New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-03-07


in room &, which was vacant at the time.
The knowing Five. Inspector Alton. and
MIR. Nix, were present. Mr. Alton, in
replying to questions, said in substance
what Mr.. Nix had told the Board time
and again, that they must offer Univels-
ity preparatory courses, and increase the
time and teaching force given to the
high school. In their disappointment the
Five proceeded to neutrality-suspicious.
in to the causes ofaour school war. They
took turns in rehearsing campaign lies
with variations and additions ad libitum.
thus keeping Supt. Nix on the defensive
for more than four hours. The forenoon
of Dec. 9Th was spent by MI. Alton in
visiting classes, almost constantly attend
ed by two or more of the Five. The
exploration of the hitherto unknown
realms of Union Building. with its labv
rinthian passages and mysterious f1ues,
was so successfully completed that In
spector Aitor did not meet Miss Nc
Caughin, the best teacher in our schools.
and that he remarked to Supt. Nix, be-
fore taking the afternoon train, that he
must leave without learning anything
about our school system, which he had
come to study.
Inspector Alton told Supt. Nix that
"such man" as Milne should certainly
not get State certificate; that Milne
was out of place in such schools as ours;
that Mines work in history was unsys-
tematic and aimless; that Milne had, in
his presence, made the Pilgrim Fathers
land in Pennsylvania, and that he had
made mistakes which Mr.. Silverson had
noticed. He said that Supt. Nix demand
ed of teachers work of higher education
al character than could be expected at
salaries ordinarily paid, giving it as his
opinion, in the presence of the Five, that
certain work he had seen could not be
done by more than half dozen teachers
in the State. The Inspector urged Supt.
Nix to recommend to the board reduc-
ton of the time given to German, as
suring him that members of the board
favored such reduction, and that such
Ior1
approval. Mr.. Nix replied that this
was simply trap set for him by his
friends of the board, and that he would
not put his foot into it. He said that
during the first and second school years
most Of the branches are taught in both
English and German: and that, beoinn-
ing with the third school year, German
is special branch, with 81 hours per
week in intermediate grades, q hours
per week in the grammar grades, and 1
hour 10 minutes weekly for German
compositions in the high school. Mr..
Alton, of course, Gid not consider the
time given to German excessive.
At the request of members of the
board, Inspector Alton wrote them a
lengthy letter embodying his recommen-
dations and suggestions, under date of
Dec. 9, 1898. Supt. Nix saw this let.
ter for the first time in a special
meeting held about Dec. 1s. When Mr..
Nix repeated Mr.. Atoms remarks 1ela-
tive to a reduction of the time allotted
to German, the Five agreed that there
must be misunderstanding somewhere.
Each of them denied that he had ever
said anything of the kind; G. 81. Horn
burg took the cake by claiming that he
had told Inspector Alton that the time
for German must be increased. Supt.
Nix was then requested to prepare in
that meeting of the board, a plan en-
bodying theInspector's recommendations,
with such departures therefrom as the
L ANo iilA SACou u pun. Lie Icplleu LQdC
he must first obtain accurate information
from the high school board relative to
changes that might have been made in
the courses outlined in the II. s. Manual.
by the resolution of that body. recently
adopted, to lengthen courses to four
years. He also claimed that he could
not turn out satisfactory new plans,
courses, programs, and suggestions for
an increase of school room, without 1ea-
sonable time for considering these mat
ters, calling attention to the overcrowd-
ed rooms of Union building, four of
which contain from 70 to 80 pupils each.
Mr.. Nix suggested that he be given time
tc the January meeting Of the board
Jan. 8. to prepare areport covering the
whole subject. Hampered again p Tie
Five had met to improve the schools that