Krusi and Sheldon
Chris Mangano
TEL 502
StateUniversityCollege at Oswego
Introduction
Most students or alumni of the State University of New York at Oswego are familiar with the name Austin Sheldon. They know that he was the fonder of the college, and that there is a Sheldon Hall with a statue out in front of it, but most people know little more than this. Even fewer know the name of Hermann Krusi Jr. There is no Hall or monument found on campus to salute his memory. It is a shame that many students graduate from Oswego without realizing the impact that these two men had on the college, educational theory and the world. Without the work and dedication of these fine men modern education and the college at Oswego would be very different, not to mention its very existence.
The focus of this paper will be biographical. It will look at the separate lives of both Sheldon and Krusi, what brought them together, and the impact of this union on the educational world. It also will look at the important educational theories that were important to both men.
Historical Background
During the 19th century, education in the United States was changing rapidly due the changing society. Cities were growing, western territories were growing, populations were growing, business and industry were growing, and even world influence was growing. The country was moving from an agricultural society to a more industrial society. Following the Civil war, years of poor crops and low market prices left many farmers in dept. Many had no choice but to give up the farms and take jobs in factories to make a living.
The 19th century was also a time of immigration from Eastern Europe. Rather than move to rural areas as was previously the case with immigrants, these new arrivals settled into cites where there were much better economic opportunities. This work force was perfect for fledgling factories that introduced new production methods such as the new assembly line along with many other technological inventions.
This industrialization caused a change in education. No longer was agriculture at the forefront. Now teachers needed to teach students how to adapt to the changing society. They now focused on things like uniformity, attention, punctuality, and silence. It was believed that these traits would help to make students into would-be factory workers.
In Europe education was changing too. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi a prominent teacher and reformer laid the groundwork for modern elementary practices. Pestalozzi felt that a student could learn better through visual observation. Going from things to words rather than words to things. Pestalozzi’s techniques met with great success. The idea of “object teaching” gained widespread interest throughout Europe and later in the Canada and United States.
Hermann Krusi L.C. an assistant to Pestalozzi for 33 years also helped to develop the object method of teaching. Hermann Krusi Sr. had a son who was also Pestalozzi’s godson. Due to his fathers influence Krusi Jr. dedicated his life to education and the object method. It was this factor that led Austin Sheldon to call on Krusi Jr. to help teach the object method of learning to Oswego.
Hermann Krusi Jr.
Johann Heinrich Hermann Krusi Jr. was born on June 24, 1817 to proud parents Hermann and Catharina Krusi. Krusi Jr. spent the first five years of his life in the French speaking part of Switzerland called Yverdon. It was in Yverdon where Krusi Sr. had spent the sixteen years prior to his son’s birth working alongside Pestalozzi at the Institute of Pestalozzi, learning firsthand the object method. However, due to serious differences among the teachers at the Institute Krusi Sr. was led to resign and start a private school. Although not working together, Krusi Sr. and Pestalozzi remained friends. This was cited by the fact that Pestalozzi acted as Krusi Jr’s godfather. “I am afraid that that act constitutes the only relation I had with the celebrated school-reformer” (Krusi 1907). Krusi Sr. then took a position at the newly founded Cantonal school at Trogen in the eastern part of Switzerland. This is where Krusi Jr. would receive the rudiments of Pestalozzian instruction.
Continuing his studies at Trogen, Krusi Jr. busied himself with French, Greek, and English. He also took Math and History, which were both taught by his father, with no textbooks and using thoroughly Pestalozzian principles. However, during the 1830’s, education in Switzerland was changing to the idea of government run Normal Schools. Krusi Sr. was elected principal of the new Normal School in Gais, his native village. Once again the Krusi family would be moving.
Even though it was under state control, full liberty was given to Krusi as to the method of teaching he used at the school at Gais. Not surprisingly he adapted the principles of Pestalozzi, not always objective, but never without an attempt. Books were seldom used, students made their own by collecting the subject matter. Natural history was illustrated by specimens of plants and minerals that were collected by the students themselves during excursions led by Krusi Sr.. It was from this Pestalozzian rich environment that Krusi Jr. would spend much time in the study of the teacher’s profession. Well aware that the scope of instruction at the small Normal School did not reach several important branches of knowledge, Krusi Sr. sent his son to the Blochmann Institute in Dresden for more preparation.
At the Institute Krusi Jr. was cordially received by the director, who was an intimate friend of Pestalozzi and of his father. While away from home for three years, Krusi Jr. had enjoyed great advantages and met many new friends. He visited some of his fathers Pestalozzian friends such as principals of Normal Schools, professors at various colleges, and a musical composer.
Krusi went back to Gais to help his father in teaching some subjects in the Normal School like Drawing, French, and Latin. Krusi did this until the death of his father in 1844 and the subsequent close of the Normal School. Krusi Jr. now needed to look for work which he found as the Director of a private school for boys in Cheam England.
In England circumstances did not start out to be very favorable. Teaching at the private school turned out to be tough. During classes students would leave their seats, and be rude and inattentive. Krusi was not satisfied with his surroundings so decided to turn in his resignation that was accepted. Although his plan called for a return to Switzerland, Krusi instead excepted a job a the Home and Colonial Infant and Training schools at King’s Cross, London.
To Krusi’s delight the Home and ColonialSchool employed a system that was based on “object lessons” and aimed at proper development. At this “Training School” Krusi taught Arithmetic and Drawing using a combination of Pestalozzian principles and a course suggested by his father. Krusi also spent his spare time watching the teachings of the other instructors at the school, where he would give advice and guidance on the “object Method”. During his tenure at the school Krusi made many friends, one of which was a Mr. Whitacre, who Krusi credits with his immigration to the United States. When Whitacre moved to the United States he would write to Krusi and tell him of the favorable educational conditions in the state of Massachusetts. Krusi also made the acquaintance of Miss Margaret Jones. He didn’t know it at the time but this friendship would prove important in his future. Although it had been the occasion of a great many interesting experiences and had led to the formation of many friendships, Krusi had not formed any binding ties and did not wish to make England the place of his lives work.
For the next year Krusi returned to Switzerland and took some time for himself. He spent his time visiting family and friends, but did not have any regular employment. Mr. Whitacre’s letters from America became more urgent. They would come with reports of material or commercial greatness along with news of the movement of the American educational system towards intellectual improvement and popular education. Although the communications from America occupied his mind, Krusi was not sure if he wanted to leave his native Switzerland. This all changed in 1852 when he received a letter from a Professor Russell, of Massachusetts, which invited Krusi to become a teacher at the newly founded Normal College at Lancaster for the training of High School teachers. Krusi accepted the offer. It was off to America.
In America Krusi moved to LancasterMassachusetts and began work at the New EnglandNormalCollege. There he taught German and Drawing classes again using Pestalozzian method. Although students of the school seemed successful, the school closed after only three years due to financial problems. Krusi then took on work lecturing on Pestalozzi at the American Teachers’ Institute at New Haven.
While at the Institute Krusi lectured at many places in Massachusetts. Generally six Institutes were held in the spring and six in the fall. The lecturers were pretty well paid, considering that they only had to give five or six lessons, distributed over two or three days. The rest of the time they could attend lectures of their colleagues or make visits. It was during this time that Krusi found a wife. The honeymoon did not last for long, as Krusi was unexpectedly cut from the list of lecturers. This occurred after the election of a new Secretary of Education who appointed his personal friends to the lecture courses. Once again being unemployed Krusi decided to move back to Germany. This changed when he received a letter from Oswego, written by a man whom he knew little about.
Edward Austin Sheldon
Edward Austin Sheldon was born on October 4, 1823 in Perry CenterNew York, to a pioneer father and mother. His father tried his hand as a schoolteacher but found himself better suited as a farmer. It was this hard pioneer farming life that helped to create Sheldon’s fine human character.
Sheldon did not care a great deal for school in his younger days. He hated to study, to the point that he would cry if he were forced to. Although urged by his father, that he would be sorry that he neglected his schoolwork, Sheldon thought the he knew better. Finally at the age of seventeen a circumstance occurred that changed his whole life. A private school opened in PerryCenter, which attracted most of the young men and women in the immediate vicinity. It was here where a new teacher named Charles Huntington aroused and inspired the young Sheldon. It was from this point that Sheldon would strive for an education, a college education.
In 1844 Sheldon was off to HamiltonCollege in OneidaNew York. The coursework at the school was exclusively bookwork in language and mathematics. Very little was done in sciences and that was mainly in Chemistry. Although language and mathematics classes were thoroughly taught, instruction in reading and elocution was taught with the professor dictating, and the students writing out his dictations. This technique seemed inappropriate and proved difficult. Sheldon had made it through his junior year without a hitch, but then an opportunity arose the he could not decline. Sheldon abandoned HamiltonCollege for Oswego and the tree nursery business.
Sheldon’s partner in the nursery was not a very good businessman, and the venture soon began to sink. Sheldon realized that there were many poor uneducated children in Oswego and felt that he could do something to help. With the support of church and public contributions, an organization call the “Orphan and Free School Association” was formed. Sheldon had hoped to go to the Auburn Theological Seminary rather than teach at the Ragged School that he help to establish, but after the first two teachers left, he was persuaded to take the job. Sheldon was not versed in educational methods, so he employed the Lancastrian method of student assistants in higher grades tutoring students in lower grades.
After getting married to Frances Stiles in 1849 Sheldon took over the Oswego Seminar and made it coed. After the attendance rate declined and his family increased, Sheldon had to make a job change. So in 1851 he took a job as the superintendent of the Syracuse Schools. During his two years of work there, he made many improvements to the educational system, such as the classification of curriculum, the adoption of evening classes, creation of a public library and the promotion of the high school movement.
In 1853 Sheldon was back to Oswego for good. He was appointed superintendent of the first board of education. In his first year he rearranged school boundaries, classified buildings according to students ages, eliminated unqualified teachers by the use of exams, organized a city library, and gave training to new teachers and board members. Later Sheldon would begin evening classes, weekly teacher meetings, and establish an unclassified school where transfer students could be classified and placed in the proper grade level. He also formed arithmetic schools to help the new pupils in the district improve the arithmetic, reading, writing, and spelling skills. Always trying to improve his schools and his teachers Sheldon toured Canadian schools where he made a discovery that would change his approach to education.
After touring the TorontoNationalMuseum, Sheldon bought a set of objective teaching materials from the Home and Colonial Society. The set was based on the development of formal lessons on objects rather than from objects. Sheldon was hooked on these Pestalozzian principles. He immediately stated to train teachers in the Oswego school in the use of Pestalozzian methods. Although impressed with the new educational technique, Sheldon felt the he had only limited understanding of the ideas and needed to find some help. He found that help in Margaret Jones.
As far as Sheldon knew, know one in the country had the necessary ideas and experiences for the running of the training school, so he decided to go abroad for a teacher. In LondonEngland was the Home and Colonial Training Institution. It was from this school that Sheldon would secure a teacher. Miss Margaret E.M. Jones consented to come to Oswego and train teachers in the Pestalozzian system for one year. Jones’s work introducing the object method into successive grades was a great success, but the year quickly went by and she soon indicated her intentions of returning to England. Now the Question arose as to who would be the principal of the training school when Miss Jones should leave. As it turned out Sheldon would get the job although he did not aspire for nor feel he was qualified for it Sheldon needed help.
Krusi and Sheldon meet
E.A. Sheldon to H. Krusi:
Oswego, NY, May 14, 1862
My Dear sir, - Through the kindness of Miss Jones I have had the pleasure of seeing two letters which you have written her. From these I regret that you design to leave this country and return to Germany. It seems to me this is the time above all others when you should be decided to remain. We are just upon the eve of a great educational revolution in this country, in which, from what Miss Jones informs me, you ought to take an active part. It seems to me your services must be very soon appreciated, and in demand…
H. Krusi to E.A. Sheldon:
Lancaster, Mass., May 21, 1862
I assure you, dear sir, that although the thought of seeing my beloved fatherland and friends again had taken strong possession of my soul, some time ago, - the hope of bringing my mite for the dissemination of sound principles in a congenial sphere of operations has latterly filled my soul with pleasant foreboding…
Sheldon invites Krusi to come to Oswego and visit the school and have an interview. Although he has made his decision to go back to Germany, Krusi is intrigued by the idea of teaching Pestalozzian methods and accepts the invitation. He goes to Oswego for one week, he meets with commissioners, and he visits the city schools and the normal school. He also gets a chance to see his old acquaintance Miss Jones. Sheldon gets permission from the school board to offer Krusi a job teaching French and Drawing. Krusi accepts.
For the next five years Krusi would teach Philosophy and History of Education, Geometry, French and German. He had a very clear insight into educational principles and knew how to analyze a subject into its simplest elements, and present it in a clear, logical manner. Because of these traits, Krusi became an invaluable member of Sheldon’s staff.
Conclusion
Both Hermann Krusi and Edward Sheldon believed in the power and importance of education. Both man had a vision of what education could be and how they could help in getting it there. Although both men were giants in the field, neither would boast of their accomplishments even though they were widely acknowledged. On the other hand both were always ready to give full credit and praise to the efforts of others who had worked in the same field. Both men worked hard at breaking down the old mechanical routine of teaching. Instead they developed exercises more suitable to the students minds, based on perception, and capable of developing mental power, exercises that rote memorizing and the best books could never do. Both of these men have made waves in the sea of education that can still be felt to this day.