Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Athena press. (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942 | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1909)
" HISTORY OF STATES IN THEIR SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT All States Headed From One to Many . X None From Several to One New Schools. ' , (Ashland Valley-Record.) In yiew of the discussion that Is ' now going on concerning normal schools, It may not be amiss to exam ine the normal condition in each state with regard to the number of normal schools supported by that state, f At the present time the states pos sessing 'and supporting more than one normal school are the following, the ' dumber and location of state normals eing given in each case. Private normals are not Included in the ap jbende:t list, neither city normals nor founty normals.simply state normals: Alabama 4 ; Florence, Jackson ville, Livingston, Troy. Arizona 2; Flagstaff, Tempe. California 5; Chlco, Los Angeles, ,Sah Diego, San Francisco, San Jose.. J Connecticut 4; Danbury, New sBritain, New Haven, Willlmantic. J District of Columbia 2;. "Washing ton No. 1, Washington No. 2. J Georgia 3; Athens, Millledgeville, i Savannah. Idaho 2; Albion, Lewlston. Illinois 5; jCarbondale, Charles- fton, De Kalb, Macomb, Normal. T,m;a 9- CeAar TPn.lls Woodbine. Kansas 3; Emporia, Hayes, Pitts- hnrer "1 Kentucky 3; Bowling Green, .Frankfort, Richmond. I Maine 3; Castine, Farmington, kjorham. ; Maryland 2; Baltimore, Frostburg, "j Massachusetts 9; Bridge water, ,lFltchburg, Framingham, Hyannis, Lowell, North Adams, Salem, West- fied, Worcester. j Michigan 4 ; Kalamazoo, Mar ' ' ciuette, Mount Pleasant, Ypsilanti. Minnesota 5; Duluth, Mankato, , Moorhead, St. Cloud, Winona., ' S Mississippi 2; Sherman, Walnut Grove. ' " ' . ' Missouri 4; Cape Girardeau, Kirksville, Maryville, Warrensburg. I Nebraska 2; Kearney, Peru. New Jersey 2; Montclalr, Trenton. s i t New Mexico 2 ; Las Vegas, Silver City. - t 4 New York 12; Albany, Brockport, ,' Buffalo, Cortland, Fredonia, Geneseo, Jamaica, New Paltz, Oneonta, Oswe- go, Plattsburg, Potsdam. I North Carolina 4; Elizabeth City, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Winston. W North Dakota 2; Mayville, Valley 'pity. Ohio 2; Athens, Oxford. -J Oklahoma 4; Alva, Edmond, ' Langston, Weatherford. , $ 'Pennsylvania 13; Bloomsburg, .' California, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, i E-dinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock jUhaven Mansfield, Millersvllle, Ship f pensburg, Slippery Rock, Westchest- FT. fri South Carolina 2; Orangeburg, i Rockhill. i'i South Dakota 4; Aberdeen, Mad- i ison, Spearfish, Springfield, , Texas 3; - Denton, Huntsville, i Prairie View. II Vermont 3; Casitleton, Johnson, f Randolph Center. I Virginia 2 ; Farmville, Petersburg, If Washington 3; Bellingham; Che- jney, Edlensburg. , ' , 1 West Virginia 7; Athens, Fair ''mount, Glenvllle, Huntington, Insti i' Jtute, ghepherdstown, West Liberty. i Wisconsin 7; Milwaukee, Oshkosh, e JPlattevllle, River Falls, Stevens point, It Superior, White water, II In many of the states there has fbeen a change In recent years from ; ONE NORMAL to SEVERAL; but in jj ; no state has there been a change from SEVERAL state normals to ONE. The : entire drift the country over has been .' from ONE TO MANY. Is it probable -that the legislatures and peopde of so J' fnany states have been deceived and ' have made a mistake? Is It likely Uax they have made the change with- t out investigation and forethought , .Perhaps Oregon and Its state senat , are right in their position on the nor , mal school question, and all the re- malnder of the nation Is wrong. Per. haps it would be better to state that the senate may be wrong, since the house of representatives and the peo ! pie of the state undoubtedly believe . in normal scnoois. that there was no combination for the normal schools. The charge of graft could not be substantiated for a single dollar. The ' state has abandoned its po siting the standards of poolc Instruc tion. It will now be a race between the private and sectrarian normal schools of which there are a score in Ore gon. J Which shall predominate in sup- ulying your public schools with in structors ? Misled by a false cry of economy, Oregon has indeed been placed in a humiliating position. STATE CASH IS CUT OFF THE NECESSITY FOR NORMAL SCHOOLS (Salem Daily Capital Journal.) Those who contended for one nor mal school as against three or four concede that there is a necessity for such an institution. The difference between one or three or four is theory. There is then the objection that three schools of this character form a combine. JJut that is not ' an argument against on institution for training school teachers. Can the training of public school teachers with safety be let to see tarian colleges? The worst enemy of normal schools will not admit that. Can the Methodist, Baptist, Pres bytertan or Catholic colleges supply all the trained public school teachers that are needed? i If they could would that be de sirable? . i . Must not the state establish the stanaaras oi pudiic eaucauua : The only charge that was made in the legislature was that they formed a political combination to get appro priations. But the same charge was made against the scalp bounty bill, the Crater lake road till, the pilot bill, the Eastern Oregon asylum MIL It would be useless to tell the Honorable Senators, Whose only cry was "wipe out the normal school,' President French Hopes Special Ses sion of tiie Legislature Will Straigt en Matters. (Spokesman-Review.) Weston, Ore., March 5 "It would be criminal for the legislature to de stroy this school with its corps of ex cellent teachers, its large attendance and its plant for educational work. All the teachers are university men or women or are graduates of stand ard normal schools. Some of them were obtained only after we had wait ed several years and some had given up good positions to come here. "Our teachers are actuated by more than the dollar idea, and their influ ence as a means of broad, general cul ture, is of inestimable worth to the students coming under their care." In these words President R. C French of the Eastern Oregon Nor mal school referred to the recent ac tion of the legislature in refusing to pass the appropriations bill for want of which the school will have to sus. pend before the close of the present term, or subsist on the charity of its patrons. ' Several meetings have been held and a fund, yesterday given as exceeding $3000, has been subscribed in We.Von, Pendleton, Athena and other towns of the stateto pay the teachers and maintenance fees till commencement. Further meetings under the leader ship of I, M. Kemp, cashier of the Farmers' National bank, are being planned as It will require, according to President French, $10,000 to com plete the term. Continuing Mr. French said: Fighting Over Old Battle. "We are having again here in Ore gon and Umatilla county the same fight that Horace Mann had in Mass achusetts half a century ago. We are refusing to profit by the experience of other states. Here we have nearly 300 students .including the training department, who are being denied this education on unfounded charges of graft and extravagance .in administer ing the normal schools. "It was stated on the floor of the senate in debate that the cost per student was $1000 a year. This is en, tirely false. The actual cost per en rolled student is somewhat less than $100 a year. "There have been charges of graft, but no one has ever attempted to show where. As for extravagance, there has been little in the way of Improvements and our salaries run from $800 to $2000 a year, with the average around $1200. It has cost $17,600 a year for the last two years to run this school., 'We have here an educational plant consisting of 17 teachers,, excellent laboratories in physics and chemistry, good musical facilities, with 10 pianos two dormitories filled with students besides six cottages where small groups of students live, and an excellent ad ministration ' and recitation building Plans were completed for a new men's dormitory and the appropriation called for was to purchase additional land and erect that building. "Now the senate, not the house of representatives, for that is favorable to the schools, has passed three bills nullifying the normal Schools, one denying the appropriation, another giving the land to the city of Weston and a third discharging the board of regents. It is a shame and a disgrace to cut off now the use of this equip ment. "Once before we had to suspend, the windows were boarded up and we went away, but the school was given support in the following year and we returned and since that time there has been quiet growth." President French escorted a Spokes man-Review representative through the building, showing the classrooms in use, the special library for the student teachers, the main library with 2000 volumes, and the manual training shop. "I have great hope for the future," said Mr. French. "I do not believe the school will be abandoned. A spe cial session of the legislature is to be called shortly, whether to discuss the normal schools I am unable to say. but the outgoing and the newly elect ed governors are both favorable to the normals, and it Is to be hoped this question will receive ' consideration." ' . - ' A ." u .'. a t I ' - i- ' i t , . 1 A . f , , utMW V t ' ' "i t. rft &&J&2&su!& -."- A ai-untox fcu-NC ftL klaJ Normal School Building . Women's Dormitory Men's Dormitory . GENERAL VIEW OF NORMAL SCHOOL GROUNDS. $75,000 School Plant That the Oregon Senate Votes to Abandon. President's Cottage mends itself as sound, it will be ac cepted by the people, and there will be an end of the everlasting agitation on the subject. The Journal has not at any time approved the plan of abandoning all the schools and establishing Instead a single school to be located at Port land. There are many reasons why a change of that kind should not be made, notable among which would be the cost of the site, the expense of be ginning everything anew and the loss that would be involved in abandon ment of buildings already provided. The Journal regrets (that provision was not made for support of all the schools now in operation at least un til the end of the current scholastic year. The teachers are under implied contract, the classes on the verge of graduation and a certain measure of obligation rested upon the state to at least carry them through the re mainder of the year. The failure to make such a provision, of course, was due to a disagreement tha arose be tween the senate and the house, a disagreement that ended in adjourn ment and nothing for the normals. A SINGULAR "SOLUTION." to the keyholes and listen to the noises to see if there is a medly of base and soprano purring through the transom over the door. Portland looks good from Bower man's point of view and supplies him with his immediate purposes, which chime in beautifully with the devel opment of Portland's avarice, It is the experience of the two or three one-normal states to hunt up the big cities t'hat are so large and wealthy they need have so little re gard for the proprieties they place their "hell's half acre" and White Chapel districts at the union depots so as to give the stranger the proper impression of the place? On that program Colorado would have chosen Denver in place of the little town of Greeley. In place of Iowa massing its enormous normal school plant at the little village of Cedar Falls, it would have gathered its educational machinery at the big city of Sioux Falls. Yankton's only rival for a half century as the wick edest atmosphere in that quarter of the union, or at Des Moines, which has something like Portland's class. THE NORMALS. (Weston Leader, Feb. 19.) Upon what meat hath fed the state senate of Oregon that it hath grown so .abnormally swelled with a sense of its own importance? This, peculiar body has: Ignored the action of the last pre ceding legislature, which left the set tlement of the normal school question to a state board of control. Ignored the recommendation of this board, which with the exception of one regent, Mr. Ayer, decided that three normal schools should be main tained in Oregon, at Monmouth, Ash land and Weston, and that a dormi tory is needed by each school.. Ignored the action of the lower house, which by a large majority vote appropriated $106,000 for each of these three schools. Ignored the wishes of the state su perintendent of public instruction, Mr. Ackerman, who is familiar with the work of the normals, and has earnestly expressed himself as in fa vor of their maintenance. Ignored the recommendation of Governor Chamberlain, who declared in his message in favor of three schools. Taken no thought of the work of years In building up the normals to their present state of efficiency a work accomplished despite a weight of opposition and hardship unknown in any other state in the union. Shown no consideration for hun-j dreds of normal school graduates,' whose diplomas will be objects of ridicule when their parent schools are killed. . Attempted to deprive eastern Ore gon of its only state educational in stitution, whose usefulness is shown by the fact that it has a larger at tendance than ever before, and larger than that of any other normal in the state, although it was closed for one year by the referendum, and has had to fight for its very life at every ses sion of the legislature. Ignored the wishes of the people as expressed at the polls in June, 1906, when tKey pustained the general ap propriation bill by three to one on a referendum vote in which the normal schools wer the only Issue of importance. Voted to abandon school plants worth well above three figures, in- j eluding the Weston normal, which at a very conservative estimate is worth $75,000 as school property, although it would scarcely bring a tenth of that sum if sold under the hammer. The large brick building constructed by the state at a cost of something like $40,000 would be valueless for any purpose except as a home for the school and would be relegated to ruin, vacancy and vermin. A SAD SPECTACLE. A Queer "Reason.". (Weston Leader.) The real reason why the normal schools have been abandoned lies in the belief that there is no reason to educate and graduate school teachers at the expense of the state. It is be lieved that school teachers, as others, preparing for professions, should ed ucate themselves. The state doesn't educate plumbers nor boiler-makers, nor sheepherders. Yet all these and many more, are essential to the state. ; Besides, it is believed there is too much merely literary education these times, and not work enough to fur nish supply of milk, eggs and butter, pork and beans. Again, members of the legislature, moved by the crowd of normal advocates, were trying to trade and to log-roll everything, to get what they wanted. Portland Or egonian. So? Then why should the state, at the agricultural college and- uni versity, educate those who are "pre paring for professions?" And will the Oregonion gindly be specific and point out a single example of vicious legislation 'that the normal schools have "log-rolled" through the legis lature? They have fought for their lives, it is true. Would the Orego nian have them whine and crawl like craven dogs under the lash? (East Oregonian, Feb. 20.) It is a sorry spectacle at best. The assault upon tne normal schools has been a damnable piece of business. It has been unwise for countless rea sons, and it has been rankly unjust. The opposition came primarily from an element, led by the Oregonian, that hates to see money spent for any purpose, no matter how meritorious, unless it goes into their own mitts. Regardless of truth and regardless of any sense of justice, these forces have slandered the normal schools night and day. They have caused unin formed people to believe the normal schools were "nuisances,' . when in reality those schools were doing the most righteous work in the state. The only thing in God's world the matter with the normal schools is they have been so persistently libeled, starved and harrassed in general that they have been unable to do the work of which they are capable. What will happen if the normal schools are killed is sad to contem plate. The people of the state should not stand for a central normal school in Portland. If they do they are fish. To establish such a school would be to create a high school for the bene fit of Portland, but at the expense of the state. Oregon cannot depend upon other states for normal training. Students .tvom this , state are admitted to the Washington schools and many of them go there. But In order to enter they must pay a high tuition or pledge themselves to teach for three years in that state. If the normal schools are killed there will be but one result. The heart will be taken out of the com mon school system of the state. In an educational way the state will have to go backward. It will be disgraced in the eyes of the educational world, WHftT LEADING EDUCATORS SAY (Dr. Sheldon's Bulletin, 1905, .Uni , verslty of Oregon.) The principal of the Whitewater normal school, Wisconsin: "A large central school is too much of a ma chine. Pupils have too little contact with the administration and stronger members of the faculty. Too much of the instruction in such cases is done by subordinate and compara tively cheap Instructors. The school cannot accomplish any such work In the way of character building and personal moulding of students as Is done in smaller schools." As put by the state superintendent of Missouri: "Several schools, located in different parts of our state will come more directly In contact with teachers and influence them more. The faculty of a normal school hav ing about twenty counties in its dis trict will In some measure supervise the schools of that district, while one large central school will not reach the teachers of the outlying counties and will not exert the same influence on these counties as upon those near er its location." The idea Is well expressed by the president of the Madison, South Da kota normal: "The great school has a mass of students and educates. trains and graduates in mass. The school of from 200 to 500, graduat ing from 40 to 80 each year knows, educates and trains every Individual and is sure of its work; it developes character and power." When a central school fails to at tract large attendance, it then Is usu ally more expensive proportionally than a system of local schools. Colo rado is a case in point where the cost of training a student for a year reach es the high figure of $248 per year, a rate higher than that of some of the most efficient universities which have a much' more extensive plant. The first requisite Is, In all cases. efficiency. What Is the smallest ap propriation which will support a first class school of from 150 to 250 stu dents? ' This 'question was included In the circular letter sent to the princi pals and superintendents above men tioned. The replies varied from $15, 000 a year at one limit to $100,000 at the other, the great majority, how ever, placed their estimates between $25,000 and $40,000. When we com pare these figures with the actual ex pense in some of the most successful normal school states, such as Wis consin $39,000; Massachusetts, $33,- 000; New York and California, $38, 000, we can safely conclude that un der ordinary conditions no normal school can be put on an efficient ba sis for less than $25,000 for current expenses. We have now at Monmouth 112 students who have paid their tuition and completed three weeks of the second semester; 36 of there are in the senior class. To close down the school at once will mean a loss of not less than $50 each to all non-resident students. Even then they cannot en ter any other Institution In the state and complete the year's work. I shall not recite the wrongs of the fac ulty or innocent citizens who have moved to those towns for the benefit of schooling for their children. President E. D. Ressler. (Oregon Daily Journal, March 2.) It is the latk of orderly and sound arrangement 'in the ' normal school policy that keeps the schools constant ly in an unsettled state, and constant ly before the legislature in a half starved condition and begging for the means of existence. It has been a bad condition for the schools, as has been seen in past times when there was lack of provision for some of them. The thing that is needed, and that ought to be supplied, is a sen sible and stable arrangement of the normal school policy, based on the needs of the state, and taking into ac count that supreme factor of what th people of the state are willing to pay for. If it be a policy that corn- Portland's Dormitories, , (Ashland Valley-Record.) President Bowerman, of the state senate, in an article over his own signature on "The Work of the Ses sion," in the Portland Telegram; gives as his reasons why the "one normal at Monmouth" bill, offered as a compromise" by the house in the last hours of the session, was defeated, was that Monmouth was a very small town and 'would require dormitories. Of course Portland could supply the moral needs of the students in its various lodging houses. Parents in various parts of the state could feel very secure as the "moral squad' rounds up the Portland lodging booses every few nights and peep in- 4 CONDENSED NORMAL SCHOOL STATISTICS. In 1907, out of a large sum appropriated by Washington for edu cational purposes, the three nonnul schools received a total of $453, 020. In Oregon, the Ashland and Weston Normals received a total of $75,000 for the bi-ennlal period, and Monmouth nothing. In Washington this year the ways and means committee recom mends a total of $307,000 for the three normals.. The Oregon legis latureor at least, the state senate wants to cut off the normals with out a cent. . Dr. Sheldon's bulletin, issued from the University of Oregon in 1905, shows that seven slates have one normal school; 37 have more than one, ranging from two to 19 in num-IxT, and two states have none. Does Oregon want to make a third? . Dr. Sheldon's bulletin also shows tliat nine state superintendents favor single normals, and 41 favor two or more. The' average cost of graduating trained teachers from the normal schools of the United States in 1902-03 was $419.28. In Oregon the 4 !' 4 fr 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 average cost per graduate in 1907-08 was $420. These figures show that the charge that the cost of normal school training in Oregon is ex cessive is not based On facls. Health conditions at Weston are remarkably good. There has nev- 4 er licon a single death at the East Oregon State Normal School, save 4 that of the late President 'Martlndale, who came here a sick man, and 4 the students are seldom ill. No student has ever been "hazed." 4 A Union Pacific train March 5 came In with four sections carry 4 ing a total of 215 Immigrants. Of these all except one man (Missed 4 through Oregon and went to Spokane and other Eastern Washington 4 points. Why? 4 For all purposes the Eastern Oregon State Normal School has 4 received since 1891, the date of its first appropriation, the sum of 4 $174,000.. Each of the three Washington normals receive nearly as 4 much in a single appropriation in 1907, the Ellensburg normal getting 4 $140,000, the Cheney normal $160,000, and the BcHJngliam normal 4 $153,020. , 4 During the bi-ennlal period 1907-08, 275 normal students were 4 enrolled at the Eastern Oregon State Normal School. Of these only 4 19 per cent were from Umatilla county. The remainder represented 4 17 counties. 4 The average cost of Normal school students in Oregon for the 4 year 1907-08 was $84. This is more than the actual cost to the state, 4 as the Monmouth students were paid for out of private funds. This 4 compares to Rhode Island, $294; Colorado, $218; Massachusetts. $150; 4 Oklahoma, $141; South Dakota, $192; Washington, $189; Wisconsin. 4 $140. In the group of modern expenses are Michigan $98 per student, 4 Minnesota $115, New York $106, Pennsylvania $84, Illinois $75 and 4 West Virginia $98. 4 Of 22 members of the graduating class of 1908 at the Eastern Oregon State Normal Sdiool, 20 are actually engaged In teaching at 4 4 the present time. 4 4 The Eastern Oregon State Normal School Is an Oregon Insulation. 4 4 Nearly all its supplies for teacliers, students and patrons come from 4 4 Portland, the chief city of the state. 4 4 4. 4444444444 4444444444444444 The principal of the Milwaukee normal discusses conditions in Michi gan. "My native state is Michigan, where for years they have had one large normal school. Investigation showed that 90 per cent of its at tendance was drawn from adjacent counties. It was not big enough to make itself felt throughout the state. Within the past eight years, three new normal schools were established in Michigan. The attendance at the central school has materially in creased and the three other schools are full. Each one of the schools draws largely' from its own locality." One of the strongest arguments in favor of a system of local schools, Is the fact that in most states the students of a normal school come from closely adjacent regions, so that in general a system of local schools reaches more students and therefore trains more teachers than can a sin gle central school. All the more populous states having a large per- entage of normally trained teachers like Wisconsin. Massachusetts and California are states which maintain a system of local schools. Just a reasonable number well dis tributed will reach a much larger stu dent body and thus reach the home life of many more. Do. not central ize." President Flagstaff, Arizona, Normal. - "Thore should be two or more in a state If state is too large for one school to get in close touch with all parts of the state." President Albion, Idaho, Normal. , In large states and territories where distances are so great, a number of small ones Is best. State Superin tendent, Arizona, "No. The smaller normal schools are preferable, because of the great er ease of thorough acquaintance of student by teacher, and of providing a proper supply of model and practice schools." President Salem, Massa chusetts, Normal. "A number of small schools pref erable. Experience of older states." State Superitnendent, Nebaska. "We have five schools in this state and I think the attendance is larger and the work accomplished better than in one central school. Students who attend a normal school are not Inclined to travel the longer distance necessary in reaching a central school." President Winona, Minn., Normal. - "Three hundred students is enough for a school and that number only In a city which can give 8000 children In practice schools. Less than that If you have not enough pupils in lower (Continued on Page Biz.)