REPORT OF THE Commission to Examine THE Normal Schools OF THE State of Vermont TO THE General Assembly 1908 ST. ALBANS, VT. : St. Albans Messenger Company Print. 1908. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/reporttogeneralaOOverm V s ^ # I REPORT OF THE COMMISSION TO EXAMINE THE NORMAL SCHOOLS OF THE STATE OF VERMONT. >- § <5 To General Assembly of the State of Vermont: Under a joint resolution approved by His Excellency Governor Fletcher D. Proctor, December 14th, 1906, your Commission respectfully submits the following report in relation to the Normal Schools of the State of Vermont. The duties of the Commission are defined in the joint resolution, which reads in part as follows: “RESOLVED, by the Senate and House of Represen- tatives : “That a Commission consisting of five members to be appointed by the Governor is hereby created and empower- ed to consider the present status and the equipment of the Normal Schools of the State, to compare the same with the Normal School facilities of other states, and to report to the General Assembly at the biennial session in 1908 their findings and recommendations by bill or otherwise. Said Commission is empowered to call for and examine persons, books, and papers in relation to the Normal Schools.” — No. 500 of the Acts of 1906. Acting under the authority conferred in this joint resolution, your Commission desires to report that it has found the present Normal Schools well conducted so far as conditions permit. The State Board of Normal School Commissioners is to be commended for the work it has accomplished with the inadequate means at its command. 4 Your Commission is, however, of the unanimous opin- ion that the present Normal Schools do not adequately meet the educational needs of the times and are open to serious criticism as representative institutions of the State. It desires to call your attention to some of the more prominent of these defects. 1st. Buildings. The buildings are poorly adapted to the modern requirements of Normal School education and do not meet even the present demands made upon them. The sanitary conditions, the lighting of class-rooms, and the general condition of the plants leave much to be desired. This is largely due to the fact that the State of Vermont does not own the title to any of the property now occupied for Normal School purposes; has no satis- factory lease of the buildings ; pays no rent and has author- ity to make only slight repairs, whereas extensive altera- tions are necessary to meet the growing demands of modern education. 2nd. Financial Support. The appropriations for the Normal Schools are insufficient, and the lack of available funds has led to several unfavorable results : (a) . The equipment of the buildings in supplies, apparatus, natural history collections, manual training material, etc. is inadequate. (b) . The Normal School Commissioners, forced to offer meager salaries, are seriously embarrassed in secur- ing and retaining teachers of thorough preparation and rich experience. This results in a large proportion of in- struction that is unprofessional or experimental, and vir- tually makes of our Normal Schools institutions for the training of normal instructors who shortly leave for better paid positions in other states. (c) . The enrichment of the course of study by the elaboration of present studies, by the addition of new courses, or by increasing the number of the faculty, is practically impossible. 5 (d). The attractions to prospective students are limited, with the consequence that the number and the per- sonnel of the student body are unsatisfactory. It is gene- rally true of the State that capable graduates of high schools or academies who intend to teach do not attend the State Normal Schools, either contenting themselves with a high school education — which by a large number of school officials is regarded as fully equal to Vermont Normal School training — or, if financially able to do so* attending the Normal Schools of other states. 3rd. Status of the Normal Schools. The Normal Schools are in no sense the pedagogical leaders of the State, and play little or no part in shaping its educational policies and standards. They do not fairly represent the dignity or the educational ideals of Vermont, nor can they, under existing conditions and in their present locations, ever assume their rightful place in these particulars. 4th. Training School Facilities. The opportunities for affording Normal School students practical training in teaching and school management are lamentably poor and insufficient. The number of children in the model or prac- tice schools should be not less than three times as great as the enrollment of Normal School students, and for really satisfactory work should be even greater. The insufficient amount and the inferior kind of practice work now obtained by the Normal students are among the most serious defects in the present system. 5th. Standard of Admission. The standard of ad- mission, and consequently the grade of work done by the students, is too low. The requirements for entrance are appreciably lower than those demanded by the State for entrance to high schools under the free tuition law of 1906. In the opinion of the Commission, however, the standard of admission cannot be materially raised so long as the Normal Schools remain in their present general condition. 6th. Possibilities of Improvement and Growth. The outlook for the improvement and growth of the Normal Schools in their present locations is not encouraging. 6 Under the existing conditions of ownership, extensive repairs and needed alterations are impossible, and without them the work will continue to be badly handicapped. The untoward conditions are inherent and not merely external. The boarding facilities for students are far from satis- factory at present, many residents even now furnishing ac- commodations for students at considerable inconvenience. It would be practically impossible, especially at Johnson and Randolph, to house any appreciably larger number of students, should the Normal Schools increase in size. The communities where the Schools are situated are small and not growing, so that there is no apparent pros pect of sufficient training school facilities. The Schools are, moreover, somewhat difficult of access from large por- tions of the State, a fact that militates against their best success. Although they are State institutions, the Schools are entirely dependent upon the good will of both the commu- nities where they are situated and of a few individuals own- ing or controlling the plants for the maintenance of the buildings, the provision of boarding accommodations, and the size and character of the training schools, — limitations that should not characterize State institutions. RECOMMENDATIONS. In view of the foregoing facts, your Commission de- sires to make the following recommendations : I. That a definite policy be adopted that shall contem- plate the successive replacing of the present Normal Schools by modern, adequate plants, with dormitories and ample grounds, the property to be owned by the State, and located in places convenient of access where sufficient and proper i training school facilities are to be had. II. That the General Assembly authorize and order the erection of a new Normal School, with ample buildings, 7 accommodations, and equipment, located in a town of suffi- cient size, easy of access from the eastern and central parts of the State, and that a sufficient sum of money be appro- priated for the establishment and maintenance of such a first class plant. It is further recommended that the new Normal School shall displace the present School at Ran- dolph, which shall cease to be maintained as a State Normal School when the new school shall be opened for students. The entrance requirements for such a School should be raised to graduation from high schools of the first class or its equivalent, and a correspondingly richer and broader course of study be introduced, one that shall include pro- fessional and scholastic studies, practical training in suffi- ciently large classes, elementary agriculture, and industrial training and domestic science. Such a central, high-grade Normal School could well conduct and supervise training classes in other towns not too far distant, and thus increase its influence and field of practical utility. III. That the Normal Schools at Johnson and Castleton be continued for the present, and that an increased appro- priation be voted for each of these Schools, as follows: a sum of $8,000 annually for each School and an additional annual appropriation of $4,000 to be applied to said Schools in the discretion of the Board of Normal School Commis- sioners according to the varying needs of said Schools, pro- vided that in no year shall the portion of one School exceed $2,500; that the appropriation for the Normal School at Randolph during its continuance be at the rate of $7,500 annually. IV. That in any locality where a Normal School is situated, or may be located, the community shall enter upon a long-term contract with the State to furnish for the use of the Normal School a satisfactory training school with a guaranteed minimum number of pupils, and that such training school shall be conducted at the expense of said community, with the exception of the salaries of the critic teachers. Said training school should be under the pro- fessional supervision of the principal of the Normal School. The privilege should be retained by the State of terminating such a contract at the expiration of any school year upon six! months' notice. V. lie Statutes, approved high schools be repealed, and that the re-graduate.jjL^ courses as now outlined in the Normal Schools be abolished.il HHHD The Commission recommends that Section 965, Pub- tutes, providing for the certification of graduates of* Respectfully submitted, Frank L. Greene, Clarence H. Dempsey, Bert L. Stafford, L. Ethelbert Sherwin, Willis N. Cady.