CHAPTER VII.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES.

Generous provision for the maintenance of a system of common schools has been made, at different times, by the General Assembly of Ohio, but legislative foresight has not provided adequate means and agencies for the professional training of teachers. Normal schools, fostered and sustained by state patronage, have never formed a part of the educational system of the State. Attempts have been made to remedy this radical defect. The history of their failure can be found in the chapter on Normal Schools. The imperative. needs of some agencies by which all teachers, especially those who labor in the rural districts, could be made the recipients of instruction and training in matters pertaining to the responsible duties of their calling, led to the formation of teachers' associations, and finally to the employment of the Teachers' Institute as the best available aid in this kind of educational effort.

The first association of teachers for mutual improvement in the State was organized in Cincinnati in 1822. It was probably the second of the kind in the United States. It had but a brief existence, more than one-half of its fourteen members engaging in other pursuits or removing from the city within the year. In 1829, about twenty teachers organized "The Western Literary Institute and Board of Education" in that city. The first annual meeting was held in 1830. In 1831, this association assumed the title of "The Western Literary Institute and College of Professional

Teachers." The objects of the College, as stated in its published proceedings, were, "to promote the cause of education, to foster a spirit of intellectual culture and professional skill among its members, which will fit them for enlarged usefulness to themselves and their fellow-men, and to establish the name and character of a liberal profession." The plan proposed by which these objects were to be accomplished, was thus stated:

"It is contemplated by the College to form district associations, or school institutes, throughout the country, and to have delivered in them courses of lectures by persons appointed for the purpose, embracing subjects of a literary and practical nature, with appropriate illustrations of the most successful modes of teaching, and to lay before school committees, parents, and teachers, all the important information that can be collected from any source."

This association held annual meetings until 1845. It did not succeed in establishing a "school institute" in any county except Hamilton, in which an association was formed that met quarterly or oftener for many years; but, by its discussions and the publication of the addresses delivered at its annual meetings, it created a wide-spread sentiment in favor of liberal culture, and aroused public attention to the necessity of universal education in a republic. It was not a teachers' institute, as that term is now applied; but, as it showed the benefits and advantages that might be derived from combined action, and awakened an interest in professional education among teachers in various sections of the State, a history of teachers' institutes would be incomplete without a statement of the character and aim of the organization, and an allusion to the earnest efforts of those belonging to it to create and maintain an esprit de corps among the members of the profession in the West.

In the fall of 1853, a course of lectures and exercises, very similar in plan and method to that given for several succeeding years in county teachers' institutes, was given to the students of the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary, at

Kirtland, Lake county, and to such teachers in the vicinity as chose to attend. The course was continued two weeks. The exercises were conducted by Dr. A. D. Lord, principal of the Seminary, assisted by the teachers associated with him in the management of that institution. A similar course was given at the close of the fall term in 1844—the time occupied being one week.

It is believed that these were all the efforts made previous to 1845, aside from the formation of teachers' classes in a few of the higher institutions of learning and the organization of a few local associations of teachers, to provide, in a practical way, for normal instruction. However inadequate these efforts may have been, and however far they may have fallen short of accomplishing the object intended, they had the effect, in many localities, to create a sentiment in favor of the improvement of the schools both in town and country, and to convince the more thoughtful that such improvement depended largely upon the employment of teachers trained in some manner to do their work intelligently. They thus prepared the way for the general adoption of the agency to which attention is called in this chapter.

COUNTY TEACHERS' INSTITUTES.

A County Teachers' Institute is an association composed principally of teachers resident in the same county, or it is a meeting held by such an association. The term is most frequently used in the latter sense. The organization of an institute is perfected by the adoption and signing of a constitution and the election of certain offcers. The institute generally determines, in committee of the whole, the character and amount of the work to be undertaken, and quite frequently designates the course to be pursued in attempting to secure its accomplishment; but it is the usual practice to entrust the arrangement

of details and the general management of business affairs to an executive committee. Annual sessions are now held in most counties, varying in length from four days to six weeks-four days being the legal minimum. Experienced educators are generally employed to conduct the exercises. They are assisted, in most instances, by teachers belonging to the association. During these sessions, the branches of studies pursued in the schools receive a partial review, methods of school management and discipline are discussed, and methods of instruction presented and elucidated. In the evening sessions, if any are held, popular scientific lectures are delivered, the relations, duties, and responsibilities of teachers, pupils, and patrons discussed, and the value and importance of education pressed upon public attention.

1

The first meeting of an association of this kind in Ohio, and perhaps in the West, was held in Sandusky, Erie county, in September, 1845. The exercises were conducted by Hon. Salem Town, of Ithaca, N. Y., assisted by Dr. A. D. Lord, principal of the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary, and M. F. Cowdery, then an assistant teacher in the same institution. Hon. Ebenezer Lane, Rev. L. Howe, and other men of influence in Sandusky took an active part in the exercises. A marked interest was manifested in the proceedings, both by the teachers present and the citizens of Sandusky and vicinity. About one hundred teachers were in attendance. The second session was held in Chardon, Geauga county, in October, 1845. It was conducted by Dr. Lord, M. F. Cowdery, and M. D. Leggett. The number in attendance was one hundred and fifty. The leading citizens of the county regarded the institute with great favor, and expressed a desire that a similar session should be held the following spring. These two sessions are worthy of special notice, as they were the first successful attempts made in the State to awaken a perma

nent interest in normal instruction among the teachers of the common schools. They were experiments, and, doubtless, there were serious defects in their management; but their exercises were, in the main, exceedingly interesting and profitable. Those who conducted them were zealous and energetic, and their names soon became familiar to every well-informed teacher in the State.

In 1846, teachers' institutes were organized and sessions held in the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Richland, Trumbull, and Warren. Two sessions were held in Geauga county, and two in Lake-one, in the latter county, under the auspices of the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary. The number in attendance was, in the aggregate, about one thousand. In his report for the year 1846, Hon. Samuel Galloway, Secretary of State, and ex-officio Superintendent of Common Schools, in referring to these institutes, uses the following language:

"Were this same instrumentality extensively adopted in Ohio, it would breathe the spirit of a new creation upon our common school system. These associations must tend to promote a professional spirit and independence--an enlarged view of the dignity and responsibility of the teacher's vocation-ambition to attain the highest standard of attainment which may be exhibited by any teacher-imitation of the best modes of instruction and discipline, and active co-operation in all that is calculated to promote general intelligence.

In 1847, institutes were held in the following counties: Ashland, Ashtabula, Delaware, Geauga, Hamilton, Lake, Medina, Summit, Stark, Trumbull, and Warren. Two institutes were held in Summit county, and the counties of Stark and Wayne held two joint institutes.

The State Teachers' Association was organized at Akron, Summit county, in December, 1847. The executive committee of this Association, in January, 1848, made conditional arrangements for holding institutes in one-half of the counties in the State the following spring. The propositions of the committee were accepted by the following counties: Ash