Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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RICHAYW H. ROCKFTT, M.Ffd. 'V,. R R, C O'1KQ,lf,1r', 51.1Vg1v,m3j 'lllln ANN KEENAN CLARK MARY M. C'KEFQFF 8 Bowden Street, Marblehead 9 WCW? 3fV'?'i'f- 3315 Registfar - f971'5 27

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A CENTURY OF PROGRESS AND A CENTURY OF DECLINE OR TWO CENTURIES OF PROGRESS -WHICH? MassachuseTTs has always been considered one of The leading sTaTes, in all meas- ures reflecTing inTelligence, leadership, economic efficiency, and relaTive freedom from crime. Indeed, in a survey made by William C. Bagley in which Ten measures of This kind were combined, MassachuseTTs ranked firsT. No doubT This is The resulT of her fine sysTem of educaTion. AlThough she has The second largesT immigraTion handicap of any sTaTe, her public schools have Turned This inTo an asseT. WhaT is iT ThaT makes These public schools so fine? IT is in parT due To our Teachers colleges. The esTablishmenT or public normal schools is one of The Things in which Massa- chuseTTs was firsT-firsT in America. The movemenT sTarTed abouT i824 when James CarTer of LancasTer and The Reverend Charles Brooks of Hingham began To publish arTicles asking for beTTer Teachers. AlThough The'BosTon LaTin School had been esTablished in I635 in MassachuseTTs Bay Colony, presumably To educaTe young men To become minisTers and Teachers, There had never been any real Teacher Training. Would-be Teachers learned Their sub- iecT maTTer and caughT Their pedagogy from Their Teachers. OfTen Teachers of The ele- menTary school had no educaTion above high school, and someTimes noT even ThaT. As Professor Francis Bowen of Harvard said in l85O: The common school sysTem of New England lin The early I83O'sl had degeneraTed inTo rouTine and was sTarved by parsimony. Any hovel would answer for a schoolhouse, any primer would do for a TexTbook, and any farmer's apprenTice was compeTenT To keep school. IT was because of such condiTions as These, ThaT CarTer and Brooks were proTesT- ing. In I837, a Board of EducaTion was esTablished wiTh Horace Mann as SecreTary. Mann, TogeTher wiTh CarTer and Brooks, was successful in persuading The sTaTe of MassachuseTTs To duplicaTe The offer of Sl0,000, which Edmund DwighT, a BosTon merchanT, agreed To donaTe for The esTablishmenT of Teacher-Training insTiTuTionsg consequenTly, The Board of EducaTion voTed To esTablish Three schools as follows: l. l.exingTon lnow Framinghaml, July 3, IB39 2. Barre lnow WesTfieldl, SepTember I4, I839 3. BridgewaTer, SepTember 9, l84O The diary of Cyrus Pierce of NanTuckeT, The firsT principal of LexingTon, records The evenT in The following manner: LexingTon, July 3d, T839 This day The Normal School, The firsT in The counTry, commenced. Three pupils- Misseg Hawkins, SmiTh, and Damon were examined by The Board of VisiTors and ad- miTTe . The nexT five or Ten years were years of experimenT and conTroversy. Many said The cosT was Too high or ThaT if Teachers knew Their subiecT maTTer, They could Teach easily enough. Some recommended The aboliTion of boTh The normal schools and The Board of EducaTion. In spiTe of all This opposiTion, however, The schools passed Through The original Three-year probaTion period and iT was agreed To conTinue Them anoTher Three years. Meanwhile They were becoming more popular and as more sTudenTs came To Them, The good effeci' was felT ThroughouT The sTaTe. In The original discussion iT had been proposed ThaT four normal schools be esTab- lished, The fourTh To be aT Salem, buT because of expense, This one was noT esTablished unTil l854, fifTeen years aTTer The esTablishmenT of The firsT. These four were noT enough To saTisfy The people of MassachuseTTs, so four more were esTablished aT The close of The cenTury: FiTchburg, in l895g Lowell, Hyannis, and NorTh Adams in I897. In all The years we have noT deparTed from The idea ThaT The normal schools are for The Training of Teachers. They are professional schools-noT secondary schools or col- leges of liberal arTs. 29