El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-09-10

WARD ana MAdlAA CNCAs -
thing greatly different from what the
original agitators and experimenterS
intended. Likewise in this case, Dc
lieve that when the present glLalIoii
for 2 summer normal at Clouocrot'
spends itself in few years eApelI-
mentation we viii have In the Sout"
west 2 unique educational lnSuCu-
ton that will be a boon as wei ds an
honor to the intelligence and enter
prise Of its creators
why have summer normals at an
and especially why one at CIouocfoho
The question of a summer normal al
all is no longer a pertinent question
as il was So years ago, / e. 70
,,,os+ neonle. But 1t is pertinent
ouestion now If we seriously CONSIDER
the criticisms Of European educators
as TO our professional training OF
teachers.
German Criticism.
Tn the Educational Review for March'
1907. explaining why public educaUioh
I'm the United States is not as sue
cessful as in Germany. German pro
lessor gives one of the causes as IN
sufficient professional training pos
sessed by American teachers He says
the "educatiQpaI statistics OF the
Tinted states Chow the distressing 1acl
that in the very portion OF the country
where we find the best provisions maze
for elementary education, /. e. in the
northeastern section, scarcely 40 per
cent of the teachers have attenueu
normal school. The German teechel
will inouire with establishment; How
can the schools be supplied with
teachers when there are not enough
normal school graduates? what N
-ocance In the United States the
1eooIe believe in the principle that
when Providence provides the position
III. reauisite knowledge will be FUR
nished with it" He further COM
ments: ssThe thoroughly trained teach
ing force Of Germany is the most pow
,erf11l weapon of defense and attack or
which the empire can boast Among
ali fine public institutions Of the en-
nire. I do not know Of a single one
that can be compared to the German
teaching profession. In America on
the other hand, the people are by no
means convinced Of the importance or
Dossessfng q thoroughly trained corps
Of teachers" Public school people OF
tbe limited States became actively con-
scio11s of this deficiency some 80 years
ago and started a rapid movement OF
establishing summer schools to help
meet this deficiency. 1t did not start
as summer normals however. but has
ZT20udllH
summer teacher-training school or nor
nal is the chief summer educational
activity.
The First Summer School
As early as 1859, AZ years ago, Har-
x.ard offered summer instruction in geo
lozv. In 1871 the Massac husetts Institute
of Tech nofogy gave field instruction in
rnetallurgy and mining In 1873, Prof.
Arassiz opened his geological labora-
tory for summer work These begin
nings had nothing to do with teacher
training or normal work; but in 1874,
the first meeting Of Chautauqua as
serably was held and soon it developed
into q UNIQUE native American 1nsti-
tuition devoted largely to the teacher
training that has had a wonderful
growth.
In 1874. Louis Miller, Of Akron, o.,
and John H Vincent, OF New York,
organized what was known as the
Chautauqua Sunday school assembly,
which held its first session at Fair
Point, on Chantauqua lake 1t had a
forerunner in the Chautauqua Lake
Camp Meeting association. which had
been chartered in 1871. The Cha utau-
qua Sunday school assembly prospered
so that in 1879 they broadened the
scope Of their work by organizing
classes in the study of languages and
pedagogy. It attracted attention and
in 1880 the National Education asso-
citation met there. In 1885 they length
ened the term Of the summer school
In 1892 the educational department in
Guided a college Of liberal arts. school
of sacred literature, pedagogical de-
partment. school of music. school OF
physical education. and classes in if
teen separate subjects. And today
Cbautauoua is applied to similar insti-
buttons all over the country.
The Chautauqua.
In 1902 the original Chautauqua
alone had $4,000 readers in the home
study courses; $4,000 average attend
ance at the six weeks summer as
sembly; 1000 students in the summer
school; making a total of $4,000. Be-
sides you must remember that Chau-
tauquas were held in all the other
states also.
Why this phenomenal growth that
is astounding our European educa-
tional critics? Why this conversion Of
a simple Sunday school convention
into an almost national teacher-train-
ing university in less than three de-
cades, if there be not a vital need and
q clamOring demand for this summer
training for teachers Every univer-
sity and college now practically runs
the year round to meet this insistant
demand; every state provides for sum-
mer normal instruction andN I might
say every county has institute of
some sort at some time in the year
TO meet this real deficiency in profess
siOnal training on the part of our
public school teachers. How can there
be any doubt in the face Of this move
ment that summer normal work is q
real necessity
Expenses of Travelling.
But where are our summer nOrmals
we teachers of this part Of Texas7
We must travel 500 or 500 miles to
get TO a normal of any sort The rail-
road expense amounts TO about half
of the students expenditure. Thirty
or forty dollars spent for transporta-
ton could be invested in actual tut
ton, as would be the case in having
a normal al our very door. And, too.
when you get to east Texas or other
eastern nOrmals, the weather conditions
are such as to render hard study a
burden instead Of a stimulating pleas
ure The student must truly earn what
he gets not only by spending the hard
earned savings of the winter salary:
but most still get his information by
the real sweat Of his brow, and then
IL the money holds out but must go to