| As normal schools were transformed to the state colleges, the political, social, and economic factors defined their academic mission and integrity. The public's attitude toward them affected their ability to achieve their historic mission--preparing teachers. The relationship between goals and their realization is recorded in Massachusetts higher education. This study follows the changes and growth of the normal schools, the often controversial publicly subsidized teacher-training schools, as they evolved into state colleges. It identifies the events that influenced the political decisions concerning their functions in five periods: The Beginnings of Public-Funded Teacher Preparation; Society's Affect on Public Support for Teacher-Training; The Lack of Resources for Necessary Enhancement; The Evolution to the State Colleges; and The Summary: A Review of a Status Report.;With no comprehensive sources extant on the influence of politics, sociology, and economics on public-subsidized teacher-education, a turning to histories, reports, and documents was necessary. The study reports how politics, sociology, and economics affected the transformation of normal schools to state colleges. However, because teacher-education is less visible than teachers, the status of teachers is used as the standard to measure attitudes on the value of teacher-education.;This study identifies the individuals and events that significantly shaped the state's present commitment to subsidizing teacher-education. It describes how in the beginning, public leaders with a commitment to public education were the driving force for normal schools. Then, as the bureaucracies grew, the ideal of public-subsidized teacher-education was shaped by influences outside the field of education. Unfortunately this ideal is deflating, but its legacy is a tribute to so many with so few resources. |
