The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-10-06

OBSERVATIONS IN BRIEF.
! Too many women teachers and
many of them are too young.
Supervision is excellent; students
are interested in their work.
Schools here are democratic;
more so than in Norway.
People in America are hospitabie,
and they make travel easy for a
foreigner.
Advocated instruction in agricul.
ture and manual training.
Do more in the schools to keep
the boys on the farm.
| Believes in government ownership
of railroads.
All is excitement in America; peo.
Pile have so much money. It's a
grand country.
Thorstein Hoverstad of Notodden.
Norway, has been spending the past
few days in Mankato looking over
the educational facilities here. Mr.
Hoverstad is touring the greater
part of the United States inspecting
the schools of this country to com.
pare them with those of Norway
and to improve on the schools there
| if possible.
| Mr.. HOverstad is teacher in
one of the normal schools in Nor
way and was sent by the Norwegian
government to make an inspection
tour of Americas schools and col
leges. When seen by a Free Press
| representative last night, he: had
some interesting things to say re-
garding the educational facilities
and conditions in this country.
Too Many Women Teachers.
There are too many women
teachers and most teachers are too
young in this country" he observed.
1.-THE supervision find is excellent,
| as well as the interest taken by
the students themselves. Every
body is interested in the schools
here and foreigner feels it at
| once. The studies are also some
what different but good. Especially
is the drawing taught well here.
This was probably one of the main
features l admire about the Ameri-
can schools. They teach drawing
so well-better than in any coun-
try l have visited
| When asked what he thought of
the schools here as a whole he re-
piled that they were very demo.
cratic as compared with those Of
Norway, but that the country was
not as democratic as his own. Ac-
cording to him, the United States
is an excellent country to make
money in, there was plenty of
wealth here and the people were
very hospitable.
Easy to Travel Here.
''It is very easy to travel here"
he said, because the people are so
kind 1t is quite different in Nor
way. Although they are good to
strangers, they have no hospitality
as compared with this country"
The condition under which the
| children received their education in
Norway was much more difficult
than here In this country the peo-
pie made it possible for every one
who wanted to get an education and
with very little cost. Notwithstand-
ing this he thought it possible to
be just as happy in Norway and
Sweden as in this country. He is
proud that he. is Norwegian, be-
cause he said those whom he has
met here show that they have done
good work everywhere. He said that
when people saw him, they knew
at once that he was a foreigner and
evidently from Scandinavia. He
found that the Scandinavians in
this country have proven their
sturdy worth.
The Agricultural Training.
| Mr.. Hoverstad was very much in
terested in agricultural training in
the city schools, but that this train
ing should not be left to women
teachers who knew nothing of agri-
culture. He also said that more
agriculture should be taught in the