West Chester University - Serpentine Yearbook (West Chester, PA)

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young man. Dr. (.;. Stanley Hall, in his ' .Vspects dt Child Life and Education, .says: Nowhere has the great middle class heen so all controlling, furnished so large a proportion of scientific and business leaders, been si respectable, so well combined industry with wealth, bred patriotism, conservatism, and independence, ' llie farm was a great laburatorw tending. perha])s, rather more to ( ' e elo]J scientific than literary tastes, cultivating ])ersistency, in which country boys excel, if at the expen.se of versatility. As all observing and reflecting men know. Dr. Hall ' s statement of the value of life on the farm as a training for the future is not an overstatement, and the (|ualities which that life and upbringing are sure tu e -oke, the youth Ri)])ert de- veloped in a conspicuous degree, as his mature life of efficiency and usefulness attests in full measure. At the age of eighteen, in 1884, the way opened for him to attend a summer school conducted at Rawlins- ville, Lancaster Countw bv Mr. L ' . S. Clark, who was at that time one of the best knnwn teachers in Lancaster County. After attending this summer school tluring ten weeks of two summers, he passed a County Sujierintendent ' s examination, and received an apiiointment as teacher in the schools of Martic township for a term of six months at a salary of $40 per month, . fter two gears ' teaching there, he at- tended the West Chester State Normal School for two years, being drawn hither by the fame of its great teacher in Mathematics, Prof. David l. Sensenig. Graduation from the West Chester State Normal School followed after two years ' attendance, in jSyo. He was then appointed to take charge of the work in English in the College of Commerce. Philadelphia, which place he left a year later to ac- cept the Principalship of the public schools of Langhorn Bucks County, Pa. From Langhorn, after a year ' s work there, he returned to the Normal School, first to pursue anil to complete the Scientific Course, and also to prepare to enter Villano a College. By i8g6 he had earned and received the degree of Bach- elor of Science from the Normal School, lia ing at the same time been an assistant teacher in the depart- ment of mathematics of that school. Two years later, in 1898. notwithstanding that he had ser ed as in- structor in the Normal School with a full cpiota of classes for the entire two years, he had earned and received the degree of Bachelor of .Arts from Villanova College. In 1908, in recognition of Professor .Xnderson ' s work as an author, lecturer and teacher, Villanova conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science. Since 1896 Professor Anderson has been a teacher in the department of mathematics of the West Chester State Normal School, and since September. 1907. he has been professor mathematics and head of the depart-

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IPvofcssov IRobcrt f, Hnbcison, H.fm., Sc.S). Mca of tbe department ot lliatbemattcs State IRormal Scbool, Wicet Chester, iPennsplvania ROFESSOR R0BP:RT FRAXKLIX ANDERSON is the sixth child and the youngest son of Robert and Sarah ( Carroll ) Anderson, natives of Ireland, who emigrated to America, first taking up residence in Chester County, I ' ennsylvania, ;ind later settling in Lancaster County, near McCall ' s l- ' en ' }-. where they continued the occupation of farming, their employment in their native countr -. Born i in this Lancaster County farm, Robert became an integral and an important part nf the help from early chiidh 1, Ijecause there were many odd jobs at all times, such as were entirely within the capability of boys of alnmst any age. So urgent, so frequent and so continuous were the needs for the boy ' s services, that he lost nuich (if the schooling that he might have gotten between his sixth and his eigh- teenth birthdays, helping summer and winter in the entire round of farm work as each m nith of the year dis- closed an almost endless list of things that must be done, anil all of which must be done by hand, in most of which the errand boy ' s part was rpiite as necessary as that of the mature laborer ' s. By reason of this, he was able to attend less than four mcinths a year out of the six nmnths during which rural schools were open in his native township, and this total attendance was much broken into b - absence of days and weeks after hav- ing begun school about the first of Xo -ember, so that progress was slow, broken, and the learning very frag- mentary. This loss in cimtinuuus and f(irmal schooling, of course, cau.sed delay in getting started in his life occupation; vet the experience as a whole was invaluable. Speaking of the value of farm life for the

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ment. succeeding tlie late Prof. David M. Sensenig. M.S. Besides teaching- in the Normal ScIkjuI, Professor Anderson, as he still likes to be called, has had charge of the department of niathtematics in the Pennsylvania Miiuntani Summer . ssemhly at Rbensburg, Pa., since lyo6. He has also lectured successfully and accept- ably at institutes, teachers ' meetings and conventions, on his favorite subject and its teaching — mathematics. Professor . nderson has also collaborated with the late David AI. Sensenig in the authorship of the Sense- nig-. nders(]n series of text-books in Arithmetic. The series comprises New Complete Arithmetic, Essen- tials of .Arithmetic. and Introductory .Arithmetic. He has al.so prepared fnr the use of teachers several most helpful pamphlets, among them being • .V Course nf Study in .Arithmetic, and .Answers to Questions on How to Teach .Arillinietic, which are held in high esteem liy echicators. During his entire career as a teacher in the Normal School, Professor .Vndersnn has resi.led in the dormitories. He has thus lived close to the students, and they liave felt free U la - their perplexities, whether (if life or of .school, before him. They reg.-ird him as a trusted and trie l adviser and counselor, 1 here is no problem in the long and varied list of students ' perplexities, from that of raising money to remain in .school, to the restoration to suffrance of i)enilent students who ha e virtually sinne l themselves out of school, which he has n(jt been called up n In help to solve and which he has not helped to solve to the gratification and satisfaction of students and authorities, and has thus rei)eatedl - helped preser e a reputation and to save a character and a career of usefulness and honor. Professor .Anderson has been honored with the presidency ni the .Vlumni .Associaticm of the Normal School, and is most influential in its affairs, a relation which began with his service du the committee to secure its charter in 1897, and which continues by his service on a number ni its most important committees. In the deliberations of the Normal School Faculty also, are Professor .Anderson ' s opinions and judgments given much weight and careful consideration. Professor .Anderson attributes his development into a teacher of mathematics chieflv to the inthi- ence of two persons: first in time, was Professor Sensenig; second. Doctor Philips, Principal of the Normal School. From Professor Sensenig as his teacher and later as head of the department of mathe- matics, he acquired enthusiasm, earnestness, his belief in the necessity for insistence upon clearness and