The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1921-02-26

Vegas u silver CITY, spending a day
ans Il half at the former and a day
at the latter. In view OF the brcyity
OF these visits II Will be understood.
Ct course, that my remarks regarding
b schools and their work should be
looked upon az Impressions rather
than as final Judgments. In each
school | examined the students rec
ords. Inspected the plant. visited
classes. n conferred with the prcsi-
lent and with certain INSTRUCTORS. At
las Vegas | met with the board Ut
trustees and discussed problems OF
normal school administration Al
las Vegas. also. | visited two neigh
boring rural schools for the purpose
OF gaining an idea OF h problem Of
preparing rural school teachers.
The state Normal University. The
origin 81 tn" name university as
applied 70 this institution l did not
learn. ! suTmisc that II was IN imita-
ton OF ,ho Illinois stat. Normal uni
versity. IN. latter school was found
ed In 1852 ana assumed the title in
order to take advantage OF b con
grcssionul act donating "A substantial
acreage of public and To each state
carved out OF the national domain for
a university" 10th Ia Illinois and
in New Mexico, OF course. the dcsig-
nation In "A misnoiu"r.
ne WV NlfNAAR CAdk' aN'N llAsA ~
vcrsity Ii fairly well located Ia the
sense that las Vegas In accessible to
students from the northeastern part
Of the state. u apparently as con-
vcnicntly accessible Az IN any town ct
ia size to the north central and
northwestern parts Tn" TOW nspcO-
Pile seem to be- very wc!l-disposrd to-
ward tho normal school.
The plant * WEI located within
NA.. W.u.w mud NgHNI fN.a conn RlRf Inn
~ tn, new building, would doubtless
br adequate TO the needs ~ the
academic and theory classes. The
training school. however. h. not sun
,itutly we'll housed ct equipped and
D, far too small to serve ~ u labora-
tory Tor the normal school should he
latter attempt 10 supply IA" teachers
that h should supply now much lrss
thu-, that tho program set forth
above would require from g. A. the
time OF nv visit the training school
enrolment was 100 ana thv avcraE"
daily attendance To-. Thvr" are siN
rliss-roums and the aim ls To have
about 80 pupils In each room. ! was
informed boy tn" director ui the train
ing department that not NOR" than 20
normal school students are now giNcn
practice teaching In his school dur
ing tho year. The enrolment Of
NANAAAAAAk A"NH'H f'
this small number of stud'nt-t"ach
vrs. IL is clear. however. That ia"
school should prepare fnI more b u
20 competent teachers q year. II, as
We have suggested. the state wcr" Ia
prepare all OF It's elementary school
recruits In the two normal schools
each OF these ngtiuiticus would haN"
to turn out UaDh year 22b graduate"
To supply Ia lowest acceptable mini
FHtHtTf sf RFHHtIAt for snLh ar the NfuH
dents and at tn" same time not do AN
injustice To- the pupils in the tram
ing school. there should be- available
for training school purposes at least
1000 children. To meet this need by
FAR the best plan would be 20 organic"
an OF the elementary schools Of Las
Vegas ns a laboratory 81 the normal
school. Plans OF thiH sort hav" been
worked out with uotabl" success iu
connection with the btatr normal
schools at Dillon, Montana Gunnisou,
Colorado, Albion, Idaho; n else
where.
Even II the Normal school at Las
Vegas undertakes nothing NOR" thah
II l. now doing, more abundant pfdt
tic" facilities are necessary The onlH
students now hayinL the privileges Of
actual teaching practice are IN" 7s"'-
ond-year students Of tn" two-yc"r
collegiate curriculum. The iirst-y'aI
students and those enrolled IN Sec
ondaTy ana elementary classes arr
given an opportunity 20 gain initial
skill in teaching under competent
supervision, although many OF .h"ih
ar. permitted to teach, even mined
lately after completing eighth grade
work. i
IL ls needless 10 say that boys and
girls 81 immature and ~ limited IN
their educational equipment as are
eighth grade graduates should not BE-
licensed to teach. Az long as This
condition exists, however, u you'd
seem to be incumbent upon the nor
mai 400 to let them learn n little
about the art OF teaching by practlc-
ing tina art at the normal school un-
der very careful supervision. can
ser no Justice In the contention that
the training school pupils must not
be- subjected to such Immature teach
ing when these Child-tcAchers are
permitted to go into Isolated rural
schools u undertake Teaching un-
der Conditisns infinitely more difficult
ana with consequences far more ais
astrous TO he pupils whO are
taught
II this position Is granted with ref
'renco 90 tho eighth grade graduates
It's justification ~ equally clear with
reference to the students u gradu-
utcs Of the high school department OF
the normal school who are now sent
into the rural schools as teachers
without n preliminary practical
training. since 1901. the students
graduating from the high school de-
purtmont At Las Vegas have aggre-
gated SIS iu number. and OF tines" ldt
or more than ouc-halt, have at once
gone as t"ich' = into onc-room or
tWD-Toom schools out OF AZ grhdu-
atos last June. - are now In the rural
school Hcryi,o-and with substantially
no trimming of a practical sort.
II would bee thoroughly feasible for
the normal school to organize "a syS-
tenn Of participation IN class room
teaching that would bo extremely
helpful 20 those young students; but
such "a system would require a much
larger training school enrolment
than ~ now available. \ larger
trimming school enrolment would al
80 be Required II the state should de-
cree hat teachers should no longer
De licensed ON the basis 81 10 slender
an equipment as these high school
students and graduates represent. In