The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-13
.NORMALS
in DEMAND
Delegation Asks for One at
Manassas.
a STRONG PLEA is MADE
A STRONG PLEA is MADE
Judge ohas. E. NIcoI and Others Say
Their Town Is an Ideal Place-Ds-
tlngulshed Educators Before the
Committee to Urge Action.

It Will be remembered that tho Con.
eral Assembly, at their last session. MP.
pointed committee OF flye to report
| on tho uesirabil.ty Of establishing IN.
othcrj normal school that would Give
special attention to instruction In man.
ual trimming. The COMMITTEES consists
OF M'.ssrs. Watkins and opic frc.: tho
SENATE. and Messrs, Settle, Lowry and
West from the House Of Delegates.
Tho committee met In the Senate Cham
Der on "Wednesday night and were adj
dressed first by President Jar1nan, Of
Enrmville, lie claimed that the first
thing that Virginia should seeh should
be to develop one perfect normal, which.
he thought. should be in connection With
the plant already In successful opera
ton. The school at E'army1lle, 7,e said,
was obliged to give Its pupils, on nh
average, about two years OF high
school instruction before they oould
| go ahead with normal education proper,
He advocated the establishment OF pub
lilo high schools In every county, which
could serve as feeders to the State Nor
NAL. DO that whom the girls reached
Farmvillo ther could give all their ut
tention to tho technical training needed
for the exercise OF their profession. He
asked on behalf OF Farmville ON appro.
priatlon OF $4,000 to enable that In.
stltution to do the 1secessary work foq
carrying out the object for which 1t
was established.
STRONG DELEGATION,
After President Jarmnn had answered
q number OF questions propounded BIZ
the .comznittee, Senator Donohoe, OF
FairfaA, introduced a delegation from
Manassas, Prince William county. which
desired hearing before the committee.
The delegation consisted Of Judge Chaa
Nip11 iv~l ~
her, Howard p. Dodge and George G.
Round. Messrs. Ficol and Round acted
as the 5pekesmen Of the delegation.
They urged that Far1nville had been in
operhtion for nineteen years and It's
graduates had not been sufficiently nu-
merous to I'LL the demand for good
teachers In large part OF the Common
wealth, The erect OF Farmville was
hardly appreciahle in Prince William
ana many other counties. And II the
public schools must walt til a system
Of high schools were established and
until girls were prepared for the perfect
normal proposed, the present generation
or school children must be educated In
the present inferior methods. The dele.
cation from Manassas believed that
farmville should have every dollar they
asked for and they believed they would
De more apt to get 1t II one or two more
%'oA i'tehaS VSiS cSGtptkNleu IN OCnoT Darius
OF the State. Judge NIcol claimed that
little genuine rivalry between normals
IN different parts OF the Commonwealth
would benefit the present school instead
OF injuring itas He believed also that
men OF wealth IN Northern Virginia and
IN Washington city and the North might
be Induced to help a new institution
which had the seal OF the approval OF
Virginia He called attention to the fact
that the counties north Of the Chesa-
peake and Ohio Railroad paid about one
third Of the taxes OF the State and were
contributing largely toward carrying
on the State Government In other parts
OF the State. All the vast territory had
been for generations contributing toward
State institutions at Williamsburg, Rich
mond, Petersburg. Farnylle, Chnrlottes-
Vile. Staunton. Rlacksburg and Marion
and not dollar had ever been returned
to Northern Virginia. The State should
establish its new normal In Northern
Virginia and he was authorized by the
citizens of Manassas to invite tho State
to send a commission to Manassas and
select the best site they could flnd-fiye
ton or twenty acres-free Of expense to
tho State. he urged the advantages Of
Its splendid railroad facilities and It's
proximity to the educational Influences
OF the National Capital and its interest
Ing associations rs arguments in favor
Of tho location OF the girls normal on
tho historic plains Of Mnnnssas.
AN OLD OFFICER.
Mr., Round said he spoke from the
standpoint of n school officer. appointed
among the first batch OF trustees in 1870,
under the public school system. It was
not, In his estimation, 80 much a ul,es-
ton Of appropriation Of few tholsa nd
dollars. but whether the immense amount
Of money we were now spending on our
public schools should DO half of AZ
thrown away on inefficient teachers. AZ
n trustee he had noticed that a girl who
had natural tcnching capacity, wns
vastly benefited even by 1our-weeks'
stay at summer normal. Arrange
ments should be madc at once for the
best training we can give to the girls
who are ambitious to become teachers.
Go ahead with tho perfection OF the
Far1nyille school, but along with It 20
to work In some practical efforts to train
the teachers who haven't had tho timo
or opportunity to complete high school
or college course. Mr.. Round said that
these Ideas were not now ones for him
On the 18th Of March. 1874. he intro
duced tho first bill on this subject in
the Legislature. Els proposition then
laid before the General Assembly was
for the immediate establishment OF
system Of normal schoos-three white
and two colored. The latter we already
have. We ought to have the other
two white normals at once, one in North
ern Virginia and another In the South
west The cry in 1874 was the same
as now: lack Of money" He claimed
that If the system he advocated thirty
years ago had been adopted then 1t
would have been a saving of money and
public school system Of which we
might be justly proud.
Dr.. southall followed. asserting I'M
general to what had boen urged, but
specially urging the claims Of Tarmvllle
The fact was brought out that five
sevenths of the public school teachers
are women and It was conceded that the
proportion OF that sex would Increase
rather than diminish. because of the su-
periorlty of female teachers md the
economy of school funds necessary to
obtain the best schools possible,
REV. THOMAS r. SLICER