A FULL EXPOSITION OF THE NEW TIME STANDARD, ILLUSTRATED BY A NEW COLORED MAP, WILL BE FOUND IN THE HIGHER NUMBER OF APPLETONS' American Standard Geographies. A COMPREHENSIVE COURSE, IN TWO Books, FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. APPLETONS' ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY, APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES were constructed in accordance with the views of advanced teachers. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES contain just the amount and kind of knowledge on this subject that should be given in a school course. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES give especial prominence to leading industries and commerce, and their relation to the physical conditions of the country. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES introduce topics according to their logical development, so as to make each step forward intelligible to the pupil. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES combine beauty of illustration and typography with every element of mechanical superiority. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES retain the useful, discard the useless. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES embody a natural and philosophical system of instruction. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES are up to date, statistically, artistically, and educationally. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES promptly records all geographical changes. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES are, in the best and highest sense, the books of the period. APPLETONS' GEOGRAPHIES have already become what their title indicates the STANDARD. A specimen copy of Appletons' Higher Geography, containing the new Time. Standard, for examination, will be forwarded, post-paid, on receipt of the introduction price. D. APPLETON & CO., Publishesr, New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco. ADDRESS OF DR. CURRY BEFORE THE COMMITTEES OF THE TWO HOUSES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Rev. J. L. M. Curry, D. D., appeared, by invitation, before the Educational Committees of the two houses of the General Assembly during the recent session, and addressed them on the importance of normal instruction in general, and especially the need of a normal school for the education of white teachers in Virginia. Two normal schools for colored teachers had been provided. This was right, but there was need also for normal instruction for white teachers. Popular education, said Dr. Curry, is necessary to the existence and prosperity of a free State and to the existence of individual freedom. On account of the relation that popular education holds to the well-being of the State as a political organization and as composed of free and independent citizens the public schools are objects of the highest possible concern. Every State, in which any fair proportion of the people have been educated, has accomplished it by means of public schools. Virginia, in her constitution and laws, is committed to the theory that the State should undertake the public education of its children. Hence she has organized the public school system with its necessary appliances. For the support of this system the people are taxed. Last year the total expenses amounted to more than a million and a quarter of dollars. The State practically compels the people to educate their children in the public schools. The State is, therefore, logically compelled to see that good teachers are provided for these schools. Well educated and trained teachers are essential to the highest success of the public schools. If the State takes the people's money it is bound to see to it that they receive full value therefor. If the teacher is worthless the investment is lost. If the well educated and well-trained teacher is worth twice as much as the ignorant and untrained one, the State should take proper and ade quate measures that the school money be not wasted and the children cursed by ignorant and incompetent teachers. The teacher makes the school, whether good or bad. Hence public economy demands that suitable and sufficient means for the preparation of good teachers be provided. An expenditure for poor teachers is a pecuniary waste and a waste of the golden opportunities of childhood. The average length of time that the American child remains at school is less than four years. It is important, therefore, to use this time to the best advantage. Thus the cost of a good teacher is a profitable investment, a blessing to the community and is of incalculable value to the pupil. Teachers must be fitted for their office by special preparatory training. Such is the experience and observation of all competent to decide such a question. It stands to reason that he or she who undertakes to awaken and guide the human intellect should have a special preparatory training for such a responsible work. Skill and knowledge are demanded in every pursuit of life. How infinitely greater the need when the material to be operated on is not dead matter, but the human mind, which is to be instructed, where faculties are to be trained, and whose influences for good or ill will last throughout eternity. There is a widespread and lamentable lack of competent teachers. We cannot judge by those we meet in the cities. They enjoy exceptional advantages. There is much "humbuggery" in schools. The education obtained is a poor result compared with what might have been accomplished if the teacher were qualified by more scholarship, general culture and special training. As a rule the school that makes the greatest show is the one which is a financial success. The disposition to put forward in the school course such things as will "pay" sacrifices the solid and substantial to the superficial and ornamental. In the training school there is need of patient and persistent labor in the fundamentals. This is not possible in the present state of public opinion, unless the normal school be made independent of public patronage. The ordinary school agencies are inadequate to supply the need for trained teachers. So far as Virginia is concerned, this is shown by the last report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in the fact that out of 5,078 teachers in the public schools only eighty-seven have been educated at the State institutions. Yet, even graduates of colleges need special preparation for teaching as for any other profession. The necessity and practicability of special agencies for the training of teachers is shown by the establishment of chairs of pedagogics, teachers' departments, and special courses of study for teachers in colleges; by the holding of teachers' institutes, which Governor Cameron recently wisely and properly commended to the attention of the General Assembly, and by the establishment of normal schools. In Europe the normal school is regarded as a necessary auxiliary to a system of public education. It was first established in Germany over 200 years ago, and in that country normal schools are most numerous and flourishing. It is now found in nearly every State of the United States. In Massachusetts over 40 per cent. of the teachers have had normal training. In New York and Pennsylvania 25 per cent. A normal school is designed to train teachers, or to prepare them to enter on their work. Its rank is determined by the character and success of its operations. A normal school presupposes that teaching is founded upon principles that may be applied to the communication of knowledge and in the development of mental power. If the knowledge of teaching a subject is more than a knowledge of the subject itself, or if the ability to teach is more than the ability to learn, then special attention must be given to the acquisition of the teaching power. Every profession needs a general and a special preparation. General knowledge does not make a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer or an architect, nor will it make a teacher. Special preparation for teaching as a life-work is to be given by the normal school. The pupils in the normal school must show (1) that they know the subjects taught, and (2) that they can impart this knowledge to others. The end of schoolwork is the education of the child-the imparting of knowledge and the drawing out and strengthening of its faculties. The object of the normal school is to make its pupil a skilled instrument for the education of the child. It must therefore give to them a definite idea of the true object, principles, and methods of education; a thorough knowledge of the subject he will need to teach, with such facility and skill in the application of these principles and this knowledge as will enable him to organize, control, and classify the school and educate the pupils. This training is simply a means to an end, and all studies should be conducted with special reference to the best ways of teaching them. The pupils, in turn, are required to teach under the criticism of the teacher and of their fellow-students, and should be able to teach others what has been learned. They are required to do practical work in the class-room under the eye of an efficient training-teacher-thus pursuing the only sure way of acquiring the power to do-by doing. They are expected, therefore, to gain at a normal school 1. Thorough teaching knowledge. 2. Knowledge of the guiding principles of the art. Three kinds of knowledge are essential to the teacher : 1. Knowledge of the nature of the being to be taught. 2. He must clearly understand the knowledge, the facts-or the subject-matter to be presented to that being. 3. He should know the method of bringing the knowledge and the being together, and the best modes of doing this work. The Legislature appropriates money to secure training in military discipline. At least give for the training of teachers as much as you give to make soldiers. And if through the normal school teaching is improved ten per cent. then the normal school is worth one tenth of the whole amount expended on public schools. Normal schools stand to-day unsurpassed as an economical, welltried, and approved agency for the education and training of teachers. Their necessity and worth have been demonstrated, and they have grown in number, efficiency and popular favor. School officers bear constant testimony to their value. Says one, "Now after a period of forty-three years, normal schools are no longer regarded in Massachusetts as an experiment. They have a history and a recognized character that entitle them to be classed among the most efficient educational agencies of the State. Beginning in the face of indifference, incredulity and opposition, they have won recognition by actual success." The experience of all countries, both in the old world and in the new, shows conclusively that it is impossible to maintain an efficient system of public instruction without connecting with it some plan for the education of teachers. In conclusion he presented the following recapitulation of the arguments of the address: 1. The education of the young is so vital to the well-being of society that the State must attend to it as a matter of self-preservation; that this is the cheapest, best and only method of universal education. 2. The proper preparation of teachers is essential to any system of education. 3. Experience in this and other countries shows that teachers are |