FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 35 



HIGHER EDUCxVTION AT THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. 



PRINCIPAL E. A. LYMAN, MICHIGAN STATE NORMAL COLLEGE, YPSILANTI. 



During the past twenty years Michigan educational institutions have 

 experienced an unprecedented growth. When I entered the University 

 in 1882 from a farm in Northern Indiana the attendance was about 

 l,o(}0, while today it is not far from three times that number. Among 

 the students you will find representatives from every part of the United 

 States and front nearly every civilized nation on the globe. But the 

 students alone do not make an institution great, 



There are several reasons why the University occupies the eminent 

 position that it does. Among these might be mentioned the excellent 

 l)lan for the foundation of the University as outlined by State Super- 

 intendent Pierce in his first report to the legislature. Another reason, 

 the University is supported by the State and has the people of Michigan 

 behind it. Still another reason, but by no means the least, the great- 

 ness of the L'^niversity is due to the eminent teachers who have always 

 been found in its faculty, men who have devoted their lives to their 

 work and have stamped their personality on the students who come in 

 contact with them. I am here tonight to represent the State Normal 

 Schools and not the University, but I could not let this opportunity pass 

 without expressing my own gi\atitude and obligation to the University 

 of Michigan for what it has done for me. 



During this same period of years, 1882-1900, the attendance at the 

 State Normal College at Ypsilanti has increased from 330 to nearly 

 1,100. The number of graduates in 1882 was 81, while this year we 

 shall have over 360. In the history of the Normal School there has 

 never been more than two per cent of the attendance from outside the 

 State, and this year, out of nearly 1,100, we have but tw^enty-two from 

 other states. But the increase in numbers does not tell the whole story. 

 There has been a corresponding increase in the teaching force and 

 facilities, and we have now about reached the limit of our capacity. 

 Furthermore, manual training is becoming an important educational 

 factor, and if we wish to keep pace with other normal schools we must 

 have some facilities for doing this kind of work. It would therefore 

 seem that we would be entirely justified in asking the State legislature 

 at the next session for a science building to be devoted to laboratories 

 and manual training. 



When Superintendent Pierce submitted his report to the legislature 

 recommending the foundation of the University, he mentioned normal 

 schools, but made no recommendation. It was not until 1850 that the 

 legislature passed an act consolidating two previous acts founding the 

 Normal School, now the State Normal College. This institution was 

 located at Ypsilanti. It is the sixth institution of the kind founded 

 in the United States, and has for years ranked among the very best, if 

 not as the best. The people of Michigan and the legislators have been 

 kindly disposed toward the Normal School from the beginning and have 

 been inclined to be liberal in appropriations. The importance of train- 



