NORTH CAROLINA EDUCATION
Vol. IX. No. 9. RALEIGH, N. C., MAY, 1915. Price: $1 a Year.
SOME FORGOTTEN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
By E.
С. В
rooks.
I, — Normal Training in North Carolina Before the
War.
The first school in the State to add the depart¬
ment of Normal Training was Union Institute,
Randolph County, in 1848. The principal of
the school was Braxton Craven. In 1851 Union
Institute became a normal college. The normal
training department had in three years become the
leading feature of the institution. In 1852 the gov¬
ernor was made chairman and the superintendent
of public instruction was made secretary of the
board of trustees and the superintendent reported
the work of the normal college to the General As¬
sembly. In connection with the institution was a
model school and teachers in training were required
to do practice work in the model school. In 1859
Normal College became Trinity College.
W. H. Doherty came to N. C. from Antioch Col¬
lege, Ohio, where he had been associated witii Horace
Maun, the president of the institution. He located
at Graham, N. C., about 1S55, ami built a strong
institution known as the Graham Male and Female
Institute in which lie introduced the normal training
feature. In 3860 he conducted at Graham the first
teachers’ institute in North Carolina. This was
the outgrowth of his normal work in his institution.
In 1861 he moved to New Bern and became principal
of the “New Bern Educational Academy. ’ ’ In
his advertisement, May, 1861. he says: “A class of
teachers will be instructed in the ‘normal method’
of teaching and governing their pupils without
charge. ’ ’
Wilson Female Seminary advertised in 1859 for
the first time, “normal classes formed each ses¬
sion.” In the same year experienced teachers were
invited to Wilson to address the pupils in these
elasses. D. S. Riehndson, A. M., was principal.
Normal elasses were formed also in the Goldsboro
Female College in 1860.
II. The First Teachers’ Institute in North Carolina.
Calvin H. Wiley, writing in the North Carolina
Journal of Education in June, 1860, says that no
successful efforts to establish teachers’ institutes in
North Carolina was made until May of that year.
I quote from his article:
“A few weeks since, the chairman of the board
of superintendents of common schools of Alamance
County issued a circular inviting the teachers in his
county, aud others who might desire to be present to
meeting. The exercises on Monday evening were
W. 11. Doherty of the Male and Female Institute of
that place, having kindly offered to devote several
days to the instruction of all who might attend in
the normal method of teaching, and the citizens of
Graham having tendered the hospitality of their
homes to the teachers, while attending the meeting.
“Having received a special invitation from Prof.
Doherty, we were present during two days of the
meeting. The exercises in Monday evening were
introduced by a lecture from Prof. Doherty, which
we had not the pleasure of hearing, as it was out of
our power to be there earlier than Tuesday morn¬
ing. During the forenoon of the same day Prof.
Doherty explained to the teachers present his meth¬
ods of taeliiug; commencing with the preparation
of the school house, the organization of the school,
and the means of securing order aud punctuality,
lie then took up the alphabet, spelling, reading,
writing, arithmetic, and successively making free
use of the blackboard in every study aud pointing
out the great advantages of using writing iu connec¬
tion with oral exercises.
“He also gave some chemical and philosophical
experiments, by the way of showing teachers how
to impart life to the school room and awaken a
desire of knowledge in the minds of their pupils;
showing them, at the same time, that a man of
some ingenuity may perform many interesting ex-
perinientals without expending much in apparatus.
“The great part of the afternoon was occupied in
forming a County Education! Association. There
was a good attendance of teachers and all present
seemed to enter zealously into the movement.”
The institution continued for a week. Superin¬
tendent Wiley and Prof. Dolierty lecture until
Thursday, when the institute closed. Superintend¬
ent Wiley urged every other county iu the Slate
to follow the example set by the public-spirited
teachers of Alamance County.
III. — The Move for the First Graded School in
North Carolina.
A public meeting was held in Wilmington, April
19, 3860, for the purpose of establishing “a sys¬
tem of graded schools, such as will furnish the youth
of the towu all the advantages of a thorough ele¬
mentary edouation, with a course of study sufficient¬
ly extended to prepare him better for entrance into
college and for the practical business of life.’’ C.
II. Wiley spoke, at the conclusion of his address the
following resolutions were unanimously adopted ;
“Resolved, That the chairman appoint a com¬
mittee of seven, to whom shall be referred the
whole subject of the proposed system of public
schools in connection with the town of Wilming¬
ton, aud that they be hereby requested to furnish
all the facts, details and arguments bearing upon
the subject, which they may deem important.
Resolved, That when prepared to make said re¬
port, for the purpose of hearing aud receiving the
same, said committee be authorized to make all
needful arrangemnts to have a town meeting call¬
ed. and to give due notice thereof in the papers of
the place.”
The following gentlemen were appointed to eon-
