DEAN W. E. SEALOCK

Teachers College

INCE the reorganization of the Teachers College in 1921, the enrollment has increased from 447 to 1,333. The number of graduates, which in 1922 was fifteen, had by 1925 increased to 136; and for the present year will be approximately 160. It takes more than an academic degree to make a teacher. Subject matter, while absolutely necessary, certainly is not half the necessary preparation. In addition to a modern attitude towards subject matter and a conception of method in its broader aspects, there must be developed an inspiration for the work, a sense of responsibility, and an ideal of service, which can come only from those who know the public schools.

   The training school of the Teachers College, which is now a four-year high school, must in the near future be expanded so as to consist of a kindergarten, the first six grades of the elementary school, and a junior and senior high school.

   In no branch of educational endeavor is there greater interest today or greater promise for educational progress than in the field of research. The training school, in addition to being a laboratory in which students gain some of the techniques necessary in teaching, must furnish opportunities for experimental work. It must in the future serve this end if it is to measure up to its responsibilities.

   The Teachers College, while it will always be interested in training classroom teachers, must as time goes on devote more and more attention to the training of supervisors, principals and superintendents. It must contribute its part in the way of research to the onward progress of education. In this way only will the Teachers College of the future be able to take its place among the other teacher training institutions in the state universities of the middle west.

 

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