THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS.

Disproportionately large discussion of a small function.-The training of special teachers constitutes a small part of the work of State normal schools. Such training, however, excites an amount of discussion and planning that is proportionately much greater than the total amount of normal-school energy devoted to it. To read the requests of normal-school authorities for funds for new buildings and special equipments for the training of special teachers, and to survey the elaborate courses of study found in many of the catalogues, one would infer that these courses were intended to train a great many teachers. When the statistics showing the number of new special teachers employed in public schools, as compared with the number of general ones, are examined, and the number of graduates in the special normal courses compared with the number in the general courses, a better perspective view of the situation is obtained.

Only 8 per cent of new teachers are in special and vocational subjects. The relative number of new general and special teachers employed during a year in a representative Eastern State may be seen from the following statistics, taken from the report of State School Commissioner Kendall, of New Jersey, for the years ending June 30, 1912, and June 30, 1913 (p. 130):

Of this total, teachers of vocational subjects, such as manual training, domestic science, etc., and of special subjects, such as music, drawing, etc., were as follows:

125

148

Number of vocational and special teachers combined______

Thus the number of new vocational and special teachers needed in New Jersey in a year constitutes only about 8 per cent of the total number of new teachers needed.

A new special subject creates temporary demand for teachers.— A further item that must be kept in mind in determining the relative number of special and general teachers needed is the fact that when special courses are being rapidly introduced, there is created an increased temporary demand for such teachers, which will decrease after most of the new positions have been filled. Such a situation has developed during the last few years in the preparation of teachers for home economics. The large temporary demand for teachers in this subject will probably soon decline to the proportions of the demands for teachers of music, drawing, and manual training.

Very small number of graduates in special courses in normal schools. The relative number of graduates in the general and the special courses of the normal schools gives us evidence concerning the proportion of normal-school energy consumed in the training of special teachers.

Perhaps the most pessimistic account of the number of students graduating in the special courses is the following paragraph from the 1912 report of the president of the Mayville (N. Dak.) Normal School, which was opened in 1890. After stating that students do not take the advanced course for high-school graduates, the president says (p. 217):

Nor have any students graduated as yet from any of the special two-year courses for high-school graduates. The foremost reasons are (1) the sensible unwillingness of students to specialize at an age when the need of general education is so great, and (2) the relatively small demand for teachers of special subjects, especially in the smaller communities, where nearly all graduates at first go. There are, however, a great many students who take, as parts of general courses which they may be pursuing, from one to three terms' work in the special subjects and who are thus fairly well qualified to give elementary instruction in the subjects studied.

The following statistics from the Winthrop (S. C.) Normal and Industrial College throw light on the relative number of general and special positions secured by its graduates. The board of trustees in their report for 1913 (p. 16) state that from May to December the school had received 301 applications for teachers and had placed graduates as follows:

Further evidence concerning the number of special and general graduates may be obtained from the following statistics of graduation reported for the Mount Pleasant (Mich.) Normal School in the report of the State board of education for 1912 (p. 29):

Graduates from Mount Pleasant (Mich.) Normal School, July 1, 1911, to July

1, 1912.

In the general courses (life certificate, kindergarten-primary, graded school, advanced, and elementary rural-school courses).

In courses for special teachers:

Public-school music course_.

Drawing and manual-arts course_

Music and drawing course.

Manual-arts course

Special drawing course_

Total graduates_-_

26431

226

16

242

In this school the graduates in the courses for special teachers constituted only 7 per cent of the total number of graduates. Moreover, the number in any special subject was so small that the maintenance of adequate special courses to give this number special training must have been relatively quite expensive. As we shall notice below, the Michigan State Board of Education adopted a plan to go into effect in 1913 that corrected this situation.

A slightly greater proportion of special graduates is shown in the following statistics of graduation from the Northern Illinois Normal School, at De Kalb, based on the quarterly announcement for August, 1914:

Seniors of 1914 in Northern Illinois Normal School.

In courses for general teachers (1, 2, 3, and 5 year courses).

In courses for special teachers:

118

2-year course in vocal music_.

2-year course for teachers of drawing___
2-year course for teachers of manual training_.
2-year course for teachers of domestic science_.

16

3546

Total number of seniors__.

146

Apart from the prospective teachers of domestic science, however, the situation at De Kalb is practically the same as at Mount Pleasant, Mich.; that is, the seniors specializing in music, drawing, and manual training constitute only 8 per cent of the senior class, and in no one of these subjects is there a sufficient number of seniors to compose a class large enough so that the teaching of it would not be relatively expensive.

Finally the statistics from one of the largest normal schools in the country, namely, the California State Normal School, at Los Angeles, should be noted. Only graduates of four-year high schools are admitted to this school, and the annual number of graduates is over 500. Students may graduate in December, March, and June, but to simplify the calculations from the data given in the announcement for 1914-15, the number of candidates for graduation in June, 1914, will be used, as given below:

Candidates for graduation in general course, including kindergartners_____ 325 Candidates for graduation in special courses:

In this large institution the candidates for graduation in art, the manual arts, and music constitute 12 per cent of the total candidates for graduation, a slightly larger proportion than was found in the cases of the Michigan and Illinois normal schools. Moreover, the number of graduates specializing in each of these subjects is sufficient to make a large enough class to be taught at the average expense of normal-school instruction.

Three methods of organizing special training courses within a State.-Methods of meeting the definite but restricted needs for trained special teachers vary with different States. The following types of provision may be distinguished:

1. The establishment of separate normal schools for the training of special teachers. The Boston Normal Art School and the State Manual Training Normal School at Pittsburg, Kans., are examples.

2. The development of adequate facilities for the training of special teachers in certain of the existing general normal schools of a State, with definite restriction of the development of similar facilities in other schools of the same State. The arrangements in the States of New York and Michigan are examples.

3. The permitting of any normal school in the State to develop facilities for any special courses that it cares to give. Many of the States present examples of this arrangement.

Concentration of facilities versus duplication.-In general, the economical concentration of adequate facilities for training special teachers is likely to prevail where there is centralized expert control of the normal schools of a State, based on an objective study of the needs of the State. The development of uneconomical, inadequate facilities in a number of schools of the same State is likely to prevail where each State school is free to multiply courses according to its own ambitions. We shall take up the discussion of each of the three types of organization with typical examples.

1. SEPARATE NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR SPECIAL TEACHERS.

Massachusetts Normal Art School earliest example. The most striking example of the establishment of a separate State normal school for the training of special teachers is the organization of the Massachusetts Normal Art School in Boston. An excellent account of the history, work, and possibilities of this school is given by David Snedden, commissioner of education, in the seventy-seventh annual report of the Massachusetts Board of Education (January, 1914). The opening paragraph reads as follows:

The Massachusetts Normal Art School, unlike the other State normal schools, trains teachers only for special departments, namely, drawing and manual training. It was organized in 1873, primarily because there existed no other agency in the State capable of training special teachers of these subjects; and secondarily to make possible the artistic training of artisans. Since 1873 the school has grown steadily, until at present its attendance is in the neighborhood of 325. It has gradually added in a variety of ways to its original functions, especially. in the direction of offering courses in industrial and applied arts for prospective industrial workers (page 45).

Organized to meet definite industrial needs in Massachusetts.-The definite relation of the organization of this school to the economic needs of the State as these were reflected in the introduction of a new subject into the elementary curriculum is shown in the following quotation:

About 1870, various persons in Massachusetts, a number of them identified with the larger commercial enterprises of the State, became convinced that if local industries were to be further developed, more attention must be given to instruction in drawing. In 1869, a petition was presented to the legislature, asking that provision be made by State law for instruction in industrial art. The petition contained this statement:

Every branch of manufacture in which the citizens of Massachusetts are engaged requires, in details of the processes connected with it, some knowledge of drawing and other arts of design on the part of skilled workmen engaged.

The legislature of 1870 made drawing a required study in the public schools of the Commonwealth, and also provided for the opening of evening industrial drawing schools. After a considerable campaign, provision was made for the establishment of the Normal Art School in 1873. From the discussion that took place at this time it was evident that several objects were in view on the part