Chalkboard Winter 2009 - School of Education - Indiana University

Shaping education
through
changing times
The IU School of Education celebrates
a rich legacy as it marks 100th year
Now that the Indiana University
School of Education is firmly
rooted as a state, national, and
global leader in education, it may be
strange to consider that for much of the
early part of its history the school led
a itinerant existence. After becoming a
school, 40 years passed before a permanent
facility was built. In fact, the school only
became a school after several fits and starts.
From the mid-1800s until the turn
of the 20th century, IU established,
disbanded, and re-established a “normal
department” to prepare school teachers
several times. A Department of Education
established in 1904 formally became
the IU School of Education in 1908.
At the time, IU leaders viewed establishing
the school as not just a valuable
way to prepare Indiana’s teaching workforce,
but a new recruiting tool for the
university. IU — struggling with enrollment
numbers around 1,900 — sought
a new source of students. According to
U.S. Department of Education statistics,
nearly 70 percent of the country’s
elementary and secondary teachers in the
year 1900 were women. So the new school
provided a draw for female students.
“When the school first opened, the
emphasis was on teacher preparation,”
said dean emeritus Don Warren, an
expert on the history of U.S. education.
“It was William Lowe Bryan’s commitment,”
he said, referring to the IU
president who served as acting dean for
the school as it began. Warren said it
was also likely a move to compete with
state normal institutions for appropriations.
“That’s an unusual commitment
for a Research I university,” he added.
“The flagship institution of the state is
not typically the major contributor to the
preparation of teachers. The IU School
of Education has had that commitment
from the start.”
But Warren noted that the school
also decided to deviate from the normal
school model. Within the next
two decades, the school began building
scholarship and research. Henry Lester
Smith became dean in 1916, a post he
would hold for 30 years. Over that time,
he shaped much of that research focus,
particularly concerning his interests of
moral and civic education. The New
York Times reported on Nov. 25, 1928
that Smith represented Indiana on the
national “Save our Schools Committee,
to combat propaganda in our educational
institutions.” The group, led in
part by John Dewey, was committed to
“the essential American principle that
American schools and colleges are not to
be considered as subjects for propaganda
by special interests, groups, or causes.”
Through some of this provocative work,
Warren said the school gained its first
national attention.
IU ARCHIVES
10 • Chalkboard