The School of Education and Normal School at Florida State College for Women was structured around three tracks: the School of Education, the Summer School, and the Normal School. Each of these required a different course of study. The Normal School offered four variants: training school, “college high school,” teachers’ elementary division, and college courses leading to the Licentiate of Instruction or “L.I.” degree. The L.I. degree seems to have been granted through a complex formula that took into account the student’s high-school as well as college credits. For example, students who had completed the tenth grade of the “standard high school in Florida” and had gained eight units could enter FSCW as a freshman. High-school graduates who presented sixteen units could enter the FSCW junior class. At that point, students could choose from five courses of study, three to be completed in two years and two to be completed in three years. The five were categorized as “Teachers’ Training,” “Primary Training,” kindergarten, home economics, and industrial arts. The degree was most commonly earned in two years and is generally considered a two-year degree.

According to the Florida State College for Women Catalogue, Vol. XI, June, 1918, No.2:

The satisfactory completion of course I, II, III, IV, or V entitles the student to the degree of Licentiate of Instruction (L.I.). Along with this degree, the graduate may receive a state certificate as teacher, provided she has met the requirements set forth in the law governing such certificates, as given elsewhere.

A special thanks to Ms. Harriett Kirk Crago (BA, Arts & Sciences, 1947) for donating this rare and unique pin awarded to her mother, Harriett Smith Seymour, in 1918. So that the Heritage Protocol could display it in context, Ms. Crago also donated her Mother’s large 1917–1918 photo album. Some of the photos are displayed here.  Ms. Crago has made this donation in honor of her “dear friend, the late Dr. Mary Lou Norwood.”