The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1893-07-27

This was practically conceded from the /
start, but it seemed that Wausau or
Marsbfeld should have been the site |
OF the one to be located at Stevens Point. |
Superior gives a bonus of s65. 900 and
Stevens Point gives $4,000.
This is a multiplication OF normal I
schools wholly beyond the needs Of the /
state. Not only this; tie establishment |
of these new ones will work TO the detri- t
maut OF the normal schools low estab- /
lislsd and reduce all TO the level of local /
high schools. These new schools were /
designed for the benefit OF locality aid
not for the cause Of education, with a /.
purpose Ii reser.e to create positions for
men who may be DESTROYS OF the dlstlnc- /
ton of holding pfofessorships. If the |
hope of securing these schools IN the ln- |
terests OF locality had not influenced the
Judgment OF men &c ;ustomed to exer-
else their reason, and thus made them
passive in opposition or active in sup
port, DO law authorizing an increase IN
have been enacted. Tho craze for normal
.hools is very similar to the craze for
factories which has been sweeping over
this county and which has manifested
Itself in the unhealthy stimulation of the
bonus. The wisdom Of artificial growth
ia this direction is sufficiently negatiyed
by the series Of disasters through which
we are passing and which are the result
of oyerproduction and the management
OF large interests on the credit system.
The business of the country outran its
capacity and its needs and the institu-
tions which were brought into beng on
correct business principles suffered be-
cause of the forced product of concerns
| running on the proceeds of bonus.
The normal schools to be established
at Stevens Point and Superior are bast-
ard institutions in that they are not the
outcome of any legitimate need. The
cities which secured them have purchas-
ed them at a cost far exceeding their
value even to them, and the treasury OF
the state is to be despoiled that wild
and utterly irresponsible educational
sentiment might crystalline into some
thing tangible.
It is not the financial cost to the state
that needs consideration, however, be-
cause if there is not extravaganza IN one
direction there will be in another. What
| the state needs are normal schools IN the
proper sense Of the term, not those which
are such only in name. Ii the means
which have been SO lavishly bestowed
sense unwisely) had been dlssipated in
building up local universities in every
corner Of the state would the policy be
| deemed a wise one III the direction of
building up an educational institution
offering facilities for broad and liberal
education?
If the state assumes the duty of edu-
eating teachers it should educate them
thoroughly. The normal school gradu-
ate is at a disadvantage to-day when
brought into competition for position.
with the graduate of the ordinary col
lege VINO has had no specific training in
the line of work which both seek. The
first FAMED may be superior in edUca-
tional attainments as he is almost GER
tam to be IN immediate and available
knowledge of the teachers duties, and
yet he is discredited because of the limi-
tations of the institution from which he
derives his warrant to teach. He has
had the advantage of definite purpose ID
the training he sought and he seeks en-
ployment with that purpose matured in
results. And still he is made to stand
on plane below that occupied by the
man whose training had reference to
teaching only as Incidental to the carry
ing out of another purpose. This is the
position forced upon our So called nor
NAL schools. In the early part of their
career this was unavoidable, but they
should have grown out Of conditions
which are characteristic of youthful
weakness. They could have and would
have if the people held to the purpose
of building up normal schools and not
treat them as gifts for localities or
things to be purchased by bonus or to
be multiplied at will, and suffer degener-
acy, so that they may be more widely
distributed in the interests of those who
keep boarding houses.
There is not a normal school in Wis
consin which pays salary sufficient to
command the continued services of a
good man in any position below the
presidency. The normal schools are to
the country schools are to the city schools
places In which to wear off professional
greenness. When the normal school has
converted lnexperience into maturity
it turns over the product to some instl-
tuition that has means enough to proper
~ compensate it. AS result, the nor
mai schools are passing into the hand
of women who have not yet as wide a
field open to them as have those OF the
other sex. Even the lady teachers are
sacrificing their individual interests in
remaining in the employment of the
state in normal schools.
There is no disparagement of lady
| teachers intended when it is said that men
OF strength aid years sufficient to have
/
should be employed as professors in
normal schools where young men ale
| trained for the important work of teach
| ing. The policy of the state should be
to strengthen the schools we have until
they approximate the standard of real
normal schools and not multiply build
incs on the solicitation of cities anxious