| Show V EDUCATION AND THE university y THE deseret university has a large AUM number ber of students this year there are n not ot so eo many however as some people have represent el not quite four hundred have been enrolled and have catered d upon active study stated that than been more it j has g axe hundred pupils had been received that the building was overcrowded and that children were being taken from the district schools and received into the university which was being k primary academy all this is incorrect and was circulated with a view to injuring the university and the faculty it is true that there is EL a preparatory department in this institution but none are admitted to it who have not passed through the course of education that to jw provided in the district schools A ZT veny thorough examination is instituted as a preliminary to admission to the university and no one can pass pan it who has not mastered those branches which are taught in the ordinary public schools pupils how however who bring certificates from known preceptors precept ors ore in high schools or advanced academies showing that they have reached the grade necessary for admission to the university have been admitted on the strength of those certificates A large number of the present students that is about two hundred have entered the normal school there are about a hundred taking the highest classes of af study leaving lew less thim than a buY hundred adred for the preparatory grade this department is at present a territorial necessity the scholars in it are chiefly from the country districts where there is no advanced high school they have learned all that is taught in the district schools there is no room for them in the higher schools of this city they must therefore either be accommodated in a preparatory department of the university or receive no further advancement it is clearly within the powers and province of the university to provide this preparatory department and a normal department is one of the legal requirements of the institution ution and while so careful an examination to is enforced as that which to is now required there will be no danger of the university being turned into a common school the progress of education in utah is commendable that much improvement can be made and is urgently called for no truthful person will deny but we are doing very well considering the fact that the territory receives no aid from the public lands or from any source outside of its own funds for the support of the common schools we need larger and better buildings for our district schools and they will come in time then we need intermediate academies for pupils who have advanced beyond the studies proper to the public schools these ought to be established in every county when this public want to is supplied the university can be maintained as a strictly collegiate institution of a high grade and graduates from it will be entitled to as high honors as those that hold diplomas or certificates from eastern institution of learning it was gratifying yet rather amusing to hear bear some of the arguments adv advanced anted at the irrigation congress against the resolution introduced looking to aid from the arid lands in support of our public schools one eminent californian stated that utah stood third in rank on the edu cat lonal schedule of the country while Cmil california fornia stood twelfth and he rather jeered the utah advocates of the resolution for their endeavors to obtain aid for a territory which had so BO little need of it considering its high grade of educational status it was only a very little while ago that the whole country rang with an arthemas against utah as a plaes place where education was opposed by the people and by their leaders ministers Min isten of the gospel so called made it ita a special point of misrepresentation in their annual money begging tours in the east to put forward the falsehood that there were no schools in utah but those established by the orthodox dt denominations nominations the story was told in congress as a fact when the f mornion mormon question was discussed and it is but a few years since a prowl neut nent senator repeated it in debates debate and could scarcely be convinced of his error even when the proofs of utah Is praiseworthy place on the list of states and territories was proven by govern ment educational reports there need be no misrepresentations misrepresentation of this matter there ought to be none all classes of the community can well afford to put aside abide sectarian and political differences and unite to remove all obstacles obstacle to further educational progress and to establish as fast as is prudent and possible schools of every grade all over the territory until the way will be clear to every child to receive a common education and to the attainment ment of the highest collegiate honors honor by thoe who are able to achieve them meanwhile let those institutions which are already established be supported and encouraged in their good ot misrepresented and retarded |
