STATE FEMALE NORMAL SCHOOL, FARMVILLE. On the 31st of March, 1879, the senate of Virginia passed the following resolution: Whereas the State of Virginia, during almost the entire period of her history, has liberally provided for the higher education of her sons, and is now supporting three superior institutions for such purpose; and Whereas the Commonwealth has never, at any period of her history, made any provision whatever for the education of her daughters; Therefore, be it Resolved, That the superintendent of public instruction be, and he is hereby, requested to gather and in his next annual report furnish to this body such information and views in regard to higher female education as might be useful in considering the propriety and practicability of making by this State some provision in this direction; and that he inquire and report the cost of education in such female seminaries of other States as are assisted or supported at public expense with any matter of interest concerning the same.1 The resolution says not a word about normal schools-wisely, perhaps; higher education was more popular with Virginia legislators than normal education. But the State superintendent in his response to the order of the legislature included normal schools among the agencies of higher education, while he pressed upon the community "the unjust discrimination that had been made in favor of the sons and against the daughters of Virginia." Five years elapsed-years of financial embarrassment and years of needed enlightenment of the public mind under the tuition of that eminent public educator, Dr. W. H. Ruffner, State superintendent—and when the legislature of Virginia took up the question of the higher education of women in 1884 it was prepared to give a favorable answer. The normal schools of the South, with the exception of South Carolina, were post bellum and, to a great extent, propter bellum. Being the necessary complement of a system of free schools, without such a system normal schools had no raison d'être. It is a curious coincidence that every argument that has been brought against the establishment of normal schools had previously been urged against the maintenance of free public schools. We may expect to find the development of a State system of public schools to be accompanied or followed by the establishment of normal 1 Report concerning the State Normal School at Farmville. House Doc. No. 2, 1885. schools. The efficiency of either may always be measured by the progress of the other. The State Female Normal School of Virginia is the successor and, to a certain extent, the outgrowth of the Farmville Female College, an institution which had been in successful operation for many years previous to the transformation. The legislature enacted in 1884 that there should be established a normal school expressly for the training and education of white female teachers for public schools. Each city of 5,000 inhabitants and each county of the 100 counties in the State was to be entitled to send one pupil free of cost for tuition; also one free pupil for each additional representative in the house of delegates above one. The law appropriated $5,000 for preliminary expenses and $10,000 a year for current expenditure, the amount to be paid out of the public free-school fund. This last clause produced some embarrassment and delay. The second auditor refused to honor the draft of the school board for $10,000 because the attorney-general had given his opinion that it was not legally chargeable to the public-school fund, but to the general treasury, and the auditor declined to pay the amount out of any other fund than the one specified in the act. So the question was carried to the court of appeals, which decided that the amount could not be paid out of either. But the legislature at its first session thereafter cut the Gordian knot and the money was paid. The first principal of the school was Dr. William H. Ruffner, who had been for twelve years previously State superintendent of public instruction. In an address delivered by him in 1885, before the county superintendents of Virginia, he explained the modes of teaching employed by the instructors: In normal schools generally the oral method of instruction is employed more fully than is usually practicable in other schools. On most subjects there is no textbook used in the way text-books are commonly employed-that is, there is no uniform set of books in which lessons are assigned to be conned and recited. Books are used only for reference, and any book containing the facts or expositions wanted may be resorted to. In teaching the elementary principles of any study, no use whatever is made of a book. The principle sought is developed as far as possible by a system of questions addressed orally to the students in class, which will often bring together truths already known in such a way as to reveal their fundamental relations and suggest the desired principle. Examples and perhaps concrete illustrations may also be employed as guides. The teacher must, of course, make affirmative statements, but these are made only when the principle or the fact can not be reached through the previously existing knowledge or the understanding of the student. When, by the combined efforts of teacher and students, the desired statement is put in due form, it is written on the blackboard and copied into the note books and subsequently recited upon. After a time topics are assigned, which the students are required to prepare themselves to expound, and they are expected to resort not to particularly specified books, but to any books they can find which will afford them the help they need. A reference room, furnished with suitable books, is provided for this purpose. A still more specialized feature in the course is the teaching exercise, given daily by the students as a part of each lesson. The students repeat the teacher's work according to their several ability. Usually the student is notified in advance that she will be called upon to teach a given topic at the proper time, and she is expected to develop the subject by a carefully prepared system of questions and statements, exactly as if she were instructing a class in her own school. At the end of each exercise the members of the class are allowed to make criticisms, and the teacher also corrects any error as to matter or manner. Dr. Ruffner's successor, Prof. John A. Cunningham, found that these teaching exercises occupied too large a part of the time of the class, and were in his opinion a serious obstacle to progress in the study of subject-matter. As the majority of students were pursuing many of their studies for the first time, it was thought impossible for them to assume the point of view of the teacher in a subject of which they had obtained an incomplete view. Besides, the necessity for such exercises had been lessened by increased amount of work in the practice school. Accordingly the course of study was divided so as to give two years for academic training and one of strictly professional work. The courses of study, as now (1891) planned, are— First year, two terms.—Language, including syntax, composition, and thorough sentence analysis; algebra and geometry; physiology, one term; physical geography, one term; general history, drawing, vocal music, elocution, Latin (elective). Second year, two terms.-History of the English language, rhetoric, and literature; geometry, one term; a teachers' review of arithmetic, one term; chemistry, one term; civics, one term; drawing, vocal music, Latin (elective). Third year, professional course.-Psychology; history and science of education; school management; methods in arithmetic, grammar, geography, and reading; school laws of Virginia; observation and practice in the model school. Graduates from known high schools are admitted to the professional course and after one year's successful study under the direction of the faculty are given a diploma. The annual appropriation from the State is $10,000. The number of students for the year ending 1890 was 143, of whom 14 were in the professional course and 8 in special courses.1 WEST VIRGINIA. MARSHALL COllege, HuntingTON. The State normal school of West Virginia was established by act of the legislature February, 1867, which provided “That there be established a State normal school, to be called the 'West Virginia State Normal School,' for the instruction and praetice of teachers of common schools in the science of education and the art of teaching." Marshall College, near the young and growing city of Huntington, having already acquired considerable reputation as an educational institution, was made the State normal school, and the property of the college was transferred to the State. Subsequently five branches of the State normal school were established by law, making six normal schools in the State. The supreme direction is in the board of regents, composed of the superintendent of free schools, ex officio, and one member appointed by the governor from each of the four Congressional districts of the State. The board of regents has provided for two distinct courses of study in the State normal school and its branches--a normal training course and an academic course. The former occupies three years; the latter two years. The junior year in the normal department embraces orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, English grammar and language lessons, United States history, elementary algebra, civil government, physiology, drawing, exercises in composition and declamation. The middle year embraces orthography, reading, prose composition, sentence analysis, physical geography, algebra to quadratics, elements of general history, theory and practice of teaching, elements of pedagogy, the school law of the State, exercises in composition and declamation, ancient or modern languages (optional). The senior year includes spelling by dictation and written exercises, English literature and rhetoric, algebra (completed), elementary geometry and trigonometry, elements of natural philosophy, natural history, botany, bookkeeping by single entry, psychology, history of education, frequent exercises in hearing classes recite, the organization and classification of schools. The practical working of the regents' scheme will be better understood from the following programme, taken from the Catalogue of the State Normal School at Fairmont for the year 1890: | Report and Catalogue of the State Female Normal School of Virginia, 1888, 1889-1890. Junior class... Civil government.. Mental arithmetic.. Higher arithmetic bra. .do to exchange. Higher arithmetic to series. Middle class.. Elementary alge- 1.20-2 p. m. 2-2.10. 2.40-3.20. Junior class... Penmanship... United States his- Reading. Middle class. Higher physiology.. Physical geography. Elocution.. Senior class. Rhetoric....... Geometry... English literature ... SPRING TERM. 3.20-4. Intermediate geog raphy. Bookkeeping. General history. The academic course is understood to be equivalent to a preparatory college course, and is accepted as such by the State university. Tuition is free to all regular normal students. The number of free appointments is regulated by the board of regents and distributed among the several counties of the State according to population. Each normal school is entitled to seventy free scholars, selected by the county superintendents and approved by the State superin tendent. of age." "Male pupils must not be less than 14 and females not less than 13 years STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, FAIRMONT. The State normal school at Fairmont was opened in 1868. A bill proposing the establishment of such a school at this place was introduced into the legislature in the session of 1865-66, but failed to pass. Not discouraged by the failure, the citizens formed a joint stock company under the title of "The Regency of the West Virginia Normal School,” secured a charter, purchased a lot, and commenced building, but before the house was completed the normal school passed under the control of the State. In 1872 a new and much larger building was erected, 80 by 40 feet and three stories high. The cost was about $20,000, of which one-half came from the State treasury and the other from the citizens of Fairmont and Marion County. The course of study at Fairmont, though conforming to the requirements of the regents' course, is elastic and very accommodating: Can pupils be accommodated in any course they may desire to pursue? Most certainly they can; and if classes are not formed ready for them to enter, such classes will be organized for their advantage. The plan of the school is to meet the demand of its patrons. * * * To what extent can pupils pursue branches of learning? To this inquiry our reply is: To the same extent they can in any other institution. In this school there are both normal and collegiate departments. * * * Is it better to remain out of school and teach a year, or to teach a term of four or three months each year and try at the same time to keep up with the classes in the normal school? We have no hesitation in saying it is best in every respect for the student, whether lady or gentleman, to teach but three or four months in the year and to hold his position in the classes of the normal school at the same time. This a young man of energy and good health and application can do by an extra effort. * * The only plan to secure success on the part of young persons in gaining an education by their own efforts is to join the normal school at once, become identified with its work, and then avail themselves of the provisions of its regulations, which allow students to teach four months during the year.1 * SHEPHERD COLLEGE, SHEPHERDSTOWN. During the spring of 1871 Mr. Shepherd Brooks was asked to give the buildings erected by his grandfather, and which had been used as a court-house for some years, for the purpose of opening therein a classical and scientific school, and the request was readily granted. A board of trustees was incorporated, a charter obtained, and the school opened in September. In the following February the legislature authorized the organization of a branch State normal school at Shepherd College; but owing to legislative changes the school did not get fully into operation until September, 1873. In addition to the normal and academic departments common to all the normal schools of West Virginia, Shepherd College has, according to the catalogue, a collegiate department, and an "ornamental department," which includes a course in vocal and instrumental music, a course in French, a course in botany, a course in drawing, and a course in art embroidery. The music course requires four years for its completion and the French course three years. The last catalogue has the names of twenty-three students in the "ornamental department." Shepherdstown is a very interesting place. It is the oldest town in West Virginia: The college bears the name of one of the original settlers, Thomas Shepherd, who led a colony of emigrants from Pennsylvania in 1734. The battlefield of Antietam is but 3 miles distant. South Mountain is in sight, and farther east is Harper's Ferry. One of the cliffs, just outside the corporation, is known as Rumsey's Walk. Pacing its heights, an inventive genius, James Rumsey, conceived the plan of the Catalogue of the Twenty-first Annual Session of the Fairmont Branch of the West Virginia State Normal School at Fairmont, Marion County. Charleston, 1890. |