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Show the Indian work. At various times I have endeavored to oint out what in m7 opinion were the errors into which those r h m d w ith the duty of &sing methods to o~vilmeth e red mce had fallen. After eoosidarablo investigation ind study 1 bccsma bn!y convinrrd that the maac essential, the mosc itn rsthc, need of tlm Tnd:an Service wat to devise rame srharno hv \rll rh the Indian unon tgrcaervstion would be com~elledto r-i ve U-D his llfo of iizine& %d to take up usdul'tasks. During the ast few yeass marked improvement has been noted in the methods fol-lowed in the &%an schools, and I desire to oongratulate you upon the success that no-attends our efforts. The life of s teacher is hard at bat. To succeed in the profession, besides t%e usually edmitted qualilications, the teacher must have that peculiar talent for imparting knowledge which can hardly be overestimsted. Really good tsachers often suo-eeed in their work in spite of bad system and improper methods; but when they do it, it is only by the y t e s t saerifiees of time and of health. With e.dvance'd, or I might say upto-date, metho s the work of the tamher is much simplified, snd the successes to be obtarned are more numerous and much greater. To follow out a. proper system makes the teacher's wark a pleasu-the sehala,r's work n profit. I shall not say that the methods in the Indian schools are perfect, but I do know that they have been immensely improved m recent years, and with the m e en ergetic, syst+ms.titio, sympathetic, snd intelligent super-vision they will continue to improve. The oblect of all the efforts of our Government in this field is to make good American citizena of those placed under your charge. I am of those who believe that the good in the Indian charsotar should be developed snd cultivated and the bad eliminated. THE mVIBbBILITP OF CONDUCTMO NORYAL SCHOOLS TO TRdW TEACB&RB FOB T m 8PBCIPIC PWPDIlP OF INSTBUCTINO INDIAN CHILDREN. John D. Benedict, superintendent of schools in Indian Territory-.-The greatest need of Indian education t&y is a corps of teachers trained to understand Indisnlife and environ-ment, its hah:u of tlloiEllt, its punil,il:t~ed,i ts pn.judices, it* pc!rt~liant~eslr,t d its trrdan-eias; treiued in the kind of knoalrdge ahirh tlla Indian me& tu know; tmined to do tba tilines ahiel~th o Indian should lean>c o do. and t~ainedi u itlrtlw& of imosninz needed knoGledm in such s. manner as will sppeal tb the mind of the Indian child. *We hzar much nuwsdsG uf nature study and minibiuro garden* in conneeticn with public ~r loolw ork. If nrch knowlcdqc end truning am of went, ro the city-hrcd rllild, l>cr\rn :urb r ~ l , r c impoli tsnt is a oractiral knowledze uf nsturr and nencultun to the IaJinn chilli-tlie child of nature. &e is in close ton& snd sympsthv wiih nature. Instesd of educating him away from l l i home life, tlln school vhouid riain llilr, to a tvtter epprcristior~u f I ~ LJ;ln t. adran-taps and should inrulcarc in hnl a &sin to irnpmre, to beautify, to clarare, nngl enjoy liw homd. 'L'J c a m uut thir wark surwssfullv it u.oltld not be nrcv~saroru build nntl w~itntain separate normal schools, but normal dep&ments might be estsbliihed in one or more of the Indian boarding schools, not too far from the reservations. Besides furnishing a. normal came far teachers, it might be advisable toestablish trahhg classes far prqspective matmns, nurses, sssmstresses, cooks, snd possibl for farmem and horticulturists. These prof* sional courses would sttract many of our :right Indian boys and girls, givin them an oppor-tunity to qualify themselves specially for positions of usefulness among tieir own people. The following &re mong the reasons for esta,blishing normalschools to trsin teachers for the specific pu ose of instructing Indian children: First, the Indian child needs to be studied and unfPerstood. He is not a vhite child with a ca per colored skin and straight hair, but a child of quite another and a different mental founsatik. Second, the inherited tendencies of the Indian child, his aspirations, his motives for action, all are so different from the white child that his teacher should hsve a training in a special school where sll these peculiarities oan be studied and made the pedagogical basis for methods of teaching as well as the subject-matter of teaching. Third, the Indian race is an old ram, a mature race, a. race of fixed habit-a, race that hss fossilized. These things should be undemtood by those who are to be their teachers, that their teaching may be fitted to those to be taught. Fourth, because all Indians are landowners it goes without shying that aldh those hes their teachers should hsve a special training, which no normal or other sehoj within my knowledge now gives. Tim alone is an entirely sufficient argument for the est&liblishment of Indim normal schools. S. M. MoCowan, superintendent Chilow Agricultural School, Oklahoma.-Normal schaals should be established to train te~chemfo r the eoific purpose of instructing Indian children, bec%use (1) Indian youth are born and reme"Xc1ose to nature and love her wsys; (2) because they hsve land and should be taught to cultivate it with a view to making s living thereby; (3) beosuse they will not hold their land and work it unless taught to love the work and to make a profit from their toil; (4) because the vast majority of our teachem know nothing about farming in any of its branches and care less, themby oousciously or unoonsoiously instilling a didike for the farm in the highly impressionable minds of their pupile. |
