George C. Purington, Farmington State Normal School, 1907
Item 64403 info
Mantor Library at UMF
George C. Purington served as the fourth principal of Farmington State Normal School from 1883-1909. He also taught psychology, didactics, civil government, agriculture, and music. He was very involved in the community and did much to improve the relationship between the school and the town of Farmington.
In Purington's view, the purpose of education was to produce physical, intellectual, and moral development. His didactics lectures identified the important mental qualities of an ideal teacher as "good natural ability, thorough and accurate knowledge, and a liberal education."
He proposed different methods of teaching, such as reading to the students, question and answer, and discussing the readings as ways to help students focus and learn better. Many of the ideals put forth by Purington on teachers education and teaching methods remain significant in teacher training today.
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