Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-08-11
ANNUAL REPORT.

his annual report as follows:
To the Honorable, the Count
Board of Education of Marathon
County:
i Gentlemen: / deem it q. specia
honor to present to this honorable
body the fifteenth annual report o
the Training school, and the first .
the kind to you. 1t fell to my loi
to blaze the trail for schools of thi
kind in this fair land. That sum
mer's work has stood the test of ex
perience. Thirty schools have bull
upon its foundation and yet hay,
not far diyerged from the essentials
then chosen as basic. Expansion
and divergence have come as was ex
pected and desired. Different mind,
and temperaments have easily adapted
themselves to its leadings. Various
conditions and needs have been en-
countered and adjusted with little
difficulty.
The last year of the Training
school was the banner year of its ex-
istance, judged on the basis of en-
rollment and number graduated
More than 80 sought entrance at the
opening, and others came later. The
| total enrolment for the year was S5
of whom nine were males, and 76
females. The total number gradu-
ated was 43 of which number A were
males and 80 females. With seats
for only " the situation was en-
barassing. We partially and unsat-
isfactorily solved it by sending away
all of the eighth grade of the city
schools, retaining graduates of the
country schools who seemed capable
of doing t.Ie first years work. The
reason for retaining pupils from the
rural schools and dismissing those
from the city schools is that the lat
ter have good schools at home to at
tend, while the rurai school gradu-
ates have few or no schools which
they could attend. For many it
would be closing the door of oppor-
tunity forever.
While ours has been one of the
and sometimes the largest training
school in the state it has never until
the year just passed had as many
members in its faculty as has been
uniformly the case ir4 several of the
other schools. Last year illness in
one form or another struck our mem
bers once and again until all were
Frustrated and another was added to
the faculty who, by your liberality,
is to remain in the corps, making
our number four, the equal of sever
al of the other schools for number
of years. We thank you for this
recognition of our work and worth.
Turning now from our brief sum-
mary of past achievements and condi-
tions let us consider the future.
Beyond all question the training
of teachers for the country schools
was its one actual purpose, out of
which other related or incidental
benefits might accrue and have ac-
crued.
There can be no question but that
there is a broader and more intelli-
gent understanding of the purpose
and achievment of the rural schools.
This by no means stands wholly to
the credit of the training school.
Much of it has come from the con-
ventions of district officers. State
school inspectors have exercized a
good influence. 1t is needless for me
to cite furthur. The training school
has done much. Illness before re-
ferred to did not allow it to do its
usual visitation of schools last year.
If this Board gives us liberal fund
for field work we shall gladly resume
our efforts.
But that does not fill the measure
of our responsibility. Our first and
greatest duty is to teach faithfully
and earnestly the subjects in our
course of study to the pupils proper
ly admitted to the school.
The school is organized in accord
ance with the laws of the State, and
the course of study is approved by
the State Superintendent of Public
Instruction before it becomes an in
tegral part of our system of public
education, and receives an opportion-
ment of the public school funds for
its maintenance. The State appro-
PIRATES annually, $500 and the
county $1,000, a sum too small in
proportion to the assistance of the
state, and inadequate to the needs of
the school,
We are called July % at 1920 by
the President of Board ''for the pur-
pose of fixing the course of study in
the Teachers Training school,"
Since the course of study was OIL
ciaily approved by State Supt. Har-
vey fifteen years ago, and has been
approved by succeeding superinten-
dents with recurring revision and
application I am at loss to know
what is intended by this summons.
We have printed catalog which
contains twenty full printed pages
exclusively devoted TO definite ex-
& l. i
plan of teaching the twenty-four
separate subjects, nos mentioning
rhetoricals. physical education, and
instruction in playground manage
ment.
No other principal of training
school in the state has ever presumed
or dared TO outline with one tenth of
the method and material that has been