The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1921-01-06

fAaa NAA HaNAA W nave Rtth N9As
By experts that the students Of col
legiate rank who are preparing fol
rural school teaching in the Unitec
States would probably not number fiv,
hundred all told Therefore the fune-
tion of the college would be to supply
teachers for our secondary schools. Al
the present time I'VE have two colleges
preparing teachers through state aid
for these schools Why give up two
collegiate courses in favor Of one2
II we could afford rural normal
schools and Teachers College We
might be willing TO take chance
AppropriatiEg all our money for q
Teachers College and having none left
for normal schools would place us in
a predicament similar to that in which
the school boy found himself after
spending all his money for ice cream
and having none left for his noon day
lunch.
Should Conform to Other States
The responsibility for the adequate
preparation Of teachers for the ele-
mentary schools rests exclusively with
the state The purposes for which
teachers should be especially trained
are virtually the same throughout the
country and it is greatly in the inter
ests Of national solidarity to make
this identity complete and emphatic.
For this reason wouldn't il seem wise
for Vermont to adopt teachers
training policy which would conform
with the policy accepted by other
states? Reports from the depart
ments of public instruction in other
states and letters from commissioners
of education tell us that they consider
normal school system an important
factor in the development of sound
state educational policy We are also
told by states conducting teacher
training courses in high schools that
these are used only as temporary
expedient not as a fixed state policy.
Some states having tried these courses
have already abandoned them because
they were not meeting the need and
others hope to as soon as 1924.
New York state has discontinued
teacher-training classes in high
schools and although now having ten
state normal schools has made an ap-
preparation for the establishment Of
new normal school. DR. Thomas Fin
egan, formerly Of New York state,
now commissioner of education in
Pennsylvania, writes in personal let
ter to our committee:
Wha: Finegan Says
"For many years | had charge Of
the training Of teachers in training
classes in the high schools of the state
Of New York. | also had general
charge Of the administration of the
state normal schools in that state. ]
know the two types Of teachers pre-
pared for the service by these methods
Of training, and have no hesitancy
in saying that in my judgment It is
not possible to train in the training
classes of high schools the type Of
teacher which should be employed in
rural schools ] believe that teachers
employed in rural schools should pos
sess academic and professional train
ing which is equivalent to the aca-
demic and professional training ac-
quired for teachers in city schools. In
my Judgment, it is not possible to
train in one year efficient teachers for
rural schools. My experience has
shown that high school graduates who
have had one year Of training class
conducted in high school have not
been well prepared, and have not done
as good service as high school grad
yates who have been trained in state
normal schools.
"The training of teachers for rural
schools has not yet been undertaken
in earnest in this country. To attempt
to train these teachers in secondary |
institutions is a compromise. After an
Of thirty years which has
been intimately related to the training
of teachers, | am convinced that we
shall never have strong, efficient
teachers in the rural schools until
state normal schools are established
for the express purpose Of training
rural teachers"
Commissioner E. w. Butterfield Of
New Hampshire, writes:
at seems to us that state needs
sufficient normal schools to train its
own elementary teachers.
Statistics show that the majority
of girls who attend normal schools
come from the par ef The state where
.hc school is located"
Favors Local Training Schools
The state of Wisconsin has five orr
* colleges in which teachers are
.rained for secondary schools, nine