Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-01-18

ambitious generation. They will have
been bred, born and reared AMID in
dustrious and hopeful surroundings;
and In the future, as in the past,
goodly percentage will be from the
rural districts. 1t should be the privi-
lege of the general assembly to make
the best possible provision for the de-
development of the intellectual re-
sources of Iowa, which have never
been equaled by any generation. and
In this and kin
Benefits dred matters econ
of this omy Is not the syn
p,.n onym for states
central graded school in each township.
and with a superintendent of these
schools at such salary aswili command
the best talent IN the market, to be Sc
lected by a board in the same manner
as city's super.ntendents are chosen,
and the employment of corps OF ma
tured teachers. fair proportion OF
whom should be men, would wonder
fully augment the effectiveness of our
educational system, and insure the re-
tention in the schools of our boys as
well az our girls
The foregoing Oh
State servations natura ly
lead to the quest on
Norm"i of normal schools.
SchOOl4 Iswa Possesses one
such institution IN e.
state control and management THIS hes
facilities to reasonably accommodate SIX
hundred pupils. During the last year the
attendance has averaged over one thou
sand. A better class of students never
congregated. They are not sent to the
State Normal school IN the fond hope that
they may develop into some hing. 81 me
time, but they come voluntarily and me- ny
of them at their own expense, with the
settled purpose to make men and women
of themselves, to take their places In the
battle Of life, and to bear their share II
the woEld's burdens. The schoo- Is or )ssly
overcrowded. j do not believe its capacity
ought to be materially increased. There
is limit IN number over which an ir-
structor can exercise personal influence
Until character is firmly establ'she and
the bent Of attainment and desire well
fixed, the best results have ever been ac-
buttons, even when the equipment has
been below the standard. Afterwards.
the great university. with Its thousand'
to eight hundred pupils is, in my opinion.
the maximum for any one Normal schoo..
should be glad to
Fayors FOur see a sta.e normal
New g, the nraat ,rdnS
Normal Schools railways of Iowa. I
better to locate them thus than to follow
geographical divisions, for the reason
that distance Is not so important a fac or
as accessibility. II is frequently more
difficult to compass thirty miles n nth and
south than to cross the state from eat
TO west. There are quite a number of o.
cahties ready. and anxious, TO make to
the state donation of spacious groun4s
and suitable buildings already erected.
adequate for a school with an attendance
of from two to five hundred. Other COM
munities are willing 20 donate grounds
and subscribe the needed money 10 Blu ID.
I think II would be both wise ard prudent
for the general assembly at this session
to locate at least four normal schools
Forty or fifty thousand dol airs In prop
erty can be secured as a donation with
each school thus located. This would
equal an appropriation OF two hundred
Thousand dollars. 1t would cost less to
put these schools in operation than to
build the equivalent in additions to the
existing plant and be much more advan-
tageous to the patrons than one gigantic
institution, where student influences are
quite liable TO overbalance that OF tea"h-
ers and Instructors. Five norma. schools
VIII not be an oversupply for Iowa. Mas
sachuset.s has ten; New York twelve:
Pennsylvania thirteen; Wisconsin. with
less population than Iowa, already main
ta.ns seven; while Minnesota and Mi .
sour. each has four; and Illinois rs build
ing her fifth.