Western Oregon University - Yearbook (Monmouth, OR)

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Yam 1922 OREGON NORMAL SCHOOL 1 Page 13 J. H. ACKERMAN

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Page 12 OREGON NORMAL SCHOOL Year 1922 Presidents Birthday Song tNovember 7, 191W From the campus of old Monmouth, From the fir and maple trees, Listen to the whispered chorus Echoing along the breeze. ttOur President, Our President! To us all you were so true; We so love you That wetre Wishing Birthday greetings oft to you? From our stately Normal building With its dear old vine-clad walls, Hearken t0 the mingled murmur Echoing along its halls. ttOur President, Our President! Dangers dark you brought us through; We so love you That wetre sending Birthday greetings low to you. From the students of this college Swells a chorus clear and strong, For the man Who Watches oter us, Guides and keeps us all from wrong. ttOur President, Our President! Always patient, kind and true; We so love you That were singing Birthday greetings now to you? eCarmen Schmidli.

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Page 1.4 OREGON NORMAL ,SCHOOL Year 1922 I President of the Normal AM GLAD to have an opportunity to express, publicly, my appre- ciation of the remarkable work which Mr. J . H. Ackerman accom- plished for education in Oregon in the positions of State Superin- tendent of Schools and president of the Oregon Normal School. I know that Mr. Ackerman had been a factor in educational life and in the lives of his students as a teacher in Portland for many years and as a county superintendent, but I never knew him until after he became State School Superintendent. - Mr. Ackerman came to the normal school at a time when it was necessary to formulate a policy for normal training in Oregon, as the many inadequate schools had been discontinued and the school which was reopened, was to be planned on new lines. Mr. 'Ackerman brought to this normal school work a wide knowledge of school affairs, keen interest in schools and in teaching as a profession, and the most sympathetic understanding of the Oregon situation. He visited normal schools thrOughout the country,'se1ected an excellent faculty, and created the Oregon Normal School which is now a monument to his sagacity, his public influence, his patience, and his tolerant sympathy with the people whom he was elected to serve. ' It was always a pleasure as a member of the Board of Regents to work with Mr. ,Ackerman. His Was the guiding spirit and his the vision which kept the board as a unit, full of enthusiasm for the school. The board was entirely sympathetic with the high professional and per- sonal standards established by its president. Mr. Ackerman,s great educational work in Oregon should be made a matter of public record, and the knowledge of it should be handed down to each generation of teachers in Oregon, that they may know who was the builder of the educational system in which they are privileged to serve. CORNELIA MARVIN, State Librarian. Educational Statesman R. ACKERMAN was Superintendent of Puplic Instruction from January 1, 1899, to January 1, 1911. At the time he began his first term, there was no state course of study and but two or three city systems followed a definite course. There were no high schools in the state excepting in Portland, Baker, Astoria, The Dalles and Ashland. Very few districts in the state levied a special school tax and the tax levied by each county did not produce sufficient funds to have more than three months of school in a majority of school districts. .. During his term of office he secured the enactment of the high school law, one requiring a uniform course of study for the elementary grades,