california's normal school 



System. 



FREDERIC BURK. 



CALIFORNIA has five State normal schools for the training of teachers, 

 so located that every portion of the State is within easy access to at 

 least one of them. They are at Los Angeles and at San Diego; at 

 Chico, in the Sacramento Valley; at San Jose, in the Santa Clara 

 Valley, and at San Francisco. Practically every part of the State 



except the sparsely-settled mountain region Is within a few hours' 

 ride from one of these normal schools. 



These institutions have become an indispensable part of the State's 

 magnificent educational system, both from the standpoint of needs of the 

 public schools for teachers and from the standpoint of students desiring to 

 engage in the occupation of teaching. For several years past the normal 

 schools have been unable to supply the demand for teachers from the State's 

 public schools, and no graduate who will teach is ever without a position. 

 As the salaries of teachers in California are the highest in the United States, 

 the normal schools are performing a most important service for young 

 persons seeking a start in the world. Under the law no teacher, even in the 

 remotest rural district, can be paid less than $55 per month, and the 

 salaries of regular grade teachers run up as high as $800 and $900 per year 

 in some city schools. Generally the monthly salary in the schools outside 

 the larger cities is from $60 to $70 for nine and ten months' schools. 

 Normal graduates are as a rule preferred, and, as stated, the normal schools 

 have been unable to supply all that are wanted. 



The normal schools are all liberally supported by the State and are well 

 equipped. The Los Angeles and San Jose schools have commodious build- 

 ings capable of accommodating 600 to 700 students each. The San Diego 

 school is famed as being one of the handsomest school buildings in the 

 United States. The Chico building has recently been enlarged, and the 

 San Francisco, the newest in establishment, is about to erect a large build- 

 ing. In all, the State has an investment of about $1,000,000 in normal 

 school buildings and grounds, and about $100,000 in their libraries, furniture 

 and equipment. 



In educational standing, the California normal schools rank with the 

 most advanced institutions of their kind in the United States. Three of 

 the schools, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Francisco, have courses of two 

 years, requiring for admission graduation from a high school under equiva- 

 lent conditions for admission to the universities; San Diego and Chico give 

 the same two years' course, but also, owing to the local sparsity of high 

 schools in their regions, they maintain four-year courses admitting some 

 students from the ninth grade of the grammar schools. The instruction 

 given is largely practical training in actual teaching in elementary schools 

 maintained for this purpose. The diploma of graduation from any of the 

 normal schools entitles the holder to a certificate to teach in any primary 

 and grammar school of the State, and under the conditions of renewal, is, to 

 all intents and purposes, a life document. This diploma is recognized by 

 the authorities of practically all States of the Union, so that a graduate of 

 a California normal school is never put to any inconvenience, such as an 

 examination, in order to secure legal credentials upon which to teach. 



While, in the main, the standard course is the same in all the normal 

 schools, nevertheless there is a certain desirable individuality maintained in 

 each school, by virtue of special needs of the respective localities. For 

 example, the Chico and San Diego schools, by reason of more sparse settle- 

 ment in the regions from which they draw students, permit the entrance of 

 students without high school graduation and give them a longer course with 

 greater emphasis upon the side of academic scholarship. The San Jose 



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