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Caption: Dedication - Engineering Hall (1894) (and Inauguration of President Draper)
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EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:
INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT DRAPER. 47 T H E S T A T E SCHOOL SYSTEM. T h e S t a t e University is unworthy of the state, and of the n a m e it hears, unless it lives in close and sympathetic relations with all public e d u c a t i o n l w o r k . It is to encourage and cherish all other universities, help them whenever it'can, and get their help whenever it can. It is to uphold the h a n d s of the S t a t e D e p a r t m e n t of Public Instruction. It is to articulate sharply with the public school system, of which it, itself, only constitutes the highest grades. T h e course of work should be consistent and u n i n t e r r u p t e d from the first day in t h e kindergarten to graduation day in the University. Uplifting educational influences come from above rather t h a n from below. U p o n the extent, the kind, and the quality of work d o n e in the universities d e p e n d s the growth of the secondary schools, and, in turn, u p o n what is done in the secondary schools d e p e n d s the quality of work in the elementary schools. And how m u c h the c o m m o n schools need h e l p ? I say nothing now different from what I have said during all the years of my service in their supervision. T h e teachers are worthy, conscientious, industrious, and poorly paid. But they are too commonly u n p r e p a r e d for a professional and scientific service, and teaching is not teaching, if not scientific. T h o u s a n d s of children, all over the land, are thirsting for a m a n a g e m e n t which is rational, and for instruction which is scientific. It is safe to say that there is no one step which would do more for the State of Illinois to-day than to fix and enforce a m i n i m u m standard of intell :tual qualifications, * uniform t h r o u g h o u t the state, as a condition of admission to the teaching service in the public schools, and to provide for ; a d v a n c e m e n t of teachers and for security of position on tl. basis of m r i t It would develop a now and a more intelligent public interest in the professional preparation of t< 1 h( rs and it would, in mOl ways than I can here Suggest, stimul; c the 1 lucational enc 1 y of the state, I take it tlu
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