The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1867-07-05
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Closing Of the Seventh Term.
Commandment Exercises.
&c RiEst Graduating Ga

classes and on Friday following the Com |
mencement Exercises attendant upOs
sending forth the first Graduating Class of
the school took place.
Everything outside seemed TO be 10
keeping with the occasion. From the
windows of the school building noble
edifee, just completed on an elevation ad
joining town, and overlooking miles in
extent of the valleys of the Cottonwood
and neutrality-suspicious. for the Farm
ers' Commencement could be seen on eve
ry hand. Miles square of wheat 10 new
er-epding golden circle as far as the eye
could reach, were nOddiug in impatient
readiness for the reaper. Other miles
square of oats, corn and potatoes, regal
in such green as painter never hmned.
filed up the magnificent promise Of the
Harvest; realizing for Kansas what SidLey
Smith said of Australia: Tickle the
earth with hoe and che laughs with
harvest.
Inside looks much as usual. Prompt
ness is an every day virtue in the State
Normal, and so lit is no surprise TO note
that every one of the sixty odd scholars
is in his OF her place. The performances
Of females is still noticeable, and shows
of which sex the Teachers of the Coming
Time are to be. The room is large, we'll
ventilated. and appropriately furnished.
Everything is in order. There are few
spectators. The school is opened precis-
ly at nine, with the usual devotional exer-
discs. These concluded, Prof. Kellogg,
the Principal, announces the order of ex-
animation for the day to be:
Isl Hour. Book keeping, Sec. A; Arith-
metic, Sec. G.
Cd Hour. Geography. Sec. a. Gsog-
rapby, Sec. B.
Sd HOur. Arithmetic, Sec. A. Algebra;
Arithmetic. Sec. B.
4th Hour. Grammar; Botany.
5th Hour. Theory of Teaching; Read
ing, Sec. A; Reading, Sec. B.
One examination in each hour is 10 take
place in the school room; the remainder
in the recitation rooms of the second sto-
rY. The announcement Of the order OF
exercises is accompanied by a desigua-
lion of the place cf recitation Of each
class. The Professor then taps his Of
fee bell with pencil, which is the signal
of attention; at the second tap those who
are to leave the room for recitation rise;
at the third tap face about and march out
of the room. There is something almost
military about the promptDsss, unity and
precision of these movements, as in all oil
the daily routine.
The school room itself, as all the reel.
tation rooms and Model School, are encir.
cled by a zone of black, with its accom-
panimenL of chalk and erssers. DEMON
srRATIoN is a desideratum in Normal Ed
ucation, and the blackboard is an indis
b, pensabls auxiliary to this end. Problems
Maps, Music, Drawings in Mathematics
Botany, besides Legitimate sketchinS, DC.
all End expression here, aud all are sub
jecled to the fire of adverse criticism
=. from both teacher and class.
We will take the eexamination of theclas
in book keeping as an example. The yer
;, bal de6uition of book keeping is, substan
TALLY, the method of exhibiting in a clear
= concise and Ineligible manner the Prima
:, ~ progressive and present state of man
pscuniary affairs. But Definition, howeve
complete, must be followed by Demon
!. straliou; aud for this purpose the black
board is essential. So We have drawn Oh
;, IFS surface both the primary books anc
N ledger of our modern system of book
:, keeping. Samples of the various posi-
BILE and probable entries in the range {
business are made and then carried for
d ward through the intermediate steps I
st the tabular Capitalization of the ledger
lie The books are then balanced, or "proVed.
Z At each step the student is compelled t
. explain, infinitely, his reasc rs for the tab
ing of il. II he fails, either in statemer
f or demonstration, the teacher calls ''class
10 and up go the hands of those who ca
! ! solve the difficulty. There is no prompt
- Jog; the pupil stands or falls on his owl
knowledge, expressed in his own Ian
le guage. Lack of understanding is scare
T, worse than lack ofexpression; for the on
= material difference between the purpos
,t of Normal and other systems of educs
q ton is that in the former the siuder
3 learns how to express his knOWledg,
IS As President Edwards says: ''In sn OIL
, binary school the treatise on Arithmet
r. is put into the hand of the student in ord,
y that he may learn aritk metic; in the No
or NAL School the same book is used in ord,
rs to enable him to learn hoU to teach aritl
" metic.'' Those who graduate here a
IN not the merchants, business men al
be politicians, but the Teachers of the ag
.il They must, therefore. not only mast
=, their studies but they must acquire Il
he faculty of imparting their knowledge
ed the subjects of their studies to Others wi
ne shall stand to them in the relation of pt