The training of teachers in the United States of America

In Short

Written by two British college lecturers funded by a traveling scholarship, this non-fiction study examines the late nineteenth-century American landscape of normal schools, city training programs, and university departments of pedagogy. From the experimental classrooms of Cook County to the lectures at Chautauqua, the authors document a shift away from rote learning and toward methods grounded in child psychology, natural science, and integrated subject matter. The book survives as an invaluable historical record of early progressive educational reform in the United States.

The Story

The narrative follows an intellectual journey across the North-Eastern United States in the summer of 1893. Commissioned by the Gilchrist Trustees in response to growing interest in British secondary education reform, five British women scholars received traveling scholarships to observe American schooling. This volume combines two of their resulting reports, documenting a circuit through Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois.

The journey opens with an examination of state and city normal schools, where the authors observe how American institutions handle teacher preparation compared to the English system. They explore the daily mechanics of institutions in towns like New Britain, Worcester, and Albany, paying close attention to budget allocations, library facilities, and laboratory equipment. A key discovery in these early stops is the centrality of method over mere memorization; because American inspectors judge schools on teaching efficiency rather than raw testing results, pedagogical theory holds a far more prominent position in the curriculum than in Britain.

Moving into practice-oriented institutions, the authors survey the varied structures of city training schools in New York, Philadelphia, Quincy, and Springfield. They detail the friction between academic preparation and pure professional training, noting how local systems struggle to balance observation hours with actual classroom teaching practice. In places like Quincy and Westfield, they observe student-teachers executing highly detailed, monthly lesson plans under the watchful eyes of superintendents and critic teachers.

The narrative expands as the authors travel west to Chicago and Lake Chautauqua. At the Cook County Normal Summer School, under the influence of Colonel Francis Parker, they encounter the cutting edge of progressive reform. Here, the traditional boundaries between school subjects dissolve into theories of correlation: reading is taught through nature study, geography merges with geology and map modelling, and young children generate their own reading materials from direct observation. The voyage concludes at Cornell University and the summer encampment of Chautauqua, tracing how these educational ideas radiate across the country through correspondence courses and summer gatherings. The authors return to England with a complete picture of an evolving, decentralized system driven by Herbartian philosophy and experimental psychology.

How It Unfolds

The journey begins The authors cross the Atlantic in the summer of 1893, tasked by the Gilchrist Trustees with assessing American training colleges to inform British educational reforms.

Observing the eastern normal schools Traveling through Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York, the scholars inspect institutions like Albany and Worcester, noting heavy investments in science laboratories, plant studies, and student-built equipment.

Examining city practice departments In major urban centers like New York City and Philadelphia, they evaluate how local normal schools attempt to balance large student populations with meaningful classroom practice in local public schools.

Discovering correlation in Chicago At Colonel Parker's Cook County Normal Summer School, they witness revolutionary methods where reading, drawing, and natural history are bound together into integrated, child-centered units.

Surveying higher education and summer institutes The journey concludes with visits to Cornell University and the Chautauqua encampment, demonstrating how German pedagogical theories and university-level research in psychology are reshaping national standards.

The People

Amy Blanche Bramwell A science lecturer from the Cambridge Training College for Women Teachers who seeks to understand the structural mechanics, budgets, and scientific curricula of American normal schools. She seeks clear data on how training institutions operate, facing the hurdle of navigating vast differences between state systems, and ultimately compiles a detailed synthesis of American pedagogical practices.

H. Millicent Hughes Head of the Training Department at University College, Cardiff, who approaches the journey as an inquiry into the philosophical and human aspects of teaching. She seeks to understand how educators are cultivated, encountering complex local variations and tight travel timelines, and ends her tour with a deep appreciation for American hospitality and innovative method.

Colonel Francis Parker The pioneering head of the Cook County Normal School who wants to dismantle rigid, subject-bound instruction in favor of child-centered learning. Standing against traditional rote-learning methods, he successfully spreads his theories of correlation and psychology to thousands of visiting educators through his influential summer school.

Superintendent Balliet An educational leader in Springfield, Massachusetts, who aims to elevate urban teaching standards through applied theory. He overcomes the routine limits of administrative work by delivering weekly psychology lectures and publishing original guides on instruction methods, serving as a model for how superintendents can drive systemic reform.

In Its Own Voice

"Not only does he give weekly lectures on applied psychology and kindred subjects, but he has paid special attention to the elaborating of methods of teaching such subjects as arithmetic and geometry, geography, English language, etc."

The authors highlight the expansive influence a city superintendent can exert when focused directly on classroom methodology rather than administrative duties.

"As a result of this theory, the hard and fast lines between the so-called subjects of study are being broken down."

This comment captures the primary innovation observed in progressive American schools, where traditional subjects are integrated around central scientific and literary themes.

"A breakdown of the train by which we were to leave Ithaca delayed our journey, so we arrived in New York too late to see any more institutions, and sailed from thence feeling sad at the thought that such a delightful tour was ended."

The personal, reflective voice of the authors emerges as they conclude their summer expedition across the American North-East.

What It's Really About

At its core, the book explores how a democratic society prepares its educators to cultivate independent thought rather than passive obedience. It contrasts the rigid, exam-driven English system with the fluid, experimental approach emerging across the post-Civil War United States. The authors probe the delicate balance between general academic education and pure professional training, asking whether a teacher is primarily a scholar or a practitioner skilled in child psychology. Underneath the technical descriptions of lesson plans and budget allocations lies a dynamic debate over the philosophy of learning—specifically how German theories of Herbartianism and experimental psychology can be adapted to public schools serving diverse communities.

Why Read It Today

This work appeals directly to educational historians, pedagogy enthusiasts, and readers fascinated by late Victorian travel journals. Reading it feels like looking through a clear glass into the late nineteenth-century classroom, where blackboard chalking, plant pressings, and manual woodwork were the high technology of their day. What remains with the reader is a sense of freshness and optimism; the problems these nineteenth-century educators were trying to solve—how to keep children engaged, how to balance theory with practice, and how to organize school districts—remain strikingly familiar today.

The primary difficulty for modern readers lies in its strictly reportorial, non-fiction format. The book contains statistical tables, lists of institutional requirements, and dry descriptions of administrative hierarchies that reflect its origins as a formal report to a charitable trust. Yet for those willing to look past its technical structure, the prose is remarkably direct, free of modern bureaucratic jargon, and rich in vivid, ground-level detail.