Eastern Michigan University - Aurora Yearbook (Ypsilanti, MI)

Page 30 text:

Gbe Eraining Bcbool HE NORMAL Training School is now drawing toward the close of the forty-ninth year of its existence, and at no time in its history has it been in so prosperous a condition. It would be difficult to recognize in the present department, with its stately building, numerous airy classrooms and wide corridors 5 with its well regulated course of study, its faculty of ifteen critics and its student corps of over three hundred teachers, the dingy, one room, experimental school of half a century ago, with its single critic and corps of but twenty students. Perhaps no other department of the Normal so admirably illustrates the marked growth of the College, or stands out so prominently as an index of its work. It is the laboratory or work-shop of the institution where all pedagogical dogma taught, and all teaching ability possessed by students are put to the test. Here unclassihed knowledge is classified and converted into power, thought is translated into action and the theories of other departments put into practice. It is here the anxious Senior, after years of preparation, is finally initiated into the secrets of his profession, and takes the hrst 'K Eve formal steps H down the avenues of success of failure, clinging frantically to the superintendents hand or the critic's skirts, longing for the mists to roll from his pedagogic vision, that he may H apperceive the mysteries of that thing of complex simplicity called the U lesson plan. Here he encounters that most intricate and interesting of all school phenomena-the eager urchin-ready to explode the pet theories of the inexperienced pedagog and teach him the all necessary but torturous truth 5 that it is not what a man knew las! year but what he can do now that is the true measure of his value. Here he goes through a process of pedagogical pruning under the supervision of a critic with all-seeing eyes and otherwise abnormal senses, whose seeming pleasure in life is to tear from him the last vestige of belief in the theory of inspired genius, and teach him by methods plain-and at times painful-the doctrine of divine drudgery as the only sure foundation for success in his profession.

Page 29 text:

Gribute to the jfacultg E. C. S. HE PRO FESSION of teaching stands out pre-eminently as a force whose powerful influence has wrought great changes in the lives of men and of nations, Unostentatious, it quietly but effectively does its work, entering homes and touching lives with which no other influence could come in contact. The cause and source of this infiuence is the teacher himself, for the life of the individual teacher makes the pro- fession what it is. The effect upon the world of the life of one true, noble teacher cannot be measured. He holds sway over the heart of childhood and of youth-the period when character is moulded, and when lasting impressions are received. The teacher's word is often respected, his example followed, when the word and example of others higher in authority are disregarded. This unmeasured infiuence is exerted everywhere, no less in the college than in the elementary school, and grateful, indeed, should he be who is privileged to come under the direct guidance of teachers who are faithfully devoted to their profession. In this respect, we who are students in the Michigan State Normal College consider ourselves most fortunate. The members of the faculty of this institution are widely known as men and women of broad and liberal culture, who are inspired by the highest ideals of education and of life. They are earnestly devoted to their work, their noble aims and purposes finding expression in this life work. We have ever been made to feel that the principal object of their teaching has been to place before us that which is highest in the moral as well as the intellectual realm, and to give us all possible assistance in our attempts, both present and future, to realize those ideals. YX'e cannot repay the benefits we have received from the faculty of the Normal College, but we would express our sincere appreciation of the interest they have taken in ns, individually and as a student body, and further. we would strive so to live that their expectations and hopes for our future may be realized. l

Page 31 text:

Such is the Training School. In it the Senior, as the embodiment of the highest work of the College, is put to the crucial test, which if successfully met, leaves upon him the stamp of fitness for his life vvorkg and from its door he goes forth with the picture of round, rosy faces, the sound of merry voices, and the knowledge of childish friendships, which have awakened in him a love for his profession and Which will be a pleasant memory in the days to be. 'L Come lo me, Oye clzildreug For what are all our coutriuings, And whisper in my ear Arid lhe zoisdom of our books Whal the birds and winds are siugiug, Compared wilh your caresses, lu your suuny atmosphere. Aud the gladuess of your looks? Ye are bezfler llzau all the ballads That were ever sung or saidy For ye are llze living poems, And all the rest are dead. Q safe ' 'Sv 9 9