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     Note--Illustrative material, charts and blackboards used for all lectures.

     The Nebraska State Institute held in Lincoln during the week, May 30 to June 4, 1910, was most successful in every respect. The number in attendance was even larger than expected, and the interest taken in all sessions was exceedingly gratifying. It is safe to say that those enrolled for full work never received greater benefit from a like meeting. Many and enthusiastic reports have come to the office from county and city superintendents, end the first session of the Nebraska State Institute we believe is the forerunner of better things to come.

     The total enrollment of 192 is classified as follows: County superIntendents, 50; city superintendents and principals, 51; college, university and normal school instructors, 31; school officers, 16 (about twenty other school officers were in attendance, but failed to file their registration cards) ; representatives from other states, including state superintendents, one deputy, a member of the National Bureau of Education, 9; other educators unclassified, 35. Of the total 192 enrolled, 69 filed applications for institute, certificates.

     Lack of space has made it necessary to omit the many excellent addresses and papers, and to make extracts only of a very few.

     General Sessions.

     The general sessions were well attended and great interest was

manifest in the reports brought by the state superintendents of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, Montana and South Dakota of the work being accomplished there. Dr. A. E. Winship of the Journal of Education and Dr. Harlan Updegraff of the National Bureau of Education brought to the meeting gleanings from wide acquaintance with school men and school work. Chancellor Avery and Governor Shallenberger talked to the teachers of practical things which are bound to come in our educational evolution.

     Perhaps one of the most interesting of the general sessions was the one held at the University Farm following a 6 o'clock dinner. Regent Coupland acted as toastmaster at the dinner, and following the toasts Miss Jessie Field of Page county, Iowa, delighted all with her account of "how they do things in Page county."

     The keynote of the general sessions was the improvement of the rural school through consolidation and industrial education.

     It occurred to me that I might profitably talk for a few minutes on some of the problems of the high schools. Perhaps I can act as the means of materializing some of the thoughts that are present in the minds of all of us. As I see the problems of the high school, there are four, as nearly as we can classify anything.

     The first is the problem of the teacher, and this is a problem that is always present with us. The problem of the 'teacher is an exceedingly serious one. It is an exceedingly difficult thing to get the right sort of a teacher, and I don't know that there is anything that can be done to improve conditions except to raise standards of scholarship as best we can. It is difficult, it seems to me, to properly get into the high school, men fit to teach the sciences. Work must be done largely by the women, but it is very desirable to have a man to handle the sciences, because through the long process of evolution, men have learned to use their hands more skillfully than the women, just as the women have learned to use their minds more skillfully than men have done. We have to depend largely upon the women and to exert ourselves more and more in the university and I hope you people in the high schools will mention the fact, to induce the women to take further laboratory courses.

     Closely correlated with this is the boy problem. The boy problem is always with us. I have made ten high school commencements in the last two weeks and in only one ease was there more than one boy in the graduating class. This is really a serious outlook. We must do something to hold the boy. If we had more men teachers, this ought to hold him in line.

     The characteristics of the barbarian are that they cannot see that by a sacrifice in the present, the future will become that much richer and better for them. A barbarian lives for today. At this period of

the boy's existence, he is in that period when he is not willing to sacrifice an opportunity to earn a little money, etc., for a better period of service later in life. The boy wants spending money, and it seems to me that this is the real seat of the trouble. It is the period of development in the boy and the economic conditions of the time. About all we can do is to emphasize again and again to the boy, to his parents, to his friends, that in the end he will be better off if he sacrifices a little now and then for the sake of preparation for really worthy work later in life.

     There is the question of agriculture, which we will treat as an industrial question. This is a very vital question in the schools, because we find there are in the country two systems of instruction growing up. The question is whether we will organize county agricultural schools, or put especially good agricultural training in the high schools. The solution in this state will be agriculture in the high schools.

     In closing, the fourth problem that I find is the problem of government, and yet, after all, if we could know the system of government in other countries, we would have the most reason for congratulation on this score of anything. I have studied the system of keeping students in line, and America has developed probably the best system of control of any country in the world. I believe that the problem is going to be constantly less and less in the future than it has been in the past. In our high schools and university we are getting rid of our enthusiasm in a regular way. I believe fully that the problem of government is the least of our problems. We have tried the big stick, we have tried student government, and I believe that the government of the future will be a government of co-operation.

     Recently agriculture has come to the front. We have had manual training in our public schools for twenty years. At present there are 125 of the 200 high schools in Minnesota which maintain manual training courses. The industrial work usually begins in the sixth and seventh grades. We had to carry the industrial work along with the academic work, and it is a theory of our Minnesota schoolmasters that a boy and girl will do as good if not better work in 'his studies by reason of taking the manual training work alongside of it, rather than to take up the purely scholastic studies,

     In Minnesota three distinct ideas were offered. One for county agricultural schools; another looking towards the establishment of district schools in which agriculture would be the main feature, embodying the ideas represented in the Davis bill and the Burkett bill. The third plan was to introduce agriculture into the high schools and make a course in agriculture an integral part of the four-year high school course. That plan was adopted, and it will be the policy under which Minnesota will try to work out the question of the teaching of

agriculture through the public schools. We shall not have separate county schools nor district schools in which agriculture will be a feature, but we shall work along the line of incorporating this work with our regular public school work, embodying the same idea as that so strongly recommended and approved by the chancellor of your university in his talk of yesterday.

     Placing the course in agriculture in a high school will seem to indicate that it is not going to reach out to the country pupils. That may be true to begin with, but there is a feature of our law which in part at least overcomes this. We provide that any rural school may associate itself with a high school or a graded school in which a course in agriculture, manual training and domestic science is offered. Our provision with regard to agricultural training provides that any school having a course in agriculture must also have a course in manual training, and a course in domestic science. These three lines of work are all required. Provision was made that not more than ten high schools should attempt to establish a course in agriculture during the next two years.

     The state aids in the establishment and encouragement of this industrial work. We have a state appropriation of $25,000 for each of the next two years, giving $2,500 to each school maintaining these' industrial courses. This work has been exceedingly popular with us and I think in time is going to outrun the regular scholastic courses through the schools. We find that boys and girls are coming in from the country and attending the high school merely for the purpose of taking the industrial work. In several of the town schools having the agricultural departments, the local school board has made provision for transportation of children for ten miles from the surrounding country in order that they may attend the high school giving the agricultural course. The question of finance in these schools is perhaps a serious one, but the subject is so strong with our people, and they so thoroughly believe in it that they are going to tax themselves to the utmost in order to provide buildings and employ teachers. We find it hard to find competent teachers to take charge of the agriculture work. Last fall we had to scour -the Mississippi valley to find instructors. We got very excellent ones, but we discovered this fact; that teachers of industrial subjects, those who are prepared to take charge of industrial training, are very scare. It seems to me that the next question that the normal schools, the universities and the teachers' colleges must face is that of preparing teachers for the various industrial lines of work.

     We are attempting something else in the way of extending agricultural training to the rural or country schools. I think that you and I are agreed that unless at least the agricultural training can reach the boy and girl in the country, it is going to miss its purpose. The purpose of it must he to interest the boy and girl to remain on the farm and become better farmers and conduct farming in a more profit.

able way than their fathers did. We must farm in a different way than our fathers did when the land was cheap and the soil was rich and the yield plentiful'.

     A person is employed by the state agricultural school whose business is to visit the counties of the state, and, in co-operation with the county superintendents, he visits rural schools, calls neighborhood meetings, gets the parents and the teachers together during the day or in the evening, and discusses with them how they may take up the question of corn-raising with the boy, and they may be interested in planting the plot of corn and raising corn for the purpose of taking his products to an exhibit to be held at the county seat in the fall, where the boys and girls throughout the entire county who have taken up the question of grain-raising, and the girls who have had sewing and some baking and some cooking, will exhibit the products, and the best products will be sent up to a state exhibit to be held later in the fall at the capital.

     The whole question resolves itself very largely to one of how we can best prepare persons to take charge of it and to direct the work. The demand for it exists among the people. The people are anxious for a more diversified school work. The most immediate matter at the present time is for teachers who are thoroughly prepared, who are in sympathy with this work, and who can properly direct it in the schools.

     Montana is a great state of 146,000 square miles, twenty-eight counties, and some of them just exactly twice the size of Massachusetts and the smallest one the size of Rhode Island. Every single county superintendent in that state is a woman except one. I am just as sure they will take care of him this fall as anything. There is no man in the state of Montana who has the audacity to run for county superintendent, and in fact I am rather glad of it. The kind we have up there are level-headed. You have good people down here, too.

     In our system of higher education there we have the university, agricultural college, the normal schools, and then we have the orphans' home. The board of regents have charge of all such institutions. There is absolutely no polities in schools affairs in Montana. I have voted for five presidents of state institutions since I have been on the state board of education in the last five years, and I do not know the politics of a single one. We do not believe that you can find any state in the union that is better in that respect. Nine county superintendents last year ran without anybody ca the opposition side. I think we are getting a long way on the line that Dr. Winship spoke of last night. They realize worth. I appreciate it. I am the only man who ever got a second term. I believe that our people are getting more liberal every day toward the public school in Montana.

     Our university is on the Carnegie pension fund class.

     The general supervision in our state is with the state superintendent. County supervision is with the county superintendent. In our state, when I first went up to the state office I noticed that we have some things that were wrong. If you have good schools, you must have good teachers first. The first act I tried to get through the legislature was to recognize teachers of ability and training from outside states. The second move was to get thorough examining boards. The first of these examinations went out and 15 per cent et the people failed.

     The state superintendent in Montana has a good deal of power. He is required to write the state course of study which is used as a text beck.

     The personnel of the teaching corps in Montana is second to none other. We have had some teachers from Nebraska, and not a single one but what has done first-class work. But we are net out hunting teachers now. All positions are filled and salaries are as good as there are anywhere in this union.

     There is no body of teachers with whom I would rather associate than county superintendents. I have had an experience extending ever a number of years, including in that experience country school work. I have taught in the country. I think I knew what the problem is. And I have taught in the city schools, done work in college as an instructor, and I have served as a county superintendent four years, and of all the experiences I have ever had, none is richer, and none more worth while than my experience as a county superintendent. I went into a certain county in Kansas as a superintendent, and I want to say to you that one of the first -feelings I had was utter amazement at the amount of work and the sense of responsibility that came to me. On every hand was a sense of earnest sympathy to do something for some teachers. They were responsive. Nothing that I ever entered into was more worth while. I am satisfied that in the aims and endeavors that I have in these days, whatever of value comes out of my work has its inspiration in my knowledge gained through experience as actual superintendent.

     I want to say just a few things now, first as to the problem of' compulsory education. We have a compulsory school law in our state and it is worth while. Recently I was in the penitentiary, by invitation. I was there on the occasion of the closing of the penitentiary school. They have established one there and have a night school three evenings a week. There are some 270 members la that class--gray-headed sinners, young and old men and all sorts of people. During that meeting, or at the close of it, which was interesting in many ways, I was called upon to talk to them. I thought they would be interested

in knowing what we are doing in Kansas in an educational way. The faces represented all colors, all conditions of human life. I jollied them up and we had a good time. I said, we have a compulsory school law in our state. Last year there were placed in our schools by virtue of that law and the activities of the truant officers 4,700 boys and girls. That entire body broke into a perfect storm of applause. They seemed to realize what might have been theirs had some kindly but firm hand insisted on their going to school.

     The county superintendent is the biggest factor in all the county, educationally speaking, or should be. True, the city superintendents do their part with their few pupils, but you are superintendent, you are in charge of the entire education of the county. You have ten pupils where the city superintendent has one. Whatever county you are in, the energy and the educational opportunity manifest in your county is a reflex on what you are doing. If the people in your particular county are interested in their schools as never before, if they are willing and anxious to take up educational topics, you are to blame for it. If the school work is better than they ever knew it to be, it is your fault. I will not mention the converse of that subject.

     I know that a superintendent cannot go out and visit one hundred teachers or more scattered over a large county with the same ease, or do it as often, as the city superintendent. I know the whole story, but I want to say to you this: After all is said and done, some may accomplish in some cases much more than we have done.

     A county superintendent came into my office on certain matters, and she was anxious to do a little work for herself, and she began to tell me about the amount of time she put in her office. I know she works, she carries every evidence of it. There is so much that demands our time. We may work hard and faithfully, and yet we can never get out into the field and do the work until we have some assistance. In the meantime, let me suggest to you that you quit doing so much office work. Some of my superintendents are quitting, but I have realized the greatest difficulty in getting any sort of report from them. The condition with us is to give our time to the routine of the

     'office. But, friends, do not let that desire nor that duty stand between the higher opportunity.

     The next duty of the superintendent, after the discharge of the clerical work of the office, is this: How best he may help the teachers and how best he may help the boys and girls in the county. Remember always that these teachers are simply instruments through which you are to work. I think that a county superintendent should be a missionary of encouragement. I think that the county superintendent that gets into the school room and leaves a ray of sunshine behind him of comfort and help is succeeding. Let us do that. What can county superintendents do? They can be actual leaders. They can be more than that-they can set the educational pace and create a sentiment worth while.

     You believe, I think, that the opportunity of the child is better in the graded school than in the country school. You believe that if you were to have the control of the training of the child you would put him in a good graded school. There are people who contend that the country school is better than the town school. Can you prove that the country people are not getting better training than in the town school? Instead of spending so much time upon the mechanics of the county superintendent; instead of dealing so much with conventional things; suppose we county superintendents try to break a little new ground each year. Begin to study out how many of the pupils that enter a given school in a given district go through the grades and graduate. Run that record down, do that in a number of places, and then compare it with the town and we will have a new county. I want to know as to the kind of results in the school room, the examinations. The next thing I want to know is what is the total enrollment in the fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth grades. What percentage pass the examination? What are they doing in Lincoln in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades?

     Fellow superintendents, the trouble with all of us is as it is in all the work of life. When you and I were teaching and when we sat before that class reciting in geography for the time being our aim was to get a perfect recitation from that class in geography. Do these other things as you will, and if you can; but, after all is said and done, make your county the coming year the banner county in the matter of school sentiment; hold meetings; bring out people who can inspire with a sense of educational awakening that is so much needed. If you will do that, if you will be these real missionaries to your teachers in every school room, giving some aid that will help some teacher and through the teacher reach the boys and girls, that is a thing worth while. You have a position which cannot compare in the matter of dollars and cents-in the opportunity to help, in the opportunity to get closer to the very best raw material under the face of heaven. You have a position that has none higher.

     Do not let the routine work bind you nor bar you from the higher things that make real leadership and actual moulding of public sentiment.

The class in parliamentary law conducted by Professor F. M. Gregg was a very interesting and instructive feature of the Nebraska state institute. This class held its first session at 8 o'clock in the morning, but so great was the interest that a unanimous request came to have the class begin fifteen minutes earlier in order to give more time to this work. Notwithstanding the early hour, about sixty were present every morning to receive the drill and to participate in parliamentary Practice which formed a part of each day's work.

     The work in this subject was greatly facilitated by the use of

printed outlines containing a graphic classification of motions, and also by the parliamentary tournament on Thursday evening, which was a fitting close for the work of the week. At this time the general session of the institute resolved itself into an educational council, and a strenuous effort was made by one faction to pass a resolution of pretended importance, the same being vigorously opposed by a second faction. Before the time came for adjournment the original resolution with amendments was declared adopted, and the chairman of the convention had been called upon to dispose of nearly every motion that is liable to arise in any public meeting.

     In the session Tuesday morning the county superintendents discussed, among other things, the registration of elementary and second grade certificates, the issuance and controlling of emergency certificates, and a suggested change of examination program.

     A committee was appointed to report on a uniform rule for dealing with elementary and second grade state certificates. The report of the committee recommended that these certificates be registered and validated for one year at a time up to the legal limit of three years from the date of issuance, on condition that the holder of such certificate did the professional work of the county in a satisfactory manner. The law prescribes a fee of one dollar for each registration and extension of an elementary and second grade state certificate, which fee goes into the county institute fund.

     In the discussion of the use and limitations of the emergency certificate, it became apparent that county superintendents were practically unanimous in the opinion that the concessions heretofore deemed necessary to the holders of these certificates were no longer required. This conclusion was reached from the fact that there are now 110 normal training high schools in the state; and these, together with the fourteen normal schools and collegiate institutions issuing teachers' certificates, have tremendously increased the number of fully certified and qualified teachers, hence the conclusion was reached that only In extreme cases would it be necessary to issue the emergency certificate.

     A committee was appointed to formulate rules for the issuance of emergency certificates. Their report restricted the issuance of emergency certificates to those teachers who at the time of the application for the emergency certificates hold a certificate in force in Nebraska or some other state. The emergency certificate so issued is only to be valid until the next examination following its issuance, if the teacher needs to take examination for a new certificate. If the teacher receiving the emergency certificate appears at the next examination and in good faith takes such examination, then the emergency certificate is continued until the report of the examination is received. If the teacher fails in the examination, the emergency certificate is terminated upon

the receipt of the report from the state superintendent. If the teacher fails to write on the examination in good faith, then the county superintendent will terminate the emergency certificate at once, without waiting for a report upon the examination from the state superintendent.

     In the report of the committee, a provision was made for a special certificate, where the county superintendent cannot supply the schools of his county and where, after enquiry, teachers are not available for such schools.

     In cases of this kind, the county superintendent will select from those who have taken the examination in his county, the candidates who have most nearly completed the examination and who in his judgment are the most desirable for the schools. He will report the names of these parties to the state superintendent, together with the district In which they are to teach, and the length of term to be held. The state superintendent will then fill out, sign and forward to the county superintendent a special certificate for this teacher, qualifying him to teach in the particular district in question and for the term of school desired. The county superintendent will countersign this certificate, make a record of its issuance, and issue it to the teacher. This certificate, without further examination, will qualify the teacher for the term of school under consideration in the particular district for which it was issued. A special form of certificate will be prepared by the state superintendent to serve this purpose. It is believed, however, that there will be few cases where it will be necessary to use this special certificate.

     The inconvenience of having a two days' examination program during a school session was forcibly brought out in the discussions relative to change of program. A teacher who has only two or three subjects needed for the re-issuance of his certificate finds that these come on different days, hence he must attend the examination during the two different days in order to take the few subjects involved. This is a real difficulty, and one that ought to be remedied by some process of consolidation of program, hence examination in all subjects in one day. No conclusion was reached upon this subject, but the imperative need of some such change was fully brought out by Superintendent Bays and others. The state department will endeavor to meet the needs of such cases by regulations to be announced later.

     A large percentage of the junior normal faculties was present for all sessions having as their special theme questions coaling with the junior normal schools. Never before have the faculties come into such close touch one with the other, and the conferences on course of study, credits, and special field of the junior normal were exceptionally profitable. All faculty members went directly to their respective schools, there to put into practice ideas gained from the meeting.

     That normal training has come to stay was evident from the carefully prepared papers presented at the two sessions. The necessary qualifications of normal training teachers was dwelt upon, as well as the requirements made of students, their attitude toward the high school and the teaching profession, and tested plans for observation and practice work. Those placed on the program were so well prepared and so full of their topics that little time was left for discussion. Much good will result. from this meeting in the way of better unification of the work and clearer ideas of what is expected in normal training.

     The topic I am asked to discuss I understand to be, the advisability of requiring normal training pupils to take state examinations in all of the nineteen subjects necessary to secure a first grade county certificate. This plan is exactly what we are carrying out at Spalding Academy, and three years' experience has so thoroughly convinced us of its utility that we have determined to make this requirement a permanent regulation. Hitherto no special order was attempted, it being considered sufficiently satisfactory when all examinations had been completed in time for graduation. Under such conditions, however, we find the majority of pupils disposed to delay beginning the work and then finding it somewhat heavy at the end, while those who take up the work gradually do not seem to consider it difficult. Beginning with September, therefore, we intend to try the plan of requiring ninth grade pupils to take examination in four subjects, those of the tenth in five additional subjects, of the eleventh six more, and of the twelfth the four remaining. We hope by this plan to secure uniformity and a method of procedure which will present practically no difficulties to the industrious pupils, since they will, in this way, secure a grade in each subject immediately after having made a thorough study of the same. In nearly all schools, experience has taught the benefit of requiring a written test when the study of a subject is completed. In our opinion, a more thorough test is given when the questions are formulated and the papers graded by some other than the teacher. Requiring the pupils to take the state examinations seemed to us one of the best, if not the very best, means of securing this result. On this account we permit no pupil to use university entrance credits as certificate grades, but insist oil an examination in each subject given by the state.

     The advantages most evident to us are the following:

     1. The pupils prepare most thoroughly those subjects in which they are required to take state examinations, and their interest is, as.

a general rule, more apparent in those subjects. (Probably they attach an idea of special importance to these because of their being subjects required by the state for teachers.)

     2. In preparing for these examinations the pupils make special study in the interpretation of questions presented in many varied forms, a result not easily secured when examinations are given by those with whose methods the pupils are already familiar. In connection with this point, I might add that we have in the school library a scrap-book made up entirely of the state questions given during the past tour years, and that to this we add the new questions monthly. This volume we find valuable in teaching the art of questioning as well as the interpretation above mentioned.

     3. The pupils are encouraged and incited to put forth their best efforts when they realize that their success not only means the reception of the honors of graduation but furnishes them with a testimonial entitling them to claim a place in the ranks of teachers.

     4. Pupils are thereby subjected to the most impartial grading of their work, and any complaint against teachers on this score is rendered not only unjustifiable but practically impossible.

     5. The teacher may derive enlightment. and consequently aid, by having her methods tested in a manner which is not possible when she herself handles all examination matter.

     When we proposed to adopt the plan, objection was made that the number of graduates might be thereby lessened. We have not found this to prove true in any instance, and even should it be realized in some cases in the future, our opinion is that in preparing teachers we must give precedence to quality, not to numbers.

     Much time was consumed in a general discussion of the qualifications and preparation of an institute instructor. This led to a consideration of the question as to whether or not there should be enacted a law setting forth the requirements for the certification of institute instructors. The discussion was vigorous and to the point, resulting in the appointment of a committee to confer with Superintendent Bishop for the purpose of working out a scheme which shall be adequate and beneficial. The following is the report of the committee:

     "The need of strong institute instructors and the protection of institutes against applicants whose ability, training, experience and personality are not of the first grade, and in order that county superintendents and summer school directors may know which. persons offering themselves as institute and, normal school instructors are properly qualified for, the work, it is the sense of this conference that state institute instructors' certificates be issued to persons meeting the general qualifications which should be required of those who desire to qualify as Institute instructors.

     "The following requirements should be met by every applicant:

     Required Qualifications.

     "1. Character.--The applicant for a state institute instructor's certificate to teach in county institutes and recognized summer schools shall furnish satisfactory evidence of sound moral character.

     "2. Habits.--If the applicant is addicted to the use of tobacco, dancing, or to card playing, the same will be specified upon the institute instructor's certificate. Such certificate shall not be granted to applicants who are addicted to gambling or to the use of intoxicating liquors.

     "3. Personality.--The applicant shall exhibit evidence of a condition of mind and heart which will contribute to the elevation of ideals, to the inspiration of teachers, and to the cultivation of an optimistic tendency, not only toward the teaching profession but toward humanity in general.

     "4. Health.--The applicant shall furnish evidences of a condition of health which is not detrimental to the interests of an institute.

     "5. Education.--The applicant shall hold a professional state or life certificate, or shall have had at least two years of professional preparation in an approved normal school, college or, university, or shall be a graduate from an approved four-year course of a college or university, or shall furnish evidence of equivalents in special preparation which are satisfactory to the authority granting the certificate.

     "6. Experience--The applicant shall have held an educational position with unquestioned success. His success shall be unquestioned if certified to jointly by the county superintendent, the board of education which employs him, and the state superintendent of public instruction. The failure of an authority to certify to the success of an applicant on account of personal, religious or political reason shall not he construed within themselves as sufficient reason for withholding the certificate.

     "7. Professional equipment and activity.--The applicant shall furnish evidence (a) of having access to and having read not less than two standard current publications each year; (b) of reading annually not less than three purely educational books selected from n list recommended by an elective committee of institute instructors with the approval of the state superintendent, one of which books shall deal with general educational problems, and at least one other with some special subject or special phase of educational work; (c) of having visited during the year and observed closely the work of rural schools, graded schools, high schools, and colleges; (d) of having attended annually the state training school or institute for institute instructors, unless excused for good cause by the state superintendent.

     "8. Certificate.--An applicant meeting the above named requirements shall be granted by the state superintendent of public instruction an institute instructor's certificate, which certificate shall be in

forge one year. After five successive years of successful service, the applicant may receive a certificate good for life or during the continuance of the applicant in the profession. Any institute instructor's certificate may be revoked by the state superintendent of public instruction for reasons which would have withheld its issuance.

     "It is expected that every institute instructor will want to meet ,the required qualifications, and more. The following suggestions are offered as a guide to those aspiring to be truly professional in their work:

     "1. He should read each year the best publications available in his special line of work.

     "2. He should read each year the best articles in current educational literature, and should read and study carefully the recognized leading publications in general education.

     "3. He should be a render of the most inspiring of the world's literature and a student of scientific and social progress.

     "4. He shall gain as much as possible from travel and from contact with business, nature, and men.

     "5 He shall, so far as possible, attend the accessible means of educational growth, such as local, county, district, state, and national associations.

     "6. He shall each year work out something new and fresh to himself educationally, either in the line of work familiar to him or in a new field, -something in which he shall be interested or in which he can prepare himself best to serve others."

     It was recommended that the state superintendent prepare a form of state institute instructor's certificate and blank application for the same, and such ether regulations as are necessary to carry out the plan for institute instructor's certification.

     In accordance with the above recommendations, the state superintendent of public instruction prepared a form of certificate, blank application, and regulations for the issuance of the institute instructor's certificate, said certificate to be issued by the state. superintendent of public instruction to all making application and meeting the requirements, good for one year beginning November, 1910.

     Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      

     1. Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     2. What credentials do you submit as evidence of sound moral character? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     3. Do you use tobacco? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intoxicating liquors? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Do you dance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Play cards? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gamble? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     4. What evidence are you filing of a condition of health which is.

not detrimental to the best interests of an institute? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     5. Do you hold a first grade state or a life certificate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From what institution or state? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Have you had not less than two years of professional training in an approved normal school, college, or university? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Where? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . When? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Are you a graduate from a four year course of an approved college or
university? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Where? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . When? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What equivalents in special preparation
have you had? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     6. From whom are you filing copies of letters as evidence of unquestioned success as an educator for at least four years? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     (Letters from member board education where now employed, county superintendent, state superintendent, especially desired)

     7. What special lines of work do you seek to present in institute? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     8. What special preparation have you made for such work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     9. What two standard current publications have you read during the past year? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      

     10. What two purely educational books have you read during the past year? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     11. What schools have you visited during the year, observing the work therein? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rural school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Graded school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . High school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     12. Did you attend the last session of the Nebraska State Institute? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     1. What publications in your special lines of work have you read the past year? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What current educational literature? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What leading publications in general education? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What standard literature on scientific or social progress? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     2. What special advantages have you had in the way of travel, and contact with business, nature, and men? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     3. What new and fresh subject have you worked out during the past year? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     4. What teachers' association have you attended during the past year? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . National . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     1. He shall furnish satisfactory evidence of sound moral character.

     2. He must have a condition of health which is not detrimental to the best interests of an institute.

     3. He shall have taught successfully at least four years.

     4. He shall possess a professional life certificate; or be a graduate from a standard college, university, or normal school; or shall be one whose professional experience and superior ability in educational work warrant the granting of such certificate.

     5. He shall show evidence of proper professional spirit, and of keeping abreast the times in the various lines of educational activity.

     6. He shall attend the annual sessions of the Nebraska State Institute, unless excused by the state superintendent of public instruction for good and sufficient reasons.

     7. The first five institute instructor's certificates granted to any one person shall be valid for one year each.

     8. Any person holding a Nebraska county institute instructor's certificate for five successive years may receive an institute instructor's certificate good for life or during the continuance of the holder in the profession of teaching. Such certificate may be revoked for any cause which would have withheld its issuance.

     This Certifies That . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     attended the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . session of the Nebraska State Institute, has submitted satisfactory evidence of sound moral character, good health, high scholarship, successful experience, and other necessary qualifications, and has met all requirements prescribed by the Institute Instructor's Section of the 1910 session of the Nebraska State Institute to entitle h... to professional recognition as an institute instructor in the State of Nebraska for a term of one year ending 19

     The evidence submitted indicate that the holder of this certificate is best qualified to instruct in county institutes along the following

     lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     The holder of this certificate states that . . he does not use tobacco, does not use intoxicating liquors, does not dance, does not play cards, and does not gamble. Given under my hand this day of 191..

State Superintendent of Public Instruction.     

     Practically every institution in the state authorized by law to grant teachers' certificates was represented in this section meeting. Much of the time was occupied in a general discussion on certification matters, especially with reference to what is known as the time element, also the matter of credits. It was finally agreed that a committee of seven be appointed to formulate modifications to the present rules and present them at a later meeting. It was also the sense of this section that there be a distinction, made in the certificates issued by the colleges and the normal schools.

     In the too brief five minutes allotted me for this very important discussion, I shall content myself with four general statements, in the hope that time may be found for a more satisfactory discussion.

     First.--A normal school is strictly a professional school, ranking in its design with schools of law, medicine, and theology. Its sole 'function is to educate teachers for professional service, and its diploma should admit its graduates directly, without condition, to the ranks of professional educators, just as the diploma of the medical college admits its graduates to the medical profession. The diploma of the normal school should be a life certificate, a "First Grade State Certificate" of the highest class. The normal school should issue in regular course no other license to teach, that is, all elementary certificates or provisional licenses should be issued only upon examination, either by the school itself or by the state department.

     Second-The curriculum of the normal school should comprise four years of work, academic and professional, above the twelfth grade of high school work, that is, it should parallel in time and instruction the standard college course leading to the bachelor's degree. The fact that such a course is not practicable under present conditions in Nebraska does not invalidate the statement of this ideal for state normal schools. Also, it does not mean that the entrance requirements to these schools are to be increased to twelve grades of work; it means merely that two years are to be added to the full course of study required for graduation, leaving the entrance conditions as they now are, the completion of ten grades of work. Under present conditions, however, students may continue to be graduated from the partial course of two years above the 'twelfth grade, or four years above the minimum requirement of entrance of tenth grade work. This inadequate preparation for the profession of teaching should be considered as a temporary compromise of the required course, to meet existing conditions.

     Third-The requirements of professional study and training In

normal schools should be more rigorously defined. In the full four year course above the twelfth grade, one-fourth of the work required for graduation should be strictly professional work constituting one-half of the work in junior and senior years. In the present two year course, three-eighths of the work should be professional, comprising one-fourth of the work in the first year and one-half of the work of the second year. Provision for specialization in groups of studies should be provided for, such as in physics, mathematics, foreign languages, history, civics, English, etc.; but there should be no compromise of scholarship between 'those preparing for work in the primary grades and those preparing to teach in high schools. In both its academic and professional aspects the normal school should have but one course of study, providing for well defined elective specialization; that is, there should be no "Kindergarten Course," "Commercial Course," or "High School Course;" though adequate provision should be made for specialized preparation for such position. Academic studies, equivalents should be recognized, but always without compromising scholarship. In the professional studies, a limited degree of Intensive specialization may be encouraged; but certain fundamental courses are to be treated as constants, required alike of all, for whatever grade of work or limited field they are fitting themselves. The diploma of each particular normal school should be its brand or mark of definite character or professional equipment, and should be given only to those who have shared actively in the clearly defined professional life of the school.

     Plans for the Interstate Conference on Certification were instituted at the Department of Superintendence meeting, Indianapolis, in February, 1910. As a result there gathered in Lincoln during the Nebraska State Institute the following state superintendents: John F. Riggs of Iowa, E. T. Fairchild of Kansas, W. E. Harmon of Montana, John W. Zeller of Ohio, Deputy C. E. Swanson of South Dakota, Supt. A. C. Nelson of Utah, with C. C. Schulz of Minnesota as chairman. Dr. Harlan Updegraff of the National Bureau of Education is making a special study of certification problems and took an active part in the discussions. The following action was taken:

     It is the sense of the state superintendents at this conference that the conference be continued at another meeting to be held next fall at which the question of further deciding the question of interstate certification and other questions of educational work, in which the states here represented are particularly interested should be discussed; that a committee of three to consist of Supt. Bishop, Dr. Updegraff, and Supt. Schulz be appointed to prepare an outline of the subjects to be discussed; that the invitation of Supt. Nelson, of Utah, for the conference to meet at Salt Lake City be accepted; That the committee be directed to especially notify state superintendents from as far east as Ohio and north of the Ohio river, and west of the Mississippi river.

"Moved, that we recognize the state life certificate secured by uniform state examination, subject for subject, which represents, in the main, scholarship and training equivalent to graduation from a four year college course; provided, that the standard of the examination in the state where the certificate is issued is as high as that in the state to which the candidate seeks to be certificated.

     "Moved, that we favor the mutual recognition of state certificates based upon a degree from a standard college or university.

     A standard college or university is defined as one requiring for entrance a four-year high school course, and for graduation a four-year college course of not less than 120 semester hours, in which shall be included not less than 15 hours of educational work.

     "Moved, that we recommend the recognition of certificates based on the completion of a two year course in a standard state normal school for teaching in the elementary schools; and the recognition of certificates based upon the completion of a four year course in like schools, for teaching in secondary schools.

     (See Introduction for later action of Conference).

     About thirty representative school officers from various parts of the state attended this conference. Problems of school administration, school sanitation, and the betterment of rural school conditions were discussed in round table session during the entire afternoon This conference was an excellent forerunner for the general meeting of the state school officers' association hold the next fall.

     The conference for the Nebraska boys' and girls' club was held on the afternoon of June 3 at the University farm, and was participated In largely by county superintendents who are managers of clubs, and by officers of the state and county clubs. The plans of the year were discussed and some regulations adopted which are to be put into effect later. The official Nebraska boys' end girls' club cap and badge were formally adopted. The cap is adapted for both boys' and girls' wear, colors golden rod and while, with the letters N. B. 0. C. in gold on the band. The badge is a gold and enamel stick pin for the boys and a similar brooch for the girls in the colors golden rod and white. Provision has been made for these to be secured in any town in which there is a boys' and girls' club.

     The school men's agriculture club had a very interesting meetIng. It developed that eighty-six persons had made application for membership, which large number made it impossible to carry out the original plans for meeting and study at Lincoln. In view of the great number desiring the work and of the difficulty of carrying it on as

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