Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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The Tear Boob 1933 501116 lhnpttssiuns uf Qfutupean btbuuls BY Asnum' P1'ixi.xN The following impressions are based upon observations in a large number of schools in ten different countries, during a period of six months ending in December. 1932. The list of institutions visited includes Ll wide range from the nursery school and kindergarten through the university, although particular attention was given to a study of teacher training and of progressive schools. There was also ample op- portunity to observe various kinds of public and private schools, both elementary and secondary, and work in many specialized fields. particularly in commercial and other forms of vocational education An American engaged in the professional training of teachers is immediately impressed by numerous evidences of age and tradition ln general, a large proportion of the school buildings in the countries visited are relatively old-some of them centuries old+and provided with furnishings and equipment which are altogether inferior to those found in the average American school. For example, single adjustable chairs and desks were found in only two of all the buildings inspected. Of course there are notable exceptions to this generalization in certain countries and in several ofthe cities in other countries. With the exception of real progressive schools and school systems, the attitude toward discipline is distinctly traditional and in many instances it reflects the spirit of militarism. This is particularly true in numerous schools in which even little children are taught by rehabilitated war veterans, who often have had no professional preparation. The almost universal separation of the sexes, from the nursery school through the university, is another expression of mediaeval influences which have been per- petuated through the centuries, although very often boys and girls in the public schools receive their education under the same roof but not in the same classes. Always with the exception of the progressive schools, the curriculum itself is much more traditional than in America. In the secondary schools, the time-honored classical subjects are everywhere in evidence, general courses are discredited, and there are few comprehensive high schools in which vocational subjects are taught. This work is usually left to highly specialized schools, many of which are rendering con- spicuous service. For example, there are the vocational schools in Munich, founded by Dr. George Kirchensteiner, and similar schools in Vienna. Advanced commercial education receives more attention in most European countries than in America. Apparently the secondary schools are not doing as good work in this field as our own, but the higher commercial schools are conspicuous both in the number and in the quality of their work. In Italy, Austria, and Germany, in particular, art and music are much more prominent in the curriculum of the elementary and the secondary school, and of 6

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DR. ASBURY PITMAN, Pzumfwzf A great soul will be strong to live as well as to think.

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1933 S. 71 C. course in the professional schools for teachers, than in America. Not only are teachers trained in these subjects, but also artists and musicians. ln the Pedagogical Seminary in Kiel, Germany, which is an institution no larger than our own, included in the equipment are eight church organs, large and small, and twenty-eight studios each of which contains a piano. The training of musicians, particularly church organists, is a specialized line of work in this school. With the exception of these vocational schools, the methods employed in many of the public schools can hardly be regarded as modern. Text-book work and the question and answer method are much in evidence, even in schools taught by grad- uates of professional schools for teachers. Very generally educational institutions have a much smaller membership than in American. This is true of even the large universities in England, Scotland, and in some of the countries of continental Europe, although some of the universities in Austria and Germany are striking exceptions to this rule. Oxford University com- prises twenty-seven distinct colleges while Cambridge has seventeen. Many of the colleges in these two universities have a membership of not more than two hundred or three hundred and none has more than live hundred or six hundred students en- rolled. The departments of education in most universities, even the largest, usually contain less than one thousand students and in a majority of cases there are not more than two hundred students enrolled. What is true of the size of university depart- ments of education, with few exceptions, is equally true of normal schools and teachers colleges. The largest, among all of those visited, is the Jordan Hill Training College connected with the University of Glasgow, which has a membership of less than one thousand students. The distinct advantage of small groups of students with the resulting close personal relationship with the faculty was apparent everywhere. It should be said that in this college and in the Pedagogical Seminary at Kiel, which is nearly as large, the work compares favorably with the best to be found in America. Both in the British Isles and on the Continent, particularly in the secondary schools, the teachers are graduates of universities, with bachelors' degrees which may be earned in three years, who have been trained for their profession in a single year of intensive work either in a university school of education or a teachers college. Here they are taught largely by the lecture method and they are also given an op- portunity for a limited amount of observation and practice often with little close or constructive supervision. In many of the countries visited, provision is made for professional courses of two years only but frequently definite preparatory work has its beginning in the ninth year of school and is continued increasingly through the secondary school course. However, in the most progressive countries, systematic courses of three and four years above the level of the secondary school have been thoroughly established. In institutions maintaining courses four years in length, students are apparently much better prepared for teaching, even in the secondary school, than if they are 7