Dr. Thomas Alexander at Peabody College for Teachers.
|
The George Peabody College for Teachers was a renowned school of education in the South that had two great advantages. An endowment funded in part by its namesake, George F. Peabody, a wealthy banker and philanthropist, and its close connection to Vanderbilt University. It was also considered sort of a Triple-A minor league training school for teacher educators who would go on to major league institutions like Teachers College. According to Richard T. Alexander, Jr. who grew up within the walls of Peabody and Teachers College:
"Peabody was a training ground for a lot of those people who came to, eventually to New York, my dad was down there, Dean Russell, and Will Russell was there, there was Will McCall who was in testing was down there, Ruth McMurry was there, and (Hollis) Caswell was there after my dad left Peabody. There were a whole slew of them they had been at teachers college one way or another they knew the dean and he brought them back after they had a little time to train at Peabody." It was a good appointment for Alexander. It would let him solidify some of his thoughts about teacher education, the concept of community, and curriculum theory. It would also show him that the logistics of starting a school within a school is very feasible. It would, in addition, introduce him to a couple of people who would forever change his life, Grace Elizabeth Andrews and William Fletcher Russell. Whether or not Alexander knew Russell through his father, the association in this Southern teachers college would begin a lifelong friendship between them. |
Two young men with their careers ahead of them, one of them was a university man with elite roots in education and very few financial woes, while the other was a normal school graduate, a farmer at heart really, who never knew a day without some physical labor for a daily wage. What could they possibly have in common?
William F. Russell was born to be an educator. He excelled in school graduating from Cornell University in 1910 at the age of 20. From 1910 to 1912 he taught at the Colorado Teachers College in Greeley, CO. In 1914, at the early age of 24, Russell received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. This would be expected, as he was the son of Dr. James Earl Russell, the Dean of Teachers College at Columbia. It was the elder Russell who was instrumental in arranging Alexander’s appointment to the Realgymnasium in Stettin, Germany, as a Columbia College foreign scholar and he may have been influential in helping Alexander land the Peabody job at the same time when his son, William, was appointed to teach at Peabody. It is not inconceivable to think that the Dean would prepare his son for taking his place one day. Maybe by placing him with Alexander, the elder Russell could show the younger Russell a different kind of teacher in training.
They spent three years in Nashville together at one time briefly sharing an apartment until Russell left in 1917 to become Dean of the College of Education at the State University of Iowa. He then became a professor of education and associate director of the International Institute at Teachers College in 1923 until he succeeded his father as Dean of Teachers College in 1927. It was William F. Russell that brought Alexander to the faculty at Columbia as part of the International Institute and later, it was Russell who approved the creation of New College.
William F. Russell was born to be an educator. He excelled in school graduating from Cornell University in 1910 at the age of 20. From 1910 to 1912 he taught at the Colorado Teachers College in Greeley, CO. In 1914, at the early age of 24, Russell received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. This would be expected, as he was the son of Dr. James Earl Russell, the Dean of Teachers College at Columbia. It was the elder Russell who was instrumental in arranging Alexander’s appointment to the Realgymnasium in Stettin, Germany, as a Columbia College foreign scholar and he may have been influential in helping Alexander land the Peabody job at the same time when his son, William, was appointed to teach at Peabody. It is not inconceivable to think that the Dean would prepare his son for taking his place one day. Maybe by placing him with Alexander, the elder Russell could show the younger Russell a different kind of teacher in training.
They spent three years in Nashville together at one time briefly sharing an apartment until Russell left in 1917 to become Dean of the College of Education at the State University of Iowa. He then became a professor of education and associate director of the International Institute at Teachers College in 1923 until he succeeded his father as Dean of Teachers College in 1927. It was William F. Russell that brought Alexander to the faculty at Columbia as part of the International Institute and later, it was Russell who approved the creation of New College.
Knapp Farm, George Peabody College for Teachers, c. 1920
It would turn out that New College would not be the first educational institution that would consider Thomas Alexander the founding father. The next year, 1915, was especially significant for Alexander in that he would receive academic acclaim as the founder of the Peabody Demonstration School and a contributor to the establishment of the Knapp Farm. Dr. Payne was instrumental in beginning both enterprises, energized by Alexander’s ideas. Whether or not at the behest of the senior Russell at Teachers College, Dr. Payne was a great supporter of Alexander’s efforts with both the demonstration school and the farm. He saw in Alexander common sense intelligence and the organizational will to see a task to the end. Alexander saw that one could successfully establish a mini-university within the confines of another, cooperating academically with Vanderbilt but establishing Peabody independently as the South's leading teacher training institution.
The demonstration school, on Peabody College's new campus, was charged with the purpose of combining old and new. Alexander found himself in the position of some power, able to integrate some traditional observational techniques, tried and true normal school, with some innovative, experimental methods of teacher training. He felt that there had to be a better way and now he was obligated to himself to find it, fix it, or start it. The techniques introduced allowed students at the teachers college to practice teaching in what Alexander saw as a true productive manner and it also may have been the germination of the idea of New College in his mind. The Peabody Demonstration School soon became a model of the best practice of the day, echoed by the words of Alexander, that “There shall be a school that will surpass all others." The school lasted as a part of the Peabody College campus until 1974, when the college decided to close it. Afterwards, a sympathetic group of parents, alumni, students and teachers re-formed the demonstration school as the University School of Nashville, a non-profit, independent institution. The original school's historic legacy was deemed much too important to be discarded to the winds of change.
The other aspect of life at Peabody which might have translated itself into the New College philosophy for Alexander was the existence of the college’s Knapp Farm and its sister institution, the Seaman A. Knapp School of Country Life. From conversations with his father and other observations, according Alexander’s son, Richard:
"At one time or other it was evident to me that this farm was sort of the precursor of the New College community, a rural community and it was not as rural as North Carolina but, ah knowing what I know about my dad’s experiences in Germany where they, the school tried to go out into the rural areas. There were this, this wanderlust of the Germans in the post world war, the Germans were had been that way for years actually, the love of the countryside and the importance of the rural community to the nation."
The farm and school, established through a large philanthropic endowment and funds raised in the South, became well-known as a demonstration school for advancing new ideas about agricultural theory into actual practice. The farm was a memorial to Seaman Knapp, an agronomist and leader in farm demonstration work. The farm and school also became known for studying the problems of rural life, which Peabody College and Alexander advocated, because they knew that for teachers to be effective in rural communities, they must be exposed to agricultural life, warts and all.
Here was the chance to place students outside of their known experiences in a deliberate way so that they may face the problems beset them as teachers. There were a few students with rural backgrounds, like Alexander’s, who knew their way around a barn, while many others weren’t exactly sure where the milk on a cow was dispensed. Those students who were already from rural areas did not see the farm demonstration school as a great challenge, but the ones from metropolitan areas found themselves out of their comfort zone. The context for teaching and learning in this ‘fish out of water’ situation did not escape Alexander who saw it as a problem of adaptation for the students. Alexander knew that a majority of schools were in rural areas and in that area of contemplation; he instinctively compared the problems of community in the United States with problems of community in Germany. There were similarities to be seen, especially in the context of the problem. The notion that there were problems that affected everyone, the “universal problems of living”, or the “persistent problems” may have started here. More importantly, they could be categorized.
The demonstration school was under the direction of Alexander, Yetta Shoninger and Dr. Charles A. McMurry (an 1876 Illinois State Normal University graduate). There was a remote connection between McMurry and Alexander. After completing his Ph.D. in 1887, McMurry joined his brother, Frank McMurry, in the newly established Herbartian pedagogical seminar of Professor Wilhelm Rein at the University of Jena. Rein was the professor that Alexander studied with Germany during his first trip overseas. McMurry at this time was the principal advocate of Herbartian pedagogical ideas in the United States, which promoted the tenet that only formalized, rigorous, structured educational environment in the elementary school could provide the framework for moral and intellectual development. Coincidentally, the English and German teacher in the new demonstration school in Nashville was 24 year-old Ruth E. McMurry, Charles’s daughter, and a future New College faculty member hand-picked by Alexander when he was selecting his teaching staff.
Alexander’s professional life and reputation was growing as he met colleagues on the educational conference circuit. While at Peabody, the demonstration school and the farm had proven how knowledgeable he was, so soon Alexander made a point of getting to know all of the various other teacher training institutions through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), by speaking at conferences and meetings and then by visiting individual schools. The proximity of Tennessee to all of the south and its normal schools gave Alexander the opportunity to know a lot of people, as students and peers, either through Peabody or Columbia as they took advanced education courses towards a higher degree. Many of the friendships made during these years made it a simple process for Alexander to ponder that a southern locale would be preferable for a rural college community experience.
The demonstration school, on Peabody College's new campus, was charged with the purpose of combining old and new. Alexander found himself in the position of some power, able to integrate some traditional observational techniques, tried and true normal school, with some innovative, experimental methods of teacher training. He felt that there had to be a better way and now he was obligated to himself to find it, fix it, or start it. The techniques introduced allowed students at the teachers college to practice teaching in what Alexander saw as a true productive manner and it also may have been the germination of the idea of New College in his mind. The Peabody Demonstration School soon became a model of the best practice of the day, echoed by the words of Alexander, that “There shall be a school that will surpass all others." The school lasted as a part of the Peabody College campus until 1974, when the college decided to close it. Afterwards, a sympathetic group of parents, alumni, students and teachers re-formed the demonstration school as the University School of Nashville, a non-profit, independent institution. The original school's historic legacy was deemed much too important to be discarded to the winds of change.
The other aspect of life at Peabody which might have translated itself into the New College philosophy for Alexander was the existence of the college’s Knapp Farm and its sister institution, the Seaman A. Knapp School of Country Life. From conversations with his father and other observations, according Alexander’s son, Richard:
"At one time or other it was evident to me that this farm was sort of the precursor of the New College community, a rural community and it was not as rural as North Carolina but, ah knowing what I know about my dad’s experiences in Germany where they, the school tried to go out into the rural areas. There were this, this wanderlust of the Germans in the post world war, the Germans were had been that way for years actually, the love of the countryside and the importance of the rural community to the nation."
The farm and school, established through a large philanthropic endowment and funds raised in the South, became well-known as a demonstration school for advancing new ideas about agricultural theory into actual practice. The farm was a memorial to Seaman Knapp, an agronomist and leader in farm demonstration work. The farm and school also became known for studying the problems of rural life, which Peabody College and Alexander advocated, because they knew that for teachers to be effective in rural communities, they must be exposed to agricultural life, warts and all.
Here was the chance to place students outside of their known experiences in a deliberate way so that they may face the problems beset them as teachers. There were a few students with rural backgrounds, like Alexander’s, who knew their way around a barn, while many others weren’t exactly sure where the milk on a cow was dispensed. Those students who were already from rural areas did not see the farm demonstration school as a great challenge, but the ones from metropolitan areas found themselves out of their comfort zone. The context for teaching and learning in this ‘fish out of water’ situation did not escape Alexander who saw it as a problem of adaptation for the students. Alexander knew that a majority of schools were in rural areas and in that area of contemplation; he instinctively compared the problems of community in the United States with problems of community in Germany. There were similarities to be seen, especially in the context of the problem. The notion that there were problems that affected everyone, the “universal problems of living”, or the “persistent problems” may have started here. More importantly, they could be categorized.
The demonstration school was under the direction of Alexander, Yetta Shoninger and Dr. Charles A. McMurry (an 1876 Illinois State Normal University graduate). There was a remote connection between McMurry and Alexander. After completing his Ph.D. in 1887, McMurry joined his brother, Frank McMurry, in the newly established Herbartian pedagogical seminar of Professor Wilhelm Rein at the University of Jena. Rein was the professor that Alexander studied with Germany during his first trip overseas. McMurry at this time was the principal advocate of Herbartian pedagogical ideas in the United States, which promoted the tenet that only formalized, rigorous, structured educational environment in the elementary school could provide the framework for moral and intellectual development. Coincidentally, the English and German teacher in the new demonstration school in Nashville was 24 year-old Ruth E. McMurry, Charles’s daughter, and a future New College faculty member hand-picked by Alexander when he was selecting his teaching staff.
Alexander’s professional life and reputation was growing as he met colleagues on the educational conference circuit. While at Peabody, the demonstration school and the farm had proven how knowledgeable he was, so soon Alexander made a point of getting to know all of the various other teacher training institutions through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), by speaking at conferences and meetings and then by visiting individual schools. The proximity of Tennessee to all of the south and its normal schools gave Alexander the opportunity to know a lot of people, as students and peers, either through Peabody or Columbia as they took advanced education courses towards a higher degree. Many of the friendships made during these years made it a simple process for Alexander to ponder that a southern locale would be preferable for a rural college community experience.
Peabody College Science Class, c. 1920
Far away from the conflict of World War 1, Thomas Alexander received his doctorate from Columbia University, establishing him as an authority on comparative education, with an emphasis on German educational theory. With academic success came a personal high-mark as Thomas and Grace Elizabeth Andrews were wed on October 7, 1916. He actually had finished his requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in October, 1915, but it took some time to get it bound for presentation as required by Columbia. Alexander was four years past his earlier goal of a doctorate. His dissertation was reviewed by the Teachers College Record and was considered significant because it gave a comparative snapshot of German educational methodology just before the outbreak of World War I.
The contrast with American educational aims in the review was made clear by defining the respective national goals of education of the two countries. It was emphasized that our conception of the individual and his rights was not the same as in Germany, where the educational system developed from the higher forms of education downward. The elementary school system of Germany was created by the government for the people because of a belief that the national interest lay in a body of students trained to carry out the will of the state. According to the reviewers, “That Germany, by her methods as employed in the Volkschulen, can make seventy million think and act as one man, is the most significant educational fact, and at the same time theory, which Germany can teach us to-day.” It was later published as a book in 1919 entitled The Prussian Elementary Schools.
The contrast with American educational aims in the review was made clear by defining the respective national goals of education of the two countries. It was emphasized that our conception of the individual and his rights was not the same as in Germany, where the educational system developed from the higher forms of education downward. The elementary school system of Germany was created by the government for the people because of a belief that the national interest lay in a body of students trained to carry out the will of the state. According to the reviewers, “That Germany, by her methods as employed in the Volkschulen, can make seventy million think and act as one man, is the most significant educational fact, and at the same time theory, which Germany can teach us to-day.” It was later published as a book in 1919 entitled The Prussian Elementary Schools.
