University of Virginia Library

XXXI. Professional Departments—Education

In anticipation of the establishment of a practical
School of Education, at the University of Virginia,
President Alderman drew up a scheme for such a school,
in the light of his own experience and observation, and
of the recorded convictions of numerous teachers of high
reputation in their calling. In all its salient features,
this scheme will be found to have foreshadowed the general
groove which the School of Education at the University
was afterwards to follow. We shall enumerate
here only the outstanding aims of that scheme as specified
by him.

A school of education, he said in substance, should
offer an opportunity for the thorough study of that subject
as one of the most important functions of society; it
should give the training that is necessary for pedagogics
or for school administration; it should develop scientific
methods of testing school work, and demonstrate
the manner of their application; it should become a
centre of educational influence, to which teachers could
resort for instruction and guidance; it should, by lectures,
bulletins, visitations, and the like, instil into the public
mind a just conception of educational progress, and the
general duties of citizenship in all branches of community
service, but especially in that branch which relates to the
public schools. In short, a School of Education attached
to a university should not be simply a chair of education,
like the chair of mathematics, Latin, or English literature,
but rather a professional department, like the department
of law, medicine, or engineering, engaged in
diligently preparing a large company of young men and
women to prosecute scientific educational work so successfully
that the educational process, from the primary
school to the university, should, through them, be reduced
to a perfect cooperative unity.

The need of schools of education in all the State universities
of the South to carry into effect these principles,
thus briefly epitomized by us, had been so clearly perceived
by the General Education Board, that, not long
after its organization, it had begun to use its means and
its influence to encourage their establishment. At the
beginning of the Ninth Period a great gap still existed
between the University of Virginia and the public schools
of the Commonwealth. It was not until the year 1906
was passed that the rapid development of secondary education
began in the State. This movement was due

primarily to the recognition of the fact that it was necessary
to create and maintain the secondary school if there
was to be a completely successful linking up of elementary
school, secondary school, and university. Indeed, there
could be no other guarantee for a continuous and progressive
educational process.

How was the proper coordination of the work of
each section of the chain to be permanently assured, and
the cooperation of all firmly kept up? From the beginning,
there seemed to be but two ways to bring all this
about: (1) college and university must adopt requirements
for entrance that would reserve to the secondary
school the function of preparing the student for admission
to the higher institution; (2) the college, whether
independent or departmental, must aid in standardizing
the work of the high school, so as to promote its efficiency.
As the tie between the University of Virginia
and popular education grew closer, through these two
general policies, the need of more carefully drilled
teachers became more insistent, and the call for more
expert supervision more difficult to resist. What could
meet this growing need and supply this increasing demand,
which were crying out in every community? The
normal school could furnish the subordinate teacher; but
what could be looked to with confidence to furnish the
educational leader, without whose expert knowledge the
value of the work of the subordinate teacher must be
sensibly diminished? The answer which time returned
to this vital question was: the formal School of Education.

The functions of such a leader were clearly grasped
even before the actual creation of his class: he was to
assist in persuading the people to add continuously to the
number of the high schools; he was to place the courses

of study of those already in existence or to be established,
on a scientific footing; and he was to make them thoroughly
efficient in imparting information and training.
It was to be his duty also to foster an intimate connection
between the secondary schools and the University. This
was to be done by his coming into close personal intercourse
with the principals, teachers, and officials of these
schools; and also by creating a system of accrediting
through offering a university course in secondary education
for the benefit of those students who expected to
teach, or to occupy some educational administrative station.

With all these definite ideas as to the true function of
secondary education deeply planted in the minds of the
men who were responsible for the government of the
University of Virginia, the establishment of a School of
Education in that institution was only waiting for the acquisition
of the pecuniary means to support it. The
first suggestion in favor of its introduction was dropped
by Professor E. Reinhold Rogers in the pages of the
Bulletin about 1904. But that suggestion appeared remote
from realization until April, 1905, when President
Alderman, at his inauguration, was able to announce
that Mr. Rockefeller had donated one hundred thousand
dollars to the University, the income of which was to be
spent in maintaining a School of Education, to be known
as the Curry Memorial School, in honor of that great
apostle of public instruction in the South. This gift, supplemented
by an annual appropriation from the General
Education Board, made it possible to create the chair of
education, and also the chair of secondary education.
W. H. Heck was chosen the incumbent of the first, and
Bruce R. Payne, of the second. The purposes of the
general school at that time were declared to be: (1) to

include in the college curriculum, courses in education as
the most important phase of sociology and civics; (2) to
train departmental teachers for secondary schools, and
principals and supervisors for both the elementary and
the secondary; and (3) to found a centre for the advanced
study of educational principles of immediate pertinence
to the conditions existing in Virginia and the other
Southern States.

Apparently, time did not modify this statement of the
functions of the new school. Thus, it was said, in 1910,
five years after that school was created, that it was designed,
in the first place, for the benefit of those persons
whose purpose in life was to teach or to manage public
school affairs,—such persons required instruction and
training in the scientific principles and technique of their
calling. It was designed, in the second place, for those
persons who were anxious to obtain, in general, a discriminating
knowledge of the public school system, of
educational psychology and history, and of educational
methods.

As soon as Professor Payne was transferred to the
University of Virginia from the College of William and
Mary, he was assigned the task of assisting in the campaign,
—which was, at that time, in full sweep,—of persuading
the General Assembly to create a modern high
school system, and afterwards to maintain it with a sufficient
annual appropriation. First, he journeyed up and
down the State speaking earnestly everywhere for the
specific purpose of arousing an emphatic public sentiment
in favor of the enactment of such legislation. In Virginia,
prior to 1906, there was no fixed standard of requirement,
and no uniform regulations of any kind, applicable
to the few high schools that did exist. Such
schools were only to be found in the cities and the towns.

There was only one here and one there among them which
offered a four-year high school course; and this course, as
a rule, was confined to mathematics and the Latin language.
With the expert aid of Superintendent Eggleston,
of the State Board, Professor Payne drafted a bill
for the organization of a practical system of secondary
schools; and also with the backing of that officer,—who
was one of the most energetic and sagacious men who
ever occupied that useful position,—and of the high
school inspectors and the President of the University, he
was able to persuade the legislature to adopt the measure.

As chairman of the University committee on studies,
Professor Payne assisted the State Board of Education
and the State Board of Examiners in framing a course
that was exactly adapted to the needs of the people at
large; and not content with this, he again and again
canvassed the State, in whole or in part, to urge
the different communities to establish more high schools.
In 1905–06, when he became professor of secondary
education at the University of Virginia, there were only
forty-four such schools in the State, with an enrolment of
4900 pupils. In 1912–13,—the session following his
translation to the presidency of the Peabody college
for teachers in Nashville,—there were four hundred
and twelve high schools, with an enrolment of nearly
seven thousand pupils. This growth in the high school
system quickened the spirit of education throughout the
Commonwealth, from the elementary school to the University.
It was the lack of adequate provision for the
training of teachers for the public schools, now so increased
in number, which led, through Superintendent
Glass, of Lynchburg, to the establishment of the School
of Methods at the University of Virginia, which, as we

shall see, passed, in 1909, under the guidance of Professor
Payne.

The duties of Professor Payne, from year to year,
during his incumbency of his chair, were as follows: (1)
he helped to increase the efficiency of the high school
teachers and administrators by addresses delivered at
their meetings; (2) he personally inspected the high
schools and suggested practical methods for improving
them; (3) he visited community after community, in
order, by timely arguments, to encourage a larger
popular support for the high schools recently erected;
(4) he distributed, without charge, numerous monographs
relating to high school subjects; (5) he found
out, by actual examination, which high schools were entitled
to be accredited at the University of Virginia; and
(6) he converted the School of Education into a clearinghouse
for information on high schools,—the proper
administration, the right methods of teaching, the wisest
course of instruction, for them.

Professor Heck, during his incumbency of the chair
of education, performed a beneficent work of equal importance.
He had, during several years, occupied the
post of assistant secretary of the General Education
Board, and was familiar with all the great questions involved
in public instruction. During the period of
Professor Payne's incumbency of the allied chair, the
two men, in their intervals of leisure from their regular
classes, would start out separately to traverse different
sections of the State. Thus, in the course of the session
of 1907–08, the two made a systematized effort to reach
every part of Virginia. Payne conferred with the
superintendents, principals, and other officials of the
secondary schools, while Heck delivered addresses on the
special subjects that touched the physical welfare of all

the schools. At a later date, when another incumbent
occupied the chair of Professor Payne, Professor Heck
followed a regular schedule in the campaigns which he
undertook. His general theme was hygiene. He
treated this subject from four points of view: (1) the
hygiene of school buildings and equipment; (2) the
hygiene of school management and instruction; (3) the
hygiene of school development; and (4) cooperation of
home and school for the protection of the schoolchild's
health.

During some weeks, Professor Heck passed as many
as five of each six days in the field, delivering frequently
more than one address daily on topics that touched the
sanitary condition of the schools,—such as water,
utensils, cleanliness, janitor service, and ventilation.
One day, he would attend an institute and confer with
the teachers there assembled; the next, he would speak
at a mothers' meeting or to a concourse of children in
a public school-house. Wherever he went, he strove,
with noble energy, to better the status of high school life
by raising the ideals of the pupils in regard to their own
physical and moral welfare alike, and by stimulating the
teachers and the parents to more fruitful activities for
the improvement of the young under their care. The
standards of each community visited, in every department
of its interests, were lifted up by the inspiring
instruction of this trained representative of the University
of Virginia; and through him, its influence reached
far into many quarters, which, otherwise, would not
have felt the power of her solicitous teachings. Each
tour of this youthful apostle, who perished in the very
flower of his usefulness, was said to have been a successful
effort to cooperate with the public schools in bringing
about the right kind of moral atmosphere and the

right degree of physical healthfulness, by urging unceasingly
the benefits of cleanliness, order, industry,
humanity, purity, courtesy, kindness, and mutual
assistance.

"The University," declared President Denny, in
1905–06, "must be an evangel of educational reform.
It must furnish educational experts and conduct educational
campaigns. The public schools must look to the
leadership of specialists. Let our institutions of higher
learning surrender the idea of an educated class in
favor of an educated community. Let them stand for
the diffusion of knowledge among the masses."

There were many ways in which the University of
Virginia was now carrying out this farsighted counsel,
but in none was a more wholesome, more improving, or
more elevating work performed by that institution,
during these early years in the history of its department
of education, than in the field-work of these two distinguished
men, who set a pace which has been faithfully
maintained by their successors.

But their beneficent labors were not limited to public
addresses and inspections, or to thoughtful and expert
advice. A wide province of study was covered by both
of their schools; and that portion of their time which
was not spent in educational excursions was given up to
systematic instruction in their various courses. During
the session of 1905–06, there were five of these courses.
Professor Heck lectured upon the history of education,
which carried him over the whole ground of ancient and
modern times,—India, Egypt, China, Greece, Rome,
Europe in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Reformation,
Modern Germany, France, America,—all
were embraced in the scope of the survey. The theories
of the great educational pioneers were discussed and

analyzed; and educational ideals and practice were described
as phases of social evolution. In his second
series of lectures, he touched upon the principles of
general education, the modern hypothesis, study, and
practice of physical education, school hygiene, and
secondary school administration. Educational psychology
formed also a section of this course. In his third
series of lectures, the subjects considered were national,
state, and city schools; public finances as bearing on
education, school buildings, and equipment; the employment
and supervision of teachers; the connection between
society and the school-house; and the educational
systems and policies of the South viewed in detail.

Professor Payne dealt with the psychology and philosophy
of education in one course, and in another, with
all the aspects of secondary education. How minute
and practical was his instruction may be inferred from
the following subjects embraced in one course only: (1)
the proper way of organizing and administering high
schools; the methods and sources of high school support;
the graduation and classification of the students and lines
of study; the relation of high school activities to the
needs of social life; (2) the examination of high school
systems in other States, in order to discover the best
plan of legislation for constituting and equipping schools
of secondary learning; (3) the most successful methods
of high school teaching.

It will be perceived from this outline of the instruction
given by the incumbents of the two chairs that, from the
beginning, it was considered indispensable that the
graduates of the School of Education should, not only
be informed about all the practical conditions entering
into modern school administration, but that they should
also have acquired a solid basis of knowledge of such

vital themes as psychology, sociology, biology, hygiene,
and physiology.

The lapse of another decade reveals no remarkable
shifting in the ground covered, although, by 1919, the
original two chairs had been organized into a department,
with important additions to its faculty. There
were nine courses offered the members of the undergraduate
classes, and three, the members of the undergraduate
and graduate. Those for the undergraduate
were respectively: the biological foundations of education;
educational hygiene; secondary education; history
of educational systems; applied psychology; methods of
teaching and studying; educational administration and
supervision; educational measurements, surveys, and
tests; and elementary school organization and supervision.
For undergraduates and graduates, the three
courses embraced: the place of the child in society; the
psychology of biography; and school administration.
Training was now provided for three classes of students:
(1) the candidates for the baccalaureate degree in education;
(2) the graduates of other institutions who were
desirous of obtaining the necessary professional knowledge
to qualify them to win the highest certificate issued
by the State Board of Public Instruction; and (3)
students at large who had been able to satisfy the general
entrance requirements of the graduate department
of the University of Virginia, and the special entrance
requirements of the educational courses which they were
pursuing.

In 1916–17, the faculty consisted of Charles G.
Maphis, who had succeeded to the chair formerly
occupied by Bruce R. Payne, and who was also known
as "high school visitor;" Professor Heck, who was still
the incumbent of the chair of education, which he was

to continue to fill until his lamented death; A. L. Hall-Quest,
who was the incumbent of the chair of psychology
and principles of teaching, with A. G. A. Balz as associate
professor of psychology; and J. L. Manahan, who
had been recently elected to the chair of educational
adminstration. The instruction which this faculty was
giving at the end of the Ninth Period was, in general,
designed to train, in a scientific way, school principals,
supervisors, and superintendents; to carry on scientific
investigations; and to furnish technical help to the entire
educational system of the Commonwealth.

During the session of 1911–12, a model building to
serve as a shelter for the school, as it was at that date,
was guaranteed by the Peabody Educational Board.
This structure was to entail an expenditure of forty
thousand dollars. The edifice was, in time, completed,
and the school received an annual appropriation from
the treasury of the same philanthropic organization.

A tribute to the efficiency of this school was paid in
a statement by the head of the Carnegie Foundation in
1910–11. We have seen that it was largely due to the
first report of this Foundation, in 1906, that the University
of Virginia, in common with other institutions,
adopted those entrance requirements which that Foundation
had made indispensable for all who wished to be
registered in its accepted list. In his letter to President
Alderman, President Pritchett said that the University
of Virginia was put on the Carnegie Foundation for (1)
its past achievements; (2) the eminence of its faculty;
(3) the advancement of its standards of admission; but
especially for (4) the success of its efforts to develop
and improve the secondary schools. "Our executive committee
realizes," he concluded, "that a State university
should relate itself directly to the system of high schools

in the State; and it believes that the leadership which
the University has shown in these matters will result,
not only in greater educational efficiency to the whole
system of schools in Virginia, but that it will likewise
result in furnishing to the University a far better prepared
group of students."

On another occasion, President Pritchett said:
"There is no obligation which in a State supported university
is more clear than that of developing the secondary
school. The only method by which the State can
do this is to ordain for itself requirements of admission,
and to respect the field of the high school and not to
trench upon it. The State university which itself undertakes
to conduct secondary school work is hindering the
development of a true secondary school system. The
university helps the secondary schools best when it sets
up fair standards and enforces them; when it holds the
high schools responsible for good levels, and not when
it undertakes to do the high schools' work for them;
when it gives the secondary school system a wise, sympathetic
scrutiny, and leads it with increasing thoroughness
and efficiency."

It was these conclusions, reached through practical
observation and experience, which the Department of
Education has always sought to reduce to a reality in its
class-work and field-work alike. It was due, in large
measure, to the zealous energy of this department that
the number of young men from the public schools so
steadily augmented in the registration lists of the University.
In April, 1916, President Alderman referred,
in a public address, to the fact that, during the previous
six years, this increase had amounted to fifty per cent.;
and that, in the course of the year of his speech, ninety-one
graduates from these schools were admitted,—

which was one third of all the male graduates of the
accredited public high schools of Virginia. Twelve
years before, there had been to all intents none. "This
means," he said, in conclusion, "that we have tied the
University by logical ties to the real democratic life of
the State."