42 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



lier present proud position, viz.: A State known through her institu- 

 tions for higher education by every civilized nation on the face of the 

 earth. 



THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. 



PROF. E. FINLEY JOHNSON, ANN AKBOR. 



With reference to the Normal Schools and what they are doing for 

 the educational welfare of the State, T desire to say that we have 

 three so-called Normal Schools in this State — one located at Ypsilanti, 

 one at Mt. Pleasant and one at Marquette. In these three schools 

 instruction is given to about seventeen hundred earnest and enthusi- 

 astic young men an^ women, who are there primarily for the purpose 

 of preparing themselves for the profession of teaching. Michigan was 

 the fourth State of the Union to provide schools for the special train- 

 ing of teachers, and the Normal School at Ypsilanti was the fifth school 

 of its kind established in the United States. While it was fifth in point 

 of time, 1 believe that it is now ranked among the first in character 

 and quality of work done. 



During the last session of the Legislature I had occasion to investi- 

 gate the question of how many of the graduates of these schools taught 

 in the schools of this State for one term or more after their graduation, 

 and I found that about 96 per cent of them did. Not only did I find 

 that 96 per cent of them went into the profession for which the State 

 had given them special training and instruction, but that 80 per cent 

 of them went into the rural schools and into the grades in the cities 

 and villages. So, gentlemen, you can see that the result of the higher 

 educational training and culture for which the State has paid, afforded 

 by these schools, is returned directly to the source of the demand for 

 thorough scholastic preliminary training. And we must remember 

 that without a proper preparation and a thorough training enforced 

 in the rural schools and the grades, it is impossible for the University 

 and the higher institutions of learning to maintain the high scholastic 

 position which thej^ have reached. 



It is the special function of these Normal Schools to train expert 

 teachers, and while this is being done, it has not been forgotten that 

 special academic training on the part of the student is a necessary pre- 

 requisite to the proper performance of this special purpose. 



Recently all the educational interests of these schools have been 

 put under one general control — under one president. Formerly they 

 were under separate management, each attempting to work out certain 

 problems without reference to methods and results obtained in the 

 other. 



Those who have given most thought concerning the advisability of 

 this new scheme beli^vp that the money which is to be expended in 

 these institutions may be more wisely used under the new manage- 

 ment, and with less duplication of expenditure. They also believe that 

 there may be less duplication of labor, and that a sub-ordination of 

 the courses of instruction mav be enforced which will in the future 



