Chapter VII.

FACULTIES OF STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS.

Supplements statistical discussions in Chapter II.-A statistical discussion of various characteristics of normal-school faculties is presented in Chapter II. The data given there show the fundamental general facts concerning the size, academic training, duties, and salaries of normal school faculties in the North Central States and provide comparisons with similar facts concerning teachers in colleges and universities in the same territory.

The present chapter will provide a further discussion of the same type of facts. Instead of statistical tables for a given part of the country, however, particular examples will be cited as the basis of interpretative discussion of some of the issues involved.

Need competent teachers with cooperative interest in publicschool work. Among the most important characteristics of a normal-school faculty from the standpoint of serving the purposes of the State in training teachers are (a) the degree of cooperative interest manifested by the faculty in the training of prospective teachers for the real, concrete, detailed tasks which they will undertake when they begin to teach, and (b) the competence of the teachers to give such training. Normal-school teachers should be more interested in the regular daily work of public schools than in anything else, and they should be willing and able to cooperate heartily in giving students training for such work. The most important measure of the efficiency of a faculty that is composed of competent individuals is the extent to which this cooperative interest dominates the work of the normal school. This could be determined objectively by a study of the productive activities of the faculty and by an examination of the efficiency of students after they enter the teaching profession. A competent observer could find out a great deal through personal observation. Neither the competence of the individuals composing a faculty nor its cooperative interest in normalschool tasks can be fairly judged, as a rule, from printed catalogues or reports or from answers to questionnaires.

Certain objective characteristics easily ascertained from the printed announcements.-There are, however, a number of rather obvious objective facts about the faculties of normal schools which

can be easily determined from printed reports and questionnaires. These are of sufficient interest to persons engaged in normal-school work to justify their compilation. These facts include the number of instructors employed in typical schools and their training and salaries. For the present discussion data have been chosen from a few institutions which are typical of different sections of the country and for which the desired information could be secured from catalogues or other printed material.

Number of teachers. Large variation in normal schools of Massachusetts. It is interesting to note that very great variation may exist in the numbers of instructors employed within the normal schools of a single State. Massachusetts is an example. According to Commissioner Snedden's report for 1912-13, the 10 Massachusetts normal schools employ the numbers of instructors indicated in the following table:

Instructors employed in the Massachusetts normal schools, 1912–13.

Thus in one State considerable variation is found, namely, from 9 normal-school teachers at Hyannis for an enrollment of 67 students to 21 normal-school teachers at Framingham for 315 students.

Variation in Massachusetts approximates variation in country at large. There are in the United States only a few State normal schools with staffs smaller than that at Hyannis, and there are not many (apart from the large city training schools) that employ more than 21 teachers for work of strictly collegiate grade with 11 additional critic or model teachers, as is done at Framingham.

Large faculty at Los Angeles (Cal.) normal school. One of the largest faculties in an institution which enrolls only students of collegiate grade is the one in the State normal school at Los Angeles, Cal. According to the catalogue for 1914, this school seems to have approximately 50 normal-school instructors (not counting student assistants) and 14 teachers in the training school. Three supervisors

of practice teaching are included in the 50. This staff instructed 1,405 regular college students during 1913-14, over 500 of whom graduated during the year from collegiate courses of at least two years in length.

Probably largest faculty is at Ypsilanti (Mich.) normal school.— Perhaps the largest State normal school faculty is that of the institution at Ypsilanti, Mich. This school enrolls about 1,500 students during the regular year, most of whom are of collegiate rank. To instruct these students the institution employs about 80 teachers in addition to some 15 training teachers in the practice or model schools.

Minimum size which may assure adequate specialization in instruction. The most important aspects of normal-school work which are influenced by the number of normal-school teachers employed in a single school are (a) the cost of maintaining the normal school and (b) the efficiency of the instruction. In order to have efficient instruction, there should be a certain degree of specialization by the teachers. For example, the most efficient instruction can not be secured where one teacher teaches such unrelated subjects as psychology, English, and penmanship; another, natural science, English, and sewing; and another, natural science, agriculture, and civics, as is the case in one small normal school. Even more varied assignments are found in other schools.

Description of theoretical minimum faculty.-In order to secure the degree of specialization which is desirable, how many instructors must be employed for the strictly normal-school courses and the practice teaching in an institution maintaining only two-year courses for high-school graduates? The following list is suggested as a minimum for a small school:

A. One president, who teaches education part time.

B. One head of the training school and director of practice teaching, who teaches education part time.

C. One teacher of history and of the history of education.

D. One teacher of geography and nature study.

E. One teacher of English.

F. One teacher of mathematics.

G. Part time of one teacher in each of the following subjects, who also teaches his or her subject in the model and practice school:

Art.

Music.

Manual training.

Home economics.

Physical education.

H. One critic teacher and managing principal of the practice school.

I. Four additional critic teachers who have charge of groups of children in the practice school and of groups of practice teachers.

This makes a total faculty of 16, divided as follows:

Teachers.

Full time to normal school (including the president and the director of the training school)___‒‒‒

Part time to normal school and part to practice school_.

Full time in practice school___

Total_

This faculty could teach 150 to 175 students.-Such a faculty could probably teach efficiently 150 to 175 students in a standard, general, two-year course for high-school graduates and 200 children in a practice school, and not be at all overworked. These figures are obtained by estimating that each full-time college teacher should teach approximately as many periods a week as a student recites and that students should be organized into reciting sections of 25 each. On this basis the faculty could take care of approximately as many groups of 25 as there are full-time college teachers, or the equivalent thereof, on the normal-school faculty.

Fundamental points in this estimate. This tabulation seems so simple and self-evident that certain fundamental points in it may be overlooked. Among these are the following:

1. A few well-organized courses in education.-There is relatively small provision for an instructional staff in education (which includes psychology). Instead of many courses in these subjects, there should be offered a few well-organized ones which contain the fundamentals of educational doctrine presented with clear relation to practical teaching situations. Much of the more abstract theoretical material can be omitted. Especially should the fact be emphasized that the traditional devotion to history of education and an abstract course in psychology is open to the gravest objections.

2. Education taught by practical administrative experts.-The instruction in education is in charge of the two principal administrative officers, the president of the normal school and the director of the training school. This is also important. Both of these men should be well-informed, general educational experts as well as expert administrators. They should be qualified to select and incorporate in the work in education those discussions that have specific and evident value in improving school practice, and to eliminate all other material.

3. Teachers of special subjects serve in both normal and training school. The teachers of the so-called special subjects (art, music, manual training, home economics, and physical education) serve in both the normal school and the practice school. In almost any small normal school, one teacher to teach each of these subjects in both schools ought to be sufficient. Each teacher, as a rule, should be re

quired to do this instead of using a part of his or her time in the very expensive instruction of small groups of normal-school students in special curricula. This topic will be discussed more fully in Chapter XIII.

4. Liberal supply of critic teachers is necessary.—The provision for the supervision of practice teaching seems liberal, but it is necessary. It is based on the theory that each critic teacher will have charge of 40 children, usually divided into not more than two groups, and that not more than four hours of practice teaching a day will be permitted with each group. By this arrangement each group of children will afford 20 hours of practice teaching a week, or 200 hours of such teaching in a term of 10 weeks. If one group affords 200 hours, the two groups will afford 400 hours per term. If each practice teacher is required to do 100 hours of practice teaching for graduation, the 400 hours afforded by two groups in a term will permit four practice teachers to complete their requirement for graduation in one term. Hence each critic teacher will be able to offer in one term the complete amount of practice teaching required by four students. In three terms (or the full regular year) on this basis she could provide the amount of practice required for 12 students. Hence each critic teacher can train 12 practice teachers a year.

Hence the five critic teachers provided in the faculty outlined above could take care of 60 practice teachers annually, which is the probable number of graduates in a two-year course for high-school graduates which enrolls from 150 to 175 students. A proportionate increase in critic teachers is necessary as the number of students increases.

Cost would necessitate reduction of above faculty in a very small school. The above discussion of the minimum faculty for a small normal school has been organized primarily from the standpoint of efficiency in instruction. The element of cost in instruction is a more complicated item to consider. Obviously, if the normal school were so small that it could not employ each of the above college instructors approximately 20 hours a week in teaching students in groups of 25 each, the number of instructors should be reduced, with a corresponding reduction in the degree of specialization permitted. This would probably decrease the efficiency of the instruction somewhat, but such a decrease must be contemplated where normal schools are so established that they can not secure the best number of students for both economical and effective instruction.

Training of normal-school teachers. Public-school experience, academic training, professional training.-The second aspect of normal-school faculties to be considered is the nature of the training of the individual members. Three obvious items enter into this consideration of training; namely, (1) experience in public-school work,