Editorial Department.

ESTABLISHMENT OF NORMAL SCHOOLS.

THE proceedings of the Board of Regents of the State Normal School, appointed in pursuance of an act passed at the last session of the Legislature, will be found in this number of the JOURNAL. If the intentions of the act under which this Board has been organized shall be faithfully carried out, we may confidently expect a new era in the history of our Common Schools in the State. The plan contemplated for the establishment of Normal Schools is eminently calculated to advance the profession of teaching, and give new vigor to our school interests. The provision on the part of the State, for the sustainment of a well devised system of Normal School instruction, is ample. The act of the Legislature provides, that twenty-five per cent. of the gross proceeds arising from the sale of the swamp and overflowed lands, granted to the State of Wisconsin by Congress, shall be apportioned for the support of Normal Schools and Academies. A portion of these lands have been already sold, and if the lands of this character hereafter to be sold, shall bring prices approximating to those heretofore obtained, the Normal School fund in the State will amount to over a million of dollars. What grand results may not the people expect from such a magnificent fund, set apart for such a noble use? What an army of professional teachers will ere long enter on the mission of making right impressions upon the expanding intellect of the young, and of elevating the standard of education!

The law provides that tuition in the Normal Schools of the State shall be free to all who enter them with the intention of being fitted for the occupation of teaching. The Regents which have been appointed are men earnestly devoted to our educational interests; they have great responsibilities committed to them, in laying aright the foundation of these contemplated Normal Institutions; and we trust the reasonable expectations of the people will be fully realized from the measures they may devise and put in operation.

COMMON SCHOOL STUDIES.

THE branches of study which should be pursued in our Public Schools, and the order in which they should be taken, cannot be definitely prescribed; they must depend on the expectation of the scholar, whether he is to have the advantages of a full course of English studies, a classical education, or

simply a knowledge of reading, writing, keeping of accounts; in short, to be fitted in the most economical way possible for the ordinary business avocations of life. A very small proportion of the scholars in our Public Schools are expected to ultimately enter College; the number, also, who are to be made acquainted with the higher branches of English studies is not large. The great majority of the children of our country are expected to receive nothing more than a short course of common school instruction. It becomes therefore a matter of the highest importance that a judicious choice of studies be made, so that the learner may derive the greatest amount of benefit therefrom, after he enters upon the active duties of life. It is obvious that very many scholars devote their school-hours to the pursuit of studies which are not likely to prove the most available and advantageous in after years; especially is this true of those who are expected to receive only a limited education. Much time is spent in departments of learning which the scholar will seldom find occasion to apply to practical uses; while the attainment of knowledge indispensable to all the common business occupations, is neglected. Those acquirements which will serve the possessor of them most in daily life, and which will best fit him for an intelligent exercise of citizenship, are the most desirable to be gained first of all.

Reading, writing and a knowledge of the ordinary uses of arithmetic, are deemed of primary importance; to be ignorant of all these, is regarded almost as great a calamity as to be a dwarf or a cripple. Next to these, geography and a knowledge of history are essential, to qualify any one to occupy a useful and intelligent position in society. Especially is a knowledge of our own country, the chief events in its history, its system of government, its prominent institutions and is distinguished men, almost indispensable in the present age. There is found amidst all the learning of the times, great ignorance of the country in which we live-its past history and its present relative position among the nations of the earth. This want of information is found among young men in the higher departments of study in our schools; it exists among all the various avocations of men in business life. Let any one visit our schools and question the scholars in the higher classes, in respect to some of the most interesting facts in our past and present American history, and he will very likely become satisfied that there is much lack of information on subjects of practical importance-such as would make any one appear to great disadvantage in the conversational circles of intelligent men. We have seen classes pass a creditable examination in Algebra, while a considerable number of the members of those classes could not tell whether Washington was a native of Virginia or of Massachusetts, or whether Gen. Jackson was in the American Revolution or at the battle of Buena Vista. We have seen young men who had acquired a respectable knowledge of Astronomy and the movements of the heavenly bodies, but who had little or no intelligent idea of the movements of nations and of great public interests on this mundane sphere. So, too, scholars are not unfrequently found who have studied nearly all the higher branches usually taught in our schools, and yet know comparatively nothing of the

plan and organization of the government under which they live, and who are quite uninformed on many matters of general interest which are topics of daily remark. The uses of Algebra, Geometry and Astronomy, are undeniably profitable; but there are other things which the student ought first to understand, because he is required to avail himself of a knowledge of them a thousand times oftener in his daily intercourse with the world. Education in our common schools should aim to be practical; such as is adapted to every day uses. Those branches of study which are merely ornamental, or which when acquired are laid by and allowed to rust for want of use, should always come after those of immediate necessity and utility.

MODEL COUNTRY SCHOOL HOUSE.

A SCHOOL HOUSE, complete in every respect in its structure, arrangement and surroundings, is seldom seen. While improvements are continually suggesting, it is difficult to determine upon a plan which will serve as a model for any considerable number of years. Our most approved school houses are susceptible of improvement, and generally the school Boards who have them in charge acknowledge their incompleteness, and contemplate some additional convenience at a future time. How unlike is public spirit in this respect to private enterprise. It is not uncommon to find dwelling houses in the comparatively new settlements of the West, which not only display elegance and taste, but are also complete in every furnishment and arrangement, conducive to health, comfort and refinement; they are finished. It is equally practicable to have a school house which shall be in its structure, internal arrangement, and in its out-door conveniences and embellishments, so fully up to the standard of modern improvement, as to be pronounced complete and finished; a model house.

The refreshing sight of a country school house neat in its structure, complete in its accommodation, its outside arrangements fitted to healthful exercise and enjoyment, its grounds tastefully laid out and adorned, has never yet been witnessed in this, or any of the adjoining States. Yet what a large number of school districts there are in this State in which the inhabitants are possessed of wealth, comfort and the luxuries of life, which might furnish a model school house without scarcely noticing the taxation necessary to provide it. And what an impulse might one such example of a complete school edifice, give to many other school districts in the State? A school house justly claiming to be a model house, in its internal arrangements and external surroundings, could not fail to reflect the highest credit on the intelligence, enterprise and taste of the population in its neighborhood. One of the criterions by which to determine the character and enterprise of a community, is its public school house; if this be inviting in its appearance, and show indications of care and attention to whatever con

tributes to comfort and attractiveness, the most favorable opinions may be safely entertained in respect to the surrounding inhabitants.

But wherever the school house displays broken windows, dilapidated walls, grounds unfenced and located in some dreary locality; exposed to bleak winds, without so much as a tree or a shrub for protection; in short, where everything pertaining to it gives evidence of inattention and neglect, it may be calculated, with tolerable certainty, that selfishness and ignorance predominate in its vicinity. No number of valuable farms, large herds of cattle, or other evidences of wealth in such a community, can atone in the estimation of an enlightened judgment for the want of a good school house. The intelligent emigrant, seeking a new home for his family, would pass by such a neighborhood and look for an abode elsewhere.

The condition of our school houses very generally needs to be greatly improved. A commendable interest is manifested in many localities, but in a great majority of districts there needs to be a revolution in public sentiment, and a more earnest attention to the importance of school edifices. Wisconsin is probably not behind any of her sister States in respect to school house accommodations. In many of the older States, the country school houses are frequently the most forbidding spectacles that arrest the attention of the traveler; houses in which a humane man would hardly consent to give his favorite horse a night's shelter, are in some instances the appropriated places to gather in the germs of thought. Here the first lessons of human life are impressed upon the expanding intellect. Here the boy receives those elements of character which are to shape his future career upon the theatre of human action; here, too, the delicacy of female innocence takes the moral impress, which is to determine to a great extent its future character; ultimately to adorn the circles of usefulness and intelligence, or bring reproach upon her sex.

Is it not time we had one model country school house in this State; one temple of science, which in the completeness of its equipment should command public admiration; one bright spot, where utility combined with attraction would not fail to inspire the intelligent passing traveler with pleasurable emotions? Too much prominence was never yet given, in any State or country, to the matter of furnishing elegant and convenient school houses, nor is there danger there ever will be. There are doubtless many districts in this State, where a single resident, imbued with a spirit of our true educational interests, and possessed of a determined purpose to accomplish the object, might secure the erection of a tasteful school edifice, with all the modern arrangements within, and the appropriate conveniences and adornments without, which should entitle it to the designation of a model house. The individual who should be the instrument of such an enterprise, would justly deserve the lasting gratitude of his country. The standard demanded in school house architecture and improvement is reasonable and obvious. The inhabitants of no district should be satisfied with a school house of less respectability in appearance and accommodation, than the best private dwellings in its neighborhood. The conveniences and attractions in and about

school edifices must of course be different in kind from those of dwelling houses; but in degree they should never fall below the better class of private residences in their vicinity. It is in the school-room and its playgrounds children are required to spend a considerable portion of their early years; why should not these be equally as pleasant and inviting as their homes? Early impressions are mostly ineffaceable; the associations of the youthful mind, whether with living intelligence or with inanimate objects, give tone to thought and fashion to taste.

Of all the places of delightful resort, the school house should hold the supremacy in the mind of the school-boy; so that in after years, when old age steals upon his earthly pilgrimage, and memory shall carry him back along the dim vista of years in search of the sunny spots of his childhood days, the school house and its pleasing associations shall be the first to rush upon his recollection, and thrill his waning strength with joyful reminiscences.

STATE

TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

WE again call the attention of teachers and friends of education to the State Teachers' Association, to be held at Waukesha, on the 12th of August inst. We trust the meeting will be one of the largest of the kind ever held in the State. Let all who desire to see a new impulse given to the interests of common schools, be present at the meeting. We understand that most of the railroads have agreed to carry persons attending the meeting of the Association, at reduced rates of fare. Most of the railroad companies will return free those who attend the Association, on presentation of a certificate of membership.

TRIBUTE TO TEACHERS.-The Kenosha Public School has, for some time past, had a very commendable practice of bestowing presents of considerable value upon such of the teachers as distinguish themselves by an earnest devotion to the business of their profession. Not long since, the students of the higher department presented their Principal (J. G. McKindley) with a silver goblet valued at forty dollars. At the close of the term of this school, some two weeks ago, Miss Maria Briggs, an assistant teacher in the higher department, was presented with a china tea sett and silver spoons, amounting in value to about sixty dollars. Such tributes to a teacher's worth, are eminently proper, and ought to be more generally practised. No class or profession among us labor more influentially for the best interests of the rising generation, than the faithful teacher, and none are more deserving the encouragement of the people.