The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-08-07
SCHOOL SYSTEM
IS Of THE BEST

Continued from First Pase.l
devoted, on AN average. two PERIODS a
3ay to elementary psychology, the
princi pies of pedagogy ana school
management. review OF grammar
school branches, the observation Of
model Glasses in primary work and
practice Of teaching. The remainder
of their time WAS given to the reEu-
lar high sc hooi branches. and I doubt
If any of them graduated with less
than fourteen units to their credit
exclusive Of the normal training
work
m some Of the sthpols spring term
classes were form ei TO train the
teachers whose rural schools had
closed, They ware admitted under
the regulation that q teacher holding
a FIRST or second grade certificate and
giving evidence Of educational train
ing equivalent to TWO years of high
school work may take the work II
he has had nine months experience
in a public school. or twelyd months
experience in a private school. / am
supposfhg that this regulation was too
literally construed in some cases
when | eliminate nifty names from the
larger spring classes and say that two
hundred and fifty teachers, equipped
with not less than two years Of high
school training and one year of train
Ing in how 10 teach. will be added to
the corps next year
Costs state Little.
The cost to the State in this ara
Of high prices is refreshingiy mod
crate aud will in itself commend the
system to thoughtful Legislators An
appropriation Of fifteen thousand dol
lars accompIishes the work already
outlined and at the same time I'M
proves the tone OF tine entire school
wherever teachers class is located.
The primary and grade teachers feel
that they must make the classes
ehfeh the normal training pupils visit
model classes and the changed attnos-
phere. combined with the reference
library, serves to infuse new life into
high school Latin. mathematics and
English. We are not telling OF what
may happen, or what ought 10 hap
pen, but what has happened.
As TO numerical results make a
comparison with the State Female
Normal school which has succeeded
even beyond the hopes Of its founders
and has accom- plished results un.
surpassed in the field which II occu-
pies During the Iwenty@siX years ~
Its existence ii has sent ont over nine
hundred graduates; during the hrst
three. years Of their existence the nor
NAL training classes have sent out,
il is safe to say. not less than sl&
hundred graduates. ! wonder If my
friends at Farny1lle Will think thai
am even limiting AT an fnNldious
comparison when | suggest that Somt
Of the best work accomplished 10y that
great school last year Was wrought
lInrn ediatety through the efforts OF IL:
graduates who taught normal train
ing classes in Virginia high schools
In visiting the normal training de-
= ~ a. ~ st btt,s ysg.4
greatly delighted To hear the unvary
ing words of concentration uttered
by the division superintendents con
corning the graduates. They are sent
forth with the watCfIwords discI-
plint." and primary methods They
control their schools and make ne"
records among the little children
Grateful parents are only too VIKING
To wait for the young teacher 10 grow
into the rest OF tho work II need De
One superintendent gazed thought
fully at a list of eight who graduated
in 1870. lie said. Eight Of my hesl
teachers with the exception OF M's'
A. who is not az strong as she shouic
b.. in discipline" But then, IL
added. .there's Miss ID. who was a
decided failure as disciphnariaf
until she took the normal framing
work"
Weakness of NormaIs.
The greatest weakness OF the nor
NAL training work is its tendency e
loeauze itself in the one school =
which II IL attached The high schoo
axsseus I'm n county ought to he y
wei, co-ordinated that expectan
teachers will leave the other hig'
xrhools at the end of the third yea
ana comnlete the course at the cen
,rai normal training high achool. or
u,hat Is better. Will take an additional
vaar in the normal training hlgl
schno, They are youny and the schoo
- near thetr homes. The Success q
~ ynnyement IN this direction de
r.pds almost entirely as SO man
a,har ,hfrps aeDepd on the divisioj
.nnerintend4nt. In one instance tina
rana under my observation / wa