k the principal object in
pursuing that science is to be able to _do the sums_ according to the
rule, and perhaps to _prove_ them. Propose to them a practical question
for solution, and their reply is, "That isn't in the arithmetic." Some
one more courageous may say, "If you'll tell me what rule it is in, I'll
try it!" Practical questions should be added by the teacher, till the
class can readily apply the principles of each rule to the ordinary
transactions of business in which they are requisite. Generally, in
grammar, arithmetic, and elsewhere, there is too much inquiry,
_comparatively_, after the _how_, and too little after the _why_.]

Now if these paragraphs, descriptive of the condition of common schools
and the qualifications of teachers at the commencement of the
educational reform in New York, are applicable to those states of the
Union whose provisions for general education are not equal to what hers
then were, nothing can be plainer than that there exists an imperative
demand for the establishment of normal schools in every part of the
Union. Massachusetts has three; but her provisions in this respect are
not adequate to her necessities.

Union schools, and systems of graded schools in cities and villages,
should possess a normal characteristic; that is, young men and women who
have the requisite natural and acquired ability should be employed as
assistants in the lower departments, and should sustain essentially the
relation of _apprenticed teachers_, to be promoted or discontinued
according as they shall prove themselves worthy or otherwise. In the
public schools of the city of New York there are about two hundred
teachers of this description. These and all the less experienced
teachers meet at a stated time every week for the purpose of receiving
normal instruction from a committee of teachers whose instructions are
adapted to their wants. A similar feature has been adopted in other
cities, and in many villages, and should become universal among us.

In connection with the suggestions I have just introduced from a former
report, I wish to say, I know of no reform which is more needed in our
schools than that of rendering instruction at once _thorough_ and
_practical_. The suggestion in the note on the 428th page, in relation
to teaching the alphabet, will admit of general application. As fast as
principles are learned, they should be applied. Practical questions for
the exercise of the student should be