'""WBsjTVorm moisu APR, „ g .aiji.. Stye liulletin Containing Biennial Report of ’the President of the 0tate formal i»drnnl Valley City, N. D. ®n tbr Sdatr Unarh of Urgettia July 1, 1914 to June 30, 1916 ivi/nn (Abridged) Entered at the Post Office, Valley City, N. D., as second class matter, under act of Congress, July, 1894. Published monthly except August. Vol. 10 5, December, 1916. — llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll * Hipmtial l&tpavt nf the flrmiient of the i^tate Nur- mal ^rtjnol, Halleg Cttg, 1., tn tlje #tate Unarli nf Urgenta for the pencil July 1st, 1914 tn June 30111, 1910 (ABRIDGED) To the Honorable State Board of Regents, Bismarck, North Dakota. Gentlemen: Conformable to custom and the legal requirements, I have the honor to submit the following report as President of the State Normal School at Valley City, North Dakota, for the bi- ennial period beginning July 1, 1914 and ending June 30, 1916. Your careful consideration of this report is requested. I. Student Affairs Attendance in the Normal School department shows a wholesome growth, especially in view of the fact that other Normal Schools are being established in the field that has heretofore been tributary to this institution. The total at- tendance in all departments has grown healthfully and the average membership thruout the year has continued to in- crease. I am submitting below a table showing the enroll- ment in all departments for the past six years giving you an opportunity to study the growth of student attendance. The geographical distribution of the student body is also shown as well as the enrollment for each of the four terms of the past six years. 1. Enrollment T1 T2 T3 ’14 T5 T6 The Normal School De- partment . . 622 638 737 746 700 700 The Summer School 645 648 700 734 645 681 The Institute 89 52 The Training School .... 211 218 261 293 249 242 The Music Department... 134 170 221 255 213 312 Total, less any counted twice .1495 1552 1729 1733 1859 1935 PRESIDENT'® BIENNIAL REPORT Number of counties repre- sented . 43 46 47 48 51 48 Other states represented. . 10 9 10 10 14 13 Enrollment by terms: Fall 500 485 566 633 567 554 Winter . 541 561 643 674 624 609 Spring . 458 472 523 563 542 550 Summer and Institute . . 645 648 700 734 697 681 2. Graduates The number of students completing the several courses is rapidly increasing. For the year ending June 30, 1913, the number was 161; the year ending June 30, 1914, 213; the year ending June 30, 1915, 210; the year ending June 30, 1916, 201. We graduate students at the end of any term. The total number of graduates to date from the institution is approxi- mately 1800. Herewith is a table showing the number of graduates at the end of each term for the past four years, also the number of graduates from each of the several courses, distributed ac- cording to the courses they have pursued. By Terms Aug. Dec. March June Total 1913 . 37 6 7 94 144 1914 . 29 9 8 123 164 1915 . 39 9 6 154 208 1916 . 35 13 8 153 209 By Courses General Courses: 1913 1914 : 1915 1916 Elementary 102 108 151 152 Advanced 16 14 17 16 Special Courses: Agriculture 2 Domestic Science . . 11 27 22 23 Kindergarten 3 4 5 3 Manual Training . . . 6 5 3 3 Public School Music 1 3 1 Public School Music and Art . . . 4 5 4 6 Physical Education . 1 1 2 Primary 2 3 Art 1 Commercial 1 1 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 3. Analysis of Enrollment Students attending all the year, September, 1915, to June, 1916 447 Number enrolled, fall term 1915, who were enrolled pre- ceding year 220 Number enrolled during school year who hold four-year high school diploma 265 Number enrolled during the year who had no experience in teaching 508 Number enrolled during the year who had less than two years’ experience 94 Number enrolled during the year who had two and less than five years’ experience 80 Number enrolled during the year who had five or more years’ experience 18 Number of different persons enrolled during the year: Male 120 Female 580 Total 700 4. In General Student life and conduct thruout the period has been in every way wholesome and circumspect. Discipline has been the least of our problems. The students have co-operated with the faculty in every plan for the improvement of the life of the institution. The relation of the students and teachers has, therefore, been most delightful. During the year the Class of 1916 has presented to the school and installed upon our grounds a handsome fountain, the value of which is about $500. The Class of 1914 had de- ferred action on its memorial until the present year. They finally agreed upon a memorial post and have located it at the northwest corner of the campus. It is similar to those at the entrance gateway and is now in place. The students’ voluntary work as exemplified in their class organization, literary societies and other groups is of high or- der. During the past year a series of inter-society debates upon the “Minimum Wage Law” has been initiated and car- ried out in which teams representing four literary societies appeared in public debate two or more times each and in nearly every case had the opportunity of supporting both PRESIDENT© BIENNIAL REPORT sides of the question. These did more than anything in the recent life of the school to encourage and develop an inter- est in public speaking and the study of public questions. The student body was organized at the close of the fall term for the publication of a weekly newspaper as a means of communication between the student body and the community. This paper has appeared weekly under the name of “The Budget” and has been conducted entirely by a student group representing the entire school. The paper has been found an important agency in the life of the school and has given a de- sirable training to a large group of students. Another group has published the annual issue of “The Blizzard,” a book which contains a record of the student body’s affairs thruout the year and fairly reflects the student life. During the year the women students have been organized thru the ini- tiative of the Dean of Women into a Women’s League. The object of the League is to encourage social life of the students and secure helpful co-operation and acquaintance with the ladies of the city. The affairs of the League have been well conducted and they have added materially to the social en- joyment. Athletics have prospered, and, for the first time in the his- tory of the school, it has not been necessary to struggle with the deficit arising from athletic enterprises. Our musical interests have flourished financially and artis- tically. The Shakespeare Tercentenary was observed by a rather pretentious pageant under the leadership of our Eng- lish department. The student Loan Fund was increased by a sum of about $150, the result of a faculty entertainment given for the pur- pose. II. The Faculty 1. The Number of Teachers During the last year of the biennium covered by this report our faculty has included sixty-two persons. This number in- cludes the librarian and two assistants, the custodian of the museum and an assistant. The number and distribution of the faculty as to sex is shown in the following statements: Men in the faculty, regular term 23 Women in the faculty, regular term 39 STATE NORMAL, SCHOOL Total number in the faculty, regular term 62 Men in the faculty, summer term 24 Women in the faculty, summer term 35 Total number in the faculty, summer term 59 The size of our faculty considered in the abstract seems large, but the number of the faculty should be considered in relation to the size of the student body and the number of classes for each student per day. Our faculty is still inade- quate for highly efficient work. Teachers struggle with large classes and too many per day with consequent loss of vitality in instruction and the entire elimination of productive work on the part of members of the faculty. We are not able to enter into outside professional activities, because of the im- mense amount of work required of teachers at the institution and yet the work done by our faculty in the institution has been of excellent quality. 2. Hours of Work The number of hours of work per week done by members of the faculties in our better Normal Schools ranges from sixteen to eighteen. In most cases our faculty members teach twenty-five hours per week. Add to this the necessary committee work and the general work, which membership in a faculty like ours entails, and it will be seen that teachers are over-worked. This condition can only be remedied by in- creasing the number of teachers or decreasing the number of classes. It should be remedied in our institution by a modifi- cation of our course of study so as to require fewer subjects per day of each student and more time for independent study and research on their part. Instead of five requirements for each student per day the course should require but four. The student should then devote more time each day to individual study and preparation, and appear fewer times in class. This question of the number of hours of service required has a bearing on the training and ability of teachers that can be secured. We believe our faculty is well qualified from the standpoint of academic training and experience as teachers. If they are to be retained, and others of equal grade of schol- arship to be secured, from time to time, the conditions of service should be rendered more favorable and salaries in- creased. Candidates for teaching positions prefer to get into colleges PRESIDENT*® BIENNIAL REPORT and other institutions where fewer teaching hours are ex- pected. The heavy requirements as to hours of service and other unfavorable conditions also explains why faculties of Normal Schools do not and cannot carry on as much produc- tive work as college faculties. If Normal Schools are to help teachers in service, do a little extension work, prepare courses of study, publish tested results of good teaching, they must have relief from the heavy hours of work required. 3. Salaries. The efficiency of the members of any faculty depends upon their education and training, their experience, the condition under which they work and the compensation they receive. A high salary average might secure teachers of large experience and high academic training to work under inferior conditions but in the case of Valley City the salary average is low. It may be said that heads of departments receive salaries that approxi- mate a fair compensation, but others still more remotely ap- proach such fair salaries. The income of the school should be increased to such an extent as to allow a general ad- vancement of salaries. The United States Bureau of Educa- tion has recently issued a pamphlet on “The Tangible Re- sults of Teaching/’ From this pamphlet I have compiled a table which represents the salaries of various ranks of in- structors in eighty-five Normal Schools in various parts of the country. The table shows the department, the rank of the instructor, the total number of cases represented, the maxi- mum, minimum and average salaries. A comparison of our salaries with the averages of the table shows that Valley City is paying its faculty inadequately, especially if it expects to maintain its position as one of the up-to-date Normal Schools of the country. These low salaries mean in many cases lim- ited training and experience and a low grade of professional work, and frequent resignations of those who are well quali- fied. 4. Preparation To show that in academic training our teachers compare favorably with those of other State Normal schools, I am sub- mitting herewith a statement, which I have made up from a study of various Normal School catalogs. The statement shows the percentage of teachers, in each of the Normal Schools studied, having the doctor’s degree, the master’s de- STATE NORMAL SCHOOL gree, the bachelor’s degree and those holding no degree. The table appended makes a very good showing for the school at Valley City when taken in connection with salaries and amount of teaching required. The table gives the percentage of the faculty in each school holding the degree named at the top of the column. Table Shewing Percentage of Various Degrees in Each Institution Named Doct’s Mast’s Bach’s No Degree Valley City, N. Dak. . . . 6 23 30 40 Ypsilanti, Mich 8 22 30 39 Normal. Ill 8 16 38 37 Aberdeen, S. Dak . . . 0 12 31 55 Cape Girardeau, Mo. . . . . . 2i/ 2 20 52% 25 St. Cloud, Minn 5 8 29 57 Johnson, Vt 6 0 12y 2 81 Conway, Ark 0 22 39 39 Springfield, Mo 4 15 69% 11 Gunnison, Colo 0 18 67 14 Greeley, Colo 6 30 53 11 Macomb, 111 0 38 28 33 Charleston, 111 6 27 45 21 Cedar Falls, la 6 29 41 23 Richmond, Ky 3 17 40 40 Natchtoches, La 5 17% 22% 55 Farmington, Me 0 6 12%, 81 Bellingham, Wash 5 22 28 45 Trenton, N. J . . . 10 15 22 53 Peru, Nebr 2 16 31 50 Oswego, N. Y 8 12 24 56 Duluth, Minn 9 19 33 40 5. Recommendations The considerations above set forth lead me to make the following recommendations : 1. That the income of the school be increased by appro- priation to permit the annual advance through a series of years of about thirty salaries and to enable us to employ a man as head of the department of physical education. 2. That the course of study be revised to require students to recite four times per day instead of five times, thus reducing the number of hours for each instructor, and at the same time PRESIDENT’S BIENNIAL REPORT bringing the work fairly within the reach of the present fac- ulty. 3. That definite appropriation be made in support of cor- respondence work and an Extension department be put into the hands of members of the faculty to be secured for the purpose. No new departments have been created within this bi- ennium. In fact, the number of the faculty during the past year was somewhat reduced owing to the failure of the Legis- lative Assembly to provide a sufficient maintenance appropria- tion to keep up our work. During the past two years the school has been operated without a head for the department of physical education. This position should be filled at the earliest possible moment. The importance of the work of this department is being increasingly recognized in all institutions of learning. The large number of students taking the general and special work at our institution is seriously overloading the instructors now employed. III. The Course of Study The course of study adopted some years ago by the State Board of Trustees has in the main been satisfactory. In view of the forthcoming report of the Survey Commission ap- pointed by your honorable Board, suggestions in detail as to desirable modifications would probably be inappropriate. I assume that when this report has been digested the schools will be authorized to revise their course to make them more conformable to the demands of the times and the resources of the state. The one-year course for high school graduates should soon be eliminated and greater emphasis put upon the advanced and special courses all of which should be gradually extended. As mentioned elsewhere, the number of subjects required in most courses should be reduced and the number of recitations per day as well. These and other modifications that may be found desirable will necessitate changes in the certification laws by which our students are recognized as teachers. IV. The Training School For many years the Training school has been an aggravat- ing and almost insoluble problem. At many State Normal STATE NORMAL SCHOOL schools it is the custom to use a part or all of the city schools for Training school purposes. This institution has never been able to make any arrangements with the local city schools for Training school facilities. Accordingly we have maintained an elementary school of eight grades at the expense of the state for the purpose. The enrollment in this school during the past year was as follows: 1st grade, 27; 2nd grade, 21; 3rd grade, 12; 4th grade, 22; 5th grade, 24; 6th grade, 20; 7th grade, 23; 8th grade, 22. These numbers varied for different terms. Our annual catalog will show a total of 241 differ- ent children during the school year. These are divided into classes of about' ten each for practice conveniences. To relieve the situation in part, an observation class has been provided, conducted by the supervisor of training. The result to the student teacher is not so satisfactory, tho it is the best substitute we can at present improvise. Negotia- tions are now pending with the local Board of Education with a view to securing training facilities at one of the elementary schools of the city. During the year a uniform lesson plan has been agreed up- on which is now used by all the different critics and is the required plan for all practice teachers. It has proved to be a great advantage to student teachers as they pass from one critic to another in the different terms of their course. Considering the crowded condition and the adverse circum- stances, I can still report that our Training school is well or- ganized and proceeding on a sound basis, and, I believe, secur- ing the best results possible in view of the general facts stat- ed above. The last legislature passed a law authorizing the city Board of Education to pay a reasonable fee for each child instructed in the training school. Up to the present writing the Board of Education has declined to pay this bill. V. Music Department During the year ending, June 30th last, 312 different persons have taken musical instruction at the institution. This does not include those enrolled in the band, orchestra and special glee clubs. We have now a well developed orchestra, a young ladies’ band of thirty instruments, a choral society of ninety PRESIDENT’S BIENNIAL REPORT members and the Normalonians, an organization of young women singers of about thirty members. The development of our Music department has justified the experiment. Its establishment was based upon the following arguments : 1. Every young person securing an education should have the opportunity of some culture in this delightful art and should be encouraged to an appreciation of music in its vari- ous forms. 2. All teachers should know something of music, at least on the singing side. 3. There is an increasing demand for supervisors and spe- cial teachers of singing in the public schools. These, Normal schools should furnish, and not conservatories conducted for private gain. 4. The people of our state are spending annually enormous sums of money for trivial instruction in piano and similar forms of music. There is no reason why Normal schools should not train teachers of music in these lines as well as for public school teaching. 5. All the strong Normal schools of the country have simi- lar Music departments and, finally, the department has been of very trivial expense to the state, owing to the fact that in- structors of this department are paid, almost entirely, by fees. The only ones of them receiving a salary out of the general funds in the school are the heads of the Departments of Public School singing, and the band and orchestra con- ductors. As a result of the encouragement of music, our students have a fine discrimination between the wholesome and indif- ferent forms. VI. Improvements at the Farm The only fund available the past two years for permanent improvements was an appropriation of $1,000 for a barn for the care of the live stock and implements at the school farm. A commodious barn has been erected with improved conveni- ences for the care of ten cows and five horses. A small resi- dence was purchased in the city and moved to the farm and is occupied by the superintendent of buildings and grounds. The expense of this latter improvement was paid out of the pro- STATE NORMAL, SCHOOL ceeds of the farm. We now have five horses that are used for hauling coal and the necessary farm work. Ten Holstein cows, four of them pure bred, furnish milk for the dormitory. A pure bred bull and five young cattle complete the present herd. The old barn, or shed, has been moved from the rear of the dormitory to the farm and fitted up as a machine shed and two small structures have been made over for poultry houses for experimental purposes. A herd of seventy-five well bred Chester White hogs consumes the refuse from the dormi- tory and has been found to be a source of profit to the farm as well as an interesting educational demonstration of the profit that may be derived from the wise handling of a herd of swine. VII. Unit Cost of Instruction In an age when educational institutions are challenged to show the degree of efficiency as well as the gross cost of their work, I submit for your consideration the following state- ments of unit cost at this institution. Massachusetts is the only state, with which I am familiar, that has worked out the unit cost of Normal schools on this basis. As compared with those old and well established Normal schools our showing is very favorable indeed. ^ That state has nine Normal schools. The total per capita cost of operating these schools ranges from $108.17 at Bridge- water, a school with an average membership of 360 students, to $324.19 per capita at North Adams, a school with a aver- age membership of 127. A table making a complete compari- son of these nine schools with ours would be interesting and profitable but the space of this report forbids further compar- ison. There are many conditions that make it more econom- ical to operate a school in Massachusetts than in North Dakota. Table Showing Cost of Instruction 1. Cubical contents of buildings used for school purposes (cubic feet) 1,152,000 2. Average membership for the school year, 1915-1916 609 3. Relating to salaries, wages and labor: a. Paid out for general administration including salaries of president, secretary, office force ....$10,590.00 b. Cost per capita of administration 17.40 c. Cost for instruction including salaries of teach- PRESIDENT’S BIENNIAL REPORT ers, librarians, management of museum 78,023.31 d. Per capita cost of instruction 116.50 e. Paid out for labor including janitors, engineers, care of buildings and grounds 9,914.53 f. Per capita cost for labor 16.28 4. Heat, light, power and water, not including labor: a. Total expenditure for these purposes 10,150.62 b. Per capita cost for heat, light, power and water 16.66 c. Cost per thousand cubic feet of heat, light, etc. 8.80 5. Buildings and Improvements: a. Total amount expended for buildings, repairs and improvements 650.00 b. Per capita cost of building, repairs and im- provements 1.07 c. Cost per thousand cubic feet of building, re- pair, etc .56 6. Furnishings and fixtures, including apparatus: a. Total amount expended 3,485.91 b. Per capita cost of furnishings and fixtures .... 5.72 c. Cost per thousand cubic feet of furnishings and fixtures 3.03 7. School supplies including scientific supplies: a. Total amount expended i 5,393.00 b. Per capita cost 8.85 8. Postage, stationery, publications, office supplies: a. Total expenditure 2,578.30 b. Per capita cost 4.23 9. Library: a. Total amount paid out for library purposes . . 908.64 b. Cost per capita 1.50 10. M iscellaneaus expenditures including everything not described above: a. Total amount expended 6,472.00 b. Cost per capita 10.62 Total per capita cost of instruction $ 197.83 VIII. Value of Buildings and Equipment Date of erection and cost of each building: Auditorium 1907 $60,000,00 Science Building 1903 41,000.00 Main Building 1892 35,000.00 Training School 1905 42,000.00 STATE! NORMAL SCHOOL Industrial Building 1911 Heat, Light & Power Plant 1909 Dormitory 1910 Dormitory 1903 Dormitory 1902 Root House 1912 Coal Shed 1907 Farm Buildings 1915 Office of Supt. of Grounds 1913 Greenhouse 1913 40.000. 00 50.000. 00 40.000. 00 30.000. 00 8,000.00 1,000.00 1,100.00 4,500.00 250.00 500.00 Total sum spent for buildings $353,350.00 Amount spent for the equipment of each department: Science $ 4,780.15 Agriculture 1,728 j57 Domestic science 1,739.34 History 158.90 Psychology 142.25 Commercial 1,202.70 Art 1,113.15 Languages 142.50 Manual training 3,318.44 Music 3,984.64 Education 60.54 Rural 77.15 Mathematics 204.05 Training school 2,055.99 Library 11,148.76 Auditorium 4,318.90 Literary societies 673.50 Registrar 1,088.90 Executive and Business offices 1,728.50 Museum 2,758.83 Janitors 755.78 Dean of women 16.75 Power House 616.28 Superintendent of grounds 542.23 Miscellaneous 3,571.75 Dormitories 9,001.02 Physical Education 669.98 Cattle, Horses, Farm Machinery 1,905.00 Total sum spent for equipment 59,504.67 PRESIDENT’S BIENNIAL Number of acres in campus, 77 acres, all told (actual cam* pus 13 acres) Income from land endowment (50,000 acres) $25,000.00, 1914-1915. IX. Appropriations Needed Maintenance 71,000.00 Physical education building 100,000.00 Administration building 65,000.00 For curb, gutter, sewer, water 3,000.00 Improvements and repairs 5,000.00 Engine and dynamo 3,000.00 Insurance 3,500.00 Walks 1,500.00 Furniture and equipment 5,000.00 Library permanencies 4,000.00 Athletic grounds .’ 1,500.00 Heat main to dormitory 2,000.00 For deficiency 10,000.00 Total $274,500.00 X. Conclusion I wish to express to the Board of Regents my sincere ap- preciation of their cordial support and wise leadership during the short time we have worked together. I am sure it would be difficult to initiate any new system of administration with less distraction and annoyance to the local school authorities than has been done in the case of your assuming control of education in North Dakota, This Normal School has made progress. By the co-operation of all the forces controlling it, we are anticipating, its service to the state will be greatly increased. Very respectfully submitted, 3 0112 105658857 REPORT • i