Los Angeles County
Biographies
GEORGE W. H. SHIELD
The superb
educational system of Los Angeles
has been created by men and women of extraordinary ability and enthusiasm, who
have given their talents and training to the perfection of the schools and
prominent in this classification is George W. H. Shield, who was the director
of modern languages in the city schools from 1924 to 1932. He is now on the faculty of the George
Washington high school. Mr. Shield was
born in New York City
May 15, 1879, and is a son of John P. and Julia C. Shield.
Mr. Shield
received most thorough and diversified training in preparation for his future
work in education. In 1900, he was given
the Bachelor of Arts degree by Northwestern
College, and from that year until 1902
he was a student at Columbia
University. From 1902 until 1904, he studied at Leipzig University, and in 1905-6 at
Harvard. He was professor of modern
languages in Newberry College during the period of 1906-7; was an instructor in
the University of Iowa in 1907-1908; held fellowship and instructorship in the
University of Chicago in 1908-9; was engaged in teaching at the University of
Washington from 1909 until 1911; was an assistant professor at Stanford
University, 1911-12; and then from 1912 to 1924 he was a teacher of French,
German, Latin, and Spanish and department head at Manual Arts high school in
the city of Los Angeles. He became
director of modern languages in the public schools of this latter city in 1924,
and retained this position until 1932, when budgetary retrenchments caused the
decommissioning of this supervisorial office
Summer
teaching also has occupied the time of Mr. Shield. He has been engaged in this work in Oregon and Colorado at
different times, and was also lecturer in the University of Mexico. He became and extension of lecturer at the University of California
in 1926, and at the University
of South California in
1929. In the period of 1925-28, he was
regional director for California
of the Modern Foreign Language Study (a national survey). From 1919 until 1922 he was editor of the Los
Angeles School Journal. In 1907, he was
a member of the commission on the selection of Rhodes scholars for South Carolina, and in
1925 he served on the central committee on award for the national Spanish
contest, sponsored by La Prensa of New York.
In 1926-28, Mr. Shield was a member of the modern language committee of
the curriculum revision commission of the N. E. A. In 1928, he was elected to
the national council of the Federation of Modern Language Teachers; in the same
year became associate editor of the Modern Language Journal and in 1934
business manage of this publication. He
is corresponding member of the Hispanic Society of American, and a
founder-member of the Linguistic Society.
He founded the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Association of
Teachers of Spanish, was associate editor of the official publication,
Hispania, in 1917-19, and president of the association in 1929. He like-wise organized the Southern California
Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French, and was a national
director in 1929. In 1929 he was
brevetted Officer d’ Academie by the
French government. He is active also in
the American Association of Teachers of German.
Mr. Shield is a fellow in the Pacific Geographical Society, and belongs
to the city, state and national teacher associations. A foreign affiliation is the Modern
Humanities Research Association of London, and his fraternity connection is
with Sigma Delta Pi. In addition to his
many and important activities in school work, he was the managing editor of the
Modern Language Forum from 1925-1933.
Through his efforts was formed the Pacific Coast Federation of Modern
Language Associations, of which he was secretary five years, then vice
president and president.
On August
15, 1915, Mr. Shield was united in marriage to Josephine Woodcock of Urbana, Ohio.
Transcribed
By: Michele Y. Larsen on October 20, 2012.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 401-402,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Michele
Y. Larsen.
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