As I conduct my research about the numerous talented and dedicated Chalkboard Champions in American history, I sometimes come across terms that describe institutions of learning that were unfamiliar to me before I did my research. This was the case when I first came across the term “normal school.”

From my study, I learned that a normal school is an educational institution which provided training for high school graduates who had decided to become teachers. Today, these institutions are typically called “teachers’ colleges.” Much like teacher training colleges today, the original normal schools offered advanced courses in subjects that teachers would be expected to teach to their students. The school also provided instruction on how to organize and present lessons, what today we would call pedagogy and curriculum design. The term “normal school” derived from the intention of establishing teaching standards or norms.

The first public normal school in the United States was founded in 1823 by Samuel Read Hall in Concord, Vermont. Samuel Read Hall was an educator who, while serving as a headmaster of an academy, quickly discerned that the teachers in his employ needed to normalize or standardize their base of knowledge and their instructional practices. And so the first normal school in the United States was formed, based on models already founded in France and Germany.

The first state-sponsored normal school was established in 1839 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1839. That educational institution later became Framingham State University, and is depicted in the sketch above.

Originally, both public and private normal schools offered a two-year course beyond the high school level, but in the 20th century, teacher training requirements were extended to a minimum of four years.

To read more about normal schools, see this link to the New World Encyclopedia

While I was in the process of conducting research for my first book, Chalkboard Champions, I learned about many types of schools that I had never heard about in the 36 years of my career as a professional educator. Industrial schools, emancipation schools, freedom schools, farm schools, normal schools. Where were all these terms when I went through student teaching? I was particularly intrigued by the concept of the “soup school.” What was that all about, I wondered?

After some research, I learned that a “soup school” was an institution established during periods of pronounced immigration to our country. Their purpose was to provide assistance to immigrant children as they struggled to assimilate within a new, dominant culture. Often times these schools were founded by charitable organizations or missionary societies. Because of the population served by a “soup school,” it makes sense that these institutions were located primarily near areas of immigrant entry. New York City, for example.

The main curriculum in these facilities was instruction in the English language, basic literacy skills, and indoctrination to the American culture. Apparently, the school got its name from the fact that typically at noontime a bowl of soup was served to the students, a free meal which would have been most welcome to the poorest of immigrants.

In contemplating this practice, I’m wondering if our nation’s free lunch program would be considered a modern version of the “soup school”?

You can read more about soup schools in my book Chalkboard Champions, available on amazon.