Volume II. Number 9.

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My subject as stated in the announcement is "What Preparation School Authorities Expect from High-School Teachers of History." I shall deal rather with the amount of training than with the kind; my subject is quantitative rather than qualitative. I wish to show that we do not require of those who aspire to teach history that they allow themselves long enough to prepare as they should for the work they expect to do.

In the effort I have made to obtain information on which to base this discussion, I have received a great variety of complaints against the present practice throughout the country. May I quote two or three of them? One says: "Generally the whole school world [in America] is suffering from the idea that anyone who can read English and follow a text-book can teach history." Another from a different section of the country says: "The authorities still think that anyone who can pronounce English words can teach history." A third, "The difficulty in reaching the ideal is that authorities accept the untrained teacher who thinks teaching history is a snap,' instead of going to the college where history teachers are trained." If these remarks seem to be pessimistic, they certainly do not come from persons whose opinions are to be disregarded. One conservative correspondent probably goes to the root of the matter when he says that our troubles largely originate in a "failure to recognize that history is anything more than an information subject. The cultural value of the subject is almost wholly unknown and unappreciated."

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With this last judgment I most heartily agree. Most of the sins of the school administrators are sins of ignorance, and their lack of information is in many cases to be laid at the door of the college and the university. We can have no sympathy with the remark that the main requirement for a teacher of history is that he be "the cousin of the chairman of the Republican committee." School authorities follow their lights about as consistently as do railroad managers and bank directors. Nepotism, favoritism, and political pull, are but aspects of the human nature that governs all our actions. If agitation for good government is not maintained by those who are in a position to know good management from bad, then the administrator takes advantage of the seeming indifference, assumes that it is not his duty to establish ideals for the community, and lets down the bars for those whom he wishes to accommodate. The trouble is, we have no recognized standard. Who knows what preparation we expect from one who wishes to teach in a highschool? Is it not for us as leaders, or those who should be leaders, in educational progress to make it matter of general knowledge that we expect from our high-school teachers far less training than we have a right to expect? If it is true,

A paper read at the Conference of Teachers of History in Normal Schools and Teachers' Colleges, at the meeting of the American Historical Association, in Indianapolis, December, 1910.

should we not publish the fact where it will be read, that the youth of our country are being handicapped by being placed in the hands of teachers who, whatever their char acter and conscience may be, are inadequately trained for the work they undertake to do?

As a foil to a more definite discussion of our requirements, I shall ask your patience for a few minutes to some reference to the standard now set in France and Germany. I do this not because it is desirable for us to imitate them in their method of training, but because we have a right to demand that our teachers devote as much energy to preparing for their work as the European teachers do. We are as rich as the French, we have as many problems to solve, our citizenship needs at least as much training and guidance as theirs does; consequently, if we require of those who wish to educate our next generation less discipline than the European does, it is pertinent to ask why we do so. It will be seen that it is more difficult to become a secondary school teacher in either France or Germany than to become a doctor of philosophy.

In France a student finishes his course at the secondary school at about 18. It will be remembered that he is then, in training, very nearly the peer of our rising junior. His next two years, spent at the university, lead to the licentiate, formerly called the master of arts, and also formerly entitling its holder to teach in the public secondary schools. After another year's work, if he is lucky, he receives the diploma of superior studies, which represents distinctly advanced work. After at least one more year he is ready to attempt the examination for the aggregation.

This is a competition, but corresponds roughly to our examination for the license to teach. The minister of public instruction calls for say fifteen teachers of history for the whole country. A large number of applicants present themselves. A jury is constituted of, for example, one professor, from the Sorbonne; one from a provincial university; one from a Paris Lycee; and finally the inspector-general. This last officer is a specialist in history, and his function is to examine or inspect the work of the teachers of history with a view to keeping it up to standard. He may be roughly compared to a university high-school inspector under the certificate system. The jury gives the candidates a written examination, and after a month those who have passed this take an oral one. Since only a few of the candidates, say ten per cent., can be accepted, the others must work another year and then come up again. I am reliably informed that the candidate who gets his military service behind him and receives his agregé by his twenty-fifth year is very fortunate. A high standard is more easily maintained in these examinations by the fact that all the candidates must compete with graduates of the Higher Normal School of Paris, who are wards of the state. Entrance to this institution is by

competition, and applicants spend three, four or more years in preparation for entrance after graduation from the Lycee. The training in the normal school is severe, and competition with its graduates gives the candidates for the agregé a very trying and stimulating test.

In Germany also we find the graduate of the secondary school or gymnasium about 18 or 19 years old, and the peer in discipline of our rising junior. After four years' residence at a university he may come up for his Staatsexam,— his examination for the license to teach. The residence requirement for the doctor's degree is three years, and the degree is frequently taken at the end of that time. Of course we know that during these three or four years the student is perfectly free and need not attend a single lecture unless he wishes to do so; but we also know that he erally uses his time with great economy and industry.

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The Staatsexam is conducted by a board of university professors, with the cooperation of an Oberschulrath,—a provincial school superintendent. As in France, an oral examination succeeds a written one; and I may say from frequent observation of the former, that it is far from being a mere formality. As a student of history, the candidate will probably be examined in history, Germanics, philosophy, religion, and pedagogy. Having passed his examinations, he is assigned to a gymnasium to serve his Seminarjahr,-to get a year's experience. During this year he conducts some classes and attends others conducted by older teachers. He is then at twenty-four or twenty-five a full-fledged Oberlehrer and has entered upon his life-work. He does not expect to make teaching a stepping-stone to some other profession, sacrificing the crucial years of scores of lives to his own ambition; but he expects to rise in the world by raising the profession in which he works.*

When we turn to America, we find the conditions somewhat less easy to describe. Local self-government in matters of education is here so highly developed, and the conditions in different sections vary so greatly that one may almost say there are as many customs as schools and as many rules as administrators. There is the high-school had in view by the state law providing that "the teaching force shall be adequate, and shall in every case consist of at least two teachers, each of whom shall be engaged exclusively in work above the seventh grade." And there is the highly-developed school, with hundreds of pupils, progressive departmental system, and thoroughly trained staff of university-bred specialists. There is the difference in tradition between the East and the West; and the difference in wealth between the rural district and the city. Consequently we can merely refer to a few typical cases, in the hope that a true impression may be created; but we must remember that there are many exceptions to any generalizations we may make.

The Federal Government, of course, does not come into contact with the high-schools. With some exceptions, the same may be said of the state governments. In many cases where states have made general high-school laws they have been meaningless. One state in the Middle West provides that "No person shall be employed to enter upon the performance of his duties as a teacher in any recognized highschool supported wholly or in part by the state . . . who

Those who wish further and more detailed information on the general subject of the preparation of secondary school teachers may refer to E. L. Thorndike's "The Teaching Staff of Secondary Schools in the United States," G. W. A. Luckey's "Professional Training of Secondary School Teachers," and, especially, J. T. Brown's "The Training of Teachers for Secondary Schools in Germany and the United States."

has not obtained from a board of examiners having legal jurisdiction, a certificate of good moral character; that he or she is qualified to teach literature, general history, algebra, physics, physiology, including narcotics, and in addition thereto four branches selected from the following: Latin, German, rhetoric, civil government, geometry, physical geography, botany and chemistry, and that he or she possesses an adequate knowldege of the theory and practice of teaching." In some circumstances after this law has been satisfied, a life certificate is given, on the assumption probably that only a few years of life could in any case remain. In a number of other states, we learn, the superintendent is occupied mainly with the "general educational policy," and cannot attend to the requirements for high-school teachers. From other states come the following: Connecticut, "I cannot tell you the local requirements. They must vary with each locality. So far as I can learn, no examinations are required in any place." Pennsylvania says, "I admit what you say about the importance of actual requirements for eligibility as teachers in high-schools, but no definite standards have been actualized in this state." Massachu

setts is "at present engaged in formulating plans for the certification of high-school teachers."

In New York the practice is thus described by one who has long been closely associated with the administration of the state laws: "Practically half the high-school positions in the state are filled by college graduates, and the proportion so filled is increasing. Not much more than college graduation could be required here, unless it were specialization in a summer school, if specialization had not already been done. Some lay great stress on pedagogical training, which I deem even more important than specialization in history. I see so many wretched failures in high-school teaching among inexperienced college graduates in all lines. that I feel that there is a general pedagogical cause underlying it all, viz., the rapid development of the student mind during the college years places the college graduate entirely out of touch with the minds of the younger high-school pupils."

California is unique in the excellence of its state law. There the candidate must have done graduate work at one of

the associated American universities. He does this work

under the direction of the university departments from which he expects the recommendations which are almost essential to his appointment and advancement. The similarity between this requirement and the practice in Germany is apparent. There are other avenues to high-school positions in California, but I am informed that they are seldom used, and that this law works with excellent success. success is of course promoted by the close affiliation of the schools to the universities through the university school inspectors and the certificate system.

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While a number of states require graduation from a college, the bachelor's degree really means so little that we may make the general statement that the states do not protect the high-schools at all. Even where the law requires a certification of the standard of the college granting the degree little is accomplished, for we know how much vigilance and public spirit would be necessary to prevent undeserving institutions from receiving such certification. Consequently to all of this, the rural districts, towns, and smaller cities generally take the best teachers that chance throws in their way. Where there is no state law and no generally recognized standard of excellence, chance does not of course always present

well-trained teachers, and the development of the schools follows the curve that anyone might prophesy for it.

In the medium-sized cities where the salaries are a little larger than in the country and where public opinion is likely to play somewhat more actively on the administration, the requirements are apt to be stiffened somewhat by law or custom. Louisville selects its "teachers of history from college graduates who have made history their major subject, and who are strongly recommended by the institution from which they graduate." Milwaukee and Cincinnati and some other such cities have been able to get masters of arts, -presumably persons who have done about a year of graduate work. Dallas requires an undergraduate degree covering university study of history as a major, and successful experience. Buffalo requires a pedagogical training in addition to the college degree. We seem to be safe in saying that the cities of this class expect the high-school teacher to be a college graduate with some experience, or pedagogical training, or a little graduate work.

The larger cities have in some cases reduced their demands to greater system and worked out the details to an almost surprising degree. Boston has an eligibility list, admission to which is conditioned on graduation from a college or university approved by the board of superintendents, and three years' experience. One's position on the list is based on attainments expressed in points, the highest possible credit being 1,000. One hundred and fifty points are allowed for the major subject; one hundred for each of two minors; fifty for each of five elementary subjects, and four hundred for length, character and quality of service. When a principal needs a teacher, he may select any one of the highest three on the list.

New York City demands graduation from a college recognized by the Board of Regents of the state. In addition, one expects pedagogical training and three years' experience, but the last may be replaced in part by graduate work, and the experience may be gotten as what is called a "junior teacher" in the high-schools. All candidates are examined. The city superintendent says: "The aim of the examination. has been to test the ability to sum up historical evolutions rather than merely memory as to wars, reigns, dates, and the like. We have found that as a rule students who have just completed the regular college course are quite unfitted to take the examination, no matter what institution they come from. They need the maturity of thought that comes from considerable post-graduate work and from experience in teaching."

Chicago requires the bachelor's degree and either two years' experience or a course in the teachers' college and one year's experience. In addition, the candidate must pass an examination in a major, e. g., English and American history; four minors, e. g., civics and economics, English, French, and a professional course, including pedagogical work and practice in teaching. These three cities probably mark the highest level of our demands. They now and then employ men with considerable university training and leaders in their subject. I should say that the New York or Boston high-schools have some teachers as well trained as are to be found anywhere in the world; but these teachers are the exceptions, and these cities are far above the average in this country.

The information on which I have based this discussion is not as full as it might have been, and in some cases I have had to trust to one or two reports; I may therefore have repeated errors of detail. Consequently the opinions

which I have formed are tentative and submitted merely by way of further elucidation of the problem which faces us. Our attention seems to be called to three elementary questions: (1) What training should be expected of a candidate for a high-school position in history? (2) How may he best obtain this training? (3) How are school authorities to ascertain whether the candidate has such training or not? The last of these seems most difficult of academic solution. It will be observed that our method of testing a candidate's attainment is similar to that prevalent in Europe in that he generally is examined. There is, however, a fundamental difference between the practice in California, Germany, and France on the one hand, and in the great majority of our states on the other. The difference lies in the examiner. In the one case the examination is conducted by specialists who are authorities in the subject in which they examine; in the other, the examination is conducted by persons who vary all the way from a well-educated gentleman of considerable culture, but certainly with no claim to being a specialist, down to an active party politician, with no interest in education whatever and no information on the subject in which he examines.

A sort of opportunism in administration results from our examination methods. No one knows what a teacher of

history in a high-school should be. Consequently, as I have already said, the authorities accept the teacher that is

offered. There can be said to be no definite demand for teachers, since there are always scores of persons to apply for any vacant position, and the policy is merely to take the best available or the one that has the strongest backing. This is closely related to the much-discussed salary question. If there were a definite standard to which applicants would be required to attain, the demand might exceed the supply, and the salary might have to be increased until properlyequipped teachers presented themselves. There are without doubt in most school districts persons who are willing to work for greater efficiency in the schools. These persons should be enlightened and stimulated by the information that history cannot possibly be taught by the sort of teachers they generally employ.

Our immoral use of testimonials is also a factor in our selection of teachers. We all know that most testimonials are better judged by weight or measure than by quality. In the main they are worthless as a means of discriminating. Aside from the careless use of adjectives and judgments in these documents, they are frequently written by the wrong persons. It has been called to my attention by more than one correspondent that when a teacher of history is sought application is made to the college president instead of to the department of history. The average college president is as truthful as other men, common rumor to the contrary notwithstanding; but we know that he will sometimes almost exhaust his vocabulary in describing the merits of a graduate with whose attainments he is familiar to a very limited degree.

I fear that my criticism contains very little that is constructive. My object is, however, rather to show the necessity for such a study being made as will result in constructive criticism of our practice and also in a campaign for the more careful selection of our teachers. As a suggestion of what I should like to see, I do not believe that anyone should be permitted to teach history in a high-school who cannot show a certificate of the completion of a seminary