Evening star., 1939-04-23

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school. had its beginning 66 years
ago, shortly after Mr.. Wilson be-
came superintendents of schools,
and as long as he lived it remained
about the nearest and dearest thing
to his heart.
Prior to the beginning of this
school there was no place in WASH
ington where one could 60 to take
q course Of studies to become a
teacher. It was always difficult
matter to obtain not only persons
with sufficient education to teach.
but also those who combined the
right temperament and background
for this purpose. 1t was soon dem
onstrated that the normal school
supplied the kind of material re-
quired for most exacting profess
sion, and the present Teachers Col
1ege develops this to an even greater
degree.
Incompetent Teachers.
An illustration of an incompetent
teacher in the early days of WASH
ington's free schools-and there
were many-is that of Edward D.
Tippett, who came to this city from
Maryland in 1903, and taught here
in the Eastern Academy, where he
was principal, from 1915 to 1925.
He evidently had much enthusiasm,
but little education, and his need
of the latter he undoubtedly realized
himself, for. to use his own words,
he said: Il made my way to the
city of Washington. where very
soon found friends. and as was
considered tolerably qualified, was
favored by Mr.. Elliott to the situa-
ton of assistant teacher; I boarded
with him, and found to my great
Joy the best of friends"
Mr.. Tppett was, In turn, an "edu-
Gator" an inventor, a farmer, a
shoemaker, a huckster, a hirer of
hacks and a preacher, and he usual
ly found time to look after one or
more Of these enterprises while
teaching school. However, if he
lacked anything in brains he made
up for 1t In Drawn, for upon one
occasion he planted trees about
the school, and in order that they
would not be exposed and damaged
he built a fence around the yard.
On the other hand, Mrs. E. D. E.
N. Southworth, who was well edu-
Gated and who became distin-
guished novelist, was failure as a
teacher, not because she was not
educationally qualified, but because
of her apparent lack of interest in
her work, and this probably brought
on her resignation.
Normal School Needed.
Many instances along this line
could be cited, and because we did
not organize q normal school here
prior to 1873, Is no reason why we
did not need one, just as was found
to be the case at Lexington, Mass,
where the first normal school
opened its doors on July 8, 1889,
nearly 100 years ago. The pioneer
in this form Of instruction was the
Rev. Cyrus Peirce, and his school
was a simple two-story wooden
structure, located only a few yards
from Lexington Common. His first
pupils were the Misses Hawkins,
Smith and Damon, and, since the
founding Of teacher education in
the United States will be appro-
priately celebrated throughout the
country this year, it might be in
teresting to read few entries from
the diary of the Rev. Peirce on this
subject, recorded by him in 1899:
On Monday, July 8, he says:
school opened this day with 3
pupils, Hawkins, Smith & Stowe
one Miss Rolph added during the
day. Exercises Conversation -
Grammar g. Arithmetic. Three
Of the scholars promise we'll"
On July 8: "This day Misses
6todder & Damon came into School
Is pupils"
e The following date he writes:
'This Day Mary Swift Of Nantucket