Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-06-13

SATURDAY, JUNE IS, 1857.
The Normal SchooI Bin.

cratic candidate for Governor, characteri-
yes the Normal School Bill introduced into
the last Legislature by Mr.. Hatton, his
competitor, as an attempt to establish an
aristocratic school," We are inclined to
think that before General Harris gets to
the eastern border of the State, he will dis
cover that he is handling two-edged
sword, and that the wounds he inficts are
less severe than those he receives. The
proposition to establish a Normal School
met with signal favor amongst the people
whilst it was pending, and, if we are not
mistaken, nearly all of the newspapers of
the State supported it warmly. In the
Union and American, the organ of the de-
mocracy, there appeared series of very
able articles upon the subject of Education,
in which after portraying with pencil of
light the evils of our common schools, and
their causes, the author suggested a rene
dy for them. That remedy was the estab-
lishment of Normal School" for the edu-
cation Of teachers-juSt such school as
Mr.. Hatton's bill contemplated. Here is
an extract from the last number of the Sc
ries. We copy from the Union and An'eri-
can of November 18th, 1855:
A NORMAL SCHOOL, nell organized and admins
tered viii make teaching procession. 1t will raise
I'D class of citizens, who will make teaching a
vocation-an honorable and il huentsl vocation.
And this is Just what want aud must haze, be.
fore our school system can do any good. As long
as we rely on young men, who merely resort TO
teaching, to make money enough to start them in
to some other business or upon men in other &C.
equations, who employ themselves at it. for short
time in the leisure season of the year. will have
incompetent teachers, lifeless schools. Make it a
profession and life and vigor will, at once,
animate the system, and our three hundred thou.
rand children, as they come up to maturity, will be
qualified for the high duties that devolve upon them
as rulers of the republic.
| There is as mach improvement in the ART OF
TEACHING, o. there is in machinery. Aswell in the
art of governing schools, as in the modes of COM
municatng knowledge, wonderful advancement has
been made And no doubt can be entertained
that we are to witness still greater improvements.
How are these Improvements to be introduced
among our people2 Can there be sny way devils
ed, more effectual than NORMAL School? 10
that Institution a corps of instructors would be
brought together, who are well acquainted with all
the Improvements in teaching. Our young men
would be gathered together from every county III
the State, and learn them, and return home and
introduce them. As new improvements were any
where developed they would be generally difused.
The profession it would call into existence, and
spread over the State, would, like any other en-
hgbtened profession watch its progress through
out the world, and adopt all the Improvements pre-
scented TO their view.
We are lust as much behind the States, that have
introduced these improved systems of instruction,
n regard 10 popular educstiOn, as we would be IN
regard to our agriculture, if rejected the impro-
ved reaper and thrasher, and still stuck to the reap
ing hook and fail in cutting and thrashing our
wheat Our soil and climate fine, and capable
of Welding a rich and OVERLOOKING abundance. But
to develop their capabilities, requires skiLlftd and
s1iited eiUatOrS and they mast hare tie best Ia
6or-SaUiBq implements of hassbandry. Is not our
intellectual soil as good as can be found In the
worldP Is there not as much native talent In the
three hundred thousand children OF Tennessee, as
there is in the same number in any other State !?
But how can it yield fruits without culturep And
how can it be cultivated without suitable imple'
meDtS ana skllliul nauOs 10 Wleiu lueH
And where are the cultivatOrs who are operating
in this vast field of intellect? What tendency has
their abors to develop its wonderful capabilities
WHAT improved implements and modes of culture
do they employ Do they break up deep, so that
knowledge can penetrate and thought can go down
10 search of food Or do they just stir the sur
face to be washed off by the first heavy rains? Do
they erect substantial enclosures? Do they keep
down weeds and briars? Do they still use the
tickle and the FAIL The truth is-and the State
ought 70 be ashamed of it-thdt under the sluggish,
stupid culture, the soil is daily becoming impoUer-
! iShed There are no regular cultivatoTs. This
richest of all the fields that invite the enterprise OF
man is abandoned to the occupancy of strdgglers,
| aud overgrown with broomsage and brambles.
A NORMAL School, will redeem it from dissolution
II will pour all over it. from year 20 year, an un
/ failing stream Of enlightened instructors. They
will arouse this sumbering mass of mind and d.
rect its energies AHd SoeH another census IS taken
! Tennessee may be rescued from the deep degrade
ton to which the national statistics OF igHoranc
have consigned her.
A school from which such blessings al
are here mentioned will flow, can hardly bC
termed "aristocratic," unless we are to I'm
derstand that the general diffusion of edu
cation amongst the masses is "aristocratic.
! The Union and American did not, we arr
confident, regard it as "aristocratic"-
did not even question its benefits, or doub
its policy Encouraged by the "unanswer
able arguments of its correspondent, it de
clared teaching profession" and added
-"WE MUST HAVE SCHOOL TO EDUCATE
TEAcHERs'-that is, NORMAL SCHOOL. Blu
it did not stop here. 1t made mention o
the bill Mr.. Hatton'S) then pending be
fore the Legislature, and announced, it wa
well assured that the patriotic legislators
who might cote for Il ioould be amply sus
lkained BIZ their constituents p Is it possible
What the Union and american was seekin,
to build up in Tennessee, an "aristocrati
school"-an Institution that would deserv
the reprobation of every genuine republi
can in the State We do not believe an,
such thing. We give our contemporary
credit for higher and nobler motives Blu
Gen. Harris thinks otherwise, or he is play
ing the petty demagogue to deceive tn,
people, and catch their "sweet voices" OF
lection day. We leave the democracy anC
Gen. Harris to reconcile this antagonist
between their organ and their candidate
We have no doubt of their ability to cover
it up. "Any thing to catch votes, is max
i'm they always practice upon. What cart
they for principle, when they snuff the
scent of Office in the air ? Without enter
ing into an argument to prove the sound
policy of the measure, we add, the follow
ing article