Press Release

What Teachers' College Has Accomplished in 15 Years

This article documents the first fifteen years of East Carolina Teachers College, with an emphasis on the structure of education for teachers. This and other articles may be found in the records of the Chancellor's Office, Record Group CH1050, Series 1, Scrapbook File, 1914-1978 in the University Archives.
Citation for this article is: Underwood, S.B. "What Teachers' College Has Accomplished in 15 Years," News and Observer, Raleigh, N.C. ca. 1922.
Note: This article has been edited

In the early years of the present century the idea began to take root in the minds of a few patriotic North Carolinians that there should be an institution in the State for the definite purpose of teacher training. A few leaders in the eastern part of the State began to agitate the matter and in 1907 the General Assembly chartered the Eastern Carolina Teacher’s Training School, now east Carolina Teachers college.
A board of trustees was appointed and most of the eastern towns began to contest for the location of the school. Pitt county and the town of Greenville, whose citizens had been intensely interested in the establishment of the institution, voted a bond issue of one hundred thousand dollars, the first county-wide bond issue ever voted in Pitt, and offered the proceeds to the board of trustees if the institution should be located in Greenville.This generous offer was accepted, an ideal site was secured, and construction work was begun.
In the meantime the trustees began to look about for someone to direct the destinies of the young institution. Finally, they went to Baltimore and brought back one of the energetic young North Carolinians who had been called out of the state to do educational work. This was Robert Herring Wright, of Sampson County.He had graduated at the State University, had taught in public schools and Oak Ridge Institute, went to Baltimore to do graduate work in Johns Hopkins University, and stayed on as organizer and principal of the Eastern High School for Girls.

Trained Teachers the Need
His work had shown him already that the great need of public education was trained teachers, and he came back to his native state to begin this work. He has never lost sight of the one aim of the institution, nor has he allowed his colleagues to do so. He has made a careful study of teacher training problems, and has come to be regarded as an authority on this question in America. He has been active in the affairs of the State and National education associations, having been president of the former and vice president in the latter.
The young institution opened its doors in 1909 and has had a steady and consistent growth ever since.The total enrollment has been close to 9,000, and about 1,000 have been graduates from regular courses and sent out to teach in the public schools of the state. In addition to these, 5,000 teachers have taken courses in summer school.This comparatively young institution has thus made quite a distinct contribution to the educational life of the State.
Name Changed
Four years ago a four-year college course was provided and the name was changed to East Carolina Teacher’s College. This meant no change in the purpose or spirit of the institution. It is and always will be a teacher training institution. This is its field, and there it works. It is interested in nothing else and makes no attempt to do anything else. It has no so-called “General Culture” courses and every year turns away students who think of coming simply to take a college course. It invites only those who are looking definitely to teaching and who wish to prepare themselves for this work. With this limitation on enrollment, it is a significant fact that there has not been a year in the life of the college when more student shave not been turned away for lack of room than could be admitted.Practically every room in dorms has been taken for next fall before the catalogues have been received from the printers.
Just what training does a young woman receive in an institution of this kind? To begin with, she is a graduate of an approved high school or its equivalent before she is admitted.The institution is of a college grade.She may enter either the two-year normal or the four-year college course. The completion of the first will give her the State’s B Grade certificate, grammar grade, or primary; the latter will give her the highest certificate the State offers: high school, grammar grade, or primary. In any event, she takes a clearly differentiated course, leading to the particular teaching field that she expects to enter.
All Courses Bear on Teaching
And every subject that she takes bears on the preparation for teaching. There are, of course, subjects that are distinctly professional- child study, principles of teaching, educational psychology, and the like. However, every subject is taught from the standpoint of the prospective teacher. The “professionalized subject matter” has a large part to play in the making of the teacher.She will, then, have courses in English, history, mathematics, geography, and the like that have to do both with subject matter and the method of presentation as well as those more usually regarded as professional courses.
The heart of her course will be her practice teaching, which is her laboratory work. Those in the two-year course do one term of observation and practice teaching.Those in the four-year course two terms. This work is done in the last year when they have been fairly well grounded in principles and methods. This work is done by an elementary school operated by the college in the Greenville High School, and in a large consolidated school at Winterville, six miles away on a paved road, and reached in a few minutes by the truck which carries the student teachers back and forth.
The practice of teaching is under the general direction of an experienced man whose work has been of such a nature as to familiarize him with practically every type of school and training. A well-trained critic or supervising teacher is in charge of each grade or subject and is directly responsible for the supervision of the student teachers assigned to her.In addition to this, the primary methods teacher and the teachers of grammar grade subjects embracing methods of teaching all follow up this work to a certain extent. The student teacher first of all observes the work of the supervising teacher for a while and has conferences with her. Then she begins to make lesson plans which are carefully criticized, and finally she is put in charge of the class under close supervision and direction. During the period of her teaching she has regular conferences with her supervising teachers as well as her methods teachers.During this same period she is taking a course under the Director of Training Schools. With it all, she begins to see theory translated into practice and is able to get the "feel" of the school room atmosphere before she goes out on her own responsibility. At some time during the course the student is placed in entire charge of a room for a period. The aim being to approach as nearly as possible actual teaching conditions.Every effort is put forth to make this laboratory work as practical as possible.It is regarded as the very heart of the college work, and every member of the organization is giving his best thought to its proper development.
The college realizes that in many subjects the first year out is the most difficult for the young beginner. Therefore, an arrangement has been worked out whereby the institution follows her up for the first trying year.One of the methods teachers for the preceding year spends the year in the field visiting every graduate of the new class, watching her work, talking with her supervisory officials and conferring with the teacher herself about her work. The next year she returns to the college and teaches while another methods teacher goes into the field. Thus each class has help on the job from a teacher who assisted in their preparation.East Carolina Teachers College is one of the pioneers in this very important field.