The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-30
prosperous development Of the North
west
ANOTHER BRILLIANr IDEA.

The eminent educator who occupies
the mayors Office at the city hall has
been pleased to flash upon this COM
munity another Of the brilliant ideas
with which he is charged. He has sup
plemented the lecture on education
which he gave for our edif1cation
short time ago, and upon which the
G o b made appreciative comment,
with some further remarks, one of
which seems to deserve a passing no.
tioe. He is Of the opinion that some
money, she is not prepared to say how
much" could be saved by doing away
with the teachers training school A
mere ordinary man Of business would
have made himself acquainted, before
touching the subject, with this trifing
detail Of cost; since all that was needed
was a telephone message to the secre-
tary of the school board. He might
then have learned that the teachers
training school, whatever its impor-
! lance or unimportance in our educa-
tiOna1 work, absorbs an amount of
funds so trif1ing as to be scarcely
worthy of notice. However, we can
never expect a genius to be subject to
such limitations We are more inter
ested in the speculative thought of
this great mind on the general propo-
sition. Here it is: ITO his mind, if
pupil who had spent ten or, twelve
years in the schools Of ST. Paul and
graduated was not fit to teach without
an extra years finish in the training
school, then the system was at fault
and should be changed"
Those Of US who are made Of COM
moner clay, and do not rely upon in
spiration, have always had the idea that
teaching is a profession which requires
special preparation to reach the best
results. 1t is possible that a young
man might go through the public
schools of st. Paul, and graduate at
the high school, and not be fitted there
upon to enter active practice in law or
in medicine. The practice of teaching
is a science and an art which has en-
| gagged the thought and been made the
life work Of many Of the strongest and
noblest minds Of this and other coun-
tries. All progress that has been made
In educational methods, and in the pro-
cess of imparting instruction to the
young, is the result Of scientific study
and development. There are certain
relics Of an Anticipated age still Iinger-
| ing in the uncultivated and weed
grown corners who consider that the
work of education consists in pointing
the index finger at printed letters of
| book while the child recites his A B Cs
and, when he is advanced a little fur
Their. in hearing him recite by rote the
printed passages that he has commit
ted to memory. Such was once the idea
Of teachers occupation It Is an in
teresting archaeological fact that this
idea is not yet wholly extinct.
AS the training of children is abso-
| lutely and without exception the most
important work that devoIves upon
men and women, and as the state as
SuIlIeS All the DUTY ana RESPONSE billty
| that go with it when it establishes a.
public school system, so we have
thought that the fitting of teachers to
do this work, their equipment with
knowledge of all that has been discov-
cred in educational methods, would be
Of prime Importance. It would seem,
! indeed, to be the very center and soul
| Of the whole business Of education.
! Yet this is a world in which we live
and learn. We cannot, however, con-
slider that the matter is definitely set
tied without appeal. However eminent
the authority whose dictum we have
been considering, there are others"
Mr.. McCardy has not yet spoken