Arizona republican., 1908-04-01

years dNdNtIlllC COuISt- III pihti AiAsNt such q course may be equivalent to that offered by the best Academic courses, by recent action of the board, a two years Spanish course was added to the curriculum as an elective with the Latin. English or Professional courses.
 The Training school course cores ponds to the eight grades of the Tempe Public schools of which it is an in tegral part. but is so arranged as to articulate with the Normal school course The Training school is an es- sential part of the Normal school, and as the Normal schools of the pres ont are judged largely by the kind of Training schools they maintain. a special effort is made to secure the highest possible degree of efficiency.
 TRAINING SCHOOL.
 The present plan of conducting and rlaintaining the Training school is as follows: The attendance is limited to one hundred forty pupils of the Tempe public schools. repres enting the eight grades of public school work. Conse- quently the teachers in ciNrge of this school are employed by the Board of Trustees of the Tempe public schools. and paid by them an amount equiva- lent to the expense of maintaining those pupils in their own school building. The teachers thus employed by them are the critic teachers for the school
 The instructor in the professional subjects of the Normal is the director of the practice teaching of the Normal school. The teaching of the seniors is closely supervised and criticised by the critic teachers, each critic teacher having charge of the teaching of the senior teachers of two grades. The critic teachers are also required to teach classes in each grade while the seniors observe.
 The work in Manual Training is made an educational feature of the institution. The practical value of such training needs no argument In this day
 LIBRARY AND READING ROOM. . The library of five thousand vol umes is classified according to the most approved methods of library sci ence. and is under the direct super vision of a trained librarian whose duty 1t is to aid the students in their researches and increase their knowl- edge of how 70 use the library.
 On the tables are found regularly about eighty of the best magazines along literary professional, scientific and general lines.
 MILITARY DRILL AND ATHLETICS.
 Work in the Manual of Arms is required of all the young men in the institution. and the practical results of the drill are surDrising They cer- tainly justify the efforts in tHis direc ton.
 The Normal is particularly happy in the matter of athletics. tThe school does not exercise entirely bv proxy as is the case where too much is made of team play: but ample provision has been made for every student to par ticipate in the athletic games for which he has a taste. Tennis is in particular favor and on the compus are a dozen or more good fast courts, as good as any in the southwest.
 DORMlTORY-IIFE.
 The dormitories afford a pleasant home life to the students. The points aimed at are comfortable quarters. an exceptionally good cuisine. and the maximum of order with the minimum of restraint. It is enough to say that the social life of the school centres in Girls Hall.
 LITERARY SOCIETIES.
 The required work in connection with the literary societies. of which there are three, is seconded by several voluntary organizations with similar aims. Chief among these is the Athe- nian Debating society. a semi club of young men of the older classes. The work of this society is marked by a dignity and seriousness worthy of the days of their fathers.
 SCHOOL SPIRIT.
 The spirit of the student body is the strongest motive force in the Normal. If there is little of that inane hilarity that goes hooting under banners there is none the less a well defined school spirit The students have a definite purpose. This is not intended as a mere phrase. The following fact proves it: Sixty-nine diplomas have been carried off during the years 1906 and 1907, and of these graduates all but six immediately engaged in teach ing in the schools of the territory. This means much: It means that the students entering the Normal intend to do something when they get out and know what they intend to do. A student facing the question of how to make money is not the same as student devising ways of spending it.
 The Alumni Register now contains 292 names. Considering the prepond- erating proportion engaged in teach ing and the acknowledged influence of the teacher in a frontier country, the school cannot be accused of boast fitness in laying claim to the distinc- tion of being a factor in the develop ment of the territory. The Normal is an institution the territory has made and is proud of. and in turn the Nor nal is proud of the part it is allowed to play in the making of Arizona.