Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-02-22

1OUdl. 100
During the past month the Humboldt
evening school has been closed on account
of the small number in attendance, and
the services of one teacher each in the
Franklin and Jefferson schools have been
dispensed with. In accordance with the
rules the evening schools will be closed
Friday evening, March 2.
The number of pupils in German during
the term has been Cos.
The High school, with the class just ad-
Hlitted, has an enrolment Of 215, and It's
poor and scanty accommodations are taxed
t. the utmost. We're it not for the pros
pect OF speedy completion of the new
bdildiug, the necessities Of this school
should receive immediate attention. 1t
would be presumption to expect in every
respect an efficient school with such IN
favorable external conditions. The course
of study pursued in the High school is that
decided upon by the present High school
committee and adopted by the board in
August last. It is IN perfect harmony
with that of the graded schools beneath it
in so much that pupils are advanced to
the High school upon the record made in
the grammar schools without special tests,
and il is in entire accord with the require
ments for admission to the State
university, as our school furnishes in
struction in everything required for ad
mission to that institution, and in many
cases in fuller measure than is required. In
the High school the fourth class, the lowest
class, always contains more than
half the pupils of the school, and,
of course, the studies pursued
by that class will have more students
than those which come further on in tho
course. One of these studies is arithmetic.
Rhetoric and botany are others. There are
no more pupils studying arithmetic than
there are pursuing the studies of rhetoric
and botany, and to say that these are the
most prominent studies of the course is
only anosher way of saying That the fourth
class is, as it always has been and probably
always will be, the greater part of the
school. In geometry there have been two
classes during the past term
one in plane and the lother
in solid geometry. In these classes
the sexes have been equally represented.
The statement that the classes in chemis-
try, geology and physiology, are small
emphasizes the fact that the upper classes
are reduced in size. A course of study for
a school or system of schools should be
a growth. Changes should be made from
time to time where experience has shown
that it was not in harmony with the laws
of mental development or did not meet
the requirements of the times, and any con-
sideration of the curriculum of our High
must include careful and protracted study
- L. IL, IS i4c nd +bo cd,
tional results already attained.
With the completion of the High school
building will come the opportunity for the
establishment of a training department
for those who desire to become teachers IN
our public schools. In my late visit to
the schools of Milwaukee, nothing inter
ssted me more than the workings of the
city normal, for the reason that there
seems to be nothing so much needed with
US IS a means of training those who pass
through the various grades of our schools
with the laudable ambition of becoming
teachers. The plan OF the Milwaukee
normal is as follows: The graduates of
the High school, or even those who have
completed the junior year are eligible to
membership. This gives usually a class
of about twenty-five pupil-teachers. There
is, of course, a necessity for a school of
practice and observation. This is OBJ
tanned by creating a district contiguous
to the school building, large enough to
furnish pupils fer three schools of the
first, second and third grades. These
schools are taught by the pupils of the
normal class under the direction of an ex-
pert. These would-be teachers spend one
year in a thorough review of the elemen-
tary studies taught in the public schools,
from the standpoint of those who are to be
called upon to instruct and train classes in
them, study of mental philosophy, prac-
tics in or observation of the teaching of