the blind, the indolent, the decrepit, the intemperate, the favored daughter of some wealthy citizen who had attended a boarding-school just long enough to contract some of its silly airs,-such persons were placed in our public schools as the instructors of American youth. The contrast of such a body of teachers, and the picture is not a whit over-drawn, with the intelligent and regularly constituted instructors found in our public schools to-day, is to a large extent due to the Normal Schools. Not that they have educated all of these teachers; but, more than any other agency, they have put a leaven of influence into the vocation that is leavening the whole lump. Indeed, many cases where the change would seem to have been brought about by other agencies more tangible to the eyes, a careful examination will reveal the fact that such agencies were the outgrowth of influences which, working silently and unobstrusively, have the source in Normal Schools.

Fifth, Normal Schools have done much toward providing an educational literature in this country. Without a very careful comparison, I venture the remark that they have done more than all the other institutions united. Among those who have made valuable contributions, I may be permitted to name PAGE, SHeldon, Ogden, WICKERSHAM, Jewell, Hart, HOLBROOK, PHELPS, and there are many others whose names do not occur to me as I write; and to-day many of the younger men are preparing for publication the methods of training which they have found most valuable in the professional course of instruction in our Normal Schools.

Sixth, Normal Schools have contributed largely towards elevating the vocation of teaching into a profession. Years ago the tie of professional feeling among teachers was unknown; and a teacher who, moved with enthusiasm in the contemplation of an art of instruction based upon broad scientific principles, forecasting the future by publicly speaking of the profession of teaching, made himself an object of ridicule,-it was the inflated notion of a schoolmaster wanting to assume for his petty vocation the dignity of the learned professions; and possibly the "tonsorial profession" was referred to as an appropriate comparison. A young man who, dreaming of a better work and a nobler calling, invited the teachers of his neighborhood or county together for mutual improvement not only met with the apathy of his own co-laborers and the opposition of the friends of education, but the contumely and ridicule of the town folks where they assembled. But things have wondrously changed in a few years; and the contrast between the past and present is as great as that between the two pictures which Hamlet presented to his mother, differing, however, in the fact that his Hyperion had passed away while ours is with us for congratulation and rejoicing. The despised claims are now being recognized; lawyers, doctors, and clergymen are beginning to speak of the four learned professions;-emphasizing the fact that teaching is to be regarded as the fourth, and one not inferior in dignity to any of the others. Teachers' conventions-known in several of the States as Teachers' Institutes—are regarded with so much popular favor that in many places they are the epochs of the year, transcending in popular interest the circus, the horse-race, the camp-meeting, and the political convention; they call out the dignitaries of the town in which they are held and

are the places where young orators and candidates for popular offices like to air their rhetoric by speaking in high-sounding phrases of the importance of the education of the rising generation, and the sacred duties of the high and holy mission of teaching. The schoolmaster is abroad as he never was before,—not only with his primer and spelling-book, but with a ballot in his hand, with influence in his position, with dignity in his work, with all that which is telling in public opinion and popular appreciation. In awakening this interest in the teacher's vocation, in arousing this spirit which calls together the teachers of a county in popular conventions, in giving dignity to the teacher's work by which it is being regarded as entitled to the claims of professional recognition, in weaving these ties of influence which tend to bind our hearts together in a common cause, the Normal School stands out as one of the most conspicuous and powerful agencies.

III. Standing upon the altitude of present attainment and rejoicing as we review the conquests of the past, we naturally inquire, what of the future? what are we to accomplish during the next centennial period? It is not my purpose to forecast the future to-day, but it seems proper for me to call attention to a few defects and necessities of the system in order that the future may be as bright with improvements as has been the past.

1. There should be a national standard of qualification for the Normal Schools of this country. At first each school was obliged to fix its own standard of qualifications; at present, in several of the States, the course of study is fixed by the State authorities; what we need, and what I think we are approaching, is a standard that shall be very nearly the same for all the Normal Schools in the country. We want a national standard, se that a teacher trained in one State shall be regarded as competent to teach in every State, and that a diploma given by the Normal School of one State shall be valid over the whole United States. At present, the Normal Schools are in the condition of the State banks before the civil war; in travelling from one State to another we had to submit to the inconvenience of getting onr money changed, sometimes with annoying discounts; now the currency of any State is at par from Maine to Mississippi; and we ask for a currency of qualifications represented by a Normal-School diploma that will be at par in every section of our country, and entitle the holder to professional standing, from the Lakes to the Gulf, and from ocean to Such an arrangement would tend to unify our system, bind together the various sections of the country with strong professional ties, and give a dignity to the diploma of a Normal School that it cannot otherwise possess.

ocean.

2. There should be a professional degree given by the Normal Schools to indicate the profession of teaching. So apparent is this proposition, unless the entire system of degrees is wrong, that it seems superfluous to argue it. If the professions of law, divinity, etc., are distinguished and honored by appropriate degrees, why should not the coördinate profession -coördinate in dignity, usefulness, and the talent necessary for successbe also thus distinguished and honored? This was the view of some of the Pennsylvania educators, and through the influence of Dr. Burrowes

and Bishop Potter, several degrees were adopted in the establishment of our Normal Schools. A graduate in the Elementary Course receives the degree of Bachelor of the Elements, B. E., to be followed after two years of successful teaching by the degree of M. E., or Master of the Elements. In the Scientific course the degrees agreed upon were those already adopted by the colleges, B. S. and M. S.; in the Classical Course the degrees are B. C., Bachelor of Classics, and M. C., Master of Classics. These degrees were never entirely satisfactory to some of the leading Normal-School men of the State, but were accepted as the best that could be obtained at the time the Normal-School law was written, and are regarded as merely local, temporary, and initiative. The degree of M. C., for illustration, was objected to by one of the graduates of the Classical Course for fear he would be taken for a member of Congress. What we need, however, is a suitable degree that will be distinctive in its character. and will be recognized and awarded by all the Normal Schools in the country. It may be the simple word Teacher, raised by authority to a specific and complimentary meaning:-"Louis Agassiz, Teacher,” is regarded as the proudest title of the great scientist and instructor;-but whatever the term, it should be distinctive, appropriate, and honorable. We ask it, not to honor the individual members of our profession, for it is the man who should honor his title as an institution which confers a degree justly, honors itself quite as much as it honors the man who receives it, but we ask it because it will give distinctness, dignity, and influence to our vocation, and place place it alongside of the other professions, where for usefulness and worthiness it justly belongs.

3. There seems to be a necessity for a more definite basis of establishing and controlling these institutions. At present the methods are diverse and variable. In several of the States they are established and exclusively controlled by the State authorities. In many cases they are merely private institutions depending on their patronage for support. In some of the States private and public interest combine in their establishment and control. This is the principle upon which the first Normal School in this country was founded, the outgrowth of necessity rather than of predetermined policy-and, partly through necessity and partly by intention, it has been adopted by several States. This was a necessity in my own State, as the State Legislature would not move in the matter until private institutions had demonstrated the utility of Normal Schools, and then it came in to assist, regulate, and give the sanction of its authority to our work; while in New York, if I mistake not, it has been adopted as a fixed policy. This is thought in principle to be the true basis of organization of a Normal School. The State should determine the number of such schools, decide upon their location, contribute a certain amount to the erection of buildings, fix their course of study, examine candidates for graduation, grant diplomas, make appropriations for its students, and be represented in the Board of Trustees. Aided and encouraged by the State, the people of the community where it is located should erect the school, put their own money into the buildings, have a controlling influence in the Board of Trustees, which board shall elect the faculty and manage the institution subject to the provisions of the Normal-School Act. There

will thus be formed a strong combination of local interest and pride with State authority and direction that will prevent the schools from becoming the playthings of political passion and prejudice, on the one hand, or the contracted instrument of selfish interests upon the other.

There are many other changes and improvements that should be made before these institutions are prepared to meet the demands of the coming century. There should be a more general agreement as to the relation of the scholastic and professional courses; there should be more uniformity in the methods of professional training; there should be a clearer conception of the importance, character, and use of the Model School or School of Practice, in connection with the Normal School; and with these and a few other questions decided and improvements accomplished, we may feel assured, from the unexampled achievements of the century just closing, to look forward for even greater progress and more beneficent attainments of the Normal Schools of our country, during the century upon which we are just entering,

Dr. J. H. HOOSE, Principal of a State Normal School at Cortland, N. Y., read the following paper:

I. WHAT IS A SCHOOL?

II. WHAT ARE ITS RIGHTS AND DUTIES?
III. SOME CONSEQUENCES THEREFROM.

LIMITATION:

The scope of the discussion contained in this Paper includes only the Province of the United States, and the Present Time.

It also, as the sequel will show, considers mostly only those schools which are connected, in some way, with the Legislatures of the States, or with the general government.

The discussion aims at the most general views relating to the School.

I. WHAT IS A SCHOOL?

PRELIMINARY QUESTION:

Do Schools exist, have a being, because of a Toleration, or because of a Right?

Have they an establishment within the area of a "matter of favor" only,—a case of permission simply?

Or do they rest upon another foundation, one wholly different in principle?

Gladiatorial instruction and practice do not exist-Schools do. Why the one, and not the other?

PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS:

1. Toleration is a permission to exist-an allowing to remain-where it is only a matter of favor, or a matter of concession simply.

(Bouvier-Law Dict.-"Toleration.")

As: I allow Mr. Abner to ride with me in my carriage-he is a gentleman, it is true; but that he is in the carriage with me, is a matter of favor, or concession, only.

It does not change the principle involved if it be held that Mr. Abner is in my carriage as a matter of favor or concession towards me from him —it is all one in fact-it is only a matter of favor, or permission, or concession, and is clear Toleration.

2. Right is "a well-founded claim."

(a) "If people believe that humanity itself establishes or proves certain claims, either upon fellow-beings, or upon society or government, they call these claims human rights; if they believe that these claims inhere in the very nature of man himself, they call them inalienable rights; if people believe that there inheres in monarchs a claim to rule over their subjects by divine appointment, they call the claim divine right; if the claim is founded or given by law it is a legal right.

The ideas of claim and that the claim must be well founded always constitute the idea of right.

The idea of a well-founded claim becomes in law a claim founded in or established by the law: so that we may say a right in law is an acknowledged claim." That is, acknowledged legally by the people. (b) "Every well-grounded claim on others is called a right.” (c) "Rights are claims of moral beings upon one another." (d) "When the things which we have a right to possess, or the actions we have a right to do, are or may be fixed and determined, the right is a perfect one; but when the thing or the actions are vague and indeterminate the right is an imperfect one."

(e) "Political rights consist in the power to participate, directly or indirectly, in the establishment or management of government. These political rights are fixed by the constitution "-and by laws. (f) "Civil rights—which are natural rights acquired anew from the civil law-are those which have no relation to the establishment, support, or management of the government."

(g) "Every one, unless deprived by sentence of civil death, is in the enjoyment of his civil rights."

(h) "Civil Rights—

(a) Absolute

1. Personal Security.

2. Personal Liberty.

3. Right of Property.

(b) Relative.

1. Public-subsisting between people and gov't.

2. Private-reciprocal-between husband and wife,

To illustrate the nature of Right, as contrasted with that of Toleration: Mr. ABNER, being a proper man, desires to travel by public conveyance -he has a right to enter the coach, having paid his fare—he has a right to a ticket when he offers the equivalent.