KOESIAL SCHOOLS. 



55 



irards they were distinguished by the fact that a spe- 

 cial commission of examination was appointed lor 

 them, to which commission the head-teacher and the 

 director belonged. But by a later regulation a com- 

 mission for this purpose was appointed to the small. 

 and even the private, as well as to the superior semi- 

 naries. 



In 1794 a normal school was established at Paris by 

 the national convention ; but the institution was pro- 

 jected on a scale beyond the preparation of its earliest 

 pupils. The instruction was mainly by lectures, deliv- 

 ered by such eminent scholars as Lagnnge, Laplace, 

 Sicard, Laharpe, and others, and was far above the 

 comprehension of the immature students of the school. 

 It was, therefore, abandoned in 1795. After the re- 

 organization of the university, in J80<>. the expediency 

 of reviving the normal school was felt, and it was re- 

 organized accordingly, in 18US. The number of pupils 

 provided for by the new plan was 31. X) ; but from 1810 

 ti 1 --^6 there were never more than 58 in actual at- 

 tendance. According to the plan of instruction, lec- 

 tures were to be attended elsewhere, and interroga- 

 tions and study to take place within the school under 

 the charge of the elder pupils. The recitations of the 

 pupils to each other were called conference--; a name 

 which is still prc-crvcd, being applied to the lessons 

 given by the teachers, who are called masters of con- 

 ferences. The duration of the course of instruction 

 was at first limited to two years, but subsequently ex- 

 tended to three. The school was a second time sup- 

 pressed in 1S>, and in ISL'o an institution termed a 

 preparatory school was substituted iiir it, which in its 

 turn was ulxilishcd and the old normal school revived 

 by a decree i,f die lieutenant-general of the kingdom, 

 Aug. 6, 18.'!0. A report was made by M. ( 

 Secretary of the Council of I'nblic Instruction, in Octo- 

 ber, 1830, the recommendations of which were sub- 

 stantially adopted. The school then commenced a 

 career of usefulness which has been increasing ever 

 since. 



The officers, in 1837, were the director, who did not 

 reside at the school nor take part in the instruction ; 

 the director of studies, the resident head of the estab- 

 lishment ; eight masters of conferences for the section 

 of letters ; six masters of conferences for the section 

 of sciences, and one for the drawing department ; two 

 " prcparers ; " a sub-director, charged with the general 

 superintendence of the pupils; and two assi>tants, 

 called superintending masters. The masters of con- 

 ferences have, in general, duties equivalent to those of 

 professors in colleges. The qualification* for admission 

 are high, and the course of instruction during the 

 three years' course much in advance of the. ordinary 

 normal school. The 1'aris Normal School resembles a 

 college with a normal department attached to it. 



In 1811 the Count de Lczai Marncsia founded a 

 normal school for primary teachers at Strasburg. 

 The course of instruction embraced four years, and 

 included as wide and thorough a range of studies as is 

 now required in the lir.-t normal schools of France. 

 According to a report of M. Guizot to the king, in 

 1833, it appears that the state of primary education in 

 the two departments constituting the Academy of 

 Strasburg was far in advance of any other section of 

 France. Good schools were more numerous, fewer 

 communes were destitute of schools, and the sjow, 

 defective method of individual instruction had given 

 place to more lively and simultaneous methods of class 

 instruction. "In all respects the superiority of the 

 schools is striking, and the conviction of the people is 

 as general that this superiority is mainly due to the 

 existence of this normal school. " 



The establishment of '2 normal schools for the de- 

 partments of Moselle and Mcnse, in I s-jo, was fol- 

 lowed by the same results the establishment of schools 

 in communes before destitute and the improvement of 

 s'-hools already in operation, by the introduction of 

 ln-tti-r method*. At the close of lx;j there were 



13 normal schools in operation in different sections 

 of France. In the three years immediately fol- 

 lowing. 34 new normal schools were established. The 

 establishment and extension of the normal system in 

 France and, it may be said, in Europe and America 

 are mainly due to the exertions of Cousin and Guizot. 

 Their investigations and writings attracted the at- 

 tention of educators and statesmen in every civilized 

 country of the world. Such was the success of these 

 two eminent men that in 1849 there were 93 normal 

 schools in France, including 10 institutes belonging to 

 the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and 3 for female 

 teachers under the auspices of an Association of Chris- 

 tian Education on a similar plan. After the re- 

 establishment of the Empire by Napoleon III., obsta- 

 cles were thrown in the way of the successful operation 

 of the normal schools, and as a matter of course there 

 followed a marked decline in their efficiency. But 

 since the establishment of the Republic in 1871 they 

 have been not only restored to their former good con- 

 dition but have been greatly improved. 



The monitorial system of teaching introduced into 

 England by Dr. Andrew Bell (1753-1 832) and Joseph 

 Lancaster (1778-1838) was the germ of the present ex- 

 cellent normal system of Great Britain and Ireland. 

 The lives and educational labors of these men have 

 been presented under their names in the ENCYCLO- 

 PEDIA BlUTANNlCA, to which the reader is referred. 

 But even Bell and Lancaster had been anticipated in 

 the monitorial or mutual help plan of teaching; for 

 Pietro della Valle (// ABaormo), whose Traaem in 

 Turkey, Egypt, Persia, and India were translated into 

 English in I tiii'i, mentions, among the customs which 

 he noticed in the East, the practice of children teach- 

 ing one another. In 1780, according to Count La- 

 horde, in his I'lnn d' Education paur les cnfans pawrex, 

 the mutual instruction system was, to some extent, 

 tried by the Chevalier Paulct in France. 



The monitorial system became for a time exceedingly 

 popular in Great Britain and the United States ; but 

 it had one fatal defect: the boys and girls were too im- 

 mature to avail themselves of the normal methods of 

 the masters. Germany was the first country to abandon 

 the system of mutual help and to press forward the 

 establishment of normal schools. The Bell and Lan- 

 caster system, with all its faults, accomplished one 

 great good : it opened the eyes of the British and 

 American educators to the necessity of educating and 

 training teachers in schools specially established for 

 that purpose. 



In 1808 the British and Foreign School Society es- 

 tablished in London a model school and teachers' class 

 for the "training of schoolmasters. " In the begin- 

 ning, its plan was very simple : it admitted a certain 

 number of persons every year to observe, learn, and 

 practise the methods of classification and instruction 

 pursued there. Its accommodations as a normal school 

 were insufficient, even on the plan of observation and 

 practice pursued, until 1842, when a new building was 

 completed at an expense of 21,433. In the mean- 

 time the National Society, which was more closely 

 connected with the Church of England, was pursuing 

 a similar plan in its model school at Westminster ; 

 and the necessity of training well-qualified teachers by 

 means of a special course of instruction and practice 

 was ably discussed, and the mode and results of such 

 training as exhibited on the Continent, and especially 

 in Prussia, were ably advocated in parliament, pamph- 

 lets, reviews, and the daily press. Lord Brougham, in 

 his whole public life an eloquent advocate of popular 

 education, remarked in a speech in the House of Lords 

 in is:;."). " These seminaries for training masters are an 

 invaluable gift to mankind and lead to the indefinite 

 improvement of education. It is this above all things 

 we ouu'lit to labor to introduce into our system. . . . 

 Place 'normal schools seminaries for training teachers 

 in a few such places as London, York, Liverpool, 

 Durham, and Exeter, and you will yearly qualify 500 



