The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-05-13
DIR. KELLY REMEMBERS
GUNNIsON's NORMAL


writing the American Commonwealth
| stated that he was far enough re-
moved to get the correct perspective.
,. 1t is true that one sometimes is un-
able to see the forest because Of the
trees and that a little distance not
only lends enchantment but also en-
ables one to see things in their real
proportions and proper relationships.
From distance of about eighteen
hundred miles from the only Normal
School in the world that is a mile and
half above sea level, and in an at
mosphere that is dimmed by the
smoke of industry, I have been watch
ing with increasing yet quiet interest
the rapid development of the educa-
tional work at Gunnison- My impress
sions have been received not from the
publications of the State Normal
School. They are ultra conservative.
Neither have they been made entirely
by the appreciative articles in the
News-Champion. They have come
partly from these sources, partly
from educational men that I have met
at the National Education Associa-
tion, the National University Exten-
sion Association, and other meetings,
and also from the casual visitor who
has been in Gunnison on business
or friendly trip and who has nothing
to exploit.
What is my perspective? A State
Normal School ideally situated that
accepts as its mission the training OF
all grades Of public school teachers;
a school that co-ordinates the courses
in subject matter and theory with the
practical work Of the elementary
school and the high school where
prospective teachers acquire correct
habits of teaching children to learn;
a school that exemplifies socialised
curriculum, for its course of stpdy is
as broad as the interests of life+aea-
demic, cultural, professional, eeonon-
| ic, recreational, practical, ethical, and
religious; school with socializedt
discipline where self direction Is The
order and where good order is the
style; school that does not make its
work preparation for life, but
achieves its goal by making the daily
work participation in life; profess
sional school that adds cultural work
to vocational work by recognizing
that it is quite as important to live
as to earn living; school that
adarfc ifc VyorL r. +ha ot>fI&kx, - -.
students and to their dominant inter-
ests from the standpoint Of the So
ciety which they are to serve.
The picture contains a stately
building, rising on the eternal hills,
that will house adequately the group
activities Of those moulders Of de-
mocracy, the teachers, who, in reality,
hold within their hands the future Of
our Republic There is also suit
able dormitory, providing basic phys
ical comforts.
| But the co-ordinating element of
this real picture is the spirit of CO.
operation of the wheel that is within
the wheel that is within the wheel;
the town of Gunnison maintains its
public school as demonstration ele-
mentary school, the county of Gunni-
son builds and maintains standard
high school as the cap sheaf of the
demonstration school, and the state
of Colorado supports college using
as its greatest assets the laboratories
of the town and the county. The
plan is economical and comprehen-
sive; the organization is ideal; the
educational facilities are unsurpassed.
The work referred to is almost
enough for one school to do, but the
spirit of the faculty goes beyond the
forty-three acre campus, beyond the
confines of the town and the county,
even thru the Black Canon to the
Flower" country, the mesas, and the
mining camps. By extension the Col
orado State Normal School is literally
placed upon wheels and taken to all
parts of the Western Slope. This
phase of its work becomes part of
the World Movement for Adult Edu-
cation which purposes to dispel the
"melancholy belief that grown men
and women have nothing left to
learn"
So much for the general situation,
but when it comes to the specialized
work of the summer session one is
tempted to gush. Small wonder that
the bracing atmosphere, clean skies,
and trout fishing attract such men
as Strayer, Chambers, Whipple, Gibbs,
Hayes, and Cubberley.
Lknow of no place that approaches