The Dickinson press., 1916-10-07
THE MISSOURI SLOPE
DESERVES A NORMAL

DESERVES A NORMAL
The need of an additional normal
school for the southwestern part of
the state is generally admitted. No
man claims that North Dakota is too
poor to support sufficient normal
schools to train her teachers. In fact,
she can't afford to do anything else.
Our state is rich and prosperous.
Royal are the gifts of nature to
North Dakota. w have a soil which
beautifully rewards the labors of the
husbandman and yearly fills to over
flowing his granaries and barns; a
climate so propitious that from the
hour of its earliest settlement live
stock Of all kinds have been profit
able investment; Goals and clays in
incxhausted and almost inexhaustible
abundance; the air and sky and earth
and water, all combining to pour their
richest treasures into the lap of this
favored commonwealth.
Yet with all these riches, poor in
deed must be the state, if it cannot
afford to see to it that the teachers
of all it's children are properly trained
for their calling. 1t is not mills and
factories and farms and cattle that
constitute a state. 1t is integrity and
virtue, and intelligence and culture,
and conscience and character that
make a great and thriving common
wealth and give it true renown. So
the gravest of all the questions that
| ever came up for settlement still
forces itself upon Jul attention. How
shall we best prepare the citizens of
the future for the proper discharge of
the duties that come to them?
| Surely we can not do better than
answer the question in the spirit in
which it was answered by the faith
ers in the great Ordinance Of 1887,
that "Schools and the means of edu-
cation should be forever encouraged"
and strong and deep should the foun-
dations of culture and character be
laid.
Whatever will improve the methods
| of instruction in our schools; what
ever will provide better teachers for
our children and our children's chill
dren; whatever will dignity the work
of the teacher, and thus enlarge and
uplift the lives of the boys and the
girls of today, who are to be the citi-
zens of tomorrow, will merit the sup
port and approval Of every believer
in North Dakota's greatness, and
every lover of the state that is
known far and wide as the land of
opportunity.
The fear that the addition of a
normal school would cripple the nor
NAL schools already established is not
based on experience. Every school
in the state is crowded for all say
eve are crowded. If we had any
more, what would we do" In build
ing a normal school for the people of
western North Dakota you are taking
nothing away from other sections be-
cause eighty-seven per cent of the
population of the several state
schools is from the territory immedi-
ately contiguous. In order to get any
large number of pupils to attend
school from. west Of the river WI
MUST PUT A SCHOOL THERE;
otherwise we will never get them to
60. Only three per cent Of the
Youths in the state schools are from
the Slope. Let the question be
studied in the light of history. In
Michigan for some years, there was
but one state normal school, that at
Ypsilanti. Some friends of that
school opposed the further extension
of the system. Later, however, this
opposition was broken down and in
course of time three more state nor
NAL schools and numerous county
normals were established. The gain
in attendance at Ypsilanti has ex-
ceeded, since the opening of these
schools, the entire enrolment in the
three other schools, and all have pros
pered. Wisconsin in 1909 opened her
| eighth normal school and now %enrolls
over 5000 teachers in these schools.
Would Not Increase Taxes
A word is due to those who hold
that an additional normal school
would entail too much expense on
the state. TAXES WILL BE NO
HIGHER because a new building is
located advantageously for an un-
schooled contingency. The school
taxes of the state are limited by the
constitution and the limit thus al
lowed has always been used in it's en-
tiretv. They can be no higher under
the law. A few facts culled from the
report of the commissioner of educa-
| ton Indicate how meager is the pres
cnt provision for the preparation OF
public school teachers: The malnten-
ance of public normal schools, state,
county and city, costs the tax payers
| of the nation about $4,000, 900 annu-
allv, At first blush this would seem
to be a liberal sum; but when one re,
members that it is divided among ITO
schools the seeming liberality is trans
formed into parsimony. The entire
sum would do no more than pay Tor
the annual maintenance OF Harvafo
and Columbia universities. Yet, the
whole sum would not be more than
half enough to build and equip one
dreadnaught. Think of it, the cost
Of maintaining all the normal schools
in the United States for two years
is no greater than the cost OF one OF
our big battle ships!
1t will cost the state no more to
build and maintain a normal at Dick