Page:A history of the Michigan state normal school (now Normal college) at Ypsilanti, Michigan, 1849-1899 (IA historyofmichiga00putniala).pdf/128



applied for admission whom it was not wise to reject, they being prepared to enter in a part of the required branches, and as there were no classes but those in the regular course for them to enter, they have been received, conditioned, it may be in part, and placed in these classes, The result has been a demand for a large amount of academic labor and less professional. The new edifice (The present conservatory building) will enable the Faculty to form preparatory classes outside the Normal proper, and to advance the standard for admission at once,"’

In their report for the next year, 1871, the Board state that the purpose indicated in the report of the previous year, had been carried out; that a Preparatory Department had been organized and put in operation; and that ‘‘arrangements had been made with the School Board of Ypsilanti by which the pupils of the High School are permitted to attend the Normal preparatory department, and all the departments of the city graded schools are opened to inspection for Normal training classes."’

This brings us to one of the most important experiments in the development of the Training School, attempted by the management of the Michigan State Normal School. An effort had previously been made to effect an arrangement by which the public schools of Ypsilanti should serve the purpose of schools of observation, and, to a limited extent, of practice also, for the students of the Normal School. ‘That effort failed. It was thought that the time and conditions were now peculiarly favorable for the success of anew effort of this‘kind. Mr. Estabrook, the newly elected Principal of the Normal, had been for many years Superintendent of the Ypsilanti Schools, and possessed the full confidence of the people of the city. Mr. Putnam, the newly appointed head of the Training School, had been Superintendent of the city schools during the previous year and was well known by the citizens generally. After prolonged conferences and consultations between the Board of Education and the Ypsilanti School Board, an arrangement was entered into by which a High School department of the Model School was to be organized by the Board of Education. The city High School was to be dis- continued, for the time, and the pupils of that department were to be admitted to the corresponding department of the Normal, the City School Board paying the tuition of such students. It was