Curricula and courses.-The typical curriculum for normal training classes, as previously stated (see Rural School Leaflet No. 14, page 9), equals in length one full year of high-school instruction, and includes courses in common school reviews, with a unit in psychology or technique of teaching, and some consideration of rural school management, rural community problems, and industrial arts and nature study. Credit toward high-school graduation is invariably given for this special instruction, though students who desire full rank for college entrance are sometimes compelled to make up the senior year's work in English. In 12 States the curriculum of teacher-training departments is concentrated in the senior or graduate year of the high school. (See Table 3.) In the other 11 States it is divided between the junior and senior years. Students devote full time to the training course after enrollment in only 7 States. All subjects of the curriculum, except such special fields as music, drawing, agriculture, and home economics, are taught by the normal instructor in 16 States. Rural school management is taught in all the 23 States but one (Georgia); rural sociology or country life in 13 States; nature study in 13; technique of teaching or general method in all 23; psychology or child study in 19; and industrial arts or seatwork in 15. Observation and practice teaching.-Radical differences in the requirement for observation and practice teaching are apparent. In amount this ranges all the way from no stipulated requirement whatever in Tennessee and North Dakota to 180 clock hours in Minnesota and 260 hours in Montana. The median total requirement for combined observation and practice, as shown in Table 3, is 72 clock hours. Of this the greater portion in most States is observation. Actual practice teaching, the most essential activity of any teacher-training course, is definitely required, however, in all States but five, namely, Kansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Tennessee. Good provision for student teaching is made in Minnesota, which has made notable contributions toward the graduation and standardization of practice; in Montana, where all students are put right out into rural schools for nine full weeks; and in Michigan, where a special model department under an assistant critic is maintained. Other States ranking well in this respect are Ohio, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Rural observation and practice is required to some extent, at least, in 13 of the 23 States included. Here again the amount varies greatly. The States heading the list in this respect are Montana, with a requirement of 45 days, Minnesota and North Carolina, with 15 days each; and Vermont and Missouri, with 10 days each. Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, and West Virginia grant certificates to training class candidates who have had no rural practice or observation whatsoever. |