The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-31
Consolidation of State institutions.

| To the Editor Of the Indianapolis Journal:
Every General Assembly of Indiana discusses
in committees, if not in open session, the ques-
ton of the consolidation of the educational insti
tutions of the State into one great university,
| centrally located. The conclusion invariably
reached is that it is impracticable. do not re-
member to have seen what seemed to me a fair
and impartial discussion of this question in the
public prints. Those who have asked to be
heard have generally spoken with the zeal of
| partisans for or against the measure Is it not
possible to so array all the import
ant arguments pro and con, that
| those who are not advocates and
have no personal axe to grind, may be able
to form an approximately correct Judgment.
What can be said in favor of consolidation
| l. There is an educational value to the student
in being associated with large number of capa-
bic young men and women pursuing the same.
OF different lines of study as himself. AS
| iron sharpeneth iron, so does the countenance of
man, his friend" The larger the
school and the more varied the aims
and aspirations of the students, the
broader does each ones view of the world
become. 1t is an education of itself to live In
constant association for four Or six years with
the best young men and women of different COM
| munities vocations social positions and nation
aitles, earnestly seeking to prepare themselves
| for living worthily. A great school that pre-
| pares for every vocation, makes such association
| possible to some extent But this advantage is
| attended by disadvantage in this, that those
| students whose purposes and aims not fixed,
| and who have weak wills, are made to vaccilate.
| They enter school with one purpose which
changes to another under the influence of new
| associations, and this to another when
still other associations are formed. And perhaps
they leave the university either unsettled as to
fhaIV nhnIan Of f<I
| that which they have finally selected. Yet, on
| the whole we may safely set down to the credit
| OF consolidation some advantage derived from
greater numbers.
z 1t is urged by some as an argument in favor
| of consolidation, that we will thus build mp an
institution that will be an honor to the
State and of which will all be
proud There is not much in this. The
honor to the State is not in having al
these different schools in the same campus
but in having each one of them the best of it's
kind. They will be no greater nor of any more
credit 80 the State to have them all in one place
than if they are In three different places. There
Is no State in the West where such consolida
ton has been made, and we cannot, therefore,
appeal to experience. Michigan is often cited,
but she Is not an example. Her School OF
Agriculture and Mechanic arts is at Lansing,
her normal school at Ypsilanti, and her profes
Arbor Cornell university, in New York,
has attempted to conduct under
one general management her industrial,
and classical and professional schools, but not
with such success as to the industrial schools,
that the friends of industrial education would
wish the experiment repeated in this State. Let
me repeat, that the honor to the State is in hav-
ing the best schools of their kind. This is posi-
BILE only when the best teachers are employed.
great university is great because of the abii-
ity of its faculty, and for no other reason.
8. The reason most frequently urged for con-
solidation is thatthe expense of maintaining these
schools would be lessened. There is something in
this. How much will appear by the careful study
of the demands of each school. A normal school
has specific function. It's purpose is to give
instruction and training in the theory and art of
school teaching. Ali of the students efforts
must be directed to this end. The college or
high-school graduate must make this second or
professional study of the different branches of
learning, well he who is ignorant of the
information which these branches contain. The
theory of q normal school is that Its
entering, and that they are there to learn
how to impart it. Although there is practical
necessity of giving to many this information
along with their professional training because
of their ignorance of it, yet both can be Taught
at the same time 1t, however, requires
longer time and different instruction from that
given in the college or the industrial schools.
1t follows therefore, that the normal school
must have its distinct faculty and organization,
whether it be located in the same campus with
the classical school, or hundred miles
away. A normal school does not, in
any particular duplicate the work Of either of
these other institutions. Something might be
saved in fuel, provided the buildings are near
enough together to be heated by one furnace.
A literary and industrial school have different
ends in view. The one prepares for some
special pursuit, while the other is for general
culture. The literary college and the common
school have one purpose, viz: general culture.
Each has for its end the attainment Of that
mental discipline and general knowledge that
shall form basis upon which to build the
knowledge OF any special vocation.
mon school lays it down. The college graduate
is better prepared for life than the graduate
from the common school, because.h he has more
general knowledge (which is knowledge common
to the intelligent practice of all vocat1ons), and
more discipline of mind or power not because
he knows any more ABOUT any special vocation.
He is simply better prepared to learn vocation,
and may be expected to achieve that higher sue
cess in it which his superior discipline and
knowledge would make possible to him. The
special school, whether industrial or professional
receives the student with such general culture
as the common school or college has given him,
and upon this as basis, undertakes to instruct
! him in both the theory and the art of particu-
lar vocation This vocation may require that he
have special knowledge of one or more of the
sciences. The end for which he must know
these. demands special kind of instruction and
training which could not be received in a class
tnas were pursuing e sup1ece merely LOT Ins
devote more time to it The same is
true of mathematics if he would
be a civil engineer. of chemistry if he would
be a pharmaceutist,- etc. In short, three such
different institutions as college, an industrial
school, and normal school cannot be CONSOLE
dated in any other sense than that the buildings
| in which they are taught may be ia the same
| campus. The teaching in one school will not
meet the needs of the students of either of the
other schools There might be one nresdeut
for the three, and yet each separate school
would need its special supervisor, who should be
an expert in the work done in it, The
| principal difference between then and now would
seem to be that now each of these supervisors is
called president, whereas then he would be called
| dean. And if general president were employed
that would make one officer more than is now
required. 4.a
| While some slight saving in the incidental ex-
| penses of the schools might be made by consol-
idatinn Ii Ia irnnnssihla that the faerltu which