Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-02-18

to be regretted that so little information CON
corning them is in possession of this Office
! 1t is known, however, that they are extend
| ing their influence, improving their methods
of instruction, and increasing their facilities
for that culture of high order, than which
nothing is more needed in this State. It is
hoped that the fact begins to be recognized
that their efficiency will be promoted BY di.
minishing rather than increasing their num-
Der. Some of them are still doing the work
that ought TO be done in our common schools
to the detriment of the colleges themselves
as well as the cause of public education.
While the line between the academy and
the high school cannot be plainly drawn. as
they are really schools of the same grade
that between the high school and the college
ought to be well defined. While allowance
must be made for the circumstances attend
ing the founding of a college in a new state,
there should be apparent each year an in
creased effort to raise it above the level of
common school, and it would seem that the
time mas now come in our state when the
college curriculum should no longer embrace
the branches strictly primary
The relation between the common school
and the college is one of mutual depend
ence, and that state shows most practical wis
dom that cherishes both with equal care"
SCHOOL.
The establishment of Normal School is
earnestly recommended We make the fol-
lowing extract from the report, in connection
with this important subject:
Teaching is an art, and like every other
art, it Is best learned by cultivating it in
schools founded for that specific purpose If
the profession of the teacher is not regarded
by those engaged in it, as well as by the pub
lie, as being honorable, the community suf-
tcrs in one of its most important interests
The worst results must inevitably follow from
regarding instruction as a business that re-
quires no special preparation.
Much, and even most, of the benefit that
should be derived by our children from their
attendance at school, is lost from want of
previous training on the part of our teachers.
4 large portion of our youthful population
can attend school but small part of the year.
To them good instruction is invaluable. A
few months attendance, if guided by a teach
er possessed of skill, is worth more than
years spent in schools controlled by those
who have no special fitness for their impor-
tant calling.
Legislation can commit no greater blunder
than to ignore the claims of the school upon
the State. Order, industry, frugality, homes
ty, all the virtues that preserve people and
adorn humanity, spring from our schools, and
to inVigorate them, by fitting teachers for
them, Is an obvious dictate of patriotism, pru-
dence and common sense.
The present is believed to DE not an inau-
spicious time to inaugurate the enterprise of
founding a normal school. We must aban-
don the idea of making educational progress
until this step is taken. To obtain cOmpe-
tent instructors for our children under exist
ing circumstances is simply impossible. No
investment can be made from which the re-
turns will be speedier or surer. We must
improve our common schools or enlarge our
reform school, Indeed, no other measure so
commeHds itself to a wise forecast and calm
reflection. Were our public schools managed
with proper care and provided with suitable
teachers, all other institutions of learning
would receive new impulse. Those States
that have established normal schools have
also prosperous colleges and universities,
while those destitute of them have failed to
realize the benefits that ought to be derived
from higher institutions of learning. The
cause is obvious. Hence those interested in
collegiate and university education, because
most clearly understanding its transcenuent
Importance, are the warmest advocates of
schools for the special training of teachers.
The subject is respectfully and earnestly
commended to the attention of the Legisla-
ture."
GENERAL REMARKS.
From this part of the Report we select the
following remarks and suggestions:
THAT our schOolshave not refrigerated dur
ing the past year, that the people show an
increased interest in the education of the
youth of the state, that teachers are better
qualified and more successful and that knowl-
edge and virtue are gaining the ascendancy
over Ignorance and vice, may be asserted and
perhaps proved. Still, those who observe
most carefully the condition of our educa-
tional institutions, and understand most clear
" their relation to the welfare of the state,
are not without misgivings that they come
short Of affording that security for the future
of our country which patriotism demands
There is an Indifference in regard to the
methods of instruction, an apathy concerning
the means of education, that bodies evil to
society. The means and methods adapted to
our condition few years since, will not meet
the demands of the present. The last five
years have called into exercise forces that
had before lain dormant. War has develop
ed energies that can be useful only as they
can be controlled. To be satisfied with the
educational agencies of the past is to be blind
to the teachings of the present, and reckless
of the claims of the future.
Although no radical changes in our school
law are deemed advisable at the present
time, yet, it is believed that our whole school
system must be modified before many years
to meet the demands of change in society
that could not be anticipated when the pres
ent system was devised.