Thomas Jackson Woofter

1908-1931

Born in Virginia in 1862, Thomas Jackson Woofter was a kinsman and namesake of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. Woofter started teaching at the age of 16, which was not uncommon in those days. He graduated from West Virginia State Normal School in 1881 and in 1883 entered the Peabody Normal College in Nashville, Tenn., graduating with a Licentiate of Instruction. At the age of 23, he was elected principal of Shepherd College, State Normal School in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and served in that capacity until 1887. He attended law school at law West Virginia University and graduated in 1888. That same year he came to Georgia as superintendent of schools at Elberton where he set up the first graded schools there. Then he did the same for a school system in West Point, Miss., for four years.

In 1893, Woofter returned to Georgia, accepting a professorship of mathematics at Mercer University in Macon. In 1897, he became professor of psychology and pedagogy and director of the Normal Department of the Georgia Normal and Industrial College, now Georgia College and State University at Milledgeville. Woofter spent his summer months from 1895-1900 studying at the University of Chicago and the American University in Chicago and received his Ph.D. from the latter in 1900.

Woofter came to UGA as its first full-time professor of pedagogy in 1903. He played a critical role in obtaining the Peabody Fund, a bequest from George Foster Peabody that was to have an enormous impact on the development of teacher training at UGA. In his first year, he organized the University of Georgia Summer School, drawing more than 300 teachers for training in pedagogy which was quite an accomplishment considering the university enrollment itself average only 130 students a year.

In 1904, he was named head of the Department of Philosophy and Education. He originated a plan to use the Peabody Fund to create two Colleges of Education in the South – the George Peabody Teachers College at Nashville and the Peabody School of Education at the University of Georgia. Woofter was named director and the College of Education at UGA was authorized by the University’s Board of Trustees on June 13, 1908.

Woofter was instrumental in developing Georgia’s first teacher preparation programs, helped pioneer an effective system of county school supervision for the state and proposed the establishment of a State Board of Education which was passed by the Georgia Legislature in 1911.

Even though the name of Peabody School of Education had been authorized earlier, it was not until George Peabody Hall opened in 1913 that the name was frequently used. The building, located at the southern end of the quad on North Campus, was built for $50,000 from the Peabody Fund. At this time, Woofter’s title was also changed from director to dean of the Peabody School of Education.

The Department of Philosophy and the Department of Psychology were both contained in the Peabody School of Education until the early 1930s when they became independent of the College with Educational Psychology and Philosophy of Education remaining with the School of Education.

During his tenure, Woofter pushed for better trained teachers for black schools with better pay for the better trained. He urged widespread support for black normal schools. Woofter also sought greater justice for women. He continually urged that women be admitted to the University of Georgia and in 1918, the Board of Trustees passed a resolution doing just that by a vote of 12 to 11.

In the 1920s, Woofter could look beyond his unit and be acutely concerned about the larger units, the university and university system. He identified specific university needs as:

Alumni Hall for physical education has been partly built and left in that stage for several years. The World War showed clearly the need of better physical education.
The old Chapel seats 600 and is ancient in its appointments. The student body numbers nearly double the chapel capacity and should soon double the present number. Regular and complete assemblies of the student body are necessary opportunities for certain inspirations.
An administration building, either separate or especially designed as part of some building such as the new chapel. The present quarters are inadequate as well as sorry substitutes.
New buildings for several departments, notably for the department of Physics and for the School of Commerce.
The library building is too small. Overcrowding hampers the work of students at this vital point. This building can probably be enlarged.

Woofter went on to call for three large dorms, one for women and two for men. In making his call, he used an appeal one sees frequently in the University of Georgia’s literature of that day; he pointed out that some other Southern university had done better.

In 1922, the School of Education led the university into a new arena, one that was to vastly extend the influence of the university throughout the state. Woofter asked for and received funds from the Trustees to initiate correspondence work. Nineteen people took correspondence courses in 1922, most in psychology and education. In 1923, that number went up to 100.

By 1927, the Summer School had grown to offering at least 250 courses, all carrying undergraduate or graduate credit. Forty-three of the instructors were visiting professors. Out of the 2,435 students that summer, 115 were graduate students.

As part of Woofter’s concern that the School of Education make original contributions to the science of education, the Bureau of Educational Research was founded in 1929. The bureau provided a number of services to the public schools of the state such as:

Acting as a distributing center, the bureau sent out upon request standardized tests and scales, remedial materials, books on educational measurement and statistics, and the leading intelligence and educational tests of all publishers.
Providing advice in the selection of these tests, scales, books and other materials.

Standardized tests had come into heavy use in the schools across the country in the 1920s. Many teachers and administrators trained earlier did not know how to make the best use of these instruments. Through the bureau, the School of Education made available to any school in the state free-of-charge-assistance in the administration and use of the results of these tests whenever the school did not have the scoring, interpretation and required trained personnel. The free-of-charge aspect was no small consideration in this first year of the Great Depression.

In 1930, the university added to its list of degrees the master of arts in Education. Lest anyone question the rigor of the School, the degree required two years of postgraduate work instead of the one required for garden variety master’s of arts. Woofter was insistent that this master’s not become the unsatisfactory degree that he had decried in other colleges and universities.