New Paltz school shaped generation of state's teachers

By Phyllis Freeman and David Krikun
For the Poughkeepsie Journal

Throughout the 19th century, a controversy existed about whether academies or normal schools could best produce teachers for the state. Normal schools were mostly state supported secondary schools with a focus on teacher education. Use of the word normal seems to have come from the French, ecole normale, from the fact that the first French school for the purpose of training teachers in 1839 was intended to serve as a model.

By the 1880s, several normal schools existed in the western part of the state. None existed in the mid-Hudson Valley. Astute lobbying by several prominent leaders in New Paltz led to legislation converting the New Paltz Academy into the New Paltz Normal and Training School in 1885.

The first class of 89 students entered in February 1886 under the leadership of Principal Eugene Bouton, Ph.D. Students could choose from five curricula. Most enrolled in the normal course, the program for public school teachers consisting of an education course that lasted for two years — six quarters of academic subjects and two quarters of practice teaching.

Tuition, textbooks free

Tuition, one-way mileage and textbooks were free for Normal students, who had to be over 16 years of age, in good health and of good moral character. Applicants were expected to ‘‘spell correctly — write neatly and legibly — and pass exams in geography, arithmetic and grammar.’’ Those who could not meet these entrance requirements had the option of studying at the School of Practice, for $4 per quarter.

A three-year Normal High School Course for potential high school teachers was also available. High school, academy and college graduates could enter these programs with advanced standing and graduate in as little as one year.

State Normal School graduates were required to sign the following pledge: ‘‘My purpose in entering the New Paltz Normal and Training School is to better prepare myself to teach in the schools of New York State. If allowed to enjoy the privileges of this school as a Normal Student, I shall deem myself honor bound to teach in the schools of this State, at least as long a time as I shall have spent in school.’’

The Academic Course, or college-level instruction, was offered as well. Lang and Lang (1960) claim that this marks the beginning of ‘‘a normal school program on the college level.’’ The first class graduated from the Normal School in June 1887 and included three graduates of the old Academy.

By 1906, a high school diploma was required for admission to the two-year teacher training program.

After a 1906 fire destroyed the school for a second time, the school was rebuilt on a 10-acre hillside.

Normal school curricula were extended to four years by the state Education Department in 1938, but it was not until April 1942 that the governor signed the bill promoting the nine state normal schools to college status. The bachelor of education degree was first awarded to the 112 members of the Class of 1942. Enrollment in the fall of 1998 was 7,707.

The first time the word college appears in its name was in 1942, when the school became the State Teachers College at New Paltz. In 1948, it became one of the founding members of the State University of New York.

Today, SUNY New Paltz offers a wide range of programs, including a School of Engineering and Business Administration, the School of Fine and Performing Arts and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as the School of Education.

Phyllis Freeman is interim dean of graduate studies and a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at New Paltz, and David Krikun, her husband, is a professor of history at SUNY New Paltz.