in the Union,-in this hemisphere. It belongs to that class of events which may happen once, but are incapable of being repeated. Coiled up in this institution as in a spring, there is a vigor whose uncoiling may wheel the spheres."

The question, shall these normal schools succeed? had to be answered by the heroic efforts of the first principals of these first three State normal schools. These men, sustained by the Board of Education and encouraged by the indefatigable Secretary of the Board, successfully performed the experiment of establishing these schools in the confidence of the people.

They demonstrated to the frugal voters of the Commonwealth the utility of a new set of institutions which were to be supported from the State Treasury; they encountered the fierce opposition of many teachers who thought they were to be superceded by the graduates of these new and hitherto unheard of State seminaries; they had to do their work without suitable buildings and apparatus, without public sympathy, and with their pupils under their instruction only for a brief period, and fluctuating in their attendance. They had to accomplish their purpose by the sheer genius of their personal ability and indomitable resolution, with a faith that removed the mountains in their path and an industry that knew no fatigue.

What have the normal schools of Massachusetts accomplished? Last year the State Board of Education appointed Mr. Ellis Peterson, who had been for twenty-six years a supervisor of the Boston public schools, to spend the year in the inspection of the State normal schools and report upon their condition. He was to visit also the best normal schools in other States for

the purpose of comparison. He did so, and I quote from his report:

He says, "The substantial fact is, that the majority of the graduates of these schools have been of immense service to the State; that their influence has been felt, directly or indirectly, in every city and village of Massachusetts and, indeed, in other States. They have carried into the common schools a higher standard of moral excellence; greater courtesy; more humane methods of school government; a greater regard for the health and comfort of pupils; a broader and more exact scholarship; a clearer, more distinct, and more philosophical view of the ends of education and of the method of teaching; and, finally, greater skill in presenting subjects of study to pupils, in co-operating with them, and in training them to think and work independently. The State normal schools of Massachusetts, judged from their substantial accomplishments, must therefore be pronounced effective agents for training teachers for the common schools. And they stand in the front rank of State normal schools."

The normal school idea, like the early New England spirit, has spread over the north, the west, and the south of our country until there is not a State or territory in the Union which has not at least one public normal school. According to the statistics gathered by the United States Commissioner of Education the public normal schools have been steadily increasing in nuniber, in the number of their pupils, and in the amount expended for their support.

Every little while some critic comes forward and says the normal schools are no good, their teachers are incompetent and they are not accomplishing their pur

Malig

pose. Benignant criticism is a good tonic. nant criticism is an instrument of torture. Normal schools are far from being perfect, and no one knows their deficiencies better, or feels them more keenly, than those who are doing the best work in conducting them.

The colleges at first took little interest in the normal school idea. The president of one of the leading New England colleges said at one time in my hearing, in a meeting of the high school principals of Massachusetts, when discussing the establishing of a chair of pedagogy in the college, "All one needs for teaching is knowledge. If one has sufficient knowledge, then he can teach if he has any ability for teaching. Any one can tell all he knows about teaching in half an hour. The college gives knowledge, therefore it has no need of a chair of pedagogy." But his college and many another college now has its chair of pedagogy. The demand for the professional training of teachers was too great to be ignored.

The main question now is how shall the purpose of normal instruction be best accomplished? The answer is, first, it is best done by schools whose sole purpose is the education of teachers. The purpose of normal school instruction is distinctly professional. No normal school department in any private or public school, no chair of pedagogy in any college, can fully accomplish the purpose of normal school instruction. It is too large a work, and too distinctive in its quality, to be shared by any other. It needs an institution wholly devoted to this one object, and fully equipped for this distinctive work. It demands the State normal school for the education of teachers for the common schools,

and the State normal college for the education of teachers for the public high schools.

Two prominent criticisms have been made upon the work of the normal schools. The first criticism is, "They have too much academic work and too little professional work." This criticism comes from the fact that so many normal schools make the unnatural and unphilosophical separation of their work into the academic study of subjects and the study of methods. The answer to this criticism is, make all the work of the normal school strictly professional. Study every subject and conduct every exercise in its direct bearing upon the teaching process.

The second criticism is that the graduates of the normal school have not sufficient breadth of scholarship. The criticism is true. They do not know enough to teach school properly. How many of us wise men remember how little we knew when we were at the age of these young normal school graduates? And we haven't yet passed beyond the need of more knowledge. The answer to this criticism is, extend the time of the course of study in the normal school and broaden the knowledge of the student teacher, and increase the salaries of public school teachers to a reasonable compensation for making more extended preparation.

There are five essentials in the training of student teachers which the normal school must supply.

First, It is essential that the student teacher should get the "professional idea" and become a genuine student of teaching; and be willing to do anything that will help him on in his teaching; that he may be inspired with the spirit of the true teacher who loves his work and loves to serve his pupils.

Second, It is essential that the student teacher shall study the elementary and high school subjects anew in the normal school, for two reasons; first, to increase his knowledge and power and to broaden his view. Second, he should study them anew that he may consider them from the teacher's point of view.

The student teacher should study each subject he is to use in teaching from three points of view: first, that he may know the essential facts and principles of the subject in their logical sequence, this is the scientific view of the subject; second, that he may know why the subject is to be used in the teaching of his pupils, -this is the philosophical view of the subject; third, that he may know how to use the subject in the teaching process, this is the pedagogical view of the subject.

Third, It is essential that the student teacher shall make a careful study of human nature, physical, intellectual, emotional, moral, and spiritual; to find the powers which are active in all men, the conditions of their normal activity, and the product of their exertion; and to find what is peculiar to the individual man.

Fourth, It is essential that the student teacher shall make a practical study of the child in the different stages of his development as he appears in actual life, out of the school and in the school.

Fifth, It is essential that the student teacher shall have ample observation, under intelligent guidance, of the workings of all the grades of a good public school; and when he has some just conception of the nature and method of true teaching, and when he has become acquainted with his pupils, that he shall have sufficient practice in teaching, under such supervision as he