Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/641

Rh pending its energies upon worthy subjects of thought, it is difficult to see how the results of a given period of study—whether two, four, or ten years, or a whole lifetime—could be very unequal in the total sum, whether these years be passed in the normal school, or in the college, or in one's own well-furnished library, or in a pioneer's cabin with only a few "best" books that are pored over and pondered till they become part of one's very life. Not that the results would be alike in the several cases. Far from it. But all disabilities have their compensations; and perhaps the total gain for a like amount of effort may not vary so much as is sometimes supposed.

For my own school education—to make a more personal "confession"—I had a desire for the seminary course that some of my young friends entered upon (it was before the days of the multiplication of women's colleges); but, in reviewing the results of school life after the lapse of years, I see no reason to blame the dispensation of Providence, which, by making me one of a large family of children, caused the financial straitness that sent me to a normal school instead. The normal school taught me how to study and deepened the desire for study that I already possessed. Even if the school had done nothing else, it would have deserved my lasting gratitude.

But it did other things for me. It opened before me a definite line of work worthy of my best endeavors. It gave me a practical touch with some of the phases of school work and saved me from some of the crudities and mistakes that hamper a young teacher's efforts. It did not save me from all such mistakes. It has been truly said, "No matter what the training, every teacher needs experience." But I am sure that the normal school gave me some aids to my work as a teacher that I should not have been likely to receive in any other kind of school.

There is one view of the relation of normal-school graduates to the teaching profession that may be illustrated by the following incident: A young lady, after graduating at a high school, took the classical or four years' course at a New England normal school, and afterward taught successfully for twelve years in the high schools of Massachusetts. Then came family changes, followed by a period of enforced rest. When she was able to resume her profession she first took a year of special study in a private institution of high reputation, without remaining long enough, however, to receive the diploma of the "college."

She then proposed to enroll herself in the leading teachers' agencies as a candidate for a high-school position. But she was met with the statement: "It is not easy for a teacher to obtain a high-school engagement unless she is a college graduate. Let us advise you to turn your attention to school supervision, or to the