Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1878-03-30

u pom tncll cDuFNC but IL, as - lhS
fact, the state has not provided a
general system Of High Schools, II
the at its command
cannot: do so, we say that it is uuwise
and partial to establish three or four
such High Schools In 40 many favor
Ell portions Of the state, and leave all
the rest TO d~estItutiou. Suppose that
we were able to have a High School
in every county III the state. then
there would be no strong objection
to making a reasonable number of
them Normal Schools. What arc the
Take the Normal at Warrens-
burg as all illustration. We are told
in its catalogue OF 1885 that il was
for the forty = three
counties lying in the southwestern
counties are taxed to sustain this
Normal School. Who reaps its adj
vantsges ? In the school year of
1886 it was very full. having Ala
students. OF these two-thirds were
from Johnson county. 229 of whom
lived in Warrensburg itself. OF the
142, outside of Johnson county, all
but thirty-eight were from the coun-
ties Immediately adjoining. Thus
eight counties out of the forty-three
reap nearly all the advantages; ana
twepty-nine out of the torty-three
send not q siugle student. Thus forty
three are taxed for the special benefit
of eight. This is quite q different
state of affairs from what we would
find in Prussia.
lu the latter part of the article
under review the I'D. asserts that
there is a different way of teaching
arithmetic to q teacher from that
which is pursued In teaching others.
Well, this my be so. In what on
sists this difference? The J-D. says
tina in the Normal School these
common branches ''are studied not
only i'll outline but in miHutia. That
is. they teach these things more thor
oughly than All ordinary school does.
Tins is interesting and quite impor-
tant, If true. We call upon Prof.
P%ritchett of the high school Or acad-
envy at Glasgow, and ask him if he
thinks that they teach the fuudsmen-
tai mathematics more thoroughly at
Wsrreusburs than is done i'll Glas-
gov. We are sure that Professor
Pritchett would reply modestiy, Il
do not know. | am willing, how
ever, to put my students to the same
tests that may be used at Wsrreus-
burg,snd think it probable that they
will bear them a. we'll" We are
told upon excellent authority that
the teachers from the Normal al
Warrensburg have not distinguished
themselves in this county. We are
inclined to think that Prof. Norton
and Prof. Bablnann will not claim
that they teach either mathematics
or the languages any better than is
done in other academies-Professor
hemper's at BOonville, for example.
Nor do they teach them differently.
There is but one way to learning,
and that way all must travel.
We 10Y repeat u original state
meIt, which the J-D. critiCises
N----r-,
| orn nathan -,lra,-nIr NO.. -n.,.ip
devoted to ,he professional training
of teachers The catalogue of the
Warrensbnrg Normal is sufficient to
show this couclusiveiy. We do no,
say that there is no Normal work
lone, but that it is not the exclusive.
not even the main work done there,
There are nine members of its faculty,
As we asserted in our original article
only one of these proposes to devote
himself to what Is called school
Economy" All of the rest teach the
arts and sciences as in any other high
school. This professor of "Schoo.
Economy" does not limit himself to
this; he teaches in addition 'Iutel
lectual and Moral Philosophy" THAI
IS. one-third Of the time Of one mint
Of The faculty is given to Norma
instruction. This is a proportion 0
one to twenty-seveu. We turn over
now to the "Daily Programme OF
ltecitation.' The school year is
divided into four terms of ten week,
each, aud the pupils into six classes
or grades, called from the firstletters
"f the alphabet. In the first term
just four hours out of thirty-six ar.
devoted to Normal training. Tnc
same proportion holds in the 2ut
term. In the Srd and 4th terms, onl,
three hours out of thirty-six arr
given to purely Normal work. An
other striking fact is that classes "B'
and I'D" have not a single hour o
Normal instruction given them il
any one of the -four term class "a
none in the 3rd term; and class "E'
none iii h 4th term. Another i'll.
teresting fact is that in the first tern
four hours daily are devoted to draw.
ing: i'll the 2nd, two hours: in tao
Bird, tour hours; aud ia the At, on,
hour. Taking the four terms, there
are only three hours more given tc
the various branches of Normal in
struction than are devoted to the sin
gle, ornamental branch of drawing
But one more fact and we dismis,
the subject. In the faculty of nine
one professor devotes himself exclu
sively to vocal music; another tt
bookkeeping and commercial law
and still another. to drawing ant
botany, There are about One-tbir,
OF the faculty occupied with wha
are plainly ornamental, subordinate
AMI unnecessary branches, Will,
only o%ne-third of the time of one pro
lessor is given to the objects for which
the school was established. How d,
the people of the tw%enty-ninc couII
ties in the district. which have not
single student at Warrcnsburg, relisl
the Idea of being taxed to give TIN
229 children of Warrensburg lnstruc
tim in Ssnrr trnt- tan ar",