Towson University - Tower Echoes Yearbook (Towson, MD)

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Between January, 1866, and June, 1872, the State Normal School had commissioned sixty-nine graduates of the highest grade, that is, graduates who would receive first grade certificates. For, while Prof. Newell recognized the importance of high professional standards, he knew they would have to be attained gradually; and so, for four years, diplomas of a lower grade were issued, as well as diplomas corresponding to the two grades of teachers ' certificates authorized by the State. In 1870, it was thought advisable to issue diplomas to none but first grade teachers. The number of graduates was diminished, but Prof. Newell felt that the resulting elevation of the standards was suflScient compensation. He advocated at the same time that county boards of education aid worthy and promising students who could not pay their own board by advancing part of the money for defraying expenses and taking the students ' obligations to teach in the county for not less than two years following graduation. Anne Arundel County in the exercise of a wise forethought instituted two free scholarships at the Normal School — one to young women and the other to young men — on the basis of scholarship merit; and other counties in the state provided various means for worthy and promising students to continue their professional studies. But whatever other reforms in education Prof. Newell advocated in his annual reports, he never failed to em- phasize the necessity for better accomodation for the Normal School and the Model Schools. Finally, after seven years, his effort bore fruit; for the schools were removed to a more commodious building at Franklin and Charles Street — a colonial mansion known afterward as the Athenaeum Club Home. Though this building had not been intended originally for such purposes, it was a great improvement over the Paca Street quarters: it had three large halls, parlors, a library, a sun porch, hat and cloak rooms, and several rooms that could be used as classrooms. By this time the school had an enrollment of 162 students and a faculty of nine teachers. It received a state donation of $9,500; tuition for non-scholarship students was $75.00 a year and board $20.00 a month. So, for the first time, in 1873, the Normal School, the Model Schools (one for girls and one for boys), and the office of the State Board of Education were under one roof. The General Assembly of 1874 placed $100,000 in the hands of the Board of Public Works for the purpose of erecting a building for the Normal School; this building was the one erected at the corner of Carrollton and La- fayette Avenues. It represented the culmination of ten years of persistent agitation for suitable quarters, and was a monument largely to the energy and vision of the princi- pal himself. With great rejoicing, ten faculty members and 206 students moved on February 29, 1876, into the new build- ing at once handsome, simple, and convenient, promising a maximum of convenience for a minimum of cost. Crowded conditions and sad state of disrepair had com- bined to make the Franklin Street building thoroughly inadequate. Testimony to this effect is contained in the Reminiscences of Miss Minnie Lee Davis of the Class of 1877: Of course we were crowded. Sometimes we sat Libertus Van Bokkelen First Supt. of Public Instruction in Md. 1864-1868 three across in a desk intended for two. This arrange- ment presented difficulties when the student in the center had to get out for recitation. We were forced to move to the new building at Carrollton Avenue and Layfayette sooner than was anticipated because a ceiling at the old house fell one day as the students were leaving the room, and the building was condemned. I do not remember in which month we moved, but I recall very well that we had lessons one day in the old building, and on the next, without any loss of time, continued our work in the new. Of course, we were delighted with our spacious new quar- ters, and took the greatest interest in decorating the rooms. Comprising the faculty of eleven, besides the Prin- cipal, Professor M. A. Newell, were Sarah E. Richmond, Vice-Principal; George L. Smith, Physics, Chemistry, Natural History; Mary C. Newell, Teacher of Middle Class; Maggie B. Smyth, Assistant, Junior Class; Emil Kett, Drawing; Mary Borgman, Principal of Girls ' Model School; V. Marion Conser, Teacher of Junior Class; Jennie L. Rippard, Instructor of Music; Rosa StoU, Teacher of Kindergarten. The student group was comprised dominantly of young women. Through the early years the proportion of men had never exceeded seventeen per cent. The proposal had been advanced that St. John ' s College serve as a normal

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suggesting the practicability of a cooperative house under the supervision of the school where an experienced matron would be put in charge and the students could form one family, with proper facilities for reading and studying, and with appropriate and wholesome recreation. He suggested that at the rate of $3.50 a week the establishment could be self-supporting, provided the state paid the rent for the house. In addition to his recognition of such physical needs as those just described. Prof. Newell reveals in these annual reports his sound understanding of the educational needs of the state, his plans for their realization, and the energy with which he pursued goals he set up. All kinds of educational problems — the need for enlarging the op- portunities of the Model School as a practice center for teachers in training; the progressive dev elopment of the curriculum, with more emphasis gradually on the pro- fessional curriculum and less on the academic; in-service training of teachers throughout the state through a series of teachers ' institutes; the dearth of young men at the Normal School (and some what might now be considered quaint and interesting reflections on the preponderance of women in teaching); the urgency of larger appropria- tions both for the expansion of opportunities at the Normal School and for the improvement of the public school system of the state; teachers ' salaries; the raising of professional standards — all these problems and more are discussed in the annual reports which Prof. Newell made as principal of the Normal School even after he also became State Superintendent of Education. McFadden Alexander Newell Principal, 1866-1890

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■wjr Minnie Lee Davis 1839-1924 Elijah Barrett Prettyman Principal, 1890-1905 school for men, and the State Normal School be open exclusively to women. The much larger appropriation granted by the State to St. John ' s than to the Normal School had led to the comment: If we believe that woman needs education as much as man, that she is as capable of receiving it, and will make as good use of it, it will be hard to explain the reason why the State has done so much for the education of men and so little for the edu- cation of women. Through this period, as subsequently, the question of qualifications for admission was given much considera- tion. In 1878 it was recommended that only those be accepted who are in good health, and who possess pre- paration, and at least averag e intellectual abilities. Six- teen years was considered the minimum age for insuring sufficient maturity. Great variation of preparation pre- vailed, showing a wide range in the quality of education throughout the State. For each of its representatives in the General Assembly, each county was entitled to send two scholarship students to the school. The curriculum content consisted of English com- position, English literature, English grammar, algebra, bookkeeping, arithmetic, geometry, music, drawing, mili- tary drill (for men), chemistry, physiology, Latin, theory of teaching, and observation and practice of teaching. Periods were forty minutes in length, with a ten minute rest at ten-thirty, and a half hour for lunch at twelve- thirty. By 1886 the growth of the student body to 250 was causing the building, new and spacious a decade before, to seem crowded and inadequate. Eighty additional desks had been provided in this length of time. Repairing had been done as needed, but enlargement could not be de- layed much longer. In 1894 an appropriation of 540,000 was made, for an addition to the buildng, and for metal ceilings and other repairs. A new laboratory was also made possible. But buildings and curricula do not make a school. The throb of purpose, the quality of thinking, the vitality of living, the interplay of human personalities give entity and substance and sparkle which can not be derived from physical appointments, or well-calculated plans alone. We know from statement and implication that this period was suffused with such values. Radiating from the leader of the group. Dr. E. B. Prettyman, were such spirit and educational aspirations as made him both beloved as a man and respected as an educator. Dr. Prettyman came to the principalship of the Normal School in 1891. Those were the days, still, when the principal also served as State Superintendent of Education — a combined responsi- bility which Dr. Prettyman felt was too heavy, but from which he was not released until 1896, when Dr. M. Bates Stephens took over the latter responsibility as a separate office. Creation of fine living, concern for practical af- fairs, and clear ideas about the essence of education charac- terized Dr. Prettyman ' s fourteen years at the Normal School. The regard in which he was held was such that a change of political parties at Annapolis and three changes of Governor did not affect his appointment. At the close of his association with the school, the students ' yearbook was dedicated to him as follows: As a boy he was a leader, for he was frank, courteous, generous, and brave. To these splendid virtues of love,