Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 21.djvu/157



OREGON NORMAL SCHOOLS 147

mouth submitted these statistics in 1904, dating from the year the school became a state normal :

Whole number of graduates 716

Number deceased 33

Number married ( females) 152

Number in educational work 445

Percentage for 22 years 65

Percentage for last five years 88.4

The general nature of the training school work has been described. The principal and critic teachers were instruc- tors in the training school and normal as well as supervisors. Lesson plans were worked out by the practice teachers and criticized by the critic teacher. After each practice recitation, the critic was required to go over the work with the student, correcting mistakes and offering suggestions and helps in the improvement of method. Weekly meetings were called by the principal, where instructions were given and where students and teachers engaged in a general discussion of school prob- lems. The training schools could usually accommodate no more than 16 teachers and comply with the law requiring three hours of practice teaching a day for each member of the senior class. The enrollment in the four schools for the year 1909 in the normal, training school, and senior class is given below : Monmouth Ashland Drain Weston

Training School 137 122 192 150

Normal 173 172 87 198

Senior Class 47 28 14 22

The legislative committee of three representatives and two senators appointed to investigate the training school condi- tions at Monmouth reported:

"Practice work facilities are decidedly limited. Only one city in Oregon is of sufficient size to warrant the state in en- deavoring to build up an ideal institution of this character. It is unwise for the state to spend further sums in the con- struction of buildings at the Monmouth Normal."