The American State Normal School: An Instrument of Great Good

by Christine A. Ogren

The American State Normal School is the first comprehensive history of the state normal schools in the United States. Although nearly two-hundred state colleges and regional universities throughout the U.S. began as 'normal' schools, the institutions themselves have buried their history, and scholars have largely overlooked them. As these institutions later became state colleges and/or regional universities, they distanced themselves from the low status of elementary-literally erasing physical evidence of their normal-school past. In doing so, they buried the rich history of generations of students for whom attending normal school was an enriching, and sometimes life-changing experience. Focusing on these students, the first wave of 'non-traditional' students in higher education, The American State Normal School is a much-needed re-examination of the state normal school.This book was subject of an annual History of Education Society panel for best new books in the field.

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2005

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Ogren accomplished many things relevant to those who would study a text either for an educational, history, or gender studies reason. The American State Normal School: "An Instrument of Great Good" gives us a solid and meaningful view of the history of normal schools and readily places the experience within both the academic, social, and gender views of the time. Ogren readily acknowledges the challenges the Normal Schools, being institutions focused on teacher training, faced, but also denotes their growth and, for the most part, transition into regional institutions.

In covering this topic, she readily provides insight and information regarding the structures and creation of academic courses for such endeavors and provides insight into the regional differences as well as the variation in private and public examples. Perhaps more importantly, however, is the insight she provides into the social and extra curricular life of a normal student - which she argues is steeped in the urban middle class idealism of the day. Her examples breathe a much needed expansive view of the time period as she covers the manner in which the normal schools used literary societies, boarding in town, and a host of other mannerisms to impart a telling social structure upon students.

For anyone interested in the history or regional schools, education, or the history of teaching, this book is one that should be consulted without delay.