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Page 13 text:
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In 1857 the legislature originated the act known as “An act for the encouragement of academies and normal schools; and in 1858 the state superintendent made reference to “Our Normal School System.” In the spring of 1863 the university took a new departure in the shape of a separate and tangible normal department, one object of which was to make a place for young women at the university. The training of teachers was also carried on in normal classes formed in academies and high schools. In 1864 the report of the normal regents includes among other things “Amounts appropriated to these classes.” The sum total is Si,080. This distribution was at the rate of S30 for each pupil passing the examination. The two schools receiving the highest sum were Allen’s Grove Academy and Beloit High School, each receiving S270, and the board remarks, These amounts together with those received from the tuition of pupils ought surely to be a sufficient inducement for the establishment of good normal classes. A special examination was held for admission to these classes and no one was admitted who could not pass a creditable examination in reading, spelling, penmanship, grammar, geography, mental arithmetic and written arithmetic to proportion. It was also provided that the normal class should meet as a class every school day, and there must have been an actual attendance of sixty-five days in order to bring the pupil into the list of normal students to be reported to the board. Not until 1865 did the legislature enact a law providing for the establishment and support of distinctively normal schools, but the soil had been prepared and only one year after the act the first normal school was opened at Platteville and two years later in the spring of 1868 the school at Whitewater was opened and had it not been for the lack of funds the Oshkosh School would have been opened in 1870, as it was its doors were first opened September 12, 1871. The Oshkosh school opened with an attendance of forty-six pupils, but in 1875 the whole number enrolled was 323, of which 144 were men and 179 women. While in 1891 there were enrolled 193 men and 392 women. In 1849 provision was made for the instruction of men oniy, scarcely a third of a century later the women outnumbered the men two to one. The twentieth century girl has reason to rejoice because the eyes of the blind have been opened, and those high in authority have been led to see that the school mistress has a place in the system. In 1864 the state thought it had dealt generously with those who wished to fit for teaching when it paid out $30 per capita for their training, and the sum total was 81080. Eleven years later the cost of the Oshkosh Normal alone was 816,606.43 and as the enrollment for that year was 323. the cost for each pupil was something over 850, while in 1900 with an enrollment of 701 pupils and a total cost of $56,725.44, the cost to the state for each person enrolled was more than 870. “Let another man praise thee and not thine own lips is ancient wisdom sometimes incorporated into modern practice, and judged by this-advice it may not be considered altogether out of place to know what history says of the normal school of Oshkosh. The “Columbian History of Education in Wisconsin” says: “The school at Oshkosh has been distinguished for its steady and rapid growth. Its influence upon the public schools throughout the state can hardly be estimated. The hundreds of young men and women who have been educated for the profession in this school have gi ’en ample proof of the wisdom of founding and supporting normal schools.” 11
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Page 12 text:
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WHEN an individual or an enterprise has attained a marked degree of success it is often profitable to examine into the reasons for the prosperity, and since the normal school system of the State of Wisconsin is considered to be among the best, if not the best in the United States, it may be advantageous to consider the causes, for in so doing, we shall trace the ancestry of our own school. The common school, which Edward Everett says, like the common air, and the common rain, and the common sunshine is invaluable for its commonness, has always been dear to the hearts of the American people; and in 1840, four years after the organization of Wisconsin as a territory, a memorial to congress was adopted, representing that the people were anxious to establish a common school system with suitable resources for its support;, and one of the most remarkable events in the history of our state is said to be the readiness with which the people adopted the free school system and put it into operation. As early as 1846 the normal school idea was agitating the people and in the constitutional convention held that year an amendment to Section 2 was introduced providing that until a university shall be established the net income of the university lands shall be appropriated to the support of normal schools. Though the amendment was lost it was of much significance in pointing out the trend of thought and two years later the normal school idea gained a foothold in the constitution of 1848 which specifies that a certain residue shall be appropriated to the support and maintenance of academies and normal schools. The idea continued to gain strength and in 1849 the regents of the State University established therein a normal department, and ordained that there should be established a normal professorship, and that it be the duty of the chair to render instruction in the art of teaching; and it was farther ordained that the chancellor of the university and the normal professor should form the faculty of this department, whose duty it should be to hold an annual session of at least five months, for the instruction of such young non as might avail themselves thereof with a view of teaching in the state. Here then is the parent of the system which now numbers seven schools, and a combined faculty of nearly two hundred trained men and women. Not until 1855 was a normal professor elected, and then the professor of the English department of the faculty of arts and sciences was chosen to fill the chair of normal instruction with a salary of $500 per annum. 10
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