The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1899-05-26
REVISED COURSE.
Normal School Term Made Five
Years.
The Standard of Admission to be Raised,
and q Ninth Grade Added to
the Model School.

President Cooper returned Saturday
night from St. Paul, where he attended
meeting of the presidents of the Nor
NAL schools and committee of the
state Normal board. The presidents
agreed upon revised course of study
and it was approved by the committee
and will be submitted at the meeting of
the Normal board June 9th. The
general purpose is to require years
work more for uentrance and years
work more at the top to strengthen the
course and eliminate work that should
be done in common schools.
AS agreed upon by the committee, a
pupil may enter the Normal school and
complete the course in five years, or
may enter after finishing high school
course and complete the Normal course
in one or two years. 1t abandons the
course by which one could graduate in
three years. 1t takes for granted a
graded school course and something
over. The common branches are no
longer to be taught in. the normal
schools for the facts in them, but
studied for further knowledge and for
methods of teaching. There will be
the first second and third years, and the
junior and senior classes. High school
graduates will take special course.
There will be two courses-Latin and
English-instead of three Courses, as
before. Botn will cover the same
ground in the senior year. The junior
class will take up psychology, especial
ly, and the history of education, and
will have reviews of the common
branches. The senior year will be de-
voted to practice teaching, more
psychology and pedagogy and literature
and social science.
On the academic side the work is to
be more thorough by lessening the num-
Der of subjects. Algebra and geometry,
for instance, are to have three terms
instead of two and history year in
stead of term. The course will be
compressed by dropping some subjects
or making them elective. Special at
tention is to be given to history, science
and English. composition and rhetoric.
More stress is also to be laid on the
technical, theoretical, pedagogical side
of instruction, more of the philosophy
of education, and general and special
methods of teaching.
A change in the model schools-where
they have the children to be practiced
on-will be considered before the next
meeting. 1t is proposed that instead of
having the pupil teachers watch each
other do it in the feeblest way they
should observe experienced teachers
handle their classes in the best way.
No apology is necessary" said Supt.
Lewis Saturday, ''for five-year course
before the state will grant certificate
of proficiency, nor for the fact that
Minnesota is the first state to require
it. It fits the students to teach quite as
early in life as most of them are reason
ably matured. 1t presumes no longer
preparation in school and in the profess
sional school than is necessary in law or
medicine. Henceforth Normal
school diploma in Minnesota has uni
form meaning and certifes to a
thorough training for teaching"
THE changes" said President Mills
paugh, "are radical but not revolution
airy. They were unanimously agreed
upon and within two years believe
they will be appreciated everywhere as
beneficial for the schools of the state"
A ninth year is to be added to the
model school, which will enable those
who have come up through the model
school to enter the normal department
without delay.