The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1868-08-25

quoted, wsmay say as is the Normal
School so will be the Common School
If, therefore, the masses of the people
are to be taught the elementsSof techni-
cal and scientific knowledge for the prac
teal purposes of life, this can only be
done by Introducing the necessary stud.
les into Normal Schools, and pursuing
them there systematically and thor
oughly. In this way, and in this only,
can all the people be reached. Colleges
may be useful for those who can attend
them to parsue those subjects still more
completely, but the main work must still
rest with the common schools-common
only in the sense that they are universal.
In 1912 Congress passed an act appro-
q priating large amounts of public land to
the several States, to be devoted, as the
enactment declares, to teaching such
'sbranches of learning as are related to
agriculture and the mechanic arts, in.
ssorder to promote the liberal and prac-
s'tical education Of the industrial classes
Gin the several pursuits and professions
of life.'' = This action of Congress was a
concession to the growing demand for
practical instruction among the comm on
people, and was of course tacit crit
3 icism of the defects of existing educa
tional provisions and arrangements
We have several hundred colleges and
academies in the country, with facilities
for double or treble the number Of stu
dents that they now contain Congress
did not donate the lands to them. 1t
virtually said, s'the education you dis
spense is not that which is most wanted
cit is of the wrong kind and is limited
ssto comparatively a few. We wish to
lido the work which you have left I'M
'sdone-to initiate or encourage a new
educational movement which shall give
ga practical education to the industrial
assclasses Of the country" Now it is OBJ
vious that the only way to attain this
noble object with anything like com
pleteness was through the use of the
peoples existing educational institu-
tons. The appropriations, therefore,
belonged, by every consideration OF
right, to the Normal Scholastic train
ing colleges of the States. They should
have been applied to the supp ort of in
stitutions where the elements of agri-
culture and the industrial arts could be
taught to students, ,Uho should themselves
become teachers, and carry out the system
80 <ho
as in this way only could the industrial
classes be effectually reached. But the
old col eges-the parties implicitly con-
lemned by the terms of the donation as
committed to deficient culture-were
on the alert, and secured the grant
Minnesota alone, where the old col
legiate system has not yet got foot
hold, demands that those resourses shall
be put to their true use and go to the
Normal Schools, and through them di
rectly to the common shchools and the
people Of the entire State. A lively
discussion has sprung up in the news
papers of that region upon the question,
in which this policy is very ably urged;
ana q 0oteTInindtlOu Is efluCtu W Cal
ry out the real spirit Of the Congress
sional design in the way most likely to
secure its benefits to tie whole commu
nity. II this plan is faithfully executed
it will raise the common school system
of that State to high position, and re-
suit in permanent and solid advantages
to its people.