Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-08-11
EDUCATIONAL.
The Teachers Institute at Thorn
Grove.

! 10 the EditofS 81 the Chronicle.
Pursuant to programme, Superin.
tendeut Harms called the Teachers
Institute to order at 8 a. NJ. yesterday
The work of tie day was opened by
an appropriate prayer 10y Rev. Mr..
Ayres. The teachers were .then well
coined in very neat speech by Presi-
dent Beeman. In the absence of the
Secretary Mr. Montgomery was ap-
pointed Secretary, and the appropriate
committees appointed.
Owing to the fact that only about
half of the teachers expected had ar
rived, the election of officers for the
ensuing year was postponed until this
morning.
The regular work of the Institute
was then opened by a class-dril in
Arithmetic, conducted by Prof. NJ. c..
Butler, followed by drill in vocal ell
ements, hy Prof. Beeman, after
which lively discussion ensued upon
these two topics. From this discussion
it was manifest that both drills had
done good work.
After some spirited vocal music and
miscellaneous business, the meeting
adjourned for dinner.
AT 1870 the meeting re-assembled.
The number of teachers present had
grown very considerably in the mean
time, and continued to increase during
the evening; so that by the time of
adjournment at p. NJ, between thirty
and forty were present. This increase
in numbers added greatly to the inter-
est of the several class-drills and dis
cussiOn. The topics were writing,
reading, spelling and Arithmetic, con-
Quoted by superintendent Harms and
Professors Beeman and Butler.
At S p. NJ. the members of the
Institute and many of the cti-
zens of the neighborhood assembled
in the church to listen to an ad
dress from Prof. Hunter Nicholson, of
the East Tennessee University, on
" The Relation of the Agricultural
College to the Common Schools" The
exercises were opened by a prayer
from Rev. DIR, Mays. The address was
about an hour long and was listened
to with marked attention by the en-
tire audience. The main points made
by the speaker We're, that the Agricul-
tural or Scientific College, was the
natural product of that elevation Of the
industrial classes, which characteriZes
modern civilization. That tie almost
universal application of machinery to
theindustrial arts in recent wears, has
created demand for "A more general
diffusion OF knowledge concerning the
sciences and arts upon which all ma
chinery depends. This knowledge
could not be obtained in the old Col
leges. The sciences needed were not
taught in existing schools. OF neces-
sity, then, new schools were created.
The impulse which has given rise to
this new College was neither sudden
nor local. 1t had been gathering for
generations and was felt by the people
of every moving nation.
The speaker then gave a brief ac-
count of the organization of the Agri-
cultural Colleges under the act of Con-
gress, and passed on to the obstacles in
the way of the success of the new
College. These he considered to be;
the newness Of the enterprise, disin~
clination of farmers to educate their
sons for their own calling, the scarcity
OF competent men to run the institu-
tions, but mainly the want of properly
organized preparatory schools.
The speaker then passed to the con-
sideration of the common schools,
taking as his text this quotation from
report made some time ago to the
Massachusetts, Legislature:
The school system of New Eng
land fails to meet the wants of the civ
lllzation of the present day"
This he said was true of the entire
school system of the United States,
and notably so of that of Tennessee.
The failure grows out of the fact that
the things taught are not things which
men and women need to aid them in
the struggle of life, and the mental
habits formed ere not those most need
ed in the conduct of every day affairs.
The speaker then went into some
detailed criticisms of the methods of
teaching, spelling, reading, writing,
geography, DC, and made suggestions
as to how much time now devoted to
these studies might be more profitably
employed in learning the elements of
Botany, Physics, Physical Geography,
and other sciences, and earnestly re-
commended the formation of Natural
History collections in every school.
This morning the Institute will open
with still larger number of teachers
and increased interest. For the after
noon, DR.. May is booked for an ad-
dress on "The Teachers Mission, .
and Hon, David Richards for a talk -
while tonight Professors Sharp and
Butler deliver addresses-the former
on " The Natural Method of Teach.
ing" and the after on "What should
be Taught in our Common Schools"
. Altogether the meeting so far is a
success, thanks to the energy of Super
intendent Harms, the zeal OF the teach
ers, and the hospitality of the citizens
OF Thorn Grove and vicinity.
VISITOR.