Oriole and Tower-Light, 1922-1927, Part 152

Author: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.)
Publication date: 1922-1927
Publisher: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.)
Number of Pages: 1024

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Published Monthly by Students of Maryland State Normal School, Towson, Md.

SEA FEVER

I must go down to the seas again, To the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship And a star to steer her by. -John Masefield.

The author of this poem has known and loved the enticing enchantress- the sea. In a similar way, we have known and loved our alma mater and will find, when sailing in some un- known port, that our very frame will long to return to our sea again.

But wait -! The Seniors, ar- rayed in their finest silks, enjoyed chatting a while in Richmond Hall| parlor before boarding our ship. Lit- tle did they know of the trip they were about to take. Their faces radiated delightful amazement as they neared our ship. Two midshipmen greeted us as we sprang across the gangplank. Then followed a banquet on our majestic steamer in which the idea of a voyage was carried out so beautifully that several ladies pro- fessed to have had an acute attack of seasickness. Well-groomed sailors, who served us in grand style, con- firmed our opinion that ours was no "ash ship."

Our whole life at Normal School was compared with a voyage on the ocean. The first toast was given to our home, the ocean. The toasts that followed carried us through the build- ing of our ship and the choosing of a strong crew. Tribute was paid to our officers, Miss Tall and Mr. Walthers. We were honored by the presence of a distinguished first mate, Dr. Weg- lein. Shall we ever forget the verbal pictures that these artists painted for us which crowned our voyage with success ?

Our ever faithful alumnae sent Elsie Quarles to voice their best wishes of success to the voyagers. Could we have loved Alma Mater less, we would have been happier when singing to her. Our toast mis- tress was witty and quick to sense the sad atmosphere created by this meaningful banquet.

"The assembly is dismissed!" was her final bit of wit that caused every- one to laugh heartily.

OUR PROM

A mass of gray moss and blue bal- loons, Japanese lanterns illuminating the peaceful night without, and punch served at every step, this is a flash-) the breakfast and served us ? light picture of our prom. The nov-

THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL At Towson, Maryland Commencement Activities, June 8 to 13, 1927. PROGRAM:

Wednesday, June 8-Class Day- Supper and fun.

Thursday, June 9, to Saturday, June 11-Visiting High School teams (Our guests in Newell Hall).

Friday, June 10-9 A. M., State Volley-Ball Meet (Homewood Athletic Field). 8 P. M., Visiting teams en- tertained by Senior Class.

Saturday, June 11-Alumni Day: 3 to 4 P. M., reception at Sarah E. Richmond Hall; 4 to 4.30 P. M., class reunions; 4.30 to 6 P. M., business meeting; 6.15 to 8.30 P. M., dinner, music by school orchestra and Glee ·Club; 8.30 to 9 P. M., reception to Senior Class; 9 to 12 P. M., dancing.

Sunday, June 12-4 P. M., bacca- laureate service; sermon by Rev. S. Tagart Steele, St. David's Protestant Episcopal Church, Roland Park.

Monday, June 13-10.30 A. M., the procession of guests, faculty and students will form; 11 A. M., com- mencement on the campus (weather permitting); speaker, Gov. Ritchie.

elty of promenading was enjoyed to the nth degree. As the tune of "Home, Sweet Home" faded away everyone heaved a huge sigh as if they had suddenly been dropped from a wonderland and seized with the real- ization that "nothing now is left but a majestic memory."

MAY BREAKFAST

Breakfast on the. lawn! Lo Nor- malites, the mere mentioning of breakfast on the lawn implies some- thing special. May I quote the menu as written on an attractive straw- berry-shaped leaflet and leave it to my junior friends to draw their own conclusions as to whether we enjoyed our breakfast ?

Maryland Chicken Maryland Beaten Biscuit Strawberry Shortcake Coffee Milk

Do you see why we sang to the members of our staff who prepared'

ELLEN N. CLARK.

SUMMER SCHOOL

The elementary school has some very interesting plans for its two- room vacation school. Contrary to general belief, we do not believe our six weeks' school should be either . a punishment or a panacea for work done during the winter term. Instead, we feel it should be a pleasure and an additional chance of development for those who have proved their ability to make the most of it.

No credit will be given for work done in the summer school nor will the remedying of subject matter de- ficiencies be our chief aim.

A great part of the three school hours each day will be spent outdoors in construction work and nature study. Our glen and nature trail offer many opportunities. All the subject mat- ter work will be connected with this outdoor work.

While demonstrating the best mod- ern educational practice, we shall not forget the individual weaknesses of the children. One period each day will be spent in helping each child with the thing we think he needs most help on. In this way we hope to do the most possible for the inspiration and development of each child who attends the vacation school.

ONE OF OURS.

MARYLAND WOMAN, MISSION- ARY TO INDIA, WEDS IN TOKIO, JAPAN

Miss Sara E. McCann, Of Streett, Marries Rev. W. E. Mueller- Couple Reported On Way To U. S.

Word has been received that Miss Sara Elizabeth McCann, a missionary to India, and daughter of Mrs. Wilbur McCann, of Streett, Harford county, Md., was married Saturday to the Rev. Walter E. Mueller in Tokio, Japan.

Nearly three years ago Miss Mc- Cann left Maryland as a missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was assigned to a girls' school in Madras, India. There she met Mr. Mueller, who was secretary to Bishop Frederick B. Fisher, of India, and she became engaged to be married.

Assigned To Commission

Mr. Mueller was assigned to accom- pany a commission of the Methodist Episcopal Church in making a survey

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TOWER LIGHT

June, 1927.

of the foreign fields, and the tour in- cluded Japan.

Miss McCann met her fiance in Tokio, where the wedding ceremony was performed by Bishop Herbert Welch, assigned to Korea and in charge of missionary work in Japan, and the Rev. Dr. Ralph E. Diffendor- fer, one of the secretaries of the For- eign Missionary Board of the de- nomination.

Couple On Way To U. S.

The cable announcing the wedding was sent by the bride to her mother, with the information that she and her husband were on their way to the United States. They will be in New York in September.

Before going into missionary work Miss McCann was a secretary at Monument Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

WHAT IS TEACHER TRAINING?

(Reprinted from School and Society, Vol. XXV, No. 640, April 2, 1927.)

Plenty of people can remember the time when teaching hardly thought of as a profession. Young men and women and older men and women took it up to make a living or an extra penny when nothing better seemed at hand. Any plan of profes- sional preparation, as for law or medi- cine, was nowhere in the landscape nor even on the horizon.

One may have a heretical doubt whether the profession of teaching can ever be, in a technical way, quite on a par with law and medicine. For while the thing we call personality cuts a figure in whatever any one does, it is in teaching that personal- ity cuts deepest. So much is this the case that one may confess to doubts about our thinking of teaching along quite the same line as we do of other professions. It is in our favor that we do not have to be quite so pro- fessional as other professions. For the more a "professor" of anything can continue to be just a human be- ing, the better. All of us know per- sonally numbers of fine teachers who have not had professional training. There is no use in denying this. It is a fact. And it is a fact quite apart from the way any one could call a doctor or a lawyer fine in his work who has not had the regular profes- sional training. There is a difference in the teaching profession, and even those of us who most wish to mag- nify our profession must acknowledge the difference.

And yet this of course is true, teaching has become a profession. As such it demands some technical prep- aration. Not, however, so very much. It can easily be overdone. It can easily fall into the vice of killing originality and making molds. And when it runs too glibly into psychol-

ogy, it is in danger of getting on dubious ground. There are writers on the subject of teacher training who speak as if some problems in psy- chology were settled which are not. There are questions in psychology that have been positively settled, like problems in philosophy, in a dozen different ways in the last thirty years, and the same problems will probably be settled in another dozen different ways in the coming thirty years. But aside from such cocksureness in psy- chology, there is a body of principles founded on experiment, experience and practice with which every candidate for the profession of teaching ought to be familiar. There is undoubtedly a solid basis for a certain amount of strictly professional training. The good teachers with gifted personali- ties who have not had the special training would be the first to recog- nize help from such training.

So it has come about that we are provided with normal schools, depart- ments of education and teachers' col- leges galore, all directed toward pro- fessional preparation. To so great an

extent at this stage of the game is |student body. On this date of com-

the professional side emphasized that we have for some time been on the edge of the danger of emphasizing the purely professional side too se- riously. This movement has been per- fectly natural. It has been a natural, if an excessive, rebound from the days when nobody questioned that anybody could "teach school!"

Evidences are thick around us that the rebound has been excessive. There are all too many teachers today who have had the professional training and vet have a very thin knowledge of the subjects they are teaching. This lack of scholarship, lack of full and accurate knowledge of subject- matter, has of course a most hurtful effect. The pupils imbibe the loose- ness and superficiality of the work. They get used to being shallow and inaccurate. Not once, but many times, one may hear professional and busi- ness men complain that it seems al- most impossible to find high-school graduates who have the spirit of thor- oughness and accuracy. There must be some truth in the charge. Those who actually examine pupils are more often surprised than not surprised at the lack of accurate knowledge which they find. This is due to the lack in the teacher, and the lack in the teacher arises from the fact that we have been laying emphasis too much on the professional technique and neg- lecting the weightier matter.

When today we use the expression "Teacher Training," nine out of ten of us think of the professional training rather than of the education that .ought to precede and accompany the professional training. It is for this fined education. reason that even professors of educa-

tion, certainly some of them, are com- ing to dislike the expression "Teacher Training." If somebody could hit on a better word, or combination of words, it would be taken as a welcome change. We need a name that savors not only of the process of profes- sional training but of the spirit of scholarship. A change of name would help. But even keeping the mislead- ing name we have come to the point where we ought to understand, very distinctly, that teacher training im- plies thorough and accurate knowl- edge and the training that comes from acquiring such knowledge. It is this which ought to antedate the spec- ial training. It is this, and only this, which can form a firm foundation of preparation for the teacher's work.

J. H. DILLARD.

Charlottesville, Va.

THE LIBRARY LIMELIGHT

This year has seen a considerable advance made in the amount of li- brary service given per capita to the

pilation (May 30) our circulation has advanced 10,000 over the records of books circulated last year at the same time.

In addition to this increase in work done, a special branch of service was inaugurated which has shown that it is well worth the time and effort in- volved. I have in mind the work of the little Reference Room in Miss Holt's charge. In this one tiny work- ing space the following materials have been circulated since September: Seven hundred and seventy-nine pic- tures, 234 pamphlets, 1,092 periodi- cals and 91 music records. This makes a circulation of 2,194, with an attendance of 4,209.

In this connection, the bibliograph- ies of units which students compiled will be most helpful to us, and we urge upon all to furnish us with a copy of each list of references. It will not only save our time, so that we can serve the student body more promptly and efficiently next year, but these lists are a valuable contri- bution to the tools for research in the school. Even if the lists contain ref- erences to books not in our own li- brary, they are equally useful, since we can direct students to specific titles of works in Baltimore libraries that will help them in their particu- lar problems.

MARY L. OSBORN.

The sense of honor is of so fine and delicate a nature that it is only to be met with in minds which are natur- ally noble, or in such as have been cultivated by good examples, or a re-

-ADDISON, In the Guardian.

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TOWER LIGHT

June, 1927.

FACULTY VISITS FOR VOCA- In September, 1921, 24, or only 36.4 TIONAL GUIDANCE

Mr. E. Curt Walther, Maryland State Normal School. My dear Mr. Walther:

The pupils to whom you so gener- ously gave your time on Tuesday eve- ning have asked me to tell you how much they appreciate your coming.

I know of no more valuable way of receiving information and aid in the choice of an occupation than a chance, such as you gave our boys and girls, of talking over the field from every angle with a person who can speak from experience, and I am grateful to you for your cooperation.

Very truly yours, IRENE D. COONAN, Counselor Vocational and Educational Guidance.

"MARYLAND'S EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS, 1920-26"

First of a series of short articles to appear in this paper on the progress of schools in Maryland. The quota- tions are extracts from the report of Dr. Albert S. Cook, State Superin- tendent of Schools in Maryland, to Governor Albert C. Ritchie.

"Twelve Hundred More Teachers Trained to Teach"

"Out of a staff of 3,071 teachers in county white elementary schools, nearly 1,200 more had first-grade cer- tificates and 600 fewer held provi- sional or third-grade certificates in the fall of 1926 than in the fall of 1921. Those holding first-grade certificates have graduated from normal schools or covered an equivalent amount of practice and theory; those holding third-grade certificates have not, for the most part, completed even a high school education and have only a very limited amount of professional prepa- ration.

"In the school year beginning in September, 1926, of 3,071 teachers, 2,438, or 79 per cent, held first-grade certificates; 426, or 14 per cent., sec- ond grade; and 207, or 7 per cent., third-grade certificates. Five years ago 41 per cent. held first-grade cer- tificates, as compared with 79 per cent. at present; 37 per cent. held sec- ond-grade certificates, compared with 14 per cent. now; and 22 per cent. held the lowest grade of certificates in con- trast with 7 per cent. in October, 1926.

"Increasing numbers of school pa- trons now see the advantages of trained teachers and demand them for their children. In 1930 Maryland in- tends to have a well-trained teacher in every school."

Kent County has shared this prog- ress quite as much as the other coun- ties of the State. Exact information regarding the qualifications of teach- ers for the year 1920-21 is not on file.

per cent., of the teachers in the white elementary schools held the first or highest grade of elementary school teacher's certificate; 26, or 39.4 per cent., held the second-grade of certifi- cate, and 16, or 24.2 per cent., held certificates of the third-grade only. Of these certificates four of the first- grade, one of the second-grade and three of the third-grade were on the provisional basis. In September, 1926, 52 teachers, or 89,6 per cent., held regular first-grade certificates; 5, or 8.6 per cent., held regular second- grade certificates; 1, or 1.8 per cent., held provisional second-grade certifi- cates, and not one of the teachers held the third or lowest grade of certifi- cate. This increase in the number of higher grades of certificates does not represent fully the improvement along the line of the teachers' qualifi- cations for the reason that the re- quirements for the higher grades of certificates have been increased.

"Normal Schools Satisfying Need for

Trained Teachers

"Normal school students have in- creased from 149 in the junior and senior classes at Towson and Frost- burg for the school year ending in June, 1920, to 1,110 in the fall of 1926 at Towson, Frostburg, and the new normal school at Salisbury. The en- rollment of 1,120 at Towson in the fall of 1924 was nearly doubled be- cause of the 518 students who came from the Baltimore City Teachers' Training School, which was closed. Additional facilities for the normal schools in the way of classrooms, dor- mitories for the normal schools in the way of classrooms, dormitories and dining halls have been secured through the bond issues appropriated by the Legislatures of 1920, 1922 and 1924.

"The following figures compare the enrollment in normal schools for white students for the school year ending in June, 1920, with the present enroll- ment and the graduates of June, 1920, with those of 1926:

Towson in 1920, 105 students, 37 graduates; in 1926, 750 students, 435 graduates.

Frostburg in 1920, 44 students, 14 graduates; in 1926, 202 students, 84 graduates.

Salisbury in 1926, 158 students and 82 students.

"The normal schools have accom- plished a stupendous task in sending out 1,585 graduates for the county white elementary schools from June, 1920, to 1926, in addition to 453 for Baltimore City. Of the graduates going to county schools, 55 per cent. took positions in rural one or two teacher schools, and nearly two-thirds returned to teach in their home coun- ties."

The Transcript.

COMPOSER OF CHILDREN'S SONGS

Do you know who made the great- est contribution in composing songs for children ? It was in the "good old times" before jazz was the music of the day, when a little girl came home from school singing a song that was then popular-"Ain't It Pleasant With Your Sweetheart Riding In a Sleigh." The mother, Mrs. Jessie L. Gaynor, heard her daughter singing this song and resolved to attempt to make the music of public schools so it would be suited to the needs of the children.

Mrs. Gaynor realized her desire and became one of Missouri's greatest composers of children's music. Prac- tically every wide-awake teacher to- day is familiar with Gaynor's "Songs of the Child World." All of her chil- dren's music is loved throughout the universe. "The Slumber Boat" is probably the best of her compositions, and it has been sung in many lan- guages. She also won recognition in the composing of two sacred songs, "Birth and Resurrection" and "The Star of Bethlehem."

She published six hundred songs, operettas and games that are used to- day in the public schools of the United States and in some of the for- eign countries. Besides this, she for- mulated a method of teaching music to children in the primary grades, and this system is now used in the schools.

In 1901 Mrs. Gaynor went to St. Louis and established the Gaynor Studio, thus winning a place in the city's musical circles. At St. Joseph she organized and was the first presi- dent of the Fortnightly Musical Club. She died in Webster Groves on Feb- ruary 20, 1921 .- Rewritten from Bowling Green Times.

THE VALUE OF A SMILE

The thing that goes farthest toward making life worth while,

That costs the least, and does the most, is just a pleasant smile. The smile that bubbles from the heart that loves its fellowman Will drive away the clouds of gloom and coax the sun again. It's full of worth, and goodness, too, with human kindness bent --

It's worth a million dollars and doesn't cost a cent. -Selected.

First Student-How many terms do they have at Normal School? Second Student-Three. A fall term, a winter term, and a spring term.

First Student-I guess I'll be so fortunate (?) as to have a summer one too.

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TOWER LICHT

PUBLISHED MONTHLY

BY THE STUDENTS OF THE MARY- LAND STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, TOWSON. MID.

Student Editors ELEANORA BOWLING ELLEN CLARK ABRAHAM STEIN

SIDNEY CHERNAK

Business Mannger FOSTER FORD

Managing Editor ALICE L. MUNN

Advertising Manager GLADYS GRIMES

Circulation Manager HOWARD FLOOK

Price :- One Dollar Fifty Cents For 'T'en Copies.

Single Issues Fifteen Cents.

JUNE, 1927.

Editorial

WHY THE CLASS OF '28 SHOULD SUPPORT "THE TOWER LIGHT"

Next year our class, the Class of '28, must be the one to launch "The Tower Light" on its successful sail. This means that every member of the Class of '28 should cooperate.

Schools are often judged by their school paper. It is the mirror of school life, the mouthpiece of student opinion, and a forum for intelligent discussion. Hence it becomes us, as Seniors next year, to give as good an impression to others as we ourselves hold about our school. This means not merely subscribing to the paper, but contributing to its columns.

Another thing: we are training for a professional career. "The Tower Light," as the magazine of a profes- sional school, often quotes eminent educators and prints articles from other professional papers. Our men- tal horizon is broadened by this.

There is a third point-purely a selfish one. Juniors, do you want a year book next year? I know any of us who have high school year books treasure them, often look over them, and proudly exhihit them to others. We realize the pleasure which we get from them and the memories they And as long as 1 am president of the University of Wisconsin, this contain. We know that at Normal this year there will be no year book. complete freedom of thought and ex- The Seniors are disappointed. But pression will be accorded with utter they have told us how to reap the benefit of their disappointment. Jun- entertain conservative opinions and to

iors, let us profit by their mistake- do what the Seniors did not: support "The Tower Light" as Seniors! M. E. W.

PRES. GLENN FRANK ON AC.A. DEMIC FREEDOM

"As long as I am president of the only through the open and unham- University of Wisconsin, complete ! pered clash of contrary opinions can and unqualified academic freedom truth be found.

will not only be accorded to the mem-

bers of its faculties but will be vigor- ously defended regardless of the pressure, the power, or the prestige that may accompany any challenge of this inalienable right of scholarship. The University of Wisconsin cannot permit political interests, economic interests or religious interests to cen- sor the opinions of its teachers with- out sacrificing its self-respect and de- stroying its value to the State that supports it.

The university has the right and the duty to require from the members of its faculty scientific accuracy and intellectual honesty in their handling of facts. In their expressions of opin- ion, the university has no right to re- quire from the members of its facul- ties conformity to any prevailing theo- ries or policies of the State in par- ticular or of society in general- whether the theories in question be political, economic, social or religious.

Any member of a faculty of the University of Wisconsin is and must remain as free to agree with or dis- sent from any political or economic policy of the State of Wisconsin as he is free to agree with or dissent from a religious rite in Liberia.

impartiality alike to teachers who teachers who entertain radical opin- ions. The fact that I may think that an official of the State may think, or that a citizen of the State may think, a teacher's opinions wrong-headed or even dangerous, will not alter this policy. For the whole of human his- tory presents unanswerable proof that

teacher's opinions, however widely they may differ from prevailing poli- cies and beliefs at the moment, can not, with my consent, be made a sub- ject of university discipline."

-The Index, Kirksville, Mo ..

THE JOY OF TEACHING

If an Agassiz finds pleasure in dig- ging among fossils in order that he may interpret the great story of pre- historic life ; if

a Thoreau by Walden Pond is delighted with his studies of bugs and beetles; if a John Burroughs on his little patch of ground in the valley of the Mohawk glories in his life among the birds and bees; if a Luther Burbank is enrap- tured with his work of transforming a worthless desert cactus into an edible fruit. or in producing a sweeter rose or fairer lily; if these and other work- ers, whose names are legion, revel in the love of their work-then by what term shall we designate the joy that should be the teacher's, who works not with mere fossils, nor with bugs or beetles, nor with birds. bees or flowers, but with the child, who is at once the most complex, the most plas- tic, the most beautiful of all God's creation. Yes. it's a wonderful thing to be a teacher; it's a great thing to teach school .- Frank W. Simmonds, in Educational Review.

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Oriole and Tower-Light, 1922-1927, Part 152

Author: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.) Publication date: 1922-1927 Publisher: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.) Number of Pages: 1024

Author: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.)
Publication date: 1922-1927
Publisher: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.)
Number of Pages: 1024