12
Object Method Connections:
Pestalozzi to Oswego (Sheldon)
By
Jamie Sykut
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of TED 531
History and Philosophy of Technology Education
Fall 2005 – Dr. William Waite, Professor
State University of New York at Oswego
Introduction
Many students would not be in the education system of today if it were not for the efforts of a few people in history. Johann Pestalozzi is to whom our society owes the greatest debt; his principles and influence would change the course of education permanently, not only in his homeland but also throughout the world. Pestalozzi’s teachings would encourage Herman Krusi to follow in his wake of object method teaching and many other schools would spawn throughout Europe and Canada and eventually through America (Wolfe, 2000). In American education history one of the most famous names mentioned along side of the object method of teaching is Edward Austin Sheldon.
Sheldon is also the founder of the Normal School at Oswego now known as State University of New York at Oswego, the school was one of the first to use object method and to teach teachers. Teachers such as Margaret Jones from England’s Home and Colonial School would come to teach and utilize the Pestalozzian Method (Sheldon, 1911). The efforts of Sheldon would extend throughout the country with annual meetings held by the National Education Association.
Purpose
The purpose of this text is to relate the individuals and groups above to the educational movements and achievements made not only at the State University of New York at Oswego but towards the entire country. The phenomenon of the growth of the object method of teaching throughout the world was greatly due to the efforts and the connections of Pestalozzi, Sheldon, Jones, the Krusis as well as the National Education Association of America.
Background - Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi’s studies took place in the years of 1746-1827, the years of his lifespan, in Zurich, Switzerland. When Johann was five his father passed away at the young age of 33, this tragedy would financially drain his family. Shortly after children would tease young Johann at school calling him; “Henry oddity from fool Ville” (Wolfe, 2000). Three experiences as a child would forever change how Pestalozzi saw education. First, Pestalozzi was easily distracted as a child in school and throughout his studies. Second, was an earthquake that took place while he was in grade school. The earthquake caused the building to collapse and in which he observed teachers rushing out of the building ahead of students. Pestalozzi would later comment in his life that teaching needed truth. Teachers would care in the classroom about students learning but the earthquake provided some irony when the teachers rushed to the door ahead of the students. The third event was when he stood up to some students bullying another smaller student, from that moment on Pestalozzi fought against oppression (Wolfe, 2000).
Later in life Pestalozzi would look at children that were in similar conditions he grew up in, such as lower class orphans and would open a school in 1775 for orphans, this school was on his farmland. Sadly this school would go bankrupt in 1780.
It was not until the late 1700’s that Pestalozzi would have a permanent, successful school for everyone. In a town of Burgdorf he would offer his educational services free of charge but the local citizens found his methods to be very strange and soon Pestalozzi would open a private school in the area. He received help from a man named Herman Krusi during this transition to a private school and it was very successful. In 1805 the school would move to Yverdon to gain more space. The school would remain open until 1826 in which Johann Pestalozzi lived one more year on his farm before passing (Cals.ncsu.edu, 2005).
Pestalozzi was a pioneer in his methods and people were very skeptical in the beginning. But they would soon see the importance of a good education and gain an appreciation for his methods of teaching. The methodology he practiced coincides hand in hand with what today’s instructors of technology education utilize. Some of his “laws” of education consisted of; children being made of hand, heart and head in which all three aspects must be integrated and used during educating. He also believed that vocational skills were important but a general education was more beneficial (Wolfe 2000).
Anschauung was Pestalozzi’s belief on knowledge, this foreign word translates roughly to first impressions of an object. During his educational lessons Pestalozzi would utilize objects to give students first hand information. Exposing the child to objects would trigger a reaction in the student to recall how it felt and looked etc, using as many of the senses to learn as possible (Wolfe, 2000).
Herman Krusi
Herman Krusi (Jr.) was born in 1817 in Switzerland. His father was also named Herman Krusi and as mentioned above worked directly with Johann Pestalozzi and proficiently used the object method of teaching for 16 years. After Krusi Sr. left working with Pestalozzi they remained friends despite some differences, partially due to the fact that Pestalozzi was Krusi’s (Jr.) godfather. Krusi was given excellent education opportunities from his father who was a firm believer in education and later Krusi himself would become an instructor alongside of his father in Gais (Krusi, 1907).
Following the death of his father in 1844, Krusi would look for work and attained an instructor position alongside Dr. Mayo at England’s Cheam School. Dr. Mayo was a personal friend of Pestalozzi, another teacher, Reiner, was a pupil of Pestalozzi at the school. Krusi left this position after only one year because of political differences, but would remember the heavy use of the Pestalozzian method at the school. Shortly after leaving Cheam, Krusi received a letter from London’s Home And Colonial School offering him a position there, he would go on to work in London for about five years. During this time he befriended the great-grandson of Johann Pestalozzi, and another instructor that he would run into later in life, Margaret Jones (Krusi, 1907).
Whitacre was another acquaintance of Krusi whom would move to Massachusetts, from America the two would stay in contact and Whitacre would constantly try to convince Krusi to move to America to improve the educational system where the Pestalozzian method was beginning replace traditional educational systems. After one year of unemployment (1852-1853) Krusi began his emigration and immigration to America where he would teach for a few years in Massachusetts at the Lancaster Normal School. In the early 1860’s Krusi would no longer work in Massachusetts and begin to look elsewhere, one key area he was focusing on was Binghamton, NY, however, he would never actually make it to the area and decided to move back to Europe until a former colleague made contact (Krusi, 1907).
Miss Margaret Jones, whom Krusi worked side by side with at the Home and Colonial School in England, at this time, was working in Oswego, NY. The two remained friends through the years and upon her leaving Oswego she put Edward Austin Sheldon and Herman Krusi Jr. in touch with each other. After a few letters and a visit, which Sheldon paid half of from his own pocket; Krusi would retain a position at the Oswego Normal School to live out his days distributing the Pestalozzian method to other colleagues in Oswego.
Edward Austin Sheldon
The phenomenon of Oswego’s Normal School can be traced back to 1823 when Edward Austin Sheldon was born in Perry Center, New York. The roots of Sheldon’s interest in the object method of instruction can be traced to his childhood where he never excelled in or cared about school. In his autobiography Sheldon recalls his attitude towards school as a child, “I didn’t care a fig about learning to spell. I utterly despised learning of all kinds” (Sheldon, 1911, pg 29). It was not until Sheldon met a man by the name of Charles Huntington, who was one of his teachers at the Perry Center Academy that he would begin to take an interest in his studies. Unfortunately, Sheldon would become quite ill and cease attending the school.
After regaining his strength from the attack of pleurisy he would retain a job at a nursery, this would eventually lead to a partnership in a nursery to take place in Oswego with J.W.P. Allen. With a $500 loan from his father Sheldon would move to Oswego and enter the partnership. The business would be successful but the partnership was not, shortly after beginning the business the two would separate and Sheldon’s half was bought out by Allen. After a brief visit to New York City and finding no jobs there, Sheldon would return to Oswego and begin to investigate the poorer community in the city; he mainly focused on the educational system offered to these people (Sheldon, 1911).
Seeing the injustice and unfair opportunities Sheldon would form The Orphan and Free School Association of Oswego on November 28, 1848. The below excerpt is from Sheldon’s autobiography between himself and the committee helping to fund the Orphan School, it explains how he actually became a teacher at the school.
“Why, I thought you were to be the teacher,” said Mrs. Fisher. “Oh no, I cannot teach the school; I have never had any such idea. I never taught school in my life and do not know how to teach and, more than all, I have already made other arrangement,.” replied Sheldon. Fisher responded, “If you are not going to teach this school, I will have nothing more to do with it” (Sheldon, pg. 77, 1911).
Mrs. Fisher, a committee member would not help fund the school without Sheldon teaching it and more or less forced him to accept. He was paid $300 for the first year and had 120 students in the school. After the initial year it was opened to all students not just the poor and orphans and the working class did not appreciate the school and this event would cause the school to close.
After accepting and holding the superintendent position in Syracuse for a few years (1851-1853). When he left this position he would return to Oswego for more educational studies, in 1859 a trip was made to visit Dr. Ryerson in Ontario, Canada. During the visit Sheldon invested $300 of his own money to purchase artifacts representative of Pestalozzi’s object method of teaching.
Sheldon would be granted the superintendents position in Oswego. After accommodating the position Sheldon would go on to open the Oswego Primary Teacher’s Training School in 1861. To do this Sheldon needed experienced teachers, teachers that used the object method and knew the educational philosophies of Pestalozzi. He knew of one school and one teacher in particular that he wanted, Miss Margaret Jones from the Home and Colonial School in England. She would join the school on a one-year contract making just as much as Sheldon did.
The school in 1861 was the first of its kind, a school to teach teachers and train them using the object method of learning. It would set the course for education throughout the country, distributing its newly trained teachers all over. The National Education Association, N.E.A., would hold annual meetings and through these meetings word would spread of the phenomenon occurring in Oswego Normal School. An 1864 investigation and report by Professor Greene from Brown University would be released in The American Journal of Education. This article would gain much publicity although it was very difficult to find information as to what the report included besides Oswego used the object method for instructing other teachers. In 1866 the school would be renamed Oswego State Normal Training School and receive state funding and eventually become what we now know as the State University of New York at Oswego.
Connections
Pestalozzi began his object method of teaching in Switzerland and through transfers and connections of people it can be traced into our school system and more directly to the State University of New York at Oswego. After the Pestalozzian method reached Oswego it spread throughout the country due to all of the teachers involved in the program and its success.
Pestalozzi to England
The object method of learning exercised by Pestalozzi began with his orphanage schools and at his school in Yverdon. During his work he became close friends with a man by the name of Dr. Mayo. Mayo would acquire a job in England at the Cheam School where he would continue with Pestalozzi’s efforts and the object method. Some of Pestalozzi’s former students became instructors at the school along with Mayo. Krusi, Pestalozzi’s godson would work there for one year before moving to London to work at the Home and Colonial School based in the area.
The school was primarily based on Pestalozzi’s schools and his teaching methods. All of the instructors were advocates and used very similar means to educate the students in four different areas. Also at the Home and Colonial School was an instructor who practiced the object method for 18 years, her name being that of Miss Margaret Jones. In time, Herman Krusi Jr. would also attain employment at the school.
England to Canada
The Home and Colonial School was known worldwide and was an extremely prestigious school. Teachers who heard of the object method would become very interested in the school and one teacher from Toronto, Ontario in Canada would make the voyage to purchase artifacts from Pestalozzi and other items based on the object method. This mans’ name was Adolph Egerton Ryerson (Wolfe, 2000).
Canada to America (via Oswego)
Ryerson held these artifacts and used them in everyday instruction. Edward Austin Sheldon the superintendent of Oswego Normal School would contact Dr. Ryerson and visit Toronto to acquire about $300 worth of items purchased overseas in London (Sheldon 1911). Along with the items Sheldon did some observations of the object method in use. Sheldon and the instructors of Oswego Normal School would use these items and the object method for years to come.