The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-03
NORMAL SCHOOLS Do
HIGH SCHOOLS WORK
President Weld. of Moorhead
Normal. Criticises Course of
Study in High Schools.


port submitted at the meeting of the
normal school at Duluth last Friday
discussed the relation of the high
school to the normal school.
This was one of the chief topics OF
discussion at the meeting of the high
school board in this city on Thursday
last, and Mr.. Morey, of Winona, intro
duced a resolution which would, in
case of it's adoption, require the high
schools of the state to offer a course
which would fit pupils for the graduate
courses in the normal schools.
Mr.. Weld has been prominent in this
state as an educator for some years,
and his knowledge of pedagogy is not
confined within the limitations of nor
NAL school work, for he was at one
time superintendent of schools in Still
water, and previously principal of the
high school of that city. In his report
Mr.. Weld says:
Internationally speaking, the present
generation is passing through a period
of transition, and certainly it is Pc
riod of great progress along most lines
of educational effort. In dropping
many of the conservative notions of
past generations we are brought face
to face with the rapid material develop
ment of the present day. Demands are
made upon the schools today when
were unknown a few years ago. Inc
public schools are organized primarily
to prepare young people for citizenship,
and, comparatively speaking, the
schools assist very few persons to Sc
cure an education which entities one
to enter upon a professional career.
Too Much Generalization.
"Are we not striving too hard to give
aid to the few, in comparison with the
effort for the many? The course OF
study in most of the public schools is
so heavily loaded that the average stu
dent, during the most precious years
of his course, has little time to assimi-
late knowledge. His work is too large
ly process of generalization. 1t Is not
sufficiently specific and it is this which
lays the work of the public schools
open to criticism Of the business world.
ct is not the high school graduate,
the college graduate, who must fight
his way into position in the world of
business progress; it is the boy and
girl in the grammar school and the
first years of the high school who have
to face this problem. They are the
many; the graduates are few.
1.-The curricula in the public graded
schools are framed with the idea In
mind that the subjects involved shall
prepare the student for the high school.
The majority Of students who enter
our public schools leave school during
the sixth, seventh or eighth year. To
what prominence is given the thought
that the work of these crucial years
shall be of such character that the
students may leave it prepared to en-
ter the store or bank as clerk, the
machine shop as an apprentice, and
inspire his employer with a degree of
confidence in definite knowledge Sc
cured through the channels Of the pub
lie schools?
Instruction Not Practical Enough.
Courses of study, are not so con-
structed. And are the normal schools
doing what might be done to accom-
plish this most desired result? I have
long been of the opinion that there
should be sympathetic relationship
between the graded and high school
systems of the state and the normal
school system. With such relationship
established, courses of study might be
adjusted so as to become mutually
helpful.
Il believe that the normal schools
are not doing all that might be done
made reference 1t is not for me to
make specific recommendations con-
corning these matters, but / hope that
such questions may receive considera-
ton at the hands of this board and
the high school board.
"The high schools give little or no
attention, specifically, to the prepara-
ton of students for the normal schools
There are courses of study in every
oil 1c6 frrL, Cnbn 20, cSf11 ~
who are ambitious to take college
course, but what high school has a
course of study arranged, specifically
with the end in view that a graduate
from it may be prepared to enter upon
course of training in normal
school?
"The normal schools are doing work
for the high school graduate which
should have been done in the high
school and it has seemed to me for many
years that the high school should offer
a course of study leading directly to
the professional training proposed by
the normal school.
Reach Normal School Unprepared.
"The large majority of high school
graduates who enter a normal school
elect the most unsatisfactory courses
of study offered by the normal schools
namely, the one-year graduate course
| They come to the normal school with
out special preparation to take up the
work of that course, and the result is
that the work is too often of a super
fetal and altogether unsatisfactory
character. The graduate receives ar
elementary diploma which represents
a course Of training covering period
of five years, four years having beer
spent in the high school, and one yeal
in the normal school.
1.-THE advanced diploma is granted tC
men and women who complete the
five years course of study, and the
high school graduate who has spent
two years in a normal school. In the
former case the diploma represents
work covering period of five years
and in the latter case a period of six
years. I believe that the normal
schools would do we'll to drop the one
year graduate course of study, pre-
| supposing conditions somewhat as
| follows:
Let the high schools adopt a three
year course of study, arranged spe-
| officially to meet the requirements OF
| preparation suggested by the advanced
| course of study in the normal schools
| Under such conditions, it would bt
| possible for the high school graduate
to save years time, and yet spent
! two years in a normal school,
1.-THE training thus secured would be
| in my judgment, far superior to tina
now secured by persons who spend
| four wears in a high school and ont