THE OSWEGO STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 67 



The fundamental causes of this widespread influence were the 

 educational imrest which filled the United States forty years ago, 

 and the fact that through Mr. Sheldon's efforts the Oswego school 

 offered a means of satisfying it. This unrest made a good soil 

 for the new educational ideas ; these new ideas were discussed by 

 school men before New York State had a normal school ; and the 

 school at Albany was founded and began the teaching of educa- 

 tional theories before the Oswego school was even thought of. 

 What Mr. Sheldon did was to focus all these floating ideas on 

 actual practice, and work out a systematic and rational expression 

 of these theories for the daily work of the schoolroom to do 

 what other men were dreaming about. Doubtless Mr. Sheldon 

 had unusual genius for organizing and teaching, but these exer- 

 cised under purely selfish motives would not have led to such re- 

 sults. School work as a business, pursued for salary alone, attains 

 no more than it seeks. E. A. Sheldon with his ragged Oswego 

 boys and girls in 1848, and Heinrich Pestalozzi with his destitute 

 orphans at Stanz in 1799, teach the same lesson. Love, hope, and 

 faith are the most potent forces in education as well as in religion. 

 Through these forces the Oswego movement began; through 

 these, its founder became and has remained a seeker for educa- 

 tional righteousness, ready to try all things and to hold fast the 

 better; through these, he became receptive of good influences 

 from all sources, and eagerly sought to impart them to others. 

 An incident occurring in 1861 shows how Oswego's gospel was 

 at first spread. An invitation was issued to leading educators of 

 different States to come to Oswego to observe the methods. This 

 invitation was cordially accepted, and after careful examination 

 these observers made a favorable report, stating that " the system 

 of object teaching is admirably adapted to cultivate the perceptive 

 faculty of the child, to furnish him with clear conceptions and the 

 power of expression, and thus to prepare him for the prosecution 

 of the sciences or the pursuits of active life." They also expressed 

 the opinion that this system " demands of the teacher varied 

 knowledge and thorough culture ; and that attempts to introduce 

 it by those who do not clearly comprehend its principles, and who 

 are not trained in its methods, can result only in failure," thus in- 

 dorsing the necessity of training schools. 



The system introduced at Oswego is commonly called Pestaloz- 

 zian, because it was inspired so directly from that source, for the 

 Home and Colonial was founded by disciples of Pestalozzi. The 

 essentials of Pestalozzianism may be summed up as a new point 

 of view ; and, as resultants of this, a new conception of education, 

 and methods appropriate for realizing it.* The old education takes 



* See Krusi's Life and Work of Pestalozzi. 



