The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1907-06-21
OUT OF THE NORMAL
Large Class Is Graduated
From That Institution.
ADDRESS BY PROF. M'vEY.
Diplomas Were Presented BY ii. L.
Buck of WinOna, Member OF the
Board: Successful Affair.
from THURSDAYS Daily.

Srom THURSDAYS Daily.
The thirty eighth commencement ex'
ercises of the state normal school took
place at the chapel last evening, and ITO
Young ladies and gentlemen having com
pleted the course, received their dlplo-
mas. With the fifty that had previous
" during the year received diplomas, the
total number for the year was 100, the
largest number ever graduated from the
school in any one year. The Free Press
has heretofore published the list OF those
graduating.
The chapel was filled to its fullest ca
pacity. The stage presented an attrac-
tive scene, having a back ground OF
leaves, in such quantities that 1t almost
seemed as though a forest must have
been robbed of its verdure to supply
them. Flowers and plants helped set Off
the front of the rostrum. The members
of the faculty and speakers occupied the
east end of the rostrum, and the large
class filed in and occupied the rest OF the
stage, sitting across it in several rows.
The young ladies, who greatly predomi-
mated. were dressed in pretty white
gowns, and presented an inspiring sight.
Rev. +. NJ. Martnson offered an invo-
cation. after which the ladies' chorus,
composed of the girls glee club, with
Mrs. Roy Holmes as soprano obhgato,
and Misses Janda and Widell as accom-
panists. rendered the pretty song, "Wyn-
ken Blynken and Nod" by Osgood- New
in. The music was a delightful feature
of the evening, and showed most excel
lent training
"The New School Master"
President Cooper introduced Hon. f.
L. McVey of Minneapolis, chairman of
the state tax commission, who gave an
address on THE New School Master"
He compared the requirements of the
school teacher of the present day with
those of the Hoosier school master be-
fore the war; The speakers opening
words were: Fellow students. | think
that / can address you all as fellow stu
dents. Whether you are members OF the
normal school, or parents, we are stu
all fellow, students" ulh-s% s. " g.-
The speaker described the little old
red school house where the Hoosier
school master taught, and said that in
was a type of the society ofathe place
where it was located. The teacher was
Vigorous youth with slight or no train
ing, and his problem was merely an linT
telleetuaI one, and not a great one at
that. The community was simple, and
the moral problem was not complicated.
The nation was similar in nature and
tyne to the HOosier school master and
his community. The cities have develr
oped since then. 7 gn4 ,g.E lUJr b,
THE civil war involved a political and
industrial revolution, and changed the
simple nation to one complex In its Or
oaniZatiOn, thoughts and morals. More
than a million men went back into civil
life and toll after the war, and the .coun-
try developed rapidly. Cities grew, rail-
roads were built, corporations formed
and were managed by men who had the
purpose of building up new fortunes.
Society as complicated as it is possible
to imagine has developed, and the nation
is as different from that of the Hoosier
school masters days as it is possible to
conceive. The problem of the school
master is now an intensely intellectual
and moral one, and also a physical one
to some extent. 1t requires higher type
of mind, more energy, application, hard
work, etc, to teach now. One-ffth OF
the country's population is in school,
and large expenditures are made for edu-
cational purposes. A new dignity has
come to the profession, and the speaker
hoped that it would no longer be used
as a stepping stone to something else.
Only when that has ceased will the dig
nifty of teaching come to be new force.
Physical Inspection Necessary.
Physical education has to be compell-
ed now, because the boy who is physi-
cally weak or devitalized drops out The
eyesight and the breathing apparatus
are very often the cause of pupils being
backward The teacher should be able
to tell what is the matter if child does
not progress as it ought to. A child
with nose that has obstructed air pas
sages can never become a fully develop
ed man or woman. Learning cannot be
forced into all children with the pump
method. There must be discrimination
according to the child's ability. The
speaker said that he hoped that this
mass method would some time become
obsolete. The teacher must have some
knowledge of the physical condition OF
the children. Inspection has shown that
fully sixty per cent of the children in
the New York schools are defective in
eyesight, breathing, hearing or other
ways, and it is likely that in Mankato
the number is fully fifty per cent.
The moral problem has become more