Morning journal and courier., 1884-03-01
LOCAL NEWS.
Opening the Welch School.

Addresses by Members of the Board of Ed
 ucatiOn and Prominent CitIzeDs-A
 Large Number of People Inspect the
 School.
 Yesterday afternoon was the time set for opening the new training school for teachers, located corner of Congress avenue and Yer non street, which has been named the Welch school. Although the weather was bleak and clustering, several hundred people visited the handsome new building and examined it's in terior and appointments which have already been carefully described in the COURIER. After some time had been spent in this way the visitors gathered in the hall at the top of the build exercises which had been arranged. The ex- ercises consisted of addresses and singing by the training class and they were conducted by Harmanus Welch, president of the Board of Education. Upon the platform were Superintendent Button and Messes Peck Zunder, Pond. Harrison, Strong, of the Board of Education, Profs. Brewer and Northrop of Yale, Rev. Dr. John E. Todd John G. North, and in the audience were the principals and many of the teachers of the various city schools, Hon. N. D. Sperry, Lawyer Whedon, Police Commissioner Frank lin H. Hart, Alderman Kennedy, E. P. Judd, Dr. Kleebsrg, and representatives of various professions and classes of society. The training class opened the exercises with singing. Henry Peck, chairman of the committee on buildings, made statement explaining various points about the building it's cost, the style of its architecture, showing how it differed from other schools and many other points of interest in regard to the new school. E. E. Harrison of the Board of Education, explained the object of the school the need for it's existence and the place it would fill He spoke of the difficulty of training teachers in such 8 way as to com- bine theory with practice. He said that the school would afford a professional education which would fit young ladies to become con- potent teachers.
 MT Mark Putnam spoke on behalf of the teachers in the public schools. On their be half he congratulated the Board of Education and the people of the city on the completion of the school. He spoke in terms of high praise of Superintendent Dutton and thanked the Board of Education for their efforts to broaden the system of education in the schools.
 After singing by the training class Profess sor Northrop was introduced He said he didn't know on whose behflf he was expect ed to speak unless it was on the taxpayers behalf. He alluded to the taxpayer as an em1nently respectable gentleman for whom the Board of Education always had had the profoundest respect. The $50, 900 that had been spent could not have been put anywhere on the face of the earth where it-would yield better results than it would in the Welch school Prof North rop congratulated the Board of Education on their sagacity in selecting, a week before hand, day in which the winds of heaven would be engaged in ventilating the earth for testing the ventilation of the new building and proving that the system was capable of standing extremes of weather. After con tinulng in pleasant vein, Prof. Northrop spoke earnestly on the matter of education
 Dr. John E. Todd was called upon. After alluding to incidents in his early school life he proceeded to advocate a more thorough study of the rudiments He said he found many who could not spell or read correctly, who could not use good grammar, who could not cipher readily. He saw a danger in the direction of having too much machinery.
 Prof. Brewer congratulated the Board of Education and New Haven on the way the work had been done. He thought the Board was not ahead of public opinion in building such school. Teachers need special tram ing to be able to instruct fifty or sixty schol- ars, as they have to in our schools. It was sorrow to him that his children had not the advantages of personal attention that he got in country school in his boyhood. The trouble with us is that we have too many to educate. The Welch school will afford op portunity for studying the science of teach ing.
 Hon. N. D. sperry, Superintendent Car roll, of the Stats Normal school at New Britain, and Rev. Mr. Blakeslee, of Fair Haven, made short addresses The latter speaker impressed the need of the moral element in education. and thought that the system of putting children on their honor was one calculated to injure conscience
 President Welch then gave a brief resume of the work that had been done in building schools and extending and improving the school sJ stem of the city since 1855. John G. North spoke briefly of the schools here forty years ago, and highly commended the schools of the present day.
 The general opinion of those who visited the building yesterday seemed to be highly favorable to it's designer. MT. L. ". Robinson and to the Board of Education for their en- terprise in furnishing such 8 school.