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State Teachers College Bulletin
'
Bloomsburg, Penna.
I
i<.
th,
No. 2
DECEMBER, 1947
Vol. 16
Ji
A Teachers Colle.ae Comes ol Age
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A Teachers College Comes of Age
(Bloomsburg 1927- 1948)
by
HARVEY A. ANDRUSS , President
~
State Tea che rs Co ll ege
BLOOMSB URG, PE NNSYLVAN IA
Twenty-One Years of Teachers Colleges
While growing up all of us looked forward to becoming of age. To us
twenty-one was a magic number. Then we were expected to assume greater
responsibility for our own future.
Colleges are but the lengthened shadows of men and wcimen who have
attended, or are now attending, them. Their growth through the period of
infancy, childhood, and adolescence to maturity is not easy to analyze
However, we should from time to time look back to our origins. evaluate
our present status, and project our possibilities of growth in the future.
Let us look back to the past and then look ahead to the future of the
State Teachers Colleges in Pennsylvania. These institutions became colleges in 1927 and within the present academic year of 1948 will have completed twenty-one years of existence in the field of higher educa~ion.
As we look back over a period of twenty-one years, we find certain
cycles of development in the fourteen institutions, of which Bloomsburg is
a typical one:
1920-State Control of Normal Schools.
1927-State Teachers Colleges in Name.
1934--State Teachers Colleges in Fact.
1941-War and Cooperative Programs in the State Teachers Colleges.
1948- What of the Future?
Public institutions must change to meet the needs of people who support them. It is more than a coincidence that seven year cycles have marked
changes in the State Teachers Colleg es and the services which ,they have
rendered to the citizens of the commonwealth. While specific illustrations
re.lating to Bloomsburg will predominate, they multiply and appear in the
same general ,pattern in the great majority of the. remaining thirteen
institutions.
-
3-
State Control of Normal Schools-1920
For the first sixty years of their life, the Pennsylvania Normal
Schools were little more than academies under the name of State Normal
Schools, offering a wide variety of curriculums in addition to teacher education. College preparatory work was offered until 1920. In that year,
when Thomas T . Finnegan, Deputy Commissioner of Education of the
State of New York, became State Superintendent of Public Instruction in
Pennsylvania, all but two of the Normal Schools had been previously purchased by the State, and these were taken over in 1920. Bloomsburg was
purchased in 1916 for $161 ,200 , when the State assumed an indebtedness
of $151,200, and paid the stock holders $10 ,000.
...
r
In January, 1920, the Principals of the State Normal Schools met in
Harrisburg to agree that these institutions follow a unified policy for
plants, personnel, salary schedule, and curriculum, and the most important
of all, that in September, 1920, and thereafter, the requirement for admission to these institutions was to be the completion of an approved fouryear high school curriculum. Thus we had, for the first time in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the state control of teacher education in fourteen institutions known as Normal Schools. The curriculums were two
years in length and students were awarded the Normal Certificate upon
graduation. After two years of successful teaching, Normal Certificates
became Normal Diplomas.
With the state-wide policy of teacher certification begun in 1921, the
plant and personnel were improved so that by 1926 the State Normal
Schools were considered worthy to be designated as State Teachers Colleges, and in June of that year the State Council of Education granted to
certain of the Normal Schools authority to grant degrees to students completing prescribed courses. The transition however from the Normal School
to College status was gradual. The administrative officers of the new
colleges continued to be called Principals, although the title was changed
early in this period to President.
State Teachers Colleges (In Name)-1927
Bloomsburg State Normal School became Bloomsburg State Teachers
College on May 13, 1927. However, the change of name did not automatically make the Normal School into a College over night. Four year curriculums leading to the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Education were printed in the catalog, but students entering in 1927 could not complete the
curriculums planned until 1931. Some students did have their previous
work evaluated, and by this expedient completed the equivalent of the new
catalog requirements. In the meantime, elementary teachers were com-4-
.
pleting a two-year curriculum and receiving the Normal Diploma, and a
little later the State Standard Limited Certificate.
The temporary standard certificate was issued in the high school, as
well as the elementary fields, to teachers of Art, Commerce, Music, and
Health Education. Four years of high school work and two years of professional training, or the equivalent, were required. After 1931 three years
of post high school work was required and finally after September 1, 1932,
the four years preparation level was to be made effective for new teachers.
'r'
In order to go from the two to the four-year level of preparation in
the elementary field the State Standard Limited Certificate began to be
issued in 1935, after two years of preparation. This certificate was valid
for students completing twelve hours of approved work every three years.
Later the State Standard Limited Certificate was issued only to those who
completed three years of work with the same ,provision for its validation.
The assmuption was that teachers were allowed to begin to teach, but their
certificates could be kept alive only by additional professional education
toward the bachelor's degree .
State Teachers Colleges (In Fact)-1934
At the 1934 Commencement those receiving two years normal school
certificates were considered members of the Senior Class for the last time
at the Bloomsburg State Teachers College. This discontinuance o{ the
issuance of the Normal School Certificate marks the end of the two year
preparation level and the emergence of a four-year degree granting institution of higher learning-the State Teachers College.
Evidence of the importance of the education of teachers of special
subjects, such as Art, Music, Physical Education, Home Economics, and
more particularly Commerce, began to manifest itself at Bloomsburg early
in this period. In 1934, the first class matriculating as Freshmen in the
Department of Commerce in 1930 was graduated and found ready placement in the high schools of Pennsylvania and adjoining states.
.
"'
The citation of a few of these factors will indicate that the period
from 1927 to 1934 had been a period of transition from a two-year to a
four-year basis, during which special curriculums were introduced into the
various Teachers Colleges so that the present structure of the institutions
can be said to be fairly well moulded during this period. The pattern
provides that each of the fourteen institutions shall train elementary
teachers and secondary teachers of academic subjects, while certain institutions are designated to offer curriculums for the education of teachers of
so-called special subjects. Bloomsburg's business graduates began to prove
themselves to the people of Pennsylvania in 1934.
-5-
Curriculums revised in 1932 were put into effect so that the first two
years consisted of general education upon which the last two years could
be based to provide professional teacher education. Revised admission
requirements requiring students graduating in. , the lower hal~ of their
secondary school classes to qualify only through examinations served to
raise. the entrance requirements to a higher level. Quality point systems as
graduation requirements were inaugurated to insure a level of scholarshiu:J
above that of mere time serving or the accumulation of a number of semester hours of credit.
The period from 1934 to 1940 was also marked by the growth of the
colleges in plant and personnel. The General State Authority building
program added from two to four new structures to every campus. At
Bloomsburg, the Centennial Gymnasium , the Junior High School (later
called Navy Hall), a maintenance building and a new heating plant were
welcome additions to the college on the hill overlooking the valley of the
Susquehanna River.
The degree of Bachelor of Science in Education was conferred on over
1,000 teachers in the elementary, secondary, and business fields during the
ten year period ending in 1940. Of this group, 77% taught. and 15%
were otherwise employed.
War and Cooperative Programs in State Teachers Colleges- 1941
Before the passage of the first selective service· act in 1940, it was
evident that the enrollment in technical and professional curriculums of
colleges and universities would be affected. First, the national guard was
called to the colors, then the upsurge in employment in heavy industry
with its increasing wage level and the possibility of war turned the minds
of high school graduates away from the preparation for peace to that for
war.
Looking beyond their campuses, some administrators saw that a
transition must be made. They realized that gradual. rather than abrupt,
changes require less adjustment on the part of faculty and students, and
that alumni have time to understand just what is happening at their Alma
Mater. So, as early as 1939, some colleges began to teach First Aid courses
to larger numbers and there was some talk of undergraduates flying.
However, not until September, 1940, was the stirring of change being felt.
Confronted by all these confusing forces, the Bloomsburg State
Teachers College, on learning of the Civilian Pilot Training Program,
began in June, 1940, to explore the possibilities of re-opening the Bloomsburg airport. On the basis that Pennsylvania High Schools taught automo-6-
j
~
bile operation as a present life need, and that aviation was rapidly becoming an important mode of transportation, training students to be teachers
of ground school aviation courses seemed to be a proper undertaking for a
state teachers college.
During the next two years, one hundred undergraduates were given
ground school instruction at the college and learned to fly at the Bloomsburg Airport.
This Civilian Pilot Training Program marked the beginning of the
new phases of education later to be christened by the name of "War
Training Programs" since many of those completing these early flying
programs went directly into the Air Forces.
Space will not permit nor will the time or patience of the reader
justify the detailing of the seven war programs spread over the .period of
the next five years.
Facilities were converted. Dormitory space used for women was changed so as to be used by the men. the dining room gave way to a cafeteria,
laboratories were expanded to meet the new science and mathematic requirements- all of which was accomplished by an expenditure of over $200,000.
Not less important was the transition made by the personnel. When a
language instructor tecomes a teacher of mathematics, a dean of men an
aviator, a physical education director a drillmaster, a geographer becomes
a weatherman and the art instructor teaches mechanical drawing. there is
truly a campus revolutinn. After all, plant changes mean little unless
personnel is able to adjust itself to meet the new war needs.
War ,programs-seven in all- followed row on row; first elementary
flying and then advanced flying for civilian undergraduates who went
directly into the air forces. aviation cadet5 for both the army and navy,
engineering, science and management training courses for industrial workers, naval filght instructors. Navy V-12 officer candidates, student nurses
from the Bloomsburg Hospital. and Civil Air Patrol.
The numbers using college facilities for meeting as classes are not
available. Those who were instructed by college faculty and for whom
records were kept show that 1160 different persons were served in the war
programs. This record has not been equalled by any college of similar size
in the country either in the number and the variety of the programs or the
total enrollment.
During this period the college operated on a three term calenqar year.
Each term was 16 weeks long, but summer sessions were three or six weeks
in length to accommodate teachers-in-service. Sensing the end of the war,
-7-
the regular calendar of two eighteen week semesters was resumed in September, 1945, and the last of the war programs, the Navy V-12 unit, was
terminated in October of that year.
Development in teacher education was ever in mind even during the
war period. Speech Correction as a field of specialization was added during this ,period. Spanish became first an elective field for Business Education students, then a field of specialization for secondary students. Pioneer
work at Bloomsburg brought forth the first curriculum for the education
of instructors of Aeronautics in a teachers college in America.
Enrollment Trends
The enrollment of State Teachers Colleges in Pennsylvania has been
subject to the same decided variations that have prevailed in other institutions of higher learning since the depression years of the 1930's. Two
graphs are presented on pages 2 and 12 to show the pre-war period of five
years, the war period of the same length, and the first two years of the
post-war period. One graphi shows total enrollment of teachers colleges in
terms of full time students and summer session students; the second graph
shows the BSTC enrollment. Two general trends appear in the Teachers
College gra,ph, while the specific trends of one college-Bloomsburg--{;an
be studied in relation to the overall picture.
The five year pre-war period beginning in 1935 and ending in 1940
indicates that from eight to nine thousand students were enrolled in the
State Teachers Colleges, the high ,point of the period teing 1940 and the
low point in 1938. The summer session enrollment, composed chiefly of
teachers-in-service, does not follow the same pattern. Beginning with 3500
students in 1936, it reaches almost 5000 in 1939 and then recedes to about
4500 in 1940. This would indicate that the factors causing teacher-inservice to return to summer school were probably not the same that encourage high school seniors to matriculate at Teachers Colleges with the
intention of entering the educational ranks.
The Bloomsburg enrollment for the pre-war period following the
general up and down pattern shows less variation from year to year in its
full time enrollment. The figures indicate that except for 1936, Bloomsburg ranks in third or fourth place among the fourteen state teachers colleges for the pre-war period when viewed in terms of fulltime enrollment.
The summer enrollment in Bloomsburg reaches a peak in 1939 and the
rank shown in figures indicates that summer session enrollments have been
ei_ther fourth or fifth in relation to the other teachers colleges.
By and large, there is a general resemblance between the Bloomsburg
figures for the pre-war period and that of the total teachers college picture.
-8-
•
The war period running from 1940 to 1945 presents a more confused
situation. Teachers college full time enrollments show progressive losses in
the first four years of this period and tend to level off with a slight decrease in the last period. In the first year the approximate loss in full time
enrollment was 1000; next year, 1500, and the following year, 2000. The
summer enrollments decreased each year, but at a more gradual angle.
The Bloomsburg picture follows the same general pattern except where
war programs were introduced to counteract the general tendency of decreased enrollments. For instance, the year 1944 shows an increase over
1943. This was due to the termination of the Navy V-1 and V-7 programs
in the other State Teachers Colleges and the transfer of students into the
V-12 Program at Bloomsburg. The total war-program figures for all colleges are not available. Comparisons against a general background are difficult. In fact, BSTC was the only Pennsylvania teachers college having a
war program where Navy or Army students went into the same classes as
the teacher education students.
Another unusual thing was the increase in the summer session enrollment at Bloomsburg in 1945 to tbe point that it exceeded the regular enrollment. This is shown by the crossing of the two curves. The termination
of the Navy V-12 Program in October, 1945, accounts for this situation.
The wide variation in the enrollment rank of Bloomsburg in relation to
the other Colleges during the war period was due to a change in the
calendar from the regular college year of two semesters ( 18 weeks each)
with summer sessions ( 3 to 6 weeks) to a college year composed of three
terms of equal lengths ( 16 weeks each).
The overall enrollment picture of the post-war period beginning in
1946 for all teachers colleges indicates a marked increase, even though
estimated figures were used. The rapid expansion of enrollment to a point
never heretofore reached by the State Teachers Colleges as a whole, and
attained only by Bloomsburg during the war period poses many new
problems in relation to:
problems in relation to: ( 1) future functions of State Teachers Colleges as
institutions of higher learning in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (2)
increases of faculty personnel so as to preserve and if possible enhance, the
quality of instruction; ( 3) plant needs for increased enrollments; ( 4) need
for repairs and renovations to overcome deferred maintenance of all present facilities so that; ( 5) optimum use of facilities to presently enrolled
students and those who may eventually; ( 6) seek the only available opportunity for higher education to be found in institutions whose geographic
,position are available near to their homes in which they must live while
going to college.
-9-
All these facts along with the problems which they raise must be considered in trying to answer the question.
What of the Future?-1948
Teachers colleges have been judged in the past by their ability to
place their graduates in positions. A survey com,pleted in 1941 covering
all students granted degrees from 1931 to 1940 inclusive shows a placement record for Bloomsburg of 92 % . This study of 1025 degree graduates
discloses that 77 % taught, while 15 % were gainfully employed in other
occupations, leaving 8 % to be included in the category of home making,
armed services, continued college attendance, and unemployed group.
Looking toward the future , we are now continuing a survey of approximately 500 degree graduates for the five-year period from 1941 to
1945 inclusive. The first returns indicate that the placement in the present
study will probably reach 90 % , but that there will be a smaller percentage
engaged in teaching.
Another trend affects this problem, as was found in the 1946 graduating class, 30 % of those teaching have gone to other states. This means
that the salary schedule for public school teachers in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania has not been as attractive, and therefore, Pennsylvania tax
payers are paying fifty percent of the cost of educating Pennsylvania
youth to become teachers in the schools of other states. The effect of recent
legislation is yet to be felt in the placement of graduates of state teachers
colleges.
Throughout the country, teachers colleges are expanding their activities in two directions :
First, they are developing better programs in teacher education.
Second, many of them have become regional colleges. In this role they
are providing educational opportunities for all college youth regardless of whether or not they intend to become teachers.
Through their programs in teacher education, the colleges are providing for the training of in-service teachers through expanding summer sessions and extension courses. Many colleges have developed reading and
speech clinics and other educational services to increase their contribution
to the public schools of their areas.
In-service teachers have greater opportunity at Bloomsburg to pursue work toward a degree than ever before. Since 45 % of the public school
teachers of Pennsylvania have less than four years of training, we feel
that this is an important phase of our work. Four extension centers have
been operating over a period of two years at Kingston, Hazleton, Mt.
Carmel, and Sunbury ( and on some occasions at Danville). Lengthened
-10-
summer sessions totaling twelve weeks, providing three and six weeks
courses, were kept in operation during the war period and now show larger
enrollment than in a decade. The number of educational meetings bringing
different groups to the campus have been increased both as to number and
as to attendance. During the ,past year there were conferences in the following fields: retail selling, business education. secondary education, elementary education, special education, text book exhibits, Pennsylvania
Congress of Parents and Teachers. and Pennsylvania Inter-Scholastic
Press Association.
As regional institutions, some teachers colleges are now granting
four-year degrees without the requirement of courses in education. In addition to courses in general education for all American youth, they are offering four-year training. An even stronger emphasis on pre-professional courses in fields
other than teaching is being made as a provision for local students who
plan to transfer to larger state institutions for the more expensive and advanced professional courses. There has also been an increase in the number
of terminal courses (generally two years in length) offered both in general education and in occupational fields. Many of these terminal courses
are related to the work which the state teachers colleges did in their war
programs and more trade and technical courses are appearing. Bloomsburg
should be judged against this background and in terms of the national
trends.
The activity of the teachers colleges in fields other than that of their
primary function, education of teachers. have been varied in character.
during the ,past five years. Following the war programs cooperating with
the Army, Navy, U. S. Department of Commerce, and the Pennsylvania
Board of Nursing, Bloomsburg is enrolling a limited number of liberal
arts freshmen who have the privilege of transferring to Pennsylvania State
College at the beginning of their Sophomore year.
Prior to the World War II, much consideration was given to a fifth
year of teacher education. Present salary schedules provide for the minimum salaries for the Master' s degree or the equivalent. New York has the
five year program in effect. Will Pennsylvania be far behind? What part
will teachers colleges play in a fifth year of education for teachers?
In view of the expansion of activities of teachers colleges in the development of their programs in teacher education and their contribution to
the education of youth in fields of general and technical education, the
Pennsylvania state teachers colleges, and Bloomsburg as one of them, can
hardly ignore these trends as they are appearing in other institutions
throughout the nation.
-]l-
State Teachers College Bulletin
'
Bloomsburg, Penna.
I
i<.
th,
No. 2
DECEMBER, 1947
Vol. 16
Ji
A Teachers Colle.ae Comes ol Age
'"'
\'
•'
~
~
U,!=S"'~
...-.___J_
_m
M
. ~
-
'
0-
-
0-
I
ctIU 0,
I
I
-
-
-
- o~"":(~~
~
~,~:~~-
-- .........
rJ. ,-
I
~
,-
.
I
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1
J
J
,,< ~
I
/2 V
.I
I
,,..7
1-1/ .I
v
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., ;'
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..
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IU
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-
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~
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.......
I.,,_
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'
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I
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Q.
-
A Teachers College Comes of Age
(Bloomsburg 1927- 1948)
by
HARVEY A. ANDRUSS , President
~
State Tea che rs Co ll ege
BLOOMSB URG, PE NNSYLVAN IA
Twenty-One Years of Teachers Colleges
While growing up all of us looked forward to becoming of age. To us
twenty-one was a magic number. Then we were expected to assume greater
responsibility for our own future.
Colleges are but the lengthened shadows of men and wcimen who have
attended, or are now attending, them. Their growth through the period of
infancy, childhood, and adolescence to maturity is not easy to analyze
However, we should from time to time look back to our origins. evaluate
our present status, and project our possibilities of growth in the future.
Let us look back to the past and then look ahead to the future of the
State Teachers Colleges in Pennsylvania. These institutions became colleges in 1927 and within the present academic year of 1948 will have completed twenty-one years of existence in the field of higher educa~ion.
As we look back over a period of twenty-one years, we find certain
cycles of development in the fourteen institutions, of which Bloomsburg is
a typical one:
1920-State Control of Normal Schools.
1927-State Teachers Colleges in Name.
1934--State Teachers Colleges in Fact.
1941-War and Cooperative Programs in the State Teachers Colleges.
1948- What of the Future?
Public institutions must change to meet the needs of people who support them. It is more than a coincidence that seven year cycles have marked
changes in the State Teachers Colleg es and the services which ,they have
rendered to the citizens of the commonwealth. While specific illustrations
re.lating to Bloomsburg will predominate, they multiply and appear in the
same general ,pattern in the great majority of the. remaining thirteen
institutions.
-
3-
State Control of Normal Schools-1920
For the first sixty years of their life, the Pennsylvania Normal
Schools were little more than academies under the name of State Normal
Schools, offering a wide variety of curriculums in addition to teacher education. College preparatory work was offered until 1920. In that year,
when Thomas T . Finnegan, Deputy Commissioner of Education of the
State of New York, became State Superintendent of Public Instruction in
Pennsylvania, all but two of the Normal Schools had been previously purchased by the State, and these were taken over in 1920. Bloomsburg was
purchased in 1916 for $161 ,200 , when the State assumed an indebtedness
of $151,200, and paid the stock holders $10 ,000.
...
r
In January, 1920, the Principals of the State Normal Schools met in
Harrisburg to agree that these institutions follow a unified policy for
plants, personnel, salary schedule, and curriculum, and the most important
of all, that in September, 1920, and thereafter, the requirement for admission to these institutions was to be the completion of an approved fouryear high school curriculum. Thus we had, for the first time in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the state control of teacher education in fourteen institutions known as Normal Schools. The curriculums were two
years in length and students were awarded the Normal Certificate upon
graduation. After two years of successful teaching, Normal Certificates
became Normal Diplomas.
With the state-wide policy of teacher certification begun in 1921, the
plant and personnel were improved so that by 1926 the State Normal
Schools were considered worthy to be designated as State Teachers Colleges, and in June of that year the State Council of Education granted to
certain of the Normal Schools authority to grant degrees to students completing prescribed courses. The transition however from the Normal School
to College status was gradual. The administrative officers of the new
colleges continued to be called Principals, although the title was changed
early in this period to President.
State Teachers Colleges (In Name)-1927
Bloomsburg State Normal School became Bloomsburg State Teachers
College on May 13, 1927. However, the change of name did not automatically make the Normal School into a College over night. Four year curriculums leading to the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Education were printed in the catalog, but students entering in 1927 could not complete the
curriculums planned until 1931. Some students did have their previous
work evaluated, and by this expedient completed the equivalent of the new
catalog requirements. In the meantime, elementary teachers were com-4-
.
pleting a two-year curriculum and receiving the Normal Diploma, and a
little later the State Standard Limited Certificate.
The temporary standard certificate was issued in the high school, as
well as the elementary fields, to teachers of Art, Commerce, Music, and
Health Education. Four years of high school work and two years of professional training, or the equivalent, were required. After 1931 three years
of post high school work was required and finally after September 1, 1932,
the four years preparation level was to be made effective for new teachers.
'r'
In order to go from the two to the four-year level of preparation in
the elementary field the State Standard Limited Certificate began to be
issued in 1935, after two years of preparation. This certificate was valid
for students completing twelve hours of approved work every three years.
Later the State Standard Limited Certificate was issued only to those who
completed three years of work with the same ,provision for its validation.
The assmuption was that teachers were allowed to begin to teach, but their
certificates could be kept alive only by additional professional education
toward the bachelor's degree .
State Teachers Colleges (In Fact)-1934
At the 1934 Commencement those receiving two years normal school
certificates were considered members of the Senior Class for the last time
at the Bloomsburg State Teachers College. This discontinuance o{ the
issuance of the Normal School Certificate marks the end of the two year
preparation level and the emergence of a four-year degree granting institution of higher learning-the State Teachers College.
Evidence of the importance of the education of teachers of special
subjects, such as Art, Music, Physical Education, Home Economics, and
more particularly Commerce, began to manifest itself at Bloomsburg early
in this period. In 1934, the first class matriculating as Freshmen in the
Department of Commerce in 1930 was graduated and found ready placement in the high schools of Pennsylvania and adjoining states.
.
"'
The citation of a few of these factors will indicate that the period
from 1927 to 1934 had been a period of transition from a two-year to a
four-year basis, during which special curriculums were introduced into the
various Teachers Colleges so that the present structure of the institutions
can be said to be fairly well moulded during this period. The pattern
provides that each of the fourteen institutions shall train elementary
teachers and secondary teachers of academic subjects, while certain institutions are designated to offer curriculums for the education of teachers of
so-called special subjects. Bloomsburg's business graduates began to prove
themselves to the people of Pennsylvania in 1934.
-5-
Curriculums revised in 1932 were put into effect so that the first two
years consisted of general education upon which the last two years could
be based to provide professional teacher education. Revised admission
requirements requiring students graduating in. , the lower hal~ of their
secondary school classes to qualify only through examinations served to
raise. the entrance requirements to a higher level. Quality point systems as
graduation requirements were inaugurated to insure a level of scholarshiu:J
above that of mere time serving or the accumulation of a number of semester hours of credit.
The period from 1934 to 1940 was also marked by the growth of the
colleges in plant and personnel. The General State Authority building
program added from two to four new structures to every campus. At
Bloomsburg, the Centennial Gymnasium , the Junior High School (later
called Navy Hall), a maintenance building and a new heating plant were
welcome additions to the college on the hill overlooking the valley of the
Susquehanna River.
The degree of Bachelor of Science in Education was conferred on over
1,000 teachers in the elementary, secondary, and business fields during the
ten year period ending in 1940. Of this group, 77% taught. and 15%
were otherwise employed.
War and Cooperative Programs in State Teachers Colleges- 1941
Before the passage of the first selective service· act in 1940, it was
evident that the enrollment in technical and professional curriculums of
colleges and universities would be affected. First, the national guard was
called to the colors, then the upsurge in employment in heavy industry
with its increasing wage level and the possibility of war turned the minds
of high school graduates away from the preparation for peace to that for
war.
Looking beyond their campuses, some administrators saw that a
transition must be made. They realized that gradual. rather than abrupt,
changes require less adjustment on the part of faculty and students, and
that alumni have time to understand just what is happening at their Alma
Mater. So, as early as 1939, some colleges began to teach First Aid courses
to larger numbers and there was some talk of undergraduates flying.
However, not until September, 1940, was the stirring of change being felt.
Confronted by all these confusing forces, the Bloomsburg State
Teachers College, on learning of the Civilian Pilot Training Program,
began in June, 1940, to explore the possibilities of re-opening the Bloomsburg airport. On the basis that Pennsylvania High Schools taught automo-6-
j
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bile operation as a present life need, and that aviation was rapidly becoming an important mode of transportation, training students to be teachers
of ground school aviation courses seemed to be a proper undertaking for a
state teachers college.
During the next two years, one hundred undergraduates were given
ground school instruction at the college and learned to fly at the Bloomsburg Airport.
This Civilian Pilot Training Program marked the beginning of the
new phases of education later to be christened by the name of "War
Training Programs" since many of those completing these early flying
programs went directly into the Air Forces.
Space will not permit nor will the time or patience of the reader
justify the detailing of the seven war programs spread over the .period of
the next five years.
Facilities were converted. Dormitory space used for women was changed so as to be used by the men. the dining room gave way to a cafeteria,
laboratories were expanded to meet the new science and mathematic requirements- all of which was accomplished by an expenditure of over $200,000.
Not less important was the transition made by the personnel. When a
language instructor tecomes a teacher of mathematics, a dean of men an
aviator, a physical education director a drillmaster, a geographer becomes
a weatherman and the art instructor teaches mechanical drawing. there is
truly a campus revolutinn. After all, plant changes mean little unless
personnel is able to adjust itself to meet the new war needs.
War ,programs-seven in all- followed row on row; first elementary
flying and then advanced flying for civilian undergraduates who went
directly into the air forces. aviation cadet5 for both the army and navy,
engineering, science and management training courses for industrial workers, naval filght instructors. Navy V-12 officer candidates, student nurses
from the Bloomsburg Hospital. and Civil Air Patrol.
The numbers using college facilities for meeting as classes are not
available. Those who were instructed by college faculty and for whom
records were kept show that 1160 different persons were served in the war
programs. This record has not been equalled by any college of similar size
in the country either in the number and the variety of the programs or the
total enrollment.
During this period the college operated on a three term calenqar year.
Each term was 16 weeks long, but summer sessions were three or six weeks
in length to accommodate teachers-in-service. Sensing the end of the war,
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the regular calendar of two eighteen week semesters was resumed in September, 1945, and the last of the war programs, the Navy V-12 unit, was
terminated in October of that year.
Development in teacher education was ever in mind even during the
war period. Speech Correction as a field of specialization was added during this ,period. Spanish became first an elective field for Business Education students, then a field of specialization for secondary students. Pioneer
work at Bloomsburg brought forth the first curriculum for the education
of instructors of Aeronautics in a teachers college in America.
Enrollment Trends
The enrollment of State Teachers Colleges in Pennsylvania has been
subject to the same decided variations that have prevailed in other institutions of higher learning since the depression years of the 1930's. Two
graphs are presented on pages 2 and 12 to show the pre-war period of five
years, the war period of the same length, and the first two years of the
post-war period. One graphi shows total enrollment of teachers colleges in
terms of full time students and summer session students; the second graph
shows the BSTC enrollment. Two general trends appear in the Teachers
College gra,ph, while the specific trends of one college-Bloomsburg--{;an
be studied in relation to the overall picture.
The five year pre-war period beginning in 1935 and ending in 1940
indicates that from eight to nine thousand students were enrolled in the
State Teachers Colleges, the high ,point of the period teing 1940 and the
low point in 1938. The summer session enrollment, composed chiefly of
teachers-in-service, does not follow the same pattern. Beginning with 3500
students in 1936, it reaches almost 5000 in 1939 and then recedes to about
4500 in 1940. This would indicate that the factors causing teacher-inservice to return to summer school were probably not the same that encourage high school seniors to matriculate at Teachers Colleges with the
intention of entering the educational ranks.
The Bloomsburg enrollment for the pre-war period following the
general up and down pattern shows less variation from year to year in its
full time enrollment. The figures indicate that except for 1936, Bloomsburg ranks in third or fourth place among the fourteen state teachers colleges for the pre-war period when viewed in terms of fulltime enrollment.
The summer enrollment in Bloomsburg reaches a peak in 1939 and the
rank shown in figures indicates that summer session enrollments have been
ei_ther fourth or fifth in relation to the other teachers colleges.
By and large, there is a general resemblance between the Bloomsburg
figures for the pre-war period and that of the total teachers college picture.
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•
The war period running from 1940 to 1945 presents a more confused
situation. Teachers college full time enrollments show progressive losses in
the first four years of this period and tend to level off with a slight decrease in the last period. In the first year the approximate loss in full time
enrollment was 1000; next year, 1500, and the following year, 2000. The
summer enrollments decreased each year, but at a more gradual angle.
The Bloomsburg picture follows the same general pattern except where
war programs were introduced to counteract the general tendency of decreased enrollments. For instance, the year 1944 shows an increase over
1943. This was due to the termination of the Navy V-1 and V-7 programs
in the other State Teachers Colleges and the transfer of students into the
V-12 Program at Bloomsburg. The total war-program figures for all colleges are not available. Comparisons against a general background are difficult. In fact, BSTC was the only Pennsylvania teachers college having a
war program where Navy or Army students went into the same classes as
the teacher education students.
Another unusual thing was the increase in the summer session enrollment at Bloomsburg in 1945 to tbe point that it exceeded the regular enrollment. This is shown by the crossing of the two curves. The termination
of the Navy V-12 Program in October, 1945, accounts for this situation.
The wide variation in the enrollment rank of Bloomsburg in relation to
the other Colleges during the war period was due to a change in the
calendar from the regular college year of two semesters ( 18 weeks each)
with summer sessions ( 3 to 6 weeks) to a college year composed of three
terms of equal lengths ( 16 weeks each).
The overall enrollment picture of the post-war period beginning in
1946 for all teachers colleges indicates a marked increase, even though
estimated figures were used. The rapid expansion of enrollment to a point
never heretofore reached by the State Teachers Colleges as a whole, and
attained only by Bloomsburg during the war period poses many new
problems in relation to:
problems in relation to: ( 1) future functions of State Teachers Colleges as
institutions of higher learning in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (2)
increases of faculty personnel so as to preserve and if possible enhance, the
quality of instruction; ( 3) plant needs for increased enrollments; ( 4) need
for repairs and renovations to overcome deferred maintenance of all present facilities so that; ( 5) optimum use of facilities to presently enrolled
students and those who may eventually; ( 6) seek the only available opportunity for higher education to be found in institutions whose geographic
,position are available near to their homes in which they must live while
going to college.
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All these facts along with the problems which they raise must be considered in trying to answer the question.
What of the Future?-1948
Teachers colleges have been judged in the past by their ability to
place their graduates in positions. A survey com,pleted in 1941 covering
all students granted degrees from 1931 to 1940 inclusive shows a placement record for Bloomsburg of 92 % . This study of 1025 degree graduates
discloses that 77 % taught, while 15 % were gainfully employed in other
occupations, leaving 8 % to be included in the category of home making,
armed services, continued college attendance, and unemployed group.
Looking toward the future , we are now continuing a survey of approximately 500 degree graduates for the five-year period from 1941 to
1945 inclusive. The first returns indicate that the placement in the present
study will probably reach 90 % , but that there will be a smaller percentage
engaged in teaching.
Another trend affects this problem, as was found in the 1946 graduating class, 30 % of those teaching have gone to other states. This means
that the salary schedule for public school teachers in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania has not been as attractive, and therefore, Pennsylvania tax
payers are paying fifty percent of the cost of educating Pennsylvania
youth to become teachers in the schools of other states. The effect of recent
legislation is yet to be felt in the placement of graduates of state teachers
colleges.
Throughout the country, teachers colleges are expanding their activities in two directions :
First, they are developing better programs in teacher education.
Second, many of them have become regional colleges. In this role they
are providing educational opportunities for all college youth regardless of whether or not they intend to become teachers.
Through their programs in teacher education, the colleges are providing for the training of in-service teachers through expanding summer sessions and extension courses. Many colleges have developed reading and
speech clinics and other educational services to increase their contribution
to the public schools of their areas.
In-service teachers have greater opportunity at Bloomsburg to pursue work toward a degree than ever before. Since 45 % of the public school
teachers of Pennsylvania have less than four years of training, we feel
that this is an important phase of our work. Four extension centers have
been operating over a period of two years at Kingston, Hazleton, Mt.
Carmel, and Sunbury ( and on some occasions at Danville). Lengthened
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summer sessions totaling twelve weeks, providing three and six weeks
courses, were kept in operation during the war period and now show larger
enrollment than in a decade. The number of educational meetings bringing
different groups to the campus have been increased both as to number and
as to attendance. During the ,past year there were conferences in the following fields: retail selling, business education. secondary education, elementary education, special education, text book exhibits, Pennsylvania
Congress of Parents and Teachers. and Pennsylvania Inter-Scholastic
Press Association.
As regional institutions, some teachers colleges are now granting
four-year degrees without the requirement of courses in education. In addition to courses in general education for all American youth, they are offering four-year training. An even stronger emphasis on pre-professional courses in fields
other than teaching is being made as a provision for local students who
plan to transfer to larger state institutions for the more expensive and advanced professional courses. There has also been an increase in the number
of terminal courses (generally two years in length) offered both in general education and in occupational fields. Many of these terminal courses
are related to the work which the state teachers colleges did in their war
programs and more trade and technical courses are appearing. Bloomsburg
should be judged against this background and in terms of the national
trends.
The activity of the teachers colleges in fields other than that of their
primary function, education of teachers. have been varied in character.
during the ,past five years. Following the war programs cooperating with
the Army, Navy, U. S. Department of Commerce, and the Pennsylvania
Board of Nursing, Bloomsburg is enrolling a limited number of liberal
arts freshmen who have the privilege of transferring to Pennsylvania State
College at the beginning of their Sophomore year.
Prior to the World War II, much consideration was given to a fifth
year of teacher education. Present salary schedules provide for the minimum salaries for the Master' s degree or the equivalent. New York has the
five year program in effect. Will Pennsylvania be far behind? What part
will teachers colleges play in a fifth year of education for teachers?
In view of the expansion of activities of teachers colleges in the development of their programs in teacher education and their contribution to
the education of youth in fields of general and technical education, the
Pennsylvania state teachers colleges, and Bloomsburg as one of them, can
hardly ignore these trends as they are appearing in other institutions
throughout the nation.
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