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EDUCATION.

[Sept.

RELATION OF ACADEMIC TO PROFESSIONAL WORK.

by e. j. james, a. m., ph. d.,

Of the Northern Illinois Normal University, at Normal, III.

Few questions in reference to normal schools are of such imme-
diate and vital interest as the one concerning the proper relation of
academic to professional work. It is too large a topic to dispose
of satisfactorily, in its whole compass, within the reasonable limits
of one paper. It includes, in its widest signification, the very defini-
tion of a normal school; and one's ideas in reference to the scope of
normal-school work will be different according as one views this
problem. If one considers that there is a vital relation between
these two things, one's school will have a far different form from
what it will assume if one takes the view that the relation is merely
ipcidental.

Let us for the sake of clearness glance at the meaning of the
question, What is the distinction between academic and professional
work ? In a general way, academic work is that which is directed
mainly toward the acquirement of knowledge, — or, with immediate
reference to our subject, that directed toward acquiring the subject-
matter of teaching; while professional work is mainly directed
toward acquiring a knowledge of the methods and system of impart-
ing knowledge, — or, if it please you better, of training the human
mind.

Thus, the course of our normal schools may be divided into two
distinct portions: the professional work includes the observation
of teaching, the study of the theory and the history of theories of
teaching, mental philosophy, and the actual practice of engaging in
the work, under the supervision of competent critics ; while the sec-
ond division includes everything else taught, such as geography,
arithmetic, algebra, etc., so far as they are included in our courses.

Now, as normal schools lay claim to be professional schools, why
do they not devote themselves exclusively to the professional work ?
Why not exclude those studies which have to do solely with the sub-
ject-matter? Why not presuppose this, and, requiring it as a prep-
aration for admission, press on toward the attainment of the real end
of normal schools,—the training of candidates for teaching in the
principles and methods of the teacher's profession ? These ques*
tions, if they have reference to the past alone, are easily answered.
The early normal schools had to choose one of three courses : i, exact1881.] RELATION OF ACADEMIC TO PROFESSIONAL WORK. 81

at admission an examination on the subject-matter required in our
schools; or, 2, give the best instruction in teaching they could, let-
ting the previous work be what it might; or, 3, give instruction in
the subject-matter themselves. To have done the first would have
been to close the schools before they were opened ; no set of sane
men would have thought of doing the second ; the third choice conse-
quently was the only one left, and we therefore find all our normal
schools engaged to a greater or less extent in the work of academic
instruction, and the defence of that work has been thus far mainly
one of necessity. Its apologists have ever left the impression that
it was a mere means of transition from one state to another, and
have tacitly promised that as soon as possible the academic part
should be omitted; that as soon as our common schools and acade-
mies should be able to furnish instruction in the academic work, the
normal schools would limit themselves to their own peculiar sphere,
— that of training in the principles, history, methods, and prac-
tice of teaching. Now, it is just here that I wish to take up this
question. I do not care to discuss the point, whether it be possible
in the present state of education to have a normal school without an
academical department. I do not care to investigate whether a
purely professional school would not disarm much of the criticism
which we hear from every quarter, and all the time, against our nor-
mal schools. These are practical and very important questions,
oftentimes involving the very existence of particular institutions ;
but I prefer to press on to what seems to me the vital point so far as
the theory is concerned,—-viz., what are we to consider the desir-
able end toward which we are to work? Shall we place before us as
our ideal a normal school occupying itself solely and exclusively with
that which, in the narrower meaning of the term, is included under
professional work ? I say within the narrower meaning; for I hope*
to show, before I finish, that acadamic work is really professional1
work. Would, then, a normal school without academic work be as
good as one with it? If it were possible to get our public schools,
or our academies and private schools, to afford the requisite knowl-
edge, ought we to strive for that with a view to eliminating that
element from our work? This is, as it seems to me, the real ques-
tion at issue. It is the subject of this paper.

I shall take it for granted that the chief work of our normal
^schools is to train teachers for our public schools. It is not their
business to train teachers for our colleges, or our higher schools in
general. Not that instruction in teaching is unnecessary for college
tutors and professors, — most of them would be all the better for a

VOL. 11.

6

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 82

EDUCATION.

[Sept.

normal-school training,—but that the public, which establishes and
supports normal schools, does it for the benefit of the free-school
system of the country, and expects that the graduates of these insti-
tutions will devote themselves to public-school work.

I shall further take it for granted, without any discussion, that in
some school or other the knowledge of the branches taught in our
public schools must be acquired, either before or at least simultane-
ously with the professional work and training. There is no use in
trying to engraft professional work on academic ignorance.

Starting out from these assumptions, then (which I take it will not
be seriously disputed), my first position is, that mere knowledge of a
subject does not imply a power to teach it. I need not dwell upon
this statement: we have all known men who, though thoroughly
acquainted with the subjects they pretended to teach, were utterly
unable to impart their own knowledge, or even to get their pupils to
master their text-books ; oftentimes through natural inability to teach,
still oftener, perhaps, through an ignorance of methods and means.
How often do we hear, " He knows enough about it, but he can't
teach it " ! But we may go still further and say that mere knowledge,
-with some general idea of methods of the theory and art of teaching,
will not qualify one to teach any given subject. Even instruction
in the proper methods of teaching some one branch, as for instance
arithmetic, is notoriously unsuccessful in accomplishing good results,
unless it be immediately followed up by actual work under the super-
vision of a competent critic. Teaching is an art as well as a science ;
and while instruction in any one department of the work renders
the instruction in other departments easier, it does not render it the
less necessary. And here, I claim, is the very point which every
normal school should emphasize. No young men or women should
be graduated from these institutions and sent out to the public-
school work of our country until they have been taken carefully
over the ground they are expected to cover in their teaching, or the
teaching of which they are expected to supervise.

Our normal schools are of no more value than other good schools
if their graduates are not able to go out into school work, and take
it up far in advance of those who, with equal knowledge and more
extended courses, have not given attention to the principles and
methods of teaching. The great difference between a normal-bred
teacher and another lies in the greater ease which the former finds
in teaching any given subject, or in supervising that teaching. If a
^man has never taught arithmetic, for instance, he may be no com-
petent judge of success or failure in the work. I have in mind now18 81. ] RE LA HON OF A CA DEMIC TO PROFESSIONAL WORK. 8 3

a superintendent of a large city — a graduate of one of our largest col-
leges, a teacher of nine years' standing — who is consciously unable
to judge of the character of the instruction in the lower grades. He
knows, of course, when a teacher gets along easily and is liked by
her pupils; but as to whether she uses the best methods in her work,
he is unable to decide. This point is an important one, and is too
often neglected. A teacher must have made a special preparation
for each branch taken up. A good Latin teacher may be a poor
geography teacher, a good geography teacher a poor arithmetic
teacher, etc. Any one who has the making of a good teacher in
him may of course get all this experience by himself; but his pupils,
in the mean time, are his victims. The main object of professional
schools in every department is to give the student that training in
principles and methods which shall preserve the community from the
evil effects of malpractice. The chief aim of a medical school is to
give its students that experience and knowledge which they could
otherwise get only at the expense of their patients. A normal
school ought to put a man, at the very , threshold of his career, where
he could have only come after years of effort and mistakes if left to
himself; and if it does not do this, it has no right to exist.

Now, how can the normal school reach this in the best manner?
Let us see how it attempts to reach it.

We find that the curricula of our normal schools embrace under
the head of professional work, first, the theory of education, includ-
ing an examination into the constitution of the human mind and its
relations to the outer world ; also a review of the principal educa-
tional theories, with a consideration of the life and methods of emi-
nent educators; some general study of the characteristics of a good
teacher, of general school management and school discipline, etc.;
of instruction as a whole, and the various other points included
under the head of the theory of teaching. We find further what
we might call specific theory and art ; i. e., the consideration of
the proper methods of teaching individual branches, as geography
or arithmetic, — a very necessary part of every extended normal
course. As a third important point we find observation of actual
teaching, done by professors or by pupil-teachers under the direc-
tion of professors in the normal school. This is one of the most
valuable, if not the most valuable exercise connected with the work;
especially valuable, because it affords opportunity for a good deal of
individual instruction on important points. Finally, actual teaching
by the normal pupil crowns the professional work, although it is
often done before the final theoretical and historical work is com-84

EDUCA TION.

[Sept.

pleted. Ordinarily one years work of three terms is the maximum
of actual teaching. By varying the branches a pupil may get some
experience in teaching three different branches. But he rarely gets
training in more than three, and commonly not in more than two
different lines of work.

Now, the more nearly a normal school affords training in all the
branches of our common-school course, the better it does its work.
A mere glance at the actual work done by the foregoing means will
convince us that they are not fully satisfactory. How then can they
be supplemented so as to come nearer our ideal ? There is only one
practical means left; viz., academic instruction in the whole course,
with especial reference to a teacher's needs. In no other way can all
the details and knotty points be reached, all the difficulties brought
up and disposed of. Academic instruction by a proper teacher, who
is constantly looking out for an opportunity to call especial attention
to the difficulties in the way of teaching, is the shortest and most
effective way to reach this end. I am glad to be able to quote an
authority on this point. Prof. Bellows, of the Michigan State Nor-
mal School, as nearly as I can gather from his report to the Board of
Education, is engaged in the very work which I called a little while
ago specific theory and art; viz., instruction in the proper methods
of teaching individual subjects. He delivered a course of lectures,
running through ten weeks, on the methods of teaching arithmetic.
"These lectures," he says, "embraced a review of the subject of arith-
metic, noting the necessary topical divisions, their proper order and
relation to each other, and the most important considerations
regarding the nature of the topic and the circumstances of age, etc.,
of the pupil, to be kept in view in teaching this branch of study.
Another considerable part of the work, rendered necessary by a
seeming deficiency of academic preparation, has been the training of
the students in explanation of processes. It is surprising how few
students are found who have any proper idea of what it is to explain
an operation. Nine tenths, and probably even a larger proportion of
those whom we examine for admission to our work, seem to suppose
that telling what is done to get an answer, is giving an explanation."
"I have come to feel it," he continues, "to be almost an utter waste
of time, if not a trial of patience to be avoided, to examine students
for admission upon this point. One of two things, it seems to me,
needs to be done; either a better preparation in the matter to which
I am referring should be brought by students seeking admission
to the school, or we should have more time, especially with the stu-
dents of our advanced professional courses, for instruction and drilll88l.] RELATION OF ACADEMIC TO PROFESSIONAL WORK. 85

on this point. The teachers we send out will certainly be found
wanting in this particular, if something is not done in one or the
other of these directions/' Here we have this whole matter in a
nutshell. These students had passed, as I understand it, an exami-
nation on the subject of arithmetic; an examination equivalent to
what is demanded to finish arithmetic in our high schools; an exami-
nation in which they gave proofs of a knowledge sufficient to justify
their taking up algebra, — a knowledge which, in many instances at
least, was all that would be required at our best colleges, and yet
a knowledge that was so hopelessly deficient for normal-school pur-
poses that a considerable portion of the time had to be devoted
to academic instruction. And what was true of arithmetic was
equally true of algebra, as Prof. Bellows testifies; and I have no
doubt that the same thing was true of every other branch of study
pursued in the institution.

Now, one of two things must be done; either academic instruction
must be given in the normal school, or our other schools must fur-
nish this drill. I am thoroughly in favor of the first alternative. I
believe thoroughly in normal training for teachers, but I protest
against an attempt to change our public schools into normal schools.
I protest against introducing into the intermediate and grammar
grades of our schools that painful and detailed training which is
proper — nay, necessary — to one who expects to become a teacher.
The vast majority of our children leave school before they are fifteen
years of age, and we ought to give them something more than the
full and minute training in the elements of the three R's which it is
right that teachers should have. The teacher should know how and
what to teach, and in order to do that he must fully conquer the sub-
ject ; but he need not try to teach the small boy everything that he
himself knows about it. The teacher as a boy in school need know
nothing more than his companions ; but as a candidate for the teach-
ing profession he must know a good deal more, and he must be
drilled in a very different way. Now, the proper sort of instruction
can be best given in a normal school. The method of teaching a
teacher is not always nor often the best method of teaching the prac-
tical man or woman. It would be a criminal waste of time for our
high schools to teach all their pupils as those of them ought to be
taught who expect to become teachers. The proper attention to
methods can be profitably given only in a normal school.

In connection with this point, we may notice a fact of great
importance in normal-school work; viz., that a teacher will teach a
subject as he has been taught it, and not as he has been told how to86

EDUCA TION;

[Sept.

teach it. The student who comes to a normal school and takes
merely the professional work in the narrower sense, who studies
merely how to teach, will begin his active work as a teacher just as
he learned it himself in the first place. If he acquired the knowl-
edge he possesses in an old log school-house, with the very worst
appliances and the poorest teacher and methods, he will begin his
instruction just as his teacher began with him. His knowledge of
methods and principles will be of vast advantage to him, for after
he has come to see the defects in his work, as he probably will in
course of time, it will aid him greatly in remedying them; but it is
just the business of the normal school to show him these defects
before he begins to teach, — to save the boys and girls from the
ignorance and inefficiency of the teacher. The only way, or at least
the shortest and most effective way, to break the power of the spell
which those early associations and that first training exercise over
the students, is to take them over that ground again, and carefully
correct those early impressions, and train them to new modes of
thought and new methods of work. A teacher who has been con-
nected for several years with one of our largest normal schools told
me recently that he had made a study of this very point, and that he
was struck with the fact that all the normal students who on enter-
ing the school had passed examinations in the elementary branches,
geography, grammar, arithmetic, and history, and had afterwards
gone out to teach, had all done their poorest work in just those
branches which they had neglected to take in the normal school,
and in many cases their work was so poor that it was to be consid-
ered a failure, while their teaching of other branches was fair to
good; a striking confirmation of the view that a teacher will teach
as he has been taught, and not as he has been told how to teach,
By the phrase " being told how to teach it," I refer to such direc-
tions as wrould be given in a course of lectures on the proper meth-
ods of teaching.

It may be objected to the above statement that inasmuch as the
normal teacher would use methods adapted to adults, the normal pupils
would not, after all, get the methods that they could use in their own
teaching. That would be very true if the teacher should confine
himself simply to an ordinary academic drill. But it is a very impor-
tant part oi his business to call the attention of his pupils constantly
to the points in which they must deviate from his methods in their
subsequent work. The point is that such directions would have a
value only in connection with a vigorous academic drill.

Let us examine the course of instruction in the Prussian normal1881.] DELATION OF ACADEMIC TO PROFESSIONAL WORK. 87

schools, with reference to the point under discussion. We take these
schools because they are all formed after one model, and there, if any-
where in the world, they are able to have purely professional schools;
there, if anywhere, they are able to demand at entrance an examina-
tion in all the subjects which we generally require for graduation.

I find, on examining the provisions of the law in reference to nor-
mal schools, published in October, 1872, by the Prussian Minister of
Public Instruction, that they required for admission to the normal
school an examination in all the studies afterwards pursued in the
course, except theory and art, meaning by that what we included
under our term " professional work."

They are examined in religion, language (grammar, rhetoric, criti-
cism), mathematics (algebra, arithmetic, geometry), music, history
(ancient and modern), natural sciences (physics, botany, zoology,
chemistry, physiology), and gymnastics. Now, on comparing the
work done in the normal school, we find that they begin at the
very beginning in every branch. In German, for instance, they
begin with the parts of speech, declension, comparison, conjugation,
and follow the subject up through syntax, analysis, rhetoric, punctu-
ation, and criticism. In history they begin with the Greeks, and
end with Prussian history. They begin arithmetic, geography, and
natural science, writing and drawing.

Now, what is their idea in giving instruction in the very elements
of these elementary studies? It is not so much to give academic
instruction, considered as academic instruction, but rather because
they consider this careful study and review of all these elementary
branches as a part and parcel of the strictly professional work, and
as the shortest way of reaching thorough professional drill in all these
various subjects. As if to dispel all doubt as to the purpose of
this work, we find the minister telling us in the tenth section of the
law, " The instruction which the normal pupils receive is expected
to be in its form a model of that which they themselves as teachers
will have later to impart. The directors have to insist strictly on
correctness both in the presentation of the subject-matter on the
part of the teacher, and in the oral and written reproduction of the
same on the part of the pupil. The instructor is expected to present
simultaneously with the subject-matter the method also." Here
you see we have the key to the Prussian view of this whole subject.
It is not academic instruction but professional work, and that is its
justification.

Now, if Prussia, a country which perhaps better than any other
could exact a high grade of preparation, a country nearly all of88

EDUCATION,

[Sept.

whose candidates for admission to normal schools have enjoyed
normal-school training, in the sense at least that their teachers have
been normal-trained men, — if such a country still deems it of great
importance to afford academic instruction in its normal schools, if its
theorists consider that its teachers should be taught arithmetic in a
different way from that in which its ordinary scholars are taught,
surely that affords an argument for the necessity of a similar course
here, where our pupils are wretchedly prepared, and where they can
in many cases not find good preparatory instruction at all.

In conclusion, let me summarize: What is the relation of aca-
demic to professional work? My answer is, It is vital and not
merely incidental. Mere knowledge of a subject does not imply a
power to teach it. Mere knowledge with some general instruction
as to methods and principles, nay, even with particular instruction as
to methods in individual branches, is not sufficient to place the
student on that vantage ground which every normal-trained student
should occupy. The instruction proper to the teacher cannot be
found in our public schools at present, and ought not to be found
in them in the future; it remains, then, for our normal schools to
furnish it. Further, a teacher will teach as he has been taught;
consequently the shortest method of attaining the best teaching in
our schools is to give our teachers the best teaching. And I am
inclined to think that if in any individual case it were necessary to
let one or the other go, in general the professional work could be
better spared than the academic. I believe that the student who
goes out to his work with a thorough normal academic drill in the
branches he expects to teach will do better work than one who,
while deficient in these branches, has studied the theory of teaching.
I claim, further, that he will not only do better work at first, but that
he will be more likely to improve, — to attain to that knowledge of
principles which will free him from the trammels of previous educa-
tion and habit.This book is a preservation facsimile produced for
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