The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1900-07-19
ManitOwOc, Though a Pioneer Has
Backed Out.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ONE URGED
Prof. c. f. Patzers Ideal Not Yet
Realized,
OTHER COUNTIES HAVE ADOPTED 1T
The Good Work That High School on the
Central System Could Accomplish Would
be an Excellent Leader to Train.
ing SCHOOL, Thoughtful Dis.
cussOn of the Project.

The communication which follows
has been written by a competent man,
well able to discuss the advantages OF a
training school The letter is subjoined:
To the Editor of The Pilot: Turning
over the files of the Pilot, find in one
of the issues of the spriug of 1894, a
lengthy communication from the pen of
ex-Supt. c. E. Patzer, urging the ne
cessity of training school For teach
ers. In this movement Prof. PatZer was
ably supported by the late John Maggie.
The County Board of Supervisors recog-
nized the logic of the superintendent $
position ly pass ng unanimously the fol-
lowing resolutions:
Resolved That a training school for teachers
would tend to elevate the cause of elementary
education, and further
Resolved that the 81 pc 'intendent is hereby
requested to formulate plan of organization
for such a scho i to lie submitted at the next
session of the County Board of Supervisors
"A few months later Supt. Patzer be-
came the principal of the first ward
school and the project was dropped. The
movement, however, attracted the at
tention of educators in all parts of the
state The journal of Education" ed
tied by Prof. j. w. Stearns, director of
the College of Education of the univer-
sity, devoted considerable space in com
menting upon the ideas set forth by
Prof. Patzer. Manitowoc did nothing
at the time, nor has it since
In the meantime our country schools,
owing to IN administrative mishap, have
taken long step backward. Today
they are again advancing, yet their con
dition is such as to warrant the super
intendent in declaring in his last report
that the situation is serious. Expert
enced teachers leave the field, and the
new applicants, almost without excep
ton, are not specially prepared fol- the
work. No assurance is or can be given
that precisely the same conditions will
not prevail year hence and later.
Following the suggestion of Prot. PATTI
er Marathon county established train
ing school for teachers in connection
with the large high school at Wausau.
The Wausau Pilot few weeks ago re-
ported the graduation of class OF TWEEN
ty-three young men and women well
equipped to sfapple with the very prob
lem that make conditions serious in
Manitowoc. Other counties are already
getting into line; why should Mantle
voc, the pioneer in the movement re.
main stolidly Indifferent?
For many years Milwaukee high
schools successfully maintained teach.
ers' training course, and abandoned the
scheme only after the state normal
school was opened III that city.
Here the advocates of a central high
school come forward to present solu
ton that is not visionary nor even ex-
perimental. With the aid of large
high scnool Manitowoc can do what
Marathon county is engaged in at pres
ent and what Milwaukee has long since
accomplished Itwould be the height OF
folly to open an Independent training
school; indeed the effort would involve
needless expense and could not possibly
be productive of much good. On the
other hand, a large high school with it.
diversity of courses would bring the pro
spective teacher in contact with the
broadening spirit of higher learning, ant
would root out the old foggysm thai
develops with scclusion. The higl
school would offer opportunities for AGA
demic training that cannot be obtained
without it, and scholarship, surely, i,
the first and foremost requisite of sue
cessful work in the school room. Add
ing to this suitable professional work
the problem of securing trained teachers
for our grade and district schools vii
be approaching n satisfactory solution
"G. b. c."