Letter from the members of the MSNS Building Commission, 1909

Honorable Dear Sir: A few weeks ago we had the honor of submitting to your consideration a pamphlet calling attention to the pressirg need of a new building for the Maryland State Normal School. As the time draws near when the Maryland State Normal School Building Commission will make its report to the General Assembly, and as the disposal of that report greatly concerns the progress of education in our State, we take the liberty of suggesting some facts that may aid your decision upon this question, as a member of the law-making body. The Normal School is the only educational institution that is owned exclusively by the State, and the final direction of whose affairs lies wholly with the General Assembly ; whatever credit and renown have accrued to that School the Legislature is primarily responsible for, as it will also be responsible for its future. The members of our committee are graduates of the Normal School and for a number of years have all taken a deep interest in its work and in educational matters in general, and have, therefore, an inside knowledge of the needs of our educational system and of the value of the said School as a purveyor to it. The reputation of our graduates as teachers throughout the State is generally known and need not be dwelt upon. But we do wish to impress upon you the fact that despite their relatively small number in every section of the State, these graduates have risen to the highest positions attainable and even outside the State their ability has been favorably recognized; in the Baltimore City Schools, for instance, despite the insignificant number of our Alumni as teachers compared to the total, they fill the highest places, such as group principals, special teachers, critic teachers, etc. For obvious reasons we cannot detail the above names and positions in this letter, but the Committee, or any member thereof, will gladly furnish this or any other information you may desire . The age in which we live demands trained individuals in all professions, particularly that of teaching; there is no room for the dilettante, no room for the "refined" person in "reduced circum¬ stances" as ignorant of the art of teaching as the pupils themselves, nor for him who would use teaching as a "bread winner" while reaching out to some "better paid" professions. The unskilled teacher is equally if not more dangerous than the unskilled surgeon, one leaves a legacy of crippled bodies, the other a trail of crippled or unde¬ veloped intellects ; the trained teacher may often interest and develop the child that would otherwise leave school tc fill the ranks of the ignorant, idle and vicious.