The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-01-28

ago are even more cogent at the
present time.
1.-The pledge to sacredly engage to
become teachers in the public school,
was made a prerequisite for admis-
sion to the normal school in the orig
inal statute of 1853 creating the sys-
tenn. 1t was inserted in the act ut
that time to disarm directors who
declared that the normal school
for the general education of the
youth of the locality where 1t was
established. The original reason for
requiring the pledge has therefore
long since disappeared and no new
reason for it's retention has appeared.
At present, therefore, the pledge sets
up an unnecessary obstacle before
the door of the normal school and
thus, so far as 1t is effective at all,
serves to limit and reduce attendance
Certatrly some potential teachers
tsTn away fESm taseb IN tnst
vance Of the opportunity to learn
the art Of teaching.
"How some students, entering the
normal school previous to final de-
cision as to their future work nook
upon the pledge to teach, and how
they are later won for service in ed
ucation, are we'll illustrated in the
case of exPpresident Lafayette Cook
of the Speerfish Is. d. State Normal
school. He was a member of the first
graduating class at Winona and, IN
recounting his experience on enroll
ing, writes as follows:
There was, to my mind, an OBJ
lection to the normal school that at
first seemed almost insuperable. 1t
was that l did not want to be a
teacher. 1t had long been my ambi-
ton to become a physician, and / had
said a thousand times that I would
never teach. Teaching had seemed
to me from early childhood to be the
most undesirable of callings. l have
now been a pedagog for more than
forty years.
case is not an insulated one. / know
Of scores of teacher8.- some of them
eminent in the profession, who would
never have taught day II the splen-
did work and inspiration of some state
normal school had not changed their
-antipathy for teaching to enthusiasm
and love for the noblest of all the
professions. And on this fact l base
plea that attendance at normal
schools be not too strictly confined
to those willing to pledge themselves
in advance to enter the profession OF
teaching.
"As the successor of Mr.. Ellsworth
Lowry, whom the board released on
December 1, the teachers committee
has approved the appointment of
William H. Burton as director Of the
training school; the election of a
teacher of penmanship. Miss Pearl
Hallory, is also recommended to the
board at this time, the position hav-
ing been left vacant since September
in order to save funds.
The Carnegie foundation for the
advancement Of teaching has re-
archolarly report entitled, "The Pro-
fessional Preparation of Teachers
for American Public Schools" While
the book deals primarily with sur
vey by six able men Of the normal
school system of the state of Miss
ouri, it also deals with the general
field of teacher training, and is with
out doubt the most significant treat
ment of the subject yet published.
The Winona faculty, in common with
many groups of teachers elsewhere,
the report, measuring the organiza-
ton, procedure, and spirit Of our own
school with the standards which are
recommended in the report"
The st. Cloud School
President j. E. Brown of the ST.
Cloud Normal reported "the enroll
ment in his school to date four humid
red and fifty four. This is slightly
larger than the enrolment on the
corresponding date last year. The en-
rollment could have been consider
q innroacaA Il
ents who are not high school grad
yates had been urged to attend the
school. Students are enrolled from
fifty two counties of Minnesota and
from seven other states.
On November oath the commence
men exercises for the fall term were
held. The address was given by DR..
Frank A. Weld and diplomas were
awarded to fourteen graduates.
All of the graduates were placed
in desirable positions without diff.
Guilty, as the demand for teachers
continues to be great Mr.. Herbert
Sorenson, one of the November grad
yates, was recently placed at an
initial salary of $240 month. This
is more than any male member of
the st. Cloud faculty is now receiving
Mr.. Sorenson has had no teaching
experience:
Ine spirit or the ScnOOl is good.
We have a good group of students
and most of them are doing salts
factory work. The health of the stud
ents and faculty has been unusually
good. There has been no suggestion
of an epidemic of any kind. The
dramatic club, which was organized
during the fall term, is popular and
has given three plays in satisfac- :
tory manner.
"The director of music states that
the girls glee club is one of the best
in the history of the school. The
basketball schedule is the heaviest
that the school has had for a number
Of years. Four college games and
four Normal school games are to be
played"
The Moorhead School
President o. M. Dickerson of the
Moorhead Normal reported the at
tendance this year at his school al
most exactly the same as a year ago.
The industrial depression has been
noticeable and a few students have
been forced to leave school for finan-
cial reasons. The enrolment for this
term Is 3S1 in the Normal depart
ment, and 294 in the training school.
Thirteen students have completed
their work and were awarded their
diplomas. All are now teaching. the
average salary for the group being
1873 per month. Continuing DR.. Dick
erson said:
"The general health of the. school