PEDAGOGY. Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching. Derived from two Greek words which mean the leading or the guiding of a boy, the term has come to represent the methods of the education of youth. It refers primarily, however, to training the teacher in the methods of education. Its point of appli cation is rather the teacher than the stu dent. Without reference to the content of instruction, pedagogy stands for the giving of training in the ways and meas ures which the teacher should use in the practice of his art. It does not pri marily refer to the personality of the teacher, great as this value is in the securing of best educational results, nor to the content of instruction.
The history of pedagogy, in its origin and first years, belongs largely to the history of the normal schools of the United States. These schools have an American history of nearly one hundred years. The State of Massachusetts es tablished three such schools, in 1839 and 1840, at Lexington, Barre, and Bridge water. Pennsylvania established one school in Philadelphia in 1840, Connecti cut one in New Britain in 1849, and Michigan one in Ypsilanti in 1850.
Though normal schools have usually been the chief schools of pedagogy, yet many universities have established courses or departments. New York Uni versity (under a different institutional name) established such a course as early as 1832. But it was not until the last years of the last century that such foundations in universities became com mon. The cause or condition, lying be hind the foundation, was the progress of mental science or psychology. The bet ter understanding of the mind of the child and of the adult resulted in the conviction that the teacher should, in turn, have a better understanding of the methods of approach to that mind and of the ways and means for its effective in struction. It was perceived that the mind is not an empty pail to be filled by the regular, or irregular, pumping of the teacher from the wells of knowledge. It was perceived that the mind was not a dray-horse, slow moving, lazy, antago nistic, to be beaten into obedience. It was seen that the mind is a force, or organism, to be quickened into its own subjective activities. It was made evi dent that the teacher's function is to draw out the native power of the pupils, to discipline that power unto an alert and comprehensive service. It was also made clear that in pedagogy the student and the teacher are to co-operate. Use less is each without the other.
The science and the art of pedagogy, for many years, suffered from the lack of appreciation among college teachers and officers. It still thus suffers. Not a few professors believe that the content of instruction is the chief element to be considered in education. They also be
lieve that, when the proposed teacher has secured a sufficient amount of knowledge of his subject, he will also be found to possess a proper attitude for conveying this knowledge to the mind of the pupil. The falseness of this interpretation does not prevent its prevalence among some college teachers. The simple truth is that the profession of pedagogical train ing of the teacher has come to be recog nized among educational interpreters of every grade as possessing an im portance quite as great as that belonging to the professional training of the law yer, or of the doctor, or of the clergy man. Most leading universities, there fore, have departments, or chairs, of pedagogy. The courses in these depart ments are elected by the great majority of students who propose to become teach ers. In fact, in many States a certain amount of training is required of all teachers as a preliminary condition to the granting of a certificate by the offi cial educational departments of the com monwealth.
In the larger interpretation of the art and science of pedagogy are found the names of several great educators. Such a list should include, at the beginning, the name of Horace Mann. For his service in Massachusetts and in Ohio helped to dignify the profession of the teacher and to quicken the people, not only of Massachusetts, but of every com monwealth, unto the tremendous signifi cance of the teacher's work. In the gen erations following the death of Mann, in 1859, great progress was made in the pedagogical science—and great names are to be added to its promoters. Among them are Francis W. Parker, first of Quincy, Mass., and then of Chicago; G. Stanley Hall, of Clark Univer sity, Worcester; John Dewey and Ed ward L. Thorndike, of Teachers College, Columbia University; Edward B. Titch ener, of Cornell University; and in cer tain ways, most significant, William James, of Harvard. The name of Will iam T. Harris, Superintendent of the Schools of St. Louis, and later National Commissioner of Education, for general philosophical reasons, and somewhat for particular services, is also illustrious in this field. His writings formed a quick ening influence for all teachers.
The term pedagogy is, at the present time, less commonly used than formerly. The term "Educational" or "Experi mental Pedagogy," or "Teachers' Train ing Courses," or "Experimental Psychol ogy" are employed as substitutes.
In the universities, and in certain nor mal schools, the department of pedagogy is recognized by the giving of a degree on the completion of the regular course. This degree is usually Bachelor of Pedagogy.