Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 21.djvu/120

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

110 JOHN C. ALMACK

fered, and in 1891 Drain listed telegraphy, violin, art, elocu- tion, and shorthand, with eight courses: Elementary, normal, post graduate, higher post graduate, business, academic, music and painting, and kindergarten.

The law of 1882 which created state normals contained this clause :

"Model training schools for professional practice shall be maintained."

Pursuant to this requirement, training departments were early organized in each school. The catalogue of Ashland Normal in 1887 contained this statement :

"This department (training) is incidental to all first class normal schools, and has been one of the leading features of this school during the past year. Our student teachers are required to work in this department, teaching classes and criti- cising others. Students to graduate from normal school must show a fair amount of ability to teach and to govern."

Monmouth advertised the same year :

"By an arrangement with the board of directors of the Mon- mouth public school, the privilege of teaching in the school under the supervision of critic teachers is granted to members of the senior class. Each member of the senior class is re- quired to teach twenty weeks, three hours each day. Thor- ough preparation in both general and special method will occupy the twenty weeks preparatory to teaching. The plan is the one pursued by the best normals of this country and Europe. Especial attention is called to the opportunity of securing training in the work of the ninth grade, or first year of the state high school course."

The use of the public school as a training school depart- ment did away with the possibility of rivalry between the normal and the public school a condition too often found in cities maintaining the two separate systems. This scheme was not adopted without objection, as many held that the educational opportunities offered in the training school, with