Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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7 5 ffl efffzfzztueffsrzfy I 930 The building was dedicated and the school opened, September 14, 1854. The school opened with a faculty consisting of the principal and one assistant teacher and with seventy-two students, of whom forty-eight were subsequently graduated. Of this first class, Miss Rebecca Manning, of this city,-a cousin of Nathaniel Haw- thorne, and Mrs. Josephine CDevereuxD Farrar, of Bradford, Mass., are the only surviv- ing members. . Since its establishment there have been enrolled more than nine thousand students of whom nearly six thousand have been graduated. During its history there have been live principals and nearly two hundred and fifty teachers, including those who have taught in the training school. ln consequence of the steadily increasing membership, the original building, which had served the needs of the school until 1870, was enlarged at an expense of 825,000 This building, nowowned by the City of Salem and occupied by the school administration oliices of the School Department, continued to serve the purposes of the State until the present building was completed and occupied in September, 1896. From that time until 1912, when the training school building was erected, the ele- mentary school occupied the first floor of the normal school building. History and biography are inseparable. Not only had this school the advantage of the experience of the earlier normal schools and of a much larger measure of popular support, but it was extremely fortunate in its early leadership. The vigorous and constructive administration of Doctor Edwards attracted wide attention. After having practically established three normal schools, he was successively State Super- intendent of Schools of Illinois and President of Blackburn College. In 1857, Alpheus Crosby, for many years professor of Greek in Dartmouth College, became the successor of Doctor Edwards. He not only magnified the importance of scholarship, but he did much to keep the fires of patriotism burning during the four dark years of the Civil War. Professor Crosby was succeeded by Doctor Daniel' B. Hagar, a scholarly man already widely known in educational circles as the efficient principal of the Jamaica Plain High school. In the language inscribed on the memorial tablet written after thirty-one years of efficient service, he was A noble teacher-a patriotic citizen-a lover of truth-a Christian gentleman. ln 1896, Doctor Walter P. Beckwith became principal of the school. His ten years of service were conspicuous for a highly practical administration which was the log- ical sequence of his long experience as a teacher and superintendent of schools. All of these men and the present principal have been ably supported by faculties of efficient and loyal teachers, many of whom have achieved national prominence as teachers and authors in their respective professional fields. All available reports of the work of the school in early days indicate excessive emphasis upon the academic element, yet there is abundant evidence of a consistent effort to emerge from this type of education into what we now call professionalized subject matter. The essential facts of psychology were taught, together, with the fundamental principles of teaching, but the application of these principles in the normal schools themselves came but slowly. Training schools were few in number and 16

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1 930 75 M efTm2z'fz1ef.va1'y was introduced, and a tendency in that direction is most marked. In 1928 and 1929 five of our schools adopted a minimum three-year course in recognition of the need for a longer period of training. In 1894 admission was based upon the completion of a four-year high school course, which has in turn become the standard of the normal schools and teachers colleges. In 1921 legislative sanction was secured for the award of a degree in the state normal schools. The number receiving the degree, in the five institutions now granting it, is increasing with surprising rapidity. In 1860 four State Normal Schools had been established in Massachusetts and nine schools in the United States. Today, approximately one hundred and seventy state normal schools and teachers' colleges have grown from the seed sown in this Commonwealth ninety years ago. Three students enrolled in the first normal school at Lexington. Three thousand are now enrolled in the State Normal Schools of Massa- chusetts, and approximately 253,000 in the state normal schools and teachers' colleges of the nation. Ninety years of growth in Massachusetts and seventy-five years in this institution have demonstrated beyond any doubt the fundamental value of the normal school as a major factor in a state program of education. justifiably proud of her past achievements in this field, Massachusetts looks forward with confidence to the future development of her program for the training of teachers. The Qalem 5HutmaI Satbuulg East, iBte5ent anti jfuture ' DR. ASBURY PITMAN, Principal, Salem Normal School FULL century has passed since the beginning of the revival of education in Massachusetts which a decade later gave birth to the first normal school in America at Framingham. Then followed, for the remainder of the first quarter of that century, a period of storm and stress in which three professional schools were con- stantly attacked by public press, platform and pulpit and, most bitterly of all, by organized groups of alleged educators who, in 1840, carried their fight into the State Legislature. The answer to this attack was the opening of the Normal School at Bridgewater, in September of that year, later, increased capacity and more generous provision for this and the two other existing schools, and, in 1846, the erection, at Bridgewater, of the first normal school building in America. The enrollmentiin these three schools steadily increased, and the question of the establishment of a fourth school soon received serious consideration. Apparently the first suggestion that this proposed school should be located in Salem was made in August, 1852, by the Honorable Charles W. Upham, then Mayor of the City. The city of Salem furnished according to agreement the site formerly occupied by the Registry of Deeds, at the corner of Summer and Broad Streets, erected thereon the original building, and furnished the same. The total cost of the building, exclusive of the site which was valued at 55000, was about 313,000 Of this sum, S2000 was con- tributed by the Eastern Railroad Corporation and S6000 was appropriated by the State, which later authorized, in addition to this, the expenditure of S2500 for grading and equipment. ' 15

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I 93 0 75146 Q!g,7Z7ZZ'7J67'.S'd7'j1 in an experimental stage. Preparation for admission was inadequate, and the course of study was short. Specialization was unknown. 4 Changes came but gradually. The history of this school is typical of the evolution of the whole American system of teacher training. It was not until 1866,-twelve years after the school was established,-that the course was prolonged from one and one-half to two years. Four years later an advanced course of four years was offered. Forty years had passed before high school graduation was required for entrance. In 1896, the present main building was erected and a training school, occupying the first floor, was gradually developed. The training school building,-a model of its kind, was erected in 1912, one-half of the cost of construction being contributed by the City of Salem, which was equally liberal in the contract governing its operation and maintenance. In 1908, the commercial department,--probably the first in the country to com- bine in a functioning manner the technical and the professional training of teachers of the Commercial subjects,-was established. This course has evolved from one of two to one of four years, leading to the degree of bachelor of science in education. More recently departments for the preparation of teachers for junior high schools and for mentally retarded children have been established. Each of these courses is three years in length. The elementary course has also been prolonged .to three years. After a century of experimentation and slow growth there has evolved a science of education, and teaching is atlast generally recognized as a profession, but a thought- ful analysis of the past achievements and a careful inventory of present conditions,- great as our accomplishments have been,-leaves no doubt of the need of further development of our teacher training institutions. What, then, of the future? Without depreciating the quality of service that is now being rendered by the normal schools of this State and by normal schools and teachers' colleges and uni- versity departments of education throughout the country, it is expedient to anticipate, if we may, -the future development of these institutions during another period of ninety years. This may seem a bold venture, but there can be no doubt that much more of liberal education, of technical knowledge and experience, and of sound and exten- sive professional training will be required of our teachers in all fields in the future than has been expected in the past. Massachusetts has long since adopted the policy of admitting to her normal schools only qualified graduates of secondary schools and of requiring of them not less than two years of professional work. By natural processes of evolution courses of three and four years, the latter leading to the degree of bachelor of science in educa- tion, having been established. We are now well on the way toward making three years the minimum amount of time allowed for the preparation of teachers for the elementary school, in all the normal schools of the State. This will naturally lead to the adoption of a four-year curriculum for the junior high school department, as well as for the senior high school department and the several departments engaged in pre- paring teachers of art, music, household arts, manual arts, the commercial and other special subjects. 17