for 1882-83, and requiring three years of study instead of two, the number of students willing and ready to take it was less than the number in preceding years ready to take the Elementary Course. We will have large classes graduating in the Didactic Course hereafter. The total number of graduates as shown in the preceding table is one hundred and sixty-five (165); but the number of persons who are graduates is one hundred and twenty-eight (128). Thirtyseven persons have graduated in at least two courses, and a few of these have progressed through the three courses, hence some are counted twice, and even three times, in making up the table. The attendance comes from all parts of the State. The number of counties of Iowa represented is sixty-six (66) for the year 1881-82, and sixty-six (66) for the year 1882-83-a coincidence. Seventy-nine (79) counties of Iowa have had students here during these two years, and thirteen (13) counties from seven (7) other States have also been represented. These students propose to become residents of Iowa and to teach in this State. The facts of the past year prove that they do. The exact number of different persons who have been students during these seven years is one thousand, three hundred and twentytwo (1,322). The smallness of this number is a pleasing fact; because in connection with the number of years and the average number in attendance, it shows the long average time of attendance for each student, a fact that indicates that the School meets the best expectations of the student and secures more thorough and extended scholarship. We believe that we excel in this point-a large average time of attendance, giving a large school but not a large catalogue. THE SPIRIT OF THE SCHOOL. Having spoken on this point in my former reports, and told how satisfactory it was, I must claim as much for the two years now being considered. The deportment of the students has been, in the main, such as comports with the character of those who intend to enter the office of the teacher. It is not claimed that there have been no departures from rule and right, but that these have been few and slight. The spirit of the true scholar has pervaded the entire body; and the concern in the minds of the officers has been, not that the students were neglectful and disinterested, but that they, generally speaking, were endangering their health by too much zeal and application. Yet excellent health has been maintained from first to last. Poor health at school is not the result of hard study, but of other causes wholly external to school life. Yet it must be said that only those of good constitution can sustain the labors of a true student. EXAMINING COMMITTEES. The committee that examined the classes of 1881-83 consisted of: Hon J. W. Akers, Superintendent of Public Instruction. Prof. R. A. Harkness, President of Iowa State Teachers' Association. Prof. R. W. Leverich, Superintendent of Muscatine county. The committee that examined the class of 1882-83 consisted of: Prof. S. R. Bingham, Superintendent of Public Schools, Cedar Falls. The thanks of the officers of the School are hereby extended to these gentlemen for their services. OUGHT THE STATE TO MAINTAIN NORMAL SCHOOLS? The answer to this question depends on the answer that may be given to another. Is a normal school an effective agent for the prep aration of teachers? If in a normal school the learner is required to apply his mind under the guidance of able instructors to the study of these four questions: What is the human being as the subject of education? In what does this education consist? What are the agents and instruments that will produce this education? What are the true modes of applying these agents and instruments? if, with this study, there is coupled an attentive observation of processes in active operation. and frequent opportunities for the learner to conduct the processes with his own hand; and if, at the same time, he is acquiring thorough scholarship in the sciences which he will teach when he comes to have a school of his own, no one can doubt the effectiveness of such a normal school in the preparation of teachers. The true normal school transcends the mere externalities of modes and patternstranscends, but does not ignore them. The spirit as well as the form. must enter the mind of the teacher and become a productive force. Such in brief is the outline of the system adopted here; and with a consciousness that it is carried out very defectively, we feel that the results, as seen in the efforts of our students in the school-room, do prove that that system is effective. I was enabled in my report two years ago to show the marked success in teaching which our graduates and others obtained. I can with more force after this lapse of time emphasize these statements. "Do the students of the Normal School teach?" is a quetion that some use to express a doubt. An actual count will show that 95 per cent do teach after leaving this School, some for a short time, but many for a number of years. Of one hundred and twenty-eight graduates all have taught since graduation except four, and the few who are pursuing a more advanced course of study here or elsewhere; and these intend to teach when they have ended their studies. About one half of the young men who are graduates are principals of important graded schools. They are rapidly attaining high rank in the profession. The young women have done equally well, and over twenty of the cities of the State, including some of the very largest, employ teachers from our list of graduates. They are growing in favor; and when some are once employed others will be in the same town. There are hundreds of our students teaching in the country schools; and county superintendents attest to their more than average success. These facts ought to answer the question: has the Iowa State Normal School fulfilled reasonably well the purpose for which it was founded? THE PROSPECT. It can be safely said that Iowa State Normal School has passed the experimental stage of its existence, and now holds its place among the older and worthy institutions of the State. It enters on a higher way of usefulness. The new features of a Model School; Post-Graduate Courses; better facilities for instruction in all departments, especially in Science; relief from the crowded state of the halls and rooms; these and other advantages, secured chiefly by the new building, will give character and power to the Institution, and secure it a fuller recognition in the public mind. That this is already taking place, is very apparent. WANTS. I hope that the Twentieth General Assembly will take pleasure in further extending the means of our usefulness. Much remains to be done. A full measure of facilities ought to be supplied. Our library is very small; our apparatus, as such institutions count apparatus, is very limited; our museums and cabinets are scarcely worthy of mention. The original building should be improved in appearance, some labor should be expended on the grounds, and some changes put in for sanitary reasons. But above all, provisions must be made for the proper boarding of our students either in the building or in town, and then some ready and comfortable means of transit between the Institution and the city. With a sense of thankfulness for what the State has done, not for us but for herself, we believe that the development of this School to a measure of completeness would be the best policy. At the same time, I am free to express an earnest wish that the State after doing liberally for its first Normal School, will be able to found others in the immediate future. J. C. GILCHRIST. |