The Washington times. (Washington, D.C.) 1894-1895, 1895-06-19

What do they do the whole year through?
First they study-study in their lessons
arithmetic, geography and all the rest, to
make quite, quite sure that in the transit
from grade one to the normal school they
have left no weak places through which
they, as teachers, may later let little Chi
dren into inaccuracies or falsities of fact or
thought. In this careful study of all the
subjects taught in the graded schools he
sides the use of books and other regular
school appliances, the educational resources
of the city are used
biologists. botanists,- biologists, ento-
mologists and other scientific men from the
various government bureaus give themselves
with unfailing interest and kindness to the
work of illustrating, explaining and fur
nishing material 10 make these young people
sure of the facts which, by and by, they are
to teach. In this year they realize, through
experience, that they need not be uncertain
about facts, as they have been ascertained
up TO date since they are at the very doors
of trained specialists who apparently delight
TO help and instruct. ThispeTsonalc ouSuIta-
ton with authority and personal investiga-
ton of material is in itself an education to
these normal pupils
To study like this the subjects taught in
the grades means a great deal OF time and
energy, but this is not all-no, not half
These pupils are soon TO be teachers 1t is
not enough for them TO know inch by
inch, here a little and there n little, but
instead. they must have grasp or outlook
on the whole So they patiently study
each subject again-this time not for facts,
but to try to settle some of the following
questions: What does this subject mean?
How much is it needed in practical Hfee
What place does it take in education? Has
it been taught in the most practical way
so far as the child's training and life needs
are concerned? Into what parts does the
subject logically separate itself and what
has each of these parts to do with that one,
or that or that? Which of these in teach
ing should be made strong because they
have a value and which ineonspicuous or
wanting because they have no practical
or inspirational bearing on the issues Of
life?
To settle these vital questions demands
time, thought, and Judgment. 1t re-
quires keen insight into present conditions
and needs So, as Well as they are able,
With their youth and inexperence, these
young folks try to determine what kind
of man and woman the world wants tfor
that is what they have engaged to do,
to train little children into harmony with
the world and into strength for its bet
terment) Young, as they are, emotional,
in love with the picturesque and romantic
side of life, carried away by their Greek
and Latin. history and literature of the
high school, they are led, sometimes with
difficulty to feel that the present edu-
eational ideal is neither Greek nor Roman
nor knight, but a larger, greater, more
complex creature-to-day'S and to-moF-
rows man or woman for whose efficiency
and strength and happiness they are to
be to no slight degree responsible.
Two lines of study have been given-that
which goes to strengthen the normal pupils
in knowledge and that which leads them
to study education and its factors. Even
this means a stupendous years work,
but this is not ALL They must study chill
dren if they expect to teach them. SO
across the halls, as part Of the normal
school. are ten schools of little children,
into which the normal school pupils go
for study and actual working expert
ences. These practice schools, as they
are called, are what the moot court is to
the law student and the clinic to the
student of medicine. The normal pupils
study the children at work and at play
with the same fidelity to truth that is
maintained in the study of a flower or
of another animal. What Is the physi-