SUNY at Oswego - Ontarian Yearbook (Oswego, NY)

Page 12 text:

T becomes the sad duty of the Class ol 1936 to record the passing rn Febru ary ol this year, ol Dr James G Riggs, former prlncn pal of this school Many In the present graduation class were students an attendance one or more years under his prlncrpalshlp All have been attracted by hns lcnndly smile which we saw as he passed IH and out among us slnce has retirement Dr Rlggs loved young people l-le had lalth In students He found pleasure nn their service l'lls home was ever open to them, and he was very happy when entertaumng classes or organnzatnons l-lls Friendly lace We shall see no more But hrs helpful Influence IS a legacy to succeedlng classes It has become a part of the herltage of the school IN-NIEIVIUHIAIVI l rl'

Page 11 text:

It was one of the major factors in stimulating interest in the teaching process. During the first quarter century hundreds of Oswego graduates carried the gospel of better teaching into communities throughout the country and made it conscious of the need for better trained teachers and instruc- tional facilities. Other educational reforms were furthered in connection with the Pestalozzian movement in Oswego. Froebel's Kindergarten and its philosophy of education through activity found a genial atmosphere in Oswego. Manual training in its functional aspect was added to the teaching program while the movement itself was still in its swaddling clothes. Nature study, the daughter of object teaching and science became one of the cores for the correlation of the increasing subjects of the curriculum, literature being the other. Early in the life of the school, laboratory practice replaced demonstration, not only in the fields of science but particularly in the practice of the teaching art. The practice school developed into the most important factor in teacher training. The l-lerbartian movement, with its emphasis upon character training, the doctrine of interest, the formal steps of instruction, the organization of subject-matter into Umethod wholesn Cunit activitiesb received a hearty welcome and became still another factor in the Oswego movement toward better teaching. During the first half century of its existence the Oswego schools, as well as the country at large, addressed themselves to the improvement of methods of teaching. ln later years the various pedagogical movements, especially the l-lerbartian influence, have tended to direct attention from the logical, subject matter, point of view to the psychological, child development, conception. As we approach the present, we find that child nature and child development occupy the center of pedagogical stage and that methods and techniques of teaching are relegated to a more sub- ordinate position. The child, his health, his capacities, his antecedents, his present and future needs, his happiness, these are the determiners of the lcind of school necessary for his education in this greatly changed social order and also of the character of the instruction which will meet his present day needs. Ouite recently the child, who is the cause of all our pedagogical agitation, has had to yield a part of the spotlight to the teacher. When we contrast the changed mode of living, cultural advant- ages and occupational pursuits of today with the agrarian order of bygone days, we are persuaded that we need teachers to match the times, no less than the children to whom they are to minister unto. Greater maturity, with a better understanding of our more complex society, of increased culture which mal4es possible participation in an American culture which is rapidly assuming form and becoming vocal. This is in part the motive for converting the teacher training institutions of the past into some equivalent of the colleges. No longer is the ability to teach the three R's adequate teacher equipment .... ln addition he must be an interpreter of our complex social order, must be able to introduce pupils into various cultural fields and feel happy therein, must himself be the embodiment of a cultivated person whose influence, because of what he is, will be more potent even than what he teaches. And so we see the emergence of the teacher of the future from the level of craftsmanship to the higher professional sphere, endowed with enhanced self-respect, pronounced professional con- sciousness and esprit-de-corps. A living institution has body and soul. Though its body changes, its soul lives in the successive generations of its graduates who interpret the practice of service to childhood and humanity in terms of Alma lVlater's ideals. Dr. Richard K. Piez

Page 13 text:

DR. JAMES G. RIGGS