unusually easy to secure employment as teachers in good schools without much or any experience and with little or no training in teachers' schools. A second element that has interfered with the increasing of the enrollment of the period has been the large attendance of the teachers of Iowa at the World's Fair held at St. Louis. It was a great privilege to attend this great exposition, a privilege that meant more to teachers than to any class of other citizens. Since many teachers depend upon their meager savings to continue their education, it became necessary for them to make a choice between going to the World's Fair or attending school, and in most instances, the World's Fair received first consideration as the education obtainable at the Normal School was more easily postponed. This was notably true for the summer session of 1904, the enrollment lacking a great deal of its natural number. So was the enrollment of the fall and spring of 1904, all of which were disturbed by the attractions of the exposition. This is not mentioned for criticism but to give the true explanation for the causes that prevented the customary development in the number of students reported from period to period. The correspondence of the office showed that many individuals whose original plans were to become students found it desirable to change their arrangements, go to the Fair and teach the following year. 2. The Development of the Period in Departments. While the increase of the enrollment was thus checked for a time, yet the progress in the development of the work of the School has been quite notable, since the efforts undertaken to adapt the work of the preparation of teachers more in conformity to the needs of the people have been decided and commendable, The new departments,-kindergartning, manual training and domestic science, have been carefully organized, fairly equipped and reasonably well started, so that superior opportunities in these practical lines have been provided and the prospects for the future are exceedingly encouraging. It is true that much better provisions must be made in the near future to give these new departments permanent and properly planned rooms in specially constructed buildings, yet for the few months in which they have been conducted, genuine progress and success have been attained and public appreciation has been plainly shown. Following the instruction of the Trustees, the Faculty has made provision for granting special diplomas to music teachers, drawing teachers, manual training teachers, domestic science teachers, kindergartners, and physical training teachers, each particular kind to receive such a diploma as definitely recommends said graduate for the special kind of teaching they are thoroughly prepared to do. This leaves to the former diplomas, their exact province in scholarship and training they have represented for years and gives equivalent recognition to those who are trained for special fields of teaching that have thus far been treated as subordinate and transitory. In the line of advanced scholarship the Normal School now confers the diploma Bachelor of Arts in Education, the requirements for such recognition being (1) entrance conditions graduation from a good high school, and (2) graduation conditions-four years of work at the Normal School, said work to consist of the various arts and sciences commonly considered as constituting a liberal education, including a thorough and careful study of the professional and technical phases that are essential to an educational career. This is not in the line of assuming the prerogatives of a college or a university but is in conformity to the need of preparing the most competent teachers for all grades and classes of public schools-the statutory province determined in 1876 by the general assembly for the Normal School. This diploma, Bachelor of Arts in Education, was adopted by the first board of trustees at the organization of the Normal School in 1876 and is not a recent invention as some inquirers have supposed, the first board of trustees recognizing thus the province of the school as outlined in the founding act of the general assembly as including the entire scope of scholarship and training that is definitely required for entrance upon a professional career as a teacher. It should be recognized, of course, that the Normal School must have special fitness in its students and prospective capability to do the work required in its training classes if it is to accomplish the fitting of teachers for the public schools. There is naturally much difference in the suitability and the capability of persons who will conclude to devote themselves to the teaching career. This special suitability and capability manifests unusually easy to secure employment as teachers in good schools without much or any experience and with little or no training in teachers' schools. A second element that has interfered with the increasing of the enrollment of the period has been the large attendance of the teachers of Iowa at the World's Fair held at St. Louis. It was a great privilege to attend this great exposition, a privilege that meant more to teachers than to any class of other citizens. Since many teachers depend upon their meager savings to continue their education, it became necessary for them to make a choice between going to the World's Fair or attending school, and in most instances, the World's Fair received first consideration as the education obtainable at the Normal School was more easily postponed. This was notably true for the summer session of 1904, the enrollment lacking a great deal of its natural number. So was the enrollment of the fall and spring of 1904, all of which were disturbed by the attractions of the exposition. This is not mentioned for criticism but to give the true explanation for the causes that prevented the customary development in the number of students reported from period to period. The correspondence of the office showed that many individuals whose original plans were to become students found it desirable to change their arrangements, go to the Fair and teach the following year. 2. The Development of the Period in Departments. While the increase of the enrollment was thus checked for a time, yet the progress in the development of the work of the School has been quite notable, since the efforts undertaken to adapt the work of the preparation of teachers more in conformity to the needs of the people have been decided and commendable, The new departments,-kindergartning, manual training and domestic science, have been carefully organized, fairly equipped and reasonably well started, so that superior opportunities in these practical lines have been provided and the prospects for the future are exceedingly encouraging. It is true that much better provisions must be made in the near future to give these new departments permanent and properly planned rooms in specially constructed buildings, yet for the few months in which they have been conducted, genuine progress and success have been attained and public appreciation has been plainly shown. Following the instruction of the Trustees, the Faculty has made provision for granting special diplomas to music. teachers, drawing teachers, manual training teachers, domestic science teachers, kindergartners, and physical training teachers, each particular kind to receive such a diploma as definitely recommends said graduate for the special kind of teaching they are thoroughly prepared to do. This leaves to the former diplomas, their exact province in scholarship and training they have represented for years and gives equivalent recognition to those who are trained for special fields of teaching that have thus far been treated as subordinate and transitory. In the line of advanced scholarship the Normal School now confers the diploma Bachelor of Arts in Education, the requirements for such recognition being (1) entrance conditions graduation from a good high school, and (2) graduation conditions-four years of work at the Normal School, said work to consist of the various arts and sciences commonly considered as constituting a liberal education, including a thorough and careful study of the professional and technical phases that are essential to an educational career. This is not in the line of assuming the prerogatives of a college or a university but is in conformity to the need of preparing the most competent teachers for all grades and classes of public schools-the statutory province determined in 1876 by the general assembly for the Normal School. This diploma, Bachelor of Arts in Education, was adopted by the first board of trustees at the organization of the Normal School in 1876 and is not a recent invention as some inquirers have supposed, the first board of trustees recognizing thus the province of the school as outlined in the founding act of the general assembly as including the entire scope of scholarship and training that is definitely required for entrance upon a professional career as a teacher. It should be recognized, of course, that the Normal School must have special fitness in its students and prospective capability to do the work required in its training classes if it is to accomplish the fitting of teachers for the public schools. There is naturally much difference in the suitability and the capability of persons who will conclude to devote themselves to the teaching career. This special suitability and capability manifests itself to instructors and to students as the work of preparation progresses. There is no such a thing as determining the particular career and province of an individual by the degree of scholarship possessed. Primary teachers and kindergartners are not such because of certain attainments in scholarship. The personality, the character, the mental peculiarities, the individual tastes and capabilities that are innate determine the person to be a kindergartener or a primary teacher. It is the same with those who will make pronounced success with grammar grade schools or with high schools, they must have personal fitness and conditional adaptability to the particular work and should this not exist the would-be teacher soon learns the fact from experience, abandons the schoolroom and enters a vocation more in harmony with fitness and personal capability. Taking a collegiate course does not of itself make a high school teacher as the other requisites have decisive and paramount value. It is for this reason that normal schools can not successfully devote themselves to training primary teachers alone, or grammar grade teachers alone, or music teachers alone, since the student who comes to prepare for public work in the teaching profession should have extended to him the privilege of being trained for that particular field of public school teaching for which his individual fitness gives him the greater chance for success and for which his capability guarantees for him the best services to the public. 4. The Revision of the Public School Curriculum. The public school course of study needs more attention than is commonly accorded it. There is a theory abroad that the public schools are nearly perfect as regards plan and detail of organization, and that it is the worst kind of pessimism to ask for their reorganization and readjustment. As a matter of fact there is greater need for revision of the course of study than there is for thoroughness, for better methods, for more branches or for newer lines of work. Too long has the teacher proceeded on the theory that the people alone must determine the course of study that is to be taught in the public schools and that the teacher's sole province is the invention and the practice of method. Too long has it been assumed that the people know exactly what they want, when they want it done and to what ages of children they desire this assignment given, for by so doing it has been accepted that everything is right and the people |