36 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



inj^- teachers was early reeognized, so tliat we find in the State Xormril 

 Schools of Michigan that the work is essentially professional. It might 

 be compared to the work in the law department or the medical depart- 

 ment of the University.. None of you would emjiloy a lawyer to take 

 charge of an important case who had entered the University of Michigan 

 law department and simply done work in the practice court without 

 laying a solid foundation in the knowledge of law. Likewise you would 

 hesitate to employ a ]>hysician who had taken a course in practical 

 anatomy without having taken a complete course in the study of medi- 

 cine. Likewise, professional training alone will not equip teachers for 

 their important work. There must be sufficient academic work provided 

 to serve as a basis for the professional training. Scholarship is the 

 first essential of good teaching. The teacher must not only know the 

 text-book the class is using, but he must know the subject. The train- 

 ing and culture of the teacher must be far be.vond the limit which he is 

 called upon to teach. The State Normal College at Ypsilanti therefore 

 occui)ies the field of higher education in all important lines of work, 

 since it is the function of this institution to e(iui]) teachers for all kinds 

 of positions. 



In this respect our State institution differs from most normal schools, 

 which devote themselves almost entirely to professional work, omitting 

 the academic work. Supt. Aaron Gove said, in the National Educational 

 Association last summer at Los Angeles, that graduates of normal 

 schools do their best teaching the first year, and after that begin to 

 deteriorate, but I am sure Supt. Gove had in mind graduates of those 

 normal schools which do simply professional work and lay no stress- 

 upon academic i)re])aration. If this is the class of schools he had in 

 mind, I am sure that he is right. They turn out nothing l>ut machine 

 made teachers, teachei-s who are crammed full of lesson plans and noth- 

 ing else. 



()n the other hand, I know that it is the sentiment of a large number 

 of superintendents in Michigan that in the State Normal College stu- 

 dents do acquire scholarly habits, they do get enough academic training 

 to serA^e as a basis for their work, and they do keep up their studies 

 and work after they leave the institution. As a rule, they do not 

 deteriorate, but they grow better. In addition to the work which has 

 been mentioned, there is in connection with the State Normal (J'ollege 

 as well as with the oilier Normal Schools of the State, a training school, 

 incorporating each of the eight grades and a kindergarten. Each grade 

 is in charge of a special critic teacher and the whole school under the 

 direction of a competent superintendent. In this school each student 

 is required to do twelve weeks of teaching before he is graduated. He 

 is required here to put into practice the theories that he has learned. 

 He is tested so that we have some means of knowing whether he has 

 teaching ability or not. 



The State Normal School at Mt. Pleasant, founded some years ago for 

 the purpose of training teachers for the rural schools and the lower 

 grades, has continued in growth from the beginning until the attendance 

 has reached nearly 450. The object of this school is essentially the 

 same as that at Ypsilanti. 



The third school, located at Marquette, has just been opened, and what 

 its future will be is not yet known. . It^ has started out fairly successful 

 with an attendance of al)out 70. '' ' ' ' 



