Scott County Historical
Society
Scott County, Virginia
Documents
Historical Sketches
Reid's Normal School Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, Vol. 31 Omar Addington Come
September 9,
1997,
it will have been
106 years
since John
M. Reid
held a normal school
at Greenwood.
Greenwood
was seven
miles east
of Gate
City , VA. It
stood
where the Roadside Mission now stands
on Route 71.
At that
time
it was said
to be the largest,
most commodious and best schoolhouse
in Scott
County.
It was a two-story
building
with two rooms on the first floor.
The partition could be raised to form
a large auditorium
and
two
classrooms
on the second floor.
The
term "Normal School" probably
originated
from the
word
norm.
Norm means a set of developments or
achievements,
also the
average
achievements of a large group.
Not
much is known about John M. Reid.
We know
that
Reid
is the
Scottish spelling of the word.
He had a Master of Arts
degree.
At one
time he had taught at Milligan
College and had 24 years of teaching
experience. He said, ""Concerning myself could be given
at length, but
I am no stranger.
There are many students
throughout Kentucky,
Virginia and
Tennessee who were in my classes
at Milligan College; to
them you are referred. My
students are my best advertisements."
Nothing
is known of
the other faculty members, who they were
or where they came from nor of the
students
who attended the normal
school. The
building was also used as a place of worship.
Two congregations
met regularly.
Preaching and Sunday School continued
the entire
year. Professor
Reid said, "The
citizens of this community
have long been
known for their kindness, hospitality
and good morals." In
a circular sent out about
the school the following criteria
were listed:
1. A
popular school that meets the popular idea,
progressive
and
up with
the times. Practical,
economical,
thorough,
theoretical
and thoughtful. For
24 years we have continuously labored to lighten the teacher's
labor and
enable them to do more work in a given
time and
do it better than
many of our fellow teachers. The
object of this school is to train students to think
and
investigate for
themselves. Every
person must stand on their
own merits and
push
their own
way
through
the world.
Otherwise
they
are
failures,
and the institution
that does not impart
this power is of little benefit.
We
do not claim to make doctors, dentists, nurses or pharmacists,
but Reid's Normal School will in the shortest time and in
the
most
effectual
manner, prepare
young men and women to
make of
themselves
successful merchants,
teachers,
ministers,
farmers
or leaders
in any
honorable business or profession.
School
calendar for 1891-92 is as follows:
First
term begins September 9, 1891 Second term begins December 1, 1891 Third
term begins March 2,
1892 Holiday
vacation begins December 24 and ends January 4.
Final
examination begin May 18 Sermon
Sunday, May 22 Literary
exercises Monday, May 23,7:30
p.m. Tuition
to end of term must be paid in advance. Students
may enter at any time. No reduction in tuition because you
enter
two or three weeks after the term begins.
Courses
taught were: Orthography
was the art of writing words with the proper letters,
according to
standard usage, correct spelling and grammar. Arithmetic,
geography,
grammar,
history, (both Virginia and U.S.
History),
higher mathematics, civil government, physiology and hygiene,
drawing, theory and practice of teaching.
Instrumental
music, musical
department: No
pains will be spared
in this
department. We
believe in thoroughly earnest work and a careful
understanding
of the rudiments of music. Particular attention
is given to
touch and tone,
proper position
of hands, correct
system of fingers
and other
details that go to make up a good and correct style
of playing.
The business department courses include plain penmanship, single and double entry bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, commercial law, rapid calculation, business correspondence, contracts, deeds, liens, retail, trade, partnership, jobbing, commissions, brokerage, importing, farming, administrative business and agencies, shorthand and typing (the typewriter was not invented until 1872, I would guess that
the ones they used were
large
clumsy
contrivances.)
No
young man or woman in
this busy hustling
age
cannot
afford
to lose the opportunity
now
offered to
learn stenography
and typewriting.
We use the new
rapid
method. This
system
is
so simple any person
of ordinary
skills
can acquire a speed
of 75
words
per minute in two months time. Tuition
primary department 12
weeks
$6.00
tuition,
Intermediate
Department
12 weeks
$8.00
tuition,
Higher
Department
12 weeks
$10.00
tuition,
Instrumental music
12 weeks
$10.00,
Full Commercial
Course and Diploma $30.00, Commercial
Course per term
$20.00,
Full Shorthand Course and diploma
$35.00,
Full Typewriting
Course
$10.00.
We
have no boarding hall that students
may
be herded
together
as in the custom and manner
of some schools.
It
is a well
known fact
that the boarding hall is the place
for fun and the breeder of mischief.
Our
citizens will board and room the
students for $7.00
per month, thus
making school life more like home life
and identifies the whole community
with the interest of the school. In
this home boarding
situation
if there should be sickness, the patient can be better nursed
and supplied
with delicacies so essential to speedy recovery.
A
great mistake is often made by parents in
supposing
that because
their sons and daughters are very backward or quite
young, they
can learn
very much yet in the free schools, before
going to Normal or High
School. In
many cases a mass of rubbish is piled up which needs
to be torn away before any true education
can begin. It
is much cheaper
and
better in the end to send to a good school at first and have a good
foundation laid for all time to come. Will
your child be one of the many who ten years hence will lament because he
or she are unable to secure position of trust and profit? They
surely will unless they prepare for
life's
great work.
Let them begin
now and
be a charter member of the new school at Greenwood.
The
first
always have the advantage.
How
successful and how many years Reid's
Normal
School
was
in operation
is not known. The
school was called Greenwood because
of the
green
foliage
on Clinch Mountain
and Moccasin Ridge.
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