REPORT. To the Honorable the Board of Trustees of the State Normal School: GENTLEMEN :-In submitting this, the first annual report of the condition and prospects of the State Normal School, the undersigned expresses the hope that he may be deemed excusable for presenting facts and statistics with which your Board are already familiar, as well as for indulging in some suggestions relative to the reorganization and future management of the institution. For the sake of conciseness and convenience of reference, I will present the subject under the following heads, viz: The necessity of maintaining a Teachers's Seminary at the expense of the State. V. What the School needs in order to increase its efficiency. VI. The Model Department, or School of Practice, and its relations to the Normal Department. I. HISTORY AND PROSPECTS OF THE SCHOOL. The Normal School was organized on the twenty-third of July of last year, in accordance with an Act of the Legislature, approved May of the same year. By a provision of this Act, the sum of three thousand dollars ($3,000) was appropriated for the support of the School during ne term of five months. Although notice of the opening of the School was given in the newspapers some weeks before the commencement of the session, but two applications for admission were received previously to the day fixed upon for the examination of applicants, and one of these did not pre sent himself for the purpose of undergoing the appointed ordeal. On the day of examination, however, five others were in attendance. These pioneer applicants were all admitted, although several of them could not stand the test of eligibility to membership established by a rule of your Board, but were deficient with respect to a knowledge of the simplest rudiments of the common English branches. They were all admitted, however, on probation, in accordance with the advice of the Superintendent, and all retained their connection with the School until the close of the term. At the opening exercises the Honorable A. J. Moulder, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Doctor Taylor, of the Board of Trustees, were present and made appropriate remarks to the class relative to the designs and objects of the institution, and their duties and responsibilities as pupils of the first Normal School established in California. In this quiet and unostentatious manner, and under the most unfavorable auspices, the State Normal School was organized. During the first month of the session ten or twelve other members were added to the class, and before the expiration of the term, in December following, the class had increased to upwards of thirty. A public examination of the class, conducted by the State Superintend ent and the Principal, was held on the twenty-first of December, but no diplomas or certificates of graduation were issued to any of the members, as none had completed the prescribed course of study. Although the provisions of the Act under which the School was es tablished contemplated only one session of the School, of five months duration, during the year, it was deemed expedient by the Executive Committee of your Board that the School should be re-opened after a short vacation, as there was a balance of the appropriation left undisbursed, sufficient for its support for about two months. Accordingly the School was re-opened on the twelfth of January following, with about thirty pupils, about twenty of whom had attended the previous term. A considerable number of those who attended the first session engaged in teaching after leaving the School, and did not return; others were prevented from attending by other circumstances, and one was dismissed for delinquency. As it was deemed probable that the Legislature, then in session, would make a small appropriation to meet the financial deficiency that might accrue by keeping the School open after the three thousand dol lars ($3,000) appropriated at the previous session, it was deemed advisable to continue the session for a few weeks longer than the time fixed upon at its re-opening, and in accordance with the advice and consent of the State Superintendent, the session was continued until May four teenth-four months from the time of commencement. During the term there were forty-one pupils in the class-five males, and thirty-six females. During the four last days of the session an examination of the class was conducted. The oral examination was conducted by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, assisted by Professor Swezey, Doctor H. Gibbons, and the Principal. This time was principally devoted to an examination of the pupils in physical geography, physiology, arithmetic, grammar, rhetoric, algebra, geometry, spelling, and methods of teaching, by means of printed questions, to which the pupils were required to give written answers. A limited time (from one hour to two hours and a half) was allowed the class for preparing their answers to each set of questions, and the average standard fixed at seventy per cent. The applicants for diplomas were also examined by the Committee with special reference to their ability to conduct class exercises, by being required to teach in their presence in the Model Department. After a careful examination of the manuscripts of the pupils, it was decided by the Committee of Examination that only four of the applicants were entitled to certificates of graduation. The names of these, together with copies of the questions propounded to the class, will be found appended to this report. A very large majority of those who have entered the School during the session, have been found exceedingly deficient in a knowledge of the elementary branches of study that are usually taught in our Primary and Grammar Schools, and all have required special instruction and training in the rudiments of the common English branches. Many had not attended any School whatever for a long time, and were sadly deficient in relation to the amount of mental vivacity and dicipline so necessary for the Normal student to possess. Several were dismissed during the term, in consequence of their want of application, and for other delinquencies, and their consequent inability to maintain a respectable standing in their classes. Four or five young ladies were admitted on probation, (by the advice and consent of the Executive Committee,) of whom but two were found qualified, after two or three months trial, to pursue the course with advantage to themselves, or credit to the School. The following counties have been represented in the institution during the session, viz: It is a matter of disappointment and regret to me that so few from the mining and agricultural counties of the State have been inclined to seek the advantages which the School affords, and, more particularly, that those who have entered have been found so very deficient in point of both scholastic attainments and mental discipline. As the objects which the School seeks to accomplish become more generally under |