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The New ASU Story:
Leadership
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First Principal Hiram Bradford Farmer 1886-1888
UP UPC ASUP Farmer, Hiram Bradford
The first class of 33 students at the Territorial Normal School in 1886 was
greeted by its first teacher and principal, Hiram Bradford Farmer. This initial
student body included 16-year-old students with no high school education, since
there were no high schools in the Arizona Territory. Farmer's early efforts were
spent establishing the school's core curriculum. He wanted students to be well
grounded in the basics of reading, writing, spelling, grammar, arithmetic,
geography, and United States history. Students also took
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classes in philosophy,
Latin, rhetoric, English literature, and the philosophy of education. Farmer gave
out diplomas to only 5 students in his three semesters as teacher-principal to
students of varying ages and experiences - not because of a lack of students, but
because he would reward no student who failed to satisfy his academic standards.
In his view, unprepared teachers would be of no value to the communities nor to
the students they served. Principal Farmer is credited with establishing the
Territorial Normal School's first practice teaching program, and he put his
advanced students to work teaching the lower classes. It is Farmer who is
credited for establishing the Territorial Normal School's reputation as a
viable institution of higher learning. |
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