The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-27
TEACHERS ARE NATIVES
MINNESOTA PEOPLE BORN AND
BRED GUIDE .IIIVENI1.n IDEAS

ASANAHD OO1OEI ~ v EMILE IDEAS
Sons and daughters of Minnesota farm
ers constitute for the most part the
teachers In rural schools, and from OBJ
servattons made by State Superintendent
Lewis on his recent tour of summer
training schools that class of schools
are among the best educational tnstitu
tons in the state Supt J. H. Lewis in
MS Official capacity as superintendent of
public instruction, visits every summer
as many Of the training schools and in
st1tutes possible, and from this tour of
inspection he has just returned He as
serts that each succeeding year sees more
native talent in the schools and with this
innovation comes an improvement that is
very pronounced. Mr.. Lewis is an ar
dent friend of the rural school. and
points with pride to the innumerable
distinguished men and women who trace
their elementary training to the country
school house.
This year we have forty-two summer
schools" said Mr.. Lewis, land they are,
I think, without doubt, as successful as
those Of previous years. This Is saying
good DEAL as we have had some excel
lent training schools, but this year the
character of the work throughout is ex-
ceptionalIy fine. Teachers are abandon
ing the idea of merely going to sum-
mer school to brush up for the state ex-
animation. The work being done this
summer Is of a solid and substantial
character While 1t may be that the at
tendance this year is not quite up to pre-
vious years, yet we have forty-two
schools that for interest and results will
probably not be surpassed in the very
near future. Unusual interest is being
taken, and teachers are specializing more
than ever. For instance If teacher Is
deficient in mathematics, he or she Is
given the opportunity of reciting twice In
different classes every day. The work is
unusually thorough, and the teachers
are making the sessions very successful
indeed.
"The effect OF the new law requiring
and regulating the certidcation of teach
ers can already be seen, and during my
trip several cases have come to my notice
that prove very conclusively the efficiency
of the new system. Teachers who have
been teaching for ten years on a third
grade certificate are given the option OF
leaving the profession or Of qualifying
under the new law. The new law not
only weeds out the inefficient, but it pre-
vents the employment Of young and i'm
mature teachers. 1t has not been I'M
common in the past that teachers enter
the school room after graduating from
the eighth grade Now they are required
to go to the normal school,.
al believe that the attendance at the
normal schools this year, despite the poor
crop conditions in some localities, will be
larger than ever before. All attempts
have been abandoned to teach the higher
branches in the high schools, as the
standard Of all four schools has been ma
terially advanced, giving the normal
schools more of an exclusive and distinc-
tive field than before. The advancement
of the standard required for teaching in
Minnesota and the improvement Of the
normals Is beneficial in more ways than
one. Teachers are, and will be, paid bet
ter wages. District officers realize That
good teacher at $500 per year IS better
than a poor teacher at no salary at all.
Farmers send their daughters to the
normals to prepare for the important
work of teaching, and the number of
young women living in the country that
are given schools, from the experience OF
the past, will give our rural schools a
still better general tone"