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—.. HT 14 If* IK E ’ A A I" - t VOLUME ONE. NO. TWENTY-SEVEN. Summer School of the South, at Knoxbille, Tenn. HE tendency of the times is undoubt edly toward more perfect technical training in every branch of intellectual as well as industrial work, and although America does not yet give the same pre-eminence to technical training as Germany does, yet recent years show a vast improvement in this direction. T While Germany endeavors to make a master craftsman of even the most unskilled la borer, and the utmost effort is also made to train the workers in intellectual fields, America still confines the greater part of her endeavors to the perfecting of those already skilled in intellectual or me chanical work. In the training of the former class there has been no more potent factor than the work of the teachers’ institutes and summer schools throughout the coun try. Almost every great university has its special summer session for the “high er education” of teachers. Columbia University has a large and well patronized summer school, the University of Chicago makes this branch a feature of its work, and many western un iversities also have regular summer ses sions. But the first institution of the kind in the South is that located at Knoxville, Tenn. Although not in any way a part of the University of Tennessee, this institution generously gives the free use of its grounds, buildings and equipment for use of the great summer school. Although designed, primarily, for the use of Southern teachers who, for various reasons, are unable to attend the summer schools at the more distant universities, the school at Knoxville is in no sense a local institution, it being open to teach ers from every part of the country, and, as a matter of fact, almost every state in the Union is repre-' sented among its 2,500 students who were regis tered there during the session which recently closed. Although only in its fifth session, this school affords most excellent opportunities for Southern teachers at a minimum cost, the tuition ■ ■ ■ "< - ■ •’ ■ . •.I : . t : , ■ ' . , A . Science Hall, University of Tennessee, Knoxbille, Tenn. ATLANTA, GA., AUQUST 23, 1906. being merely nominal, while the cost of its main tenance, which is estimated at about $20,000, is met by the people of Knox county, the city of Knoxville and the friends of the institution in all parts of the country. The prices for board are also exceedingly low, and every possible comfort and accommodation for students is provided on the University grounds. These grounds form a feature of the beautiful environment of the Knoxville Sum mer School. Situated as the University is, on the outskirts of the delightful city of Knoxville, the picturesque mountain peaks on the one hand and the broad Tennessee River on the other, makes an ideal spot for a summer’s outing. But when it is considered that during the six weeks’ session of the summer school the students in attendance are given the advantage of instruction by a faculty of seventy-five of the leading professors, lecturers and specialists in the entire country, it will readily be seen that the rare combination of pleasure and profit can scarcely be equaled anywhere in the country, and can surely never be excelled. We are gradually learning that one of the most im portant factors in any branch of intellectual work is contact with others in the same line, and the possibilities offered at the summer school of the South for meeting educators from every section, as well as those engaged in every department of By S. T. DALSHEIMER. teaching, must always be considered as a most de cided advantage. To meet this special feature there was arranged a series of special conventions and conferences, which proved of untold benefit to the participants. These meetings were so largely attended and covered so broad a field of work that it will be of interest to note them as a part of the work of this great summer school, as well as an evidence of the advanced line of thought and of endeavor in which its students participate. The first mentioned of these conferences is the Southern Kindergarten Association. The first an nual meeting of this Play. Thepe organi zations, designed for the purposes of instructing the young people in the most wholesome and prac tical methods of work as well as of play, are es pecially interesting when it is remembered that few children really know how to play wholesomely, either at home or al school It is to instruct in this very thing that “The National Guild of Play” directs its efforts, and the mod for this feature can never be fully realized until an experienced person has made an effort to enteriain a party of small children, without either method or system in the effort. The “Story Tellers’ League” is also a most interesting and necessary -ranch of a teacher’s work. So many practical facts can be indelibly impressed upon a child’s rind, if clothed in an attractive garb, that it se • s a distinc 4 step in iWO DOLLARS A YEAR. FIVE CENTS A COPY. organization was held at Knoxville during the summer of 1905, and so much valuable work was accomplish ed that it was felt to greatly facilitate the purpose of the Asso ciation, which is to develop kindergarten work in the South. Several of the best known kindergarten workers in the coun try took part in the recent session, and much was gained to instructors by the practical talks, dis cussions and lectures given. Two rather unusual conferences, which, somehow, seem to belong in the lay mind, but which were held separately, were the meeting of the National Story Tell ers’ League and the National Guild of