of influencing conduct from one condition of life to another was taken for granted and that the senses played an important part in the development of their powers was also assumed without proof. Subjective analysis was relied upon and a comparison of Mr. Sheldon’s statement of teach- ing principles with those of the Home and Colonial Schools, does not indicate that Mr. Sheldon had made any discriminating 47 Words are italicized here by the author in order to call attention to the early conception of education as a science and teaching as an art. Characteristics of Object Teaching 75 analysis in accepting the English interpretation of Pestalozzian principles. In the light of present knowledge of physiological psychology the part that the sense organs play in the learning process becomes clarified. To think of the sense organs as receptors of specific stimuli which are transmitted to the brain centers by means of countless neural connections in all parts of the body, is a marked contrast to thinking of the organs of sight, sound, taste, smell, and feeling being developed through some power, human or divine respectively to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel in a general fashion which might lead to an improvement over a former use of these senses. We see that which we are taught to see, and not all things generally. Passing down the street the window decorator sees the shop window displays, the traffic expert locates the busy street corner for a commercial advantage, the law breaker avoids the policeman, the architect notes the form of building construction, the beggar is interested in prospective almsgivers, and so on. The same application of specific learning can be applied in the case of the other senses. This invalidates the theory of a generalized faculty, but does not deny the possibility of transferring one ability from one condition in life to another, provided identical elements are present. Modern psychology not only shows how stimuli affect sense organs and arouse neural activity, but it also shows how this neural activity operates in producing the physical reactions which constitute conduct. The faculty psychology of Mr. Sheldon and of others of his time, never passed beyond vague assumptions that the senses played an important part in learning; that, in the case of sight, learning to observe with care could be accomplished by developing general habits of accurate observation; and that a general power once acquired would be effective in all situations. Another principle which deserves some comment was that which held that the child should never be told what he could discover for himself. Logically, this doctrine would place every infant on a level with his primitive ancestors and keep him there until he had discovered what had been evolved during the centuries intervening between primitive man and modern civilization. Such wholesale waste of time, effort, and talent, assuming possible accomplish- ment, is completely at variance with the present day recognition of the importance of transmitting the social inheritance by means of education. The Oswego school procedure does not reveal any 76 The Oswego Movement in American Education appreciable amount of adherence to this principle. In fact, so prominent was the teacher as a directive factor in the child’s learn- ing, that we are lead to conclude that, in addition to the educational fallacy of the principles under consideration, the intention of Mr. Sheldon to develop self-reliance in the acquisition of knowledge, fell far short of realization as judged by the processes employed. Objects of study were chosen by the teacher, elements of the im- mediate environment were pressed into service by the teacher, ex- periences of the child, e.g., in moral instruction, were summoned to classroom use by the teacher, the memorization of definitions and principles was required of the children by the teacher, catecheti- cal class exercises to insure the retention of facts, definitions, or principles were devised by the teacher. There was little remaining for the child to discover for himself even if the principle were acceptable. The doctrine of activity as a natural condition of child nature, also suffered in actual practice. The handling of objects, field excursions in the study of natural history, the exercise of oral ex- pression, manual activities, etc., were all expressive of insistence upon formal exercises in learning. The teacher, always as the de-— terminer of what should be discussed or done, left little room for the natural expression of activity which in modern education takes the form of definable interest evolved from an ever-changing world in which the child selects elements for further attention directly related to his own past experiences, his present feelings, and his aspirations. In such a situation as modern pedagogy depicts rela- tive to child activity, the teacher is the counsellor, the guide, and the inspiration leading to satisfying achievement. The study of Mr. Sheldon’s system of instruction reveals the teacher as the rule- book maker, the coach, the referee, the time-keeper, and the score- keeper, i.e., the lessons were carefully selected, the methods of study determined, pupil progress studied and checked by schedule by the teacher. To reduce every subject to its elements, and to present one diffi- culty at a time, proceeding step by step, is open to serious criticism from two viewpoints. In the first place, it is in direct conflict with another declared principle which urges that all learning proceeds from the particular to the general, from the concrete to the abstract. The former theory admits the desirability of deductive reasoning and the latter denies its efficacy; the former admits the possibility Characteristics of Object Teaching dr of a whole confronting the learner that urges the teacher to resolve the whole into its elements to facilitate the learning of the child, the latter insists upon the same procedure without recognizing the possible existence or valuable use of the whole in the form of an abstraction or a generalization. In the second place, assuming that ‘‘reducing every subject to its elements’ takes cognizance of deduction as a necessary first step at times in teaching, the theory shows a still further lack of pedagogical accuracy by the inference that only one thing is learned at a time. Even if focal learnings are reduced to unity in an educational activity, for example—memor- izing the date of the discovery of America,—can it be safely said that marginal learnings, such as, habits of thinking, appreciation, atti- tudes, are never results of the same learning process? This doctrine as stated makes such an inference. The failure to place both deduc- tion and induction as usual phases of learning and the apparent denial of concomitant learnings in the process of education, are evidence of partial analysis and misapplication of educational theory. ‘“‘Let every lesson have a definite point’’ is incomplete in the light of present thought. Should the lesson have a definite point for the teacher or for the pupil, or for both? Does the character of the “‘definite point’? have any bearing upon its importance? Should the teacher or the pupil, or both, be responsible for the determination of the “‘definite point,’’ to say nothing of the selec- tion of the lesson originally? The statement leaves these questions unanswered. The formal character of the lessons, a sample of which is included in this chapter, leaves little room for doubt. The child was to be developed to some stage of maturity by nurtur- ing processes, not by natural methods as the stated principles seemed to imply. One more illustration of incompleteness in Mr. Sheldon’s state- ment of principles is found in the theory that the development of an idea precedes the term which enables the child to give expression to the idea. Language is a form of symbolism and is therefore useful insofar as it facilitates thinking. Ideas are only’ possible when perception or conception or both are active, and neither can be positive or negative unless there is meaning involved. Meaning may be conveyed through sounds, flashes, odors, etc., but in the case of human beings with whom language in some form is universal, this meaning is translated into some understandable terminology. 78 The Oswego Movement in American Education Ideas, then may also be accompanied by terms as well as followed by them—the more accurate the idea the nicer the distinctions in terminology. Clarity of expression is a good index of clarity of thought and since thinking is done in terms of meanings it follows that for all practical purposes the expression of thought in language is often coextensive with the formation of ideas. Mr. Sheldon’s failure at times to sense the full meaning of a generalized statement and his inability in many cases to make theory and practice consistent with each other, is well illustrated in the foregoing discussion of his principles. His humanitarianism led him to use the tools of education as he found them in improving the conditions of mankind. He was scarcely philosophical to a marked degree, nor was he analytical. His efforts were sustained by a commendable desire to serve humanity. CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE OSWEGO PRINCIPLES Other considerations have an important bearing upon the actual application of the principles of object teaching as they existed in the Oswego schools, mainly in the primary, junior, and senior departments.* In the first place the name “object teaching” was open to serious objection. While it is true that the method em- ployed the use of tangible objects and illustrations, it by no means should be interpreted as nothing more than miscellaneous lessons on objects; it was intended to cover the entire field of the early culture of the ‘‘faculties.”” Mr. Sheldon proposed to drop all specific names and refer only to the improved, natural, or philosoph- ical methods of teaching as such. This would lead, he contended, to the proper emphasis on principles by teachers in their study of the mental, moral, and physical constitution of children and the best methods in accordance therewith to effect the harmonious develop- ment of these various ‘“‘faculties.’’ | A second consideration, and the one which probably touched the points of greatest weakness in both English and American practice of Pestalozzianism,*® dealt with the danger of converting exercises 48 “‘Object Teaching” by E.A.Sheldon. Published in the Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1863, pp. 93-102. 49 James L. Hughes, Inspector of Schools, Toronto, Canada (Proceedings of the N. E. A., 1896, pp. 387-91) refers to this point in the following words: ‘‘Pestalozzi’s chief purpose was to define and develop the senses so that they might be reliable agents of the brain. English and American teachers saw in his object teaching but a new method of acquiring knowledge more rapidly and definitely. And objective teaching deteriorated into formal information lessons con- cerning common objects.” | | ‘ Characteristics of Object Teaching 79 that should be strictly for development into instruction in abstract science. The aim of the early lessons in object teaching was to quicken the perceptive ‘‘faculty,”’ give it greater powers of accuracy and to awaken thought and cultivate language. To this end the senses were to be exercised on the observable qualities and proper- ties of objects. When the exercise went beyond this point, the senses were no longer being developed, he maintained, but the exercise became either a feat of memory or the exercise of some of the other higher ‘‘faculties.’’ No generalizations, then, were justi- fied which went beyond the observable qualities and properties of objects, and no definitions which transcended description were made possible by the actual perception of the child. The brevity of this section is misleading. What has been stated regarding the psychological aspects of the Oswego principles might quite properly be placed under this caption. Also the comments which are made later on the Oswego critics are a part of a critical analysis. There is a danger, too, in pointing out the vulnerable points in an educational scheme to appear to minimize the com- mendable attributes. It will appear as the discussion of object teaching progresses through this chapter and the following one that the advantages of the Oswego plan of object teaching were very real and that they have profoundly influenced American elementary education is quite patent. CONSIDERATIONS IN THE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF THE PRINCIPLES OF OBJECT TEACHING It followed that in the primary lessons particularly there were certain limitations or restrictions placed upon the practical applica- tion of Pestalozzian principles as Mr. Sheldon understood them, to the various phases of object teaching. (qa) In lessons on number, as Mr. Sheldon indicated, the children should be confined to the simple combinations of objects and numbers that came clearly within range of their perceptive ‘‘faculties.’’ (6) The lessons on form should only include observation and description of the more ° simple and common forms in nature. This clearly warned against general abstractions and definitions beyond the observing powers of the child. (c) The lessons on szze were to consist of the actual measurement of objects and distances and simple exercise of the judgment in the application of the knowledge thus gained. (d) In 80 The Oswego Movement in American Education lessons on color the children were to be led to observe, discriminate and name the leading colors and their various shades and to apply them in descriptions of objects in nature. (e) In lessons on place study was to be restricted to the industrial and physical features of that part of the earth which the child saw in his daily walks, the relation of the objects so observed, to each other and to the child. (f) Lessons on animals and plants were limited to the study of parts, position, and uses of parts, their habits and adaptations to environ- mental conditions of familiar animals and plants. (g) In lessons on objects other than animals and plants a choice was made of those best known to the children and the following steps were observed: (1) simple parts and their position, (2) simple and common qualities, (3) more occult qualities and their adaptation to use, (4) simple classification of the objects and qualities considered and related information. In connection with the above steps the cultivation of language was stressed by means of (1) the simplest oral expression, (2) written reproduction, and (3) consecutive narrative. (h) In lessons on language the principle was constantly reiterated that ideas should precede language, that there should be a natural con- nection between thought and speech, between observation and ex- pression. The child’s first efforts at speech are to articulate the names of those persons, objects, and actions bearing most immediate relation to his desires and necessities. In school first comes the names of objects and their parts and then names of their qualities and properties to be given just so far as the child feels the necessity for their use and has the power to apply them. (7) Lessons on reading had to consider many difficulties, such as, the number of different sounds represented by the same character, the number of different characters represented by the same sound, the repre- sentation of some sounds sometimes by one character and sometimes by another, by: combination and frequent use of silent letters. The difficulty was obviated somewhat by teaching a single character with a single sound at the beginning. A few simple words were permitted to be learned as words, but in the main, the reading proceeded from the use of letters and phonetic combinations of letters.°° 50 In Appendix XIII samples of lessons on number, form, size, color, place, animals, plants, objects, language, reading, morals, human body, weight are reproduced from Mr. Sheldon’s original manuscripts which were written from notes taken by him in Miss Jones’ class in Oswego in 1861, and reproduced from Mr. Sheldon’s Manual of Elementary Instruction, 1862. Characteristics of Object Teaching 8I OUTSIDE CRITICISM OF THE OSWEGO METHODS OF INSTRUCTION WITH COMMENT Local support of object teaching was in the main generously given until 1872, when a public clamor against school costs and for a return to the old three R’s caused the system to be ejected from the public schools.*!_ Mr. Sheldon with commendable equanimity, met the opposition with kindness and firmness and in intelligent exposition of the principles upon which the system was founded. The local arguments were none the less effective in causing some radical and retrogressive measures in the city schools. The most important criticisms were made before the New York State Teachers’ Association and the National Teachers’ Association by Dr. H. B. Wilbur, then Superintendent of the State Idiot Asylum at Syra- cuse, New York.” The answers given by American educators to these charges is a matter of record. In fact, a summary of their statements would be a reiteration of principles and methods stated and discussed earlier in this chapter. Mr. Sheldon, however, sent one of Dr. Wilbur’s published addresses to Miss Jones and to Miss Mayo of the Home and Colonial School Society in London. In presenting the main points of the criticisms against the Oswego system of object teaching their replies will often be included together with some critical evaluation of the points made by both parties in the controversy. In the first place Dr. Wilbur conceded that the aims of those seeking reform in the principles and methods of elementary instruc- tion were entirely worthy, maintaining at the same time that errors in practice should be mercilessly exposed. He had no quarrel with the doctrine of the harmonious development of all the faculties by sense training and observation leading to correct expression of ideas. He believed that natural should preceed conventional knowledge, the latter beginning where instinctive behavior ended. It is to be noted that Dr. Wilbur also subscribed to the “‘faculty”’ psychology of the day. When it is remembered that scientific experimentation in psychology as applied to education belongs chiefly to the first quarter of the twentieth century, the wide ac- 51 Even the high school was temporarily closed. The Oswego papers carried complete accounts of the controversy that raged. 52‘Object System of Instruction as Pursued in the Schools of Oswego,” by H. B. Wilbur, M.D., Barnard’s American Journal of Education, Vol. XV, p. 180. 53 The original manuscripts of Miss Jones and Miss Mayo are reproduced in Appendix XIV, and Appendix XV. 82 The Oswego Movement in American Education ceptance of what appears in the light of present knowledge to have been an extremely non-scientific psychology is more readily under- stood. The comments by Miss Jones and by Miss Mayo, apparently resulting from Dr. Wilbur’s allegation that the educational practices of object teaching were open to serious question, furnish an excellent illustration of the inadequacy of some of the answers given to the charges made. Their reply was merely that ‘‘the critique often confuses practice with principles.” It was persistently urged that the methods of teaching should be based upon sound philosophical principles. If one were to admit for the moment that the principles were all sound and also grant the inevitability of some inconsist- encies in the practical application of the stated principles one would still expect the two, theory and practice, to coincide in general. Miss Jones and Miss Mayo failed to maintain the arguments advanced by Mr. Sheldon that the two were parallel. Their answers were often reiterations of principles and often plain contradictions in- stead of logical refutations. , Dr. Wilbur also failed to justify some of his remarks. This vulnerability was well illustrated in his second point in which he deprecated the fact that a new and foreign system—of dubious standing at home and a system “‘bigoted’”’ and “‘unphilosophical’’ —should be urged for adoption upon the educational public without more deliberation upon its constituent elements. The Oswego plan was advocated as philosophical rather than psychological and in the light of previous comment some sympathy may be expressed for Dr. Wilbur’s indictment of the system as ‘‘unphilo- sophical.’’ On the other hand, his captious reference to the “foreign” and “bigoted” system together with his denunciatory tendencies expressed in such statements as ‘‘The whole system is unwise and defective” are regrettable in a fair critique. The charge that the system of object teaching was in dubious standing in England was well refuted by Miss Jones. In her manuscript she exercised some care to show the educational standing of the Home and Colonial School Society. Another point made by Dr. Wilbur was to the effect that the new movement separated the beginning pupils from the other pupils and relied upon the exercise of their own intuitive powers and the resources of the teacher. This, he contended, deprived them of the educational influences of a mixed group. This criticism apparently Characteristics of Object Teaching 83 neglects the fact that a separation of the younger children from the older children may be effected in the school but that this segre- gation is by no means consequently maintained outside the school, because of the separation of the two groups during the few hours spent in the classroom. On the streets and at home outside of school hours and during vacations the intermingling proceeds with no abatement of whatever educational value is inherent in such social contacts. The criticism also neglects to admit the possible dangers of requiring the two groups to work together at school. There are differences in training and experience which may cause the interests of the older group to be quite at variance with those of the younger children; there are problems of adolescence which may justify the separation of the two groups; and, too, the physical superiority of the older children over the younger, together with greater advancement in intellectual achievements, might work as much evil as good if the two groups were to be kept constantly together. Modern practice in grouping school children takes into account many more factors than chronological age. Apparently neither the Oswego school authorities nor their critics considered such factors as actual differences in mental abilities, in social devel- opment, in physiological and anatomical growth, in emotional reactions, and in motor abilities. In fact such elements could only have been considered subjectively as no instruments of objective measurement had been devised at that time: Chronological age was their sole objective standard in making rough groupings be- tween primary school children and the so-called junior and senior classes. It was also contended that the advocates of the principles of object teaching were in error in assuming that every child must rediscover for himself the truths and results to be acquired in any department of learning. Logically, if this assumption were tenable, no truth which is a consequent on some previously determined truth could possibly be obtained by the mind unless the antecedent was first secured and learned. There seems to be little ground for attempting to refute this point. The possible extreme interpreta- tion of the principle that every child should receive no help in dis- covering for himself that which his powers permit him to learn without assistance seems, in an examination of the sample lesson included in this chapter, which is a typical lesson, not to have existed in actual practice. Thus it appears that the criticism of 84 The Oswego Movement in American Education Dr. Wilbur merits its chief distinction in pointing out a defect in a stated principle, and not in a weakness of actual practice. A further criticism was made of the basic principles advocated by Dr. Sheldon regarding the parallel which he asserted lay between the development of the human “faculties”? and the rational order of development of the sciences. Dr. Wilbur held that this was a “‘fanciful doctrine.’’ The parallel was assuredly made upon at least one false premise, namely, the existence of ‘‘faculties.” It seems that another erroneous assumption was made by the Oswego teachers in including the whole of the subjects listed under mathe- matics, natural history, history, and metaphysics as being basic to a fair knowledge of the succeeding group of subjects in the order named. Had limits been placed in mathematics to the conception of number, form, and size in their simplest elements and the same simplicity urged in natural history, history and metaphysics, the parallel would have been as tenable as any comparison could be which is founded upon unsound doctrines. In other words the ap- plication of perception, conception, reasoning and imagination, applies in the field of mathematics when such advanced work is included as algebra and geometry even, as applies in the progressive plan of study outlined for the four fields named in the group of sciences. The same case could be developed for each of the three remaining fields—natural history, history, and metaphysics. The charge was also made that in the Oswego system the so- called Pestalozzian principles had been transmuted as well as translated. Dr. Wilbur held that those principles which were sound, were not a novelty to American teachers and those which were new, were valueless if not positively harmful. He cited the following cases: (a) ‘‘Activity is a law of childhood. Accustom the child to do—educate the hand.”’ The first clause, according to the critic, implied a restriction of this law to physical activity, therefore, the second clause should be, ‘‘Let the child do.’’ It was important, he added, to make this distinction in the light of the desirability of developing all his faculties. (0) ‘‘Cultivate the faculties in their natural order—first form the mind, then furnish it.’”’ Dr. Wilbur’s caustic comment on this point was to the effect that this truth was older than Pestalozzi and could be found throughout the educa- tional publications during the preceding thirty years. (c) ‘‘Begin with the senses, and never tell a child what he can discover for himself.’”. —The commentator pointed out that the relation between Characteristics of Object Teaching 85 the two parts of this statement was obscure, adding that in the second part the word ‘‘never’’ was very questionable. (d) ‘‘Reduce every subject to its elements—one difficulty at a time is enough for a child.’’ In Dr. Wilbur’s own language—‘‘ This seems a harmless statement, but the practical inferences given in the manuals of instruction give us pause.’ (e) ‘‘Proceed step by step. Be thor- ough. The measure of information is not what the teacher can give, but what the child can receive.’’ On this principle he made the inference that the importance of the child in educational procedure was greatly minimized. (f) ‘‘Develop the idea—then give the term —cultivate language.’ This statement evoked an emphatic de- nouncement of what Dr. Wilbur thought to be ‘‘one of the most vicious methods of the Oswego system.’’ He maintained that observation and language are not inseparable and interpreted the quotation as implying that the mastery of an idea insured the re- tention of the appropriate term on the part of the pupil. ‘‘The danger lies,’’ he said, ‘‘in losing the thing signified in the effort to remember the sign.’’ In regard to Dr. Wilbur’s criticisms of these six principles, it seems that he was too condemnatory, insufficiently analytic, and somewhat lacking in a complete comprehension of his subject. This statement is made in the light of the discussion of the principles of object teaching in pages 69 to 79. The next question raised was regarding what Dr. Wilbur called the “‘grave possibility of utilitarian emphasis endangering the aim of elementary education—a thorough grounding in the elementary branches.’’ He doubted that this emphasis furnished an adequate preparation for the fulfillment of this objective. Miss Jones an- swered by stating that accurate observation should create an ‘“‘appetite”’ for knowledge, would form correct habits and should not be primarily for the acquisition of knowledge. She also con- tended that the acquisition of knowledge as a primary function of education, should be a later step in the child’s development. This use of the word, utilitarian, differs somewhat from present day applications of the term in education. Dr. Wilbur evidently had in mind the use of the methods of primary instruction as a means in the acquisition of knowledge throughout the course of elementary education. The utilitarian aim today refers to the emphasis upon that education which will be directly useful at any later stage of life. There was no disagreement between Miss Jones and Dr. Wilbur regarding the meaning of the term. Miss Jones held the view that y al Mrwiid SE wien oar comerede ancl flan keheet bom G. aM coho erates ee hitecate Se Rae thee lead wll cee best ve Wie Le 7 Ale nw dino) ede el, Kf PAD OPS AN Goto. 3 gt Anca cirgntor coe ery sore ni abate a Aiofaerd baelare) of emer LPR DOSES High ede ey oe See wert whery we, Che fal dineck Leetert, addres Hu furesfe, Lealles of Keller, bull borg ere fee cous be completed, tha rashare Cad begiure, Le poldeess fee Cirecie line faenthees, tertile Pie Y Bre CBA pal hee utccunl nec geval f- of the Ate" Be feye Se. tees PAM Palle ig sad 7 shell be laugh MoclA. covrugoerl whee fhe hetelyforrierke ZR UP a ? Lkeat 7 gin aes Y or Cree DY Hila sri oy ers) ako Se reei ie ae heck, Binsin cbéuvalow of toleber 4t 40 dewha caldera, PORE APE Gyles te be Sabirst- Aad cute i Tatdlave as con Lemire fe Vatau, A calmed: panrat be fe eg of be lore arid Coleraot Seedy. OF spas Jp Leora A Lett PY AP seis aL ad Lffecetr oz yl Jie Cath ee Ya Pham phled. beacon ale a bg, fot tf “aa Ce Aaya Fal ca Figure VIII. Aowy ee eae CutT MADE FROM AN ORIGINAL LETTER FROM MiIss JONES TO Dr. SHELDON IN 1863 REGARDING Dr. WILBUR’S CRITICISMS OF THE OSWEGO SYSTEM OF OBJECT TEACHING OE LT Characteristics of Object Teaching 87 method was of first importance in primary instruction leading to a certain realization of the ultimate aim of elementary education, namely, the acquisition of knowledge. Dr. Wilbur held some theoretical doubts that the particular means used in the Oswego system would enable the accomplishment of this aim in elementary education. This type of difference in opinion furnishes a striking - illustration of the character of discussion about educational proced- ure which was initiated by the Oswego emphasis upon methods. Dr. Wilbur’s contention that the lessons on Form leading to Geometry, lessons on Place leading to Geography, etc., were ‘‘far from the truth,’’ was answered by Miss Jones to the effect that the transition did take place, not in the narrow limits of the primary school nor with young children, but during a complete educational course. It was also asserted that scientific and technical language was prematurely introduced in the Oswego methods. To quote Dr. Wilbur, ‘‘One hears from infant mouths such terms as granivorous and chalybeate, iridescent and amorphous, serrated and foliaceous, wmbricated and indigenous.’’ Other terms used include ‘hyaline watchet, lazuline, indegene, carneline, rosine, coraline, venetia, morone, salmonine, peachine, and magenta.’ ‘This is convincing evidence and, while the point is probably over-emphasized by the illustrations given, this criticism is one of the most fundamental objections made regarding actual practices. This objection is supplemented by another closely allied to it which points out the danger of emphasizing the learning of symbols to the exclusion of meaning. The Home and Colonial teachers answered that symbols should not be taught until the ideas they represented were thorough- ly apprehended. Furthermore, they believed that Dr. Wilbur confused the giving of the term after the acquisition of an idea, with the giving of the etymology of the term and pointed out that derivations were of importance chiefly in schools for the Upper Classes where pupils studied Latin and Greek. Quoting from Miss Mayo’s letter, ‘‘The Lessons on Objects first prepared (by Miss Mayo) were for the Rev. Dr. Mayo’s school at Cheam, whose pupils were quite superior to those from the working classes. The terms used were more difficult than those used in the Home and Colonial Schools. Experience has taught that when the idea is clearly defined in the child’s mind, the name is learned easily. Thus difficult words present a less difficult problem than is generally 88 The Oswego Movement in American Education supposed. However, the use of simple words, whenever possible, is strongly advocated.” Another criticism closely related to the foregoing illustration of the use of scientific terms was made by Dr. Wilbur in reference to drawing lessons. He held that there was the same over-emphasis upon the scientific uses of the art as was apparent in the study of plants, animals, etc. The reply was a reiteration of a principle in these words: “‘It is quite contrary to the English system that scientific instruction should be given at an early age. The operative theory is that instruction should be well graduated and progressive.” Another issue which Dr. Wilbur raised was in reference to reading methods. His statements follow:—‘‘In reducing reading to its elements, as suggested by the Oswego enthusiasts, it would be necessary to have the number of elementary sounds correspond to the number of elementary characters. This is not true; the forms of the characters have no actual relations to the sounds. There is also the variety of form for the same letters and the same sounds are represented by different letters and combinations. This complex situation is brought to the child in the most fatiguing exercises by both the methods of the Home.and Colonial Society and of the Oswego teachers. The effect of such stupidity is somewhat amelio- rated by the fact that the child acquires language through a more direct method of his own, namely, through the assimilation of words as they appear before him on the blackboard, on the lesson cards, and in the textbooks.’’ His incisive reference to what he believed to be “‘stupidity’’? was met in a gentle rebuke from the English teachers in which they expressed the thought that Dr. Wilbur was some times mistaken in matters of fact and pointed out that he was misinformed concerning the materials used in the Home and Colonial Schools. They denied that their system of reading was unsuccessful and maintained that he had confounded the Phonic system of reading with a system used by another English School Society whose own teachers even were not dependent upon it, the materials representing this other system having been used in the Home and Colonial Schools, not as examples but as aids in the study of different methods. Dr. Wilbur’s final thrust in this address was not against object teaching as much as it was against the appropriation of state funds to further the adoption and diffusion of these methods instead of merely encouraging experimental study of this new system of instruction. bee Sy wae gj i fart, ee am EEE a et I ee, ag Aanlo gy Mivem ee CoG ee a vA Br toe Ate fitce ese eet Vi, Pas 5S Z Lineal g’ BOREL, A22T. Ce a ining OF Hi Cowen tan eT G2; ce ee EZ. ae RL?? Et, ars ie ETE, Wz te pees Lae ge es Fath Se —- ; j ‘ilies Za gt se a Fis ORE Biche eae woe. Wee ogee Hon Alas prorat nes Ge piak fit eeorel— AAy SE JE oe Sey ae wisi awe E ine: ove SEN: eon i teeon| He tenn i heer arate gic) Thanh Okan, hen face WORE a see oa Seewee ED hed LK Vee, 0 C23 ees oe RY Ae sch wine fn Fe aly ig Gigs Spe foo Saves ee Jz Ce now by,” tees — A iyi Z “Coe A Mhz fro yen fbn GO ALK os gas “Tein oa Lr evee} reer ey a ge ne Wet a ieeees Ae, Pare ere, ieee, ores Vetlece tle PE, FPN monn BL Fe ae SENOS DP PE ae RS IIE os c Pavesetat Migr Ts 70 Z miieioes Fei teas en a Catet Cho’ ae ie L. jor je : Pee cic Fd letter erlens Gf pre ZZ ion is foo Feer” bo re e 225 ES dee came ee any Apersltrene lee cithe2A” tren FOE Late feenen cl x th Pony too rag oa sy L Otlecpe< Poa ay Mag ae Per ees FAT pi LFirele Bg anya Vpag reece COG GL pig le pes eb fiercee of Maa ty tloom, Figure IX. Cur MADE FROM A LETTER WRITTEN IN 1863 BY Miss ELIZABETH MAYO OF THE ENGLISH HOME AND COLONIAL TRAINING INSTITUTION IN LONDON, REGARDING SOME CRITICISMS OF OBJECT TEACHING 90 The Oswego Movement in American Education So much comment has been included in this chapter regarding the weaknesses of object teaching that its positive values are in danger of being submerged. What, then, really justified the nation- wide attention given to these methods? Not their novelty although novelty may have been of some consequence in the spread of in- terest throughout the country. But novelty alone could have been a factor of any considerable magnitude only during the initia- tory period of the work. More fundamental causes can be identified than those of interest in the new methods of procedure. Object teaching represented a distinct attempt to make use of the con- crete materials in the child’s physical environment and of spe- cific experiences drawn from his social environment. The theory stressed the importance of proper habits of perception and correct forms of expression. In this sense object teaching emphasized methods of teaching in the development of child nature and placed the acquisition of knowledge by the child as a consequent of the mastery of perception, conception, and reasoning in the order stated. The educational theory thus shifted the emphasis from subject matter to the child but in so doing caused the concentra- tion of effort to rest upon methods of teaching to the end that child growth might result. These desirable elements—the use of familiar objects, the emphasis upon accurate perception leading to the formation of clear concepts and accurate expression which in- cluded good reasoning as a desired end, and the stress upon methods of teaching—probably explain the persisting influence of the Oswego movement. Simplicity, concreteness, use of familiar objects, emphasis upon perception, conception, and reasoning in the order named, and the importance of the use of language may be so sum- marized and stated as the contributions of Oswego to American education. In educational practices where abstract reasoning and the acquisition of information were predominant such factors as we have enumerated were profoundly revolutionary. The pro- posals were so comprehensible and the results of their application so discernible that the plan could scarcely fail to take root where- ever its seeds were sown. With all the deficiencies of object teaching the advantages of its strong points are so obvious that little room for doubt remains concerning the importance of the introduction of these new methods at that stage of the development of American education. Characteristics of Object Teaching gI ANALYSIS OF A TYPICAL OBJECT LESSON An analysis of a lesson sketch, typical of the object lesson sketches given in both the Home and Colonial Schools and the Oswego schools, may serve to bring into clear perspective some of the advantages and weaknesses of the system. LESSON ON PLANTS" FLOWERS 1. Require the children to look at some flowers and say in what they are alike. (They all have leaves; they all have stems; nearly all have the outer leaves (calix) of a green color.) Let the children smell the flowers—they all have some kind of smell. Ask how they are produced (from slips or seeds). If a slip or seed be put into the ground and gets proper nourishment what takes place? (They grow.) All flowers are grown. What happens to flowers when taken out of the ground and left without water, etc. (They decay.) Who made the flowers? Children repeat in what flowers are alike. 2. Having found out in what flowers are alike, lead the children to discover in what they differ. By the sense of smell they will discover that some have a sweet scent, others a strong scent, and others a faint, soft scent. By the sense of sight they will discover that flowers differ in size. Let them name the large flowers, the small ones, and find examples of each from memory. Also that flowers differ in shape. Some have leaves that spread out as the Iris, others with leaves packed closely together as the Rose, some with broad flat leaves, others with curled leaves. Also flowers differ in color. Let the children name the different colors of different flowers. Next, let them compare color of the stamens and leaves. Some are dark green and others a light green. Then by reference to flowers gathered and placed in water; some of which have to be thrown away on the morrow, while others may be kept. Draw from that that some decay directly while others last a longer time. 3. Let the children say of whom we should think when we look at flowers. Would they rather have them or not? Why they would have them? Why flow- ers are made of different colors? Why not all green, all blue, all of the same shade? (They are prettier as they are. What their beauty shows about God?) (That He not only gives us what we need, but gives us things to please us and make us happy. Whom they should thank when they gather flowers?) The choice of the subject of the lesson is one which at once falls into the category of the concrete. Specimens of flowers can be secured easily either by the teacher, by the pupils, or as a joint enterprise. A selection of flowers can also be readily made on the basis of those which are commonly familiar. The idea of a lesson on flowers which may deal with familiar and concrete objects, is relatively a stmple one. The means to be used are almost mechanical 54 From original manuscript by E. A. Sheldon. Q2 The Oswego Movement in American Education with respect to securing the objects of study. The attention of the children is then called to those more obvious or more easily observ- able parts of the flowers. Here observation begins, and the develop- ment of a number of percepts about flowers takes place, such as the perception of color, smell, size, form, etc. Then the concepts of differences and similarities are formed, leading to processes of reasoning. ‘This lesson is a good example of the emphasis upon moral and religious education which was an important part of the school work of the time. The sketch indicates how language is developed and exercise of expression provided. The form of expression may be considered stilted and unnatural and the choice of language unwise for the purposes of primary children, but the application of the plan to provide opportunity for language develop- ment in additional terms and in facility of expression, is quite evident. Such instruction was intended to lay the foundation for the formal acquisition of knowledge in the later grades by provid- ing the children with proper habits of study and by providing them with the primary elements of knowledge considered basic to their later elementary school work. The faults of this sketch are also evident. The formality which would result in the development of this lesson and others like it, in the catechetical dialogue between teacher and pupil, is open to serious question. The freedom of expression by the pupils seems to-be greatly endangered by the form of questions asked and the | form of answer apparently expected. Often these answers were required in unison which added to the formality. Another weakness of the lesson seems to be its indefinite purpose or purposes. The main objective seems to be to teach that flowers are alike in some respects and different in other properties. What these similarities and differences are, seems to be incidental and partial. A question might very well be raised regarding the legitimacy as a class exer- cise of such an objective as the main one appears to be. Will this lesson add anything to the present knowledge of the children re- garding the existence of similarity and differences in flowers? SUMMARY OF ADVANTAGES OF OBJECT TEACHING The purpose of commenting on the points of this lesson is to illustrate the elements which made object teaching at Oswego an important contribution, rather than a complete analysis of the Characteristics of Object Teaching 93 lesson. These elements are simplicity in the use of familiar and concrete objects and experiences of the children, the effort to move by carefully developed steps from perception to reasoning, by the use of concepts, and the development of the use of exact language through the creation of definite ideas. CHAPTER IV OSWEGO’S EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE A. GROWING RECOGNITION OF THE WORK The Training Class which began with nine students was soon to become the chief center in the country for the training of teachers and the improvement of elementary education. As early as 1862 a committee of the Troy (N. Y.) Board of Education visited Oswego and three other cities. In their report! they gave an extended ac- count of all four systems visited, but to Oswego over one and one- half times as much space is given as to the other three cities com- bined. In addition to a description of the administrative organiza- tion of the school, direct references are made to the methods of teaching used. Mention was made of the precision with which the terms describing objects were used by even the youngest pupils, the habits of accurate observation formed by the use of these object lessons, the evident interest of the pupils, and other like factors. The National Teachers’ Association meeting was reported in the Chicago Tribune, Saturday, August 8th, 1863. Mr. Sheldon’s paper on object teaching was quoted in full, but what is of more significance, is the fact that the series of resolutions he presented were considered of sufficient importance to be included in the re- port.2, They embodied such points as the recognition of the natural order of development of the mental, moral, and physical faculties of the child; the necessity of the teacher familiarizing himself with these principles and their practical application; the establishment of training schools for the professional preparation of teachers; the primacy of the perceptive faculties in mental evolution; the application of the last named principle in all subjects of instruction; the cultivation of language, not as secondary in importance, but secondary only in order of time; and natural methods of teaching, instead of object teaching. Believing so thoroughly in the importance of the new methods of teaching, Mr. Sheldon in December, 1861, invited a committee to visit Oswego and observe the practical operation of the system. 1The Troy Daily Times, May 8, 1862. 2 There is no record of the adoption of these resolutions. Oswego’s Educational Influence 95 Fourteen men, prominent in the educational affairs of New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Illinois, spent three days in this examination and in a formal report declared that the principles of the system were philosophically sound; that the principles were in harmony with the nature of man, that the particular methods of instruction observed merited their ‘‘hearty approbation”’ as illustrative of the principles upon which they were founded. In the resolutions appended to this report the Committee recommended the adoption of the system in whole or in part ‘‘wherever such introduction is practical,’ and also urged the importance of teach- ers who clearly comprehended its principles and who had been trained in its methods. Letters from many noted educators, such as Henry Barnard, who were invited to join the committee of inspection, show a great interest in the Oswego work as well as a sympathetic understanding of the educational importance of the movement. In the report of the Oswego Board of Education for the school year ending March 31, 1862, the statement was made that hundreds of letters from every portion of the country showing a keen interest in the new methods of instruction had been received during the year just closed. In succeeding reports of the board of education, reference is made to the placement of Oswego graduates in various parts of the country. The significant thing is the in- fluence they exerted through other training schools. It is not to be supposed that the new methods were received without opposition. In fact, the virulent attacks made against the system substantially contributed to the growing recognition of the work. In 1862, at the Rochester meeting of the New York State Teachers’ Association, Dr. Wilbur, Superintendent of the State Asylum for Imbeciles at Syracuse, N. Y., vigorously raised some objections to the Oswego methods. At the close of his address a committee was appointed to report at the next meeting in Troy to answer the points hestressed. The second attack was made by the same educa- tor before the National Educational Convention held at Ogdens- burg, N. Y., in 1864. Again a committee was appointed to in- vestigate and report at the next meeting which was to be held in Harrisburg, Pa. Several thousand copies of the report of the chairman’ of that committee which was read before the Conven- tion in 1865, were ordered printed and circulated throughout the country. At the same meeting some lessons were given, illustra- 8 Professor Greene of Brown University. 96 The Oswego Movement in American Education tive of the methods used in the Oswego schools. The favorable reports of these committees not only gave to object teaching the official endorsement of two strong educational bodies but ably served to spread the gospel of object teaching throughout the length and breadth of our country. Thus the movement gained strength as a factor in our national development of elementary education until written testimony from the most prominent educators of the times was forthcoming.* Andrew Phillip Hollis, an Oswego graduate, in his book, The Oswego Movement, presented many such opinions, of which only two will be quoted as typical of all the others. The history of the Normal School at Oswego, constitutes an important chap- ter, not only in the history of the training of teachers, but in the history of the public schools in this country.® : I place the Oswego Normal School as first in its influence upon the education of this country.® A section of a letter from Colonel Parker to Dr. Sheldon is further evidence and typical of the letters Dr. Sheldon received relative to the influence of his school. Such evidence unmistakably points to the growing recognition of the work. B. THE EXTENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE OF OSWEGO The Albany State Normal School had been opened in 1844; next came the state recognition of the Oswego institution as a State Normal School in 1863; and six others were opened during the period 1861-1886 as follows:? Brockport, April 17, 1867 Fredonia, February 24, 1868 Cortland, March 3, 1869 Potsdam, April 27, 1871 Buffalo, September 13, 1871 Geneseo, September 13, 1871 4The editorial pages of the Oswego daily newspapers frequently furnished a considerable amount of space for the discussion of Oswego’s educational influence. Often names of cities were given in which Oswego graduates were appointed as teachers; sometimes the type of position was mentioned; and many letters from leading schoolmen and sections of reports were repro- duced—all showing the nation-wide influence of the Oswego movement in American education. 5 Rise and Growth of the Normal School Idea, J. P. Gordy, Bureau of Education, Circular No. 8, 1801. 6 From a letter to Mr. Hollis written by Colonel Frances W. Parker. 7 From a published report of an address entitled ‘‘The State Normal Schools” by the Hon. W. B. Ruggles of Steuben given in the Assembly, January 30, 1877. : county NORMAL Scr rom FRANCIS W.. PARKER ee, Principal aie uffeww2h 6, a a Hit otz ray | | J Mirae Kee 98 The Oswego Movement in American Education That the Oswego influence was predominant in the organization and conduct of these schools is indicated by the fact that Oswego graduates were employed in each of these® schools and also by the fact that their curricula were identical with those of Oswego.® The last fact is given greater force by reason of the.creation of the Elementary English course by Mr. Sheldon before the other schools were organized, which persisted throughout the other schools in practically the form originated and made operative at Oswego.” There were only twelve state normal schools!! in the country when the Oswego Training Class was organized in 1861. The following table shows the rapid growth of teacher-training as represented by the number of state normal schools over a short period of six years (1867): Calitorniata. say aed IeeMathigan M12 3.8 ae I Delaware: a), «cs ee ee 1. Minnesota ©. 2... Fae eee I Llosa ae 1. Newilerseviog 4 hone I Indianasy/) since aera s t. New York. 2c... 4 eee 2 KanS8S hes anetse ae ee et a I «:Pennsylvania,. > . 22 463 789 fs 0 SOUS Sen Aa a A re Te Se Pe oe 1252 discussing the Oswego influence, a comparative study of the Prac- tice School procedures then in vogue in the state normal schools, sheds considerable light on the pioneer aspects of this phase of Oswego’s educational activities. * Not located by counties in the Rand and McNally International Atlas. 98gI OL 19gI WOU ‘IOOHOS ONINIVAT, GNV IVNYON ALVLS OOAMSO AHL JO SaLVNavAy 40 ALVIS HYOX MAN NI SHILNNOD AM NOILNAINISIGQ DNIMOHS AVI “[[X FaNDIY vol | We $ mn Pe. | pe Ton A eee Sh ean Oswego’s Educational Influence 105 An examination of the courses of study” in some of the state normal schools of the country, reveals that the idea of practice teaching was not originated in this country by Oswego. Several schools have been chosen for the study of this point, particularly with reference to the status of practice teaching in these institutions about the time, or soon after the Oswego school was founded. In 1867 the State Normal School at Framingham, Massachusetts, had a single professional course called ‘‘The Theory and Art of Teaching.” The usual academic subjects such as Geometry, Astronomy, Grammar, History, Chemistry, etc., predominated in their curriculum for the preparation of teachers. Some special professional training consisted: 1. “‘Of plans of exercises on each subject studied by the class. These plans are presented orally for the criticism of teachers and pupils.”’ 2. “‘Of teaching exercises given by the senior class to a class of children who came in from one of the public schools of the town.”’ In 1862 the State Normal School at Westfield, Massachusetts, summarized its practice teaching in the following words: ‘“‘The pupils have daily teaching exercises in connection with the recita- tions, and the members of the senior class devote a large portion of their time to the Theory and Art of Teaching.” In 1863 the New York State Normal School at Albany, offered a single professional course in their two-year program, called the ‘“‘Art of Teaching,’’ and vaguely stated that the seniors were re- quired to attend lectures and to observe the work of the experi- mental and primary leche: Two weeks were required in this work to test the student’s ‘‘aptness to teach.” About the time Oswego was founded, Bridgewater Normal School (Mass.), offered a course in the ‘‘Theory of Teaching and School Laws.’’ The Salem (Mass.) Normal School listed their professional’ courses as School Laws of Massachusetts, Principles and Methods of Teaching and of School Management. . At the Bridgewater and at the Salem Normal Schools, students taught their own classmates for practice work and classes of children from a primary group were brought in for the same purpose. The Michigan State Normal School at Ypsilanti offered courses in ‘‘Organization and Management of Graded Schools,” and main- 19 Barnard’s American Journal of Education, Vol. 17. 106 The Oswego Movement in American Education tained a Model or Experimental School for the purpose of providing practice in teaching. No definite requirements were stated. The New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton provided an indefinite amount of practice teaching, some to be done in the Model School and some with Normal School classes. The same was true of the Illinois State Normal University at Normal, Illinois, and of the State Normal at Millersville, Pennsylvania. These were practice school conditions prevailing about the time Oswego was crystallizing into a state institution. In 1866 Richard Edwards, President of Illinois Normal University, wrote: ‘‘The School for Practice is unquestionably essential to the complete idea of a Normal School.’’ How these provisions for practice teaching com- pared with those adopted by Mr. Sheldon at Oswego, may shed some light upon the theory that Oswego in its development of the practice school idea, was a pioneer to some extent in this phase of teacher-training, at least among the state institutions for the prep- aration of teachers. In the cases cited, practice-teaching took the form of teaching normal school classes, teaching classes brought in before the normal classes from nearby primary schools, two weeks’ practice in the model or experimental school, observation in the model or experimental school, or observation of primary school teaching done by the normal school teacher before his class. At Oswego from the first the work of the Training Class included practice?’ teaching. The students’ practice work in some form, that is, varying from simple routine exercises of classroom administra- tion to complete room responsibility as teachers, was required throughout the school year. As the school grew and the curricula were increased in length and in number, the proportionate amount of time devoted to practice teaching decreased but the actual emphasis upon this phase of the work did not lessen. Where model or experimental schools were maintained by the early state normal schools, Oswego emphatically endorsed the idea of practice in teaching, by establishing at the outset a “‘practicing school.” In this respect Oswego may be said to have established a precedent among the state institutions engaged in teacher training. It is well known that the emphasis upon the work of the practice schools to-day is a large proportion of the work of the normal schools. Perhaps we owe the impetus to the movement as a phase of teacher training to the Oswego State Normal and Training School. 20 See Annual Reports of the Board of Education of Oswego. Oswego’s Educational Influence 107 D. Oswesco’s LEARNING ATTITUDE A characteristic of Oswego which doubtless did much to help the work of the school before the educational public was its sen- sitivity, and its receptivity to new movements. In 1873 the first public school kindergarten in the United States was established in St.Louis. This one had been preceded by private kindergartens,— the first one having been established in 1855.24. Oswego established one in 1881 and it became a part of the Normal and Training School in 1885. Whilesome 300 private and public kindergartens had been established by 1880 the Oswego school was among the first of the New York State schools to include work of this character in its regular program of educational activities. Another case in point is the establishment of a curriculum at Oswego for the preparation of teachers in industrial work. This was done in 1885. The work in manual training was introduced in this country in 1776. Oswego adopted the idea when it became apparent that it was based upon sound educational doctrine, as the discussions brought out in the papers read at the meeting of the Department of Superintendents of the National Education Association. This willingness to accept new and proved theories of education was but the natural result of Dr. Sheldon’s own attitude of mind. In the early ’90’s Dr. Mohl- berg of the University of Jena, Germany, and a disciple of the famous Herbart, was invited to visit Oswego to enlarge the psy- chological outlook of the Oswego teachers. In 1894, Dr. Sheldon made a trip through some of the eastern states “to gain more wisdom.’”’ Even in the summer of 1897, the year of his death, he attended the meeting of the National Education Association in Milwaukee stopping in Chicago for a week to attend a peda- gogical summer school to learn about some new (Spear) methods in arithmetic. This ability to grow seems to be a reliable index of the causes of the continuing influence of Oswego in the educa- tional work of this country. E. BRIEF SUMMARY In summarizing the points elaborated in the preceding pages related to the Oswego Movement and its position of eminence in American education it seems natural to note the devoted service rendered by Edward Austin Sheldon. While this study attempts to describe and evaluate the educational factors of the Oswego 21E,. P. Cubberley, Public Education in the United Siates, p. 319. 108 The Oswego Movement in American Education Movement, it in reality embodies much that is biographical. No evidence has been produced in this thesis nor do his close personal friends and most ardent admirers urge any evidence to show that he was a profound scholar. His devotion to humanity was ex- pressed in his faith in education as a means of social progress. Dr. Sheldon ranks high as a humanitarian. It has been pointed out in Chapter I that the Oswego Normal School emerged from the needs of the local public schools. Doubt- less those needs contributed to the stability of the organization which attracted such wide-spread interest. Chapter III shows how similarly the ideas of Pestalozzian prin- ciples underlying object teaching were expressed in Oswego and in the Home and Colonial Training Institution. The circumstances under which object teaching was introduced in Oswego, that is, by the use of the English School materials, by Miss Jones’ and Mr. Kriisi’s teaching, made differences rather improbable especially upon the initial appearance of the plan. The residence distribution of the Oswego graduates, and their distribution after graduation point to the national character of Oswego’s influence as well as to its state-wide influence; the maturity of its students and the nature of the training received explain the professional importance of the school; and the training and ex- perience of the Oswego faculty members are additional elements which are important in evaluating the educational standing of the institution. Many other factors might be stressed in a review of the case, such as the organization of the school, the emphasis upon practice ' teaching, the work of Miss Jones and Mr. Kriisi, the latter bearing personally and directly the traditions of Pestalozzi, the recogni- tion given the Oswego work by the State legislative and edu- cational authorities, the attention which object teaching re- ceived in state and national educational conferences, special in- vestigations and reports of the plan, and so on. But the most important single factor that places Oswego as a contributing force in American education and the one which is probably most distinc- tive is the educational plan of object teaching. With its sheer simplicity, its ready applicability, and its emphasis upon the natural development of childhood, in a natural environment, the Oswego plan of object teaching stands as a great stimulating movement in the progress of educational methods, in our national evolution of elementary education. BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS CUBBERLEY, E. P. Public Education in the United States. A brief discussion of object teaching on page 269 f. A good account in brief form of the Oswego Movement. Gorpy, J. P. Rise and Growth of the Normal School Idea. This is an excellent account of the development of teacher training in this country up to 1891, the date of publication. It was issued by the United States Bureau of Education as Circular, No. 8. Hous, A. P. The Oswego Movement. This study by an Oswego graduate covers the entire period of Dr. Sheldon’s service in Oswego. It deals with American education previous to the Oswego Movement, the spread of the Oswego idea, later movements at Oswego, and with personalities of the institution. Published in 1898, D. C. Heath & Co., Boston. Krtsi, HERMAN. Recollections of My Life. A volume which is filled with reminiscences of Mr. Kriisi’s interesting and fruitful life. Contains some material helpful in the study of the Oswego plan of object teaching but is more helpful as a character study of Mr. Kriisi. Mayo, CHARLES AND ELIZABETH. Pestalozzi and His Principles. This volume is made very valuable because of original and selected notes by Robert Dunning. This is the third edition, printed in 1873. Mayo, CHARLES and ELIZABETH. Practical Remarks on Early ‘Education. The fifth volume of this book appeared in 1857. It was originally intended for the use of schools and private families. It contains discussions on religious, moral, intellectual, and physical education. One of the valuable features of the volume is the list of questions which appears at the end of each chapter and affords an excellent guide in the study of the chapter. Mayo, EvizaBetH. A Manual of Elementary Instruction. Volume I was pub- lished in 1860 and Volume II in 1861. They were designed for use in the infant schools and treated such forms of instruction as, language, geography, » number, form, drawing, and plants. The work of the kindergarten and gallery instruction also receive some attention. Mayo, Exizasetu. Lessons on Objects. This volume was prepared for children from six to eight years of age for use in her brother’s school at Cheam. The book contains a preface by the Rev. Dr. Charles Mayo in which he stresses the idea of Pestalozzianism as he conceived it and not merely the form transplanted. The book contains a vocabulary at the back as the words used were not generally common to small children. This is the book H. B. Wilbur criticized in 1863 as being too scientific for infant education. Mayo, ExizaABetH. Lessons on Objects. A graduated series of lessons for children from six to fourteen years of age. The book was arranged by Dr. IIO The Oswego Movement in American Education Sheldon for use in American schools and was published in this country in 1863. The edition he rearranged was the fourteenth edition printed in England in 1855. Monroe, Paut. A Brief Course in the History of Education. A brief statement regarding the Oswego Movement, its source and meaning. Moors, E. C. Fifty Years of American Education. A brief reference on page 50 to object teaching as it was introduced at Oswego and its growth into natural science in elementary education about 1870, followed in turn by a development of nature study in the latter part of the nineteenth century. REISNER, E. H. Nationalism and Education since 1789. A brief reference to the Pestalozzian influence in the United States reflected through object teaching, pp. 460 f. REYNOLDS, JOHN S. Hints on School Buildings and on the Management and Superintendence of Infant Schools. This volume gives a clear idea of the problems indicated in the title. It was edited by Mr. Reynolds in 1863 and published in 1874. The volume is comprised of reports by teachers, com- mittees, patrons, and visitors. The Rev. Dr. Charles Mayo has an intro- duction on the ‘‘Importance, Advantage, and Character of Infant Schools.” The volume is valuable in the study of infant education in England. REYNOLDS, JoHN S. The Government Plan. The full title is “Hints for the Improvement and Extension of the Government Plan for aiding the Educa- tion of the Labouring Classes.’”” John Strickney Reynolds, Esq., was Hono- rary Secretary of the Home and Colonial School Society. The article has a direct bearing upon object teaching as it related to the education of the children of the laboring classes. The book was published in 1860. SHELDON, E. A. A Manual of Elementary Instruction. This book published in 1862 was intended for “the use of public and private schools and normal classes.’’ It contains a graded course of object lessons sketched after the manner in which they were prepared for use in the Oswego schools. SHELDON, E. A. Autobiography. This book was published in {911 although written about fifteen years before. It is supplemented by memorial sketches which help to accentuate the noble character of Dr. Sheldon so obvious to the reader of his autobiography. SKINNER, C. R. Life and Character of Edward Austin Sheldon. A tribute to the sterling worth of Dr. Sheldon delivered before the National Education Asso- ciation at Washington, D. C., July 7, 1898 by Mr. Skinner, then State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of New York. SHELDON, E. A.and Bartow, E.H. Teachers’ Manual of Instruction in Reading. This was designed to accompany Sheldon’s Readers. It was published in 1875. A good index of the methods Dr. Sheldon proposed in the teaching of reading. SHELDON, Mary D. Studies in General History. This book (1856) was one of the results of the new emphasis upon methods of get occasioned by the introduction of object teaching in Oswego. ee _ Bibliography III Historical Sketches Relating to the First Quarter Century of the State Normal and Training School at Oswego, N. Y. This volume is extremely valuable for the wealth of material related to the origin and development of the School. It contains biographical sketches and a roster of graduates during the period 1861 to 1886. History of the First Half Century of the Oswego State Normal and Training School. This book of 344 pages is a valuable collection of data related to various aspects of the development of the school. It contains two reprints from the Quarter Centennial Report (Dr. Sheldon’s Address of Welcome and Kriisi’s paper on the history of the school), accounts of the work of the literary societies and the Normal Christian Association, biographical sketches of the teachers, speeches of the semi-centennial program, letters from alumni, reports, alphabetical list of graduates, and many illustrations in the form of portraits, etc. MISCELLANEOUS. PAMPHLETS, CIRCULARS, REPORTS, AND ABSTRACTS Hoose, JAMES. The Common Schools of the State of New York. This title is abbreviated from the title of the address delivered in 1878 before the New York State Association of School Commissioners and City Superintendents. It is an excellent paper dealing with the relations of various phases of educa- tion to each other and to the state and provides a clue to the type of thinking in vogue at the time and of the existing conditions of common school educa- tion about 1878 in New York State Jones, MARGARET E. M. The Home and Colonial Training Institution. A brief account of the organization of this institution and the Pestalozzian system as ‘taught and practised in their schools.’”’ Extracted from the Quarterly paper of the society: for January, 1862. MAyo CHARLES. Introduction to the Latin Grammar used in the Junior Classes in Cheam School. Not published until 1856 when it was included with other prefaces by Dr. Mayo. This one is an example of Dr. Mayo’s applica- tion of Pestalozzian principles to educational practices above the primary grades of the elementary school. Mayo CHARLES. Observations on the Establishment and Direction of Infant Schools. A lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, 1826. This is a good index of the ideas regarding primary education held by Dr. Mayo. Mayo, CHARLES. Preface to Abbott’s “ Teacher.’’ An excellent discussion of the place of the teacher in the educational system as Dr. Mayo conceived it. Mayo, CHARLES. Preface to ‘‘Lessons on Form’’ by C. Reiner. A statement of the educational principles advocated by Dr. Mayo in teaching elementary geometry. Mayo, CHaArues. Preface to ‘‘ Lessons on Numbers,” by C. Reiner. Published in 1835. A discussion of the applications of the principles of object teaching to elementary processes in arithmetic. 112 The Oswego Movement in American Education Mayo, CHARLES. Preface to “‘ Lessons on Objects,’ by Miss Mayo. This preface was written in 1830. A philosophical discussion of the principles under- lying object teaching. Mayo, CHARLES. Preface to ‘Lessons on Shells,” by Miss Mayo. Appeared in 1832. Important as a study of principles of the use of objects in instruction. Mayo, CHARLEs. The Life of Pestalozzi. This is a lecture delivered in 1826 and is an admirable presentation of Dr. Mayo’s impressions of Pestalozzi as a man and as a teacher and educational philosopher. SHELDON, E. A. How Can a Practice School be Made to Answer the Purpose of a Good Public School? This is an abstract of a paper read by Mr. Sheldon before the Normal Department of the National Education Association. Referred to under the title of ‘‘The Practice School’’ in list of addresses and Journal of Proceedings of the National Education Association. SHELDON, E. A. Oswego Training School for Primary Teachers on Pestalozzian Prinicples. A circular dated January 23, 1862 setting forth the purposes of the Training School and announcing the advent of Miss Jones. Annual Reports of the Board of Education of the City of Oswego. These reports bound in two volumes covering the years 1854 to 1877 furnish ‘abundant material for the study of the educational developments of the Oswego public schools, and of the causes of the origin of the normal school, of the early Oswego conception of object teaching, and of the organization and growth of the work of preparing teachers at Oswego. The reports until 1869 were prepared by Mr. Sheldon, who was until then also in charge of the public schools. Circular Relative to the Report of a Committee on Object Teaching. This circular prepared by Mr. Sheldon states the conditions leading to the ap- pointment of a committee by the National Teachers’ Committee in 1864 to study the Oswego plan of object teaching. It gives the personnel of the committee and refers to the nature of the report the following year and the distribution of copies of the report. Circular of the State Normal and Training School at Brockport, N. Y. Valuable, as it shows the exact curricula offering of Oswego in 1870. This circular is dated, August I, 1869 and is in the same form as the Oswego circular mentioned elsewhere in this bibliography. Circular of the Oswego State Normal and Training School. This circular is dated February 1, 1870. It includes a brief statement of the state require- ments for admission, an outline of the courses of study (curricula), condi- tions affecting student life, list of faculty members, etc. Education, National and Denominational. ‘This is a reprint from The Record and contains information regarding the work of the Home and Colonial School Society. Published about 1870. General Examination of Training Schools. Oswego preserved three copies of examinations given in School Management by the Home and Colonial Training Institution before the certification of teachers. Important in Bibliography 113 furnishing information regarding the form and character of these examina- tions for prospective teachers. Home and Colonial School Society. Thirty-fifth annual report 1870-71. A good report of the accomplishments of the year with summaries of some past achievements. Home and Colonial School Society. This is an abstract of the report and speeches delivered at the anniversary meeting, May 1, 1871. A good brief statement regarding the work of the Society. Syllabus of the Courses of Instruction. Given to the students in training at the Home and Colonial Society’s Schools on the principles and practice of Education, physical geography, natural history, musical instruction, and drawing. The pamphlet is an elaboration of the description of this work which is included in Chapter III. The Educational Paper. Of the Home and Colonial School Society. April 1861 and July, 1862 numbers are preserved at Oswego. They are valuable for their wealth of illustrative material in connection with the organization of their schools and the practice in object teaching. What is Pestalozzianism? Taken from the Quarterly Educational Magazine and published for the Home and Colonial School Society in 1849. A very valuable pamphlet in interpreting the English views on Pestalozzianism. SPECIAL MAGAZINE ARTICLES ALLING, Mary R. The Oswego State Normal and Training School. In Volume XI, Number 3 of the New England Journal of Education published in 1880 appeared this brief but valuable account of the development of the Oswego Normal School. BARNES, MARY SHELDON. Edward Austin Sheldon. In The School Journal for October 9, 1897, pp. 364-366. Dr. Sheldon’s life and work is briefly sum- marized by his daughter. Hous, A. P. Dr. E. A. Sheldon and the Oswego Movement. In the May, 1898 number of Education, pp. 545-554, a eulogistic account of Dr. Sheldon and his work was reproduced. Jones, MarGcaret E. M. Education in America. 1863, pp. 8-11. This article presents Miss Jones’ appraisal of American Education in the light of her experience as a teacher at Oswego. The article appears in The Educational Paper of the Home and Colonial School Society for the years 1859-1863. This volume contains articles by Robert Dunning, Head Master of the Home and Colonial Schools, Miss Elizabeth Mayo, Mr. John S. Reynolds, and others connected with the Society. SHAW, Epwarp R. Normal Teaching. In the September 13, 1884 issue of The School Journal Mr. Shaw presented a brief account of object teaching in Oswego as it applied to history. He had visited Oswego and observed 114 The Oswego Movement in American Education the history teaching of Miss Mary D. Sheldon who later wrote the book mentioned in this bibliography. SHELDON, E. A. Our State Normal Schools. This article in the New Vork School Journal for February 17, 1872 is one of a series of articles prepared by Dr. Sheldon on the work of teacher training. This one deals with the work at Oswego. ADDRESSES AND REPORTS IN Barnard’s American Journal of Education Busse, F. Object Teaching—Its Principles and Methods. V. 30, p. 417. Taken from Diesterweg’s. Wegweisser. Deals with the educational practices in Germany of 1873. The article includes a list of books on object teaching by German writers. CaLxins, M.A. The History of Object Teaching. V. 12, p. 663. A good account of the development of object teaching as it came into the educational practice of this country. JONES, MARGARETE.M. Laws of Childhood. V.12,p.629. This account offers a good index of the psychology which operated in the plan of object teaching. It was based upon the prevailing ‘“‘faculty”’ psychology. MarceL C. Conversations on Objects. V. 11, p. 21, 330. These articles give illustrations of the way in which oral expression was developed through the use of objects in classroom instruction. SHELDON, E. A. Object Teaching. V. 14, p. 93. A clear discussion of his conception of the principles underlying object teaching. Wicpur, H. B. The Object System of Instruction. V. 15, p. 189. This paper in the main duplicates the one in the Proceedings of the National Education Association. There are some prefatory remarks attached to this article which help to clarify Dr. Wilbur’s position in attacking the Oswego system of instruction. YounG, T. U. Subjects and Methods of Early Education. V. 13, Dek gore discussion of the merits of object teaching. National Teachers’ Association Committee Report, 1865. Object Teaching. V. 16, p. 245. This is a valuable discussion which sets forth the reasons for assuming the educational positions stated in making the criticisms of the principles and practices of the Oswego plan of object teaching. Account of Borough Road Schools. V. 10, p. 395. A Hand-Book of the British and Foreign School Society, London 1856. Books by Charles and Elizabeth Mayo. V. 14, p. 771. This article is a list of the book productions of Dr. Mayo and his sister related to object teaching. Influence of Pestalozzi on the Infant School System of England. V.9, p. 462. A brief article dealing with the application of Pestalozzian principles to primary instruction in the schools of the English Home and Colonial Infant and Juvenile School Society. — ee = t.-—. 6 CU eee ee Bibliography 115 Lessons on Objects, London, 16th edition, 1859; Philadelphia, 4th edition, 1839. Model Lessons for Teachers, Part I and Part II, 1838, 1853, 1854, 1856, 1857. Lessons on Shells, New York, 1833, London, 1846. Lessons on the Miracles, London, 1845. Religious Instructions, Part I, London, 3rd edition, 1853; Part II, London, ard edition, 1852. Normal and Model Schools of the Home and Colonial Infant and Juvenile School Society. V.9, p. 449. A brief account of the organization and work - of the English Home and Colonial School Society. E. A. SHELDON. V. 15, p. 484. This is a sketch of his life with a portrait accompanying. Primary Instruction by Object Lessons. V. 12, p. 605. This is a report made in 1862 by a committee of investigation which was selected and in- vited to visit Oswego to study the new methods of object teaching. The © committee spent three days (February I1, 12, 13) in reviewing the work of the primary classes. Stow, Davip. Gallery Training Lessons. V. 9, p. 414. General directions regarding preparation for teaching gallery lessons. Specimen of Lessons in the model and training schools of the Home and Colonial School Society. V.9, p. 467. The title is self-explanatory. State Normal and Training School at Oswego, N. Y. V. 16, p. 209. A brief statement regarding the origin and early development of the school. State Normal and Training School at Oswego, N. Y. V.17, p. 713. Prac- tically the same discussion as given in V. 16, p. 209. Floor plans of the first building occupied by the school are reproduced. Statistics of Oswego. V.19, p. 112. References to the general conditions of the library, to salaries, population, enrollment, etc. Statistics of Oswego. V. 29, pp. 176, 317, 353, 358, 363. Scattered sta- tistics of the school given in the Annual Report of the United States Com- missioner, for 1877. The report includes brief references to such matters as population, attendance, number of teachers, etc. Thoughts on Education. V. 13, p. 372. Beginning with page 378 there follows a brief discussion of object teaching. REFERENCES FOUND IN THE Addresses and Journal of Proceedings of the National Education Association BUCHANAN, J. R. Object Teaching. 1883, p. 39. A discussion of the relation of ideas and words as occasioned by the use of objects. CrossBy, W. E. Object Teaching. 1870, p. 80-81. A paper which indicates some of the dangers of the method. Followed by discussion by N. E. Cobleigh and E. A. Sheldon. 116 The Oswego Movement in American Education DicKINsoN, JoHN W. The Objective Element in Teaching. 1887, pp. 70-73. A discussion of the use of objects and subjects as stimuli to pupil activity. HAILMANN, W. N. From Pestalozzi to Froebel. 1880, pp. 128-137. This article presents a discussion of the basic assumptions of Pestalozzi leading to a statement of the laws of object teaching and their relation to the edu- cational doctrines of Froebel. HARRINGTON, HENRY F. Objective Lessons. 1875, p. 167 f. A discussion of objective lessons as means of communicating new experiences and naming the ideas which they originate, in order to give meaning to the words used by children. HERVEY, WALTER L. Object Teaching. 1891, p. 734. Reference made to object teaching in Oswego and the work of Edward Austin Sheldon. HuGuEs, JAMES L. True Objective Teaching. 1896, pp. 387-391. This article points to what the author considered a weakness of the American and English interpretation of Pestalozzian principles. Laturop, Detia A. Object Lessons—Their Value and Place. 1871, pp. 49-64. A very detailed account of the meaning of object teaching with the authoress’ evaluation of its advantages and a statement of the objections brought against it. The paper is followed by discussion from various educators who were present. Mayo, A. D. Object Teaching. 1872, p.17. An able discussion of the topic by one of the most prominent American educators who sympathized with the movement. Discussion by others followed the reading of the paper. . PARKER, FRANCIS W. Influence of Oswego. 1891, p. 89. The following quota- tion indicates the nature of the article: ‘‘One school alone has thrown more light upon better methods than any two universities in the land Oswego and Dr. Sheldon is its prophet.” SHELDON, E. A. Object Teaching. 1862, p. 93-102. This was the first paper Dr. Sheldon presented to the National Education Association on object teaching. It is a complete statement of his understanding of the purposes of education and of the advantages of object teaching in facilitating the realization of those purposes. SHELDON, E. A. The Practice School. 1896, pp. 651-659. A clear statement of the author’s ideas regarding the organization and purposes of a school of practice. SHELDON, E. A. Value of Objective Methods. 1895, pp. 228-230. An exposition of his theory that educational procedure should train children ‘‘to think, to reason, and to express their ideas.”’ SHELDON, E.A. What is the Proper Work of a Primary School? 1870, pp. 103-110. A good statement of the functions of primary education and of how object teaching fits the needs of small children. — _ — = +o a a Bibliography 1 ay SINGER, EDGAR A. Object Lessons. 1880, pp. 113 f. A discussion of the purposes of object teaching. This article gives, as far as it pretends to go, a valuable statement of the aims of the method. SINGER, EpGAR A. Object Lessons and Oral Instruction. 1880, pp. 118-120. This article outlines the work in object teaching for the first three years of school work. SKINNER, C. R. Philosophy of Edward Austin Sheldon. 1898, p. 63-70. A restatement of many of Dr. Sheldon’s declared principles together with an appraisal of Dr. Sheldon asthe author knew him. Tuompson, L. S. Is the Educational Value of the Construction of Objects in our Public Schools overestimated? 1888, pp. 598-602. The question explains the nature of the article. The discussions about manual training occasioned this view of educational values in the use of objects. Witpur, H. B. The Object System of Instruction. 1864, pp. 189-209. This is the paper to which reference has been made in the body of the thesis (Chap. III). It is the most comprehensive printed analysis of object teaching found among the writings of the subject. It is avowedly an attack upon object teaching. NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS The Chicago Daily Tribune for Saturday, August 8, 1863. This gives a report of the National Teachers’ Association meeting held in Chicago at that time. It contains a complete report of Dr. Sheldon’s presentation of object teaching and the resolutions appended. Newspaper clippings. During the period of Oswego studied in this thesis an extensive collection of clippings from the local newspapers was made and preserved. They were valuable in this study for three reasons: (1) they reflected the efforts of the educational interests of Oswego and shed light on the difficulties encountered, and (2) they gave excellent information con- cerning the normal school and object teaching through the articles prepared by Dr. Sheldon on these points, (3) they gave some insight into the attitude of the State educational and legislative authorities toward education and particularly toward the preparation of teachers. The Troy Daily Times for May 8, 1862. Contains a report of the visiting committee of the Troy Board of Education, in which the Oswego plans of school organization and of object teaching are set forth. ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL SHELDON, E. A. An original manuscript dealing with the ‘‘characteristics of a true teacher.’’ An excellent statement showing the high places in which Dr. Sheldon placed teachers and setting forth the qualifications necessary in order to meet the heavy responsibilities of teaching. SHELDON, E. A. Class Notes in ‘‘ School Economy.” The authorship is attrib- uted to Dr. Sheldon although the sets of notes, carefully preserved, were 118 The Oswego Movement in American Education taken by students in Dr. Sheldon’s class in “School Economy.”’ These notes were helpful in interpreting the educational procedure followed at Oswego. SHELDON, E. A. Course of Instruction for the Elementary Training Schools. A curriculum which Dr. Sheldon claims to have made before the existence of that kind of training for teachers. SHELDON, E. A. Course of Instruction for the Oswego Normal and Training School. This is an original manuscript outlining what Dr. Sheldon called the ‘Elementary Preparatory Course,’ and the ‘Advanced Preparatory Course.” It was the development of the one year course in operation when the Oswego Normal School was first formed. SHELDON, E. A. While Miss Jones was in Oswego, Mr. Sheldon sat as a pupil in her classes. Three note-books full of his original notes have been pre- served. These are of great value in showing how he studied the Pestalozzian principles and how he learned to develop sketches of lessons in object teaching. SHELDON, E. A. Original manuscript of Dr. Sheldon’s prepared for presentation to patrons of the Oswego Schools. In these pages he states his understanding of the principles of Pestalozzi, his own arguments for object teaching, and describes the general character of object teaching. SHELDON, E. A. The Training of Teachers. An original manuscript presenting Dr. Sheldon’s views on the importance and means of adequate preparation for teachers. SHELDON, E. A. Personal Correspondence. A very valuable collection of letters which passed between Dr. Sheldon and many prominent educators of his time. These letters were of a personal character but in most cases included some thought or criticism of the work in object teaching being done in Os- wego. Letters are included from Henry Barnard, Miss Elizabeth Mayo, Miss Margaret E. M. Jones, Francis W. Parker, W. T. Harris, Miss Elizabeth Peabody, and many other distinguished contemporaries of Dr. Sheldon. Vieah fF |! An) Oi? *) 8 sla Whe Wy aa ot aan Ry Sew! —s af iF bays a" bi) ¥) * YG TF , S5/ ; i: i ay APPENDIX I FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES OF THE “RAGGED SCHOOL” IN OSWEGO—1849 In the Saturday morning (July 14th, 1849) issue of the Commer- cial Advertiser the second quarterly report of the Association was printed. The following quotation indicates the difficulties which finally brought the immediate work of the organization to a close: ‘““Nearly every abode of poverty and wretchedness has been visited since the opening of warm weather, and for the most part the children have been gathered into day schools and Sunday schools. In this respect a great change has been produced since November Ist. Then, there were hundreds who were not in school—had no prospect of going to school, and who never came under any wholesome moral influences. Now, scarcely a child can be found over the age of five years, if not usefully employed, but is in both some day school and Sunday school. We find that in this respect a great good has been accomplished. We shall regret to see an institution that has greatly effected, and promises to still effect so much for the welfare of this class, nipped in the bud. But without the means it is impossible to go on. Enough has been pledged to meet all the ex- penses of the year, but we find a great want of promptness in the fulfillment of their pledges, which is a fair indication that there is a lack of interest in the effort. This constitutes the only discouraging feature in the case.’’ That such dangers as the lack of adequate financial support and lessened interest beset the project from the earliest days of the work done by Mr. Sheldon as teacher in the ‘‘ragged school”’ is shown by the closing sentences of the first annual report made April 16th, 1849: ‘‘We feel, however, that no interest should be taken from the school, but rather that we should renew our efforts to sustain it, as there is every encouragement from the success that has attended the effort thus far; the good that it has al- ready accomplished and promises still to accomplish. The Association is very much in want of funds to meet its expenses, and unless some means can be de- vised to increase its funds and collect what has already been subscribed, they will be compelled to suspend operations. We should exceedingly regret to have it fail for want of support, for we know of no way by which, with the same amount of means, more good can be accomplished.” APPENDIX II LOCAL INTEREST IN OSWEGO FOR FREE SCHOOLS—1849 That a great amount of local interest was developed regarding the proposals for free schools may be sensed by the following editorials: (1) Commercial Advertiser, December Igth, 1849, Oswego, N. Y. Editorial—City Schools. We publish the proceedings of a highly respectable meeting of our citizens, to devise some plan for the improvement of our district schools. We are glad to see the movement of leading citizens in the promotion of a cause so beneficent and important as the education of the children of the city. The movement to elevate the standard and extend the blessings of common school education to all, is in the spirit of the new law and in harmony with a growing public sentiment that looks to the amelioration of society and the perpetuation of republican in- stitutions, by the efficiency of universal intelligence and intellectual cultivation. (2) Commercial Advertiser, Thursday, November 29th, 1849. Editorial—Free Schools. By the late vote of our ‘‘Free School Act” our public schools have become free. This every lover of improvement must hail as a bright omen for our State. In point of wealth and political importance, she has long ranked as the Empire State of the Union, but in regard to Education, she has been obliged to yield the palm to a sister state. The State, by the high rank she has ever taken in the scale of intelligence, has been able to exert an influence far greater than that of wealth or numerical power. This difference we can only attribute to the fact, that edu- cation is free, to all classes. Knowledge is power. As a State then would become great and powerful, she must not only remove every obstacle to the attainment of knowledge, but use every means in her power to facilitate its acquisition. We understand it to be the bounden duty of the State to enact any and every law that will tend to promote the general good. In this light, we believe it to be her duty, not only to provide for the education of all, but also to see that every child zs educated, that they improve the advantages afforded them. If parents refuse or neglect to educate their children, the State should take them under its own tutelage. Were we asked what one thing tends most to diminish crime and pauperism, we would answer, free education. Education begets self-respect, and that feeling of inde- pendence which begets energy and enterprise, and just in proportion as men learn to respect themselves, they will respect the rights and happiness of others. Now, merely in a pecuniary point of view, it is better for the State to educate ten children than to support one pauper or convict, to say nothing of the difference in regard to morals, intelligence, and consequent usefulness as citizens. And what applies to States, applies with equal force to smaller communities. Does it not become us then, as a city, to look after, and provide for, the education of the great mass of children and youth coming into our midst, and soon to claim citizen- ship with us? No one, who has given it the least thought or examination, can A ppendix 124 but realize the importance, not to say absolute necessity, of some immediate, systematic, and efficient action on this subject. In the first quarterly report of the ‘Orphan Association’’ we saw it stated that there were, previous to their efforts, hundreds of children between the ages of six and fifteen, who did not know ‘‘A, B, C,”’ and we have no reason to doubt the statement. It is a lament- able fact, that great numbers are growing up uneducated, whose influence, through the ballot box, will soon be as powerful ‘‘for weal or woe”’ as that of the most intelligent. We all see and deplore such a state of things; but what is to be done? Our present schoolhouses will not contain more than two-thirds of the children who ought to be in school; and in one district we might mention, the house will not hold one-third of the children drawing public money. We see no alternative but to erect new buildings or to enlarge old ones. It seems to us that the time has come when our schools should undergo a thorough remodeling and reorgani- zation. All, or nearly all, of our sister cities have systematized their public school education, erected fine, spacious buildings, and put them under the charge of the most competent teachers. Why cannot we do as much? We cannot but hope that some effort will be made in this direction soon. As soon as the present press of business is past, we think it might be well to call a public meeting of the citizens to gain a free expression of feeling in regard to the best course for us to pursue, and what system to adopt, if any, etc. etc. We believe that such a call would be heartily responded to by our generous and public-hearted citizens. APPENDIX III COURSES OF STUDY IN THE PRIMARY DEPARTMENT OF THE SCHOOLS OF THE CITY OF OSWEGO, 1859-1860 First YEAR First Term Webb’s Cards Spelling in connection with Reading Object Lessons Moral Lessons Printing Lessons on Slates Physical Exercises Conversational Exercises or Lessons Lessons on Form... ../.9., seein step Lessons on Color... ..........18¢ step Lessons on Objects. . .. Ist step Lessons on Size. J... /...), 15 sees Lessons on Human Body.. ....1st step Lessons on Animals, with pictures Physical actions and employments Moral instruction, Ist step begun, as found in “Graduated Course,” as also lessons drawn from daily oc- currences, and from various miscel- laneous works, as ‘‘Cowdry’s Moral Lessons,’’ ‘‘Simple Lessons,” ‘‘ Moral Class Book,” “A Kiss for a Blow,” “Evening Readings,’ ‘“‘Evenings at Home,” ‘Peep of Day,” ‘Precept upon Precept,’ ‘‘Line upon Line,” “Here a Little and There a Little.” Learn names of objects, qualities, and animals employed in lessons, and an additional number of easy words given on the board, so far as the objects, actions or qualities repre- sented by the words, can be presented to the senses of the children, or where the children are perfectly familiar with them. Second Term Progressive Primer to p. 40 Spelling in connection with Reading Object Lessons Moral Lessons Printing Lessons on Slates Physical Exercises Lessons on Objects..... 2nd step begun Lessons on Form.......2nd step begun Lessons on Color.......2nd step begun Lessons on Size. ....... 2nd step begun Lessons on Human Body 2nd step begun Lessons on Animals..... Ist step begun A ppendix 125 Second Term General Exercises Lessons on Pictures of Common objects Physical actions and employments, 2nd step begun Moral Instruction, Ist step completed, and miscellaneous topics and selec- tions, as first term. Learn easy words from board and cards as first term, and read easy lessons in Progressive Primer to page 40. Third Term Progressive Primer Completed Lessons on Objects... ..2nd step con’t. Spelling in connection with Reading Lessons on Form....... ard step con’t. Object Lessons Lessons on Color....... 3rd step con’t. Moral Lessons Lessons on Size........2nd step con’t. Printing Lessons on Slates Lessons on Human Body 3rd step con’t. Physical Exercises Lessons on Animals... ..2nd step con’t. General Exercises Lessons on Number, Ist step with objects Lessons on Pictures, 2nd step of common objects Lessons on Physical..... 2nd step con’t. Actions, etc. Moral Instruction, 2nd step begun in connection with miscellaneous topics and selections as before. Reading, complete Progressive Primer Spelling from Reading books by sounds or powers of the letters. SECOND YEAR First Term Progressive First Reader to Lesson 35 Lessons on Objects... ..3rd step begun Spelling in connection with Reading Lessons on Form....... 4th step begun Writing and Reading of Numbers, Lessons on Color. ...... 4th step begun orally taught Lessons on Size........3rd step begun Object Lessons Lessons on Weight...... Ist step begun Moral Lessons Lessons on Animals..... 2nd step con't. Printing Lessons on Slates Lessons on Human Body 4th step begun Physical Exercises Lessons on Number... ..1st step con’t. General Exercises Simple Lessons in Drawing Lessons on Physical Actions, etc., 3rd step begun Moral Instruction. .....2nd step con’t. Reading, Progressive First Reader to Lesson 35. 126 The Oswego Movement in American Education First Term Spelling, same as last term. Printing lessons on Slates. Gymnastic Exercises, alternating with other lessons. Second Term Progressive Reader to Lesson 57 Spelling in Connection with Reading Schell’s Arithmetic, to Subtraction Object Lessons Moral Lessons Printing Lessons on Slates Physical Exercises General Exercises Simple Lessons in Drawing Lessons on Objects... ..3rd step con’t. *Lessons on Form......4th step con’t. Lessons on Color....... 5th step “ Lessons on Size........ 4th step “ Lessons on Weight .....2nd step “ Lessons on Animals.....3rd step “ Lessons on Human Body 4th step con’t. Lessons on Number, 2nd step with ob- jects. Moral Instruction, 3rd step begun and other topics and selections as in previous terms. Reading, Progressive First Reader to Lesson 57. Spelling, as before. Printing Lessons on Slates. Gymnastics as last term. *Elementary Lesson begun. Third Term Progressive First Reader, completed Spelling in connection with Reading Schell’s Arithmetic, to Multiplication Object Lessons Moral Lessons Printing Lessons on Slates Physical Exercises General Exercises Simple Lessons in Drawing Lessons on Objects, 4th step begun in connection with lessons on miscellan- eous objects. | Lessons on Form, 4th step Elementary Lessons continued. Lessons on Color, 6th step. Lessons on Place, Ist step in connection with ‘‘Geography for Young Child- ren.” Lessons on Number, 3rd step with objects. Lessons on Animals, 4th step begun. Lessons on Drawing before the children, Ist step. Also from ‘‘ Boston Primary School Tablets.” Miscellaneous Lessons from Occasional Exercises, as found in the ‘Graduated Course.” ee — A ppendix 127 Third Term Moral Instruction, 3rd step continued, together with additional topics and selections as before. Reading, Progressive First Reader, con’t. Selling, Printing on Slates, and Gym- nastics, as before. THIRD YEAR First Term Progressive Second Reader to Lesson 22 Lessons on Objects...... 4th step con’t. Spelling in connection with Reading Lessons on Form.......4th step con’t. Town’s Speller, to Lesson 35 Lessons on Place, 2nd step in connection Schell’s Arithmetic, to Division with ‘‘ Geography for Young Children.” Object Lessons Lessons on Drawing, 2nd step in con- Moral Lessons nection with “Tablets.” Physical Exercises Lessons on Number, 4th step with General Exercises objects. Simple Lessons in Drawing Lessons on Animals, 4th step con’t. with Writing on Slates additional pictures. Lessons on Plants, in connection with pictures of the organs and parts of plants. Miscellaneous Exercises from ‘‘Occa- sional Lessons.”’ Moral Instruction, 4th step begun with other topics and selections added as before. An occasional piece of descriptive poetry may be committed, during the three terms of this year, for recitation. Reading, Progressive Second Book to Lesson 22. Spelling, in connection with Reading, and Town’s Speller to Lesson 35. Spelling by names of the letters may now be introduced; but frequent exercises should be had in spelling by the powers of the letters. Gymnastic Exercises as in previous terms. Second Term Progressive Second Reader to Lesson Lessons on Objects, 5th step begun 50 and additional subjects, as before. 128 The Oswego Movement in American Education Second Term Spelling in connection with Reading Lessons on Place, 3rd step in connection Town’s Speller, to Lesson 55 with ‘““My Little Geography’’ and Schell’s Arithmetic, through Division “‘Geographical Charts,’ and ‘‘Geog- Object Lessons raphy for Children.” Moral Lessons Lessons in Number, 5th step with Physical Exercises objects. General Exercises Lessons in Natural History, with pic- Simple Lessons in Drawing tures, including animals and plants. Writing on Slates Lessons in Drawing, Lesson for first class in ‘‘Eye and Hand” and from “Tablets.” ji Moral Instruction, 4th step continued accompanied as before with miscel- laneous topics and selections. Reading, Progressive Second Reader to Lesson 50. Spelling, as last term. Town’s Speller, to Lesson 55. Gymnastics as before. Lessons arising out of incidental cir- cumstances, showing the children wherein the disposition or conduct brought before them, agrees or dis- agrees with the standard of the Bible, should be introduced, not only at this point, but throughout the entire course, as often as opportunity offers. Third Term Progressive Second Reader completed Lessons on Objects, 5th step con’t., and Spelling in connection with Reading additional subjects. Town’s Speller to Part 2 Lessons on Place, 4th step substituting Schell’s Arithmetic, Reviewed State of New York and United Object Lessons States of American for England, etc. Moral Lessons Lessons on Number, 6th step with Physical Exercises objects. General Exercises Lessons in Natural History, Zoology, Simple Lessons in Drawing with pictures. Writing on Slates Lessons in Drawing Lesson for Second Class in ‘‘Eye and Hand,” and from Tablets.” Moral Instruction as last term. Reading, Progressive Second Reader, complete Spelling, as last term, going to Part II in Speller. Appendix 129 Third Term Gymnastics as before. In all Lessons on objects, where it is possible, the objects themselves should be presented to the children, and when they cannot be obtained, pic- tures should be used. In all lessons on animals, either speci- mens or pictures should be presented to the children. In connection with the second courses of study the following quotation offers further explanations of the character and purposes of the work: ‘“‘In the above plan of studies the object is not so much to impart information as to educate the senses; arouse, quicken, and develop the perceptive and con- ceptive faculties, teach the children to observe, and to awaken a spirit of in- quiry. To this end the pupils must be encouraged to do most of the talking and acting. They must be allowed to draw their own conclusions, and if wrong led to correct them. The books should only be used for reference and as models for the lessons to be given. Every lesson should be previously and carefully pre- pared by the teacher, so that she may go before the class with a feeling of ease and confidence. The children should be allowed to have two short recesses of ten minutes each, morning and afternoon, and gymnastics and signing exercises should be frequently introduced to give change to position and rest to the child- ren, and keep up an animated and pleasant state of feeling. The younger children should not be detained at the school building to exceed four hours each day and the older ones may be excused as they get through with their exercises, not to exceed one hour before the regular time of closing the other schools, both morning and afternoon.” APPENDIX IV SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF MARGARET E. M. JONES For the details of the life of Margaret E. M. Jones, the first principal of the Oswego Normal and Training School, we are in- debted to her sister, Mrs. Bessie Coghlan, of London.1 “Mrs. Jones was born in Bond Street, London, England, about 1824. Her father was a highly intellectual man, a great reader and rare conversationalist. Her mother was gifted with many graces which fitted her to adorn society and made her the idol of her husband and children. Margaret, the daughter of these favored parents, had a fondness for learning, even when a tiny child. No one knew how she learned to read, and at the age of four years, no book was too difficult for her. She mastered French and German with little help, committed pages of favorite authors, celebrated family events by poems, at the age of twelve; and those not being the days-of cheap books and circulating libraries, she bor- rowed reading matter from all who would lend.” ‘Feeling that she was the eldest daughter of six children and therefore ought to support herself, she was advised by her friend, Mrs. John Valpy, to be trained at the Home and Colonial College, London, for a governess. On entering this college she found herself delighted with everything taught there, especially every word relating to mental science and the theory of education. She listened to all lectures upon these subjects and reported them, even more fully than they were given—her clear, far-reaching thought enabling her to go beyond the thing said to the larger thought behind and below the expression.” “At the end of her training at the Home and Colonial College, she was appointed one of the Head Governesses. As the Home and Colonial College was the pioneer of all teaching, Whiteland’s Training School applied there for a Head Govern- ess who could give lessons on Education, Methods, and Criticism. Mr. Reynolds felt that there was no one who would be so fit for this position as my sister. She was at Whiteland’s about a year, I believe, but for certain reasons, so disliked the work as carried on there, that she returned to the Home and Colonial and there remained until she was selected to go to your College (Oswego Training School) in 1861.” “T do not think that any work she ever did gave her more pleasure than that at Oswego. She loved you all and was never tired of talking of the intellect of the Americans, and their enormous capability of acquirement as well as of all the love and kindness she met while in Oswego.” “She returned to England in the summer of 1862, and about three and a half years after leaving Oswego she married her cousin, Mr. Lawrence Jones.”’ ‘I may add that for some time she occasionally wrote poetry for a weekly newspaper, and that she published several stories, a book of poems, etc.”’ 1 Taken from the printed Report of the First Quarter Century of the Oswego State Normal and Training School, which includes addresses and letters read on the 25th anniversary of the school, July 8th, 1886. Appendix 13 ' “Throughout her life she had been most amiable and unselfish—religious in the highest and widest sense—possessing a power of seeing the best side of every- one. Perhaps for her own happiness she has been too sensitive. Unkindness might vex and annoy others—it deeply wounded her. She had the highest moral nature and never left a difficult duty undone, though her nervous temperament made her shrink from asserting herself. She was considered an excellent teacher; she thoroughly knew her subject, her selection of words was perfect; all her expla- nations were most clear. Her patience, her gentle voice, and her loving interest endeared her to all who learned from her.”’ The alumni of the classes of ’62 and ’63 remember Mrs. Jones with deep affec- tion, respect, and admiration. In her there was a rare mingling of qualities; she was all gentleness, love, persuasive patience, diffidence, reverence for human nature. She had almost infinite tenderness for children, for the suffering, for the erring. In all the gentler graces she was truly Christ-like; but she was also brave, heroic, undaunted; she was far-sighted and large-minded; she came quickly with sympathy with those whose thinking and working were in fields remote from her own. She was in short, truly philosophic—possessing power to see things in their true relations.” Her pupils in America remember her criticisms upon lessons given before her as so many gems—clear, faultless, diffusing light. In their strong light faults unseen before were plainly shown, but most of all the virtues, the strong points in the lesson given were revealed for our inspection, appreciation, and imitation. As a critic Mrs. Jones was a master; ner language was classic; her influence refining and inspiring, and when she returned to England she left upon us a blessing, spirtual as well as intellectual. While in Oswego she assisted Mr. Sheldon in the preparation of “Sheldon’s Manual for Teachers.” Many of the strongest graduates of our school, those who have taken charge of training classes, owe their first insight and inspiration to Mrs. Jones. Thou- sands of teachers in the United States, and even in other lands to which Oswego graduates have gone, little dream they owe much of inspiration and progress to the critical work of the first Principal of the Oswego Normal—Mrs. M. E. M. Jones. Nineteen years after Mrs. Jones returned to England, Miss Mary D. Sheldon and Dr. Mary V. Lee were making a protracted stay in England, and were in- vited to visit Mrs. Jones, then living in Pontefract, Yorkshire. They will never forget the gracious and generous hospitality they received, nor the kindly interest with which each one of Mrs. Jones’ American pupils was remembered. Mrs. Jones was in the fullest possession of her remarkable powers, alive to all interests at home and abroad, her deep and charming conversation shedding light upon various subjects, her tenderness and sympathy creating about her a heavenly atmosphere. Later Mrs. Jones visited Dr. Lee and Miss Sheldon at Cambridge, their college home, and was intensely interested in seeing all that famous univer- sity was doing for women. Mrs. Jones is still living, and not infrequently sends to her Oswego friends papers narrating English events which may be interesting to them. APPENDIX V SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF HERMAN KRUSI, A.M.t Herman Kriisi was born in 1817, at Yverdon, Switzerland. His father was a teacher in the school of Pestalozzi, then at the height of its popularity. Four years later, however, he resigned his position, and removed with his family to the Canton of Appenzal. Soon after he established a private normal school in Gais, and it was in this school that Herman Kriisi received his early education. From 1835 to 1838 he pursued academical studies in Dresden and Berlin, visited and studied the workings of the Prussian Normal Schools, which were the best in Europe, and were chiefly conducted by men who had been students under Pestalozzi. Returning to Gais, he assisted in the Normal School until 1846, when the death of his father caused the school to be given up, and Kriisi was obliged to seek elsewhere for employment. Two situations were offered to him—the one from Dr. Mayo, as teacher in a private school in England; the other as tutor in the family of a Russian nobleman. He chose the former and was soon on his way to England. Dr. Mayo’s school was situated at Cheam, fifteen miles from London, and was patronized by the wealthy classes and the nobility. But the methods of teaching employed there—namely the old routine system—were distasteful to Kriisi, and he resigned at the end of the year. On leaving Cheam, he visited the Home and Colonial School in London, and while there was invited to join the corps of teachers. This school aimed to have all its work based upon the principles of Pestalozzi. Kriisi accepted the situation, and became teacher of arithmetic and drawing, and also aided in working out methods of instruction. During the three years that he was connected with the school, he arranged a course of inventive drawing—the first that was ever prepared, and which was afterward introduced into Massachusetts by Mr. Whitaker, who had been his pupil in London. All work on this subject can clearly be traced back to the work of Kriisi, from which later authors have freely borrowed. In 1852 he returned to Switzerland, intending to teach the youth of his own land; but soon after, through the recommendation of Dr. Lowell Mason and others who had seen his work in London, a situation was offered him by Professor William Russell, who had established a private Normal institute in Lancaster, Mass. This gave him an opportunity to realize one of his cherished dreams—to visit America—and in 1852 he again left his mountain home to begin work in a new land. For three years he had charge in this institution of the departments of modern languages and drawing, and also, for a time, the mathematical department. It was during this time that he wrote his work on perspective, which was published in 1857. Kriisi was afterwards engaged as a regular lecturer before the Massachusetts State Institutes, under the direction, first, of Dr. Sears, and afterward, of Hon. 1 Reproduced from the Quarter-Centennial Report of the Oswego State Normal and Training School. : : A ppendix a2 George S. Boutwell. This work brought him into intimate association with his own distinguished countrymen, Agassiz and Guyot, and also with Mason, Rus- sell, Emerson, Northrop, and Tenney, and other well-known educators. It was through the influence of these and later friends that, in 1871, Yale College be- stowed upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. In the Institutes, Kriisi’s subjects were arithmetic and drawing. In the latter subject his was truly pioneer work. Only a few educators in the great centers had awakened to the importance of drawing as a branch of instruction in the common schools, and people generally were much opposed to spending time and money on what was considered as only an accomplishment, and useless to the common people. In 1857 Kriisi accepted a call to become one of the teachers in the State Nor- mal School at Trenton, N. J., retaining, however, for the first year, his connection with the Institutes of Massachusetts, devoting to them a part of his time. He remained in Trenton two years, and then returned to Massachusetts. His Institute work was not confined to that State. It embraced New Hamp- shire also, and in 1860 and 1861 he did the same work in Ohio. In 1862 Kriisi went to Oswego, New York, at the request of Mr. E. A. Sheldon, who had established a Training School for teachers, founded upon Pestalozzian principles. From that time until now (1887), fully twenty-five years, Professor Kriisi’s work has been chiefly connected with that of the Oswego Normal School. He was first employed to elaborate number, form, and drawing. The latter subject he taught and superintended in the Normal School as well as in the schools of the city. The inventive principle, which induced the pupils to find designs for them- selves, was also applied to Geometry, where the members of the class found solu- tions for their problems by their own ingenuity, i. e. not with the help of a book. This work was very successful, and it was pleasant to witness the animation and intelligence of his classes. He also taught Philosophy of Education, including Mental and Moral Philosophy, without a book, by appealing to the experience and to the reflective powers of the pupils themselves. It was to be expected that Kriisi’s mind should be exercised by Pestalozzi. As the son of the earliest co-laborer of the great Swiss school reformer, he felt it his duty to contribute a share to his better appreciation in America. This he did by the publication of a book, entitled Pestalozzi, His Life and Work. Another publication, which has reached thousands of schools throughout the Union, is Kriisi’s drawing course, the systematically arranged exercises of which —based upon a graded evolution of form—have contributed much to what is known as “‘Industrial Drawing.” The department of Modern Languages, French and German, was also under his charge. Although the classes were not large, the instruction given has never failed to enlist enthusiasm and intelligent pupils. After fifty years of teaching, of which twenty-five have been spent in the Oswego Normal School, Kriisi is about to retire from his labors as a public teacher. His unfailing health has permitted him to attend to his duties with hardly a day’s absence. Moreover, the friendly relations in which he has stood to his colleagues and pupils have rendered his task so easy and pleasant as never 134 The Oswego Movement in American Education to deprive him of strength and courage. But duties toward his old home and distant members of his family, induce him to leave to younger teachers the task of carrying further on the work so auspiciously begun by the unwearied exertions of Dr. E. A. Sheldon. Mr. Kriisi has so endeared himself to his pupils during the past twenty-five years, that his name will be long cherished in living hearts. The clear, simple, and logical way in which he analyzed a subject into its simple elements, thus opening it up to the understanding, his quiet, conversational manner, and plea- sant humor made the conditions for mental activity and growth the best possible. Outside of class, too, the pupils had in him a genial, sympathetic friend, in- terested in their lives, entertaining and instructive in conversation, and full of poetic imagination, which helped others to live in a world idealized by pure and noble thought. Added to their respect for his power and faithfulness to duty, his simple, modest, and child-like spirit won for him the affection of all. ‘A strong or cultivated mind may challenge respect; but there is needed a noble one to win affection.” APPENDIX VI COPY OF THE ACT ESTABLISHING THE TRAINING CLASS AT OSWEGO An Act! for the support of the Training School for Primary Teachers. Passed May 4, 1863; three-fifths being present. The people of the State of New York, represented in the Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section I, The Treasurer shall pay annually for two years on the warrant of the Comptroller to the order of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the sum of three thousand dollars, for the support of a training school in the city of Oswego, for the preparation of primary teachers for the common schools of this State, provided that the citizens or the Board of Education in said city, shall, within one year from the passage of this act, provide the necessary buildings, grounds and other accommodations and appliances for such school as directed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and provided further that there shall be instructed in said school for a period of at least forty weeks in each year, not less than fifty teachers, designing to teach in the common schools of this State; and provided further that each of the Senatorial Districts of this State shall respectively be entitled to send annually to said training school two first- class teachers, each to be appointed by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, after they have been duly recommended by two county school Commissioners, or by city Superintendent of Schools residing in the district for which the appointment is made; and all teachers thus appointed to said Training School may receive instruction and training in everything that is taught in said school free of charge of tuition. Section II. The said school shall be subject to the supervision and general direction of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; and the Board of Education shall constitute an executive committee for the immediate care, management, and government of said school, with power to make all needful and proper rules and regulations concerning the same, subject to the approval of the Superinten- dent of Public Instruction. Section III. The executive committee as above constituted, shall annually transmit to the Legislature, through the Superintendent of Public Instruction, a report of their transactions under this Act, including a statement in detail of the expenditure of all moneys, together with a statement of the progress and prospects of the school, which report shall first be approved by the Superinten- dent of Public Instruction. Section IV. The first year of said school shall be deemed to commence on the day which the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall certify to the Comp- troller as the day on which the requirements of the first section of this Act, rela- tive to providing the building and other appliances of the school shall have been complied with. 1A copy of the Act establishing the Training School at Oswego. 136 The Oswego Movement in American Education Section V. If less than fifty teachers are instructed in said school as provided in the first section of this Act, there shall be paid only a corresponding portion of the sum appropriated by this Act. Section VI. This Act shall take effect immediately. STATE OF NEW YORK Secretary’s Office I have compared the preceding with the original law on file in this office, and do hereby certify that the same is a correct transcript therefrom, and of the whole of said original law. . Given under my hand and seal of office, at the City of Albany, the twenty- third of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. J. WEsLEY SMITH, Deputy Secretary of State. =— APPENDIX VII RESIDENCE DISTRIBUTION OF GRADUATES OUTSIDE OF NEW YORK STATE, 1862-1886 TE ae oe Bc RATINGS, tee tees ell. cal ie be aL OI POUCA ae e h4)a alee «one ee TORBOEHOUC, oo. ss... Sho P EA EMIANC 2 2's i's.4 a: Made eae tS LS Ns kaatlals Vea ee ref ent 7 DPD eTATIDY ..6 oes es de criss Piney Toint.) 3° 4. ES a a WiASSaChUSeLtG sf) susuis'< « aeoley DRE MRI ds ne sk 'sw ss eevee I PTC DULY ene tine he RY Frederica...... PROSE OU es wheats Sle ea a a fants MS ee 55, os ais, wd I2 Oa) CE ee ame We AEN f OS re Bast amiptonaicacys 0 aoe mite t ; haa a A Newburyport 22.0. ot i TS ees Nott hainpton : mr daw isons ae ay en Aen als Shelburne sr Pee ee gt ee Pe ee es ss dnb Suen ae Sorinietieltl 2 si4..0 70) setae erats PE es MOD IIE 6i¢05.. Yu) ampere ea nn col EMP ck aie GS is etiasay 4 WLICHIC AT o's diosa Oe oa ee eae. Sycamore.... POEIAID SO Sic Ba thst ak ee PN ATUL ro yes u's oe ds w sche Crane Dileep he. cena Dae UR Sap ER a IICCATIP Ch Se aie MIA ete 8.0 nia i ote ele 20 PIRXPOTY faites kates ae le GG eae |e Caraga Rapids: .. iia sso BRNO hs 0S via inc gee Bey as oT HAT a Ue Ay aR RHR RAL gd Oo NS ANS ee age Three Rivers.......... Franklin.... VEL RGIE Te lay cer ats Cy ens eae aa Guilford..... Holden....... Indianapolis. . ep okeey Ie beasi ies). ee a viv we eo oes De Se a. ic his 5 hao + Sraalia res See yh Ree Meer a ESS a a Newi Hampshire... 22x 0722018 REE oe oss nv sable knee MASE tes hnoied fete POM PRIDETY e, cio ou hala tdoaia ie New Jersey...... Ooh 2 aR ee ee DEVE e a Sai vas a a eS Merrett tet So ts ee ays Bloomfield......... POET oth Sia en a Vw ahaly CROSEWICK Bis. inna smug Spiceland..... Haddonfield......... Bae aceon, « ..\.. 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Indiana seek ki ica eee I Beloit) sc. 2. ee Kenneth Square. ia. vd Berlin. 0.5.) cca Manayunk lt» ar eee I Hingham )353i5 2U eee Mea diy rl bet 002 ie) Sues Daron ane I Jamesville, -. <<... 7.4) sseee Meriers Oe 80 ve oe I Platteville. .:),..4 2 2200eeee Philadelphia args as aed AA del 4 ForEIGN COUNTRIES Wego ity pk ee i lide Wa ; Canada... .i<4i4s eee EROMIGONGO..'. 22) 1h) teen : New Brunswick 6 ry gos (6 aa gh cn dE I rederickton jn ee Rhode: Tela (iti ah tke ee 3 Ontario Poster: Center ii sy ool iy sues Bloomfield........ other a Erle a8 fone ahd eae , Chippewa. . . st Westerly 2 orci. net Sealants Speedside:.) ) OTeYNgG AIUYIIIS Jun “MA Arey ‘spidey pueis) Ul sjooyosg jo "ydng Jooyss YystH (Yor) (‘si %{1) aouaI0g [eo spidey pueiry jo yedmurg -IWiaya pue jesskyg jo ‘Awapeoy esepuoug pure *@Sgr ‘a8a]joD uoT quatujyiedsq jo asieyd jpooyos ONYsIP ul Jeyoeay -uPyQ ‘AWwapeoy pueyzi0; Le. 3u013S ‘VY UIMpy (‘st 91) ‘eg ‘erydjep "eg ‘erydjap ‘p1ose1 ON[ = -e[IY_ ul sjooyos jo [edioulig -e[Iyg Jo jooysg oyqng ze uevky Arley (84, O82]10D ee Wwol1j pojyenpeis 103e7T) Lae ‘Auejog pue ‘yaaIn ‘ul ‘jooyIG 1 sulurely, pue -yeT ‘A1OJSIFT JO Jayoray [PWION 937815 O3aIMSCO Joqy “‘W Weyl "JOOYISG AjaI9 -OG solueyoayy [edioulig * x "N ‘arenbs uozsulysep, uo jooysg Suluuey pue y1eID ey} Ul uljey] pue yaeID jo Jayseay,, ‘AWapeoy wepssjs ‘uljey pue -wy 9y} jo [edrioursg “Apejsa yooty ‘reurery ysjsuq -uayds ul JooYydS A1ozeIedaIg Cq'V) a8ajop uoruy ; UI YIOM 9Y} JO adIeYyD aS8alJOD uoluy e jolediung ‘Awopeoy ppeyuey uapue}jnIy “Y praeqg OZaMSO 3e dousIIadxy SNOIAIL SUIUIVIT [eUOIssajolg Jusutjuroddy oweN soaring [euorssajo1g pue o1ysejoyaS jO OUT], 3e asy The Oswego Movement in American Education 150 ‘orYyO “WeuUTUTD “TOoyIS Sululely pue [eulIoN AyD jo quowjIedsq so10e1g jo jed -lDULIg pue [ooYyss JeWIWeIX) "€Z, pue jo yediung ‘2321S "A ‘N69, ‘Jooyds suturery pue ‘spoy}eyT JO Joyovay, jo sfooyos o1jqnd url Jayovay, [eULIONY 2}3e1G OSIMS— IZ Sully ‘yf Arey Den ‘uojsoullg ‘uorjnzIWsUyT ueliayAqsetg “AN ‘ayia -ayjoprey )«=—s_ ‘Aeururas ‘OISNJAT JO Joyora TL doUdIIJUOT =- JSIPOY JAP of ysinyysieg ©) uyof ‘preAalepY pue "99, ‘asa][OD ‘(st 11) ‘ourepy ‘JoyJogq UlopMog }e 9sUlIpsut ulopMog VN (‘uO}{) ‘sjooy9S jo “ydng ‘(‘siA_ paipnyg “(‘sIA Z) 980] ‘cP, as8aTJOD ‘(sth b) saoua €1) ‘aureyy ‘Jayjog ‘Awa -[O) UlOpMOg ‘ouleyy qyAraem, =6CWINO(‘U0O#) -I9g [eIn}JeN jo JoyoeRay, -peoy s,pjnoyg jo jediurg ‘yoursex ur Awoeproy mip, UeUJayoN [ jarueyyeN “Iq ‘Auiapeoy sAog Aueqiy 24} jo juawyzred ‘cL, pue -aq Asojyesredoig oy} ul Jo Of, ‘jooyosg Bulure1y pue -yoeay, ‘(JA I) [OOYDS YSIy UID [PWION 93e}G OBIMSCO ‘uIyey] pue ‘yaeID ‘A10} -}sam & Jo [edtoulg (‘SIA S$) *69, ‘2}NINsSU] 97 eISa]JOD -SI]] [elousy jo Joyoeay, sjooyss ysIp ul Jayoray pue Awaepeoy P10jJXO of dIOOPY STARG AIP, “SIT "a32] ‘Apeyoousyog = -[OD) [PULION, 9}e1g Aueq ye [OOYDS uoTUy) UT JeYySRaL, -[Y “JOoysS ys CfeyNg ‘pIOOBION ‘OTeyNg url Jayors} Arewlig pue sjooysg seal ze dy “y Apa O3aMsSC 32 QoUsIedxyY SNOIAdig SUIUTeIT [PUOISSajJOIg quowjuloddy oweN sorjnq [euoissajoig pue oIjsejoysIS JO ow] Je asy I51 A ppendix ‘91n} -[ND Jeoshyg jo as1eyy ‘Apog ueumnyzy pue ‘Aue -j0g ‘ASoj[0o7 Ul spoyiyy ‘A30[007 ‘AS8o0jo1sAUg jo Jayora} se pauin} ‘UUIJ, ‘EUOUTAA 3e [OOYIS "PL, ‘JOOYIS -a1 peroiqe Apnjs pue [eULION UI Joyoeay ‘“eMO] $ [POIPosy ‘APISIOAIU() JPAeI] Joy ‘wioy pue ‘yodusArg ‘fooyss Bururery ues ‘souof sstfy Aydeis008 ‘Auvjog ‘sur AyD JO asieyy ‘sjooyos YA sseyD Burlurery jew -peady url spoyjeyy ‘so1} oqnd uojuIsuay pu ‘uUTe -ION 93e%1G OSIMSQ ‘09, -seuutAr) ‘SuIpeay oOs[e -WIg MON ‘Pleye[PPlN ‘ploy ‘urewig MaN ‘fooyos ‘ASojoisAyg jo JayIVay, -VeP{ ‘pjeyiseAA Ul JayoVay, [euloN ynorjo9uU07 297 ‘A Alen ‘ISN [e90A pue Surjjedg ‘uo eae -Isoduio7) ‘o110}9YY JO Ja pue 1Z, Jooydg BSuturery -yoea} ‘19}eT ‘[OOYIS 991} pue jeulioN 9}e1¢ -IeIg ay} Jo Juswiedaq ‘sjooyos ose] O8aMSQO 6K UCN OU Jonf ul Only ‘yssy -[IA pue JOIIsSIq UI Joyseay -[ng ‘Areututag Aaley I31s9T ‘V 'O "JOOYIS 991} ‘pL, ‘Jooyds sururery -eIg 9Y4} Jo Juouysedaq pue |[ewioN 23e1S Areullig oy} jo jedi OZ9MSQ “89, “JOOYIS -UlIg pue JayoVay IID «= ‘SsfooydS puLWOg Ul Jayoray YsSty (eurepy) pueryi40g IZ QOUIIML’T [Oqes] ‘JOOYIS Sulurely, ‘[OoyIS YSIP{ UyJog pue jeulloN 93e1S *‘JOOYIS 991} UI JayIVay ‘sjooyss ase] oO8amsgQ ‘gd, ‘(‘SIM) -oeIg Jotunf jo os1eyd -[IA pue OLM\sIP Ul JoyoeVay ‘JooyIG Ys ulleg ZZ SUT[JOD JIVMIIS PIA O3IaMSQ 3e VoUsTIVdxy SNOIADIg SUIUIVIT [PUOISSaJOIg qusuijuroddy due N saijnq [euorssajoig pue osejoyos jO oul], #e os The Oswego Movement in American Education 152 —————— ee _s — ee ee —— ‘el, ‘jooy9g |= SUIUIeI,, pue [WULION’ 3381G O3aMS_O ‘p10d91 ON ‘au0oN ‘Awapeoy ywodspsa\\ SWIT]IM ept ‘S ‘quowiyiedsq Arewtig , 94} jo yediourig “JOoYyIS adr Sululely, jo Juawjsedaq ‘jooyIS 1 SuIUIeIy[, pue Jotunf{ 94} Ul SID ‘Issy ‘sjooyos o11qnd ul Jaysvay, [eVWION 23e}G OdaMsC_ Japary eyyeyy "LInos -sIJT ‘Sinqsustie\y ‘JOOYIS JeulIONN = aqeIG: Ss STOYOVITL "GeN ‘Htag ‘JOOYDS [ePpoyl jedioulig =‘eyseiqaN ‘n1ag ‘JOOYIG [eWION 2}e1G ‘ssost} -dao01g ‘sfooydg AD YIOX "IZ, ‘Jooydsg [eWAON (‘s14 () SuImerq pue MIN UI JOyORIL ‘JOOYIS 3381G OBIMSGQ ‘SIOUTTI] aInzveIsw] jo sJayovay YysiyY uoJUeD UT FIyIVIaT, ‘JOOYIG YSIf{T UoJUeD 14SIeNS UeUIDyIGg euWwy *Auoul -Ie}y pue ‘uorsoduro;) ‘ISNJAT [VOOA Jo JOYyoRay, ‘QUON ‘AWopeoy uoiqyy oS Jayeg ‘Ni sowef *JooysS a Pay go1}oeIg 9} Jo Jusu}Ied ‘fooysG SsuUIUIeIy,, pure -oq Aieuwilig ul Juesissy ‘eyep ON «[PUWION 27e1G OdaMsS_G aMOID “Y ATey o3aMSQ) 7e gousiiadxy SNOolAsig SUIUTeIT, [VUOISSaJOIg quswyuloddy aule Ny saijnq [euorssajoig pue o1Nsejoyss jo oUIIy, Je asy ii it i ee i i a a i i ee 153 A ppendix Jooyss TeUION ("A “N) "IZ, ‘JOOYIS wieps}og sy} Ul Jewel Jo Sululely pue [eu (‘sik z) Suimeiq pue seyoray, ‘“Awapeoy ‘YIOX -ION 2321S OSaMSQ °69, dIN}eIoWT jo JsyoeVay, MON Binqsuyiepy urstayoeay, YOoySS Yysif{T Os8eMsC ez yoo) ‘y yeNf[ Bt a ee me Se ao ae on eg na i ene (‘A}ISIOATUL) [[PUIOD ‘peoiqe porpn}s pue "y's ‘uo}sapIeys) ur Apnys yetseds) “SZ, payaaey} Jayeqy “yoory ‘aynqwysuy Ajay ul ulney ‘fooysg Bulurely, pue pue unjey jo soyoeay, pue yst[suq Jo JsyoVay, [eUION 3}e}1G O8aMSC UOP]eys “Y SeuPIy *JOOYIS 9919 PIG jo asieyy ‘(4A 1) Jooysg Arewltg jo "9£, ‘JOOYDS jedrourig *(‘s1A z) [OOYIS ‘(‘s14 V) JOOYIG Ieul ~SBuIUIeIy, pue jewIoON gorpoeig jo juowjzied -weig jo jediulg ‘(sik 2}e}G O8aMSO ‘AWS -aq jounf ur queysissy ) y10M Areutid jo Jayoeay, -peoy (o1ryQ) Ao1oWI0g Joye ‘{ yeres perl ‘JOoyIS [eur -S—T sSayIusg ‘zissesy ‘uoryeonpy jo Aydoso -10N Lnosstyy 94} Ul JayoRay, jo JUapN}g ‘ARISIOATUL) -[lyqg pure Asojstp{ ey jo ‘eyseiqaN ‘niaqg ‘Jooysg pseAIePy “APISIOATU() aZiey.) “JOOYIS voIWOVIG [PWION 97e}G JO JoyoRD}] pue pJauoD ‘“g'y ‘asaT[OD ay} jo JopsNGg ‘ssous jedmoung ‘org ‘eAsuay Ul[IaqG¢ ‘e8a[OD UlTIEqO “9S JeinjeN jo seyD ‘sjooydsg oyqng jo [edioulsg 10; JooyoS AsozesIeda1g of qysieiys ‘py Aruezy *[OOYIS 9dI}9eIg 9Y} "gL, jo ‘juourjiedeg ozeIpeur ‘sjooydg oqGng ‘YIOK MaN ‘fooysG Burure1y, pue -IojU. oy} jo yedioung ‘uojweYysuIg UI JaYyIVay, [PWION a}e}G OSaIMSC_ AdUY MM POR OZIMSH) }e goudTIedxy SNoIAeIg SuIuIely, [eUOISsajoIg quowyuloddy ouIeN sornq [euorssajoig pue o1ysRjOYyIS jo ou 3e o3y ‘The Oswego Movement in American Education 154 i it ll EE — ee _ ” _ —— ——— eee eee eS ——— — ee 08, *[OOYDS 901} ‘YIOX MIN ‘[ooyoS Bururery, pue ~WeIg Ul OIFID Juejsissy ‘s[[eyY YOIsooyy ur JsyIVay [euULION 23e}1G O8aMs_O uO]IWIe}] MOUS “> sIUUeYy '6L, ‘Joouss Sururery, pue jeulloN 9231S OSaMSO ‘eg ‘eIydjape “THYq ‘A10}21Q) JO OOYIS ‘eg ‘A1 ‘oryo ‘plojxg ‘Areu ‘ToyIeaT, =-uNOD aieMeLIq Ul JoyoVay, -lWeG y[eWIay UID}SOA\ sIsAjl “g eIoWYy *JOOYIS 991}9eIg oy} Ul YyIOMpue;_T pure ‘SUIMCIG ‘WIOY JO JOS -IAJodng *ASOTeIOUT IN *‘JOOYIS ‘OS9MSC) pue ‘Asojooy, ‘vouaIIG yeUulIoNY AjuNOD e09g Ul ye sIeaA OM} VYSILIYS Jeyiuey ‘Auejyog jo Ja jooysg so1joe1g ay} jo Jed “ay YIM paipnyg ‘od, -yoro}‘1ayeT “Surmeiq jo -fulig suljoy ‘“Jooyos [eur yooydg yeuroN Ayuno; Jayoee} pue jusujiedaq -10N Ajunosd eli0ag ul ‘yssy eli0ag "69, ‘fooyaS oyiqUsINg +94} Ul “yssy ‘jooyss Areutid e Ul JayoRay = YStPy CIID) P1I0Ig uod}og UPA BSaIIY TT, Yeres “bl, pue *JOOYIS 991} ‘(sid %V) spooyss oy 1Z, ‘fooyss Sururery pue -OeIg Ul JoYyoRa} OID -qng OZaMsC ay} UI JayoORay, [eWION 23e1G O8aMsSG UOSIOWIT TT “W e181094) “SUIMeIC, pur "gL ‘ada] aINjJeIIYT jo sJayoRay -[OD [BWION YIOX MON = Aa[SOJ Use JoIesieyy OSIMSQC) 32 voUsTIodxy SNOIAdIg SUIUICI] [BUOISSIJOIg juswjuloddy owen saiynqd Jeuorssajolg pue oIWsejoyIs jo ouIy, ye asy 155 A ppendix ‘(syjuour 7) ‘jooysG 9 SulUIeIy, pue ‘I1OJOYY pue [WULIONN 93%1G O8aMSC_ ‘uorljIsoduro7) ‘youely ‘SseyA] ‘IoJsuTUIONT ‘JooyIS *(jUNpNys [eIdeds) asa] ‘gin}eloWy] ‘ysy]suq Ysi_{ Ul Joyoeay, ‘puelywog -[Od Agjsaffa~jA “ouleyAy ut ‘AJO\SIF[ JO Joeyoeay, Jo sjooyss oqng Ul dayoeay, ‘puryyog ‘Jooysg Ys SITVIG “4 “TJ aulpore|) "{ °N ‘AD Aas ‘7g, ‘AVISIOA -laf ‘aynjy4suy Yyonoiqsepyy ye =-1UQ [JeuI0D ‘sq ‘SZ, Joyoeayt, 4 ‘uuay ‘ayfiAyseN ‘JooysG Suture1y,, pue ‘SOIPLUIDY EJAY JO Joyoeay ‘APISIOATUL, FSI 3e JayOVay, [eUIION] 33e}G OSaMsSO osAg{ddey “5 JoxTeM "18, ‘JOOYIS ‘Aueqiy sulurely, pue [eur ‘YIOM UdJIeZIep ‘Awopeoy SAOg 94} JO JUSUT -IONY 9}e}G OSIMSQ, “08, -Uly Ul jueysIssy Juepnj}s -yedeq Areultg jo adieyd ‘JooyIg YstpY Os89MSO Iz uo0s9}}eT “H Ale *‘JOoYIS [eur -ION erydjepepiyd ul rayoeaL, ‘sIoyoeay, ‘adsayjod uvAa[saA, T}euUTO YIP UIPICZIOPUIS, IOJ JOOYIG -UID UI JBYyIVIay, “"JooyIG {eur ‘fooysG Sululely, pue Sururery, jo jedioutig -1ON Weuulury url 1ayoVay, [eULION] 93e}G O8IMSC— Jing ‘VY P1eID ‘SIN *[OOYIS 991} cle -IVIg 9Y} Jo JuswyIedaq ‘sjooyss SI] ‘JooyIS sululery, pur sorunf oy} jo yJediouig -qng O89Ms_H 9Y} UI JeYySeay, [eUIION’ 3}¥}G O8aMSCO Jowoy “y Aya OZIMS(C) 12 dUIIedxy SNOIAIIg SuIulely [eUOIssaJoI1g Juswyuloddy owe N sorjnq] [euOoIssajoig pue o1}sejoyos jO OWI, 3e osy The Oswego Movement in American Education 156 “eyseIqoN "€g, ‘Jooysg sutures yz, ‘pvq4aAT =‘Niag ‘JooyoS [ewION 9}e}G pue [eWION 23e}G O3aM Aq pepunoy se ydoso ‘uoron3}suy Jo spoyjeyy pue -sCQ ‘epeued ‘youmsunig Yq yovxqy jo asyoeay, Awiouooy jooyssg jo ey MIN ‘fooysg [eULIoN YUWS “yy Joressieyy 03 -IMSQ ‘9}NIIYsU] OWIOF] UI Ja *L9, *JOOYIS VoIVoeIg 3Y4} Ul SID Jue}\sIssy -yoeay "A ‘N ‘uApjooig ‘Aura -peoy iydjepy ul Joyovay ‘jooysS | suluIe1y, pue [PULIONN 9781G¢ O8aMsC AOIAI *H Arey *[OOYIS 991} -deIg 9Y} Jo JusuIedaq Areullig ay} jo jedriourg ‘QUON OSIMSQK “S[OOYIS 9}eALIG "bg, pue 1g, “Jooyog Suyurery, pue = [euwlIoN 9321S Apung ‘y 7ey OSIMSKO 72 sorjnq [euOIssajolg VUITIVdxy SNOIAdIg SUIUIVIT [PUOISSIJOIg pue o14se]oyoS quswyuloddy jo oUIT]T, Je asy owen APPENDIX XI The following is a sketch of a lesson given as part of examinations at the close of the year’s work for training class students at Oswego in 1862. LESSON ON AN ORANGE—4TH STEP It is Natural It is Edible It is Vegetable It is Wholesome It is Opaque It is Juicy It is Foreign It is Refreshing It is Impressible It is Spherical It is Odorous It is Rough It is Sapid It is Reddish Yellow DISTINGUISHING QUALITIES Foreign Rough Spherical Reddish yellow Conceal the object and address the children. I have something in my hand ‘—man did not make it; God made it. What therefore can you say of it? It is natural. This natural vegetable object also grows out of the ground. What can you again say of it? It is vegetable. This natural vegetable substance is also opaque, foreign, impressible, odorous. See that the children understand the meanings of the terms given, and can apply them to any object which they may mention, as having these qualities. If they should name a peach or a plum, however, let them apply all the terms and see in what it does not agree. If not, however, name a few more qualities as sapid, edible, wholesome, juicy. Let the children again try to determine the object, proceeding as before, and if still unable name the remaining qualities. When the object has been determined let the children name the quality first mentioned. Lead them to discover the object. When all have agreed, put those qualities on the board, beside those previously mentioned, and let the children make a sentence containing these distinguishing qualities. Summary. Let the children name the qualities from the board, also read the sentence, S. R. If time permit, let them reproduce lesson on their slates. Kate H. Davis APPENDIX XII The following is a copy of the directions governing the conditions of an examination in School Management given to candidates for infant school certificates, and a list of the questions given in 1860. This is typical of the examinations given by the Home and Colonial Training Institution at the end of the period of training. EXAMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR INFANT SCHOOL CERTIFICATES. MICHAELMAS, 1860 School Management Three hours allowed for this paper. Candidates may select any questions. Write the first line of your answer as a specimen of copy setting in large hand; and the first line of your second answer as a specimen of copy setting in small hand. 1. Explain clearly the best method of teaching each of the following subjects: elementary reading, place, and form. 2. Explain clearly the objects at which you aim in giving lessons in Natural History to children between five and six years of age. 3. What do you mean by education of the feelings? Give instances to show the effect of your system upon two children of different dispositions. 4. What are the general characteristics of children as regards their moral nature? 5. What apparatus do you recommend for the playground?—show the use of such apparatus. 6. Draw out a time-table for one day in the week and state what proportion of time you allow in the course of the week for each subject in the upper division of a school of 100 infants. 7. Describe the kindergarten, and explain its uses. 8. What registers ought to be kept in an infant school? What are the rules for finding the average of daily attendance at the end of the week? 9. What are the fundamental principles of Pestalozzian system? 10. What opportunities have you had before or during your residence in this institution of observing the work of an infant school? 11. Explain exactly the course by which a pupil teacher may become an efficient assistant in an infant school. ce ———— APPENDIX XIII The following examples taken from Mr. Sheldon’s notes in Miss Jones’ lectures in 1861 and from his book entitled Elementary Instruction which was published the next year illustrate the at- tempt to practice the Pestalozzian principles as he conceived their meaning. A LrEsson ON NUMBER! Alesson to develop the perception of the number expressed by the word “three,’”’ and to communicate the name of the number. The following sketch of a lesson will show the plan to be pursued with all numbers as far as ten. Before commencing a lesson on number which is new to the children, the teacher should ascertain that they have clear ideas of those on which they have already received instruction. In this instance it is supposed that the number two has been the subject of a lesson, and is thoroughly under- stood, and that the teacher tests this by directing one of the children to bring two pencils, or two books, etc. While the others look on observantly, and approve or otherwise, as the case may demand. If the requirement be rightly met, the class may simultaneously describe the objects as they are presented, saying, ““Two pencils,’’ ‘‘Two slates,’’ ‘‘Two books,” etc. Here also the objects should be diverse. With this attainment made, the class may be led on to the observation of the number Three. 1. The teacher should now add one pencil to the two pencils, one slate to the two slates, or one book to the two books, and as this is done, require the children to say, in each case, ‘‘Three pencils,’’ ‘‘Three slates,’’ ‘‘Three books,’’ etc. As an exercise, groups of three of different objects may be placed before the class, and one of the children desired to bring a similar number of the same object, or of some other. When observation has been well exercised by varied examples of this kind, the children may again be told that such a number of any object what- ever is called three of it, and that the name of that number is THREE. 2. The teacher should then try to discover how far the children are able to connect the word three with the corresponding number, by calling upon several of them in rotation to bring three pencils, or three books, or three pins—to bring three of their companions to the teacher, to hold up three fingers or to clap their hands three times, etc. 3. The object of the next exercise is to ascertain whether the children can promptly apply the proper name to the number, when presented to them in different objects. The teacher may hold up three fingers and ask how many are held up, and then take up three pencils, and again ask how many there are, or make three strokes upon the slate, and ask how many such a number of anything is said to be. 1 From Elementary Instruction by E. A. Sheldon. 160 The Oswego Movement in American Education It may confirm ideas already gained as to the succession of numbers, if the children are required to tell in regular succession those they have acquired while the succession is enacted, as it were, by the teacher. Several sets of objects should be at hand, from each of which the teacher takes first one, then a second, then a third; the children saying, as this is done, ‘‘One pencil,”’ ‘Two pencils,’ “Three pencils;’’ ‘“One pin,’’ “Two pins,” “Three pins,’’ etc. This should be followed by an exercise in ascending and descending enumera- tion, thus: ‘Now, altogether say with me, One, Two, Three; and again Three, Two, One. And now say the same without me, for I shall be silent.’’ In these exercises, which will need frequent repetition, great care must be taken not to perplex the children; the perception of number should be permitted to grow upon them almost without their being conscious of the attainment. It should be attained by simple observation, rather than by a process of reasoning, although it is true that at a further stage of the child’s education, it will be found that all the higher calculations of arithmetical reasoning are, in fact, based upon the knowledge for which it is the aim of those initiatory lessons to prepare. A LEsson ON ForRM? A sketch to develop the idea of different kinds of roundness. 1. Let the children compare a marble and a cube. The cube has many sides, the marble one. The sides of the cube are flat, that of the marble curved. Tell the children that things in shape like the marble are said to be “globular.”” Chil- dren find the origin of ‘‘globular’’—also examples, as balls, peas, pills, what these are said to be and why. 2. Present aruler. Let children say how it differs from a globe. It has three sides, two of which are flat, tell them that things like the ruler, with one side curved and two flat are said to be cylindrical. Give also the term cylinder, get examples as pipes, pillars, etc. Children tell what these things are said to be. 3. Present a ring. Then make a circle on the slate, requiring the children to describe what’is drawn, as a curved line, the ends of which meet. Place a dot in the center. Let a child with a piece of string measure the distance anywhere from the center to the circumference. What they find—give the term circle. Tell the children that all things which measure the same distance from the center to every part of the circumference are said to be circular. Examples of circles found,—tops of inkwells, face of the clock, children tell what things are said to be circular. 4. By experiment lead the children to see that the globe will roll every way —the ruler or ring only one way. Why this is. Things which are globular will roll on all sides. Things which are circular or cylindrical only on one—the curved one. 5. Children recapitulate the definitions of globular, cylindrical and circular. 2 From original manuscript of E. A. Sheldon. A ppendix 161 A LEsson ON MEASURING BY THE STANDARD MEASURES OF LENGTH? No opportunity should be lost of giving practice to the eye in determining the length of objects by these measurements. Children are greatly interested in them- selves endeavoring to determine the size of things, and in having their judgment tested by actual trial. The children should carefully observe the length of the yard, as it is held by the teacher in various positions, and at various distances from the eye: they should notice the apparent change which takes place in its length under each change of position, that they may be prepared to take this fact into consideration when calculating the size of objects in different positions and at various distances. They may also be required to find two objects, as two pieces of string, or two laths, which are together equal to the yard; thus introducing the idea of the half-yard, as being the length of one of these. Again, they may pro- duce four similar objects, which, when united, also form a complete yard; and thus gain the idea of a quarter of a yard, as being the length of one of these. In a further lesson, the idea of a foot may be communicated in the same manner, showing that it is the third of a yard; and also the idea of the inch. The children should be exercised in determining the relative size of these measures, i. e., the ‘proportion each of them bears to the yard; and also their positive size, as unvary- ing standard measures. These exercises may be continued, until the eye can decide on particular lengths with tolerable accuracy; after which the children may be called on to determine the length of lines combined in various figures; the circumference or girth of various objects; they may then proceed to dimensions of greater extent—those, for instance, of the floor and walls of the schoolroom, or of the playground. Lesson on Coror?* Naming red, green, and blue I. 1. A child selects a red card according to a pattern shown. Children told “This is red’”’ looking at the card meanwhile. Another child to pick up all the reds that he can find, the rest deciding, etc. All these are reds. 2 and 3. Children proceed in the same way with blue and green. 4. Teacher points rapidly to the different colors, requiring the children to name them meanwhile. II. 1. Exercises. A child desired to place a green on the table—a blue on the desk and a red on the chair. : 2. Children required to find examples of the colors in dress, furniture, etc. 3. Teacher arranges the colors in patterns which the children imitate: Red Blue Red Blue Green Green Blue Green Blue Red ‘ Red 4. Children to place the colors according to direction as: Blue, Green, Red, Red, Green, Blue 3 From original manuscript of E. A. Sheldon. 4 From original manuscript of E. A. Sheldon. 162 The Oswego Movement in American Education LESSON ON PLAcE® Sketch I. Representation of the walls of the room without the scale. 1. Children to name the cardinal and semi-cardinal points; or draw the diagram of 8 lines and let the children put the proper initial letters at the end of each. 2. Invite the children to help in drawing a map of the room. Let them say how many sides the room has, and which of these sides lies east, which west, which north and which south. Let the children observe the sides of the room further, and observe which are long and which short; whether the longer sides be twice as long or three times as long; which of the sides are of equal length. 3. Require the children to point out where on the slate the line shall be drawn for the north wall; where for the east wall; what proportion the second line should bear to the first as to length. What line must be as long as the first, and where it must be drawn. What line as long as the second, and where it must be drawn. 4. The boundaries being drawn the children should determine the shape pro- duced; how far the room itself extends; what the walls are to the room (the bound- aries). Lead the children to see that the shape of every space is determined by its boundaries. 5. Children find what points they must notice in order to draw the plan of a room. Children say what they must notice when they wish to draw a representa- tion of a room. LESSON ON ANIMALS® The Horse Matter Method 1. A horse has legs, body, head, eyes, 1. Present the picture; let the children ears, mane, tail, hoofs. name the parts when pointed to, and point to them when named. No 2. A horse has a large round body, . Lead the children to talk about the long thin legs, a long handsome parts—give the terms required to tail, flowing mane, and upright express ideas—as handsome. Bring pointed ears. out pointed by comparing the two ends of a cut pencil. Which most resemble the ears of a horse? Why? Bring out upright by holding the pencil in different directions. 3. A horse can walk, trot, gallop, kick 3. Lead the children to talk of any and neigh. Horse walks, trots, actions they have seen the horse gallops. What else a horse can perform. Let a boy show how. do with his legs. When he does this. What sound he makes. Terms given. 5 From original manuscript of E. A. Sheldon. 6 From original manuscript by E. A. Sheldon. Appendix 163 Matter Method 4. Refer children to the uses of the 4. A horse can draw a cart or carriage; horse. can carry people on its back. 5. Let the children say who made the 5. We should never treat the horse horse; how He likes us to treat it. cruelly, but always be very gentle Speak of its usefulness to us and with him. lead the children to mention differ- ent ways in which they can show it kindness. LESSON ON OBJECTS Leather I. Raw material and manufactured article. The children having stated from what substance leather is made, examine specimen of the raw material and manufactured article—are required to find the qualities of each. The teacher tabulating on the slate. The skin of animals 1s: Leather is: Soft and moist Soft and dry Slightly tough Very tough When soft pliable, but when dry liable to crack Flexible and elastic Porous Dense and waterproof Perishable, decaying readily when wet or moist Very durable Fatty or oily Without oil Hairy Without hair Comparatively useless Very useful 2. Process of manufacture. Children told that they have to discover what has to be done to such a substance as skin to change it intosuch a substance as leather. 3. Question on the state of the skin or hide when taken from the animal. Would have portions of flesh or fat attached to the inside. Why this must be taken away. Refer to the state of meat if kept for some time; would decay and occasion foul smells. Children may be told that fat and flesh could not be made into leather. Tell them that the first process consists of scraping the skin with a knife, and that this is termed fleshing. 4. What next must be done. Again compare the skin and leather. The first has hairs. The children may be told that leather can be made without removing the hair. This is sometimes done. But when we want leather without hair for shoes, gloves, etc., the hair must be removed at this point. Children to judge how this can be done. To mention any ways in which they have seen hair taken off skins; shaved, plucked or by scalding—but this is neither shaven, shorn or plucked, but the skins are soaked in troughs filled with lime water. This soaking so loosens the hair that it can be scraped off—the scraping is done with a knife and is called hairing. 164 The Oswego Movement in American Education 5. Children say what has been done—fleshing and hairing—the effect of these processes. It is still only clean, smooth skin—not leather. Why would it not do to use in its present state? What qualities it lacks? (It is not waterproof; it is not elastic or durable.) Something must be done to give it these qualities. Tell them that it is first soaked in a solution of oak bark; this solution is called tan, and the operation is performed in places called tan-yards—in holes in the ground which are called tan pits or vats. Where good leather is required they are steeped from 12 to 18 months. What the consequence would be if taken out too soon? What must be done to them when taken out? They are placed between rollers to make them smooth. 6. Summary. Children say from what leather is made. What are the qualities of the raw material and of the manufactured article. By what processes is skin converted into leather? Why is the operation of fleshing performed? Why that of hairing, also of tanning? In conclusion children may be led to admire the ingenuity of man and the good- ness of God, who has bestowed on him the material and conferred on him the power of adapting it to his wants. LESSON ON LANGUAGE’ Exercise I To form sentences from given words—(1) the name of an object, (2) a word expressing quality, and (3) some part of the verb “‘‘to be.” Plan.—The children to name a number of objects, beginning, for example, with those of the various articles of furniture, etc., in the room; the teacher to write these names under each other on the slate, requiring the children to spell each word as it is written, assisting or correcting as necessary. The children to be then required to say something regarding each object, the teacher helping them to determine how far the terms they apply are appropriate. The teacher to add these descriptions to the name already on the slate, and thus lead the children on to the formation of simple sentences, in their shortest form. A few examples follow: The ink is black. The slate is smooth. The form is long. That window is large. This pencil is sharp, etc. The children should then read over the sentences, and be led to observe that each begins with a capital letter, and ends with a full stop. The slate may then be turned away, and the class required to reproduce the lesson on their own slates, without its aid. When this has been done, the slate should be again referred to, that they may correct their exercises. The children may be supplied with little books, in which to write out these lessons at home. For some time they should not be required to originate anything for themselves, but merely to reproduce that which has been taught in school. They will find pleasure in doing that which they can do well. When all the objects in the room have formed the subjects of such lessons, those in the playground, the street, or in the fields, may be resorted to, gradually extending the circle to more remote objects. At the least a dozen lessons of this description should be given. 7 From Elementary Instruction by E. A. Sheldon. Appendix 165 LESSON ON READING® Sketch on Distinguishing Capital Letters I, H & T I. Require a child to pick up a letter like I on the card. Let the rest decide whether he does right or wrong. If wrong, let another child try and proceed as before. Proceed in the same way with H and T. 2. Put I, Hand T inarow. Leta child select similar letters and place them in the same order. Change the order. Let another child imitate, etc. Touch the letters and let the children name them. So proceed, always employing some as agents and the rest as judges. Sketch on the Small Letters Children select from the small straight lined letters the letters they think most like I. Distinguish the z by its dot. Children are told that this is the small or little 7. Find the other little 2’s on the Board or Card. What small letter is most like this and what will you call it. Then tell them to select a letter with a little dot like the small 7. Ask to what capital they think this belongs. Tell them if they will put the three letters they have found out by the respective capitals, the teacher will put this letter by its capital. (The letter is 7). The teacher shows the capitals and requires the children to show the small letters; then shows the small letters, and requires the children to show the capitals. A LATER LESSON ON READING? One sound represented by various signs The long sound in ais expressed by a in stay, play, etc.; az in stain, plain; ea in break, great, yea; et in eight, skein, weigh; ey in obey, they. Thebroad sound of a is expressed by al before m, as in calm, balm, qualm, etc.; ar also, as in arm, tarnish, farm, barn, etc.; au expresses the broad sound of a in gauntlet, haunt, gamut, etc. The short sound of 7 is expressed by z asin ermine, bin, din; by y asin sympathy, symptom, etc.; also by final y in pony, crony, etc.; ey in money, journey; by o in women (the only word); in busy by u, also in the compounds of busy. A LrEsson IN MoRAL INSTRUCTION!® (Reverence) I. 1. Introduction. Let the children name any nation of whom they have heard as living a long time ago. They will mention the Jews. Tell them that there were other people living at the same time of whom they will learn when they get old 8 From original manuscript by E. A. Sheldon. 9 From original manuscript by E. A. Sheldon. 10 From original manuscript by E. A. Sheldon. 166 The Oswego Movement in American Education enough to study the Bible and other books. These people lived in a country called Greece. Point out the country on the map and show its relative position with respect to Palestine. Explain that it was divided into several sections called states. One of these states was called Athens. The people who lived there were called Athenians. Write on board. They were a lively clever people, fond of all sorts of games and shows. Another of these states was called Sparta. The people were called Spartans. Write on board. They were frugal in their diet and plain in their habits. They used to take their meals altogether in the open air, that no one might have any nice things that others might not have. 2. Story told. One day these Athenians were going to have a play performed at their chief theatre. All the seats were soon taken, and when the theatre was full, an old man came in and looked round for a seat. He was old, infirm, could not stand long. (Picture out his distress.) He looked first one way and then another and saw several young men who were seated. (What we should have done.) He saw some of them beckon to him. What people mean when they beckon. What the old man would try to do. What was there to hinder him. Yes he had to climb over seats and push through a crowd of people, and when at last they reached them, they, instead of giving him the seat he expected, took up all the room and laughed at him. How the poor old man must have felt. What they think of the young men. Il. In this theatre were some seats fitted up for strangers. These were filled by young men from Sparta who, when they saw how the Athenians behaved, beckoned to the old man to come to them. When he came they all rose up. When people rise and why. They not only gave him a seat but received him among them with the greatest respect. Young men of Athens, seeing this, could not help showing that they were pleased and applauded them. The old man said ‘“‘ The Athenians know what is right, but the Spartans practice it.” Ill. Lead the children to contrast the conduct of the Athenians and the Spartans; that is, who behaved the better. In what respect the Athenians were wrong and in what respect right. What feelings actuated the Spartans. Let the children mention various ways in which they can show respect and honor to persons who are older than themselves, giving up a place, setting a chair, opening a door, standing, bowing, speaking in a quiet tone, etc. What we call this behavior. Tell them that the young who honor the aged, obtain the favor of God, and let them learn the text Leviticus 19:32, ‘‘Thou shall rise up before the aged, and shail honor the face of the old man.” LESSON ON MorAL PHILOSOPHY" Lesson taken from Cowper’s Poem ‘‘The Nightingale and the Glowworm”’ The Point—To lead the children to see that God gives to different individuals different talents for the general good. I. Introduction. Draw from the children such facts in natural history as bear on the subject, for example, a short account of the Nightingale and its habits, also the Glowworm and its habits. il From original manuscript by E. A. Sheldon. Appendix 167 II. The Verses. Read these in separate paragraphs. Put questions on the general meaning of paragraphs and sentences, as for example, what had the bird been doing? How was it that he became hungry in the evening? What was the sub- stance of the Glowworm’s argument? What effect ought such an argument to have on the Nightingale? Whose task was it to beautify the night? How? Whose to cheer and how? The general meaning being made clear, lead the children to consider the special meaning of the more difficult words, such as keen, demands, eagerly, hawthorne, crock, admire. Permit the children to explain any of these words by synonyms. Endeavor to lead them to see the appropriateness of the poet’s words, and the superiority of these over their synonyms. This can be done especially with eagerly, spied, right, harrangue, minstrelcy, warbled, etc. It is during this part of the exercise that the conceptive faculty is developed. III. Explanation. The children being told that this is a fable, conclude that it contains a moral lesson. To find it let them mention the subjects of the story (The Nightingale and the Glowworm). Children will decide that these mean different people. Let them consider what the Nightingale possessed and what the Glowworm possessed. The children decide that the song and the light mean different talents, or gifts. Compare the fullness and power of the Nightingale’s song with a little spark of light. Children decide that talents differ both in time and in importance. Children give examples of different kinds of talents, for ex- ample, riches, health, strength, mental abilities, beauty, etc. The points of the Glowworm’s argument are drawn from the children, and put on the slate thus: (1) We admire the Nightingale’s song. (2) The Nightingale ought in like manner to admire the Glowworm’s lamp. (3) The selfsame divine power gave to both their different gifts. (4) These gifts were given for the general good. The prop- Ositions I, 2, 3 having been clearly made out before, four may be illustrated by reference to the pleasure and benefit we derive from the works of the highly gifted (including the works of the poet Cowper, himself). Lastly, refer to the children themselves. Let them mention the subjects of study they like best, and again the subjects in which they find themselves most efficient. Now those who are quick may be tempted to feel toward those who are slow. How those who are slow may be tempted to feel toward those who are clever. Lead them to see that almost everyone has some strong points, and some weak points, that if they who are strong help a neighbor wherein he is weak, this neighbor will aid them wherein they are weak and he is strong. Refer to texts that teach this duty, for example, ‘‘Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”’ LESSON ON THE HuMAN Bopy! A Sketch for a Lesson on the Difference between the Hand and the Foot 1. Draw the attention of the children to the difference in the position of these two organs; the hand being placed at the upper part of the body at the end of the arm, and in a line with it; the foot at the lower part of the body, at an angle with the leg. Again, the difference as to form; the hand thin, the palm capable of being formed into a hollow cup; and terminating in four long slender flexible 12 From Elementary Instruction by E. A. Sheldon. 168 The Oswego Movement in American Education fingers ranged in a row, with an opposing thumb which can be brought to meet any one of them, so as to pick up or grasp objects. The sense of touch also, as being so exquisitely delicate in the fingers, enabling women to do the finest needle- work, and men to carry on the most delicate operations. The foot thick and stiff; the instep arched for strength; the sole of the foot broad and flat; the toes short and thick, the whole five being arranged in one plane. 2. The use of the hand to lay hold of things; that of the foot to support the body when in an upright position, or when moving or standing. 3. How both these organs are fitted by their position and form for their differ- ent offices. The hand, by its thinness and flexibility, being capable of being formed into a hollow; its long delicate fingers opposed to the thumb, forming a complete organ for grasping and touching; the foot, by its thinness, flatness, and the breadth of the sole, by the muscular power of the instep, and by its position, fitted for its office of supporting the body in an erect posture. LESSON ON WEIGHT!’ Second Step Object—To lead the children to perceive the necessity for adopting standard measures of weight, and to make them practically acquainted with those in most common use. Plan—The children have already been led to see that heavy and light are relative terms—the thing which, when compared with one object, is called light, being said to be heavy when compared with another. Hence arises the necessity for an unchanging standard of weight, with which the weights of substances may be determined. (Exercises with scales and weights may be used at this step with much advantage. It is better to begin at first with the larger weights, as, the pound, half pound, and quarter pound, these being most readily distinguished.) In developing this idea, the same plan may be pursued as in illustrating the necessity of standard measures of size. The children should also here be taught the use of scales and weights, and the necessity of standard weights, in the same manner as the measures of size are learned. They should be much practiced in judging of the weight of miscellaneous objects, always testing the correctness of their judgment by varying the objects before the class. As a last exercise, the children may learn the table of avoirdupois weight. In all the exercises on weight the pound is taken as the standard. In exercising the children to judge of weight, begin by passing around the class, weights, or objects, that weigh just a pound. Tell the children their weight and request them to hold them in their right hand, and think just how heavy they are, as they will soon have some other objects, to decide whether they are heavier or lighter than this weight, and how much. Next pass around half pound or two pound weights, requesting the children to hold them in their right hands, just as they did the pound weights, and think how much they weigh. When the weights have gone round, call for the judgments of the class, and let one of those who came the nearest to the correct weight, test the correctness of the guessing by weighing. These exercises should be frequently repeated with miscellaneous 18 From Elementary Instruction by E. A. Sheldon. Appendix 169 objects, until they can judge with tolerable accuracy of the weight of various ob- jects. Request them to bring in objects of a given weight, always testing, or rather allowing them to test, the correctness of the selection by weighing. These exercises never fail to interest the children and it is astonishing how accurate they will soon become in judging of weight, and thus will have cultivated a sense of great practical utility, but which is ordinarily neglected. The references in the bibliography related to object teaching are interpretations of what has already been described and reproduced from original sources. To refer to them directly would be useless repetition. It is quite obvious that there was little difference between the English interpretation of Pestalozzianism and the American interpretation of the object teaching of the English Home and Colonial Schools. Only one difference seems to have developed to any considerable degree, and that was the emphasis placed on representation of objects, and parts of objects, by means of drawings. This supplementary idea has been called objective teaching to distinguish it more sharply from the object teaching which formed a larger proportion of the system as it was practiced in Oswego. APPENDIX XIV The following is a letter written in 1863 to Dr. Sheldon by Miss Jones who had returned to England after her work in Oswego. The letter is an attempt to answer the criticisms made by Dr. H. B. Wilbur before the New York Teachers’ Association held in 1862. PESTALOZZIANISM AND THE HOME AND COLONIAL The first part of Dr. Wilbur’s Article on the development of the Human Facul- ties published in the New York Teacher, for October 1862, is instructive and - interesting. The latter part of it, which attacks Pestalozzianism and the system of the Home and Colonial Schools, seems a collection of entangled mis-state- ments. On this account (and also, because the writer is, at times, inconsistent with himself) it does not appear possible to answer his objections seriatim. I shall try (and even this is not easily done) to classify the charges contained in the Article. I. 1. It isan axiom with Pestalozzian Trs. (teachers) that the idea should first be given and then the term or word expressing it. Surely Dr. Wilbur confounds this giving of the term, with the giving of the anglicized Latin term, or with the giving of the Etymology of the Term. What terms shall be given and whether or not, their derivations, are matters of detail. Practically, the Etymology of words (which) would be given in Schools for the Upper Classes, where the pupils learn Latin and Greek—would not be given in Schools for the laboring classes, except possibly, to some advanced class, knowing something of English History, in connection with the formation of the English Language. In England, certain Educators, who are none the less Pestalozzian Educators, have contended that only Terms of Saxon origin, should be used in teaching young children, and in former years, the Trs. (teachers) of the Home and Colonial made it a rule, never to use a Term of Latin origin, if they could obtain a Saxon Equiva- lent. Latterly, however, they have been convinced that to teach the child, once for all, the Term he will need in after life, saved time and trouble. If however any teacher in his or her own School likes to use ‘sticky’ for “adhesive” or even “‘burnable’”’ for “inflammable” he or she is quite at liberty to do so. This point is not so important in Home and Colonial eyes as in Dr. Wilbur’s. 2. Dr. Wilbur identifies the Phonic System with the Lessons published in the Reading Boards of the Christian Knowledge Society. This Society, of which I would speak with the respect its aim and efforts deserve, seeing the great advantages of the Phonic System, and being aware that this system was never- theless little known beyond the boundaries of the Home and Colonial Schools, made an effort to popularize it by publishing a cheap course of Lessons in Sheets. It would have been easy for the authorities of the Home and Colonial to have rejected this Course as faulty, instead of recommending it as useful. The Teachers Appendix I7I of their own Model Schools were not dependent on it. These, being not only good teachers, but good scholars, could readily draw on their own knowledge of English for the subject Matter of their Lessons. But the Students or Teachers in Training were supposed to require more help, especially on Opening Schools and on their account the Boards have been adopted, not as Examples but as aids, and mainly for their small cost. It were needful to become acquainted with the Authorities of the Home and Colonial to understand how entirely they take for their Motto the Text,—“ He that is not against us, is for us;’’ how willing they are to extend the hand of fellow- ship to other Societies working toward the same end, how gladly they not the extension of their principles under any name, and how readily they welcome even a partial working out of their plans. Deeply as I reverence this spirit, it is nevertheless my personal opinion that a Society such as that of the Home and Colonial ought to publish its own Element- ary Reading Lessons. It has not, however, left itself without a witness—see the Article on Reading in the Manual of Elementary Instruction by Miss Mayo— see also the Course on Reading contained in the American Manual published by Scribner and Co. From these instances it seems manifest that Dr. Wilbur con- founds plans and principles. II. 1. Dr. Wilbur assumes that we teach science i. e. the theory of science to infants. He says, “It has frequently occurred that when the cultivation of the powers of observation has been made a leading end in early education the exercises to that end have run directly into scientific instruction.’’ This mistake has with- out doubt been made by untrained and un-Pestalozzian teachers. But Dr. Wilbur quotes from a paper prepared by the writer, and read before the Educational Convention at Oswego in 1861. The paragraph he extracts is as follows—‘‘ We ascend from Form to Geometry, from Place to Geography, from Weight to Mech- anics, from Size to proportion in Drawing and Architectural Designs, from Num- ber to Arithmetic and Algebra, from Color to Chromotography, from Plants to Botany, from Animals to Zoology, from Human Body to Physiology, from Ac- tions to Arts and Manufactures, from Language to Grammar.” Unquestionably we do so ascend, but it is during a complete educational course. It is a strange mistake to suppose that the least experienced Pestalozzian Teacher could intend this ascent to be made within the narrow bounds of the Primary School or with young children. Furthermore, Dr. Wilbur says ina note “‘A class of bright children from nine to ten years of age were introduced in an exercise in the harmony of colors. In answers to questions propounded by the Examining Committee it appeared that the pupils had been so confused by the attempt to learn the scientific law underlying the harmony of colors that they had absolutely lost the true idea that by harmony of colors was meant such an arrangement of colors as is most pleasant to the eye.’’ Perhaps I speak too strongly in saying that I consider this to be the only fair accusation contained in Dr. Wilbur’s article. I may hold that he puts it too strongly as concerns want of clearness on the part of the children, but that they did well was their praise (and that of Miss Helen Davies). The lesson was above them. The Teachers of Oswego who saw readily that lessons on Form in the lower Schools would naturally lead to Geometry in the Upper Schools—and that lessons on Language would lead to lessons in Grammar, etc., were ignorant as to the Treatment of advanced lessors in Color. 172 The Oswego Movement in American Education Some advanced Instruction in Color was given, at their request. The lesson on Harmony of Colors having excited a good deal of interest got put down on the Programme of Lessons, to be given before the Convention. I did not insert it. I ought to have protested against its insertion. That it was not an example but an anomaly the other lessons distinctly show. See the Reports of the Proceedings before the Convention. In the little book entitled “Color Considered,” I have distinctly stated that at an early stage, ‘children are lead to note, that certain colors look well with other colors, as facts and not with respect to rules.” 2. As (I suppose) another instance of giving science to Infants, Dr. Wilbur represents a Teacher as saying to her class, in giving a lesson on Mustard— ‘Children this is Pungency.’’ No Pestalozzian Teacher would do this. No teacher in training could make such a statement without incurring severe criticism. Children who have discovered that Mustard bites or stings, would be told, that on this account it is said to be pungent. I submit that there is a difference between the use of a concrete and of an abstract term. Everyone who watches the process by which children acquire ideas will see this. 3. Dr. Wilbur assumes that we do not cultivate the emotional, but only the sensational nature of children. He says (and if we understand him he says truly) that the pleasure derived from sensation is sunk in the higher enjoyment realized from the superstructure of the emotions. I suppose we mean the same thing when we say, ‘ “The first direct lessons address the perceptive faculties of children, but long ere this course is completed the Teacher has begun to address the concep- tive faculties, while doing so, she directly calls out the social and moral feelings of the child.” On page 20 we find, ‘‘the order in which language should be taught should correspond precisely with the development of ideas.’’ We were underthe impress- ion that this had long been an axiom of our own and we recognized {t as such. From these instances it seems manifest that Dr. Wilbur does not always know what our principles and plans really are. III. 1. Dr. Wilbur says a system of Schools has grown up in England, known as the Home and Colonial Society’s System of Education, in which the natural observation of children is so devitalized, etc. as to draw upon itself (meaning I conclude, the Home and Colonial System) the scorning finger of the Satirist. Whatever System is condemned by the Satirist, it certainly cannot be the system of the Home and Colonial Society. To refute this utterly groundless state- ment, it is sufficient to quote the last paragraph of a pamphlet written in 1860 by a John Stuckey Reynolds, Esq., Honorary Secretary of the Home and Colonial Society. This pamphlet is entitled ‘Hints on the Improvement and Extension of the Government Plan for Aiding the Education of the Laboring Classes.”’ The writer concludes thus—‘‘Our Society as is well-known, has adopted the prin- ciples of Pestalozzi, who taught that true education includes the cultivation of all the powers with which man is endowed by his Creator and not the mere in- culcation of knowledge, or the exercise of one of these faculties. Other Societies pay more attention to the communication of knowledge and consequently base their teaching far more upon the cultivation of memory. An inquiry as to which of the two systems is best adapted for educating the laboring classes of this country Appendix 173 and the expression of some opinion on this point would greatly assist persons who are now in doubt as to the best system to be pursued.”’ 2. Having stated that the most difficult terms are always selected to express the most common and familiar qualities, Dr. Wilbur endorses this statement by quotations from a book, entitled ‘‘Lessons on Objects,’’ written by Miss Mayo. This lady declines altogether to enter into any controversy with respect to her work, but it is a matter of fact, that the book in question was written for a School at Cheam under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Mayo. That in Dr. Mayo’s school the pupils belonged exclusively to the Upper Classes, that they received a Classi- cal as well as a Pestalozzian education, and passed from his school at Cheam direct- ly to Oxford and Cambridge, that they were of more than average ability, and able to receive lessons in advance of ordinary children in any rank of life, are matters of fact. This book contains the record of lessons given to these pupils. Dr. Wilbur adds ‘‘This book is used as a textbook in the Home and Colonial Schools.’’ The book is not and never has been used as a textbook in the Home and Colonial Schools. It is rarely even purchased by Home and Colonial Teachers. Teachers trying to consider objects with the attentive eye required for the pre- paration of lessons are not under the necessity of looking for a list of parts and qualities in a book and if they required one, ‘‘ Information on Common Objects” published by the Society would be opened to. - In Oswego where the whole subject was novel Miss Mayo’s book was more in request; but I always discouraged its use as a substitute for observation of the object itself. Nevertheless the book has done good service in showing the public what kind and amount of information may be given in connection with object lessons and how (in the higher steps) these lead to science. The Textbook (on the Subject) used in the Home and Colonial Institution is (of course) Miss Mayo’s Manual of Elementary Instruction. Any person who will take the trouble to look over ‘‘Lessons on Objects”’ in the lower steps of that work must be struck with the extreme simplicity of the Language employed. Practically, I always find that the vocabulary of our children is in advance of the language used in the early lessons of the Manual. From this instance it would appear that Dr. Wilbur is sometimes mistaken as to matters of fact. 3. Dr. Wilbur continues ‘‘This system does not embody the views of the best Educators in England. Rely upon it, no system of Education can ultimate in any permanent good with such dogmatic principles and such questionable methods.”’ The Home and Colonial School Society carries out more fully and perfectly than any other the views of Pestalozzi. It has instituted a Training School for Education of Female Teachers on this System. The only Societies ever compared to it in point of importance and influence are: (1) The National Society and (2) The Society of the Borough Road. The first named of these was established in 1811, the other in 1803. The Home and Colonial in 1836. It is only 27 years old and yet it has been on a level with the others for fourteen years. The Inspector of Female Training Schools in England, the Rev. F. C. Cook (who is also Chaplain to the Queen) submits an Annual Report of the Female Training Schools under his charge to the Lords of the Committee of Council and, ultimately, to Parliament. This gentleman in the 174 The Oswego Movement in American Education Report of Training Establishments for 1854 thus speaks of the Home and Colon- ial—‘‘ The expense of so large a staff is of course very considerable, amounting this year to £1819/2/10d but the salaries are low considering the abilities and attainments of the teachers. The managers have shown a wise liberality in this first essential of good instruction and we are convinced that the result upon the development of the students’ minds, and especially upon their professional train- ing is most important. The written examinations, although indicating a satis- factory amount of attainment in a large proportion of the candidates for certi- - ficates, scarcely do justice to their qualifications which consist rather in habits of thought and judgment than in actual acquirements. The names of many of the teachers have been mentioned in former reports, especially those of Mr. Dunning, Mr. Reiner, Mr. Coghlan, and Miss Jones; in fact all the lectures which we heard this year appeared to us remarkable for good arrangement, copious knowledge, and happy illustration.’’ In the Report for the year 1860 Mr. Cook says ‘‘Cer- tainly no expense has been spared by the managers to supply everything that can be required for the thorough training of the students.’”’ ‘The results as I have frequently had occasion to state have been entirely satisfactory. The students not only pass the annual examination with a success that bear witness to the ability and zeal of their teachers but receive a complete and peculiarly efficient course of instruction in the principles and practical details of school keeping. There is a combination of advantages which do not often meet in the same insti- tution. A remarkably clear perception of the fundamental principles upon which the educational system ts based with a singular elasticity and readiness of adaptation to varying circumstances. The esprit de corps is very strongly felt by students and teachers but there is no hesitation in recognizing the value and importance of the improvement daily brought to light by the experience of teachers in other institutions. System without pedantry, earnestness without bigotry are the great objects aimed at and in a great measure attained.”’ Of the Schools of the Institution we find a Report of the year 1856, “No Instituion has so large a number of children of all ages, so great a variety of well organized and efficient schools in which the students may observe educational processes and put the lessons they receive into practice; while in none are the principles of education more carefully studied and combined more skillfully with practical exemplifications.’’ Again more particularly in the Report for the year 1857, ‘‘Infant Schools—Miss Henderson—An excellent school fully retaining its high character asa Model School under the present mistress who was educated and trained in this Institution. Mixed School—Miss B. Jones—For Girls and Infants. This is called the Model Mixed School. It is admirably conducted, the children are full of life and intelligence, and well advanced in all subjects. The recitation of good poetry and of considerable portions of Holy Scripture, has been highly beneficial both in this and the other schools of the Institution. Juvenile School —Mr. Coghlan. Boys and Girls—This is an excellent school, the instruction is remarkably complete, and the children are thoroughly instructed in a variety of practical subjects of great importance to persons in their station of life. Their faculties are systematically developed, and due pains taken to inculcate high and sound principles of action.” I have confined myself to the consideration of what I hold to be grave in- accuracies of statement on the part of Dr. Wilbur. On mere differences of opinion eg I A ppendix 175 and judgment I have not touched unless incidentally. I will now with the utmost brevity touch on a few such points. Dr. Wilbur says, ‘‘A common error that many advocates of what is called the object system fall into, is the idea that observa- tions have a peculiar practical value over the corresponding means used in other educational systems.’’ We do not know what “the corresponding means used in other educational systems”’ are: we cannot see that there is any thing which corresponds to, nor any substitute for the formation of a ‘“‘habit of accurate ob- servation in childhood.”’ In our eyes the peculiar practical value of the object lesson consists not in the knowledge it gives, but in the mental cultivation it involves. Dr. Wilbur says truly, that the use of words above the current language of the circle in which they move, cannot long be kept up or remembered by the children. In the abstract this is undeniable; as applied to condemn the cultivation of language in Pestalozzian schools, it has no force. The son or daughter of the humblest parent who moves in the school circle for five hours a day during five or six years becomes familiar with the current language of the school and keeps it up, always. Dr. Wilbur maintains that a child first receives general and then particular ideas. Illustratively he says, “The infant goes to one caretaker as well as another. He has but the idea that his wants are ministered to by one of human form and dress. In time he distin- guishes the particular nurse from the other members of the family by difference in tone, manner, and dress, and cries for her alone, etc.’’ We hold that Dr. Wilbur mistakes the absence of ideas on a subject for the possession of a general idea. I have read Dr. Wilbur’s article with attention, surprise, and regret. The regret, however, is a very evanescent feeling. Nothing will do Pestalozzianism more good than a few sharp attacks. If it be strong in the truth, it is strong enough to fight its way, as almost all good things have to do. The fact of opposition is not surprising, but how any person of intelligence, education, and high character could venture to condemn a System, and an Institution, of which he manifestly knows so little, is a-mystery to me! MARGARET E. M. JONEs, May Ist, 1863. APPENDIX XV The following is a letter written in 1863 to Dr. Sheldon by Miss Elizabeth Mayo of the Home and Colonial Training Institution in London and contains comments upon the address given by Dr. H. B. Wilbur before the New York State Teachers’ Association Meeting held:in 1862. Oakhill, Hempstead Dec. 18 (1863), London Dear Sir: I am sorry that circumstances have prevented my sending an immediate answer to your letter, in fact it requires more thought and consideration to write on the points you bring before my notice than I am now able to give with satis- faction to myself. You will not be surprised at this when I tell you that I am fast approaching seventy years of age, that I have been an amateur laborer in the cause of Education forty years, and that I have very delicate health. I will however send you a few observations on the points about which you desire to have my opinion and will preface them by the remark that I think the writer in the New York Teacher often confuses practice with principles. Now I am most fully convinced in my own mind that the general principles of the Pestaloz- zian system are truly philosophical and founded on the basis of human nature, though I have not always approved of the plans that have sprung from them. I will now refer to the paragraphs to which you draw my attention, page 15. We do not consider that the ‘individual observations’’ become mental steps and mental acquirements. They are mental steps not from the acquisition of knowledge but from power developed. What we have mainly in view is the calling out and strengthening the child’s mental faculties, the creating and appetite for knowledge, the formation of correct habits, and not the storing of the mind with knowledge. This is a later step in education and is the consequence of the first. P. 17. It is quite contrary to our system that scientific instruction should be given at an early age. We altogether disclaim this, our theory in this, “to proceed from the known to the unknown,” that instruction should be graduated and progressive. We endeavour therefore that the child shall acquire clear and distinct ideas of Form by the exercise of his senses and we believe that should his education be carried on to a later period in the higher branches he will thus more easily and clearly grasp the abstractions of pure geometry. Should he stop short of this, still the cultivation of his senses in this direction will prove of good value in the business of life. The same observation holds good with respect to our plans of teaching Number—we commence with palpable demonstration and so enable the pupils to work with understanding and precision in mental calculation. Sym- bols are not taught till the ideas they represent are apprehended, the same in Lan- guage—the ideas precede the words given, their relation to each other and the office they perform in the interest of lessons, but the classifications, definitions, and terms of grammar are deferred to a more advanced period. The same system is pursued in all the subjects taught. Our desire is to take nature as our guide and to educate the different faculties in the order in which they are unfolded, en- deavouring to keep them well balanced in harmonious operation. Pestalozzi’s great idea was to educate the man and thus in answer to your queries I have A ppendix ) 177 spoken only of the intellectual powers. We educate according to his fitting ex- pression, the head, the hand, and the heart. That we never err in carrying out our views far be it from me to assert. With respect to the observation at page 18, I think I have forestalled them and as regards Reading, we consider it as the chef d’oeuvre of our schools. Our children read with such intelligence and cor- rectness, but our manner of teaching it harmonizes with their system. The teacher analyzes and presents the causal element, first to the pupil, and then helps him to build up his knowledge. First he learns to distinguish the letters by their form, next he learns their power and sound in continuation, and lastly their names. It would require many pages to describe more fully our process but I may say it is successful. P, 20. It is true that our ‘first object is to lead a child to observe with accuracy,’’ but surely a succeeding step should be to give him the most appropriate words that he may make use of what he gains and in this process the habit of forming definite ideas will be strengthened and the memory also exercised. In page 21 the writer speaks of “a Mr. Mayo” meaning I conclude the Rev. Dr. Mayo who spent three years with Pestalozzi and afterwards introduced the system in his schools chiefly formed of the sons of our aristocracy. His success was proved by the overflowing numbers and the high positions his pupils took in our innova- tion and in after life. Mr. Reynolds, the originator of the Home and Colonial Training Schools—and I have had the pleasure of working with him ever since its foundation. My brother viewed it with great interest but was soon called from his labours to enjoy the rest that remaineth for the people of God. With respect to my ‘‘Lessons on Objects”’ it would have been more correct to have stated the ages of the children from six to ten but the final edition was much less comprehensive and the statement of the ages has been completely left as first given. These lessons were prepared for my brother’s school. His pupils were very intelligent and before they left the course of instruction from objects they had commenced the study of Latin and Greek so that to them the derivations were not out of place. It isnot the textbook of the Home and Colonial Infant Schools though many of the teachers like to possess it. The Lessons on Objects prepared for the latter schools were much simplified and terms not so familiar were avoided. I have constantly warned our students against the un- scrupulous use of hard words but it is very difficult often to find a common word in our language to express quite simple qualities—for example, what could be correctly substituted for opaque, transparent, inflammable, soluble, etc.? and I must add my experience that when the idea is clearly defined in a child’s mind the name is easily learned and after a little recitation and application becomes available for use. I cannot enter into all the details of the pamphlet you sent. I write simply because I feel an interest in your institution and wish it success. Be assured if we lay firm hold of Pestalozzian Principles though we may make a few mistakes in their application we shall accomplish a great good. Such has been unquestion- ably the case in England and I hope it may be so in America. I believe Mr. Kriisi is now with you. Pray remember me to him. Believe me, dear Sir, Yours truly, ELIZABETH MAyo P. S. I conclude you have my brother’s five prefaces. I think they are the best exponents of the system. APPENDIX XVI CITIES AND STATES IN WHICH OSWEGO GRADUATES TAUGHT FROM 1862-1886 Pua Dame Saved setae Bane 7 Hartford. 2... ee 2 IVLEDIOR S ufear a cals os 3 New. Britains... ae 2 Montgomery..... I New Haven...) s/n Talladega. . 2 North Granby: >. 7, as ee Uniontown. . I Norwalk... : 5 ATIZGNES Le au khee ae I Rockville. ..\.2..;. 3) =e PPECSCOL Boa yh tisha to oe ar ne Delaware.. ra ek ee ATEGOSa6 ie fol nt hea oath 4 Wailer one BIER A Ee PCHALOU tA Sant nae eth mol Oe District of Calnenpice BOORSDOFON wig \ ad ntsuok Manan Wabhinetons toe 5 Bored (9) hele Aten ee ee Re MOR 5 Florida.... Jk | WO PADUA hikes ty us. Wei oue I Gainesville... . .25.ch ee MECTENTE 9 TE OTe ee ee kg 21 San Mateo... I Benecia. .. I Georgia... Descanso... I Atlanta. . 3 PIOWNEY 5, 5 -Stniev ation Simmons ie Augusta. JV: I POLIS SIO VIR, 82s lh cee aa Macon.. 2 Grass Valley.. I *Manhattan. .. I LAVEPMOre ie ae crs Lae eee a Savannah ».4)6°0¢.4 eee I BIN OFGBOSE £3 ooh ae eal Tlinoisiri nse Fw etic eee BEES ERT Ys a NG, 3 Aurora. 2:) i. i ee ee ee 2 BlaCer Wille: kiwis eatin ee aT Austin, J: 5. ee I Da SATE CTS Ce Raat mai ay Renna SBN SBF Belvidere... ):.:.4. 408s OCCA TIGNUG, .\0 kcules ats Ca ee Bement, 3.2. 22 ee I aL BST oa oar Peaminn @ Wann s 5 I Bloomington I San Francisco. . 2 Cait ).csca 08g ee I San Jose. . I Champaign. ..;..... <9 a eee Santa Paula. . 2 Chicago...-.\s'.'.4.49a ae 16 Ventura... sa Se iTunes Bae aT "Del Nortes ..:4)070. ee I OlOtR dG oso tia Boyt de ake oe 9 DIXON hie <3 es» a I ‘Alamosa. . did Eh a talaes Cite Blgin se ha sieee 2 Colorado Sebo shold raedas it ne I Englewood ts << «0s 0s ae Denver. 2 Equality: ’:5 20 \lce alee I Crarveten I Evanston, 3... «+.» si. Ee Leadville. . I Freedom)... : ss atv pe I Longmont. . I Gary.. 5 dss yale Pueblo. .... ¥ I Hickland park! “> aoe ae 2 Williamsburg. . . I Hyde, Park... /p0 a2 I COOUSCHPN Es aii One ees 22 Jacksonville. ....... »..7. eee Briugencrt ait 2 ots au aia Kenwood. ou)... 200 eee *: Farmitgtona, atti sa stig Lane La Grange... ....4. 2s eee Csreeiiwictir ie aoee.- cee) Sa I Lake Forest... *Not located in the Rand and McNally International Atlas. 87 POG oy « tanto. 2... i) ee aN ae ee a eR Oe Ma eT ae a ee ey ae a TMM. ig Boe Lempard. :... (1 ES Oe Ca ee ae BHOUNG ks va Mount Carmel MGMTIEO ATTOUL: 5.6. ales scdib WEGUNEeE UBS. mS ss ek og LESS rr Wakignd::....... Oak Parigsv i: . gy vices 1), i a Ravenswood.......... T(E ee Rock Run.... ROSCCC. 8... » ae ee, ee eK See bl th a oe Springfield..... mn MCRMOLCL. >, ... «> Winnetka... . Peon ys. fo... Bloomingdale. Ribera ee ses: Eugene...... ye te Ss Se le oe ee re G6 Owe Ligeti [oR sy | rr rr MmipOVOuritL fi... ss x.. 32.2) a eee Massachipettat 244). ce here ce a2 Albert: leat? nae Blandonieny culercs se rece I Anoka’ 5. 70. eee OStON eur) cee a at eae 9 *Brookings. ... Brook uners cs hi Gui, see eee Wottage Harm: so edaue cee Ct risVille@crons he) 4 a) ee I FUOCENCE.. 4 vot ene eee ee islouicestery ois eke ee Nyse Bride S00 Vo 2 ne ee Northamptonscs; sce eee CJOITEY SEs ee Stee ean eee at SOUTH BOAO Larus ene eee Springiietd pace eee nee Mee Wellesley o.oo eae eee Wiestbora.) 2 ica weeny West ‘Newton, 3 200 2, Viel uF a BRR Oe 6 Worcesters. vue) hanes Ohichigaty «1 citer se we eee Pattie (resin | ee Cores Bay Cty cc ioaie a) eee CUING A oy toa een on eee ee Ww QO = = = NO =» me om Bronson's Prairie; 2722007 4 OE Ecc aN Dem UP Dal Spel Charlotte.’ 2/23) ae 9 Loeirow fond Pee Rastioag ina Wis orsceiee e PE oe areas, cies Ey torand! Rapida): 0) ene Te Harbor Springs..... I ASTI AG ater ites Caren ae ae I NACKINAC TE. aint ent SU at Wististeel ah aurea? pcos Crores 84 Duleth eae ora Fergus Falis.: 5), 3o aoe Mankato; 3732 eee Minneapolis... .. Northfield. .. Red Wing. <) }2auaeee Rochester... 27 2. St: Ciotith. = 7 ee Stillwater). 22 St: Peter i Winona... i... 2s Mississippi Clarksdale::. |. Soe *Tougaloo. |. o>). 25 Ree Missourt 5.20 US See Bolivat. ee Ferguson... ./) see Holden. 2.) 2.0 Jeiferson City. 7. ee Kansas City cies "Kiddvilles 2 6 yonueee Kirksville... .. Léxington’.4;; 034.800 eee Nitariti see poe Osceola... 22 5..2.7 ee Pacific? 2.5205. 2 Warrensburg... . 2). eee Montana Bozeman.."’.'. }.e Butté City. <. (2a). 0 eee ot. Joseph... ee Nebraska... o) see Fairbury. ise eee @ 0 4) S)\0 Bee Bae Fm ees 23 35 A ppendix JOS GLEN IRS ea a rare eS | Cleveland gyn vi ium ee EE Lee a a ars I ColdmpUss avs a. Wee) Are MRR SY sieicn cys ct vvin iter 26 Derytoniieis.s ww laiceisinn EUAN 5! iy o's skates 3 Dayton Falls... . Satton cs. I VOStOrie cir s & Maat ual nasianeaen OT a ay ae ain Ca ae I Gallipolis. (206 o.'54 STONY oes Sa are eee aes See I CON EVA ii oa) ada aes PEMMCATONTA cd as See ekeis 8 Greene yg ial} ae alc cohen MEIER Gd co oes ois bs ei 2 - 6 Hillsboro,’ .2 BR ET ee sclies 5 36k SAY be traeye we 2 ebanonas 13 is Ve beeaios PROT aOR. 5c. ee Sed dale - I Mansfield....... MEER i io: 31.) 3 ging SS I Marveville cd vgcuee eae New Hampshire... ........4.: 5 Mount Auburn. ttn yin sz eR yao va cale marae I Mount Union... BEEMEDOMOT Sh ic4 Ro su dewsdeds 2 NapOleOn a4) eae an eee eee ER TESEEV Sie one on dad oi: otacopi eit 2 NEATONG che ee a ic ne OMB OTBOU ace i055 lu pe Mle 79 SOTA Sith eu co ook beeen amen ta) 2 + Cc eee Od eoledOs catias, SME Tek gre So da SEN I ELOY ois iNet ah aed ae eel as MME Pi ec Soak Oeics Sane 2 Wadsworth... 54 iaiyeies et: BREE Mecesdli inghnasiee Wat Warren). \8i2.a 4h Ue 215) a 2 Wellington... REE OP. 5st a as I ENMESD LS oh. tg a tase PagGOTANgG . os Psi oe Oy ts 4 Yellow Springs.. Elizabeth...... PABOSUIUNG TT si5 ash aaiarnsieenne eC ATIGEO NC Fo. 5 cM ithiien oe CURA THONG ricci 20) «Sign ON TA MERECLELO WN . oi. «212. ses ahlequah ia acuci.) cn teens Pracconhelds. 2h. oneal I ETUDES soho We OM IEAB WR, Peon a0 SOUEAtOWN 3.3 OLE Aaa PI RIGEQOIN. wh dy ach tictie a RERMCETE CL eso ves 6 Jacksonville yo rie ane’ Perse CIty so. oe et 9 Renney lyaniaa. acs bas Matawan..... I Allegheny City... .. Montclair..... 5 ATONE ess sos LUTE 2 rs ee EE | Bloomsburg........ GS 2 Brandt ts Sass ances i I i Meat Ot bh 460 un. 59, Orange....... 2 ROUT ds eeisaae at blot haa Passaic: .... I PAVING mises creas eee: yo 8 Germantown.... Pine. see ‘3 PABTTISIMIES A chale, aes war ate tae a Co A Oe ae ann | BSUS ED or fo rey Shed Rutherford. ... I TIOCRrIAVElbo sh a/c) “phar. a ; Marshalltdninn 92 telousenng 60 (Cle te z WET ORC ree es itis tela pathteaany clth Ts i a ee a a 58 Mount Pleasant. . Akron ond 2 Myerstown..... Chillicothe..... I Norristowi id, oc.0. on + Cincinnati..... CO Cy ans ey is 4 Ne NO BW NS DN S&S & = = S| = 69 182 Philadel phias. bas cases PIvte Ure. avin ho atcea eee Port. alleghany\). 2. oe ue nae Renova sos) aie san ec cae tee Scrantotias. ocr SelinggrOVEdciee nes cee Shippensbtire) ia) ns cok ae San ville tea: Swarthmore wea a ee Ditusville, <> tien chs te es West Philadelphia. ......... Wiest towed eo te ae Wilkkesbarre@d oid) the (sche ROG elite hoes ee cna Prov errs cat waceuen WVESEETIVS Moae ces. stnian a aa South Carolina... :.:. (harlestonc. eee 2 POUL paota. iy ies bm PY SATO Va Ok alta Stes ae ae AR chi fet cs ae Rem ae rie ey Kellyville. ....... MORTON Eig c go). aie td celal es ra Brandon is. s dou cas es Beistols co) }c8 4 ee cicabehr eae’ Burlington, io.) ok ee AZastlebon chy cvk elo ue ee NOMnsOnA hae Gal a to ae Bartland iow seb h oar eae Shelbirmeey Bot eve. tA bane wet) is VOEEpennies 0) oc 2) eave kere Virginia aoa on Un pe false en atistie Me Dury pte 4. hee 34 The Oswego Movement in American Education Culpepper... .. ) cane Hampton. /s.. 2. Washington.» «4. ¢8 ae Olympia... i). 6 ee West Virginia...:... ..5e. ee Wheeling... . .1.)..8 Jee Wisconsiti gi ee Appleton ose ste Beloit.) 50).66.as Sa Fond duiLacs ae eee eal trot coheed Madison..... Milwaukee... . cc. s/c sna Phillipe ae ea Ripon ter ea oes River. Falls... , 23 Stockbridge: .... oi... 41.0 ee Whitewater. .3...... so5 ee Wyoming. 4 ued Cheyenne........ Laramie... wes \s i. 4.< alg ee Oshawa, Ontario..... Peterboro, Ontario.... MexICO 6 se. ace a Sandwich Islands: :. 2.2.3). South America: i. (¢.c.0 ee Parana cueee Rosariovecs a no = =~ = mM 18 13 City or Town Accord Adams Adams Center Addison Addison Hill Albany Alexandria Bay Alfred Station Ames Amsterdam Antwerp Attica Auburn Aurelius Aurora Ausable Avon Babylon Bainbridge *Baiting Hollows Baldwinsville Barne’s Corners Batavia Batchellerville Bay Shore Belfast Bellport Bergen Binghamton Black Brook Bloomville Bolivar *Bolney Boonville Brewerton Brockport Brooklyn Buffalo Burke - Montgomery APPENDIX XVII NEW YORK CITIES IN WHICH OSWEGO GRADUATES TAUGHT FROM 1862-1886 County Number Ulster Jefferson Jefferson Steuben Steuben Albany I Jefferson Allegany Montgomery Jefferson Wyoming Cayuga Cayuga Cayuga Clinton Livingston Sse Pe WB BR Se SH BD OS & & HD Suffolk Chenango Onondaga Lewis Genesee Saratoga Suffolk Allegany Suffolk Genesee Broome Clinton Delaware Allegany al Oo = = & & NH S = HR = CO w ° Oneida Onondaga Monroe Kings Erie Franklin tN Hen iu W DN & & & & City or Town Caledonia Cambridge Canajoharie Canandaigua Canastota Candor Carthage Catchuque *Catlin Cato Cazenovia Center Moriches Centralia Central Islip Charlton Chappaqua Chateaugay Chaumont Chester Hill Chili Chittenango Cicero Clarence Clayton Cleveland Clinton Clintonville Clyde Cohoes Collins Center Cooperstown Corinth Corning Cortland *Dakota Deposit De Ruyter Dobb’s Ferry Dryden * Not located in the Rand and McNally International Atlas. County Number Livingston Washington Montgomery Ontario Madison Tioga Jefferson Suffolk I I I I 2 2 7 3 I Cayuga I Madison 2 Suffolk I Chautauqua I! Suffolk I Saratoga I Chautauqua I Franklin 6 Jefferson 3 Westchester I Monroe I Madison I Onondaga 2 Erie I Jefferson 2 Oswego 2 Oneida I Clinton I Wayne I Albany 2 Erie I Otsego I Saratoga I I 6 ‘Steuben Cortland I Broome 5 Madison 2 Westchester 7 Tompkins 2 184 The Oswego Movement in American Education City or Town Dunkirk Durhamville East Bloomfield Eddyville Elba Elizabethtown Ellenville Ellisburg Elmira Fair Haven Fairport Fayette Felts Mills Fishkill Flatbush Flushing Forest port Franklinville Fredonia Fresh Pond Fruit Valley Fulton Garden City Gates Geneseo Geneva Gilbert Mills Glen Cove Glenham Glenwood Gloversville Gouveneur Gowanda Grahamsville Granby Granby Center Greenpoint Greenport Greenville Greenwich Hamburg Hamilton County Number Chautauqua I Oneida I Ontario Ulster Genesee Essex Ulster Jefferson Chemung = NR Oot b= Cayuga Monroe Seneca Jefferson Dutchess Kings Queens Chautauqua Cattaraugas Chautauqua Queens Oswego Oswego — Same Ne NW UMW & & OO lal Ny Nassau I Monroe I Livingston 4 Ontario 2 Oswego I Nassau 2 Dutchess I Erie I Fulton 5 St. Lawrence 2 Cattaraugas 4 Sullivan I Oswego I Oswego I Kings I Suffolk 26 Greene I Washington 3 Erie 4 Madison 4 City or Town Hammondsport Hannibal Harford Hartwick Hastings Hempstead Henderson Henrietta *Henryville Herkimer Hoosick Falls *Hornellsville Horseheads *Houndsfield Howell’s Huguenot Huntington Ilion Ionia Irvington Islip Italy Ithaca Jacksonville Jamaica Jamestown Jericho Jordan Kiatone Kingston Kinney Four Corners Oswego Lacona Lansingburg Ledyard Leonardsville Le Roy Lewiston Liberty Lima Lindley Lisle Little Falls County Number Steuben I Oswego II Cortland Otsego Oswego Nassau Jefferson Monroe — Merkimer Rensselaer Chemung Orange Orange Suffolk — Qe = = Se PY BPs he Re oe oe Herkimer Ontario Westchester Suffolk Yates Tompkins i) nae BW ww Tompkins Queens Chautauqua Nassau Onondaga = Chautauqua I Ulster me GH Oswego Rensselaer Cayuga Madison Genesee Niagara Sullivan Livingston Steuben Broome Herkimer = NO = = =e NH me HY & HN City or Town Livingston Manor Lockport Lycoming Macedon Madison Malone Mamaroneck *Manayunk Mannsville Marcellus Mariner’s Harbor Massena Matteawan McGraw Medina Meridian Mexico Middleburg Miller’s Place Millerton Minetto Mohawk Montezuma Moore’s Mills Moriches Morristown Morrisville *Mosestown Mount Morris Mount Kisco Mount Vernon Mumsville Narrowsburg Newark New Berlin Newburgh New Hartford New Haven New Paltz Newport New Rochelle Newville New York New York Mills Appendix County Number Sullivan I Niagara 3 Oswego I Wayne Madison Franklin Westchester Jefferson Onondaga Richmond St. Lawrence Dutchess Cortland Oreleans Cayuga Oswego Schoharie Suffolk Dutchess Oswego Herkimer Cayuga Dutchess Suffolk St. Lawrence Albany Livingston Westchester Westchester Madison ~OW SeNT SE NW SW SDH BS He Se OR WD WW HD KR ORM DN Sullivan Wayne Chenango Orange Oneida Oswego Ulster Herkimer Westchester Herkimer New York 3 Oneida =O = Be HY HY SW N ND & City or Town Niagara Falls Nichols Nicholville Northampton North Brookfield *North Chorton North Granville North Lawrence *North Parma Northport North Troy Northville Norwich Norwood Nyack Oak Hill Oakland Ogdensburg Old Westbury Olean Oneida Oneida Castle Onondaga Oregon Orient Osceola Oswego Oswego Center Oswego Falls Otto Ovid Owen’s Mills Painted Post Parish Patchogue *Paxton Pearsalls Penfield Peru Philadelphia Piercefield Pierrepont Manor Pittsford Plattsburg Port Byron *Not located in the Rand and McNally International Atlas. 185 County Number Niagara Steuben St. Lawrence Fulton Madison Washington St. Lawrence Suffolk Rensselaer Fulton Chenango St. Lawrence Rockland mmm meet aS cn Greene Sullivan St. Lawrence Nassau Cattaraugus Madison Oneida Onondaga Putnam Suffolk Lewis Oswego Oswego Oswego Cattaraugas Seneca Chemung Lael oOo = yO = = = = GQ eS WN 246 ee ee ee | Steuben Oswego Suffolk I Nassau Monroe Clinton Jefferson St. Lawrence St. Lawrence Monroe Clinton Cayuga NO Oe = BFW NN + SB ODN WN 186 City or Town Port Chester Port Leyden Port Orange Portville Potsdam Poughkeepsie Prospect Heights Pulaski Queens Red Creek Redwood Richfield Ripley Riverhead Rochester Rocky Point Rondout Roscoe Rose Roslyn Rouse’s Point Sacket Harbor *Sacquoit Salamanca Sand Hill Sandy Creek Saratoga Saranac Lake Savannah Sayville Scarsdale Schoharie Scipioville Scriba Shelter Island Sing Sing Sisson Springs Skaneateles Slaterville Sodus Point Southampton South New Berlin Southold County Number Westchester Lewis Orange Cattaraugas St. Lawrence Dutchess Rensselaer Oswego — Ss me BP NH HS & WN iS) Queens Wayne Jefferson Otsego Chautauqua Suffolk I Monroe I Herkimer Ulster I Sullivan Wayne Nassau Clinton do = = = = =» COM HH WH ND Jefferson Cattaraugas Wayne Oswego I Saratoga Franklin Wayne Suffolk Westchester Schoharie Cayuga Oswego Suffolk Chemung St. Lawrence Onondaga Tompkins Wayne Suffolk Chenango Suffolk SS SS eS eS Ne ee CON SS HR Se & YD OO S&S & me City or Town South Richland South Syracuse Spencerport *Sterling Center Stony Brook Stony Point Stone Ridge Strykersville Syracuse Tarrytown Theresa Ticonderoga Tonawanda Trenton Troy Trumansburg Tuckahoe Unadilla Forks Union Union Springs Utica ° Victor Volney Volney Center Walton Wampsville Warsaw Warwick Washingtonville Watertown Waterville Watkins Waverly Webster Weedsport Wegatchie Wellsville Westchester Westfield Westhampton Westmoreland West New Berlin West New Brighton Richmond *Not located in the Rand and McNally International Atlas. The Oswego Movement in American Education County Number Oswego Onondaga Monroe Suffolk Rockland Ulster Wyoming Onondaga NSN = = = NW HY & WN Westchester Jefferson Essex Erie Oneida Rensselaer Tompkins Westchester =e BNO + = = ND WN Otsego Broome Cayuga Oneida = N NO » LS) Oswego Oswego Oswego a Delaware Madison Wyoming Orange Orange Jefferson Oneida Schuyler Tioga Monroe Cayuga St. Lawrence Allegany Bronx Chautauqua Suffolk Oneida Chenango NF WO eH Se OO FH & NY SDNY ND OD & BS & City or Town Wheeler White’s Corners Whitehall Whitney’s Point Williamstown Williamson Wolcott Woodville County Steuben Madison Washington Broome Oswego Wayne Wayne Ontario Appendix Number SIS = = OD & NY & City or Town Yaphank Yonkers ~ York Youngstown Total 187 County Number Suffolk I Westchester 18 Livingston I _ Niagara I 1252 APPENDIX XVIII The following people who are at present members of the faculty of the Oswego State Normal and Training School, were associated with Dr. Sheldon either as students or as teachers. Their helpful codperation in this study has made it possible for the author to assemble and interpret much original source material which other- wise might never have been brought to light. Miss C. L. G. Scales was appointed to the Oswego faculty in September, 1884 as teacher of History, Literature, and French. She was enrolled as a special student at Wellesley College and later (’94—’95) at Radcliffe College. In 1906 she was graduated from the University of Chiacgo with the degree of Ph.B. In- tellectual interests have kept Miss Scales an active student and her present physcial and mental vigor bespeak the effects of the Oswego influences. Miss Scales lived a year in the Sheldon home. She testifies that the associations with Dr. Sheldon, Mary Sheldon Barnes, and other members of the household con- stituted the most valuable part of her preparation for teaching. Her own words in writing of Dr. Sheldon and his educational work not only contribute to present estimates of his character but reveal the true causes of her own faithful and enabling service. Her own character is revealed in her appraisal of Dr. Sheldon. “The characteristics of the Oswego State Normal and Training School which were most effective in establishing it as a powerful educational influence in this country were those which were inherent in Dr. Sheldon and which he was in a measure able to incarnate in the school founded and inspired by him so long. Dr. Sheldon was a man who sought first the kingdom of Heaven. This was the secret of his greatness and of his success. His characteristics, as I was privileged to know them in his daily life in his home and in his school, were a fearless and undeviating desire for the truth; un- selfish devotion to the right thing, as he saw it; and unswerving endeavor to make his school—and all schools—places where the children would grow and develop naturally and wholesomely in mental, moral, and physical health. His defini- tion of the aim of education was—‘‘To know God’s law and to obey it!”’ Another characteristic was his true humility. In his teachableness his soul was as the soul of a little child. So he was always ready to learn a more excellent way. Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven—as we read. But his judgment was the judgment of an experienced soul, knowing good and evil In, I think, the last summer of his life, in spite of the devastating heat of that year, Dr. Sheldon spent several weeks attending a summer school in Chicago to study the then widely acclaimed Spear method of teaching mathematics with a view to introducing it in Oswego, if itseemed best. But his verdict was against it, though the educational world was enthusiastic in regard to it. And so, largely because of this same teachableness, this open-mindedness, he was always in the forefront of educational progress. Prove all things, hold fast that which is good, might have been his motto . . . Dr. Sheldon was a great soul rather than a great intellect, the intellect being a smaller thing A ppendix 189 as the part is smaller than the whole. He became a teacher because he loved humanity rather than because he loved pedagogy. When he was thrust into the schoolroom he wanted to give the little ones something better than he had had in the dry-as-dust schoolroom. i giving the children the real things getting away from ‘‘words, words, wore he led them out into a happier world of flowers, fruits, birds, insects, ed sounds, colors—where they had to ‘observe, compare, infer’ for themselves Dr. Richard K. Piez was appointed to the faculty in 1893 as teacher of Manual Training and kindred subjects. His work soon shifted to the fields of Psychology and the History of Educational Methods where his interests are still active and vigorous. Dr. Piez received the degree of Doctor of Pedagogy from New York University. His extensive readings and special study at the University of Jena together with his appreciation of Dr. Sheldon’s work fit him in an admirable way for his chosen field of professional activity. Miss Mary L. O’Geran was appointed to the Oswego faculty in 1894. She was graduated from Oswego in 1885. She began her long career of usefulness in the Oswego school as assistant to the principal of the intermediate elementary grades and she is now devoting her skill and knowledge to the field of Industrial Arts. Miss Caroline V. Sinnamon was graduated from two curricula of the Oswego school, 1888 and 1893, and was appointed as demonstration teacher in 1895. She has had wide experience as a teacher, excellent opportunities for special study, and has traveled abroad. Miss Sinnamon is now principal of the grammar grades and instructor and supervisor of English. Her work, as do the others, reflects the impression of the high character of Edward Austin Sheldon. Miss Harriet E. Stevens, a graduate of the class of 1872, was appointed to the Oswego Normal School faculty in March 1897 as principal of the primary depart- ment, a position which she occupies today with great credit to herself, the school, and the Oswego spirit. Her professional life has been interspersed with special study in Columbia University and in New York University, with foreign travel, and with wide reading. Miss Katherine A. Hayes of the class of 1897 was appointed that same year by Dr. Sheldon, a few days before his death, as assistant to the principal of the intermediate department and as supervisor of drawing. Since then her interests have lead her into the field of mathematics. She holds a degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, and is head of the department of mathematics at Oswego. Mr. Joseph C. Park was appointed by Dr. Poucher in 1902. He was graduated from the Oswego Normal School in 1895, has studied in Cornell University, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University. Mr. Park is the author of several text books in the field of vocational education and is head of the depart- ment for the preparation of vocational teachers, one of the largest of its kind in the State. Miss Sarah C. Olmsted, a member of the class of 1897, was appointed in 1921 as director of the department of health education. Miss Olmsted is a registered nurse and holds a degree of Bachelor of Science from Columbia University. Her memory of Dr. Sheldon confirms testimony previously mentioned. VITA Author's name: NED HARLAND DEARBORN Place of birth: Conneautville, Pennsylvania Date of birth: June 2, 1893 Education: 1908. IQIO. I9I2. 1921. 1924. 1925. Experience: Completed the work of the elementary school in the public schools of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. Graduated from the Hayfield Township High School, Meadville, R. F. D. No. 2, Pennsylvania. Graduated from the regular teachers course and from the course for supervisors of public school music in the Edinboro State Normal School, Edinboro, Pennyslvania. Granted B. S. degree in education by Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. Granted A. M. degree in education by Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. Completed advanced courses in normal school education and related subjects at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. Ig!0-I911. Teacher in a one-room rural school in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. 1912-1913. Assistant-principal of the Summit Township High School Harmonsburg, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. 1913-1914. Principal of the Summit Township High School and Supervising Principal of the Township Elementary Schools, Harmonsburg, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. 1914-1918. Supervising Principal of Schools at West Springfield, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Ig18-1920. Director of Public Schools, Conneautville, Pennsylvania. 1921-1923. Director of the Training School of the Oswego State Normal and Training School, Oswego, New York. 1924-1925. Part-time assistant in the division of educational research of the Commonwealth Fund, New York City. The author has participated in city school surveys, has contributed articles for educational magazines, and has written a textbook for use in the professional preparation of teachers. ee. oS a ae ie, a tpi 40 TT ea | I ea ie RE AO FT eae eR ae , mee ESuG. SematvEny THE OSWEGO MOVEMENT IN AMERICAN EDUCATION BY NED HARLAND DEARBORN SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY THE WBRART OF THe APR 1 9 1926 BR cry OF ILLINGIS ee be SELES ro yase Published by she College, Columbia Gniversitp . New York City 1925 a A al ret 9 Pike sue 3 eae a Tanne ole HiLyer | ie, Ai MBE iy > he GN m4 / 1 ae we 7 ey wr iaet Fe. 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