Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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FIRST STATE NORMAL SCHOOL BUILDING IN AMERICA an D0 TU CD A-I 4-I r, Massachuse O u KU 3 L' CQ dicated in 1846 De

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FIRST THREE PRINCIPALS VVhen Nicholas Tillinghast entered upon his work as the first principal of the Normal School at Bridgewater, normal schools were still at a stage where they had to prove their worth and show by their results that they were worthy of support. The want of a good building and appliances, as well as of an able assistant, had to be overcome by the principal. Courses of study had to be made and methods of teaching carefully considered, because as a teacher of teachers, his work must be exemplary. Mr. Tillinghast was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, September 22, 1804, and he was educated at VVest Point, where he later taught. At the request of Horace Mann he accepted the principalship of the State Normal School at Bridgewater, which was Opelled September 9, 1840, with twenty-eight pupils,-seven men, and twenty-one women. The principalship of Mr. Tillinghast lasted for thirteen years, during which time he de- voted himself to the work of establishing the school on a firm foundation, and in this work he was most successful. No greater tribute can be paid to him than that of one of his pupils, who said: He was sincere and true in all his dealings with himself and others. EUNICE VVHITTIER The second principal of the State Normal School, Mr. Conant, had always been in- terested in education and this interest paved the way to an acquaintance which soon ripened to friendship with Mr. Tillinghast. VVhen the latter resigned as principal he recom- mended his friend as his successor. At this time Mr. Conant was fifty-two years old and brought to the school a life full of varied and long experience as a civil engineer and teacher. His aim was to make the Normal School a real training school where the pupils should feel the responsibilities of their profession, and to this end he organized the scheme of having students teach before their own classes for further poise and corrective criticisms. One of his graduates says of Mr. Conant: Many a one owes to him an awakening and an in- spiration which changed the whole current of his thought and ennobled his whole life. DoR1s EKSTROM Because of the influence of two teachers whom he greatly revered, at the age of four- teen, Albert Gardner Boyden decided to become a teacher. Working steadily on a farm, and in the employ of his father, a blacksmith, he earned enough money to enter the State Normal School at Bridgewater. Mr. Boyden entered the Normal School in 1848, gradu- ated in 1849, and then spent an extra post graduate term at the school. On the twenty- second of August, 1860, Mr. Boyden, a young man thirty-three years old, was appointed principal of the State Normal School at Bridgewater. On being informed of his appoint- ment he characteristically replied, I shall do my best to meet the requirements. Mr. Boyden's term of forty-six years as principal has been memorable for the progress accom- plished by the school under his guidance. The establishment of a training school, the building of a new gymnasium, increase in the staff of teachers, and higher standards of ad- mission, characterize the progress carried on by him in the school. Mr. A. G. Boyden resigned the principalship of the school on August 1, 1906. At the same time, however, he was appointed to the honorable position of principal emeritus with charge of instruction in the educational study of man and the school laws of Massachusetts. At the time of Mr. Boyden's eightieth birthday his native town, Walpole, organized a celebration in recognition of the intellectual and educational work to which he had devoted his life. GRACE BRACE

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TI-IE FIRST THREE NORMAL SCIFIOOLS The State Normal School at Bridgewater, or Westfield, or Framingham, has a few acres of tidy campus, a family of brick buildings, and a helter-skelter of sport shoes, sweaters, and berets of future school teachers. VVhat is the reason for this school? VVhose were the minds that fashioned the actuality out of dreams and made it possible for Massachusetts to have trained teachers for its public schools? james G. Carter, fired by memories of colonial ideals of common education and visions of American normal schools, fought fifteen years for their establishment before he aroused the public consciousness to the deficiency of the existing corps of teachers. Harassed school committees, searching for competent teachers, offered increases in salary for a higher quality of service, but in vain, because there were not enough capable teachers to supply the demands of Massachusetts' thirty thousand common schools. Thousands of children every year were exposed to the experiments of novices who were making their first attempt to teach, or to the indifference of college students who were trying to bolster their finances, or to the ignorance of mechanics who were temporarily out of work and who were filling in by teach- ing. In view of the threefold development of the competent teacher, who has a firm grasp of subject matter, a knowledge of the art of teaching, and practice in government, what must have happened in some of those schools when the pseudo-teachers each attempted to govern a group of forty children, conduct several lessons consecutively, and attend to all the hair-pulling and broken pens? As a result of this newly awakened teacher-consciousness came an offer from Edmund Dwight to contribute ten thousand dollars for the establishment of a Normal School if the legislature would add as much more to that sum. The offer was accepted and in 1838 re- solves were passed which authorized the building of a normal school. In order that the state as a whole might benefit from the project and judge its worth, it was decided to build three schools which would be continued three years as an experiment and made permanent if they proved of worth. On the third of july, 1839, the first normal school was opened at Lexington with three pupils. This school was removed to West Newton in 1844, and later to Framingham. The second normal school was opened at Barre in 1839 and later removed to Westfield. The third school was opened at Bridgewater in 1840 and has since continued there. The procedure of the first normal schools was definitely planned and, so thorough were our fathers, it has not been changed since. First, the students received their knowledge of the subjects that must be taughtg second, they investigated teaching with a view to finding the most effective way of simplifying subject matter so that children could understand it, third, they studied school government, and, fourth, they practiced these principles in a model school. Cyrus Pierce, first principal at Lexington, said, 'fl was desirous of putting our schools into the hands of those who would make them places in which children could learn, not only to read, write, spell, and cipher, but could gain information in various other topics, and have all their highest formation of character. This ideal of service, Not to be ministered unto, but to minister, is the reason for the existence of our first three normal schools and the secret of their vitality. DoRoTHY WHITE