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The School of Education and Allied Professions was founded in
1902 as the first professional school of Miami University. Originally
called the Ohio State Normal School, the Ohio legislature authorized
the establishment of an institution "to provide proper
theoretical and practical training for all students desiring
to prepare themselves for the work of teaching." From the
beginning, the program dramatically changed the character of
the university by accepting the first women students and students
of color. Women constituted well over three fourths of the Division's
first students, and in 1905, Miami University's first African
American student, Nelly Craig, earned her degree in teaching.
The Division rapidly grew in both size and function. It enrolled
90 undergraduate students in 1903, over 200 in 1911, 735 in
1930, and 2000 in 1960. In addition, in the 1960s and 70s, over
1500 graduate students were enrolled in teaching and school
administration degree programs, accounting for well over half
of the graduate students in the university.
The McGuffey Laboratory School opened in 1910, and was soon
housed with the teacher preparation students in the new McGuffey
Hall, completed in 1917. As the Division expanded over the next
few decades, it offered an increasingly systematized curriculum
in elementary and secondary teacher education, home economics,
special education, educational psychology, educational media,
physical education, arts education and industrial technology.
Faculty expanded their work outside of teaching to programs
and research projects with local communities and schools, a
practice that continues to this day.
From its founding, the Division developed its own atmosphere
of student collegiality and support, with its own sororities
and honorary societies, athletic teams, musical and theater
groups, alumni organizations, and teacher associations. And
from the beginning, Miami's education students reflected upon
the perennial debate about theory and practice in teacher preparation
programs. As one student wrote in 1903:
"Oh the joys of teaching! Where are our fond dreams of
the ideal class-room and the ideal teacher? Just one day of
practical teaching and the dreams begin to fade; a few more
days and they have vanished. . . . How fully do we realize that
theory and practice are two different things? However, 'Practice
makes Perfect,' so who knows but that the class of '04 may send
out teachers of world-wide fame and reputation?"
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