THE
ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
IN A DEMOCRACY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
-.. .
THE
ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
IN A DEMOCRACY
THE
ADMINISTKATION OF EDUCATION
i II A DEMOCEACT
BY
HORACE A. HOLLISTER
PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION AND HIGH SCHOOL VISITOR AT THE UNIVERSITY
OF ILLINOIS
AUTHOR OF "HIGH SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION"
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON
COPVMGHT, ipl t BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Education
Library
L"B
CO
TO THE MEMORV OF
m JOSIAH L. PICKARD
TEACHER, FRIEND, AND EXEMPLAR OF
A NOBLE CITIZENSHIP
C
"El
O
2015G1
"For this jealous insistence by the States upon their sov-
ereign power in school affairs I have only praise. Nothing is
more dangerous for the schools than an all-inclusive system
that reaches out over broad domains, having no regard for ter-
ritorial conditions, much less for purely local demands. Free-
dom in administration is one of the most important requisites
for the success of the public schools."
GEOKG KERSCHENSTEINER,
Director of the schools of Munich, Bavaria.
PREFACE
THIS book was projected with the idea that the time
is here for such a preliminary treatment, as an organic
whole, of the field of educational administration. In
seeking for a unifying principle the inevitable choice
fell to our national ideals as expressed in democracy as
we Americans have conceived it.
The aim has been to deal with principles, giving just
enough space to history and description to furnish a
suitable background and to account for sequences. In
this way only did it seem possible to deal with the prob-
lems presented in such a constructively critical manner
as the situation seemed to demand.
The book makes its appeal (i) to teachers and stu-
dents of education, (2) to school boards and all school
officials, and (3) to public men and legislators interested
in a comprehensive survey of the problems of public
education.
For materials the author has made free use of reports
and bulletins of the United States Commissioner's office,
of State departments of education, and of city boards
and superintendents; of various studies by educational
experts of colleges and universities and among school
superintendents. Perhaps it is fair to say, however,
vii
viii PREFACE
that the chief source has been from an experience of
over thirty years in direct relationship with public
schools and public education, and as a constant student
of the problems thus presented.
Acknowledgment is due and gratefully expressed for
the many courtesies of school officials in various cities
visited or where application was made for published
reports and other documents bearing upon the subjects
passed in review. Especially is such acknowledgment
due to Doctor L. D. Coffman, of the School of Educa-
tion, and Dean Eugene Davenport, of the College of
Agriculture, University of Illinois, for careful and sym-
pathetic reading of the manuscript and for numerous
and valuable suggestions and criticisms.
THE AUTHOR.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS,
May, 1914.
CONTENTS
PART ONE
FIELD AND SCOPE OF TREATMENT OUTLINED
PAGE
CHAPTER I PRELIMINARY STATEMENT .... i
i. National movements. 2. Motives for organized systems
of education. 3. Steps leading to secularization of education.
4. Causes of slow development of popular education. 5 . Con-
ditions calculated to reveal defects. 6. Basis and method of
this discussion.
CHAPTER II NATIONAL IDEALS AND STANDARDS 12
i. Massachusetts leads in setting up ideals. 2. Educa-
tional ideals of early statesmen. 3. Federal policy concerning
education. 4. State systems and the training of teachers.
5* Federal land grants. 6. Bureau of Education established.
7. Slowness of acceptance by the masses. 8. National stand-
ards set. 9. Evidences of advancement.
CHAPTER III EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON
SCHOOLS 24
i. Early types. 2. Beginnings in Germany. 3. Beginnings
in the Netherlands. 4. Denmark. 5. Norway. 6. Austria.
7. Scotland and England. 8. France. 9. Simultaneous de-
velopment of public education. 10. Description of the Prus-
sian system as a type. n. Secularization largely the result of
a religious movement. 12. Beginnings in New England.
13. Pennsylvania. 14. New York and New Jersey. 15. Del-
aware and Maryland. 16. Virginia. 17. The Carolinas and
Georgia. 18. Common origin and character in Europe and
America. 19. Some striking differences. 20. The United
States as type for this study. 21. European influence upon
America.
x CONTENTS
PART T t WO
SOCIETY'S PART IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
PAGE
CHAPTER IV THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS:
LAWS, AND UNITS OF CONTROL .... 44
i. Significance of constitutional treatment of education.
2. Nature and extent of such legislation. 3. Appearance of
local influences. 4. Other notable provisions in State constitu-
tions. 5. Influence of historical movements noted. 6. Ten-
dency toward centralized control. 7. Constitutions mark evo-
lution of conception of democracy. 8. Legislatures have
supplemented constitutional provisions. 9. Units of control
under religious influences. 10. Development of city units, n.
Principles involved. 12. Reasons for tendency toward cen-
tralized control. 13. Prevalence of local district control. 14.
Changed conditions call for consolidation. 15. The district
tested by the three principles. 16. The township unit. 17.
Township units tested. 18. The city as a unit of control.
19. County units. 20. The same tests applied to the county
unit. 21. The State considered as a unit. 22. National con-
trol and influence.
CHAPTER V THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS
(CONTINUED). TYPES OF SCHOOLS SET UP 72
'i. Principles by which we may measure and test our school
system. 2. Components of our national system of education.
3. Kindergartens and elementary schools. 4. High schools.
5. Statistical summary. 6. Higher education. 7. Industrial
education. 8. Normal schools. 9. Schools for defectives
and delinquents. 10. Military and naval schools, n. Units
of control preliminary considerations. 12. Control of rural
schools. 13. Provisions for supervision of rural schools.
14. General conditions in city schools. 15. Wide variation in
character of schools provided. 16. Need of industrial training.
CHAPTER VI THE SYSTEM AS TESTED BY THE
FIVE PRINCIPLES OF CHAPTER V .... 90
i. Application of principle one. 2. Our schools as tested by
principle two. 3. Schools fall short under principle three.
CONTENTS xi
PAGE
(. Need of a better economy shown principle four. 5. Why
society must share the criticism of the schools. 6. Need of
economy in time. 7. Application of principle five. 8. Need
of social like-mindedness. 9. Need of better organization.
10. High schools should be free to all. n. Neglect of rural-
school needs. 12. Where colleges and universities fall short.
13. Better classification of defectives and delinquents.
CHAPTER VII BOARDS OF EDUCATION . . . . 106
i. Popular participation the rule in our school organization.
2. Results of lack of such participation. 3. Logical limita-
tions to centralized control. 4. Operation of this principle in
case of boards of control. 5. Manner of choosing district and
city boards. 6. Term of service. 7. Co-ordination of boards
of large and small units. 8. State boards of education. 9.
State institutional boards. 10. Haphazard growth of meth-
ods of control, n. Persistence of traditions. 12. Discussion
of types. Boards of rural and village schools. 13. County
boards. 14. Kentucky plan of rural organization. 15. City
boards. 16. The committee system. 17. Methods of selec-
tion of city boards. 18. Special investigations as related to
city boards. 19. Make-up of an ideal city board. 20. The
State type of board. 21. Function of State boards confused
between two ideals. 22. Trustees and regents of State institu-
tions. 23. Application of principles of control to State types.
24. How to make State boards representative in character.
25. Necessity of independence of State boards.
CHAPTER VIII MAINTENANCE AND OTHER FIS-
CAL ASPECTS or PUBLIC EDUCATION . . 133
i. Evolution of the idea of popular support of schools. 2.
Forces favorable and unfavorable. 3. Summary of arguments.
4. Need of more money for schools. 5. Advantages and dis-
advantages of direct taxation. 6. Inadequacy and inequali-
ties in support of schools. 7. Important principles involved.
8. Basis for State support. 9. A working scheme of mainte-
nance. 10. Application in case of Federal aid. n. Increasing
demands and fixed rates of levy. 12. Justice and wisdom in
Federal aid. 13. Problem of compensation of teachers. 14.
Reasons for present inadequacy. 1 5 . The question of arbitrary
adjustments of salaries. 16. Effect of salary conditions on
shortage of teachers. 17. Teachers' pensions as a remedy.
xii CONTENTS
PAGE
18. Doctor Pritchett on teachers' pensions. 19. A second par-
tial remedy. 20. The problem of school accounting. 21. The
St. Louis plan of accounting. 2 2 . Need of publicity in account-
ing.
CHAPTER IX PREPARATION OF TEACHERS . . 164
i. Skill and professional knowledge required. 2. Public
policy to train teachers at public expense. 3. Relative im-
portance of skill and knowledge. 4. Training of teachers in
high schools. 5. Normal schools typical training-schools.
6. Need and propriety of Federal aid for normal schools.
7. The city training-school. 8. Colleges and universities as
training-schools for teachers. 9. The university school of
education. 10. What should be the relation of the three types
of training? n. Methods of co-ordinating the university and
normal school. 12. Training of teachers in service.
CHAPTER X THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS . . 182
i. Method of selection of teachers. 2. State- wide system
of selection needed. 3. Magnitude of the teaching service.
4. Urgent need of better methods of selection. 5. Present
practice too cumbersome. 6. City certification its weakness.
7. County certification. 8. State certification. 9. Lack of
conformity to any system among States. 10. Recognition of
institutional training as a basis for certification, n. Summary
of conditions needed for efficiency. 12. Specific selection by
boards and supervisors. 13. Importance of this function of
boards of education. 14. Expert observation of work as a
basis for selection. 15. Methods and difficulties of large cities.
1 6. Examples of methods used by cities.
CHAPTER XI PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOLS 209
i. Magnitude of the problem. 2. General conditions to be
cared for. 3. The elementary building. 4. The intermediate
type. 5. City high-school buildings. 6. The small-city or
town type. 7. Special provisions and equipments.
CONTENTS xiii
PART THREE
THE ADMINISTRATION OF INSTRUCTION
PAGE
CHAPTER XII RECAPITULATION AND DEFINITION 218
i. The mechanism of administration viewed as a whole.
2. Conclusions from what precedes. 3. Administration of in-
struction denned. 4. Things to be kept in mind in the discus-
sion to follow.
CHAPTER XIII SUPERVISION 225
i. The educational expert of the system. 2. What the posi-
tion involves. 3. Special and grade supervision. 4. Super-
vision of rural and village schools. 5. County boards and bet-
ter teachers the chief needs. 6. Supervision of small cities.
7. Supervision of large-city systems. 8. Purposes and aims
of supervising agencies. 9. The superintendent and the
training of teachers in service. 10. Function of supervisors in
the selection of teachers, u. Things superintendents should
know. 12. State supervision. 13. Supervision of normal
schools needed. 14. Supervision of instruction in a univer-
sity. 15. Inter-institutional supervision.
CHAPTER XIV THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS . 249
i. Definitions. 2. Recent development of the inspectorial
function in education. 3. Some interesting variations and
their causes. 4. Types of inspection developed. 5. Work of
the General Education Board in the South. 6. Associations of
colleges and secondary schools. 7. Some conclusions.
CHAPTER XV SCHOOL ATTENDANCE .... 266
i. Causes affecting attendance at school. 2. Legislation
affecting attendance. 3. The question of free transportation.
4. Free text-book laws. 5. Free tuition in high schools.
6. Absence from school as a factor in retardation and elim-
ination. 7. The truancy problem. 8. Plans for supervision
of attendance.
xiv CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER XVI PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 277
i. The principle involved. 2. Relation of health to attend-
ance and instruction. 3. Health supervision demanded as re-
sult of neglect. 4. Medical inspection the first need. 5. The
psychological clinic next. 6. Medical supervision of games
and sports required. 7. Emphasis should be placed on hy-
gienic conditions. 8. Specially trained experts needed. 9.
Important recommendations of American Medical Association.
10. Legislation providing for medical inspection, n. The
playground movement. 12. The school should supervise the
play.
CHAPTER XVII THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 289
i. Sequence in education. 2. Interdependence of the three
stages of education. 3. Basis for organization of educational
institutions. 4. Problem of differentiation of pupils' work.
5. Organizing and adapting schools to varying needs. 6. Con-
ditions needed for rural schools. 7. Town and city organiza-
tion. 8. The problem s it appears in colleges and universities.
9. Requirements in the case of defectives. 10. Programme of
the elementary school, n. Programme of the high school.
12. The weakness of the old order. 13. The element most
needed is an industrial "core." 14. Specialization and ad-
justability. 15. Knowledge lacking of educational values.
1 6. The demand is for greater flexibility of the curriculum.
17. The principle of economy involved.
CHAPTER XVIII THE TEACHER 313
i. The teacher should volunteer the service. 2. The typical
teacher characterized. 3. Personality in teaching. 4. The
teacher's ethics concerning appointments. 5. Professional
attitude of the teacher. 6. The teacher's rights and priv-
ileges. 7. The teacher's duty to self. 8. Preparation which
the service demands.
CHAPTER XIX CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS 326
i. The problem stated. 2. The theory of classification.
3. Frequent and careful revision necessary. 4. Individual
work and correct measure of achievement. 5. Correct classi-
fication calls for careful study of changes in individuals. 6.
CONTENTS xv
PAGE
Special care in case of abnormals. 7. Periods of promotion
as affecting classification. 8. What shall be the basis for pro-
motions? 9. The question as applied to high schools. 10. In
higher institutions, n. The problem of transfers. 12. Need
of reform in the matter of transfers. 13. Scientific treatment
will bring relief. 14. University of Missouri plan.
CHAPTER XX ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF THE
SCHOOL 341
i. The daily programme. 2. The problem of fatigue. 3.
Value of the play instinct. 4. Theory of rest. 5. The lunch
problem. 6. The problem in higher institutions. 7. Mean-
ing of recitation and study periods. 8. The school as a com-
munity. 9. School savings-banks and school gardens. 10.
High-school management of business affairs, n. Extension
work of the school. 12. Vacation schools. 13. The all-year
type of school.
CHAPTER XXI PRIVATE EDUCATION AND BENE-
FACTIONS AS RELATED TO PUBLIC EDUCA-
TION 356
i. Growth of private compared with public education.
2. The problem presented. 3. What should be the attitude of
the State? 4. Educational foundations.
CHAPTER XXII THE FORWARD LOOK .... 362
i. Persistence of an educational ideal. 2. The problem of
to-day. 3. The great question of social conservation. 4. The
"feeling of nationality" our hope. 5. The five essentials to
progress.
REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING, BY CHAPTERS
AND IN GENERAL 372
INDEX 379
PART ONE
FIELD AND SCOPE OF TREATMENT
OUTLINED
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
The nineteenth and the first decade of the twentieth
centuries have staged no more remarkable action in the
world's drama than the evolution of public education.
Sprung from the philosophical theories of Plato and
Aristotle, this evolution did not reach concrete and tan-
gible expression until the sixteenth century A. D. One
of the earliest and most notable fruits of the Reforma-
tion during this century was the impetus given to the
movement for popular education. In the same century
the Dutch celebrated their victories over Spain, in their
remarkable struggle for religious freedom, by establish-
ing both common schools and universities. Simultane-
ously was laid, in Massachusetts, the foundation and
early foreshadowing of our own system of common
schools. As an essential part of the same general mani-
festation of this earlier growth came the schools estab-
lished by the Dutch in New Amsterdam and the Quakers
in Pennsylvania.
1
2 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
i. National Movements
Not, however, until the Revolutionary War had ce-
mented the American colonies into a nation whose earlier
declaration of independence became a reality with the
war's close did the idea of free public education take
form as a national policy. About the same time Prussia,
awakened by the losses of the Napoleonic Wars, set reso-
lutely about the task of establishing a system of uni-
versal education which later became the dominant
system of the united German Empire and the greatest
system of popular education in modern Europe.
In a similar way France was roused into action by
the Franco-Prussian War and set seriously about the
work of organizing the educational forces of the Repub-
lic into a state system of public education. Switzer-
land, Italy, and the Scandinavian states have emulated
Prussia, with varying degrees of success, until all these
countries are now in line as representing, with us, the
democratic idea of education. Japan, in the Orient,
stands forth as a remarkable example of the transfer of
national methods in education. Here a people of differ-
ent race ideals has succeeded in adapting much of the
best in education that Western civilization has produced,
thus giving that nation a most complete system of pub-
lic schools under efficient organization. This Japan has
done, too, apparently without sacrificing any essential
features of her own national ideals.
2. Motives for Organized Systems of Education
The narrower and more selfish interests of individuals,
clans, or families, or the more effective and general prop-
agation of religious doctrines, were the earlier motives
for organized effort in education. Of these two, relig-
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT 3
ious interests came to dominate the schools on account
of the effective organization of various churches and
cults. The growth of cities in Europe, the revival and
spread of commerce among the new modern nations, the
reorganization of industries to suit the demands of this
wider distribution of their products, and, above all, the
spread of democratic ideals, all conspired to change the
motive of education to these more secular interests and
to transfer the administration of education from church
to state.
3. Steps Leading to Secularization of Education
At first education was administered almost solely by
the church. Thus it was that the masses came to look
upon it as a secondary religious function of that body.
Occasionally individual enterprises sprang up as com-
mercial ventures; but the idea of a system of public
education, administered by experts especially trained
and equipped for such service, has developed slowly in
most countries. Meantime the church, especially in its
original types and where it was definitely established
by the state, has contended strenuously for the reten-
tion of the educational function as its prerogative.
Against this attitude of the religious orders two forces
have operated powerfully and are still operative. In
the first place, the Reformation resulted in splitting
organized Christianity into numerous sects and denomi-
nations, thus distributing both the authority and the
responsibility of education among a large number of bod-
ies. One very important and direct result of this change
was to leave a large body of people who were unattached
to any Christian sect without means of education in a
form acceptable to them.
In the second place, the growth of the idea of democ-
4 .ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
racy has put a peculiar stress upon the need of universal
education. The development of modern science and its
application to the industries has further accentuated the
necessity of finding some scheme which will insure such
universal educational facilities.
Out of the reaction of these contending forces has come
the present situation with regard to the organization
and administration of education. As we may readily
see, the situation varies greatly in the different countries
above referred to. The more directly these have come
up out of traditional ecclesiastical control, the more dif-
ficult has it been to break away from this and to make
education a secular function of the State. In this re-
spect Japan represents the extreme of release from tra-
ditional complications. The British colonial govern-
ments of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are
further illustrations of a weakened influence of tradi-
tion as compared with the mother country.
In the United States, while we are still left with a
dominant secular control, yet the peculiar nature of our
institutions, together with the vastness of the immigra-
tion to our shores, has not left us free from some serious
complications in this respect. There can be no ground
for doubt, however, as to the outcome, ^f we are to
maintain the free institutions for which our fathers
contended we must maintain a cpmplete and universal
system of free public education. Church schools and
schools under private control may still be main tamed,
and for an indefinite time to come. They need not be
interfered with so long as they are able to show results
in education that are a reasonably satisfactory equiva-
lent of the secular schools of the State. Such a con-
tinuance of these schools, however, can never relieve the
State of its obligation to support, at public expense,
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT 5
such a system of education as shall fully meet the re-
quirements for maintaining those conditions of intelli-
gence, skill, and morality among the people necessary to
the perpetuation of our democratic institutions.
The inadequacy of a system of schools administered
solely by the church stands out more clearly with each
advanced step in the evolution of democratic societies
with their ever-increasing demands for technical educa-
tion.
4. Causes of Slow Development of Popular Education
The retardation which the tradition of religious con-
trol of education has caused in the development of an
efficiently administered educational scheme of universal
character has been much greater than at first appears.
In the first place it has made it more difficult for the
people at large to grasp the significance of education as
a public measure and financed from the common trea-
sury. So deeply did the popular mind become habitu-
ated to the performance, by the church, of the educa-
tional function that many even yet fail to appreciate
the need and the economic importance, for instance, of
the supervisory function as exercised by the State or
district in the management of schools. The same state
of mind has been a chief cause for a similar lethargy in
regard to the professional training of those who are to
teach and supervise these schools. Nevertheless, our
schools may now be said to be completely secularized.
To quote from a recent study of this subject: 1 "To-day
we find in every State a system of public education in
which civic and industrial aims are dominant, in which
religious instruction is either entirely eliminated or else
1 Samuel W. Brown, "The Secularization of American Education,"
contributions to Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1912.
6 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
reduced to the barest and most formal elements, and the
control of which is vested well-nigh exclusively in the
State or some subdivision thereof. Two factors have
been dominant in bringing about this transformation.
The first of these is the conviction that a republic can
securely rest only on an educated citizenship; the sec-
ond is a sacred regard by the State for the religious
opinion of the individual citizen."
Another cause of this retardation is seen in the diffi-
culty with which the full significance of democracy in
education is grasped by the popular mind. Even yet
there are many who think of schools chiefly as a means
of advantage to the individual or his family. From the
point of view of the childless taxpayer this takes form
in a protest at having to help educate his neighbor's
children. The man who patronizes only private schools,
for which he pays directly, or the man who, for con-
science' sake, helps pay for a school as a religious propa-
ganda, often calls the additional tax for the support of
public schools unjust. These momentarily forget their
share of interest in that part of the body politic which
can neither afford the luxury of exclusiveness which the
private school offers nor accept the doctrines which the
church would inculcate.
Even if it were possible for all to accept some of the
many forms of religious faith as a basis for education,
such a scheme could not begin to compete with the
State in the efficiency of the schools organized. Many
of the different religious denominations are small and
therefore financially weak. They could never hope to
keep pace with the stronger organizations in the support
of adequate school facilities.
Along with other things, the ability to understand the
greatly increased cost of education has developed tar-
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT 7
dily. Gradually much of the work of the home and of
the church as well have been transferred to the school.
At the same time there has come a rapid increase in the
demand for educational facilities extending beyond the
merely elementary stages. Thus it has gradually come
about that many services previously rendered to society
through other instrumentalities are now expected from
the schools along with the natural increase of educational
demands, and the resulting increase in the educational
budget is correspondingly large. These various services
which society has thus laid upon the schools are funda-
mental to our industrial growth and to the maintenance
of our national ideals, and hence not to be evaded with-
out serious loss to the nation. But the massing of these
and the consequent largeness of the direct tax involved
is something for which the popular mind has not been
prepared. This situation, together with the traditional
Anglo-Saxon dislike for direct taxation, has materially
retarded the development of our educational ideals as
compared with our growth in other respects.
At the very beginning of experiments with popular
education, for want of a very clearly conceived ideal as
to materials and methods, we accepted the traditional
school as it had evolved under ecclesiastical administra-
tion. This fact, together with long neglect of the study
of educational philosophy as applied to the needs of
a democracy, has been another cause for retardation.
Very slowly, indeed, have we proceeded in breaking
with the traditional types which we thus inherited. Nor
has this release from hampering traditions been uniform.
Thus far, in the rapid development of our vast domains,
the movement of educational progress seems to have fol-
lowed the westward migration of succeeding generations
of our younger population. la several ways it is true
8 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
that the greatest advancement to-day in that form of >
popular education befitting a democracy is to be found
on the Pacific coast. Meantime, the more frequent min-
gling of educational workers is bringing about a more
general diffusion of ideas, methods, and types. Thus
the East is giving to the West the results of its more
highly perfected forms of education, while it also receives -7'
from its Western offspring the more highly perfected
ideals of education which regions untrammelled by tra-
ditions have been able to develop under the skilful di-
rection of men of high educational attainments drawn
from all sections of our country.
5. Conditions Calculated to Reveal Defects
The events of the past half century in our national
development have been well calculated to bring out
rather sharply the defects of our public educational
scheme which are directly traceable to the conditions
which we have here set in brief review. The increasing
sharpness of commercial competition among the great
producing nations; the extensive travel and the study
abroad of many of our leaders in educational thought;
the opportunities of comparing the abilities of the dif-
ferent competing nations in the application of skill and
of scientific knowledge to the great producing industries
which the numerous international expositions have af-
forded have had a remarkable awakening effect on the
popular estimate of the value to a nation of an efficient
scheme of education. Heretofore we have had no definite
standards by which to estimate results. True, we have
read the stories of the experiences of other nations; we
have even looked on placidly while Japan was making
preparation for the adjustment of her educational forces;
but it has required the limelight of a direct comparison
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT 9
and a relentless competition in the world's marts to fully
arouse us.
As a result we find our school system subjected to
searching criticism on the part of a public which has
remained rather lethargic until now, and which even
yet seems inclined to overlook its own part in the re-
tarded growth of our educational methods and facilities.
This popular criticism promises well for the future. It
indicates that there is at least some degree of compre-
hension as to the real value and importance of having
the most efficiently and economically administered sys-
tem of education which modern scientific training can
evolve. This means, again, that, although the educa-
tional budget must ever increase, yet people will no
longer haggle over the cost of an undertaking from which
society is able to realize so much both in increased
wealth and in security, public and private.
6. Basis and Method of This Discussion
The time, therefore, seems opportune for the discussion
of the various problems of educational administration
in the light of present conditions, social and economic,
and in harmony with such principles of psychology, ped-
agogy, and sociology as are now clearly established.
Much stress has thus far been laid upon school manage-
ment, with almost exclusive reference to the direction
of the instructional work of the school. It is believed
that there is need of a more systematic discussion of all
the related aspects of school administration in order
that the bearing of each phase of it upon the others may
be the more fully appreciated.
The subject of public education is a broad one too
broad to admit of comprehensive treatment in a single
volume. It is proposed in this present effort to confine
10 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the work to a discussion of the school as that particular
instrument which society has set up for training the
young to efficiency in service and to the ability to start
as nearly abreast of the time in which they live as is
possible through any such conventional practice. In
this treatment all types of school education necessary
to the operation of a State system in a democracy will
come under review, together with such accessory fea-
tures of education as may be clearly needed in order to
give full setting to the situation.
The establishment of a school in any form involves
the idea of the organization of materials and forces into
an environment created especially for the purpose of
setting up those reactions in the young which are found
to be necessary in order to accomplish the purposes of
education as just stated. The materials of education
are to be provided and directive intelligence in their
application and use must be supplied.
Society itself must determine what schools are to be
provided; what materials are to be used; what teachers
and supervisors shall be employed and on what condi-
tions. On the other hand, there must be expert direc-
tion in securing those adjustments among teachers, ma-
terials, and pupils necessary to the accomplishment of
the immediate ends of education. These two funda-
mental aspects of school work give us the two leading
departments of administrative effort. The first of these
is usually set forth in laws the execution of which is
vested in various State and local officials including
boards of education. The second is delegated, at the
discretion of educational boards, to such teachers and
supervisors as may be selected and employed by them
under the laws creating and denning the schools to be
established.
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT 11
Under the first it is proposed to discuss especially the
establishment, equipment, and maintenance of schools
and the training, selection, employment, and compensa-
tion of teachers. Under the second will be considered
the administration of instruction in its various phases.
In both cases the purpose will be to get at underlying
principles rather than to give a descriptive treatment,
and to rely, as far as possible, on what is at present
known of the character of education needed in a de-
mocracy and the methods of attaining it.
CHAPTER II
NATIONAL IDEALS AND STANDARDS
The dominant motive for American colonization is
found in that general revolt against corrupt ecclesiasti-
cism known in history as the Reformation. Closely fol-
lowing this denunciation of religious corruption came a
call for the better education of all the people. The
later declaration of political freedom by the American
colonists was the natural corollary to the initial motive
for revolt. This applies especially to colonization in
New England, . New Amsterdam, and Pennsylvania.
Thus it was inevitable that, from the first, a free gov-
ernment and a system of universal education were
evolved side by side and as complements each of the
other.
i. Massachusetts Leads in Setting Up Ideals
While all of the above-named colonies shared in this
evolution, yet matters moved more rapidly in Massachu-
setts than in the other colonies. As a result there were
early established here some of the most fundamental
principles since embodied in the educational system of
this country. Among these principles, and first ex-
pressed in the laws of 1642 and 1647 making provision
for education in Massachusetts, are the following: 1
"The universal education of youth is essential to the
^ee Martin, "Evolution of the Massachusetts Public School Sys-
tem," pp. 14, 15.
12
NATIONAL IDEALS AND STANDARDS 13
well-being of the State; the obligation to furnish this
education rests primarily upon the parent; the State
has the right to enforce this obligation; the State may
fix a standard which shall determine the kind of educa-
tion and the minimum amount; a general tax may be
levied, although school attendance is not general, to be
used in providing such education as the State requires;
education higher than the rudiments may be supplied
by the State, and opportunity must be provided at pub-
lic expense for youths who wish to be fitted for the
university." Thus early were formulated the essential
features of a free common-school system such as has
since been established in each State of our larger Union.
The principles here enunciated are comprehensive
enough, when broadly interpreted, to serve as a founda-
tion for the organization and establishment of a com-
plete system of education; but, owing to the influence
of tradition, the unfolding of such a system has been
very slow and even yet is found to be incomplete in
some important features.
2. Educational Ideals of Early Statesmen
From the very beginning of the nation the leaders of
public thought and action have cherished high ideals as
to the intelligence demanded of a self-governing people;
but the people in whose hands has been the development
of our educational system have manifested a conserva-
tism that is little in keeping with their enthusiasm for
free institutions. Among the framers of our govern-
ment were a number of men who had caught clear
visions of the future republic and the stress and strain
that would come to it with its growth; but the major-
ity seemed to respond but feebly to their appeals for
some action in regard to education. Often, indeed, the
14 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
attitude was that of pure indifference. Washington
talked and wrote tirelessly in his advocacy of a national
university which should set up standards in learning
and research and, by bringing together men from all
parts of the nation, help to break down or prevent the
growth of sectionalism.
No less persistent and more effective were Jefferson's
ideals in regard to a complete system of public educa-
tion under local control and supported by voluntary
local taxation.
In New York Alexander Hamilton left an indelible
record of his peculiar ideas of nationalism upon the
educational system of that State when he secured the
enactment by the legislature of his measure for the es-
tablishment of the Regency of the University of New
York. 1
3. Federal Policy Concerning Education
None of these conceptions of educational organization
found expression in the national Constitution. After
some discussion of the proposition to establish a national
university even that matter was left for later sessions
of the national Congress to wrestle with. The entire
organization and management of public schools, which
all agreed were fundamental to the establishment of a
government based upon the franchise of its citizens, was,
by common consent, left in the hands of the States.
Another glimpse of the trend of thought in regard to
education comes to us in connection with the enactment
of the Ordinance of 1787, and its renewal under the
Constitution of 1789. The granting of one section of
land out of each township under the Congressional sur-
1 "Works of Alexander Hamilton," edited by John C. Hamilton, edi-
tion of 1850, vol. II, pp. 341 jf.
NATIONAL IDEALS AND STANDARDS 15
vey as an endowment to education in the States, with
the later addition of a second section, served as a con-
crete and tangible expression of the sentiment handed
down in the language of the Ordinance.
The fact that the management of these land gifts and
their proceeds was left to the States placed further em-
phasis upon the policy of non-interference by the Federal
Government in the domain of public education. A little
supervisory control by the central government might
have made possible the saving of millions to the distrib-
utable funds of the States. But the decentralizing in-
fluences growing out of the revolutionary movements
of Europe at that time seem to have rendered such a
procedure impossible if not unthought of.
4. State Systems and the Training of Teachers
Very early in the development of State systems, es-
pecially in the older States, it became evident that some
special provision must be made for the training of
teachers in a professional way. This naturally met with
the opposition of those interested in colleges where
classical and religious training predominated, and of all
those who still thought of education as a function of
the church rather than of the state. Indeed, it appears
that these same classes were for a long time opposed to
public education in general. 1 Various sporadic attempts
at providing for the professional training of teachers were
made by private institutions very early in the nineteenth
century. But not until 1839 were the first normal schools
really established in Massachusetts. Similar schools
were begun in New York in 1844, Connecticut in 1852,
Rhode Island in 1854, and Pennsylvania in 1855. Thus
1 See Martin, " Evolution of Massachusetts Public School System,"
chap. IV.
16 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
by the end of the first half century of progress in our
educational system this important feature of the work,
already firmly established in Prussia, was generally recog-
nized by the States.
5. Federal Land Grants
The most remarkable manifestation of national ideals
in education as expressed by the Federal Government had
its rise in the Central West at about the middle of the
nineteenth century. The movement began with the or-
ganization of an Industrial League in 1851 at Granville,
111. 1 Through the influence of this League the General
Assembly of that State, in February, 1853, memorialized
Congress with regard to the enactment of a law "donat-
ing to each State in the Union an amount of public lands
not less in value than five hundred thousand dollars for
the liberal endowment of a system of industrial univer-
sities ... for the more liberal and practical education of
our industrial classes and their teachers." Professor
J. B. Turner, chief director of the Industrial League,
first outlined the general plan of these institutions.
Through the activity of the League a bill was introduced
in Congress, in 1857, which embodied the proposed en-
dowment. The bill passed, but was vetoed by Pres-
ident Buchanan. It was known as the Morrill Act,
and was finally passed and approved by President Lin-
coln, July 2, 1862. The bill as passed was different
from the first proposal in that it provided for the grant-
ing of land to the amount of thirty thousand acres for
each representative and senator to which any State was
entitled in Congress. Subsequent grants, as that in
1887 for founding experiment stations in agriculture, the
1 Edmund J. James, "Origin of the Land Grant Act of 1862," Uni-
versity Studies, vol. 4, no. i, University of Illinois.
NATIONAL IDEALS AND STANDARDS 17
second Morrill Act of 1890, the Nelson amendment
which followed, and the Adams Act of 1906, greatly in-
creasing the funds for experiment station work, carry
the same general significance with respect to the na-
tional policy regarding education as did the original
act of 1862.
6. Bureau of Education Established
Again the Federal Government gave expression to a
recognized need of a national supervisory function with
regard to education by establishing, in 1867, under the
Department of State, the United States Bureau of Edu-
cation and appointing a commissioner to attend to the
duties prescribed. No directive authority over the
schools was vested in this office, but the commissioner
was authorized to collect and compile statistics and to
furnish such other information of a national and inter-
national character as should be deemed serviceable to
the educational interests of the country.
7. Slowness of Acceptance by the Masses
While we have these evidences of a national feeling
for the free education of the masses, yet the masses
seem to have been very slow in acquiring ideals of edu-
cation sufficiently strong to keep up the standards re-
quired under our manner of government. Fortunate,
indeed, was it for this country that many of the colonies
developed so early a scheme for carrying on free public
schools. Without the leadership of such a State as
Massachusetts, it is impossible to say what might long
since have become of our experiment in democracy. As
it was, Massachusetts, even, suffered a relapse which re-
quired a great educational revival to overcome. In 1824
we find James G. Carter stating the situation thus: "If
18 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the policy of the Legislature in regard to free schools for
the last twenty years be not changed, the institution
which has been the glory of New England will, in twenty
years more, be extinct." 1 It is a long, hard road to that W-
enlightenment of a people necessary to the exercise of
sovereign power in a free country. Perhaps no one has
expressed this problem more clearly than has Horace
Mann, called, as he was, to lead in the great revival.
These are his words: 2 "The education of the whole peo-
ple, in a republican government, can never be attained
without the consent of the whole people. Compulsion,
even if it were desirable, is not an available instrument.
Enlightenment, not coercion, is our resource. The na-
ture of education must be explained. The whole mass
of mind must be instructed in regard to its comprehen-
sion and enduring interests. We cannot drive our people
up a dark avenue even though it be the right one;
but must hang the starry lights of knowledge about
it, and show them not only the directness of the course
to the goal of prosperity and honor but the beauty of the
way that leads to it."
Out of such a campaign of enlightenment, wisely begun
by those who preceded, and pushed with enthusiasm,
tact, and patient endurance by Mann and his coworkers,
came the rehabilitation of the public schools of Massa-
chusetts, the establishment of normal schools, and the
complete and final commitment of the people of that
State to a broad and efficient system of public educa-
tion. And it is not too much to say that the lights thus
kindled and kept burning have multiplied themselves
'In an address entitled "The Schools of Massachusetts in 1824,"
Old South Leaflets, no. 134.
2 See "Life and Works of Horace Mann, Lectures and Reports," II,
p. 286. Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1891.
NATIONAL IDEALS AND STANDARDS 19
again and again as the need has come out of the rapid
upbuilding of that larger nation which has spread be-
yond the Appalachians, even to the western slopes of
the Rockies and the Sierras.
8. National Standards Set
It is a remarkable situation which is presented when
we contemplate the nation's attitude toward higher
education and toward the general supervision of cer-
tain aspects of our educational development which are
clearly national in scope. With Washington's idea of
a national university realized, what mighty power it
must have exerted in unifying and giving clear outline
to our educational aims and purposes, to say nothing of
the advantages which must have been derived from the
scientific research which such an institution would have
fostered and developed!
Not less disappointing, as we look for the nation's
comprehension of the task it had assumed, is the slight-
ing way in which the whole matter of a national admin-
istrative function in education has been treated. War,
the navy, all other great public affairs have found a
ready recognition among the interests of the National
Government. Educational institutions for the training
of fighters have been provided; but when it comes to
the great arts of peace and to that particular institution
upon which, more than all else, the nation's welfare
and security must depend, the Congress has remained
strangely silent and conservative.
In the provision made for industrial education we see
a clearer vision and a higher purpose. In land grants
and appropriations for higher institutions devoted to
training and research in the great, fundamental indus-
tries, the government authorities have fixed a purpose
20 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
and standard for education in the States the beneficent
force of which will appear more and more as the years
pass.
Wherever the Federal Government has undertaken
educational work it has usually been of a high order.
In military training this is especially noticeable. The
men trained at West Point and Annapolis have usually
proven themselves to be well trained not alone hi the
arts of war, but in some of the arts of peace as well.
This seems especially true of those trained in engineer-
ing. In these schools the government has thus set up
standards of efficiency in service that have had a marked
influence upon the country's ideals. So likewise the
standards set by the various branches of the civil ser-
vice, as determined by the examinations, have had a cer-
tain influence in detenmning standards in education.
But the real ideals and standards which the nation
holds have unfolded gradually as our conception of de-
mocracy has been slowly evolving through the experiences
of years. For they are coming to us, as Horace Mann
said, not by coercion but by enlightenment. After all,
it is our ideal of democracy that must determine our
educational ideals. How little the relation between
the two was comprehended at first is plainly shown by
the experience of Massachusetts. In this respect history
is ever repeating itself. If we were to undertake to-day
to measure the duration of our institutions in the light
of the prevalent popular conception of the kind of gen-
eral intelligence necessary to efficient citizenship, it is
doubtful if we should give as much time for their endur-
ance as did James G. Carter, in 1824, to the free-school
system of New England. But now, even as then, there
are educational evangelists abroad, speaking, writing,
working tirelessly for that final day wjien all shall con-
NATIONAL IDEALS AND STANDARDS 21
cede the needs of popular education to the utmost of
society's ability to provide.
9. Evidences of Advancement
Meanwhile, we have tried and doubtless are still to
try many wasteful and costly experiments in our efforts
to secure a reasonably complete, sane, and efficient ad-
ministration of this very important branch of service
which society undertakes to render itself through co-
operation. "No deeper conviction," says President
Butler, 1 "pervades the people of the United States than
that the preservation of liberty under the law, and of
the institutions that are our precious possession and
proud heritage, depends upon the intelligence of the
whole people." If this is true, then, no matter how often
we may fail in our experiments, ultimately we shall find
a way to insure this intelligence.
Recent years have witnessed a rapid change in the
mental attitude of the nation in regard to education.
In the first place, we have had opportunity to study
more carefully the cases of Prussia and France and to
understand what actuated them in the establishment of
national educational systems. The development of our
own national life; the growth of our population, bring-
ing with it new problems as to citizenship, as to indus-
tries, and as to social relations and international inter-
ests; the consequent widening of our responsibilities
all these things have added materially to our realization
of the vital relation which education bears to our exis-
tence and the perpetuation of our national ideals and
institutions.
Then there has come about such a social change, due
1 In " The Meaning of Education," pp. 108-109. New York. Mac-
millan, 1898.
22 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
to the division of labor and more extensive organization
in production, as to make it necessary greatly to increase
the work of the schools in order to replace much that
can no longer be intrusted to the family or to other
educational influences of the social group.
As a result our conception of the function of public
education has been greatly enlarged. We no longer
think of the school as a place merely for acquiring the
rudiments of learning, the arts of the school itself. The
content of learning has been greatly increased. At the
same time the necessity for industrial training to take
the place of an obsolescent apprentice system has come
to be quite generally recognized especially among social
and industrial leaders. Along with this also comes a
stressing of the demand for a different kind of moral
training than that which has heretofore been thought
of as a function of the school.
The present outlook, then, as seen in the expression
of our leaders in educational thought, calls for a system
of education that shall embody a harmonious and related
blending of intellectual, moral, and industrial training
of all children and youth to the end that each may live
efficiently, possessed of that civic and industrial intelli-
gence, that skill to do a needed service, and that high
moral sense which the nature of our existence as a de-
mocracy is now seen to demand.
To quote again from President Butler: 1 "But I am
profoundly convinced that the greatest educational need
of our time, in higher and lower schools alike, is a fuller
appreciation on the part of the teachers of what human
institutions really mean and what tremendous moral is-
sues and principles they involve. The ethics of individ-
ual life must be traced to its roots in the ethics of the
1 Op. cit., p. 121.
NATIONAL IDEALS AND STANDARDS 23
social whole. The family, property, the common law,
the state, and the church are all involved. These and
their products, taken together, constitute civilization
and mark it off from barbarism. Inheritor of a glorious
past, each generation is a trustee for posterity. To pre-
serve, protect, and transmit its inheritance unimpaired
is its highest duty. To accomplish this is not the task
of the few but the duty of all."
CHAPTER III
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS
The ferment of ideas and forces in mediaeval Europe
produced the seed germs of our common-school system.
There came out of that strange mingling of ancient civ-
ilization with the Christianized barbarism of northern
Europe, touched; in turn, by the life and learning of the
East, a wonderful revival of trade and industries. This
new life was destined soon to grow to greater propor-
tions than the world of commerce and industry had yet
seen. Centres of population teeming with the new ac-
tivity developed rapidly. Out of this growth of cities
new problems arose calling for a new education which
the monastic schools could not offer.
i. Early Types
This condition of things gave rise to the burgh or city
grammar-schools under the care of municipalities. The
appearance of these schools, differentiated from the
schools of the church to meet new social demands,
doubtless marks the beginning of the modern secular
free school. 1 The opening of writing and "reckoning"
schools as private enterprises hi the interests of the
training demanded for business became a factor also in
the development of these schools of the people. It re-
mained only for the powerful influence of the Reformation
to weld these all into a scheme of secular education for the
1 See "A Study of Mediaeval Schools and School Work," L. F. Ander-
son, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. XIV , pp. 223-82.
24
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 25
masses which was the forerunner of the American com-
mon-school system and of all European systems as well.
2. Beginnings in Germany
The influence of Luther and his associates soon pro-
duced a marked effect on the educational interests of the
continent. In the latter half of the sixteenth century
beginnings were made in Prussia 1 for the organization
of popular education under the supervision of the church.
It remained for Frederick the Great, two centuries later,
to clearly state the principles by which public instruc-
tion should be administered. A little later, or about
1794, the Prussian code of laws (Landrecht) was adopted,
in which the schools received complete recognition. The
severe trials and losses of the Napoleonic Wars stirred
Prussia and indeed all Germany to a keen realization
of the educational needs of the people. In 1807 Ferdi-
nand William III gave utterance to the famous words:
"The state must regain in mental force what it has lost
in physical force." This utterance has since been the
guiding principle not only of Prussia but of the whole
German Empire. It was then that the state assumed
full control of the educational system under a "Minister
of Worship and Public Instruction." And in 1850 Prus-
sia was able to write into her new constitution: "Science
and the teaching of science are free."
3. Beginnings in the Netherlands
It is interesting to note further how general and simul-
taneous was the movement for the establishment of pub-
lic schools in Europe. As early as the twelfth century
1 For account of Prussian schools, cf. L. R. Klemm, U. S. Com. Report,
1889-90, vol. I, pp. 455-64; also U. S. Com. Report, 1867-8 (Barnard),
PP- 435-522.
26 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the stronger communities, chiefly the cities, of Holland
and Belgium established schools for the common people. 1
These were exclusive of the various church schools. In
the case of Holland the instruction in these schools was
taken from the supervision of the clergy and thus became
essentially secular.
Universities and Latin schools were also established
as early as the sixteenth century. Like the United
States, the Netherlands, by the terms of their constitu-
tion, grant entire liberty of conscience to all religious
denominations. In all their legislation concerning pri-
mary instruction the Dutch have been opposed to de-
nominational schools. Their government was the first
of European countries, in the beginning of the nineteenth
century, to promulgate laws for the establishment of
state schools, viz., in 1801, 1803, and 1806.
4. Denmark
As early as 1721 a royal decree was issued by Fred-
eric IV of Denmark 2 regulating the organization of peo-
ples' schools. The Reformation period produced the
Latin schools characteristic of western Europe. Normal
schools were first established near the close of the eight-
eenth century. In 1814 two decrees were issued which
more completely organized the common-school system,
including the country as well as the cities. These de-
crees form the basis for the present system of education
in Denmark. The head of the system is the University
of Copenhagen, which exercises a powerful control over
all educational institutions. Religion is a dominant
element in the instruction of all the schools.
1 Cf. Miss Sophie Nussbaum, in U. S. Com. of Ed. Report, 1894-5,
vol. I, pp. 475-542.
i Cf. F. G. French, U. S. Com. Report, 1889-90, vol. I, pp. 519-547.
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 27
5. Norway
In Norway the first great impetus to popular educa-
tion came through the Reformation as early as 1536; but
this did not result in the immediate establishment of a
system of schools. The present school system is based
on a decree issued in 1736. Religious instruction was
the chief purpose under this decree. A more compre-
hensive law for educational purposes was that of 1827,
which has since been greatly modified and extended,
especially by the law of 1889.
6. Austria
In Austria 1 the movement for public education began
about 1774, under Maria Theresa. But it was not until
1848 that much of an effective nature could be accom-
plished. Other enactments followed in 1861 which
greatly affected the development of the schools. In
1868 measures were adopted which freed all instruction
except that of religion from the control of the church,
and in 1869 the law defining the course of study was
passed. This became the basis for a rapid development
of common schools in Austria.
7. Scotland and England
It was probably Scotland 2 that produced the first
compulsory school law in Europe. This was as early
as 1494, under the reign of James IV. The law had
reference to the grammar-schools and universities, both
of which had previously been established. The effect
of the Reformation was strong from the very beginning.
In 1542 the Parliament granted the privilege of having
1 Cf. Klemm, U. S. Com. Report, 1889-90, vol. I, pp. 419-454.
2 Cf. A. T. Smith, in U. S. Com. Report, 1889-90, vol. I, pp. 187-235.
28 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the Scriptures translated into the vernacular for the use
of all the people.
Under the leadership of John Knox education became
a fundamental principle of government. The acts of
1633 and 1696 gave a very complete system of public
schools under control of the church. In 1861 and 1872
acts were passed which gave to Scotland a civil rather
than an ecclesiastical system of schools. The develop-
ment of popular education in Scotland became the basis
at once for the inspiration and emulation of England in
her efforts toward public education. In 1870 the latter
country succeeded in giving legal form to a system
of common elementary schools. The Scotch system,
on the other hand, included, also, secondary schools,
normal schools, and universities. By reason, chiefly,
of the peculiar relationship of church and state England
has moved but slowly in the process of adapting her
schools to the needs of such a great democratic people.
Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that whenever
there has been an extension of the suffrage, as in the
thirties and again in the seventies of the nineteenth
century, Parliament has always sought to make a cor-
respondingly liberal provision for public education.
8. France
The French l system of public instruction owes its
existence directly to the influence of the Revolution and
Napoleon, on the one hand, and to the disasters of the
Franco-Prussian War on the other. The establishment
of the Imperial University in 1808 was the first impor-
tant step. By this means secondary and higher educa-
tion were organized throughout the communes. It was
Guizot's law of 1833, however, which was essentially
1 Cf. A. T. Smith, in U. S. Com. Report, 1890-1, vol. I, pp. 100-120.
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 29
the first charter of primary education in France. From
1872, under the ministry of M. Ferry, until the present
time popular education of a secular character has made
most rapid progress in that country.
g. Simultaneous Development of Public Education *
Thus out of those combined forces which gave to Eu-
rope the Renaissance there grew, with the progress of
enlightenment and of commerce, a system of universal
education among the nations of the Western world. The
seeds of learning fostered by the church and by the
Greek scholars of the Eastern Empire thus were gradu-
ally disseminated. Out of the mingling of the old learn-
ing with the forces and human interests of a new en-
vironment came that larger conception of a knowledge
of letters as a boon to all classes and as a powerful
means to a greater degree of social well-being.
So it happened that simultaneously throughout Europe
and the American colonies there appeared the first ex-
pression of the idea of popular education. Practically
in the space of a century of time there appeared, as a
direct result of the Reformation, statutes and edicts
establishing schools for the people in Scotland, Holland,
Norway, Prussia, and Massachusetts; while only a little
more extension of time gives us also the popular schools
of Austria, Denmark, Switzerland all of Europe except
the Latin states, the Turkish domain, and Russia.
10. Description of the Prussian System as a Type
Returning to Prussia, we may take her schools as typ-
ical of advanced European education and as a basis for
a little closer comparison, in detail, with the develop-
ment of our own system of administering education.
From the time when Humboldt was made the first Min-
30 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
ister of Public Instruction, Prussia has had an efficient
scheme for the administration of public education. This
includes common schools for the masses, trade schools,
secondary schools, normal schools, and universities.
Briefly, the plan of administration is as follows: The
centre of the system of education in a German state or
kingdom is in the office of the minister of ecclesiastical,
educational, and medical affairs. This officer is a mem-
ber of the King's cabinet, but his tenure is at the will
of the Emperor. He has general direction and super-
vision of all educational institutions of the kingdom, in-
cluding all examinations; the dispensing of school moneys,
the fixing of salaries and the pensioning of teachers; the
ratification of courses of study, and the regulating of pri-
vate schools. He further represents the school interests
in the parliament of his state and lays plans for the
financial support of the school. In his hands is the ap-
pointment of councillors, members of provincial boards,
and other school officials, excepting such as receive their
appointment directly from the Emperor. The kingdom
is divided into provinces, each having a president and
^"cabinet; in each cabinet is a provincial school councillor;
through these school councillors of the provinces the
minister communicates with the lower authorities. In
each province there is also a school board (Schul-kolle-
gium) of which the provincial councillor is head. With
him are associated several others, all educational experts.
These boards have chiefly the oversight of secondary
schools. Each province is again divided into subdivi-
sions (Regierungen) like large counties; each of these
governmental districts also has its president and coun-
cillors, including a school councillor; these school coun-
cillors act as examiners and supervisors of their entire
districts with special oversight of the common schools.
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 31
Each district is divided into circuits (Kreise) correspond-
ing to our townships. The cities constitute circuits by
themselves, and then there are the country circuits. In
the city the burgomaster stands at the head and a com-
mittee of three or five members of the city council act
as the local school board. At the head of the country
circuit is the Landrath, and three or five leading citizens
are appointed to act as a school board. The royal
secondary schools are under the direct care of boards of
trustees. These various boards have about the same
powers and duties as our city school boards, except that
the courses of study are those prescribed by the central
government through the office of the minister.
Generally speaking, the local authorities nominate the
teacher, subject to approval by the higher authorities.
Little expert supervision is called for. The teachers are
approved by the government, after receiving the pre-
scribed training, and so are considered competent to di-
rect the work of their schools in accordance with the
prescribed courses. A general supervision is, however,
exercised by the state through the provincial and dis-
trict councillors. Local supervision is exercised by the
mayor and clergymen or by community school boards
or professional inspectors appointed by them.
The normal schools and universities are under the
direct control of the state and supported directly by it.
In this way the state is able to exercise direct supervi-
sion of the training of teachers and educational experts
who are to direct the work of instruction in all public
educational institutions. It is in this manner, chiefly,
that the state controls the educational situation.
The public schools of Prussia are established and main-
tained partly by the state and partly by communi-
ties. In this respect the state leaves the initiative to
32 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
communities, especially in establishing common or folk
schools (Volksschulen). Usually the community raises
about three fourths of the fund necessary for mainte-
nance. The other one fourth comes directly from the
state and from the income on certain permanent educa-
tional funds. In the matter of higher education the
state bears about three eighths of the cost hi the case of
scientific, technical, and industrial secondary schools,
while for the classical schools of this grade the state's
share is nearly seven tenths.
ii. Secularization Largely the Result of a Religious
Movement
The administrative plans of other countries mentioned
above will be found to vary chiefly as influenced by pe-
culiar traditional institutions and methods. Of all it
may truly be said that the traditions which grew up
under the administration of education by the church
were most powerful in determining both the types of
schools to be organized and the kind of instruction to
be given. Even yet this influence is seen to be profound
both in Europe and America. Strangely enough, it was
a religious movement more than anything else which
brought about the secularization of education; for it
was through the influence of the Reformation, as we have
seen, that the vernacular became the medium of instruc-
tion in all countries, the sole purpose of which was to
make at least the rudiments of education the common
possession of all the people.
12. Beginnings in New England
It was this influence that led the colonists of Massa-
chusetts, twenty-two years after the landing at Plym-
outh Rock, to enact the first law leading to the estab-
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 33
lishment of schools. This was the order of the General
Court of Elections, made in 1642^ and which provided:
(i) That the men chosen to look after the prudential
affairs should have the care of children whose parents
neglected their education. (2) To this end they were
empowered to take account of all children, to ascertain
concerning their calling and employment and "of their
ability to read and understand the principles of religion
and the capital laws of the country." (3) To appren-
tice " the children of those not able to employ and bring
them up." (4) To look after their general conduct.
(5) They were also to provide materials, tools, and im-
plements for the work of such children as were under
their care. In this way it was expected to provide that
no children should grow up as illiterates or as unable to
follow some useful occupation. The act of the General
Court of 1647 taid the foundation for all subsequent
legislation in the colony. As has been seen in a pre-
vious chapter, these two acts embodied practically all
the essential principles of a free-school system.
Six years previous to the first act in regard to elemen-
tary instruction, the General Court of Massachusetts
had taken steps toward providing collegiate education
through the establishment of Harvard College.
In 16502 Connecticut adopted practically the same
provisions in regard to elementary schools as those
adopted by the Massachusetts General Court in 1647.
Connecticut also agreed to support the college at Cam-
bridge. Later provisions were made from time to time
to perfect the schools of the colony, and also for the
establishment of a college. Yale College, at New Haven,
1 See Mass. Col. Record, II, 8-9.
2 See Clews, "Educational Legislation and Administration of the Colo-
nial Government," pp. 72-163.
34 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
was the result, established by act of the colonial legisla-
ture in October, 1701.
New Hampshire, 1 through her legislature, first made
provision for public education in 1693. This primary
enactment was supported and perfected by subsequent
acts, especially those of 1719 and 1721. Through the
efforts of Governor Wentworth a royal charter was ob-
tained in 1769 establishing Dartmouth College at Han-
over.
13. Pennsylvania
The charter by which Charles II made William Penn
proprietor of the territory extending a distance of five
degrees west of the Delaware River included among its
provisions a committee of the Provincial Council to
have charge of manners, education and arts. 2 Immedi-
ately after his arrival in his province Penn called a pro-
vincial assembly. On the second meeting of this as-
sembly, March, 1683, provision was made for the in-
struction of all children in reading and writing and
in "some useful trade or skill." These schools, however,
seem to have been private church schools, and were not
open as free schools to children of other religious faith
than that of the Quakers.
By the amended constitution of 1790 the following
provision was made: "The legislature shall, as soon as
conveniently may be, provide by law for the establish-
ment of schools throughout the State, in such manner
that the poor may be taught gratis." Not until 1831,
however, was there established a free common-school
system in Pennsylvania.
1 See Clews, op. cit., pp. 164-184.
2 See Clews, pp. 279-312. See also U. S. Com. Report, 1876, pp.
331-334.
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 35
14. New York and New Jersey
Schools were established by the Dutch in New York 1
as early as 1633. Provision was made for one school
in each parish. These schools were continued for about
a century after the English occupation. The first Eng-
lish schools were established in the early part of the
eighteenth century. King's College, the beginning of
what is now Columbia University, was chartered in
1754. In 1789 two lots in each township were set apart
to be surveyed "for gospel and school purposes." In
1795 an act was passed appropriating fifty thousand
dollars annually for five years to encourage the establish-
ment of schools in cities and towns of the State. In
these schools the children were to be taught "English
grammar, arithmetic, mathematics, and such other
branches of knowledge as are most necessary to com-
plete a good English education." Other arrangements
were made whereby a very good system of schools for
that time might be administered. But the act of 1795
expired by limitation in 1800, and no permanent re-
newal of organized schools was accomplished until 1812.
In New Jersey the first schools were "rate schools"
established under the jurisdiction of the Friends in 1693.
Not until 1816 did the State make any provision for free
schools.
15. Delaware and Maryland
The warring interests of different national types in
Delaware effectually prevented the establishment of any
system of people's schools during the colonial period.
1 See U. S. Com. Report, 1876-77, pp. 273-276. Also W. H. Kirk-
patrick, "The Dutch Schools of New Netherland and Colonial New
York," U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1912, no. 12.
36 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
So also the peculiar conditions of settlement, and the
failure of the English type of grammar-schools to find
subsistence, made Maryland barren, as a colony, of any
notable progress in public education.
1 6. Virginia
It was as late as 1797 before Virginia was able to
enact a law for the establishment of public schools.
Previous to this time the wealthier classes provided for
the education of their children chiefly by employing
tutors in their homes. It was through the influence of
Jefferson and Wythe, who framed the measure, that the
first free-school legislation was secured for Virginia.
17. The Carolinas and Georgia
Free schools were established in North Carolina 1 in
1749. Practically all of the better influences found in
New England and the middle colonies were represented
in the character of the settlers of North Carolina. Here
were Scotch, Irish, English, Dutch, and German. The
chief difference seems to have been in the fact that the
homogeneity of the population of the colonies of New
England was wanting here. Still the colony moved for-
ward educationally in a most remarkable way. The
eighteenth century saw the establishment not only of
the free elementary schools, but also of academies and
the University of North Carolina. The first State con-
stitution, adopted in December, 1776, contains these
memorable words: "A school or schools shall be estab-
lished by the Legislature for the convenient instruction
of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the
public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices;
J See C. L. Smith, "History of Education in North Carolina," Circ.
of Inf., no. 2, 1888, U. S. Bureau of Education.
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 37y
and all useful learning shall be duly encouraged and pro-
moted in one or more universities."
Under the direction of the English church free schools
were established in South Carolina 1 as early as 1712.
The parish system was customary, and all classes were
given the advantages of elementary education. In many
cases slaves were included among those who shared these
privileges. The organization of academies followed that
of the parish schools, and a number of colleges also de-
veloped in response to the demand for higher education.
In the constitution and character of its local government
this colony approached the colonies of New England
and Virginia.
Previous to the Revolutionary War Georgia had no
plan for public education, and so calls for no considera-
tion in this connection.
Lf
1 8. Common Origin and Character in Europe and ^
America
Thus, while we find education in some form provided
for in all the colonies, yet it remains true that the real
founding of the public free schools of the United States
was by the people of Massachusetts. As shown pre-
viously, 2 these early schools were based on principles
which have become fundamental to our larger school
system.
If we now compare the general conditions under which
popular schools were established in Europe and America,
the striking thing that appears to us is the common
origin of the idea and the similarity in the character of
the schools. All were established primarily for the gen-
1 See B. James Ramage in Johns Hopkins Studies, vol. I, no. 12, " Local
Government and Free Schools in South Carolina."
2 Chap. II.
38 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
era! enlightenment of the people in regard to religious
teachings, largely as a result of the Reformation; and
nearly all passed gradually from the religious to the secu-
lar form as the needs of the entire social group, aside
from considerations purely religious, became more evi-
dent.
Again, in the general character and purpose of public
education throughout all the countries under considera-
tion we find that two ideas were emphasized about
equally as determining the aims and purposes of these
"people's schools": the need of general intelligence on
the part of citizens of all classes, and the need of care-
ful training for some industrial pursuit.
19. Some Striking Differences
There were certain striking differences between Eu-
rope and the American colonies. The traditional hold of
ecclesiasticism on education was much stronger in the
older established order of things in Europe. Social strat-
ification and the existence of caste affected the European
situation, but were largely absent in the colonies. The
government of the colonies, especially New England,
was characteristically republican in form from the begin-
ning. With these differences, due to traditional in-
fluences chiefly, we must put one characteristic which all
the countries we have been considering held in common :
they were all essentially democratic. Whatever differ-
ences have developed, therefore, in their various indi-
vidual schemes of education must be considered as due
to the influence of traditions concerning the social order-
ing of things, either in industries, religion, or govern-
ment, or to a relative freedom from such traditions, as
in the case of the colonies.
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 3<H
Vx
20. The United States as Type for this Study
The title of this volume suggests a broad treatment of
the subject, one which might be considered as disregard-
ing national limitations. After such a survey of the
field as has just been given, however, it seems evident
that the more recently organized national groups present
features more nearly ideal for the purposes of this dis-
cussion. This would seem sufficient reason of itself, re-
gardless of the one most powerful incentive of patri-
otic interest, why this volume should be devoted to a
consideration of the United States as a field for the evo-
lution of an ideal scheme for the administration of edu-
cation by a democracy.
21. European Influence Upon America
We have seen that a number of countries were inter-
ested at the same time in the growth of the idea of free
popular education. It was inevitable that they should
have influenced each other at this time, and that in the
groping for ways and means of accomplishing this radi-
cal and stupendously daring enterprise, no opportunity
should have been lost for the exchange of views and
experiences. It would be particularly the case in the
New World that many Europeans should be profoundly
interested in the experiment which was evolving out of
the new life of the American colonies. The revolution-
ary period is thus found to be rich in evidences that the
leaders of this country were kept fully alive to the edu-
cational developments going on in Europe.
England's influence had come through the traditions
brought by the colonists from the mother country. So
it was the logical thing that the grammar-school, as the
means of preparing youth for college, and the college
40 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
itself, as the training place for the favored few who were
to follow the professions of theology, law, or other liter-
ary pursuits, should have been patterned after the Eng-
lish schools of the same grades. Indeed, we are told
that no inconsiderable number of New England colo-
nists were college trained, and that the proportionate
number of graduates of Oxford and Cambridge was fully
equal to that of the mother country. But here English
influence stops. There is nothing from the British Isles,
unless, possibly, from Scotland, which could in any way
account for that new and rapid development which char-
acterized the colonial type of education, especially in
New England.
Every school child is familiar with those peculiar con-
ditions in regard to the government of the English col-
onies which so rapidly developed self-reliance and a spirit
of independence among them. It seems probable enough
that Douglass Campbell 1 has good ground for his belief
in the Dutch ancestry of the New England common
school. We can hardly believe that the stay of the
Pilgrims at Leyden should have been entirely without
results in this respect when we consider the intense activ-
ity of the Netherlander at that time and the great prog-
ress they had achieved in the development of such schools
among themselves. We may well put with this the in-
fluence of the Dutch in New York, Pennsylvania, and
Delaware through the schools established by them.
John Locke is usually considered as representing the in-
fluence of the English upon the educational ideals of
the colonists. It is possible, however, that even in his
case there is an element of Dutch influence on account
of his stay as an exile in Holland. This seems all the
1 In his "The Puritan hi Holland, England, and America," vol. II,
PP- 338-342.
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 41
more probable if we connect with this the other fact of
his familiarity with the work of Comenius.
The political experience of the Netherlands had cer-
tainly been such as to put these people in full sympathy
with the American struggle for independence. From
the time when a cordial welcome was extended to the
fugitive band of Pilgrims from England until the time
of our Civil War the Dutch people have ever evinced a
fraternal interest in the welfare of the American Re-
public.
But it was during the Revolutionary period, when lead-
ing men of the colonies first began to face the possibil-
ity of independence and the consequent responsibilities
in the organization of a new government suited to the
character and ideals of a liberty-loving people, that the
interest in popular education as a state function began
to intensify. Men like Milton and Locke had already
left their impress upon the minds of those to whom
was to come the business of framing this new govern-
ment. Aside from this, England's influence on the evo-
lution of our educational system was at an end.
It was natural that in this crisis the colonies should
be drawn to France, and that France should take a
corresponding interest in the development of a new na-
tion in a new world. The sending of Adams, Jefferson,
and Franklin as a commission to the French Govern-
ment bore other fruits than those of their diplomacy.
Adams himself tells us 1 that it was largely through this
influence by contact with Frenchmen that he was led
to promote the establishment of the Boston Academy of
Arts and Sciences; and that the same influence was a
'See "Life and Works of John Adams," edited by Charles Francis
Adams, vol. IV, pp. 257-260. (Referred to by Hinsdale, U. S. Com.
Report, 1892-3, vol. II, p. 1316.)
42 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
strong factor in the preparation of that part of the
constitution of Massachusetts which marks the first
legal establishment of free public schools in the United
States. Thus in the act which made John Adams the
father of our public-school system we see the influence
of France; for it was he who incorporated this system
into the fundamental law of the State which, as a
colony, first gave it origin.
Through Jefferson French influence is seen in his plans
for the organization of the University of Virginia. For
while Jefferson, in accomplishing this task, sought ideas
from all sources, yet the evidence seems clear that among
all these influences that of the French scholars with whom
he came in contact stands first. When we consider this
in connection with Jefferson's interest in an educational
system for his State, and later the influences which
marked the establishment of the University of Michi-
gan, we may readily comprehend something of the influ-
ence France has had upon the organization of our higher
institutions of learning. Nor should we omit New York,
especially in the peculiar organization of its university,
which bears unmistakable evidences of the influence of
Napoleon's idea of a university as established under his
control of affairs in France.
Many French writers and travellers, as well as the
French patriots who aided directly in the American
Revolution through their writings and through personal
contact with American leaders, exercised a profound in-
fluence upon the shaping of the new government and
the ordering of its fundamental institutions. Taken all
together the sum total of this influence which came to
our educational system through the French people is
large and important. It is all the more interesting as
representing the ideals of the leaders in thought among
EVOLUTION OF FREE COMMON SCHOOLS 43
another great liberty-loving people whose traditional in-
fluences have restrained them, until quite recently, from
any considerable advance toward realizing these ideals
for themselves.
Among the earlier German influences affecting educa-
tion in this country, and especially the order of its es-
tablishment as a system, are those of Comenius, 1 Pes-
talozzi, and Fellenberg. These influences have come to
us partly through published writings on education, but
more particularly by direct contact through study in
German universities, especially at Gottingen, Halle, and
Berlin. This influence has been very far-reaching and
profound, and still continues so to the present day.
The earlier influence grew out of the necessity, on the
part of American youth who sought higher training, of
making use of the great universities above referred to.
This again was greatly augmented through the influence
exerted by the report to the French Government, in
1837, of M. Victor Cousin on "Public Instruction in
Prussia."
Thus, by the commingling of thought, the exchange of ;
ideals and experiences among nations whose leading /
spirits are represented by men like Luther, Milton, Locke, I
Comenius, Pestalozzi, Rousseau, Franklin, Adams, Jef- >
ferson all, in turn, tested and tempered by the philos- I
ophy of Aristotle, Plato, and Fichte there came that
conception of education as an essential prerequisite to a
successful democracy that led to the establishment of J
free schools in the United States.
1 Inseparably bound up, in this instance, with the Dutch influence.
PART TWO
SOCIETY'S PART IN THE ADMINISTRA-
TION OF EDUCATION
CHAPTER IV
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS: LAWS, AND UNITS
OF CONTROL
We may now proceed to consider the steps taken in
the establishment of schools in this country after the
adoption of the federal constitution. As we have already
seen, 1 no provision was made in that document for the
organization of education. By common consent this
function was permitted to pass to the States. We have
found that when the colonies advanced to statehood,
immediately after the Declaration of Independence, by
the adoption of constitutions, several of them embodied
in their fundamental laws a provision for schools. There
were six of these, and among the first, as already cited, 2
was North Carolina. By reason of the fulness of state-
ment embodied in her constitution, Massachusetts ranks
first in New England and readily became a pattern not
only for the rest of New England but for many of the
States subsequently erected out of the vast Northwest
Territory. The precedent established by North Caro-
lina also became influential, similarly, as populations
developed westward from the Southern colonies.
1 Chap. II. 2 See p. 36.
44
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 45
i. Significance of Constitutional Treatment of
Education
The chief significance of the treatment given to edu-
cation in the constitutional provisions of the States lies
in the fact that this instrument is the one in which the
people undertake, through their representatives, to ex-
press their ideals in regard to government and the in-
stitutions fundamental to its maintenance. In other
words, it is a referendum vote; and whatever is most
vital, as felt by the people, to the carrying into effect
of the government thus set up, we naturally expect to
find included in such a document. But the colonies
were new at the business of constitution framing; and
with no very elaborate type from which to copy, there
was naturally great variety in the results. This varia-
tion was evident enough as regards educational provi-
sions which seven of the original colonies omitted en-
tirely. Subsequently, however, as they were reminded
of this omission, especially by the grant of school lands
by Congress in 1789, these States revised their constitu-
tions, so that now the fundamental law of all the States
recognizes, in some way, the necessity and importance
of schools.
2. Nature and Extent of Such Legislation
It was in this manner that the first important legaliz-
ing acts in the establishment of school administration
in the United States came about. Now thirty-three of
the States specifically require that the legislature shall
establish a system of free schools offering uniform and
general educational advantages. Those States not spe-
cifically commanding such establishment do, by impli-
cation, indicate such a course to be the will and pur-
46 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
pose of the people. Nor do the States confine the
proposed plan of popular education to the teaching of
the rudiments in elementary schools. In nearly every
case provision is also made for higher schools, for normal
schools, and for college and university training, with
frequent emphasis on training in agriculture and the
mechanic arts.
In some of the States, notably of the North Central
and Pacific groups, the constitutions undertake to define
rather fully the scope of the educational system to be
set up. Indiana, for instance, directs that the General
Assembly shall provide for a "general system of educa-
tion ascending in regular gradation from township schools
to State University, wherein tuition shall be gratis and
open to all." Here " township schools" indicate the
prevalence of the township unit of organization of schools.
California (1879) very explicitly defines the school system
as including "primary and grammar schools, and such
high schools, evening schools, normal schools, and tech-
nical schools as may be established by the Legislature,
or by municipal and district authority." In North Da-
kota the provision is for a system of free schools "begin-
ning with the primary and extending through all grades
up to and including the normal and collegiate courses."
This State also emphasizes moral education. The pro-
vision of the constitution of Utah with regard to the
kinds of schools to be established is perhaps the most
explicit of all. It defines the system of education for
that State as including "kindergarten schools, common
schools consisting of primary and grammar grades; high
schools; an agricultural college, a university, and such
other schools as the Legislature may establish."
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 47
3. Appearance of Local Influences
Some of the differences noticeable in State constitu-
tions are readily seen to be the result of local influences.
For instance, eight of the Southern States prescribe sep-
arate schools for whites and blacks. Going quite to the
opposite extreme in this respect are Wyoming and Wash-
ington. The former forbids distinctions due to "race,
sex, or color," while the latter declares that there shall
be no distinction made "on account of race, color, caste,
or sex."
The use of funds for denominational or sectarian
schools is constitutionally prohibited by some States;
Nevada prohibits sectarian instruction in public schools;
Utah forbids the requirement of any "religious or par-
tisan qualifications of teachers or pupils"; while Mis-
sissippi, on the other hand, forbids the exclusion of the
Bible from the schools. The State of New York has
gone even so far in practice as to subsidize certain
church schools under regulations prescribed by the State.
Both Michigan and Georgia require that the instruc-
tion in free elementary schools be in the English language.
4. Other Notable Provisions in State Constitutions
Compulsory attendance laws are prescribed or per-
mitted by South Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, Texas,
Colorado, Idaho, and Oklahoma; while Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Minnesota, and Missouri demand an edu-
cational qualification of electors. Most of the States
make the school age a matter of constitutional legislation.
All State constitutions provide for the proper care and
sale of school lands and for the investment and conser-
vation of school funds. In the matter of taxation there
is considerable variation. The prevailing plan is to
48 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
combine State, county, township, and district systems
of taxation for the support of the common schools. In
a few States taxation is limited almost entirely to the
State. In others the county system seems to dominate.
In a few cases, again, a per-capita tax is called for.
Usually the State provides for all higher institutions,
while high schools are scarcely mentioned among con-
stitutional provisions.
In the matter of providing for officers of administra-
tion, State supervision is expressly mentioned in most
constitutions. Not quite so commonly are State boards
constituted; while in a few cases county supervision is
authorized.
5. Influence of Historical Movements Noted
As one reads the constitutions 1 of some of the States,
as they have been revised from time to time, there are
seen marked evidences of the influence of historical
movements in this country. The first and perhaps the
most remarkable evidence of this kind is seen in the
constitution of Massachusetts. Here are concentrated
the ideals of the Pilgrims as they were evolved out of
their colonial experiences. As we shall further note later
on, these ideals have had a powerful influence upon State
school systems throughout the North and West. Next
to this should be considered the peculiar type of or-
ganization established in the Southern colonies. Out of
the peculiar system of landholding established in those
colonies we see particularly the development of the
county unit of control which has prevailed until now.
While this does not now appear so plainly in the con-
stitutions of the States erected out of these Southern
1 For a summary of constitutional provisions regarding education
down to 1894, see U. S. Com. Report, 1892-3, vol. II, pp. 1312-1414.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 49
colonies, yet it was there essentially from the beginning
although, perhaps, not directly expressed in relation to
education.
The first real innovation came with the federal land
grants having their inception in the Ordinance of 1787.
This is readily seen in the emphasis given in subsequent
constitutions of new States erected out of the North-
west Territory and later out of the Louisiana Purchase,
the Mexican lands, and Texas. These provisions all
refer especially to methods of caring for the school lands
and the revenues derived therefrom. \
The results of the Civil War and of fcjie reconstruction
period on the South are especially noticeable. South
Carolina, for instance, in the constitution of 1868, says
that "all the public schools, colleges, and universities
of the State, supported in whole or part by the public
funds, shall be free and open to all the children and
youths of the State, without regard to race or color."
It is needless to say that this could not long be enforced.
In the constitution of that State, adopted in 1895, we
read: "Separate schools shall be provided for children
of the white and colored races, and no child of either
race shall ever be permitted to attend a school provided
for children of the other race."
6. Tendency Toward Centralized Control
But perhaps the most interesting and important of
these historical influences is seen in the reaction which
appears from the strongly decentralized type of educa-
tional administration which characterized the earlier
constitutions toward a more strongly centralized con-
trol of schools. In the constitutions of those States oi
the Central West which were admitted in the first quarter
or half of the nineteenth century the prevailing type of
ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
administrative organization is strongly decentralized.
On the other hand, Virginia, the home of Jefferson, in its
constitution enacted in 1869, and again still more em-
phatically in the constitution of IQO2 1 provides for
strong centralized control in matters of education. In-
diana, Minnesota, and California have manifested a sim-
ilar reactionary tendency toward centralized control;
while New York has gone to the extreme, practically,
of what would seem to be feasible to a republican State.
7. Constitutions Mark Evolution of Conception of
Democracy
Thus, in a positive though often fragmentary or in-
complete way, the States have made the establishment
of schools and the setting up of educational systems a
part of their fundamental laws. And here again do we
find in the revisions of constitutions, which in some of
the States have been frequent, another evidence of the
evolution, in the minds of the people, of a truer con-
ception of democracy and its needs. It would be easy
to construct, out of these various State documents, by
piecing together educational provisions selected from
them, a "model constitution" affecting the organiza-
tion and administration of schools; but such an instru-
ment would have little meaning or value. Gradually
the people are getting a clearer vision of what is re-
quired, and, if not through their constitutional conven-
tions, then by means of legislative enactment, they are
moulding and perfecting the mechanism of this greatest
of all instruments in the hands of an enlightened popu-
lar government.
1 See the present constitution of Virginia.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 51
8. Legislatures Have Supplemented Constitutional
Provisions
It frequently happens that in a State where little
of a definite nature is said in the constitution in regard
to education there will be found to exist one of the most
complete systems of all for which provision has been
made by the legislature, frequently through the leader-
ship of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction
or the State Board of Education. It is this law-created
mechanism which is the basis for the administration of
education. Only upon the clear and specific sanctions
thus given by society can there be any effective pro-
cedure in an enterprise involving such cost and so many
varying interests as does a system of public schools. N
Speaking in the abstract, it may be considered cause
for regret that all the States, and even the nation, have
not embodied in the supreme law a clear and definite
statement of the chief things to be done in the interests
of free popular education. It still remains true, how-
ever, that both in these primary enactments and in the
body of laws governing schools there are strong and
cheering evidences of a steady forward movement in the
evolution of this social institution and its adjustment
to the conditions under which it must operate.
Having thus prepared ourselves, through this brief
historical survey, for a more sympathetic perception
and understanding of the ideals and purposes that have
been operative until now in the establishment of our
educational system, let us proceed to analyze more mi-
nutely this administrative structure as it appears in the
legislative acts, both general and specific, by means of
which it has been reared.
52 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
9. Units of Control Under Religious Influences
From our earliest knowledge of the Germanic races,
or of the history of any race, for that matter, a funda-
mental aspect of social control has appeared in the unit
of territory as supporting a given or possible population
over which that control may extend. So, when it comes
to the setting up of various legal sanctions in regard to
the dissemination of education among a people, the first
problem to consider is that of educational units of ter-
ritory. <The early connection of education with religion,
and its dependence upon the church for the administra-
tive function, naturally had much to do with the order
of division into units of administration. The congre-
gation was the group to which the individual church
ministered, and the parish was its territory. Naturally,
the administration of education would be similarly lim-
/ ited. Likewise when the schools passed to the secular
form the units of territory which served for the admin-
.istering of law and of justice also formed the basis for
limiting the territorial extent of the service rendered by
a single school.^)
In most European countries we have seen that the
religious and secular functions of the school have, in
many cases, remained parallel and co-operative in their
administration. In the colonies this was also true at
first; but later, with complete secularization of educa-
tion, came a change. The strong decentralizing influ-
ences at work at the close of the eighteenth and begin-
ning of the nineteenth centuries had a marked effect on
the organization of the schools. It was then that the
idea of the school district as the local administrative unit
became established in our system.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 53
10. Development of City Units
Another factor which had to do with the determina-
tion of administrative units in education was the devel-
opment of popular education in cities. We have found
that very early in the history of European schools this
factor became apparent as cities began to insist on a
form of education suited to the demands of commercial
and other industries rapidly developing in these centres
of population. As a result, the city and town have
played a very important part in determining their own
types of organization in matters educational.
ii. Principles Involved
In all of this the primary principle involved has been
the generally convenient and equitable limit of service
and attendance for the individual school centre. Out
of this, as a fundamental cause, other conditions as to
territorial units have been gradually evolved. The idea
of such a limitation of service had developed long before
in connection with other interests. It was the simple
logic of social development that this idea should be
transferred in the case of the newer institution.
Another principle involved in the establishment of
definite territorial units, and one corollary to that of
service, is suggested by Massachusetts in the ordinance
of 1647 m which it is said of those who are set aside to
teach that their "wages shall be paid either by the par-
ents or masters of such children (of the township), or by
the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as the
major part of those that order the prudentials of the
town shall appoint." Thus was introduced the prin-
ciple of public maintenance "by the inhabitants in gen-
eral" of the township, this being the district to which
54 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the school was then expected to minister. The idea
that general intelligence was a direct gain to the whole
social group, and well worth paying for as a common
and indispensable service, had not yet developed fully
in the minds of the colonists. But the policy thus set
up has prevailed; and the chief burden of maintenance
of common schools throughout the Northern States has
remained with the local district or township unit until
now.
This principle and the policy which has thus become
traditional present one of the largest problems, from
society's standpoint, in the administration of education.
A little further on a fuller consideration will be given to
this problem of maintenance of the educational system.
A third principle should also be mentioned here as
having great significance in determining the chief unit
of administrative control in education. This principle
did not become strongly apparent until Revolutionary
times, and has since been the subject of much debate,
and especially in recent years. This is the principle of
popular participation in the management as well as in
the maintenance of the common schools. We have re-
ferred to the decentralizing movement observable in
school legislation. 1 This is one of the manifestations,
in the concrete, of the popular idea of democracy.
There is in this something of the idea of Horace Mann
when he said: "The education of the whole people, in
a republican government, can never be obtained without
the consent of the whole people." 2 Yet Horace Mann
himself denounced the idea of local control by districts
as wasteful and inefficient. We are coming, as a people,
to understand that the stability and efficiency of repub-
lican institutions must depend more largely upon powers
1 See p. 49. 2 Quoted on p. 18.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 55
delegated and at the same time guarded by explicit con-
stitutional and legislative limitations. The participa-
tion of the people is not to be less but different. It is
to be that of a people grown intelligent enough to think
clearly as to the relation of the men selected as their
representatives to the principles and laws for which all
the people stand and which embody those sanctions
essential to the healthful operation and growth of insti-
tutions truly democratic. We are coming to see more
and more that the closely related personal interests of
a small local group will not admit of the judicial atti-
tude of mind on the part of those in authority so fun-
damentally essential to successful and efficient adminis-
tration of any body of laws.
12. Reasons for Tendency Toward Centralized
Control
Thus considered, we may yet come to realize that the
participation of all the people, in the sense that the
dominant thought of all the people shall become effec-
tive, may be just as truly and more certainly secured
through wise delegation of authority to experts than
through continuous direct control by means of the direct
election of local boards of control. One of the interest-
ing manifestations of this idea is seen in the movement
for the commission form of government in cities.
From what has already been said about the genesis
of territorial units in educational administration it be-
comes evident that development of control in this re-
spect has been from the local toward the general in this
country; and this in spite of the fact that educational
ideals have usually been passed down in just the oppo-
site way. In our consideration of administrative con-
trol we shall follow the order of the historical evolution
56 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
of units and begin with the district. At first the dis-
trict unit in this country was either the parish, the
county, or the town. As population grew and schools
multiplied the parish or town or county came to have
several schools. These communities where schools were
established were at first more or less isolated groups in
the larger units. This fact, together with the tendency
toward local control to which we have already referred,
led to the division of parish or town or county into
districts centring about the schools outside of the cities.
Even as cities grew, in some cases, the district idea pre-
vailed either wholly or in part. Where the prevalence
was complete entirely separate districts were organized
about distinct school centres. In other cities the divi-
sion held only in part, resulting in "ward" schools and
frequently in a board made up of "ward" representa-
tives. In still other instances the entire city is consid-
ered the district containing many schools open, under
certain restrictions, to the choice of the people. 1
13. Prevalence of Local District Control
The principle involved in district control, whether the
district be large or small, is that the school is to be an
institution that is local in both government and main-
tenance. 2 The idea is a very popular one. People may
have their own school as they want it. They provide
their own grounds and building, fix the programme of
1 Oakland, Cal., is an interesting illustration. Here pupils go to the
school of their preference. But when a school is full the pupils farthest
away from the school must seek admittance at the next best school of
their choice where there is still room for them. This plan relieves the
board and superintendent of all responsibility as to transfers on account
of dissatisfaction with a school.
2 Not true in cases of cities, although the idea sometimes remains in
the form of local or district representation on the city board.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 57
studies, employ the teachers all with the idea in view
of trying to satisfy their own ideals of what a school
should be. The plan throughout the States in this
country shows a striking similarity of practice. There
is a local board, ordinarily of three trustees or directors,
who levy taxes, build schoolhouses, furnish supplies,
employ teachers, select or approve text-books, and de-
termine the course of instruction and rules governing
the school. In some of the States these powers and
duties are modified, to a greater or less degree, by
authority reserved by law to officers of the township,
county, or State.
The local district thus organized separately for the
conduct of schools prevails in one form or another in
the States west of the Alleghanies, except in Pennsyl-
vania, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, 1 and Louisiana. At
one time its prevalence was general, even throughout
New England, but this condition has since been changed.
Connecticut alone now continues the district plan, but
that only in part, as permissive. Among the Western
States the laws of Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minne-
sota, and North and South Dakota make the township
system permissive.
14. Changed Conditions Call for Consolidation
It is easy to see how, in pioneer days, when people
were settled in groups more or less isolated, the district
plan should be the convenient one for the organization
of schools. But with the growth of population the ne-
cessity for it, at least, has ceased to exist. Aside from
the difficulty already mentioned of our inability to get
that judicial attitude in local control so essential to effi-
cient administration, the utter inadequacy of such a
1 In this State the districts of the county have advisory boards.
58 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
system in securing anything like equal advantages edu-
cationally in all communities has been demonstrated
over and over again. The inequalities in adjoining dis-
tricts of some of the States where local or district con-
trol prevails are such as seriously to endanger the inter-
ests of neighboring communities, to reduce, relatively,
the value of farm lands, and to make it difficult for non-
resident owners of farms to secure desirable tenants for
their lands.
Then, again, as industrial and social conditions change
the school population becomes very small in many dis-
tricts. Under the control of boards having supervision
of larger units these small schools might readily be con-
solidated, thus greatly economizing in the aggregate
cost of the schools of such larger unit. The distribu-
table funds would thus be more effectively applied also,
as the combined amounts would make possible better
school facilities for all.
Of course, we must bear in mind that the training in
self-government which this local control of schools has
brought about has been a very important factor in de-
veloping true ideals of democracy; but in this day of
the daily press, the magazine, rural delivery of mails,
and all forms of easy and direct communication the need
of such instrumentalities in the training of popular opin-
ion has largely disappeared. On the other hand, the in-
creasing demands upon our schools as a result of our
rapid development in industries and in population make
it imperative that we practise strict economy in their
organization. We have already seen that this idea of
the local unit of control grew out of conditions existing
at an earlier time. There is no good reason why, as con-
ditions change, there should not be complete readjust-
ment, from time to tune, ip order to adapt the control to
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 59
changing requirements due to the evolution of our social
institutions and its effect on education.
15. The District Tested by the Three Principles
Let us apply the three principles previously stated 1 as
leading to the determination of the unit of control.
This may aid us in judging more clearly the correctness
of the claims for the continuance of the district plan.
As a convenient limit of service and attendance the dis-
trict is and doubtless will remain most desirable in many
ways, especially as it concerns elementary education.
But districting for purposes of attendance may readily
be entirely independent of the area of control, as in the
case of cities. Furthermore, transfers are often desir-
able and would be possible under an administration in-
cluding more than the one school unit. It frequently oc-
curs in rural communities that in particular cases much
better conditions for regular attendance might be ar-
ranged than to go to the school centre of a given district.
The possibility of consolidation and transportation of
pupils further affects this same argument. It is evident,
therefore, that even in the light of this first and most
directly applicable principle the plea for district control
is scarcely tenable.
The case is still more unfavorable to the district plan
when we apply the principle of public maintenance by
the inhabitants in general. First there is the township
fund arising from the sale of school lands; then there
are other funds produced from various sources, as desig-
nated in the laws of the States, and especially as a result
of direct State appropriations, which are common among
the States. These facts of themselves are sufficient
ground for a control from without the district; for in
1 Pp- 53-54-
60 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
them we give recognition to the very fundamental fact
that schools are maintained by the public in general for
the good of the entire social group and not for the
limited number who happen to reside to-day in a given
district. The evolution of our industrial methods makes
a considerable portion of our population migratory in
character rather than permanent dwellers in a given
community. This in itself makes each member of the
social group about equally interested in the educational
well-being of all the other members regardless of any
present relationship to a particular locality.
The third principle of popular participation is, as has
already been pointed out, the strongest reason of all
for maintaining the local organization and control rep-
resented by the district system. We have already
shown, however, the manner in which this same ideal
of participation may be attained through the delegation
of certain rights, through representation, to the larger
units of population.
16. The Township Unit
The town or township has played a very important
part in educational administration in the United States.
The beginning of this influence is associated with the
town meeting of New England, although its extension
throughout the country has been in forms varying con-
siderably from the New England type. In the latter
case the organization is a much closer one and the
town has held a more important significance politically. 1
As we have seen, the township was for a time superseded
in New England by the district for the purpose of local
school government; but later the town system has been
1 See Fairlie, "Local Government in Counties, Towns, and Villages,"
The Century Co., New York, 1006, pp. 160-161.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 61
completely restored in four of the States and partially
in the other two. In these States, therefore, this unit
becomes the basis for the local administration of schools
which is in the hands of a school committee. This com-
mittee levies the local tax, builds schoolhouses, employs
teachers, and makes rules and regulations governing the
schools of the town. In case it is found desirable a
superintendent may also be employed.
The following summary of the advantages of the New
England system as typified in Massachusetts is given
by Dean T. M. Balliet, of New York City University: 1
"i. Uniformity of text-books. 2. The hiring of teach-
ers by the town committee, which is less influenced
by local sentiment than a district committee or a pru-
dential committeeman would be. 3. The erecting of
better schoolhouses. When the town as a whole must
pay for the erecting of a schoolhouse, the very jealousy
which the district system develops prompts people to
demand better schoolhouses than they themselves would
be willing to pay for. In most towns there is a village
in which most of the taxable property is found. The
rural sections of the town, therefore, benefit by voting
a higher tax for schoolhouses by which the people of the
village must contribute to the cost of schoolhouses in
the rural districts. 4. Supervision of schools by experts
is made possible. While the rural schools of Massa-
chusetts up to 1888 had poorer supervision than the
schools of the Middle States and many of the Western
States, where county. supervision has prevailed for many
years, since 1888 there has been developed in Massachu-
setts a system of town supervision which is probably the
best system of supervision of rural schools in the coun-
try. Under this system two or three towns which are
1 Bulletin No. 33, New York State Educational Department, p. 37.
62 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
too poor individually to pay a superintendent may com-
bine and engage a superintendent in common. All towns
also receive some aid from the State to make up the
salary of the superintendent. This law was originally
permissive; in 1892 it was made compulsory. As early
as 1869 a law was passed permitting towns to pay for
the transportation of pupils from thinly settled sections
to the more densely settled sections. In this way pro-
vision was made for the gradual concentration of the
schools of thinly settled towns. This law was a neces-
sary accompaniment to the later law abolishing the dis-
trict system and paved the way for the final abolition."
In some of the Central and West Central States the
township organization is somewhat similar to that of
New England, although there is nowhere found the same
political importance attaching to this unit. 1 The sys-
tem is general in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and
Indiana, and permissive in Iowa, the upper peninsula
of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North and
South Dakota. In all these cases the township control
of schools is vested in a board, usually of three, known
as directors or trustees. In Indiana one trustee serves
alone.
17. Township Units Tested
If we again apply our three principles as tests we shall
obtain results somewhat more satisfactory. The con-
trolling body is more removed, as Dean Balliet has
shown, from the influence of local prejudice. The ser-
vice of the school is likely to be improved. This unit
conforms more closely to the general plan for the dis-
tribution of funds, as recognized by the States and also
by the federal appropriation of lands. Through it, also,
1 Fairlie, op. cit., pp. 182-8.";.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 63
the State receives statistical reports concerning schools.
At the same time the unit is not so large but that the
people may participate in such matters of local interest
as are really important with regard to the essentials of
a good school.
In some cases where there is no regular township
organization the civil township is recognized as a unit
for the organization and administration of high schools.
Where this is true a separate board is usually elected
which has control over the township school with powers
and duties similar to those of the district. Such a pro-
vision is found in the laws of Illinois. This provision is
usually optional and subject to a vote by the people of
the township. The plan works well in Illinois, and some
of the strongest and most efficient high schools in the
State have thus been established. A similar plan is in
operation in California under the union high school law.
Here, also, it has proven a great success. The Califor-
nia plan is, perhaps, the most highly perfected of all,
since all non-high-school territory is required to con-
tribute enough to pay the tuition in these union high
schools of all pupils from such territory as desire to at-
tend high school. Thus in California the high school
is a universally free school.
The chief difficulty in putting this plan in operation
is found in the ultra-conservative attitude of the holders
of farm lands, especially of the non-resident class, with
reference to the added tax entailed by such a plan. In
many instances this results in an absolute repudiation of
the fundamental American idea that the school should
be free to all classes and as a common charge upon all
property or other sources of taxation which a State may
designate. In this respect conditions are much worse in
a State like Illinois than in California, for the reason
64 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
that in the latter State much of the population is recent,
and tradition has not gained so strong a hold upon the
leaders of public sentiment.
In Indiana the idea of the township school as a means
chiefly of supplying high-school privileges to rural dis-
tricts has prevailed. A large number of these rural high
schools have been established, many of them on a good
working basis. But most of them are small and incap-
able of becoming the strong, fully organized schools
needed in order to offer equal values in education to
all classes and conditions.
The idea of the township as a unit developed in New
England, where township meant a settlement of people
about a common centre or village. In the West, under
the congressional survey, a township means a geometrical
figure not necessarily related to population and there-
fore to schools needed in a given case. It is rather curi-
ous that this fact has so long escaped attention in the
campaigns that have been made in various States of
the West for the establishment of the township unit of
control in administering schools. The union-district
idea, noticeable in several sections, but most successfully
used in California, marks the first complete breaking
away from the mathematical township and returning
to the idea of centres of population as a basis for such
co-operative control and support of schools. More re-
cent legislation in Illinois, in 1911, has produced a great
change in conditions and possibilities in that State.
Under this law the number of union-district (township)
high schools has increased more than fifty per cent in
two years.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 65
1 8. The City as a Unit of Control
The city as a unit follows the same general plan for
the purposes of education as does a township. 1 There
is a central board, usually much larger than that of the
township, having the direction of schools, including the
levying of taxes, the building and equipment of school-
houses, the selection of text-books and other supplies,
the employment of teachers and supervisors, and in many
cases also the certification of teachers. In cases where
cities still remain divided into separate and independent
districts the general plan of organization is about the
same for the separate district as for the entire city in
unified city systems. The denser population of cities
and the peculiar interests which centre there make it
imperative that they have a certain autonomy in the
administration of schools. This point is very generally
conceded in the organization of city schools. There are
a few cases, however, where the district for control of
large city systems includes the entire county. Balti-
more, Mobile, San Francisco are illustrations.
19. County Units
The county, 2 like the township, is treated quite dif-
ferently in its relation to school administration in differ-
ent sections of the country. In some of the States of
the South and Far West it is made the local unit for ad-
1 See F. J. Goodnow, "City Government in the United States," The
Century Co., New York, 1904, pp. 262-271. Also Button and Snedden,
"Administration of Public Education in the United States," New York,
1908, pp. 120-143.
2 Fairlie, op. cit., pp. 187-199. Also Button and Snedden, op. cit., pp.
75-85. See also Illinois Educational Com., Final Report, 1909, pp.
55-96.
66 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
ministrative purposes. Such States are California, Flor-
ida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North
Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee. In most
of these cases a county board has general charge of
school affairs, and trustees, directors, or supervisors of
the schools report to this board, and in some cases re-
ceive full instruction from them as to the local conduct
of schools.
Besides the above States, all of which have some form
of county supervision, thirty-one other States recognize
the county unit in administration by providing for
county supervision, while twenty others have some form
of county board of education. Through the Central
West, especially, the office of county superintendent
usually carries with it very important powers and duties.
He inspects schools; examines and frequently is the sole
authority for certificating and revoking certificates of
teachers; requires reports of township officials; deter-
mines disputes in regard to district boundaries, etc.;
holds teachers' institutes; apportions State funds to the
schools. He is elected to office by the people or chosen
by the county board or appointed by the State board
of education.
In a few States the county is made a unit for the
establishment of high schools, usually at the option of
the people, or for the establishment of special funds for
aid to high schools. In some of the Southern States
strong county high schools are developing under the
fostering care of the General Education Board. As has
been suggested in the preceding paragraph, the county
is also made one of the important units for the training
of teachers in service through the county institute.
In some of the States county funds have been estab-
lished the income from which is made distributable for
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 67
school purposes, as in the case of townships and the
State funds. This plan is in operation in Nebraska and
Kansas.
20. The Same Tests Applied to the County Unit
When we apply the principles by which we have tested
the district plan the county unit seems to meet the idea
of convenience in service only in the case of sparsely
settled sections, and then only for the establishment of
more advanced education, as in the case of county high
schools. In the matter of maintenance, aside from cer-
tain functions of co-operation with the State, this inter-
est in counties is also practically limited to such high
schools and teachers' institutes as have been already
mentioned. In a similar manner participation in con-
trol is limited except as powers and duties are delegated
to the county superintendent and to the county board
of education. It is undoubtedly true that in these lat-
ter functions county administration is destined to ad-
vance in importance. The county board should readily
become a very important factor in the carrying forward
of our educational development. In the first place, such
a board is needed for the selection of the county super-
intendent. It should also provide for the districting of
the county for high-school purposes, and might well have
authority to take the initiative in the establishment of
additional high schools when needed, so that all chil-
dren of proper age might have the advantages of free
high-school education. Such boards might also readily
become the agents for distributing State funds, where
granted, for aid to specific types of education.
68 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
21. The State Considered as a Unit
As a unit of school administration that of the State 1
presents some very interesting features. We have al-
ready found that most of the constitutions provide for
some form of State supervision. Under the legislative
enactments of States all make provision for supervision,
and all but one, Delaware, provide for an executive
school officer known in general as the superintendent of
education or instruction. The first State to make such
provision was New York, in 1812, and the first superin-
tendent under that provision was Gideon Hawley, elected
in 1813.
Other States have followed until in one way or an-
other all are included. In Massachusetts, Connecticut,
and Delaware the secretary of the State board of edu-
cation is the executive and supervisory officer. In the
last-named State this secretary is the auditor who acts
ex officio. In New York, New Jersey, and some other
States the title is that of commissioner, variously phrased
as of education or of public schools.
The powers and duties of this office vary greatly in
different States. In general they may be said to be
either advisory and judicial or generally administra-
tive. These functions are most extensive in New York,
where the commissioner of education has large discre-
tion and control. From this the character of the office
dwindles to practically an advisory function coupled
with clerical and statistical duties. In most of the States
the influence of this official upon educational ideals and
standards and upon their expression in legislation has
been far-reaching and profound.
1 See Fairlie, op. cit., pp. 215-224. Also Button and Snedden, op. cit.,
pp. 55-72. Also Illinois Educational Com., op. cit., pp. 15-54.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 69
Among the most important administrative functions
assigned to the State superintendent are: the supervi-
sion of school officials; the apportionment of school
funds; the issuing and revoking of State teachers' cer-
tificates; the holding of conventions of county and city
superintendents; the making of an annual or biennial
report; a general stimulative supervision of the whole
system of schools. He is also frequently made an
ex-ojficio member of boards of control of State educa-
tional institutions.
Another very important administrative provision for
State systems of education is that of a State board of
education. Thirty-three of the States already have
some such provision, and several other States are con-
sidering the matter. These boards vary considerably
as to their composition, terms of office, and powers and
duties. In general their function is to support and co-
operate with the superintendent in (i) certificating
teachers, (2) supervising schools, (3) supervising and
appointing subordinate or local school officials, (4) pre-
paring and issuing uniform courses of study. In some
cases they are called upon to apportion funds for special
aid to public schools. In a few instances the State
board appoints the superintendent.
The perfect type for such a board seems not, as yet,
to have been evolved. Doubtless, differences will always
be found necessary, or at least desirable, in different
localities. But the need of such an instrumentality in
the managing of school systems seems to be thoroughly
established.
In this connection may be mentioned those special
boards, already alluded to, which have the direction of
affairs for State educational institutions, such as normal
schools, colleges, and universities. Here, again, great va-
70 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
riety of treatment occurs. In some cases, perhaps more
commonly, each separate institution has its governing
board of trustees, regents, or overseers. In other cases,
where there are several institutions of a kind, such as
normal schools, these may all be placed under one board,
as in Minnesota. Still another disposition of the matter
is that of Iowa and Kansas, where all the different
institutions normal school, college, and university are
placed under one and the same board of control.
Here we are facing a problem of administration which
is as yet not clearly denned. Just what is to be the
ultimate relation of such State institutions and of all
these to the State department of education is a matter
for careful consideration.
22. National Control and Influence
Under present conditions there is little beyond the
separate States which could be said to represent a nation-
wide unit of control. The Bureau of Education and the
Departments of State and the Interior represent all that
is of a supervisory character. The Military Academy at
West Point, with the auxiliary service and post schools,
and the Naval School at Annapolis, the Naval War College
of Rhode Island, and the naval training stations of Rhode
Island, the Great Lakes, and California represent a fairly
national type of educational administration. The va-
rious commissioners having in charge the education of
the Indians and education in Porto Rico and the Phil-
ippines also come very near to representing the same
thing. But there is nothing, unless it be military train-
ing, which can in any sense be considered a national
system from the standpoint of administrative control.
It is true that the District of Columbia, including the
city of Washington, is under national control, as a part
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 71
of the national domain, both as to legislation for and
administration of education. But this can in no sense
be considered a national system.
Probably at no point has the National Government
come so near to the exercise of definite control over edu-
cational interests in States as in the case of the more
recent subsidies granted to State institutions in aid of
agricultural education. In this instance a definite super-
vision is exercised. Perhaps it is not putting it too
strongly to say that the tendency is definitely toward
such federal supervision in as far as the character and
purpose of the aid granted by Congress seem to re-
quire.
CHAPTER V
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS (CONTINUED).
TYPES OF SCHOOLS SET UP
We may pass, then, to the system and types of schools
set up, either separately or co-operatively, by the vari-
ous units of control which we have described. Before
proceeding directly to an analysis of these types, and of
such system as they may represent when considered as
a whole, let us establish hi our minds, as far as may be
done at this time, those principles upon which a system
of education in a democracy may be said to rest and
which, therefore, will furnish the criteria by which to
measure and test the various elements in the present
situation.
i. Principles by Which We May Measure and Test
Our School System
All men who have spoken authoritatively upon the
subject have agreed as to what may readily be set down
as first among these principles: the intelligence of the
people of a democracy must be sufficient to insure a wise
direction of the government and of the economic affairs
of society under such laws and rules of conduct as the
people, through their representatives or by direct choice,
may impose. Such intelligence involves not only knowl-
edge of principles, of men, and of institutions, but also
that wisdom for the direction of personal conduct which
we have in mind when we speak of morality. It includes
72
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 73
not only this wisdom and knowledge, but also that in-
dustrial intelligence and skill necessary to the efficient
conduct of the ordinary business of life in a large social
group.
After centuries of experience, coming down through
many changes in national ideals and in the mechanism
of government, the school has been set up and recognized
as the only institution which society may maintain at
public expense and solely for the purpose of insuring,
among all classes, that intelligence, wisdom, and skill
thus agreed upon as necessary to the security and per-
petuity of government in a democracy. The second prin-
ciple involved is therefore expressed in the aim of edu-
cation as thus provided by society. This aim may be
stated as being the formal effort of society to secure in
its members the greatest degree of efficiency in intellect,
in morals, and in industrial skill and intelligence, both
individually and collectively, of which these members
are capable.
Schools, to be successful, need to be of different types.
They should adapt themselves to the different stages of
development, the varying tastes and inclinations of indi-
viduals, as well as the various social needs in the way
of specially trained experts in different departments of
life. This gives us a third principle : the schools estab-
lished by society, in order to conform to the social aim
of education, should represent such variety of type as,
on the one hand, to appeal to different stages of develop-
ment and to different capacities of individuals, and, on
the other hand, to meet the need of society for specially
trained experts.
In doing this society is confronted by certain limita-
tions. The resources available for this work are limited.
There is also a time limit, both because society must
ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
continue its institutional existence, which we have seen
to be, in the case of a democracy, dependent upon gen-
eral intelligence, wisdom^ and skill, and because the
time which the individual may give to the process of
being educated is also limited. Another vitally impor-
tant principle involved is that of the conservation of
the health of children and youth. To succeed in the
educative process there is need of the utmost freedom
from both chronic ailments and the prevailing conta-
gions of this period of life. The fourth principle, there-
fore, is that economic treatment of the problem of gen-
eral education with reference to the above-mentioned
conditions which is necessary to its ultimate success.
At the same time, several general sociological condi-
tions are to be considered, any one of which might stand
in the way of efficiency on the part of the schools if the
organization of education did not look to the prevention
of such a result. Among these is the probable failure of
part of the social group, if left to themselves, in requir-
ing the young to take advantage of the opportunities
offered for education. Such failure may arise either on
account of economic pressure or because of a too low
estimate of the value and necessity of education when
left to individual standards of judgment. This gives
us a basis for the statement of a fifth principle, which is
that society must require of such delinquents, by legal
compulsion, that their children be kept in school.
Stated in brief, the five leading principles by which
we may test the educational system thus far established
are:
1. Intelligence, skill, and right conduct on the part of a
people, subject to certain individual limitations, are funda-
mentally essential in a democracy.
2. It is the aim of society, through the public school as a
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS
special instrumentality, to insure in all the people the
greatest degree of efficiency, physically, intellectually, mor-
ally, and industrially, of which they are individually and
collectively capable.
3. Schools, to be efficient, must be varied in type to the
end that they may provide for individual differences in
capacity and in stages of development and also for the va-
ried needs of society in the way of trained service.
4. The situation demands the most economic treatment
of the problem of education, financially, in the matter of
time, and also in health conditions, that is consistent with
its most effective administration.
5. In order to insure the general effectiveness of such a
system society must, by legal compulsion if necessary, see
to it that parents keep their children in school long enough
to enable them, within the range of their capabilities, to
get at least the minimum of knowledge, wisdom, and skill
necessary to the highest good of the individual and the
well-being of the State.
2. Components of Our National System of
Education v
In its main features the system which has grown A
up throughout the States under the control scheme
which we have already reviewed is homogeneous enough
to be considered national. It includes practically all
known varieties of school, such as kindergarten, elemen-
tary school, high school, industrial schools which com-
prise schools of agriculture and trade-schools; con-
tinuation schools, including night-schools; vacation-
schools, manual training-schools, nautical schools, mili-
tary schools, technical schools, normal schools, colleges,
and universities. There are also schools maintained at
public expense for the education of defectives, such as
76 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the deaf, blind, and feeble-minded; and also for delin-
quents there are industrial reform schools.
3. Kindergartens and Elementary Schools
The kindergarten occurs chiefly in the cities. It is
organized on the basis of Froebel's "gift's," with songs
and plays, and is usually open to children from three
to six years old. About four hundred cities, in 1909-10,
reported kindergartens, for which about six thousand
teachers were employed. The number of these schools
seems to be increasing, and an aggressive campaign for
the establishment of kindergartens has been going on
in recent years. In 1909 was incorporated the National
Association for the Promotion of Kindergarten Educa-
tion. This organization will urge kindergarten legisla-
tion and distribute literature on the subject.
The elementary school is the most commonly distrib-
uted of all types and is the first school which the vast
majority of children attend. In this type education
may therefore be said to have become universal. The
minimum school age is five to six years, and the stand-
ard length of the course is eight years, thus permitting
the child to finish normally at fourteen. There are some
variations from this both ways. In New England, New
York, and some other cases more isolated the period is
nine years, while in the case of a few cities it is only
seven. A more recent and very interesting variation
from the customary extent of this period is the six-year
elementary plan followed by an intermediate period of
three or four years. Such a plan is now in operation
in Los Angeles, Cal., and in Gary, Ind. The length
of the school year varies greatly. The general average
for the United States in I908-9 1 was 155.3 days. The
1 For statistics, see U. S. Com. Report, 1910, vol. II.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 77
longest year was in Rhode Island, 194 days, and the
shortest in South Carolina, 98 days.
About 480,000 teachers are employed in the elementary
schools of the United States. A very large percentage
of these are women, and the tenure of service is short.
Most of them enter upon the work without any special
preparation in the way of professional training. What
skill they acquire in presentation and management they
must get in service.
4. High Schools
The public high school is the secondary school of this
system. It includes the four years succeeding the ele-
mentary school, or normally from about fourteen to
eighteen years of age. This would be seen to vary un-
der such plans as those cited above. According to the
reports of 1909-ic 1 there were 10,213 high schools, em-
ploying 41,667 teachers, of whom 18,890 were .men
and 22,777 women. The total enrollment in these high
schools was 915,061, of which 398,525 were boys and
516,536 girls. Of the total number of high schools
6,421 report four-year courses. These four-year high
schools enroll over 88 per cent of the secondary students.
Of the total number of students for 1909-10, 12.17 per
cent graduated, and of these graduates about one third,
or 4.6 per cent of all, prepared for college.
5. Statistical Summary
Taking both elementary and high schools together, the
public schools enrolled 72.22 per cent of the total school
population in 1908-9 as against 61.45 P er cent in 1870-1.
The total number of teachers employed was 506,453,
of which 108,300 were men and 398,153 women. This
1 See U. S. Com. Report, 1910, vol. II, p. 1131.
78 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
makes the per cent of men teachers 21.4. The average
monthly wages of these teachers was $57. For men it
was $63.39 and for women $50.08. The total expendi-
tures for the same year for public schools were $401,-
397,747, of which $237,013,913 was for salaries of teach-
ers and superintendents.
6. Higher Education
Of the 602 universities, colleges, and technological
schools of college rank reporting in 1910, 89 are controlled
by States or municipalities. There were enrolled in the
collegiate departments of these 89 institutions, 47,492
men and 16,724 women, or a total of 64,216. In the grad-
uate departments were enrolled 2,427 men and 983
women, or a total of 3,410. This makes a grand total of
67,626 enrolled. These institutions are distributed as
follows: 37 States and i city (Cincinnati) support uni-
versities; 5 States and 2 cities (New York and Philadel-
phia) provide colleges; 19 States have separate colleges
of agriculture or of agriculture and mechanic arts; there
are 4 State schools of mines and 4 State technological
schools of college grade. South Carolina and Virginia
each supports a military school of college rank, while
Delaware and North Carolina have colleges for colored
students, that in the latter State being a college of agri-
culture and mechanic arts. A number of States make
the agricultural college a part of the State university.
These were not enumerated in the 19 given above. In
the case of Ohio 3 institutions are designated as univer-
sities, while in the case of Virginia there are 3 State col-
leges, including William and Mary's College, in addition
to the university and military institute. In Mississippi
2 colleges of agriculture are maintained by the State.
It thus becomes evident that the country at large
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 79
and the Federal Government, through its land-grant
policy and its appropriation of funds for training and
experimenting in agriculture, are thoroughly committed
to the idea of higher education as a function of the State.
In many of the States this ideal of public education
manifests itself not only in the lines of agriculture and
engineering, but also in the study of civic and industrial
problems, in law, medicine, public sanitation, and educa-
tion, as well as in arts, letters, and philosophy.
7. Industrial Education
Under industrial education we may group all those
schools, not of college rank, by means of which training
is offered, at public expense, in trades, in agriculture,
and in domestic arts and sciences. According to the
reports given 1 there are about forty-nine such institu-
tions in the United States, with a tendency to rapidly
increase the number. Of these the agricultural type
predominates, with a few trade-schools and one nautical
school. Continuation schools 2 are a form of trade-school
usually conducted at night, or if conducted in the day-
time the daily programme is arranged so as to permit
a division of time between work and study hours, for
those who attend. There are also about thirty-three
manual-training and technical high schools under public
control, as reported for the same year. These schools
offer a general education with manual training as one
of the principal exercises. In a few cases only do these
schools undertake any work which may be classed "strictly
as vocational.
Besides these, six commercial high schools, together
1 U. S. Com. Report, 1910, vol. II, pp. 1219-32.
2 See under "Nomenclature," U. S. Com. Report, 1910, vol. I, pp.
94-96.
80 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
with commercial departments in other high schools, en-
rolled a total of 81,249 pupils, over one-half of the num-
ber being in the North Atlantic division and about 81.5
per cent in the North Atlantic and North Central divi-
sions.
8. Normal Schools
There were in the United States, in 1910, 196 public
normal schools, 1 enrolling 79,546 students, or an average
of about 406 per school. At the same time 694 public
high schools offering professional courses for teachers
enrolled in these courses 13,641 students, thus making a
total of 93,187 pursuing teachers' professional courses in
public normal schools and high schools.
All but five of the States support one or more normal
schools as distinct institutions. Delaware has no State
normal school, but a teachers' course is offered in the
State College for Colored Students. Nevada combines
this function with the department of education of the
State university, while Utah and Wyoming make the
normal school a department of the university. Ten-
nessee has no State normal school, strictly speaking,
although the State contributes regularly to the support
of Peabody College for Teachers.
Besides the State normal schools, there are a number
of normal schools, teachers' training-schools, and teach-
ers' colleges supported by municipalities, as in the cases
of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, New York, and
Saint Louis. The tendency of city systems seems to
look to the elimination of the local training-school or
teachers' college in order that a wider field may be had
from which to recuperate the teaching ranks. There is
an inclination at the present time also to change the
J U. S. Com. Report, 1910, vol. II, pp. 1075-1125.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 81
name of these institutions generally from normal or
training schools to teachers' colleges. In several cases
they are given regular college rank, offering four years
of work beyond the high school, and granting profes-
sional degrees. Besides these special schools and col-
leges for the training of teachers there are numerous
auxiliaries for the training of teachers in service, such
as teachers' institutes, reading courses, and associations. 1
9. Schools for Defectives and Delinquents
Another department of public education is represented
in the schools for defectives and delinquents. Such in-
stitutions are very generally provided by the States, and
in many cases are doing a great work of salvage to so-
ciety. Schools for defectives are those for the blind,
deaf, and feeble-minded. In 1910 there were reported
48 schools for the blind. These institutions employed
a total of 531 instructors, 178 of whom were male and
353 female. There were enrolled as pupils 2,263 males
and 2,060 females, or a total of 4,323.
The enrollment in these schools for the blind was dis-
tributed as follows as to grade:
Kindergarten 419
Elementary, grades j; to 4 ijSQi
Elementary, grades 5 to 8 M34
High-school grades 599
One thousand three hundred and seventeen were being
instructed in vocal music and 1,752 in instrumental;
2,855 were in the industrial departments.
The total expenditures amounted to $1,577,383, or a
per-capita average, based on the enrollment, of $364.85
per year.
1 The problem of the training of teachers is treated more fully in
chap. IX.
82 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
The schools for the deaf numbered 57, with 1,208 in-
structors, 378 males and 830 females. The total num-
ber of pupils was 10,399, 5,681 males and 4,718 females.
These were distributed as follows:
Kindergarten 919
Elementary grades, i to 4 3,946
Elementary grades, 5 to 8 2,483
High-school grades 394
The number taught speech was 4,135, the number in
the industrial department 6,052. The expenditures for
the year were $2,971,256, or an average cost per student,
based on enrollment, of $285.73.
Besides these State schools for the deaf, there were
reported 53 day-schools enrolling 1,508 deaf pupils and
employing 189 instructors.
In the 25 institutions for the education of the feeble-
minded which reported in 1910, there were employed
270 instructors, including 58 men and 212 women, and
1,385 assistants. The total number of inmates was 16,-
678, of which 8,825 were males and 7,853 females. The
reports show that 9,689 of these could not be taught hi
school or kindergarten. Of those capable of receiving
instruction 1,456 were in the kindergarten, 1,754 in
grades one and two, 830 in grades three and four, and
393 above the fourth grade. Four thousand six hundred
and seventy-six were in the industrial-training depart-
ment, and 3,069 were being taught some trade or occu-
pation. The total expenditures of these institutions
was $3,949,109, or $236.80 for each inmate reported.
The schools for delinquents have taken on a different
significance in recent years. They are more frequently
called industrial schools, although the name of reform
school still holds. Their function is not only reforma-
tory but also protective or in the nature of rescue schools,
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 83
in that the purpose frequently is to save the young from
bad environments and thus prevent criminal develop-
ment. The 1910 report shows 115 of these institutions
maintained by the public. Of the 56,663 inmates 43,702
were boys and 12,961 girls; 45,741 were white and 7,434
colored; 42,381 received instruction in school classes,
and 39,392 were learning some trade. The 115 schools
employed 1,117 teachers and 2,783 assistants not teach-
ers. There were expended a total of $8,430,572 for main-
taining these institutions, or an average of $148.78 per
inmate.
10. Military and Naval Schools
If we add to this list of descriptions the military and
naval schools and their auxiliaries, the National Train-
ing School for Boys at Washington, D. C., the various
Indian schools, the Bureau of Education, the Smith-
sonian Institution, and the Library of Congress, estab-
lished and maintained chiefly by the Federal Govern-
ment, we shall have completed, in a brief way, a
description of the schools and institutions organized and
maintained at public expense for the purposes of educa-
tion in the United States.
ii. Units of Control Preliminary Considerations
We are now to study the distribution of these elements
of the school system among the units of control and to
consider them as a complete working scheme. At the
same time we are to test them by the principles and
standards involved and with reference to their efficiency
in securing the results for which they have been estab-
lished.
The kindergarten, as indicated by the figures already
given, is not generally established as yet; but it has
84 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
many strong advocates and some fine training-schools,
where teachers are prepared for the work. For the gen-
eral purposes of this discussion we may very properly
consider the kindergarten as a part of the elementary
school system.
It requires all of the units of control, in some one or
more of their functions, for the organization and opera-
tion of elementary schools. Primarily, their units are
district, township, or city; but as there are elementary
schools for defectives and delinquents, in some cases it
belongs almost exclusively to the State. There are sep-
arate elementary schools for white and colored children,
and for rural and city districts. One million seven hun-
dred and twelve thousand one hundred and thirty-seven
of the children enrolled in the common schools in 1909
were in the schools for colored children of the sixteen
former slave States. As no separate statistics of instruc-
tion and expenditure are reported, we may best consider
these a part of the general elementary system. This
leaves us the rural and city elementary systems, the
general statistical facts for which have already been
presented.
12. Control of Rural Schools
The rural elementary schools include those in small
towns and villages of a rural type and those of the
country districts. When the district unit of control
prevails these schools are generally far from ideal in
character. They are usually operated under a board of
three members (five or more in villages and small towns),
elected by the people of the district. The buildings are
not, as a rule, sanitary and are usually devoid of any
artistic quality in construction. The village and town
schools are usually too large for the number of teachers
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 85
employed, while the schools in the country districts are
relatively small, ranging in numbers from two or three
pupils to fifty or more. But large numbers are rare in
the country schools.
Little attempt is made, as a usual thing, in the way
of equipment for work. Many of the schools have little
more than desks in the way of furnishings. There may
be a few maps, a dictionary, in rare instances a piano or
an organ; but few, indeed, are the attempts made to
collect a suitable supply of books to supplement the texts
of the children.
The teachers are mostly young girls just out of high
school, and in many cases from the grade schools of the
same type as the ones they essay to teach. Their pro-
fessional preparation is frequently limited to a week or
two in a county institute, with possibly the reading of
one or two elementary works on pedagogy. In the
larger schools and in the more enlightened and wealthier
communities teachers of longer experience and of better
training will be found, but even in these cases it is rarely
that teachers are to be found who are prepared to deal
adequately with the problems presented. The term of
service of the teachers in any one school is very short
often but one term, or year at most; and very many of
them drop out of the work entirely after a year or two
of service.
13. Provisions for Supervision of Rural Schools
The village and town schools usually are presided over
by a principal; but he is given no opportunity to super-
vise the work. Most of his time is taken in teaching
two or more of the "upper grades." Even if time were
given for him to supervise, his characteristic lack of ex-
perience, or of knowledge, or of both, would render such
86 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
service of little value. As it is, his supervisory function
is limited to making reports to the board and settling
difficult cases of discipline, or adjusting complaints of
patrons.
The supervision of the other rural schools is generally
confined to the efforts of one man who is superintendent
for the whole county. He is usually a man of ordinary
attainments and experience. If he is more ripe and
therefore more efficient because of a richer experience
this is the chief quality, as a rule, by which we may
differentiate him from the village principal. He is well
meaning and takes his position seriously, as a rule; but
even at his best the unit of control is too large to be
supervised by one person with any degree of efficiency.
Unquestionably, this is much better than no supervision,
but it does not meet the existing needs.
In States where there is township supervision the con-
ditions are much better. In other States, also, under
the district plan, better conditions prevail in some por-
tions of a State than in others. This is due sometimes
to the special efforts of a county superintendent, some-
times to the existence of higher* educational ideals of
the people who make up the local population.
But in spite of these very interesting exceptions in
the general administrative efficiency of this group of
schools, there are evidences of the violation of more than
one of the five principles we have laid down as criteria.
The education provided is not nearly always equal to
the requirements of a democracy. The schools seldom
provide the forms of education demanded by our social
and industrial conditions. They are frequently not
economically and efficiently administered. Nor are all
the children kept in school long enough to accomplish
the purposes of society in maintaining them. An inter-
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 87
esting item in the way of statistics will serve to empha-
size the above statement of conditions. In 1908-9 there
were enrolled in the public schools, including both ele-
mentary and secondary, 17,506,175 pupils. Of these
5,807,552 were enrolled in cities of 4,000 or more, thus
leaving 11,698,623, or over two thirds of all, enrolled in
the towns, villages, and country districts. At the same
time the expenditures for cities amounted to $211,106,-
299, while the expenditures for the rural schools were
$190,291,449. Thus the one third enrolled in city
schools called for a larger expenditure than the two
thirds enrolled in the rural schools. Evidently we must
allow for the cost of high schools in the cities which, on
account of their expensive equipment and the higher
salaries paid their teachers, cost much more, proportion-
ately, than do the elementary schools. But even after
such allowance is made the balance is still largely in
favor of the city elementary schools.
14. General Conditions in City Schools
The city schools are more completely organized, bet-
ter supervised, and employ teachers that are better
trained. They have better buildings and a better phys-
ical equipment generally than do the rural schools. At
the same time there are factors in city environment
and in the generally crowded conditions of city life
which tend strongly to counteract these better condi-
tions. The more sanitary buildings are offset by un-
sanitary surroundings and playgrounds that are cramped
and shut in by the surrounding buildings. The better
equipment is a poor substitute for the natural resources
all about the rural school. The better teaching ability
is counteracted by the numerous distractions, the re-
stricted home conditions, and the absence of nature.
88 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
Superior supervisory arrangements are very often dis-
sipated by overcrowding, the struggle with dirt, ir-
regular attendance, and frequent changes in the residence
of pupils.
Such conditions have given grounds for the assertion
by some critics of city systems that with all their ad-
vantages they can produce no better, if as good, results as
do the rural schools with all their seeming disadvantages.
The significance of the whole matter is that there is
need of improvement in both types of elementary schools
and that a still larger expenditure of funds will be neces-
sary in order to attain to the most economic efficiency.
In the case of the rural schools this expenditure should
provide better buildings and equipment as well as better
teaching and supervision. For the city schools the need
seems to be more largely for better physical conditions
in the location and surroundings, the size of the grounds,
and the opportunities for contact with nature.
15. Wide Variation in Character of Schools
Provided
We have spoken of the variations in the quality of
schools provided under different conditions. Among
rural schools, especially, under district control, there is
a wide variation as to the amount and quality of edu-
cation provided. We need greatly some means by
which there may be a more equitable distribution of
such facilities. As it is now, most of the distributable
funds are given out on a basis of school population in-
stead of as a means of equalizing educational advantages.
The high schools are mostly for the cities. Only in a
few States, and chiefly under township organization, are
these schools made free to the children from the farms.
In some cases in the South, as we have found, the county
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS 89
is the unit for high-school organization. In either case
both instruction and supervision are better provided for
than in the case of elementary schools, as is also the
physical equipment. The chief point at which these
schools fail to meet the standards we have set up in the
five fundamental principles is in adapting the work to
social and individual needs. Too much attention has
thus far been given to the purely academic side of edu-
cation to the exclusion, largely, of the industrial side of
the training of youth.
1 6. Need of Industrial Training
It may be said of both elementary and high-school
work that they lack much along this line. All through
our study of the development of the public-school idea
we have found emphasized the two aspects of education:
the training of mind and the training to some useful
industry. Society needs industrial intelligence on the
part of all and industrial skill on the part of those whose
service to society is to be through some skilled industry.
The best period in which to train the young to skill
as well as intelligence is the period from twelve to six-
teen or eighteen years. In some way, not wasteful and
therefore uneconomic, both these lines of training should
be provided for that particular interval of school work.
Beyond that, those who expect to enter the trades should
have further special training along with such academic
work as will aid them in their trades as well as in per-
forming their duties as citizens. Those who are to go
on to the higher institutions should have such training
as is needed in preparation for doing that higher work
in the most effective and economic way.
CHAPTER VI
THE SYSTEM AS TESTED BY THE FIVE PRINCIPLES
OF CHAPTER V
i. Application of Principle One
Let us now apply the test of our five principles to the
existing organization of our schools as we have briefly
described them in the preceding pages. Under principle
one it was affirmed that "intelligence, skill, and right
conduct on the part of a people are fundamentally essential
in a democracy." If all the people are to participate in
government through the exercise of the franchise, then
all should be sufficiently well educated to insure that
degree of intelligence as to State and national interests
necessary to a wise selection of representatives and lead-
ers in our public affairs. Training merely in the school
arts can give no adequate assurance of such a degree of
intelligence. A standard equal to that of four years in
high school is low enough. With a majority of voters
having a much lower standard of general training and
knowledge, how can we ever be on anything like stable
ground with regard to the great fundamental problems
confronting us?
Yet we are far short, as yet, of providing free schools
of high-school grade for all boys and girls. A large per-
centage of those in our rural districts have no free ac-
cess to such schools, while in our cities very many, the
majority, in fact, drop out to work at or before the close
90
APPLICATION OF THE FIVE PRINCIPLES 91
of the elementary-school training. One remedy for
this situation would be to extend the upper age limit
of compulsory-attendance laws to sixteen or seventeen
years. In many States county high schools offer free
tuition; but these schools are too far from the majority
of pupils who would otherwise take advantage of them.
The movement is gaining among the States for legisla-
tion making the tuition payable by districts in non-
high-school territory, or by the State. Such legislation
occurred in 1911 in Iowa and South Dakota. Better
still is the joint or union district law which increases the
taxing unit for high-school purposes so as to include all
territory logically tributary to an established social and
commercial centre, as a village, town, or small city.
This plan works admirably in California when combined
with a law providing that a tax be levied on all non-
high-school territory in a county for payment of tuition
of those from such territory attending high school. The
Illinois township high-school law as enacted in 1911 has
the same effect as far as the union-district idea is con-
cerned, but a fully effective free-tuition measure is still
lacking. The one of 1913 still leaves some districts
without free high-school privileges.
As regards the training of skilled workmen in differ-
ent industrial lines, we can scarcely be said to have made
a beginning as yet. Recent statistics show that only
twenty-nine States have any legislation with reference
to practical activities. This includes all grades and
forms of training in manual arts, domestic economy,
agriculture, and trades. Nearly all of these represent
permissive legislation with only sixteen States offering
any inducement by way of State aid. Much of the
training represented is not of a kind calculated to aid
materially in acquiring skill of a definite and well or-
92 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
ganized character. Because of the permissive character
of most of the legislation and the absence, in many cases,
of such a stimulus as an offer of aid from the State al-
ways gives, little use has as yet been made of these laws
in organizing vocational courses. Likewise, in training
to right ideals and standards of conduct we seem to have
been, thus far, very deficient. As to just what should
be done in this latter case we are still much in doubt;
but all may readily agree that there should be a wise
and liberal provision for vocational training in our
schools if we are to maintain our standing among na-
tions in competition for a market through which to dis-
pose advantageously of our surplus products from the
great fundamental industries and in the finer arts of
life.
But to stop merely with the training of workmen to
skill would be a fatal error if there did not come along
with it civic intelligence for the tradesman and indus-
trial intelligence for the professional man and the capi-
talist. It is in this latter respect, after all, perhaps, that
we are most in danger as far as our institutional life is
concerned. Without a general industrial intelligence on
the part of all classes we are bound to have more or less
of clashing and discord between capital and labor, thus
rendering all great enterprises of a constructive nature
uncertain of attainment and unstable even when they
seem to have been attained.
2. Our Schools as Tested by Principle Two
The second principle reads: "// is the aim of society
through tJie public school to insure to all the people the
greatest degree of efficiency, physically, intellectually, mor-
ally, and industrially, of which they are individually and
collectiiely capable." This is complementary to the first
APPLICATION OF THE FIVE PRINCIPLES 93
principle and its application is, therefore, largely involved
in that of the latter. The chief point at which this
common application is not so evident is that of provid-
ing for the physical well-being of those educated in our
schools. Our people are only just awakening to a reali-
zation of the possibilities and needs of this phase of edu-
cational administration. Indeed, we may very justly
say that those communities are relatively few where
such awakening has advanced to the point of making
anything like adequate provision for protecting the
schools against inroads made upon attendance and effi-
ciency by bad nutrition of pupils, chronic ailments, neg-
lect of the teeth, and the various contagious diseases
common to children and youth.
In many of the larger cities and in some smaller cen-
tres efficient departments of health and hygiene have
been organized. According to statistics collected by the
Russell Sage Foundation and published in 1911, 443 out
of 1,038 cities reporting provided for medical inspection
of school children. 1 But a vast amount of work still re-
mains to be done before this phase of our educational
organism can be said to be efficiently handled. Prac-
tically all of our rural and village schools are as yet
without any service of this kind in connection with the
training of the young. Such provision must doubtless
wait upon a better administrative organization for these
schools.
The department of work here referred to, as thus far
set up in its most desirable form, includes, under the
direction of the board and the general superintendent
of instruction of the district, a department of health
composed of a medical inspector and assistants, visiting
1 This is quoted from the Com. of Education Report, 1911, vol. I, p
137-
94 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
nurses, medical and dental clinics, with all proper facili-
ties for the best of treatment and care of those having
remediable physical defects. Such a department should
also be closely related to and in co-operation with the
department of physical education. To some of the
members of this latter department or to the physician
in charge of medical inspection should be assigned
the function of prescribing specific training for those
having any physical weakness or deformity which may
be remedied by the proper physical treatment, such as
spinal curvature or dislocation of either arch. This
would involve some knowledge of orthopedics.
All of the above work is much better done when under
the direct control of the board of education than when
made a distinct function under the control of the town
or city government. Emphasis should be put upon the
number and qualifications, personal and professional, of
the visiting nurses. It is they who will need to go to
the homes in follow-up cases, a service which requires
consummate tact, sympathy, and persistency in order to
open the way for such treatment.
There is need, also, that the mentally defective should
be studied through the psychological clinic in order to
endeavor to attain knowledge requisite for the special
treatment demanded in such cases. Thus far we have
made but little progress, comparatively, in this form of
conservation, although there is that in the form of legis-
lation by States and in the action of larger cities in pro-
viding tests and special classes for such defectives to in-
dicate that a much better condition for the near future
is now assured with regard to this particular need.
As regards moral education we are undoubtedly de-
ficient. Perhaps we have leaned toward the extreme a
little in our anxiety to eliminate all ecclesiastical con-
APPLICATION OF THE FIVE PRINCIPLES 95
trol from the public-school system. At any rate, we
have been too much inclined to emphasize purely intel-
lectual training to the neglect of the inculcation of those
principles and habits which make for righteous living.
In this respect also the schools we have set up are still
lacking in efficiency.
3. Schools Fall Short under Principle Three
Principle three is: "Schools, to be efficient, must be va-
ried in type to the end that they may provide for individual
differences in capacity and in stages of development, and
also for the varied needs of society in the way of trained
service." As to the first point, it may fairly be said that
the schools as now organized do not make adequate
provision, as a rule, for individual differences. It is
pretty generally agreed by all students of this problem
that our schools are in need of a rather complete read-
justment. From the sixth grade on there is especially
lacking that differentiation of the work offered in the
schools which makes possible a reasonable provision for
the individual differences referred to. For a very simi-
lar reason also we fall short on the second point of pro-
viding that variety and degree of trained service which
society demands.
What we need in order to remedy these very serious
defects is not more and different types of schools so much
as the complete reorganization of the schools we have
with more serious attention to the motor activities as
they are actually related to the needs of life. There is
needed a decided departure from our prevailing ideas
of school architecture in order to give the most satisfac-
tory and economic conditions for the vocational activi-
ties which such a reorganization of our schools would set
up. There is also to be considered the supply of those
96 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
properly qualified and available for giving instruction in
these new departments of school work. As yet little
attention has been given to providing ways and means
for the training of such teachers. If the State any
State is to undertake the solution of these problems
with any prospect of success, the means for providing
this new factor in the instructional work of our schools
must have prompt and adequate consideration.
4. Need of a Better Economy Shown Principle Four
True economy in the conduct of any worthy enter-
prise is not necessarily measured by the minimum of
expenditure of whatever resources may be demanded for
achieving the essential results. Principle four reads
thus: "The situation demands the most economic treat-
ment of the problem of education financially, in the matter
of time, and also in health conditions that is consistent
with its most effective administration" Educational ex-
penditures are, in the aggregate, very large. In dealing
with so large a social group it is necessary that this
should be so. In 1909 there were in actual attendance
on the public schools 12,684,837 children, which was
72.5 per cent of the number enrolled in the schools.
The total expense of the schools for the same year was
$401,397,747. This would be an average total cost per
child in actual attendance of $31.57, or not more than a
man would pay for an ordinary overcoat or a suit of
clothes. Where, indeed, could society or the individual
expect to get as much for the money invested? Sup-
pose the cost were $50 per pupil; if we have any appre-
ciation at all of relative values, the price would be very
low, the investment a gilt-edged one. As a matter of
fact, the State of Washington does spend $50.75 per
pupil and the State of California $47.65 per pupil. To
APPLICATION OF THE FIVE PRINCIPLES 97
be sure, the man who would sell his soul for a debauch
could see nothing but total loss in such expenditure;
and so the estimate would run, gradually increasing up
to the view-point of the man who knows what govern-
ment, peace and harmony, social well-being, the finer
joys of life derived from peaceful and happy homes,
artistic appreciation, regard for our fellow men, are really
worth. Ah, here is the trouble! Men, because they
lack vision, because they do not know social and eco-
nomic values, are mean and niggardly in all those expen-
ditures which are essential to the establishment or cul-
tivation of such values.
But all this does not excuse any laxity or leniency
where true economy in the use of educational funds is
concerned. These very men who know not the values
with which they deal, when placed in responsible posi-
tions as guardians of this great social trust, the pubh'c
school, will build shabby and inadequate buildings on
ground that is undesirable and skimped. They will let
contracts for material supplies to the lowest bidder, re-
gardless of other conditions, if they do not even accept
a bonus for giving the business or the service to the one
who deliberately plans thus to trade upon the children's
needs. They will employ teachers at the lowest possible
salary, regardless of qualifications, the character and need
of which they do not understand, in order to "keep
down" the school tax. They invariably stand opposed
to any movement that, in any way, looks toward better
and more efficient schools.
5. Why Society Must Share the Criticism of the
Schools
We hear much in these days about the failure of the
public schools in meeting the demands put upon them.
98 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
But most of the complaint is directed against the teach-
ers, against those who are called by society to ad-
minister the instructional work. Little is said about
the failure of society to provide the means adequate for
the production of such results. We hear nothing in the
public press about this niggardly, senseless attitude of
those whom society has called to hold the educational
purse; nothing when society, over large areas of the
country, cries out unceasingly and works, often insanely,
against some slight additional outlay looking toward
a betterment of the schools. And all the lingering ad-
vocates of ecclesiastical control of education join the
ranks of these men, without vision and with no appre-
ciation of the greater social values, in helping to perpetu-
ate the inadequacy of the public schools. If this were
democracy, inevitably and always, with no ground for
an optimistic outlook toward the future, then democracy
would be nothing but a huge blunder, a grewsome thing
at which all patriotic men must look with foreboding
and dismay.
If there is any remedy for this uneconomic treatment
of one of our greatest social investments it must be
sought through the establishment of such means for the
selection of those set aside by society for managing this
huge enterprise as will be most likely to secure men
of sufficient breadth and understanding to be able to
choose wisely the materials of education and also those
who are to administer the work of instruction. Wher-
ever this has been done, and where the social group con-
cerned has been content to trust the experts thus chosen,
and to invest the amount of capital necessary to oper-
ate the educational plant, provide for up-keep, and take
care of the necessary increase and expansion, there we
shall find schools not seriously open to the criticisms
APPLICATION OF THE FIVE PRINCIPLES 99
which have thus far been hurled broadcast and with-
out discrimination at our entire system of public edu-
cation.
6. Need of Economy in Time
Economy in time is inseparably connected with
financial economy and the conservation of health. In
the first place the individual is concerned. He has but
once to go the way of life. When the state assumes to
take a portion of this relatively short period for the
proper education of the individual, the state, society,
also assumes the obligation to see to it that this time is
not wasted either through failure to provide the neces-
sary means or through inadequate or inefficient instruc-
tion. A similar obligation rests, also, with reference to
the physical well-being of the child as related to the
work of the school. Here society, in order to protect
itself effectively, must often protect the child, through
adequate health laws, against the laxity, inadequacy, or
venality of the home or the industrial world. All this
may mean the loss or gain of time to the individual.
The same conditions in the home or the industry
named above may also tend to rob the child of the
time needed in the school, thus also tending to defeat
the purpose of society in establishing and maintaining
the school. Against such loss society must protect itself
and the individual by enacting and providing adequately
for the enforcement of attendance laws. This involves,
as an auxiliary to instruction similar to that of health
supervision, the establishment of a department which
shall see to the just and strict enforcement of attendance
laws. Incidentally, also, there will be involved some
provision for the proper treatment of those children
who early develop incorrigible tendencies, as manifested
100 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
by habitual truancy or a general unsocial attitude toward
the school.
Here, again, as in the case of the health problem, the
general practice is neglectful and uneconomic, although
there is a marked tendency toward betterment of con-
ditions in this respect. 1 It is evident enough that both
these sources of waste, if they are to be reduced, will
involve some additional outlay. The basis for their
economic treatment will be found in the rights and in-
terests both of the individual and of society. Over
against the money cost of the remedy will stand the rela-
tive advantage of the socially adjusted and efficient in-
dividual as contrasted with the cost of the unsocial and
inefficient or totally dependent member of the social
group.
7. Application of Principle Five
Principle five, which follows, has already been con-
sidered under the preceding discussion of economic con-
siderations: "In order to secure the general effectiveness
of such a system, society must, by legal compulsion if nec-
essary, see to it that parents keep their children in school
long enough to enable them to get at least the minimum oj
knowledge, wisdom, and skill necessary to the highest good
of the individual and the well-being of the State." There
is lacking a general appreciation among some important
groups of our people as to what is essentially included
in such a "minimum of knowledge, wisdom, and skill."
This limitation is true of rural communities generally;
of some of our more or less segregated foreign popula-
tions; of large manufacturing and mining centres. It
should not be forgotten that such groups require every
1 Both these problems of health and attendance will be found treated
more fully later on as special topics for chapters.
APPLICATION OF THE FIVE PRINCIPLES 101
opportunity for enlightenment on this phase of our so-
cial needs. For upon the education of the parents, in
such instances, must the education of the children wait,
especially that which extends beyond the first six years
of the elementary school.
8. Need of Social Like-Mindedness
When we come to consider our educational system as
a whole we are at once struck with its lack of complete-
ness and full co-ordination. The general situation may
be described as an almost utter lack of any social like-
mindedness in regard to many of the most important
features of our scheme for educating the young. If it
is urged that this condition is due to the process of de-
velopment through which we have come and are still
advancing as a nation, well and good. But is it not
time, in the interests of economy and efficiency, that we
apply a little of our scientific method to the betterment
of this shaping process rather than that we close our
eyes to the most glaring inconsistencies because this has
been done in the past? It is one of the glories of de-
mocracy that it permits of a maximum of initiative and
of free development along all possible lines. But there
are certain fundamental features pertaining to an insti-
tution of such nation-wide importance as is the public
school which should be accepted as constants by all
elements of our larger social group. Such constants are
fairly expressed in the five principles which we have
just been using as a basis for testing our educational
organization.
In order to achieve those results upon which our social
fabric must rest for its permanency and effectiveness,
society should see that all maladjustments, all omis-
sions, all leaks in the parts of the structure or at their
102 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
lines and points of articulation are eliminated. Further,
all waste as a result of unnecessary duplications in func-
tion should be reduced to a minimum if not entirely
prevented.
9. Need of Better Organization
We have noted, for instance, evidences of incomplete
functioning on the part of certain types of schools.
There has appeared a lack of proper attention to train-
ing to skill in workmanship in the upper elementary
grades and in the high school. It is believed by those
who have most carefully studied this problem that the
organization of our school units is wrong here that we
should begin as early as the seventh year or grade to
arrange the work departmental^ so as to make possible
the introduction of such vocational instruction. The
experiments that have thus far been made along this
line seem to corroborate this view. But there is no
general acceptance, no movement, except in remote
centres. The economic way would seem to be for so-
ciety to organize carefully conducted experiments under
such typical conditions as would be fairly representative
of all important variations in communities. Such experi-
ments, directed by experts, would serve to demonstrate
the strength or weakness of the plan and would attract
attention not only to the need of a remedy but also
to the best way of realizing it. As things now are, all is
left to a "cut-and-try" process on the part of independ-
ent units of control educationally, while traditional cus-
tom holds sway in general, and school authorities suc-
cumb to the general lethargy.
APPLICATION OF THE FIVE PRINCIPLES 103
10. High Schools Should be Free to All
Another cause of incomplete functioning seen in our
high schools is due to the fact that this grade of public
education is not yet made free to all sections and classes.
For a long time to come the high school must be the
chief training place for teachers for our rural schools.
But in most States there are not a sufficient number of
high-school graduates entering the teacher's calling to
supply more than a fraction of the number needed to
fill all the positions open to those of such grade of train-
ing. As a result, many whose qualifications are much
lower become the teachers of these schools. And even
if the high schools were sufficient in numbers and free
to all, there would still be lacking, in most of them, the
vocational instruction which those who are to teach
should have as a part of their high-school training.
ii. Neglect of Rural-School Needs
The normal schools have thus far largely neglected
the needs of the rural schools in their special work of
preparing teachers. This is a result more largely of an
economic situation, however, than of any direct or wil-
ful action on the part of those administering this feature
in our educational scheme. The social classes from which
the vast majority of our rural teachers are drawn are
not such as would feel able, in most instances, to main-
tain one or more members of the family away from
home for one or two years in order that they might be
prepared to teach. On the other hand, those who do
take the two years of training at a greater outlay seek
the positions which pay best and which offer the great-
est inducements in the way of vocational or social ad-
vancement. It is probably this state of things that is
104 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
largely responsible for the seeming neglect, by normal
schools, of rural-school interests.
The situation points definitely to the need of a better
adjustment in the organization of rural schools. The
isolated, poorly kept, often unequipped rural school is
not a strong inducement for young men, and especially
not for young women, who have had a two years' con-
tact with the larger social life and advantages offered
by a normal-school environment. The solution offered,
and which experience approves, is consolidation of rural
schools as a substitute for the village school of Europe,
and a more complete provision for the supervision of all
rural education.
12. Where Colleges and Universities Fall Short
The colleges and universities are also guilty of incom-
plete functioning as related to the problem of universal
public education of a type to fit the needs of our polit-
ical and social order. These higher institutions have
shown the same seeming lack of interest in the institu-
tions lower down as have the normal schools toward the
rural community needs. The facilities needed for the
training of leaders in expert educational service and of
teachers for our high schools have been very tardily and
inadequately provided. Economic considerations have
caused the normal schools to push their graduates into
these fields. At the same time similar considerations
have prevented a sufficiently large number of those with
college or university training from entering the teaching
field, in institutions below college rank, to meet the
demand for properly qualified teachers in our rapidly
expanding system of secondary schools. A further neg-
lect by the universities has been in a failure to offer
courses for those who were looking forward to a career
APPLICATION OF THE FIVE PRINCIPLES 105
in the field of the educational expert as it is related to
the general administration of education. This defect is
now being remedied as rapidly as it is possible for the
new scientific view-point to find recognition among the
still strongly intrenched traditions of the liberal-arts
courses. The idea strongly holds, however, in many
sections, that all there is to education in the common
schools is teaching, and that the sole requirement for
this, from the standpoint of university preparation, is
a profound knowledge of the subject to be taught.
13. Better Classification of Defectives and
Delinquents
The treatment of defective and delinquent classes is
also open to serious question as to its real economy and
effectiveness. Here the per-capita cost is so great as to
require the utmost care lest the methods of treatment
be ineffective and wasteful. The more careful sifting
of these classes with the idea of avoiding useless experi-
mentation upon those who cannot be successfully treated
as cases for education should bring some relief to this
situation. The application of the tests of the psycholog-
ical clinic and the more persistent study of individual
antecedents may be expected to lead to a much more
definite and tangible basis for treatment of this problem
than has heretofore been possible. But not until these
institutions are placed on a basis of non-political expert
control can any such advancement in their management
and results be expected.
CHAPTER VII
BOARDS OF EDUCATION
i. Popular Participation the Rule in Our School
Organization
Like Germany, our educational interests are left to
individual States to administer rather than to the na-
tion at large. Unlike Germany, however, our tendency
has been toward the encouragement of local initiative
and popular participation in control. This is in strict
accord with the spirit and method of our government,
both State and national, in all its branches. There have
been variations at times and in certain departments of
government or certain sections of the country. But re-
actions in such cases are common. We have a striking
evidence of this in the popular demand for "referendum
and recall." Our courts, by reason of the manner of
their establishment, have gradually drawn away from
the original source of their authority the people. So
completely have they hedged themselves and their acts
about with precedents that their procedures amount
practically to the determination of the laws of the land.
Their holdings and decisions either predetermine legis-
lation or else mould or veto it afterward. As a logical
result of such a condition, the people who created these
courts are now demanding their reformation.
In setting up units of control in education States have
generally recognized this fundamental principle of our
106
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 107
peculiar form of democracy. There have been excep-
tional cases readily traceable to some local condition
or influence. Ambitious departments of government
have sought in various ways to centralize this control.
But thus far, in the main, the people have insisted upon
a hearing and the right to participate in the establish-
ment and conduct of the schools. Wherever movement
has been away from the people there has been seen a
tendency toward the same formalism and aloofness from
popular sentiment which the courts have manifested.
2. Results of Lack of Such Participation
One of the most striking illustrations of such an atro-
phied condition of public interest in education as would
naturally result from lack of participation is to be found
in the Southern States. In recent years there has come
a tremendous awakening among educators, statesmen,
and men of the more recently developed industrial in-
terests of the South with regard to the need of more and
better schools. But the people have become accus-
tomed to look to the State, as a sort of generous parent,
to supply the funds necessary to support their meagre
educational requirements. Now that their interest and
support are demanded in a local way to make possible the
needed increase in facilities for the education of their
children, they present to the appeals of the reformer an
indifference and lethargy that are baffling and almost
hopeless.
A similar situation has been imminent with regard to
our higher institutions of learning. Even State institu-
tions dependent upon popular support have been in-
volved in some instances. There has grown up in these
institutions, all unpremeditatedly, a certain aristocratic
attitude of aloofness from general popular needs and
108 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
interests. Just in proportion as these institutions have
receded from such an attitude, have become thoroughly
humanized, as it were, and have taken up, with all sin-
cerity, those great problems of the people which higher
learning alone can render soluble, to that extent have the
people responded, and will continue to respond, in pro-
viding adequately and generously for their support.
3. Logical Limitations to Centralized Control
We hear much talk in these days about tendencies
toward centralization in our educational affairs. Let us
not be deceived. We may find more effective adjust-
ments of the machinery for the administering of our
schools; indeed, there is everywhere seen the need of
such readjustments. But in the strict sense, in the sense
that there is to be less of participation by the people than
heretofore, there is no such evidence of a tendency to-
ward centralized control. If there were such a tendency
there would be in it a genuine cause for alarm for all
those who seek the permanent advancement of educa-
tion and the perpetuity of our democracy.
Ultimately the cost of education falls upon all the
people, upon all who pay the price of rentals, of food, of
clothing, of that which satisfies any human want. These
same people will not knowingly surrender their right
to an accounting for what they thus contribute toward
the maintenance of schools. They will even demand a
right to some specific representation on both the taxing
and the spending bodies set up by society to provide the
necessary schools. Every proposed increase in the edu-
cational budget in order to provide for the rapidly grow-
ing demands due to our educational development will
call out more and more insistently a demand for this
representation, and for wide-spread publicity with re-
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 109
gard to all innovations or increased expenditures pro-
posed by those set aside as experts to conduct the edu-
cation of the young in our public schools. And this is
only right and just. How else is the individual to get
all the development, physical, mental, spiritual, to which,
"by the sweat of his brow," he has an inherent and in-
alienable right?
4. Operation of This Principle in Case of Boards
of Control
It is a most remarkable fact that in all the seemingly
haphazard development of State systems of education
this principle of the need and the right of participation
by the people is always uppermost. Nowhere is this
more clearly evident than in the provisions made for
boards of control of the educational units discussed in
the foregoing chapters. The usual practice of society
has been to set over each of the units of control a group
of persons chosen by the people as a board of school di-
rectors or a board of education. Such a practice may be
said to be universal in the case of cities and all school
districts, including townships where these are the local
units. It is much less frequently true of counties and
States.
In the case of local or district units such boards are
invested with large powers and duties, including prac-
tically all that is essential to the establishment and opera-
tion of schools. In the organization of the larger units,
with but few exceptions, the functions of such boards
are much more general and limited, usually having to do
with those things common to the larger unit as distin-
guished from interests more local and specific in char-
acter. It is the purpose in this chapter to discuss at
some length the different types of boards, with typical
110 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
organizations under different units; the possible co-or-
dination of boards of the larger and smaller units; and
to offer some constructive criticisms of existing condi-
tions and tendencies.
5. Manner of Choosing District and City Boards
In our previous discussion of units of control as de-
veloped in the process of establishing schools we have
called attention, in a casual way, to the various kinds
of boards. It still remains to discuss these organiza-
tions more in detail and to study them with reference
to their actual functioning in the operation of schools.
Boards of districts and cities vary both as to the num-
ber of members and as to the method of selecting them.
In the matter of numbers the variation is wide, but de-
tails need not be gone into further on this point. These
boards are either elected by popular vote or appointed.
In case of election by popular vote two general practices
prevail: (i) they are elected at general elections as a
part of the general political procedure, or (2) they are
voted for at a special election called for school purposes
only. By this latter method it is believed that the selec-
tion of the members is more definitely removed from the
influence of political methods. In some instances an
effort is made to select a board that is representative of
the different sections or districts of a city. This plan
naturally brings into the board and its actions many
local or sectional contentions, thus causing the members
not infrequently to lose sight of the larger general in-
terests in their efforts to adjust merely local and preju-
diced interests. The present tendency is to seek suitable
persons from the citizens at large and to elect those
who are not only willing to take the time and trouble
necessary in performing this important service for the
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 111
community but who are able to bring to the service a
fair degree of intelligence and good business ability.
Where effort is made to elect members representative
of sectional interests there is very apt to be brought
into the board meetings and discussions, as suggested
above, many petty neighborhood jealousies and desires
which should have no part in determining the educa-
tional work of the city or district. Such matters do
not affect so intimately members chosen at large, and
they therefore approach their work with a more judicial
attitude of mind and act more in accordance with the
interests of the community as a whole.
The method of choosing boards by appointment, as
generally practised, belongs particularly to cities, and is
also seen to work to the disadvantage of society in its
effort to secure efficiently administered schools. The
common procedure in such cases is to give the city execu-
tive the appointing power. As he is nearly always a
political partisan put up by the usual machinery of par-
tisan politics, his choice is apt to be affected strongly by
the methods of the politician who seeks to mete out
favors in exchange for influence and votes. Further-
more, such a method carries with it the probability of
complete and abrupt, not to say frequent, changes in
educational policy in many of our cities. Thus the
whole machinery of educational administration is ren-
dered unstable, making impossible any such natural evo-
lution in the local educational system as seems desirable
and necessary to wholesome, logical growth.
6. Term of Service
This brings up the question of term of service of board
members. The consensus of view is that this should be
for several years and the selection of new members so
112 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
arranged as to make the board a continuous body, i. e. t
with always a majority of the members holding over.
7. Co-ordination of Boards of Large and Small Units
There is little or no relationship between boards of
local districts or cities and county or State boards of
education. Thus far the idea of a logical co-ordination
of these boards so as to give to each a distinct func-
tion and yet provide for their complete co-operation in
carrying forward the administration of a State system
of education seems to have received little attention.
County boards, where they exist, may have complete
charge of the educational interests of a county or their
relation to the schools may be a more or less formal and
perfunctory contact at some one point in the mechanism.
For instance, the board may exist to select and adopt
text-books, as in South Dakota and West Virginia; as a
fiscal agent, as in Virginia and Florida; for examining
and certificating teachers, as in Kansas, Michigan, Mis-
sissippi, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon.
Or the county board may have full control, as in Georgia, 1
where its functions are: to select a county commissioner;
to divide the county into subdistricts when necessary,
for white and colored races ; to employ teachers ; to pur-
chase, lease, or rent school sites ; to build or repair school-
houses; to decide controversies relating to school law.
Between these two extremes there are various other
types of county boards with correspondingly differing
degrees of authority and responsibility.
Kentucky is a good illustration of a State that has
1 In Bibb County, Georgia, such a board, consisting of fifteen members,
is self-perpetuating, all vacancies in the membership being filled by the
board itself. There are four such counties in Georgia, operating under
special charters and independently of State laws as affecting the organ-
ization and administration of their schools.
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 113
undertaken to co-ordinate county and local boards in
the management of schools. In that State the county
is the school unit with the exception of the graded-school
districts of cities and towns, which are independent.
The ungraded schools of the county are included in ed-
ucational divisions provided for by statute. Each of
these divisions has a board made up of the trustees,
one from each district, of all the subdistricts in that
educational division. The chairmen of these division
boards together with the county superintendent, who
is the presiding officer, constitute the county board of
education. Thus the county, division, and subdistrict
organizations are all duly co-ordinated.
8. State Boards of Education
As to State boards of education, the functions, author-
ity, and composition are of almost as many varieties as
there are States providing for them. In composition
most of them are partly or wholly ex qfficio. When
partly so, the remaining members, varying from two to
eight, are usually appointed by the governor of the
State. Like county boards, their powers and duties
range from that of selecting text-books or certificating
teachers to a general control and supervision of all edu-
cational interests of the State. In extent of authority,
the Oklahoma board, as established by the legislature
in 1911, exceeds all others. It has complete control and
authority over everything educational of a public nature
in the State with the exception of the College of Agri-
culture and Mechanic Arts. 1
In this case, again, no definite provision is made for
co-ordinate action with or through county and district
boards. In several of the States the duties and author-
1 See U. S. Com. Report, 1911, vol. I, pp. 76-77.
114 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
ity conferred upon these boards are of such a character
as to indicate that due consideration was given to the
scope and character of the smaller unit organizations.
In perhaps as many other cases no thought seems to
have been given to setting any "metes and bounds" to
the authority of State boards, on account of what might
be considered the prerogatives of the smaller and more
local unit organization. In other words, these latter are
strictly subordinated rather than co-ordinated. The
probabilities are that they should be neither in a com-
plete sense.
9. State Institutional Boards
Another form of State or district board has been es-
tablished in most of the States to preside over the gen-
eral administration of State educational institutions. In
the case of State universities there are one or more boards
selected from the State at large. The number is deter-
mined by the practice of the State in organizing its uni-
versity departments. Where these are in two or more
distinct groups, located in different centres, the custom
has been to have a board for each division. The ten-
dency now seems to be toward a common board for all
such institutions in a given State. Noteworthy illus-
trations of this are seen in recent legislation in Iowa and
Kansas. The case of Oklahoma, cited above, represents
the extreme of consolidation, and puts all State institu-
tions save one under the State board of education.
As in the case of county and State boards of education,
so in establishing boards of trustees or regents for uni-
versity, college, or normal-school control little or no
thought seems to have been given to any logical scheme
of correlation or co-ordination of their functions with
those of other educational interests. The only approach
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 115
to such an idea is seen in making the State superinten-
dent of education or instruction an ex-officio member of
such boards, but ordinarily with no official relation def-
initely specified.
10. Haphazard Growth of Methods of Control
All of this goes to show that the whole matter of con-
trol in education as provided for by society through legis-
lation has been a matter of haphazard growth, of crude
experimentation with untried theories, of radical move-
ments due to the dominance of an extreme view, or an
overwhelming reaction against some intolerably evil
practice.
The reaction against political control of educational
affairs in Oklahoma, for instance, probably gave that
State its present extreme centralized control a situa-
tion no more rational, yet about as inevitable as was an
emperor after the first republic hi France. True it is
that there is ample evidence of the persistence of old
traditions, as seen in the county unit of control in the
South and again in the strong, centralized State control
in New York and in the States immediately influenced
thereby. On the other hand, the development of the local
district organization came partly as a result of the ac-
cident of settlement in a new country, partly from the
strong reaction against centralization as a result of the
French and American Revolutions. The development
of separate sections of the university function in States
was undoubtedly due in part to tradition and in part to
an utter lack of clear understanding on the part of law-
makers of what a State institution of university grade
really should include. But we should not omit here the
influence of another very important factor, viz., the act
of the Federal Government in granting lands to aid in the
116 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
establishment and support of institutions for training
in agriculture and the mechanic arts. It is easy to see
how this gave rise to the establishment of separate col-
leges of agriculture. The thing happened not because
it seemed the best way so much as because the empha-
sis was put upon the industrial side by the very nature
and purpose of the act, and there was no established
precedent for the States to follow.
ii. Persistence of Traditions
Once a policy is established, the machinery developed
for its operation, and vested interests created, and there
is fixed a difficult, if not insuperable, barrier to future
change without some powerful motive by which to stim-
ulate public sentiment to the point of action. Thus it
has come about that practices at first more or less ten-
tatively entered upon have passed over into the cus-
tomary and even traditional. And so the example of a
State or city has furnished to some newer State or city
a method of procedure which, when duly modified so as
to suit local theories or local wants, has become the law
of the newly established commonwealth.
12. Discussion of Types. Boards of Rural and
Village Schools
Having thus reviewed the existing situation in a gen-
eral way, let us proceed to discuss more definitely and
critically the various types of boards as they have thus
far developed. Naturally, the starting-point should be
determined by what we consider the most fundamental
and far-reaching aspect of this factor in school adminis-
tration. Or if the exact type for an ideal treatment is
lacking, then we may very properly take the nearest
approach to it as our point of departure. It has already
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 117
been intimated that this should be as near as possible,
consistently with efficient management, to the people
most directly concerned and participating in the support
and direction of the schools.
This leads us directly to a consideration of boards of
rural and village schools. These are, practically in every
instance, elected by the people of the community which
they serve. In numbers they vary from the single trus-
tee of a township or subdistrict to three directors or
trustees of independent districts. These boards, except
in some cases in New England, are without any executive
officers under them except such duties of an executive
nature as they may impose upon the teachers employed.
In some cases in village schools where there are a princi-
pal and several teachers this executive function is lodged
in the principal. In the vast majority of cases, how-
ever, there is no recognized principal teacher de facto,
and consequently no clearly denned discrimination of
function, when it comes to actual administration, as
between the teacher and the board.
13. County Boards
The first point in ascent from the smaller unit at which
we find, by general practice, an executive officer is in the
county unit. Here again the discrimination of function
is lacking or obscure. Either there is no board, as is
true of nineteen States, or else the superintendent of
the county is not the executive officer of the board. In
only three States are the superintendents of county units
appointed by county boards. Thus we find only three
States in which the superintendent of rural schools is
under a board of education, while in twenty-six States
the superintendent is elected directly by the people, and
in most instances reports his time to the county super-
118 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
visors as a basis for payment of his salary. He ordi-
narily reports all educational matters directly to the State
superintendent. Thus the legislative, executive, and ju-
dicial functions pertaining to the management of rural
schools waver more or less impotently between a local
board of trustees, with an entirely lay membership but
with no educational executive, and a quasi-educational
executive chosen out of the vicissitudes of county poli-
tics and usually called upon to exercise all three of the
above-named functions for the rural schools of an entire
county.
Evidently a county board elected by the people and
chosen at large, with authority to select, appoint, and
fix the compensation of one or more supervisory officers
to look after the work of instruction, attendance, health,
and sanitation, and defective, dependent, and delinquent
children, would be a desirable solution to such a prob-
lem. Such a board should have the authority to dis-
trict the county for both elementary and high-school
purposes, and also for purposes of supervision; to dis-
continue schools and consolidate districts when expe-
dient; to levy and collect taxes; to provide suitable
school sites for each district; to erect schoolhouses; to
provide for transportation of children where necessary;
to select and adopt text-books with the advice and on the
recommendation of the superintendent; to appoint and
fix the compensation of teachers; to discuss and adopt
programmes of study and regulations governing the
schools when recommended by the superintendent; to
co-operate with the State board in the certification of
teachers and in such other matters as demand consider-
ation extending beyond the jurisdiction of single counties.
Some such plan of adjustment seems to be the only
recourse by which rural schools may be organized on the
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 119
basis of highest efficiency in achieving the purposes for
which they are established and maintained. Such a
county board should not exceed five in number, to be
chosen from the county at large, and each member to
serve for at least three years. Besides the general pow-
ers and duties enumerated above, this board should
also have authority to choose certain advisory boards,
authorized to make recommendations to the board of
education along special lines, such as various forms of
vocational training, music, physical training, the care
of defective children, etc.
14. Kentucky Plan of Rural Organization
Provisions somewhat similar for the handling of the
rural situation are not lacking in actual practice. The
Kentucky plan, 1 already referred to, has many points in
common with the plan proposed. Other Southern States
make provisions somewhat similar, while the county
boards of Indiana embody in then* powers and duties
most of the functions above enumerated. The logic of
such an arrangement is readily apparent. The schools
are created by the people and the people pay the cost. A
board elected by the people thus becomes their represen-
tative body to transact the business of the schools. The
people can be trusted to select lay members for such a
board. They will probably succeed oftener in making
a wise selection than will any appointive body. But
when it comes to the selection of educational experts to
superintend instruction or to teach in the schools, all ex-
perience is directly and emphatically opposed to elec-
tion by popular vote. This principle will hold good at
any point or for any unit of control of our educational
system.
1 See pp. 112-13 f this chapter.
120 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
15. City Boards
As has been said in another chapter, city units of con-
trol have come about in a. peculiar way. It is in the
nature of the case that they should represent a peculiar
problem in our plans for the conduct of our system of
education. In nearly all instances cities have been con-
sidered by legislatures as apart from other units. At the
same time education in cities as in other subdivisions of
the State has been held as a distinct function of society
quite apart, in all essential phases of its administration,
from other functions of government. In this sense
boards of education have nearly always been given a dis-
tinct corporate existence under the laws of States. They
are usually given all the powers and duties necessary to
the complete organization, equipment, and maintenance
of schools without interference from other departments
of city, county, or State governments.
It is important, also, in this connection, to bear in
mind that in no case except that of the State itself is
the territorial unit of control necessarily co-extensive
with political units of control. That the State even is
an exception is plainly accounted for on the ground that
it is the original lawgiving body of society for all mat-
ters pertaining to the management of schools.
Thus city boards of education have always enjoyed
an autonomy more or less marked and distinct as com-
pared with that of other educational bodies having a
similar function. As a result the evolution of the city
board has been more logical than that of other boards.
It has been, in the main, a result of the effort of society
to establish a smaller representative body intended to
act for society in the actual establishment and conduct
of the schools. Itself composed of laymen, it has, al-
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 121
most from the first, sought an expert executive especially
for the administration of instruction. Other matters,
such as the business side of administration; the laying
out, construction, and supervision of grounds and build-
ings; health, attendance, and the care of defectives, have
been met in different ways, chiefly these three: (i) com-
mittees of the board have been charged with them; (2)
separate departments headed by experts have been set
up; or (3) all have been assigned more or less definitely
to the one executive along with the supervision of in-
struction.
1 6. The Committee System
In the committee system we have again the layman
assuming the duties of the expert. The plan of leaving
all to one executive head, common in smaller cities, with-
out giving him special expert assistants, practically ig-
nores the modern idea of expert service. For this is not
an age when men can readily become experts in three or
four widely divergent lines. Yet where the system is
too small good economy forbids any such specialization
in experts. In such instances the principle of the ad-
visory committee working in conjunction with a single
executive may be found helpful.
17. Methods of Selection of City Boards
The prevailing method of selection of city boards has
been by election although not always for the city at
large. As has already been pointed out, the method of
representation by subdistricts or wards has not been
successful. This idea of representation might be much
better provided for by some scheme such as just referred
to for the selection of advisory boards representing not
different sections of the city but different educational
122 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
interests, as vocational, musical, physical, or the care of
special classes. By such a plan, carefully worked out,
boards might call to their assistance bodies of experts
whose advice would be exceedingly helpful and enlight-
ening with regard to these great problems of educational
development which are constantly up for their consid-
eration.
18. Special Investigations as Related to City Boards
The problem of city boards of education has attracted
much attention in recent years. It has been ably dis-
cussed at various sessions of the National Education
Association. It has been made the subject of special
inquiry and investigation by different cities. This was
done for the city of Chicago in 1898, when an educa-
tional commission of eleven members, representative of
different interests, was appointed by the mayor. This
commission was presided over by the late President
William R. Harper, and many of the leading educational
experts of the country were called into consultation. An
exhaustive report of the work of the commission was
published by the city. 1
More recently special expert investigations have been
conducted, notably in Baltimore, New York City, and
Portland, Ore. The published reports 2 of these in-
vestigations contain important criticisms and recom-
mendations with regard to the boards of education. In
1 Report of the Educational Commission of the City of Chicago,
Chicago, 1899.
2 Report of Commission Appointed to Study the System of Education
of the Public Schools of Baltimore, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin
no. 4, IQII. "How New York City Administers Its Schools," E.C.Moore
("School Efficiency Series," Hanus), World Book Co., N. Y., 1913.
Report of the Survey of the Public School System of School District
No. i, Multnomah County, Oregon, City of Portland, Nov. i, 1913.
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 123
the first two cities it happens that the department of
education, instead of being an independent corporation
of an independent school district, is administered under
a department or departments of municipal government.
The recommendations made in both instances are
strongly against placing such limitations upon the ad-
ministration as naturally arise where political methods
enter into the selection and appointment of any of the offi-
cials or experts connected with the conduct of education.
Nearly all critics agree, also, that the board of educa-
tion of a city should be a comparatively small body.
Various numbers are suggested, but in most cases three
to seven members are designated as sufficient. The term
of office generally proposed is at least three years, with
a minority of the members chosen each year, thus mak-
ing the body continuous.
19. Make-up of an Ideal City Board
If we were to embody in one statement all the impor-
tant points which go to make up an ideal board for trans-
acting the business of the schools and enacting the nec-
essary legislation for their government under the city
charter or the general State law, as the case may be, it
would read about as follows: The board of education
of a city should consist of three to seven members, vary-
ing with the size of the city concerned. These members,
chosen at large from the city, should be elected by the
people, and should serve for a term of three to five
years without pay. One new member should be chosen
each year, thus making the board a continuous body.
They should be both politically and financially inde-
pendent of other departments of municipal govern-
ment. They should be empowered and required to
choose experts to supervise (i) the work of instruc-
124 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
tion; (2) the business management and supplies; (3)
the selection of sites and the erection and care of build-
ings; (4) attendance; (5) health and hygiene ; (6) phys-
ical education, including playgrounds; (7) the segrega-
tion and care of special classes. These experts would
better be under one executive head, especially in our
largest cities. At any rate, the superintendents of in-
struction should have certain authority where their
functions impinge upon the instructional work of the
schools. In addition to these expert departments pro-
vision should be made for the appointment of suitable
advisory committees or boards, which the board of
education might call into council whenever the situation
demanded or whenever any particular industrial or so-
cial interest of the city might desire a hearing with ref-
erence to the claims of such interest upon the educational
work of the public schools.
Such a board, aided and supported by such advice and
council as these experts and special advisory committees
might give, and invested with proper authority along
all fundamental lines essential to the establishment,
organization, equipment, and maintenance of schools,
should be able to function effectively in the accomplish-
ment of that for which school boards are created the
training, under the most approved conditions and in the
most scientific manner, of all the children and youth of
the community which they are called to serve.
20. The State Type of Board
The third general type of educational board is a State
board. 1 As stated earlier in this chapter, such boards
1 This will include also such district boards of the State as might be
called to preside over one of several normal schools, since their character
is essentially the same.
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 125
may be established to direct general educational inter-
ests or to preside over the fiscal interests and formulate
the general rules of operation of one or several State
institutions. As has been pointed out, the practice is
greatly varied. A different situation is presented when
State-wide direction is to be substituted for city, dis-
trict, or even county control. There is not that oppor-
tunity for direct participation which holds in case of the
smaller units. There is felt something of the need of
applying the principle of participation through represen-
tation in a larger and more general way than by direct
selection by the people. At the same time the principle
of a distinct jurisdiction and control for educational
purposes may still be applied. The policy of separa-
tion from both ecclesiastical control and the limitations
caused by the vicissitudes of party politics should be
just as rigidly adhered to in case of the larger unit as
of the smaller, and even more so.
21. Function of State Boards Confused Between
Two Ideals
It seems that through the more or iess uncertain course
which our educational evolution has taken some curious
incongruities have crept in. This is strikingly true of
the manner in which the problem of organizing the ad-
ministrative control of the State as an educational unit
has been handled. Two radically opposing ideas have
contended for popular support: (i) the rather imperial-
istic idea of complete control over the entire system of
schools of a State to be vested in a central personage or
board; (2) the democratic idea of representation of the
people at every stage of the process, with diminishing
authority in local affairs as distance from the people, be-
cause of wider area in the unit, has increased.
126 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
The relation of State supervision and State boards of
education to the general administration of education
seems to have been confused between these two ideals,
and in the confusion has become more or less mixed
with State politics, usually to the detriment of the cause
of public education. A similar condition is seen in the
present county control which prevails under county su-
pervision in many of the States. In the case of New
York we see the hand of Hamilton and his idea of cen-
tralized control. But even here the struggle was a long
one. The regency established in the latter part of the
eighteenth century was to have control of all educational
institutions, including secondary schools. But no ade-
quate provision was anywhere made for common schools.
In 1812 there was established, as a result of this neglect
of common schools, the office of State superintendent of
common schools. This was abolished in 1821, and the
secretary of State performed the functions of the super-
intendent as an ex-qfficio appointment. In 1854 the
superintendency was again restored, and the dual sys-
tem of an unrelated superintendent and board of regents
continued until 1904, when the present scheme was pro-
jected which places all educational interests in the hands
of the regency having as its executive the commissioner
of education, whose tenure of office is subject to that
body.
In New England a very different situation has devel-
oped. As a result of the educational revival led by
Carter and Mann, there was established in Massachu-
setts, in 1837, a State board of education, with power to
choose an executive. The first of these, known as sec-
retary of the State board of education, was Horace
Mann. In 1909 a new board was provided for in Massa-
chusetts, and the name of the executive was changed to
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 127
that of commissioner. The State board is partially ex
officio but mostly appointive in composition. The ap-
pointments are made by the governor. Two other States
of New England, Connecticut and Rhode Island, have
an executive appointed by a State board of education.
The other three New England States have no boards
but an executive appointed by the governor in two in-
stances, Maine and New Hampshire, and by the general
assembly in Vermont. In each of the three cases where
boards are provided for these bodies possess but little
real power or authority. The same is true of the execu-
tives of the remaining three States. In each of the six
States the powers delegated are general and advisory
rather than specifically giving authority over local school
systems.
Here we see manifested a strong effort to combine
with the idea of democratic control the larger correlating
influence of a State-wide administrative body or office.
Of the thirteen Southern States Alabama, Arkansas,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mis-
sissippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas, Virginia eleven have State boards, mostly ex of-
ficio, and each has a superintendent, all but two of whom
are chosen by popular election. Nine of the thirteen
superintendents are ex-officio members of the State
boards. The powers and duties in nearly every case
are general and advisory, as in the case of the New En-
gland group. The idea of democratic control dominates.
Still another situation exists in Pennsylvania, where
both a State board and a superintendent are appointed
by the governor, and the superintendent is ex-officio
president of the board. Thus the situation is turned
about and the board is, in a sense, made the instrument
of the superintendent. Out of these types, not forgetting
128 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the idea expressed in the election of the first State super-
intendent by the State of New York, have come, through
numerous and varied combinations and amendings, all
the other types of organization of the State as a unit of
control.
22. Trustees and Regents of State Institutions
There remains in this connection, however, that other
type of State board, the trustees or regents having con-
trol over the business of conducting State educational
institutions. Here again the practice varies somewhat
widely among the States. Recent years have seen a
tendency toward one State board to control all agencies
for advanced, professional, or special educatipn. As has
already been seen, the State boards in New York and
Oklahoma control practically all these higher educa-
tional agencies of these States. From this type the range
extends down to a condition where there may exist not
only a State board but also a separate board for each
of several normal schools, for each of the subdivisions
of the university, and for each institution for the educa-
tion of special or defective and delinquent classes. Until
recently, Florida as well as several of the North Central
group of States would illustrate such a situation. The
movement is fortunately away from such a policy.
23. Application of Principles of Control to State
Types
If we carry over to this unit the application of the
same general principles of control that have been em-
phasized in the discussion of preceding units we shall
find that, after all the general confusion of ideals is
replaced by the dominant features that stand out in a
great majority of the States, we have not so far to go
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 129
to reach common ground. But we shall look in vain
for any near approach to an ideal situation in this re-
spect.
We shall probably agree that the State board should
prevail, but not as to whether there should be one or
several boards. We shall also approve an executive for
this board or these boards; New England will furnish
us the type. But how shall the board or boards be
chosen, and what shall be their relation to the general
State-wide system of education elementary, secondary,
higher, special?
24. How to Make State Boards Representative
in Character
Adhering to the idea that the interest of society in
an institution is to be determined largely by the extent
of its participation in projecting its operations, espe-
cially where society is called upon to finance it, we are
brought again to the principle of a more or less direct
representation in management. To accomplish this,
such boards should be chosen either by a representative
body or by direct election by the people. Like city and
county boards, the members should be selected from the
State at large, and their selection should be non-partisan.
All things considered, popular election seems to have
most in its favor. This may be in connection with
general elections, but on a separate ballot with separate
election officials to make the returns. One board, a
State education board, would be preferable, if rightly
constituted. Such a board should be relatively small,
not exceeding seven members; should be a continuous
organization serving without pay, except necessary ex-
penses; should have control and oversight in a business
way of all educational interests of State- wide scope;
130 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
should have the co-operation of several advisory boards
representing: (a) institutions of higher learning, (6)
schools for the training of teachers, both secondary and
of college grade, (c) secondary schools, (d) elementary
schools, (e) schools and institutions for the training of
defective and delinquent classes; and should also have
authority to appoint various executive, supervisory, or
inspectorial officers, to act either independently or under
one executive head preferably the latter.
Such a board, with a competent executive staff and
well-chosen advisory boards, would be a much more
effective power for the development of the educational
interests of a State than are most of the conditions now
existing hi the various States. It would command the
confidence of the taxpayers as well as of the educational
public. It would harmonize, economize, and correlate
in all departments of educational endeavor. Through
it laws would find interpretation and enforcement; all
teachers would be duly certificated and their training
assured; the financial burden and responsibility for edu-
cation would be duly distributed; proper and sufficient
means for efficient supervision and inspection would be
provided; all interrelationships of different departments
and institutions of education would be properly ad-
justed.
The alternative plan would seem to be four separate
boards from the State at large, similarly chosen, but
representing rather distinctly: (a) State institutions rep-
resenting university work, (b) institutions for the train-
ing of teachers, (c) institutions for the training of de-
fectives and delinquent classes, and (d) all State-wide
interests of elementary and secondary education, as in a
State department. In this case there would need to
be one or more executives, especially for (d) , and prob-
BOARDS OF EDUCATION 131
ably for (a) and (&). Some plan for co-operation would
have to be found so as to avoid conflicts or overlapping
at the points and lines of contact and interrelationship.
It must seem evident that, where at all practicable in
view of established custom and vested interests, the
plan of a unified central board responsible to the people
and created solely for educational control is the more
desirable one.
25. Necessity of Independence of State Boards
It remains only to be said that, just as in the case of
cities, a State board should be independent of inter-
ference by the other departments of government having
to do with political affairs. The idea of a State depart-
ment of education subject to the vicissitudes and changes
of partisan political machines is an anomaly in the
realm of State systems of education. In this respect
our statesmen have shown greater widsom than our
educators. For even in our national interests in educa-
tion a national board with an executive staff and with
various advisory commissions is more in accord with
the whole spirit of our educational growth and aims than
would be a secretary of education on a footing with other
members of a presidential cabinet. Such a national
board, with a clearly defined field of operation that
should include oversight of all the great nation-wide
and international interests and relationships of educa-
tion, would become a power for accomplishment such as
no secretaryship could ever hope to bring to the cause of
education.
Thus the same principles, fundamentally, may apply
to all the types of educational boards making up our
general scheme of control. Perhaps no better summing
up for this chapter can be found than the following,
132 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
on "The Functions of a Board of Education," from
Professor Ernest C. Moore's report on "How New
York City Administers Its Schools": 1 "Its functions,"
he says, "are not executive, but legislative, deliberative,
advisory, and report-hearing. In the nature of the case-
being a lay body, it cannot itself run the schools. In-
stead, it is there to represent the people by performing
for them certain delegated functions of selecting ex-
perts to run the schools, advising with them as to how
the people would have public education conducted, ex-
amining into the sufficiency of their plans, passing upon
their reports of results, and maintaining a general over-
sight over all that they do, upholding and protecting
them in their work as long as it is satisfactory, and put-
ting others in their places as soon as it ceases to be so."
1 P. 89 of Doctor Moore's report.
CHAPTER VIII
\
MAINTENANCE AND OTHER FISCAL ASPECTS OF PUBLIC
EDUCATION
Reference has already been made to the fact that the
early schools were a function of the church. This was
true in early New England as well as in European coun-
tries. But it was a fundamental doctrine of the Refor-
mation that the people should share in common the
advantages of education. From this standpoint secu-
larization of the schools was inevitable. Naturally, the
next step was that of maintenance at public cost so that
rich and poor alike might share freely in the benefits of
learning.
i. Evolution of the Idea of Popular Support of
Schools
In the general court edict of 1647 Massachusetts pro-
vided for the support of schools by taxation, subject to
the option of the local taxing unit. The first provincial
assembly of Massachusetts Bay, under the charter by
King William granted in 1691, decreed again that "select-
men were empowered to assess the inhabitants of the
towns for the charges of the ministry, the schools and
the poor according to the agreement of the major part
of inhabitants in town meeting." 1 Connecticut early
followed a similar course. The movement for the estab-
lishment of grammar-schools throughout the colonies
1 Quoted from Clews, " Education in the Colonies," p. 64, foot-note.
133
134 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
generally carried with it the idea of popular support.
So also in the establishment of the first colleges, recourse
was had, early in their history, to the use of public funds
to aid in their support.
When later the growth of the settlements, together
with increasing complexities of church control of edu-
cation, brought about a growing demand for a more
complete secularization of the schools, there was a pe-
riod of decline in education. To tide over this period,
land grants, which had been made from the beginning
to a limited extent, now became more frequent. Com-
missioner Barnard, in his report for 1867-8, quotes from
the report of Lyman Draper, superintendent of public
instruction, as follows: "In the early history of almost
every town in every State of New England, a portion of
the public land was reserved, or special grants were made
by individuals for 'gospel' and school purposes."
We are told also that Pennsylvania, in the law of 1802,
sought to provide free education for the poor as a class.
The attempt failed, but the failure gave rise to the idea
of free schools for all classes. 1 History shows that in
other States similar provisions were attempted. This
calls attention to another cause for the decline in edu-
cation to which reference has been made above. The
well-to-do classes, especially in the plantation colonies,
looked upon the idea of free education as a form of
charity. The same idea revived with considerable force
during reconstruction days in the South, when public
schools were everywhere known as "poverty schools."
But gradually the idea of free schools at public cost
gained in the minds of the people. The action of Con-
gress in the ordinance of 1785, confirmed again in 1787,
1 Carlton, F. T., "Economic Influences upon Educational Progress in
the United States, 1820-50."
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 135
appropriating lands for the endowment of public schools,
was a great gain to the cause of free public education.
A strong prejudice against direct taxation was one of the
traditions brought from England. This, together with
the antagonism of some religious denominations whose
adherents still believed education to be solely a function
of the church, made the progress, in many localities, very
slow. The timely aid which came through the national
grant of school lands seems to have been almost neces-
sary in order to stimulate the flagging sentiment of the
people to the point of willingness to do their part in
maintaining free schools for all.
2. Forces Favorable and Unfavorable
Carlton 1 finds four fundamental influences at work
during the period from 1820 to 1850, all operating fa-
vorably for the cause of popular education supported
by taxation. These were: (i) Growth of population
and of manufactures. This caused a rapid increase of
urban populations, at the same time disintegrating the
earlier colonial industrial situation. Such a concentra-
tion of varied interests was favorable to the growth of
free schools. (2) Extension of the suffrage. This put
the ballot in the hands of the large mass of working men
in the cities. Their thirst for equality of opportunity
put them in favor of tax-supported schools. (3) The
humanitarian movement, which was also an outgrowth
of urban concentration of population. The various hu-
mane societies saw in public education the only effective
panacea for many of the worst evils growing out of the
sudden transfer of social and industrial centres from
country, village, and hamlet to the crowded city. (4)
The labor movement which gave to society and politics
1 Op. tit., pp. 29-44.
136 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
a newly organized force which must be reckoned with,
and always on the side of equal opportunity for the
working man's children.
The above forces are, even to-day, among the chief
stimuli to social activity for the betterment of our edu-
cational system. Two other forces at least may be
added which are of more recent development, or, to
speak more accurately, have more recently emerged in
social consciousness. The first of these is the abolition
of the institution of slavery. Throughout the former
slave territory a radical change has come about in favor
of free public schools for all classes. A new industrial
life is demanding a wider and higher intelligence. The
problem is especially accentuated by the presence, in
large numbers, of the descendants of former slaves. In
this latter aspect, indeed, the problem is coming to be
realized as nation wide.
A second condition which is now stirring the thought
of all people, in all sections of our country, is to be
found in the changed conditions in our agricultural in-
terests. Individual landholders are rapidly diminishing
in numbers. Tenant-farming is coming to be the rule.
Along with this change is coming the realization that to
keep pace in the production of farm crops with the
rapid growth in population and in diversified industries,
there must be more attention given to the scientific
treatment of soils. This calls for a higher and more
generally diffused intelligence on the part of those who
operate the farms. At the same time, in order to keep
intelligent men on the farms, more attention must be
given to the needs and interests of country life. But
all this means better schools for the rural communities.
Landholders, who are probably the slowest and most
reluctant of all classes to respond, are gradually awaken-
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 137
ing to the fact that good tax-supported rural schools,
including high schools, bear a very direct relation to
the prospective incomes from farm lands. Thus is one
of the last and most persistent obstacles to free schools
after the real American ideal slowly giving way.
3. Summary of Arguments
Referring once more to Carlton, 1 we cannot do better
than to quote his list of arguments for and against free
tax-supported schools. The arguments for are: "(i)
Education is necessary for the preservation of free insti-
tutions. (2) It prevents class differentiation. (3) Edu-
cation tends to diminish crime. (4) It reduces the
amount of poverty and distress. (5) It increases pro-
duction. (6) Education is the natural right of all in-
dividuals. (7) Education will rectify false ideas as to
unjust distribution of wealth."
The arguments given as against the proposition are:
"(i) Free education for all increases taxation unduly.
(2) Taxation for the purposes of maintaining free public
schools is a violation of the rights of the individual.
(3) A public system of schools was opposed by certain
religious elements because of possible injury to particu-
lar religious sects. (4) Certain non-English-speaking
people opposed the public schools because they feared
that their own tongue would be supplanted by the Eng-
lish language. (5) Impractical legislation caused much
opposition. (6) It was urged that education would not
benefit the masses. (7) Injury to the private school was
alleged. (8) Public education tends to break down so-
cial barriers." The same writer suggests another ad-
verse influence in the form of the "increasing opportu-
nity to put children to work in factories."
1 Op. cit., pp. 45-46-
138 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
This gives us a very clear and full presentation of the
principles and forces which were lined up in the strug-
gle which was waged in the early days of American
free schools. In 1867-8 we find United States Commis-
sioner Henry Barnard l quoting various opinions concern-
ing the American policy in regard to taxation for educa-
tional purposes. The substance of these opinions may
be summed up as follows: The exercise of power over
education by the State is indispensable to the preserva-
tion of society. This is not so merely as a matter of
expediency or economy, it is a question of humanity
also. Free public education is necessary in order to
preserve representative government. Even higher edu-
cation should receive the fostering care of the State in
order to provide for the maintenance of schools of stand-
ards superior to those already established.
In 1889, in the first report issued under William T.
Harris as commissioner, 2 is given a long list of reasons
why parochial schools should have a due proportion
of the public school funds. The first of these reads:
"Because all who pay taxes ought to share in the bene-
fits of taxation." On the following page of the same
report is given a reply to this sentiment which is worthy
of note. This reply was published by the Journal of
Education and is quoted from the 1888-9 commissioner's
report. 3 "In regard to the assertion that 'all who pay
taxes ought to share in the benefits of taxation,' the
Journal of Education says : ' This is in no sense an Ameri-
can axiom or principle. It has nothing whatever to do
with the policy of American life. We do not tax a man,
but his property. We do not tax the property in pro-
1 Report of Com. of Education, 1867-8, pp. 323-330.
1 Report of Com. of Education, 1888-9, P- 634.
* U. S. Com. Report, 1888-9, P- 635.
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 139
portion to the share of benefit the owner is to receive.
A man's property may be taxed so that thousands of
dollars shall be used in highways, though he may never
be able to ride upon them or see them, and may have
no family to enjoy them; thousands may be used for
schools, though he was never in a public school a day
and may have no child to attend; thousands may go to
county buildings, State buildings, etc. When a man's
property is taxed there is no contract, direct or indirect,
made or implied, that he is personally to be considered
in its use.'"
Thus an old, old controversy has come down even to
the present day. So wrapped in traditions have the
schools been from the beginning that it has been very
hard for some classes of people to grasp the force of such
arguments as the above. The habit of looking upon
education as a strictly personal affair, vested interests,
religious prejudice, all these and more have stood, and
still stand, to a considerable extent, in the way of a com-
plete readjustment of ideas in strict harmony with the
real needs of the situation.
4. Need of More Money for Schools
"We ought to spend more public money on schools,
because the present expenditures do not produce all
the good results which were expected and may reason-
ably be aimed at," wrote President Eliot a few years
ago. 1 In this connection he shows wherein the schools
have failed and also what new things they have done
and are undertaking to do. Whoever gives a little
thought to the matter will readily see that if the schools
are to be brought to that state of efficiency which the
importance of their service to society requires, and at
1 Eliot, Charles W., "More Money for the Public Schools," p. 25.
140 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the same time provide for the ever-increasing demands
in response to our industrial needs, the people must put
much more money into the enterprise than they are
now doing. And not only must there be more money,
but we must also find a means for the more equitable
distribution of it.
When the nation is believed to be in need of battle-
ships, coast defences, or waterway improvements there
are abundant resources from the revenues which the
people pay in the form of indirect taxes. There are al-
ways comments of an unfavorable character by a few
who realize the true source of the funds which are to
pay for these improvements; but the vast majority of
the people go on paying without thinking much about
it. When a direct tax is to be levied, however, the
matter is different. Each individual is called upon
directly to pay over a certain sum for a specific pur-
pose. At once all the old Anglo-Saxon prejudice is
aroused and we hear people talking about the enormous
taxes they have to pay, and especially for schools.
If they would trouble to look into the matter they would
find that there is no other possible way by which good
schooling can be had at so low a rate, based on per-
capita cost.
On this last point Mr. C. M. Woodward has compiled
some interesting comparative statistics. 1 He finds that
in Saint Louis the schools cost $.95 for every dollar
paid for police service. In Boston the ratio is $1.73 to
$1.00; in New York, $1.93 to $1.00; in San Francisco,
$1.48 to $1.00; in Detroit, $1.60 to $1.00, etc. Many
other similar comparisons might easily be made. It
seems evident from this that, when considered value for
^he following figures are quoted from President Eliot's book pre-
viously referred to.
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 141
value, our schools are not so expensive as the tax haters
sometimes try to make them appear.
5. Advantages and Disadvantages of Direct
Taxation
From the point of view of general public satisfaction,
it would be a good thing if the entire cost of education
might somehow be carried through indirect taxation.
But there is another very important consideration which
needs to be kept before us here. The call upon the peo-
ple of a community for direct participation in the cost
of education has a very wholesome educational influence
upon public sentiment in regard to schools and their
real value. What people pay for directly they are in-
clined to examine into pretty carefully in order to under-
stand what the money is going for. Without such a
direct proprietary interest in our schools, public senti-
ment would be likely to lag far behind the present
stage of enlightenment, inadequate as that sometimes
seems to be. Such a situation, in case of even a slight
reactionary movement, might prove disastrous to edu-
cational progress.
What we probably should have is a combination of
the two forms of taxation, which would transfer a con-
siderable portion of the burden to indirect sources of
revenue but still leave each community to do its best
up to a certain limit. This we shall discuss more fully
a little further on.
6. Inadequacy and Inequalities in Support of Schools
The large increase in the cost of education, together
with the changes now in progress and everywhere de-
sired in the shape of industrial training in our schools,
brings us face to face with the problem of maintenance
142 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
on an entirely new basis as far as aggregate cost is con-
cerned. This problem is accentuated with the increas-
ing difficulty experienced in many localities in securing
teachers enough who are even reasonably well prepared
for the work which the people are demanding to have
done in the schools.
At present the taxing units for the support of schools
are district, township, county, city or town, State, and
nation. By far the greater part of the cost of the ele-
mentary and high schools is borne by districts. In a
number of States provision is made for township or
county support of high schools. Several of the States
also subsidize the high schools and elementary schools.
The States, chiefly, support normal schools (except those
of cities), universities, and special institutions for the
training of defectives and delinquents. The nation,
through land grants, has aided in the support of common
schools and universities, and is now contributing direct
appropriations to the support of education in agriculture
and military training under State administration.
The inequalities and inadequacy of support in many
instances are too well known to need any very full ac-
count here. Professor E. P. Cubberley, in his work on
"School Funds and Their Apportionment," 1 has done a
great service of enlightenment to school people and the
country at large. Not only has he pointed out the in-
equalities existing in various typical States and the
futility of seeking to depend upon permanent endowment
funds, but he has also made valuable suggestions as to
ways and means of adjusting the inequalities and increas-
ing the educational resources on a more equitable basis.
1 Cubberley, E. P., "School Funds and Their Apportionment," pp.
2 55> .1906, "Teachers College, Columbia University, Contributions to
Education."
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 143
In order to get before us in brief form the wide range
of difference in ability of different sections in a State,
and also of different States and sections of the United
States, the following table has been compiled from sta-
ASSESSED VALUATION OF REAL PROPERTY PER CAPITA, AVERAGE,
HIGHEST COUNTY AND LOWEST COUNTY FOR EACH STATE; EX-
PENDITURE PER CAPITA OF AVERAGE ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL,
AND AVERAGE LENGTH OF SCHOOL YEAR (APPROX.) IN MONTHS.
$.1-3
a >f
~. 3
<Js
^|
^ *5 S
ill
STATE
ijr 8
|la
3-3 cj
Is,"!
ill
a P
ol '" >
^d** to
"5" -5"
s^sj s> u
g j3
** LJ^
V u Jj S
*"? uJS
' Si s
S. * fc "
o. 5c " c
^ 1
111
gin
(Hs^
93j|l1
<gls
.U
Massachusetts. .
$825.46
$1,538.62
$443.48
$44-49
9-3
88.1
Connecticut ....
562.75
670.22
361.00
34-71
9-2
68.0
New Jersey
411 -39
461.09
279.99
51.03
9- 2
IOO.O
Virginia
171 .04
526.02
75.32
17.02
6-4
23.2
South Carolina..
76.97
160.42
38.02
8.26
3-5
6.1
Mississippi
84.65
168.02
5I-I3
9-49
7-2
14.6
Iowa
176. 19
261 .61
116.79
33.01
8.6
60.5
Nebraska
104. 28
251 .24
34.09
37-63
7-6
60.9
Oregon
212.67
285 . 19
110.92
38-51
6-9
56.6
tistics of the census for 190x3 and from the reports of the
United States commissioner of education. Making al-
lowance for some discrepancies which were unavoidable,
these figures still serve the purpose very well. In the
first three columns may be seen the variations in any one
of the States given. This is assuming that in each case
we are thinking of an ad valorem tax levy for the sup-
port of public schools.
Reading these columns down instead of across, and
taking them in connection with columns four, five, and
six, we get a comparison by States. And if we take
ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
them in groups of three, as they are arranged, we get
a comparative view of the different sections of the
United States.
In a similar manner we might compare the districts
of a given group of townships or counties in any one or
more States and find similar differences as to the finan-
cial ability of the people as compared with the number
of children to be cared for.
It seems evident enough that on a direct ad valorem
tax alone, by districts, counties, or States, it is quite
impossible to get even an approach to an equitable dis-
tribution of the cost of this chief of our national defences.
V; 7. Important Principles Involved
Two very important principles are here involved:
(i) Where an enterprise is not only worthy of being
successfully promoted, but also at the same time is nec-
essary to our social well-being and to the perpetuation
of our essential institutions as a nation, adequate means
should be supplied, to the extent of the financial ability
of society, for rendering this department of the public
service thoroughly efficient. Surely no one can ques-
tion for a moment the financial ability of society in this
instance. (2) If public education as a common charge
upon all the people is defensible and just, then ways
should be found for a much more equitable distribution
of the benefits of education to all classes and sections
alike. Only by some such balancing-up method will it
be possible for society to attain the ends sought. For
ignorance and vice in one part of the social body is
likely to endanger the vitality of the entire body.
8. Basis for State Support
What, then, may be done further than has already been
undertaken, in order to bring about the desired improve-
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 145
ments in our scheme for maintaining public education?
Whatever plan we may undertake to put in operation,
we should not overlook the fact that local initiative
in establishing and maintaining schools should be en-
couraged rather than weakened or supplanted. Just
here we are favored by the present situation in the de-
velopment of our educational needs. We have come to
the point where there is a strong demand for vocational
training. Indeed, we may say that one of the chief
concerns as regards increased revenues is the desire thus
to widen the scope of our educational system.
The differentiation of work which all this suggests
furnishes a natural "line of cleavage" as between what
the people of a given district may do and what the State
or nation may at least assist in doing. Of the two func-
tions of education the training of the mind and the
training in industrial intelligence and skill it is espe-
cially desirable that the former should be kept up largely
by the more immediate community. On the relative
importance of these two lines of training, from the stand-
point of the State, Superintendent Fred M. Campbell,
of Oakland, wrote, in 1888, as follows: 1 "One of these
notions is that the training of a boy's hands to a par-
ticular trade is of equal importance, to the State, with the
education of the mind. The truth of the matter is sim-
ply this : such a training of the hands is a good and useful
thing, especially to the individual concerned, and there
are a number of pressing necessities which will drive
men up to this; but the education of the mind is an
absolutely indispensable thing for the well-being of the
State, and yet there are no such immediate pressing
urgencies felt by the individual and driving him up to
furnish this to his children. Accordingly, while the one
can be left to the individual, the other must be secured,
1 Quoted from Report of U. S. Commissioner, 1888-9, i : 618.
146 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
beyond all peradventure, by the State. Mark the essen-
tial difference: The necessity of getting a living forces
itself upon every man for his own immediate selfish in-
terest. The necessity of educating his children has no
such visible urgency upon the ignorant man that is,
for the interest of others rather than his own selfish
interest and the consequences, even to them, are too
remote and far-reaching to be appreciable by his dull
mind. No doubt the State would be better off for hav-
ing an abundance of skilled artisans, but intelligent men
it must have or it is on the broad road to ruin."
Allowing for the change in educational outlook which
has come about in the twenty-five years that have elapsed
since the above writing, there is still an important prin-
ciple therein stated which holds good. And it is the
more fundamental need which he points out that should
be kept constantly alive in the minds of all the people.
At first thought such a statement seems antagonistic to
the sentiment of the quotation. But if we consider the
State as the lawgiver in the case, and if the State fixes
the laws so as to permit no evasion, participation in the
direct maintenance of the schools for training to intelli-
gence is about the only force that will ever elevate the
masses to the required standards of intelligence. Gen-
erally speaking, then, we may leave the burden of vo-
cational training more largely to the State and nation,
while the smaller units of educational control should be
required to care more especially for the mental training
of the children and youth.
9. A Working Scheme of Maintenance
With the above general principles in mind we may
outline a working scheme for the maintenance of a bal-
anced and equitable educational system. As a basis we
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 147
shall take the generally recognized units of control and
their relation to the various classes of schools which
serve them.
1. Elementary schools and high schools, i. The ele-
mentary schools are by their very nature, and by reason
of the ages to which they offer instruction, more nearly
local in their ministration than any other class.
2. The high schools serve fewer as to numbers, propor-
tionately, and should therefore extend their service over
a wider territory. This principle is readily recognized
in large cities where a number of elementary schools are
tributary to a central high school. Not until this same
principle is recognized generally in smaller cities and
towns and in rural communities shall we be able to
maintain, economically, free high schools for all. To se-
cure such a result a larger unit, the county, might better
have control of the districting for high-school purposes.
A long step toward equalization of cost would be taken
if the county could also be made the local taxing unit
for the support of high schools.
II. State institutions. These include normal schools,
universities, and institutions for the training of the
defective and delinquent classes. The first two of
these offer a service that is at least as much national
as State. They are, no doubt, best managed and con-
trolled by the States in which they are located; but the
national character of their service should be recognized
more fully when it comes to maintenance.
Taking the above grouping as a basis, how shall we
divide the cost of maintaining them?
i. The cost of maintaining the elementary schools
should rest largely with local communities. To the local
funds there would, of course, be added any distributable
funds arising from permanent endowment funds held by
148 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the State or appropriated, by special enactment, for
such purpose.
In case of weak districts unable to maintain efficient
schools without aid, according to minimum standards
which each State should determine, the State should
add such funds as shall enable these financially weak
communities to bring their schools up to the efficiency
standard, at least so far as this may be determined by
the length of the school term.
Wherever it is found advisable, after careful experi-
menting by the State, to establish vocational courses in
elementary schools the State should at least provide for
the proper supervision of this work.
2. The high schools should be maintained chiefly by
the enlarged districts mentioned above or out of the
general county high-school fund if such a plan of ad-
ministration might become feasible. For the teaching
of vocational subjects and the equipment for the same,
however, including, where necessary, some professional
training for those who go out from high schools to teach,
the State should provide a liberal subsidy.
As in the case of elementary schools, should occasion
arise under any system of administration in use, the
State should aid high schools unable to do so from local
sources to maintain minimum standards of efficiency as
determined by the State. This should be usually on
the condition that the enrollment and the community
ministered to by a given school are large enough to jus-
tify its maintenance as a fully organized high school.
3. In the case of normal schools and all schools and
departments of State universities for training in profes-
sions which relate directly to general public service not
confined within State boundaries, the Federal Govern-
ment should give liberal subsidies. In this way the
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 149
States would be relieved of part of the burden now
borne by them, and would thus be enabled to turn
more of the State revenues to the purposes above des-
ignated in the interests of elementary and high-school
education.
10. Application in Case of Federal Aid
It would follow from our previous reasoning, also, that
federal aid should be extended to States which are finan-
cially unable to maintain efficient educational facilities
in any of the essential departments of such public ser-
vice as determined by the recognized standards of a
majority of States. For instance, federal aid might very
properly relieve the States of the South included in the
black belt largely of the burden of supporting schools
for the negroes. This should not mean, however, that
the administration of these schools should be taken out
of the hands of the local State authorities.
In both State and federal aid all grants of subsidies
should be administered by the districts and States, re-
spectively, to which such grants are made. But the
granting of them should be conditioned in each case on
(i) a requirement that districts or institutions thus
subsidized first show a determination to do their utmost
toward maintaining their work on a basis of efficiency,
and (2) on the character of the distributing and check-
ing system provided by each State as to its probable
effectiveness in insuring the best possible use of the
funds provided and for the purposes originally intended.
ii. Increasing Demands and Fixed Rates of Levy
Whatever may be the sources of funds for educational
purposes, the increase from year to year should keep
pace (i) with the increase in attendance; (2) with the
150 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
increased cost of equipment due to the development of
vocational work; (3) with the increase in the cost of
instruction and other service needed due to the higher
standards of preparation required and to the increased
cost of living. Professor Moore, in his analysis of finan-
cial conditions in New York City, points out that the
increase in appropriations for educational purposes has
not kept up with the increase in attendance. Such a
condition would show a distinct retrogression unless
there could be shown a previous condition of wasteful-
ness the correction of which would account for the seem-
ing shortage in appropriations. The New York situa-
tion seemingly does not offer any such explanation.
Fixed rates of valuation, together with a constitutional
or legislative provision setting a maximum limit beyond
which a community may not go in levying funds for the
support of schools, are sure to bring some school sys-
tems to grief. In several of the States such conditions
exist to-day. Because of the inequalities of valuation
due to physical or economic conditions, sections of States,
and even entire States, may be placed in the position of
being unable to do what the people, under the changed
conditions, would willingly .undertake, because they have
no legal authority to carry forward the work and pay
the price.
Ways should be found by which such a sane popular
demand might always be realized. As far as any exces-
sive taxing is concerned, the matter would regulate itself.
People would not impoverish themselves or go beyond
the limit of a sound credit basis in their efforts to secure
for their children the best possible school facilities.
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 151
12. Justice and Wisdom in Federal Aid
There are both justice and wisdom in the plan for a
larger distribution of funds for educational purposes by
the Federal Government. This course is wise because it
will relieve somewhat the demands upon the people for
a larger direct local tax for the support of various indus-
trial lines of education. It is just because much of our
increased wealth is due directly to the increased intelli-
gence resulting from the training of our schools and col-
leges. The tax on corporations might, much of it, be
very justly turned back to the States whence it comes.
Education, scientific research, should have a due pro-
portion of the results of increased production due to the
application of scientific principles and general intelli-
gence which the schools have made possible.
, 13. Problem of Compensation of Teachers
The most important problem and at the same time the
one most difficult to solve in financing our educational
system is the problem of the compensation of teachers.
This involves not only salaries but also the pension
problem. The advance in the cost of living during the
last decade has been very trying to the resources of those
living on salaries. A stipend representing a fixed an-
nual compensation is not readily adjustable to such
changes in the prices of the commodities essential to
life. Always the advance in salary is sure to lag a little
behind the increased demands upon the salary-replen-
ished purse. On no class, perhaps, does this fall more
heavily than upon the teachers of our public schools
and higher institutions of learning. One chief reason
for this is that they are practically compelled to be idle
for about one fourth of the year, if, indeed, they are not
152 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
put to some special extra expense, in order to meet the
requirements of their profession, by attending conven-
tions or studying at some institution of higher learning
through its summer session.
14. Reasons for Present Inadequacy
The increased demands upon the teacher due to the
advance made in the character of the work, both of in-
struction and supervision, in our schools is no small
item for the teacher to meet. Other professions do not
require such a constant strain and added expenses from
year to year. The fact that the summer sessions above
referred to are supported largely by teachers is an un-
failing evidence that this is true.
An investigation in regard to teachers' salaries and
cost of living, provided for by the National Education
Association at its 1911 meeting, was reported in January,
1913. This report seems to indicate that in a great
many cases the salaries of teachers have not advanced
at a pace equal to the advance in cost of the staple com-
modities of life, including rents, food, and clothing. If
this conclusion is correct, it would leave the purchasing
power of salaries now paid in most instances consider-
ably below that of a decade ago, while the amount of
training demanded of teachers by society has materially
advanced in the same period of time.
This condition not only works a hardship upon a class
of hard-working people, but it also threatens at least a
temporary breakdown in the standards of education now
attained, inadequate as these are when compared with
our social and industrial needs. Such a state of things
comes about through the necessity of filling too large a
percentage of teaching positions with immature and in-
adequately trained teachers. The whole thing shows
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 153
up badly for the financial management of our educational
system. Not a little of this maladministration of school
finances is undoubtedly due to the limitations placed by
legislation enacted to fit conditions that existed forty
or fifty years ago.
15. The Question of Arbitrary Adjustments of
Salaries
The whole matter of compensation of teachers is still
in a chaotic condition. Indiana has undertaken to rem-
edy the situation by legislation, fixing minimum rates
based on the teacher's qualifications. The fixing of sal-
ary schedules by cities is an arbitrary process employed
in an effort to hold teachers in service and to be able
to attract a sufficient number of those well qualified to
fill the ranks where depletion in the ranks and growth
of the schools have together caused vacancies.
The elements of the problem of salaries for teachers
as it now presents itself are: (i) Are the present sched-
ules sufficient to command the services of enough men
and women qualified for the work to supply the demand?
(2) If the present scale is too low, to what extent is this
brought about by the competition of those who are merely
transients in the field or whose qualifications are more
or less below the minimum standards of efficiency? Is
it desirable to undertake, by legislation, under existing
conditions, to establish arbitrary standards, thus ignor-
ing the economic law of supply and demand?
Seemingly all our experience and all our knowledge of
the laws controlling the development of children and
youth emphasize the need, first of all, of maintaining
the highest practicable state of efficiency in our teaching
service. To do this we must set the minimum of prep-
aration of teachers as high as the possibility of main-
154 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
taining such a standard will permit. Next, we must seek
to eliminate, as speedily and effectively as possible, that
element of inefficiency which arises chiefly from lack of
experience.
If once these two things can be cared for in such a
secure fashion that society will not fall back to lower
standards rather than pay the price of competent men
and women, will not the salaries of teachers, along with
those of other occupations, adjust themselves fairly well
by the free operation of the law of the market?
In attempting to answer this general interrogation,
there are two modifying conditions which call for some
consideration at this point. The first of these is to be
found in society's estimate of the relatively fundamental
necessity of schools and education. Wherever we find a
social group of sufficient size to maintain a school and
which is thoroughly imbued with the idea that efficient
schools are actually essential to both local and national
well-being, we usually find a high grade of teachers'
qualifications demanded, and at correspondingly good
salaries. On the other hand, if salaries are low, and
with no arbitrary restriction on the community's fi-
nances, the people's ideals as to the importance and
necessity of efficient schools will very generally be found
to be low if not absolutely vague and unformed. It
will thus readily appear that local ideals and standards
may become a powerful influence upon the market so
far as teaching service is concerned.
Again, the market conditions are bound to be affected
by the fact that so large a proportion of women enter
upon the work of teaching, presumably because of the
relatively small number of occupations open to women.
This naturally tends to swell the supply abnormally as
compared with the demand.
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 155
On both these conditions the establishment of a higher
minimum qualification standard would take effect. In
the case of low ideals in a given community, the extent
to which the correspondingly low standards of teaching
might prevail would be reduced by the setting up of
this arbitrary limitation as to who might be permitted
to teach. With reference to the influx of women be-
yond normal, the higher standards would tend to shut
out many by making it more difficult for them to qualify.
Thus we find that with a limitation calculated to secure
reasonable efficiency placed upon teachers' qualifications,
the law of supply and demand would tend to regulate
the compensation of teachers, except that there would
probably still continue to be at least a slight difference
in favor of the men, owing to the relative difficulty in
securing a sufficient number for positions usually assigned
to male teachers.
This is assuming that society, in recognizing the im-
portance of maintaining schools on a basis of efficiency,
would remove all arbitrary restrictions on the rights of
the people of any school district to levy a sufficient
amount to enable the board to pay the prices necessary
to obtain the services of efficient teachers.
16. Effect of Salary Conditions on Shortage of
Teachers
There is no doubt that the present marked shortage
of qualified teachers is due largely to the inadequacy
of current salaries as an inducement for young men and
young women to enter the teaching field. The stand-
ards for financing the schools having once become fixed,
it is difficult indeed to induce public opinion to show a
willingness to meet the necessary increase in the cost of
maintaining true standards of teaching.
156 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
17. Teachers' Pensions as a Remedy
Two special methods have been proposed as an off-
set to this condition with regard to the pay of teachers:
The first, that of pensions, is very commonly practised.
According to statistics furnished by William H. Hood, 1
of the Bureau of Education, there are now twenty-six
States and several of the larger cities acting indepen-
dently that have teachers' pension laws. These laws are
classified under three heads: non-contributory, i. e., by
the State without any payment out of the teacher's
salary; compulsory-contributory, or laws requiring
teachers to pay a certain sum or percentage of their
salaries annually; voluntary-contributory, or payment
required only of those desiring to take advantage of
such a plan. Most of the State laws are of the com-
pulsory-contributory type.
In connection with these laws there is generally lack-
ing any plan by which funds paid in may be returned to
a teacher, who, for any cause, drops out of a school sys-
tem. Such a condition would seem to work injury in two
ways: First of all it is not just to the one who has paid
and may not participate in any benefit. In the second
place, it is apt to create a feeling that, because of the
establishment of such a relationship, a teacher may not
be removed from the system. In this case it might eas-
ily result in harm to the school through the retention of
teachers no longer useful as teachers but not yet en-
titled to an annuity. The element of injustice might
be removed if provision were made for payment to a
teacher transferring to another field a certain moiety of
the amount paid in under the contract from which he
is withdrawing.
1 See " Report on Teachers' Salaries and Cost of Living," N. E. A., 1913.
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 157
There is a weak point in this whole theory of pensions.
The idea of depending on some source other than one's
own industry and frugality is apt to prove enervating to
many, although certainly not to all, of a teaching corps
looking forward to such retirement on pay as ah assured
fact. It would seem better to make the pay so as to
leave a margin, over and above the total cost of living,
sufficient to enable the individual to provide for his or
her own future. In the few exceptional cases, due to
some misfortune resulting from causes beyond indi-
vidual control, special pensions should be provided as
occasion arises. Otherwise each one should care for
himself. But public sentiment advances slowly and
there seems to be no immediate prospect for the realiza-
tion of any such ideal situation.
1 8. Doctor Pritchett on Teachers' Pensions
Meanwhile a situation exists which certainly needs to
be met, and met effectively. Doctor Henry S. Pritchett
in his seventh annual report 1 for the Carnegie Founda-
tion for the Advancement of Teaching thus states the
problem:
One of the great weaknesses of our public-school system to-day
lies in the fact that only a small number of men can be induced
to undertake permanent careers in it. Before we can hope for
the best results in education, we must make a career for an
ambitious man possible in the public schools. To do this, dig-
nity and security must be given to the teacher's calling, and
probably no one step could be taken which will be more influ-
ential in inducing able men and women to adopt the profession
of the teacher in the public schools than to attach to that voca-
tion the security which a pension brings.
1 Seventh Annual Report, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Teaching, 1912, p. 70.
158 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
Doctor Pritchett then goes on to ask the four ques-
tions which, at the least consideration, the legislator
called upon to enact laws in regard to the pensioning of
teachers should wish to have answered. The first three
of these questions with proposed answers are: 1
1 . Upon what grounds are pensions for public-school teachers
justified?
Pensions are justified upon practically two grounds: first,
those of a larger social justice; secondly, as a necessary condi-
tion to an efficient public-school system.
The first of these reasons applies in marked measure to pen-
sions like that of the teacher. Society, as at present organized,
desires to get the best service it can out of the various vocations
and callings into which men are naturally distributed. In some
of these callings great prizes are to be won, and these serve as
incentives for high performance. In other callings, like that of
the teacher, there are no large prizes in the way of pecuniary
reward (it would be a wise thing in society to create such).
Society desires to obtain of the teacher a service quite out of
proportion to the pay which he receives. Intelligence, devotion,
high character all are necessary, and the State seeks to obtain
them at an average salary of $500 a year. It is clear that, if
the State is to receive such service, some protection for old age
and disability must be had, if the best men and women are to be
induced to enter upon such a calling as a life work.
Secondly, from the standpoint of efficiency in organization,
whether a governmental one or a business one, there must be
some means for retiring, decently and justly, worn-out servants.
In the past we have in most cases turned out men and women
no longer able to teach, but the conscience of our time does not
permit such action. Out-worn teachers remain to the direct
injury of the pupils themselves. As a matter of efficiency, some
humane method of retirement for public-school teachers is
necessary.
These two reasons for the establishment of pensions for the
teachers in State schools are sound and unanswerable.
2. Assuming that pensions ought to be paid, who ought to
pay them?
1 Op. '/., pp. 71-4.
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 159
Three plans for securing protection against disability and the
weakness of old age are proposed: a pension system borne
wholly by the employer, a pension system borne wholly by the
employee, a pension system conducted jointly by both employer
and employee and supported by their joint contributions.
While there are some variations of opinion among those who
have studied the question, the overwhelming weight of opinion
is in favor of the third plan.
A system of pensions depending on the contributions of employ-
ees alone amounts practically to a compulsory system of saving.
In order that the benefits may be large enough to form a basis
for retirement, the contribution must be so large as to be prac-
tically prohibitory.
The third plan seems to me justified not only on the ground
of equity but upon the ground of self-interest, whether the em-
ployer be a corporation or a government. All salaries such as
teachers' are relatively low, and, while the question of a just
salary must not be confused with the equity involved in a relief
plan, it nevertheless remains true that the general equities of
service demand that a part of the pension of a servant be borne
by the employer. A State still owes to the faithful teacher
something after it has paid his salary. He has been required to
regulate his life in large measure for the common interest. In
addition, the employer, whether a corporation or a State, secures
a higher efficiency by a well-ordered pension system. Finally,
only by such joint action can be secured the right co-operation
between employer and employee. On all three grounds the
ground of general equity, of increased efficiency, of a better
social co-operation it is desirable that a system of pensions rest
upon the joint contribution of the employer and the employee.
I assume that on the whole it is fair for the teacher to bear
half the cost of the annuity and the State the other half.
3. What form of pension system would it be fair to adopt,
having regard both to the individual teacher and to the State?
The form of pension system at once just and feasible would
involve the consideration of many details, but at least these
general principles may be assumed as proven:
(a) The pension obligation should be compulsory upon every
teacher who enters the service.
(6) The amount of the contribution should be determined by
thorough actuarial investigation, but each teacher shall form a
100 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
unit, and the annuity which he is to receive shall be based upon
his own payment plus that granted by the State. Such an ar-
rangement is just and fair and is capable of actuarial computa-
tion. Every individual, whether he survives, resigns, or dies,
thus furnishes the basis for the action taken.
(c) Contributions levied upon teachers who resign or are dis-
missed must be returned with a moderate interest say three
per cent and similar returns must be made to the widows or
heirs of those who die.
(d) A central administration for the pensions of all public-
school teachers should be provided, constituted of a small com-
mission serving without salary, with a paid executive who should
at the same time be a competent actuary.
"What will such a pension system cost the individual
teacher and what will it cost the State?" is the fourth
question suggested. This is a question not readily
answered from our present knowledge of the subject.
After assuming a typical condition the writer proceeds
to an estimate of the relative cost to the individual and
to the State. He assumes that the pension is to provide
solely for old age, fixing the limit at sixty. He reasons
that this will "take care of the main load which affects
both the question of justice and the question of effi-
ciency."
19. A Second Partial Remedy
The second method which has been proposed as an
offset to the inadequacy of salaries, or, to put it in a dif-
ferent form, as an inducement for those lacking means
to prepare for the work of teaching, is that the State
should pay prospective teachers just as military and na-
val cadets are paid for attending the respective insti-
tutions set up by the Federal Government for training
in the arts of war. 1 If properly hedged about by con-
1 See Bagley, W. C., Editorial, School and Home Education, Nov., 1911,
pp. 92-5.
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 161
editions on which individuals are selected for such work,
this plan should be readily feasible and seemingly just
and fair to all.
20. The Problem of School Accounting
Finally, there remains the question of accounting as
related to the financing of schools and all educational
institutions. According to studies made by H. E. Bard, 1
the matter of efficient expert accounting seems to be
very generally neglected by city school districts. "In
general," he says, "it is probably true that in no other
field of legislation affecting the city school district are the
measures enacted less complete and less constructive."
If such a condition exists in the cities, what can be said
of the rural and village districts, representing a majority
of the people, where no adequate provision is made for
any accounting other than that necessary to furnish a
general balance-sheet for generally inexpert auditing?
Those who are familiar with the methods of handling
educational funds as generally practised must realize
how great and how significant a fact Doctor Bard has
pointed out.
In the first place, in many of the States township offi-
cials hold permanent funds, the proceeds of school lands,
which with or without any adequate system of checking
are loaned out in small sums. How much more effec-
tive such funds might become if consolidated for a county
and put into the hands of trusted experts whose business
it should be to exploit these funds on a safe basis solely
for the benefit of the schools and not for any private
gain or business advantage of individuals or corporations.
The compensations required for such service would be a
1 Bard, "The City School District; Statutory Provisions for Organisa-
tion and Fiscal Affairs," Teachers College, Columbia University, 1909.
162 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
mere bagatelle as compared with the loss which annu-
ally accrues under the present methods of management
of these funds. Here, again, we see what a gain might
result in the fiscal affairs of education if we had a cen-
tralized county board in control of rural education.
21. The Saint Louis Plan of Accounting
As regards accounting by city boards, the following,
quoted from the charter of the board of education of the
city of Saint Louis, 1 may be taken as a type of the kind
of provision that should be in operation in every city
school system:
The board shall appoint a competent person as auditor, who
shall serve for a term of four years and give bond in the sum of
ten thousand dollars. His salary shall not be reduced during
the term of his office, and he may be removed for cause by a
two-thirds vote of the entire board. He shall be the general
accountant of the board, and preserve in his office all accounts,
vouchers, and contracts pertaining to school affairs. It shall be
his duty to examine and audit all accounts and demands against
the board and to certify their correctness to the secretary and
treasurer of the board. He shall adopt a proper system of double-
entry bookkeeping. He shall require settlement of accounts to
be verified by affidavit whenever he thinks proper, and shall
keep the accounts of the school in a systematic and orderly
manner. No claim or demand shall be audited unless it is au-
thorized by law and the rules of the board and be in proper and
fully itemized form, and unless the amount required for the pay-
ment of the sum shall have heretofore been appropriated by the
board.
22. Need of Publicity in Accounting
Some such provision as the above, if put into opera-
tion in all our cities and, through a county unit organi-
1 Bard, H. E., op. cit., p. 107.
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 163
zation, in all our rural schools, would undoubtedly result
in great saving. But it should not stop here. There
should be a careful study of the relation between expen-
diture and achievement by the schools. Every notable
increase for additions or innovations should account for
itself. There should be not only the general fiscal bal-
ance-sheet, open to all the people, but also a balance-
sheet showing gain or loss in results. This, too, should
be for all the people to read.
While local districts may be empowered, through their
boards, to levy, collect, and disburse funds, it should
not be forgotten that all this is a State-wide rather than
a local interest. The State should see to it that a proper
accounting and auditing system is provided, perhaps
more properly acting independently of any board.
CHAPTER IX
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS
The administration of a system of public education in
the process of instructing children and youth calls for a
special equipment on the part of those who are to in-
struct or supervise the work of instruction. In this re-
spect education is like any other organized undertaking
which involves in its successful execution both the skill
of the craftsman and the knowledge and ability of the
professional man in the application of principles as an
essential to the accomplishment of the ends in view.
The unsettled question in all lands as to the kind and
amount of training required for a teacher or supervisor
of a certain grade centres in the adjustment of the pro-
portion of skill and of professional ability which each
should possess.
i. Skill and Professional Knowledge Required
To very many people, even among those who teach,
the chief, if not the sole, consideration is that of skill.
To as many others, and especially among the professional
classes, the only essential requirement is professional
knowledge. Given a thorough grounding in this, and the
art will take care of itself. To the educational expert
called to the responsible task of nominating teachers to
serve under him who can maintain the standards of effi-
ciency demanded by a watchful and jealous public, the
164
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 165
problem is more acute. He realizes fully the value of
professional standards in the training of teachers, espe-
cially as it concerns the forward movement of his edu-
cational system. But the immediate need he knows
must require a liberal amount of good craftsmanship.
He readily appreciates the fact that, other things equal,
after much blundering and some downright failures, the
broader professional training will gain the ascendancy if
it once survives complete shipwreck. But he is also
keenly alive to the fact that the patrons of his school
will resent having their children made the objects of
crude experimentation. Furthermore, he readily com-
prehends the danger, from such a cause, of reaction
against the frontier lines of every progressive movement
he has been able to set going.
" Give us teachers who can manage the school," say the
laymen, "and we care not so very much how extensive
or how limited their preparation may be." "We need
men and women of broad education as our teachers,"
say the experts, "but they must know how to use their
knowledge and to exercise tact according to the particu-
lar work they are called to do." Yet, still the typical
academic college professor tilts his head or looks wise.
"Our fathers and grandfathers before us taught, and
we ourselves teach," he says, "because we know our
subjects and are in love with learning for its own sake."
And so, while the doctors disagree, our schools continue
to be taught largely by novices in the art of teaching.
In many cases even our supervisors are without that
wisdom concerning the work they are called to direct
which they must win, if at all, through experimenting.
166 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
2. Public Policy to Train Teachers at Public
Expense
All of the States in the Union are now committed to
the policy and practice of training teachers at public
expense. The people generally, and the educational pub-
lic in particular, readily recognize the right and the ne-
cessity of such training in order successfully to maintain
an efficient system of public education. We have our
State normal schools and teachers' colleges, our univer-
sity departments and schools of education, and, in many
instances, educational courses in high schools, to say
nothing of our teachers' institutes and the numerous
voluntary associations of teachers for mutual betterment
of their work. Still the situation is far from satisfactory.
It is not even moderately so, except in a few States where
greater progress has been made toward the solution of
this difficult problem.
3. Relative Importance of Skill and Knowledge
It is probably true, as suggested a short time ago by
Elmer E. Brown, then United States Commissioner of
Education, 1 that in the earlier stages of education skill is
relatively of greater importance, while in the later years
of schooling, knowledge on the part of the teacher is the
major consideration. May we not also affirm as a prin-
ciple that all grades of teaching, no matter how great
the teacher's skill, will be materially strengthened by the
fullest practicable degree of mastery of one's subject
and of the theory of its value and function as a factor
in education?
The converse to this last principle should also be true
1 Education, vol. 29, pp. 1-6, "Distinctive Functions of University,
College and Normal School in the Preparation of Teachers."
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 167
that no matter how well any one who teaches may know
the subject or the materials of education, he will still be
a better teacher if he has somehow acquired reasonable
skill or facility in the art of teaching. The majority of
our young teachers begin their work in rural or village
schools where they receive very little or no assistance
in the form of intelligent supervision. To these, experi-
ence may or may not bring any real skill in the art of
teaching. To acquire such training they need expert
guidance from some one who carefully observes their
work from day to day. The case is practically the
same, in varying degrees, with regard to instruction in
our colleges. The lower classes of undergraduates, more
in need of the skilled teacher's guidance than perhaps
at any other time in their school experience, are turned
over to the young, inexperienced instructors to practise
on until they, too, have acquired some skill as crafts-
men in their field. True economy in keeping up the
supply of teachers may very consistently demand that
all teachers have some training under experts who can
give their time to a study of the student-teacher's work,
offering specific suggestions and criticisms as they may
be needed.
4. Training of Teachers in High Schools
With these principles before us we may now proceed
to discuss the kinds of training which the different types
of schools for the preparation of teachers may best offer
and under what conditions. It is a fact readily estab-
lished by statistics that a considerable proportion of
our teachers of elementary schools receive in the high
school all the preparation they ever get for teaching. In
most cases this is training only in knowledge without
even the theory of teaching included. The high school
16S ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
is the home school. Many of those desiring to teach
are from families in moderate circumstances if not rank-
ing among the poorer classes. They cannot afford the
cost of a year or more away from home at a normal school.
If they teach, therefore, they must make use of the
home school at least for their initial preparation. And
usually this is the part of their preparation which deter-
mines their success or failure once for all.
As a rule, we get good teachers from among such can-
didates, and society cannot afford, therefore, to make
teaching inaccessible to them. Furthermore, it would
be impracticable, for some time to come, at least, for our
normal schools and colleges to prepare enough teachers
to meet the demand. It seems inevitable that the high
schools should have an important place in this work.
Indeed, there is ample ground for believing that one of
the surest and most essential means to progress in the
work of our elementary schools is to be found in the
establishment of many more and better high schools
free to all classes.
What, then, should be the kind of training offered by
our high schools as preparation for teaching? Evidently
they should prepare only for elementary work. This
should include a study of the most important pedagog-
ical principles involved in the teaching of elementary
subjects and in managing a schoolroom. Some well-
directed observational work should be given and, if pos-
sible, at least a few opportunities at actual teaching with
or without the presence of the regular teacher.
Provision should be made by the State for aiding such
high schools in a county as are strong enough to offer
teachers' courses and every possible facility provided
for making this training as effective as possible. Special
emphasis should be placed upon the needs and condi-
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 169
tions in rural schools, since most of those going out to
teach from our high schools are likely to begin their
work in the country districts.
5. Normal Schools Typical Training-Schools
The typical American institution for the preparation
of elementary teachers is the normal school. This is an
institution to be found in nearly all our States, varying
in number for each State from one to eighteen. The
States making the largest provision for normal-school
training are: New York, 18; Pennsylvania, 1 7 ; Wisconsin,
15; Massachusetts, n; and Maine, 10. A total of 196
public normal schools were reported for all the States in
1910. These schools employed, in all, 3,185 teachers for
normal students and i ,629 for other departments, making
a total instructional force of 4,814 persons. There were
enrolled in these public normal schools 79,546 students
in normal departments. In all departments not includ-
ing model schools there were enrolled 113,011 students.
The number of normal graduates for the year was 13,725.
This scarcely more than equals the annual increase 1 in
the number of teachers employed, to say nothing of the
very large number dropping out of the ranks each year.
The standard of work in these institutions varies
widely; but the general scope of the work seems to
be about the same in all. The elementary subjects
are reviewed as a basis for pedagogical consideration.
The academic courses of high-school grade are usually
taught. More recently the manual arts and agriculture
have been added. In many of the normal schools busi-
ness courses are offered. Along professional lines ele-
mentary courses are given in psychology, the principles
1 The average annual increase for the three years ending in 1909 was
10,738.
170 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
of education, history of education, school management,
and methods of treatment of the different subjects to
be taught.
In many cases the admission requirements permit
pupils to enter directly from the completion of the eight
grades of elementary school work. These may be grad-
uated at the end of a four-year course. Others enter
with from one to three years of high-school work, which
is usually below standard, and may graduate in three
years, or in some cases two. A regular two-year pro-
fessional course is offered for graduates of four-year high
schools. The United States Commissioner of Education,
in his report for 1910, mentions as evidence of advance-
ment in the normal schools the following points: (i)
They require for admission the completion of a four-year
high-school course or its equivalent; (2) they offer four-
year degree courses which are cultural as well as pro-
fessional, parallel to regular college courses; (3) they
provide for specialization in manual arts, domestic econ-
omy, agriculture, and the natural sciences.
Until very recently no attention has been paid by
normal schools to the peculiar needs of rural schools.
Even now this is done only in a few instances. The
typical courses considered are such as are usually offered
in the grades of a city school, and the training-schools,
which are standard features in the organization of normal
schools, are also planned almost solely in the interests
of the graded system of towns and cities. It seems
quite evident that somewhere in the educational system
special attention should be given to the training of an
adequate number of teachers who could enter into the
spirit of country life in such a way as to stimulate in-
terest in and love for the rural industries and for rural
home life of an improved type. Certainly it will be
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 171
readily granted that for such vision and leadership as is
here demanded something more than a mere high-school
training is required.
Perhaps the most notable feature about our normal
schools is to be found in the atmosphere which they
create for the student body, resulting usually in the in-
culcation of a fine professional enthusiasm. In this re-
spect no other institution sending out teachers has yet
been able to equal them. The singleness of purpose
which pervades all the work, the serious outlook which
a definite choice of such a calling gives, conspire to en-
gender such a strong professional spirit.
6. Need and Propriety of Federal Aid for Normal
Schools
At present these institutions are maintained chiefly
at the expense of the States. The situation seems to
point to the necessity as well as to the right of a liberal
contribution toward their support from the Federal
Government. The service of teachers trained in a given
State is not to be held within the boundaries of a single
commonwealth. Very quickly the laws of supply and
demand operate, and the graduates of any given normal
school are scattered among many States. They are
drawn upon also for the island service in Porto Rico
and the Philippines. Indeed, these schools are more na-
tional than State when considered in this light.
7. The City Training-School
The city training-school is a localized type of normal
school which contributes almost solely to the supply of
teachers for the city system of which it is a part. Gen-
erally speaking, its organization and operation are very
similar to those of the State schools. In order to insure
172 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
a sufficient number of properly qualified teachers for the
elementary grades, many of our larger cities are compelled
to maintain either a training-school or teachers' college.
To one looking at the situation as a whole it seems un-
fortunate that such a condition should exist. In most
cases where cities train their own teachers, the vast ma-
jority of those taking the training are from the city
school system, for which they are trained. This, taken
in connection with local city certificating of teachers,
puts a special and exclusive emphasis on whatever is
local and provincial to the exclusion of those elements
which should come rather freely from all sources from
which teachers are supplied, in order to keep the vitality
of the system at its best. It may be desirable to have
in each large city a normal school for the training of
those of the city who may wish to teach. But such an
institution should be administered independently of the
city as a State school. Its students should be drawn
from all sources and its graduates encouraged to go out
of the home city to teach.
8. Colleges and Universities as Training-Schools
for Teachers
Later in the evolution of our educational policies there
has developed a new aspect to the problem of training
teachers for our schools. Before normal schools or high
schools existed the colleges were sending out a consider-
able number of men as teachers. At first these men
taught in the Latin schools and in academies ; but when
public high schools began to be organized, they also came
into service in these schools. Among the pioneer settle-
ments of the great West they often became the first
teachers of the "rate" schools, while they and their
fellow college men in other professions led in laying the
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 173
foundations for a system of free public schools. As men
of learning, endowed with something of that altruistic
spirit which was a dominant force in every early college,
they simply took up the task of transmitting the
"Promethean flame." They had not been trained in
the art of teaching further than that they had caught
the spirit of the teacher from close and frequent contact
with those at whose feet they sat as willing and zealous
disciples.
After the Civil War, high schools, normal schools, and
State universities developed with about equal rapidity
throughout the Central West. Traditionally, the teach-
ing of the higher grades in high schools was passed over
chiefly to the men of college training. As supervisory
positions increased in number, the men trained in normal
schools, because of their superior training in educational
history and theory, readily won the preference of educa-
tional boards for these positions.
Meantime pressure was brought for a training that
should give equal opportunity for such commanding po-
sitions to those men who still preferred to get their
preparation for teaching in colleges and universities.
The higher institutions of the States responded by the
organization of departments for the teaching of "didac-
tics," or educational theory and history. Departments
of psychology generally evolved from this effort, with
their first courses directed in the interests of those pre-
paring to teach.
9. The University School of Education
Next came the idea of the school of education or
teachers' college, always with the sole idea of giving
opportunity to those who sought a college preparation
for teaching, to get with this training sufficient profes-
174 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
sional knowledge to fit them for supervisory and high
school positions. The chief opposition to these schools
of education, strangely enough, arose from within the
institutions themselves. For centuries the holder of an
A.B. degree had been considered amply qualified to
teach; why should he now be expected to study about
teaching? Why all this talk about practice teaching and
a science of education? Was the high ideal of learning
to be degraded to the mere process of fitting men and
women for occupations?
Slowly, very slowly, the school of education is finding
its place in the work of our great State universities. As
the work of organizing the principles and history of
education proceeds, college men are more and more con-
vinced of the importance of it as a field for research.
Still more slowly, however, proceeds the recognition of
the need of the real educational laboratory the prac-
tice and model schools for training, observation, and ex-
perimentation. The situation is not unlike that of agri-
culture among farmers. For years they laughed at the
idea of "book farming." Had not men, their ancestors,
succeeded for many hundreds of years in the cultivation
of the soil and in the production of crops and stock?
Now, at last, after a long struggle, most farmers have
become convinced that there is a very important gain
resulting from the application of scientific principles in
agriculture. So it must be with education. Most of
the public-school teachers, and especially those charged
with administrative functions, are already convinced.
The "doubting Thomases" are among the ranks of the
professors in our liberal-arts colleges, who seem vaguely
to fear some loss or change in the significance of the bac-
calaureate degree in arts, as though a degree is, or ever
can be, a fixed and immutable measure for all the learn-
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 175
ing of all ages up to a definite stage in the process of edu-
cation. Others who oppose the idea are to be found in
certain normal schools or teachers' colleges. Their fear
is of the loss of prestige because of something higher
than they.
There are great unsolved problems in the field of edu-
cation which it will take years of patient and careful
investigation and experimentation to solve. It is prob-
ably true that some of this can be as well or better done
by normal schools. Yet the normal schools must ever
use most of their resources in preparing the vast army of
teachers for our elementary schools.
The men and women who seek to prepare at a univer-
sity for the work of teaching, if we are to place any
stress at all on their professional training, must be able
to get this in connection with the institution where they
study. Besides, in order to carry forward the work of
investigation, a considerable number must be especially
trained for this phase of work. There are no other in-
stitutions so well qualified to give this training as are
the universities.
Then, again, the broad development which our ele-
mentary and high school education is taking on renders
it essential that he who trains to supervise and develop
this work should, somewhere in his training, get some-
thing of that broader outlook which only a university
is prepared to give. But if universities are to equal
the normal schools in the inculcation, in the teachers
they train, of that fine professional spirit of which men-
tion has been made, some organic structure must be
provided, perhaps more akin to Teachers College at
Columbia University.
176 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
10. What Should Be the Relation of the Three
Types of Training?
At the present stage in the progress of this particular
phase of our educational evolution there is much un-
certainty and considerable contention as to just what
should be the relationship of the three types of institu-
tions high schools, normal schools, and universities
to this work of preparing teachers and also of each to the
others in the whole field of educational endeavor. Such
a state of things is not a matter to wonder at nor to
cause any special concern or heat of debate. It is nat-
urally to be expected as an episode in the growth of a
great, new institution which is daily entering into the
pioneer regions of human experience along educational
lines.
What we need to do is to keep in view the one single
aim: an efficient system of education for a great democ-
racy which doubtless carries with its ultimate success or
failure the destinies of the millions who, as posterity,
shall inherit the permanent results of our acts. Such
an aim should readily overshadow and outweigh any and
all private or personal interests. True, it is very essen-
tial to the finding of the final truth that each one who
believes he has found some portion of that truth should
insistently maintain his point of view until others may
also see and weigh his theory. But all this can best
be done in a spirit of harmony and good-fellowship. The
real dangers to be feared as causes which may retard or
prevent the truth are narrow jealousy or a mean selfish-
ness which will even resort to questionable means in
order to secure their ends.
The whole scheme for the training of our teachers needs
careful revision and especially unification or co-ordina-
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 177
tion in the functioning of its different parts. It has been
said of the normal schools, for instance, that they are
out of the general currents of educational movement and
growth. If this is so the connections should be read-
justed. The normal school really belongs to a part
of the completed scheme for the university work of a
State.
ii. Methods of Co-ordinating the University and
Normal School
There are two ways in general by which this co-ordi-
nating and unifying process might be brought about and
the highest end of this department of our system of public
education much more readily attained. Probably the
individual and ununified development of these separate
factors in a common process has gone about as far as
it can consistently with the welfare of society both in
matters of economy and for general effectiveness. The
two methods of adjustment are these: First, let the edu-
cators controlling and directing the administrative de-
velopment of these three types of institutions get to-
gether in frequent and serious conference, having laid
aside all minor or ulterior aims, to consider just what the
larger permanent State and national welfare demands
and to devise ways and means of bringing it about. Let
them consider wherein they may co-operate so as to
avoid waste, or conflict, or duplication. For all these
mighty factors are needed, each at its best, to meet this
great social demand; and they are all by nature readily
adapted to being dovetailed into unison.
If for any reason these educators are not strong enough
or clear enough of vision to do this if, in other words,
there exists a condition demanding arbitration then
each State for itself should establish a commission, some-
178 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
thing like that which has been provided in Scotland, 1
whose function it should be to bring about the adjust-
ments necessary for complete co-operation in accomplish-
ing this great service, second to none, of providing ade-
quately trained teachers for all grades of our schools
and for their supervision.
Not only is such an adjustment needed in individual
States but also for the nation as a whole. There are
matters of vital importance to the economy and efficiency
of the administration of education which wait upon
some such adjustments among the States. Such a case
would be the standardizing of requirements for gradua-
tion from professional courses in normal schools and
universities, so as to make it possible to have nation-
wide recognition of certain diplomas from these institu-
tions as a basis for certification. As in the case of the
States, so in this larger sense either of the two methods
mentioned above might be used. But whether in the
case of State or nation, the plan of mutual agreement
through conference, if only those most concerned can
come together in peace, will always be found most ef-
fective and satisfactory. Under the plan of State con-
trol through one board, as suggested in chap. VII, such
a plan of conference and agreement would send up to
the board a unanimous recommendation, the approval
of which would be a foregone conclusion.
12. Training of Teachers in Service
There is another phase of the training of teachers, but
one not distinctly a feature of the work of society in es-
tablishing the schools. This is the training in service
which teachers get, partly through voluntary associa-
1 See Snedden, David, "A New Scheme for the Training of Teachers
in Scotland," Educational Review, 39 : 433-54.
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 179
tions, partly through work organized and directed by
the superintendents of schools State, county, and city
and partly through organized effort on the part of the
State through legislative provisions. The latter is the
one to be discussed briefly here. The first and second
really belong to the discussion of the administration of
instruction, which is still to follow.
This organized phase of the work comes chiefly under
the head of teachers' institutes. Forty-three of the
States make some legal provision for institutes, and in
the five remaining States, Connecticut, Maine, Massa-
chusetts, Rhode Island, and Tennessee, institutes are
held voluntarily. These gatherings may be yearly or
oftener. They mostly continue for one week, although
in a number of instances they are in session two and
sometimes even four weeks in succession. In most States
teachers who attend an institute during the term of
their regular employment are allowed to do so on pay
the same as for teaching. Minnesota seems to be the
only exception to this practice. In some States, as In-
diana and Ohio, teachers receive regular pay for atten-
dance even when the institute is held in vacation. In
twelve States institutes are supported wholly by State
appropriations; in seven others wholly by county appro-
priations. In nine States fees are the sole means of
support, while in the other twenty States there are va-
rious combinations of either two or all of these three
methods.
The management of institutes, especially those legally
established, is either by the State directly or by coun-
ties, or by co-operation of the two. In the earlier days
of institutes they were conducted more generally for
regular academic and professional instruction. As high
schools and normal schools have multiplied, such instruc-
180 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
tion has become less needed, and as a result the term
has shortened and the general plan of the institute has
changed. Now it may be said that the chief aim every-
where is stimulation and inspiration of teachers to higher
ideals of teaching and to a finer appreciation of the dig-
nity and importance of the teacher's work.
The usual method is to employ one or more special
lecturers of marked ability in expounding educational
ideals and principles. Until recently the general prac-
tice has been to have all grades and classes of teachers
meet in one group for the lectures. More recently, how-
ever, is seen a marked tendency to differentiate the work,
as in the case of New York, where there are rural, graded,
and high-school sections. Some such plan of organiza-
tion, at least for part of the work of each day, has a
strong tendency to increase the interest and effectiveness
of the work.
Somewhat differentiated from the county or district
institute is the summer normal school provided for in
some States, as in Louisiana, Minnesota, South Dakota,
and Texas. These are for a longer period and are pro-
vided especially to enable teachers to meet specific re-
quirements in the way of professional training. In some
instances institute work has degenerated into a kind of
cheap entertainment type. But in the main these edu-
cational gatherings have played and still are playing
an important part in the general educational uplift.
There is need, however, of some more definite standards
for measuring their achievement, for determining relative
values in the different methods of handling them as an
educational means.
In only a few of the States as yet is any effective pro-
vision made for the licensing of those who are to be per-
mitted to lecture or instruct in institutes. Extreme care
PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 181
in this, as in the selection of teachers always, is the es-
sential thing. The best method for such licensing thus
far in use seems to be by a non-political State board,
which should be not a board of laymen but of experts.
Too much money and energy are involved in this great
educational mechanism to permit for a single session
any wasteful or ineffective use of the time and means de-
voted to its purposes.
CHAPTER X
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS
There are two ways by which the members of society
secure service from their fellows: one is to purchase it
directly, as a transaction between individuals or between
the individual and an organized group of individuals;
in the other case the social group as a whole calls cer-
tain of its members to perform special services to the
community, the State, or the nation. This call may
come by the direct franchise of the people or through an
intermediary body of men selected to look after some
special department of the interests common to the social
group.
i. Method of Selection of Teachers
Generally speaking, where the selection of the service
is somewhat involved or where the service to be rendered
is of such a character as to require special care in the
selection of those who are to serve the second form of
call by the social group is employed. This is true, in
the main, in the selection of those who deal directly
with the educational problems of society. The chief
exceptions are to be found in the selection of those called
to have the oversight of the larger educational units, as
State and county superintendents. As has been inti-
mated in a previous chapter, it is believed that better
results might be had if these officials were also chosen
by the intermediary process. Indeed, the experience of
182
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS 183
States where such a plan has been tried seems to support
strongly such belief.
2. State-wide System of Selection Needed
The provision by society for the special training of
teachers for their work in itself implies a selection and
setting aside for this peculiar and vitally important ser-
vice. We have seen that in the development of the school
it was first local in character, and the selection of teachers
was therefore entirely local and altogether by laymen
rather than upon expert recommendation of any sort.
Even in the licensing of persons as teachers the layman
had the initiative. Later, as our educational system has
developed, the tendency has been to cling to the old
traditional custom of local selection. Only by slow de-
grees of advancement have the people come to under-
stand that the service of the teacher is general rather
than local and that, consequently, the mechanism for
selecting teachers should be at least State-wide in its
character and scope, and that the selection should be
based as far as possible on expert judgment.
In the choosing and setting aside of individuals for
other departments of public service the movement to-
ward central control has usually been much more rapid.
In military and naval affairs, for instance, the world-wide
practice of State and national selective agencies has been
recognized practically from the beginning. In civil af-
fairs we have general State and national civil service
with licensing based on examinations by experts. As
examples we may note the various lines of expert service
required by the State and national governments, ad-
mission of lawyers to the practice of their profession;
likewise licensing for the practice of medicine, pharmacy,
nursing, architecture, etc.
184 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
If any advantage whatever could come from a more
general and expert control in selecting and certificating
teachers, surely this branch of service should demand
that immediate adjustments be made in that direction.
Next to national existence itself is the importance of our
general educational system in its relation to national
well-being. The peculiarly intimate relationship of the
teacher's work to the physical, mental, and moral health
of society is well known to all. Important as are our
military safeguards, our expert civil service, and the
other lines of professional service mentioned above, not
any or all of them can be said to be so far-reaching, so
intimately essential to the very fountains of our national
strength and prosperity, as are the means of insuring
that general intelligence and morality for which, largely,
the teachers of our schools must stand.
3. Magnitude of the Teaching Service
This is but repeating in another form the trite no-
tion of the very great importance, both State and na-
tional, of the service rendered by our teachers. The mag-
nitude of this service may be put also in an economic
way, although the figures representing this value can
scarcely be said to bear a just ratio to the importance of
the service rendered when compared with the economic
expression of other branches of social service.
The cost of our military and naval defences in times
of peace, when compared with our school statistics, will
serve to illustrate the statement made in the last para-
graph. The cost of maintaining our army and navy
for the year 1908-9 was approximately $207,000,000.
The personnel of these two forces numbered 138,276 for
the year 1910. Put on a per-capita basis this would
mean about $1,500 per person.
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS 185
The total amount paid public-school teachers and su-
perintendents for the year 1908-9 was $237,013,243.
The number of teachers employed in the public schools
for the same year was 506,453. This put upon a per-
capita basis gives us only $468 per person, or less than
one-third the cost per person of our general defensive
and police service in times of peace.
Even with this comparatively low per-capita cost,
however, we must not forget that the expenditure is
vast; and that, taken with the tremendous social values
at stake, the situation calls for the most careful selection
of those who are to teach. There is involved in the
problem not only the economic significance which the
above figures indicate but also the question of the rela-
tive conservation or waste of the growing time of child-
hood and youth.
4. Urgent Need of Better Methods of Selection
The work of teaching, with social efficiency as the aim
of education, calls for the highest possible adaptation
to the special work to be accomplished as well as the
highest degree of skill in its performance. Upon the suc-
cess or failure of the work of our teachers are to depend
largely the habits, knowledge, and ideals with which our
young men and women are to take their places in the
social ranks. In short, we may say that, ultimately,
upon the degree of efficiency of our methods of selecting
the teachers of our children depends the upbuilding or
undoing of the nation nothing less.
In the face of such conditions we are no longer left
in doubt as to the need of great care in the selection of
those who are to teach and to supervise our schools.
The wonder is that we have hesitated so long and still
hesitate, some of us, to do the obviously necessary thing
186 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
to see to the establishing of a mechanism whereby we
may have the greatest possible security in regard to the
capability of our teachers of children and youth. The
trouble is that there is a considerable number of good
people who are afraid that by setting up certain recog-
nized standards as to the qualifications of teachers we
may thereby leave out some very desirable individuals
who have a strong native ability to teach but are not
able in the ordinary way to meet the scholarship and
professional standards usually set up. These people
seem to believe in making rules out of exceptions rather
than providing for the exceptional cases under the rules.
They forget, perhaps, that standards wisely enforced for
a generation will practically eliminate any such excep-
tional class because those who come after will take heed
and prepare to meet the requirements.
5. Present Practice too Cumbersome
As a result of present practice we have a very cum-
bersome and complex arrangement for the licensing of
those who are to teach. In portions of New England,
particularly in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the old
local or town system of certificating is still in use. Under
this plan the certificates are usually issued by laymen on
an examination which is mostly oral and altogether per-
functory and inadequate as a means of testing the com-
petency of those to be considered eligible to teach.
6. City Certification Its Weakness
In most of the States some of the cities, acting under
special charter, are permitted to determine the certifi-
cation of those who are to teach in the city system of
schools. Generally this privilege is confined to the great
cities. In some States, however, this plan applies to
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS 187
cities and towns quite generally, as in the State of Kan-
sas. In these cases the examinations are usually con-
ducted by experts, although under some State systems
the examining boards are composed partly of laymen.
Usually the standards of scholarship and professional
training maintained by the larger cities are higher than
those represented by either county or State certification.
In some instances, however, where the State require-
ments are brought to a high level of efficiency the
cities voluntarily relinquish the practice and accept the
certification by State authority.
The chief weakness of the city system is the building
up of a local or provincial school of educational theory
and practice through the somewhat exclusive methods
used in filling the teaching ranks. This is emphasized
by the presence, in most of the cities concerned, of a local
city training-school. Those cities which are able to make
use of a State system are largely freed from this tendency,
since they may draw their supply of teachers freely from
the State at large.
7. County Certification
Next to the town or city system comes county certifica-
tion. Of this there are two general types : the strict county
system, which leaves the whole matter of examining and
certificating teachers in the hands of the county com-
missioner or superintendent. This plan, because it in-
cludes the larger unit, and because the examinations are,
in a measure, by experts, is a great improvement over
the town system. But it still falls short of highest effi-
ciency in several particulars. It still makes uniformity
for a State impossible. Teachers are hampered unnec-
essarily in transferring from one part of the State to an-
other. It is wasteful of community resources and of the
188
ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
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ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
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194 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
time and money of teachers. It keeps the standards of
preparation too low. Only one State, Delaware, now
adheres to the strict county plan.
Then there is the modified county plan by which the
State has more or less to do with the certification in
counties.
In the States making use of this modified county plan
the nature of the modification varies. 1 It may be by
transfer of papers from one county to another; by send-
ing out to counties uniform questions from the State
department; by general interchange of county certifi-
cates, either voluntarily or by legal compulsion; by the
forwarding of papers to the State superintendent for
validation or indorsement by him. All of these modi-
fications are efforts to eliminate the grosser evils of the
local system.
The following States in the above table provide,
with or without restrictions, for transfer or indorsement
of certificates in other counties: California, Colorado;
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas,
Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana,
New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee.
8. State Certification
State plans of certification vary from the State's par-
ticipation in the modified county plans mentioned above
to absolute State administration. There are fifteen
States which may be said to come under the latter class.
Most of the States, to be exact, twenty-eight, where the
county plan prevails also issue from the State depart-
ment or through a State board certificates of a higher
1 Cubberley, E. P., Fifth Year Book, Nat. Society for Study of Edu-
cation, part II, pp. 19-22.
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS 195
grade valid throughout the State, and usually for longer
periods than those issued in counties. The final goal to
this system is the life certificate. The advantages of
State control in the issuing of licenses to teach are: (i)
general uniformity of requirements as to standards of
scholarship and professional training; (2) the wider
range of validity secured; (3) the extension of the term
of validity, thus reducing the number of examinations.
9. Lack of Conformity to Any System among States
Even State systems as now organized have their weak
points. There are no common standards among the
several States. The conditions of granting are compara-
tively lax in some States, thus making the practice of
interchange between States a matter of careful investi-
gation and discrimination. As our teachers move about
freely from State to State, this again is a drawback. It
is gratifying to note that this situation is receiving at-
tention at the hands of the National Education Asso-
ciation and also by the U. S. Commissioner of Education.
It is to be hoped that on the essential points grounds of
agreement among the States may be found, so that cer-
tificates may be readily transferable from one State to
another, if, indeed, they are not validated by a central
board, thus making them good anywhere in the United
States.
The large number and variety of State certificates is-
sued makes it difficult to express these in ordinary tabu-
lar form. For this reason we give the following partially
tabulated description:
1. Whole number of different kinds, 399.
2. Number of States issuing some form of life certifi-
cate, 39.
196 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
3. Number of States issuing certificates of limited
duration but subject to renewal, 33. Number
renewing only on re-examination, 4. One State
extends for attendance at some school.
4. There are 3 States in which the limited-term certifi-
cates are non-renewable and 10 in which the
lower-grade certificates are not renewable. In
14 States provision is made for extending the
higher grades into life certificates. Usually
permits and temporary certificates are non-
renewable.
5. The usual forms of certificates are life: first, sec-
ond, and third grades; professional, supervi-
sory, high-school, elementary, special, kinder-
garten. Fourteen States issue some form of
professional certificate, g a supervisor's certifi-
cate, 14 issue high-school certificates, 14 kin-
dergarten certificates, and 13 make all State
certificates (except certain special certificates)
good for teaching in any public school.
6. The basis on which these certificates are issued
also varies greatly. Life certificates are issued
on examination, or on college or normal-school
diploma, or a combination of examination and
diploma. Twenty-nine out of the 39 issue
wholly or in part on examination, and 27 re-
cognize, in some way, college or normal-school
certificates. Some experience, varying from
fifteen months to ten years, is required in
nearly all cases, the average being between
four and five years.
Limited-term certificates are usually based on exami-
nations. In some instances diplomas are ac-
cepted. The examinations usually cover the
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS 197
subjects taught in high school, or certain groups
of them, together with some test along profes-
sional lines. These examinations are conducted
by the State superintendent, the State board of
education, or a State board of examiners.
When we consider the present chaotic condition such
a consummation as suggested above seems like a far
call, an ideal too high for attainment. Yet when once
the clinging to the traditional practice of local control
in certification is relinquished the greatest obstacle will
be removed. It rests largely with those engaged in
educational work to determine standards as to training,
probably the most fundamental thing of all; duration
and extent of the validity of certificates; the relative
importance of training and examinations as a basis for
granting certificates. Then, if by some power of persua-
sion the fee system can be abolished, each State making
provision for all the expense connected with the issuing
of teachers' licenses, we shall have attained practically
the fundamental conditions upon which to base a free
interchange, among the States, of all certificates of
teachers and supervisors of our schools.
10. Recognition of Institutional Training as a Basis
for Certification
One of the most vital questions still remaining un-
settled with reference to the certification of teachers is
that of the recognition to be given to the diplomas of
various institutions as evidence of adequate preparation
for teaching, both as to scholarship and professionally.
It would seem to need no argument to demonstrate the
propriety of the recognition, by any State, of the prep-
aration of teachers in institutions or departments of in-
198 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
stitutions maintained by the State for that purpose. As
E. P. Cubberley puts it: " There is no valid excuse for
compelling a graduate of a State normal school to pass
a county examination before she can teach." l Yet it
is still true that in a number of the States teachers first
entering upon the work, even though normal-school grad-
uates, must pass the county examination hi order to get
a certificate of inferior grade and for short duration,
while in others the holder of such a diploma may at once
receive a life certificate to teach anywhere in the State.
It is likewise true that, in several States, college and
university graduates must pass county examinations to
teach or supervise until they have the experience de-
manded for State certification. In some cases these
examinations bear little or no relationship to the actual
teaching work which the candidates are to do. It is, to
say the least, an anomaly thus to permit the repudia-
tion of the work of institutions estabh'shed and main-
tamed by the State solely, or in part at least, for the
proper preparation of teachers. This condition of things
illustrates, in a very striking way, the undue value which
has been placed upon the examination as a test for fit-
ness to teach.
On the other hand, the granting of a life certificate
without future condition other than the power of revo-
cation usually vested in the superintendent or board
which issues it is, perhaps, as bad an extreme in the
opposite direction. The safeguarding of our schools
would seem to be more nearly attained if renewals,
based on clear evidence of professional advancement
and growth satisfactory both in kind and degree, were
required once in five or ten years.
'In Fifth Year Book, Nat. Society for the Study of Education,
part II, p. 76.
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS 199
n. Summary of Conditions Needed for Efficiency
To summarize, we need to secure about the following
conditions in order to insure reasonable efficiency in that
general scheme of selecting teachers which we call licens-
ing or certification:
1. Proper standards of scholarship and professional
training as evidenced (a) by the preparation of
candidates and (6) by examinations conducted
by experts and uniform throughout a given
State.
2. Greater uniformity both as to the grades and kinds
of certificates, including age limit, time, and
extent of validity.
3. The assumption by the State of all cost involved in
certification.
4. The greatest possible freedom of interchange of
certificates among States.
12. Specific Selection by Boards and Supervisors
The function of selecting teachers, however, does not
cease with their proper certification. By such a setting
apart of those found to be fitted, in a few of the more
general qualifications, for the work of teaching, society
essays to protect boards of education against a large
number of incompetent individuals who would otherwise
seek employment in the schools. There still remains the
selecting of teachers for particular schools and for specific
lines of work therein. First of all, there are to be chosen
the supervisors of the work. These are of two classes
general and special. The general superintendents may
be for the State, the county, the township, or district.
In the former two cases it is still customary, in a majority
of States, to choose by popular election, these offices
200 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
usually ranking as of minor significance in the general
political scheme of the State or county, and the selections
depending upon the hazards of the usual machinery of
partisan politics. We have already suggested the desira-
bility of an intermediary board with appointive power. 1
While the members of such boards must usually be
laymen rather than experts, yet they are apt to be more
carefully selected with reference to their fitness for the
duties they are to perform and they may be entirely
non-partisan in character.
In the case of the town or district superintendent the
choice is almost universally vested in a board nearly
always non-partisan in make-up although generally also
composed of laymen.
Special supervisors are chosen in a similar manner,
except that usually nominations are made by the gen-
eral superintendent acting in the capacity of educational
expert for the board. Such supervisors are those of
kindergartens, primary grades, music, drawing, physical
culture or play, manual training, domestic science, and
arts. Special supervisors are sometimes employed under
the State department of supervision, and very generally
in cities. With the adoption of county units of control
for rural education they would be employed also by
county boards. Another type of supervising agency is
seen in the ward principal of a city system. His ap-
pointment is usually upon the recommendation of the
superintendent.
13. Importance of This Function of Boards of
Education
By far the most important function of educational
boards, either rural or urban, is the selection and ap-
pointment of teachers for the various teaching positions
1 Chap. VH.
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS 201
under their administration. It requires a careful dis-
criminating in order to secure for each place to be filled
the most desirable teacher available. To base the choice
on certification alone will not do. This sort of selection
only expresses preference on the side of general qualifi-
cations. When it comes to the particular school and
the particular form of teaching required, other grounds
for judging, such as the special subjects in which the
teacher is prepared, her personal qualifications, etc.,
come under consideration. These are matters which
cannot always be clearly determined by an examination
nor by personal interviews. Expert judgment by those
who have seen the teacher at work either in a training-
school or as a regular teacher, if given fully and clearly,
is the very best basis upon which to determine a candi-
date's fitness for a given place.
Of course, this takes for granted that ordinary stand-
ards of scholarship and professional knowledge have
been taken care of. This much certification ought to
accomplish. The problem is serious enough for boards
and superintendents without having to question these
two fundamental points. No city, for instance, should
find it necessary to duplicate the machinery for examin-
ing and certificating teachers. The State should take
care of this, leaving the city free to select teachers at
large rather than to be compelled to become provincial
and resort to the inbreeding process of the city training-
school.
14. Expert Observation of Work as a Basis for
Selection
The most effective way of determining a teacher's
fitness for a place is by expert observation of her work
either in a regular school situation or in a well-conducted
202 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
training-school. The next best basis for judging a
teacher is through the confidential statements of experts
who have, in some capacity, supervised or inspected her
work. The least desirable, and one rapidly becoming
obsolete, is on the basis of general testimonial letters
which, to be comprehended, must often be read "be-
tween lines," and which are often outlawed by reason of
their original dates. For the high school the appoint-
ment committees of colleges and universities are com-
ing to be looked upon as most dependable and helpful.
A well-organized, conscientious teachers' agency is also
capable of rendering valuable service both to would-be
employers and those seeking employment.
The selection of teachers for rural and village schools
is almost entirely by laymen. Often it occurs that little
or no attention is paid to a person's real qualifications
as teacher. Frequently it happens that a pretty-faced
girl or a stalwart and physically masterful youth will
win an appointment with scarcely any further considera-
tion. In some instances this situation is improving,
however. It is a good indication of progress when the
superintendent or commissioner of a county is called
upon to advise with boards of directors or trustees in the
selection of teachers, or when such an official will go out
of his way to suggest a suitable candidate or put the
appointing authorities on guard against a possible mis-
take in choosing.
In the towns and smaller cities the local superinten-
dent is now often called in to advise with the board in
filling vacancies in the teaching corps. This is as it
should be. The man who is to be held responsible for
the successful operation of the entire system should cer-
tainly be entitled to some voice in the selection of those
who are to work with him. It is true that greater re-
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS 203
sponsibility on his part is thus assumed; but the chief
reason for the higher salary paid him is his ability and
obligation to render just such expert service.
15. Methods and Difficulties of Large Cities
In the larger systems of our great cities the business
of nominating and appointing teachers is a much more
complicated affair. In either case the constant struggle
must be against the appointment through "pull" or
political influence of those having little or no other
claim on which to base their appointment. The fre-
quent resort which is had to such means in some of our
great centres exercises a baneful influence upon many of
our young men and young women who are just entering
upon the work of teaching. They get the notion, some-
how, that the matter of "influence" is the all-important
thing in securing an appointment. The result is almost
inevitably a lower standard of professional aims and
ideals on their part, a condition which usually marks
the "beginning of the end" of their teaching careers.
Fortunate indeed is it for the cause of education that
most of our teachers are willing to base their claims for
appointment solely upon professional training and ability.
A little correspondence with fifty of our larger cities
has revealed some very interesting facts as to the basis
upon which teachers are chosen for specific assignment
to places in the schools. Thirty-eight out of the fifty
have been heard from. Of these thirty-eight cities
twenty-eight certificate their teachers, although not all
do so exclusively. Twenty-three have city training-
schools or teachers' colleges. Four of the cities train
both high-school and elementary teachers. The training
of kindergarten teachers is also provided for in most of
the twenty-three cities which have public kindergartens.
204 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
Three other cities not counted in the twenty-three have
normal or training classes. Four cities, Los Angeles,
Oakland, Spokane, and Nashville, neither certificate nor
train their own teachers. In New York, Virginia, and
California State certification is quite generally accepted
by the cities. In Philadelphia the training-school was
recently abolished after an existence of twenty-two years.
By far the most important information received has
to do with the methods of appointment in use, with
especial reference to the basis for selecting teachers for
particular positions. It is certainly true that the prob-
lem here confronted by education boards may be greatly
simplified by a proper guarding of the two functions
suggested in the facts just given. But there still remain
difficulties to be gotten over. The tabular presentation
given on pp. 205-207 will give a pretty good idea of the
methods in use in our large cities in the selecting and
appointment of teachers as this function concerns the
actual work to be done.
16. Examples of Methods Used by Cities
In order to present more concretely the method of
procedure in appointing teachers the plans followed by
a few of the larger cities are given here more in detail.
Following is that for Denver:
The teachers are elected by the board of education, but first
must be present at the examination conducted by the superin-
tendent of city schools. The scholarship examination embraces
orthography, reading, arithmetic, English grammar and com-
position, geography, American history, elementary sciences,
theory and practice of teaching, English literature, elements of
vocal music, and elementary drawing. All candidates who are
graduates of the Colorado Normal School, the University of
Colorado, or other educational institutions of equal rank and
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS
205
H
City Train-
ing-School
CITY
H
8
3
ft
11
?!
Basis for Selection and Appointment
of Teachers
<n
II
oju
I
PQW
a~O
U
o
g
Atlanta
Scholarship, personality, etc.
Baltimore
X
On competitive examinations for
elementary grades. These are in
"training and knowledge" and "apt-
ness to teach." The latter is deter-
mined by actual teaching as substi-
tutes.
Birmingham )
x
5
Eligible list based on formal applica-
Ala. 5
t
tions, with private correspondence.
Boston
X
X
According to normal grades.
Cambridge
X
Elementary by record in training-
school. High school on experience
from other schools.
Chicago
X
X
Elementary by graduation from
training-school or State normal
schools. High schools on examina-
tion. Eligible lists are made from
these sources. Principals select from
these lists in regular order and nomi-
nate. Superintendent recommends
and board approves.
Cincinnati
X
X
Elementary on basis of two years of
normal training beyond high-school
graduation with record for practice
teaching. High-school or college
graduation with professional train-
ing and two years' experience in pub-
lic-school teaching.
Denver
X
High school: degree from standard
college selected by high-school
board of examiners. Elementary on
examination by superintendent.
Detroit
From eligible list made up of gradu-
ates of city or State normal schools,
those holding State life certificates,
or on examination.
206
ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
CITY
Certificates Teachers I
City Train-
ing-School
Basis for Selection and Appointment
of Teachers
For Elementary
Teachers Only
For Both High
and Elementary
Fall River
X
In order of graduation and on ability
shown in substitute work.
Grand Rapids
X
On recommendation of superinten-
dent.
Indianapolis
X
X
Merit only.
Jersey City
X
X
In order of ranking on eligible lists.
Kansas City
X
Examinations, recommendations, and
such information as can be gathered.
Los Angeles
Merit based on competitive examina-
tions. Personal, political, or social
influence forbidden.
Louisville
X
X
On ranking for normal-school gradu-
ates. On successful experience in
supplying departmental schools. Also
college graduates after probation of
two or three months.
Lowell
X
In order of graduation from training-
school.
Memphis
X
Examination grade, experience, and
training.
Milwaukee
X
Select from eligibles one best fitted
for position.
Minneapolis
X
Reliable reports on preparation of
teacher.
Nashville
Elected from eligible list assigned
by instruction committee and super-
intendent.
Newark
X
X
According to rating on graduation
from city normal school.
New Haven
X
From State normal graduates or by
recommendation of superintendent.
New Orleans
X
X
Grade made on final examination.
New York
X
X
Eligible lists prepared by board of
examiners according to ranking.
For high schools separate eligible
lists by subjects. Principals select
according to subject.
THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS
207
CITY
City Train-
ing-School
i
g
e
II
Basis for Selection and Appointment
of Teachers
Oakland
Omaha
Paterson
Philadelphia
Providence
Richmond
Rochester
San Francisco
Saint Louis
Seattle
Spokane
Syracuse
Washington
Worcester
X
X
X
X
X
X
On merit determined by references.
Discretion of superintendent.
Elementary by rank of graduation
from city training-schools, high
school on competitive examination.
In order of standing on eligible lists.
Upon record made in training for one
year.
Superintendent recommends, com-
mittee nominates.
Superintendent nominates principals
from first ten names certified by
board of examiners. Superintendent
and principals constitute board for
nominating teachers.
After probationary term of two years,
on recommendation of superinten-
dent.
Grade teachers from graduates of
teachers' college, by rank and order
of graduation. High school and
special by specific information con-
cerning applicants.
On merit.
Select the best obtainable for money
from any source.
In order of standing on merit lists.
In order of ranking on eligible lists.
First on examination. Those exam-
ined must be graduates of a four-
year high school and of a normal
school with a three years' course.
Examination marks are averaged
with those of experience. Names
are put on the waiting list in order of
marks from this averaging.
208 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
character are required to take only the examination in English
grammar and composition.
The scholarship examination is impersonal. Candidates who
have reached a satisfactory rank in the scholarship test will ap-
pear before the board of education and be asked for testimonials,
account of experience and references. They will be given rank
in accordance with the judgment of the board of education, the
scholarship examination obtained being an equal factor in the
computation.
Teachers who have taught in these schools and who have
absented themselves from the work for one year or more will
be obliged to re-enter the examination in order to obtain a legal
certificate.
Scholarship alone will not produce a certificate. The record
of the candidate, with her accredited experience in public-school
work, the scholarship standing as rated at the examination, and
the personal appearance are the chief elements considered.
A physician's certificate of good health is required of candi-
dates before engagement.
From the list of those who hold certificates vacancies are
filled, the selection being made in the order of the standing at
examination, thus making the trial somewhat competitive in
character.
Teachers are not confirmed in their appointment before the
close of the twelfth week of service. When the appointment is
confirmed the engagement is likely to be permanent, subject to
the rules and regulations of the board.
The plan followed by the Oakland, Cal., board is also
interesting:
1. It is hereby made the duty of the city superintendent of
schools to seek out and request teachers of exceptional ability to
make applications for positions in the Oakland school depart-
ment.
2. All candidates for positions in the Oakland school depart-
ment must submit with their application blank a certificate
signed by the director of health of the school department, or
some other person authorized by him, showing that the holder
is sound in health and physically able to do effective teaching.
CHAPTER XI
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOLS
i. Magnitude of the Problem
Not least among the problems of boards of education
in preparing for the active work of the school is that of
a suitable physical equipment. The total valuation of
school property for all State systems in 1909-10 was
$1,100,007,512. This makes a considerable investment,
even when scattered over so large an area, in property
to be cared for and kept in condition by the various
boards. Under the above heading are to be included
grounds, buildings, furnishings and apparatus, play and
athletic fields, fields for experimentation in agriculture.
In older communities existing types of buildings and
grounds add materially to the obstacles in the way of
educational progress. Just as in building railroads the
strap iron has given place to the heavy steel rail, and
sharp grades and long circuits have been eliminated by
heavy fills and cuts and tunnelling, so the old type of
school building, with its cramped ground space and its
still more cramped rooms and corridors, has had to yield
to more extensive grounds and to buildings constructed
on much more generous lines. All of these advances in-
volve large increase in cost. We must pay the price of
progress in all these fields of human achievement or else
remain at a standstill.
210 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
Could society but foresee the direction of movement
and consequent needs that would result from the evolu-
tion through which we are passing in all these new
fields of action, much of what now seems waste and loss
might possibly be avoided. Yet where is the economist
who will venture to assert that the seeming waste and
loss are real? Just how long must the physical plant
of any public utility continue in use in order to balance
the cost of labor involved in its construction? The ideas
it embodies, together with those which experience has
added, are indestructible. The laborer is still ready to
serve in order to live. The raw material, or that which
may be substituted for the original, is nature's gift to
man. If only there are enough to labor, and if men are
honest, the rest will adjust itself without a ripple in the
great, swift currents of trade and industry.
We lack most of all vision in directing these great
constructive movements. Too often we look behind us
to see what has been and forget to look before us to con-
sider, in the light of the past and of present trend, what
is to be. It is thus in this matter of equipping our
schools. We need to build for the future rather than
the present; for what should be rather than for what is
or has been.
2. General Conditions to Be Cared for
Again we must deal with types. But, first of all, there
are some very important general matters, applicable
alike to all types, that should be disposed of. The site
selected should, as far as possible, harmonize with the
purposes of the school plant. It should be sanitary, free
from noise or disturbing influences, reasonably easy of
access to all, when all things are considered, and cer-
tainly large enough to provide room for the complete
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOLS 211
organization of all that should be undertaken by the
school, including all out-of-door exercises.
Buildings should be constructed on plans determined
primarily by what things a particular school aims to do.
Due regard should be had in their construction for the
safety and comfort of pupils and teachers. They should
be so constructed as to provide a sufficiency of light,
fresh air, and warmth during the cold weather if in a
climate given to extremes of temperature. The furnish-
ings and equipment of buildings should likewise accord
with their purposes, and should be adapted to con-
venience, facility, and good sanitation in all exercises
of the school.
Before proceeding to carry out any very extensive
building projects a school board should make a careful
survey of the educational situation and should adopt
such a building policy as is most likely to be in line with
the trend of educational progress. Otherwise new and
expensive structures may be out of date and poorly
adapted to the school work long before their reasonable
term of usefulness has expired. As an illustration, if a
school system in a city is beginning to consider the adop-
tion of what is known as the six-four-four plan the board
should take into account the advisability of erecting dif-
ferent types of buildings for the six elementary grades,
the four intermediate 1 grades, and the four high-school
and junior college grades respectively.
Such a plan has been worked out in a very complete
way by the city of Los Angeles, Cal., under the leader-
ship of Superintendent Francis. While this is a subject
to be considered more fully under a different head, it is
1 The terms elementary, intermediate, and high school are here used
as referring to organization under the six-four-four plan. Intermediate
would therefore include grades seven to ten, inclusively.
212 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
quite in order to call attention to the fact that such a
division of the work of our common schools, with build-
ings constructed so as to facilitate the work, lends itself
more readily to the adjustments that are being called
for in our system of school training than any other
scheme that has yet been devised. In fact, it may be
fairly assumed that if we are to adjust our schools, as
a unified system, so as to include vocational education,
some such readjustment will be necessary and inevitable.
3. The Elementary Building
The building for an elementary school should be dis-
tinctively a children's house. In style of architecture,
in arrangement of grounds, and in interior and exterior
equipment the study should be to make such a build-
ing attractive for children, at the same time that all the
essential adjuncts to the exercises of the elementary
school should be provided. These would include types
of rooms and their suitable arrangement, such as class-
rooms, workrooms, assembly-room, exercise rooms, lunch
rooms, rest rooms for teachers and pupils; proper sani-
tary conditions, including cloak-rooms and basement;
suitable decorations and adornments as well as the utili-
ties of classroom work.
4. The Intermediate Type
The intermediate school should be planned for depart-
mental work, and should have its shop or shops, which
may better be one-story affairs and detached from the
main structure. The main building should be provided
with workrooms and laboratories, although not on as
elaborate a scale as the high school. There will be
needed, also, study room, rest room, assembly hall, li-
brary, lunch room, gymnasium and swimming pool, with
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOLS 213
shower-baths. In the equipment for instruction there
should be a relatively large amount of illustrative ma-
terial as compared with the high school, such as maps
and charts, pictures, lantern-slides, samples of building
materials, collections illustrative of the great manufac-
turing and commercial industries, etc.
5. City High-School Buildings
The city high-school building should be a composite
structure with large grounds. It should be planned so
as to permit all kinds of activities typical of the essen-
tial features of community life. The main or central
structure should provide for the administrative features,
classrooms for academic work, and study rooms. An-
other section of the building or buildings should provide
laboratories, lecture-rooms, and all accessories for the
different lines of science work. There should be some-
where generous space devoted to art and design and to
household arts and home economics. The shops should
be by themselves, including equipment for such voca-
tional lines as the particular school is to offer. There
should also be suitable space for cafeteria lunch service;
gymnasiums with baths and swimming pools for boys and
girls separately; an auditorium of ample seating capacity
and stage room; a music-room; a library. Some rooms
should be provided for the meetings of special groups of
students in connection with their activities. If the
school is to become a social and literary centre for the
community, there should be rooms planned and equipped
for the use of clubs and other organizations and for
lectures and amusements. All the rooms and depart-
ments should be suitably equipped with furnishings and
apparatus of the most approved types for the various
exercises and activities of the school.
214 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
Somewhere in connection with each high-school build-
ing or at an accessible distance should be ample ath-
letic grounds with opportunity for field sports for both
sexes. In connection with the system of elementary and
intermediate schools there should also be ample play-
ground facilities, perhaps larger than the grounds imme-
diately connected with each building, where the school
children of each of a series of larger districts of the
city may go for their out-of-door exercise and play.
These grounds should all be properly equipped and under
the supervision of expert directors of play and sport.
6. The Small-City or Town Type
For the small city, the town, or village the study
should be to embody in the one building possible as
many of the features given above as the nature and size of
the community may require. Here, especially, is needed
that careful survey suggested earlier in this chapter as
a basis for a clearly denned educational policy, in order
to determine, among other things, what kind of build-
ing is to be supplied. One of the most wasteful things
in school administration is to be found in the kind of
physical equipment that is often provided in these smaller
centres. The necessity arises for a new school building.
The honest and well-meaning citizens who constitute
the board know little about educational needs or how
to provide for them in the physical equipment. They
simply know that a house is to be built, with walls and
roof, and to be divided into about as many rooms as
there are teachers. Result: a structure that is likely to
handicap and render more or less ineffective the educa-
tional work of that community for twenty years or more.
The difficulty is that these men have had no oppor-
tunity to learn the need and value of wise expert direc-
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOLS 215
tion in such matters. The provision in each county of
one capable expert clothed with the necessary author-
ity would remedy all this and remove one of the serious
drawbacks to educational progress. Under a county
board such expert direction, affecting all schools, rural
as well as in village and town, would be readily practi-
cable; for the same general principles as to buildings
and grounds for the town should also apply to the
country schools.
7. Special Provisions and Equipments
In each city and county system (assuming county
organization of rural and village schools), rooms should
be provided, at central points, for the various dental,
throat, nose, and ear clinics in connection with the health-
officer's department. There should also be provision in
the way of rooms and apparatus for the psychological
clinic, with special rooms somewhere for the educational
treatment prescribed for all abnormal children suscep-
tible to treatment in an educational way. In some in-
stances separate buildings, designed for this particular
purpose, are provided for such special educational treat-
ment.
The provision of library facilities for schools has re-
cently become a matter of great interest and consequent
growth. In the first place, under the stimulus of great
benefactions, especially those by Andrew Carnegie, and
aided not a little by the prosperous times of the past
fifteen years, public libraries have increased immensely.
In the year 1912 alone Andrew Carnegie and the Car-
negie Corporation gave $2,236,953 for public libraries.
Gifts from other sources amounted to $3,265,825, making
a total of $5,502,778 in one year's gifts for libraries. In
addition to this there were given 115,954 volumes, 16
216 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
sites for buildings, and 13 buildings for library purposes.
In most of the larger cities and in connection with a
number of the large universities a similar expansion in
library facilities is noticeable. 1
In many cases schools have taken advantage of these
increased library facilities. Library boards are gener-
ally glad to co-operate with the school in making up
lists of books suitable for school use and also in provid-
ing all conveniences necessary for ready access to this
service by the pupils.
In the cities substations and depositories of the cen-
tral libraries are provided in order to facilitate such ac-
cess for the schools as well as for the public in general.
For the rural towns and districts extension circuits have
been established in many instances by means of which
books from central libraries may be loaned periodically
to the schools.
Such provisions are a great source of benefit to the
school work. But boards of education should not over-
look the fact that there will need to be a liberal supply
of books for daily use available at all times and without
loss of time in the pursuit of modern school work. This
is true of all grades, but most emphatically true of high
schools.
The school museum of illustrative materials for the
teaching of history, geography, and other sciences is also
capable of becoming a much more important feature in
material equipment than it has yet done. In the same
category also are lantern-slides, which should be avail-
able not only from a central depository of the State, as
in the case of New York, but may well become a part of
the regular equipment of the school system of a city or
county.
1 See U. S. Com. Report, 1912, vol. I, pp. 379-406.
PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOLS 217
It may be said in a general way with regard to normal
schools, State universities, and special institutions for
the education of defectives or delinquents that the same
general principles should apply as are laid down for the
physical equipment of the lower schools. There should
be, first of all, a clearly denned policy as to the general
scope and aim of the work to be undertaken as far as
it relates to grounds, buildings, or other items of equip-
ment. The development of the physical plan should
then be in harmony with this policy, permitting of such
flexibility in certain directions as to render possible ad-
justments to new and unforeseen emergencies. Some
way should then be provided by which such plans of
development might be made continuous indefinitely, re-
gardless of changes in administrative bodies having in
hand the general management of these institutions.
PART THREE
THE ADMINISTRATION OF INSTRUCTION
CHAPTER XII
RECAPITULATION AND DEFINITION
We now come to the discussion of that part of our
subject toward which, as an objective, we have thus
far been moving; for all the vast and intricate mech-
anism set up and maintained by society through laws
enacted, through the establishment of various types
of schools, through boards of education and physical
equipment, through the training and selection of teachers,
exists primarily that children and youth may be taught.
The significant thing about all that we have thus far
reviewed, tested, and reconstructed in theory is in the
fact that, after all, society is thus to delegate and trans-
fer to educational experts whom society herself provides
as supervisors and teachers the actual work of instruc-
tion.
i. The Mechanism of Administration Viewed as a
Whole
As a preparation for this transfer, we have witnessed
the definite setting aside of a large group of men and
women organized into a vast system known as the system
218
RECAPITULATION AND DEFINITION 219
of public education. Let us now view this mechanism
briefly as a whole from the standpoint of the actual
work of instruction. The number of persons included
in the complete organization of the public-school system
can be given only approximately. There are in State
common-school systems 506,453 teachers. Of these
144,784 teachers and 14,392 supervising officers are in
villages and cities having populations of 4,000 or more.
Four thousand eight hundred and fourteen more are em-
ployed in the instructional work of the 196 State normal
schools, and 7,321 make up the instructional forces of
the 89 colleges and universities under city, State, or na-
tional control. This makes a grand total of 518,588,
probably not including State and county superintendents
and their various assistants.
This instructional body had under instruction (figures
for 1909-10) the total number of 12,864,464 persons, or
an average of about 25 to each one instructing. The
total cost to States and municipalities was, approxi-
mately, $430,384,841, including both operating expenses
and additional buildings. These figures give us some
idea of the magnitude of the work and of its cost to
society. How may this mechanism as a whole best be
organized in order to give to society the highest possible
dividend from the investment of men and money it is
putting into the enterprise?
2. Conclusions from What Precedes
There are some very definite conclusions to be drawn
from what has preceded. First of all there needs to be
singleness of purpose in the minds of all our citizens in
regard to this whole scheme of education. It is estab-
lished and maintained solely in order that the young,
while still most susceptible, may be so educated as to be
220 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
able to start out in life abreast of their day in a knowl-
edge of all that is best in human experiences and achieve-
ment. The laws of the schools are enacted for this pur-
pose. To this end, and not for political gain, boards of
education are elected. Only for this, and not for the
benefit of school treasurers or banking houses, are per-
manent school funds established or taxes levied by dis-
trict or State. As a definite means to this end, never to
give sustenance to those in need by giving away public
jobs, are teachers educated and selected for their pecu-
liar work. Not for the benefit of architects, or con-
tractors, or for workmen in the various building trades,
are schoolhouses built, but in order that schooling may
be free to all children and youth.
We are to educate for the future, not for the past.
The criteria of standards as to the nature and amount
of instruction to be offered are to be ascertained by tak-
ing a careful inventory of present needs and of the trend
of development of our social and industrial life as affected
by education. Such a survey is no longer the work of
men unacquainted with educational movements and laws.
The expert alone is capable of determining such matters.
And there are not nearly enough of these to meet the
demands of our rapidly growing system. The weakest
spot in this system, the link in the chain by whose
weakness its inability to bear the required strain is de-
termined, is this lack of educational experts together
with society's hesitancy in turning over to them the
direction of the work of our schools.
And what constitutes an educational expert? He is
one who has received a broad and liberal education;
who has studied education in its history and in its
principles; who has a clear and fairly comprehensive
knowledge of the social problems affected by or affecting
RECAPITULATION AND DEFINITION 221
the education of the schools; who knows experimentally
the work of the teacher and the administrator; who is
physically and morally strong, a man of tact and sound
judgment, and thoroughly imbued with the spirit of
democracy. He must needs be an optimist, possessed
of a keen sense of humor, a lover of men. Such men,
available for the work, are few; and little or no provision
is made by society for producing such men.
Be this as it may, however, there is still room for a
splendid optimism. The public mind is rapidly becom-
ing enlightened as to the needs of our schools. Educa-
tion is coming more and more to be viewed as a sure
and successful investment both for the social group and
for the individual. Not a year passes now without
some notable advance movement expressed in the form
of legislation in from one to a dozen or more States of
the Union. We are building better schools, we are im-
proving the standards of work, we are organizing schools
on a more democratic basis, and all our schools are be-
coming more free and open to the young of all classes.
3. Administration of Instruction Defined
We need now to consider briefly what is meant by the
administration of instruction. Various efforts have been
made at denning the term "administration" as related
to education. Still the application of it seems vague
and indistinct in the minds of most writers. In discuss-
ing the administration of education in this general and
inclusive way we have been trying to give to the term a
clearer and more comprehensive significance. Thus ad-
ministration is established in law. It includes all direc-
tive and constructive features of education. Units of
control are its fields of operation. Boards, superinten-
dents, special supervisors, principals, and teachers are all
222 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
parts of the official mechanism of administration. There
are as many aspects of administration as there are units
of control, down to the individual schoolroom or class-
room presided over by the individual teacher. In each
of the larger units of control there are varying aspects of
administration. Thus supervision of a county or city is
an aspect of administration.
We have become habituated to the use of the title of
superintendent as having to do rather definitely with
the work of instruction. At the same time, in the course
of evolution, the superintendent in a city has come to
represent much more than instruction and the things
closely related thereto. Only in recent years have men
come to understand and appreciate this difference and to
divide the different interests which the one superinten-
dent has been compelled to assume among several de-
partmental heads, all a part of administration but not
of the direct work of instruction. And now it is pro-
posed that in the large city there should be one educa-
tional expert, as general superintendent, over all these
various departments, in order properly to correlate them
and render them more effective in accomplishing that
for which the schools exist.
We have preferred to consider administration under
the two general headings: (i) Society acting through
boards. (2) The administration of instruction through
experts trained by society and selected by boards for
their particular work either as supervisors or teachers.
And what are the administrative features to be discussed
under instruction? First of all is supervision; for this
is, next to the board, the leading executive factor in
administration. As we have seen, the superintendent is
often, also, close to society. The line of demarcation
and the intermediary relationship is not yet clearly
RECAPITULATION AND DEFINITION 223
defined; the office of the expert is not yet fully under-
stood by the people at large.
Naturally, then, there are all those things which lie
close to society's side of the line, as well as the things
pertaining directly to instruction that have come to
be recognized as problems of supervision: attendance,
health; the care of defectives and delinquents; the cur-
ricula of the schools; the selection of teachers and their
training in service; classification and promotion of pu-
pils. There is the teacher in the classroom, directing
instruction, organizing materials, moulding habits and
conduct. All of this is a part of the administration of
instruction.
There might properly be included under this discus-
sion the whole field of class management and method.
But this phase of administration has already been thor-
oughly and ably discussed and developed by numerous
writers. It will be sufficient for our purpose here to call
attention to the more general problems named above.
4. Things to Be Kept in Mind in the Discussion to
Follow
The tendency of late has been rather to an over-
emphasis of administrative problems. Such a condition
often follows a general awakening to the importance of
something that has previously been overlooked. It is
to be hoped that out of this wave of intense interest and
the consequent discussion may come a clearer under-
standing of the relation of administrative parts to each
other and of each to the entire problem of how best
and most successfully to educate children and youth.
We need especially to keep in mind for the discus-
sion that is to follow certain principles implied in what
has been said concerning the training and selection of
224 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
teachers. Among these we may mention first of all the
principle that the instructional force must have at hand
and be familiar with the necessary materials of educa-
tion. This will be assured if society makes proper pro-
vision for maintaining schools, on the one hand, and
establishes an efficient system for the training and se-
lection of teachers on the other.
Next, they should know, as far as possible, the nature
as well as the order and manner of development of the
physical, mental, and moral life of children and youth,
and be able to adjust the materials and processes of edu-
cation to this knowledge. This is only another way of
saying that all members of the instructional forces should
have adequate professional training, The statement of
such a proposition should not be construed, however, to
mean that all should possess equally such knowledge.
As a matter of fact, few if any one of a group will pos-
sess it all. The point is that in the organization of any
instructional force there should be represented all es-
sential phases of this knowledge. A proper adjustment
in the division of labor will do the rest.
The members of the instructional corps of any school
need to understand clearly the aims of education from
the standpoint both of the individual and of society.
Unless this is true there can be no central idea about
which to organize materials and plans of action a very
vital condition to success in administering instruction.
CHAPTER XIH
SUPERVISION
School supervision in the United States presents two
aspects chiefly: (i) supervision from the standpoint of
society; (2) from the standpoint of the school. Under
the second of these are to be included the regular super-
vision of instruction, variously distributed in larger sys-
tems, and special supervision (a) of subjects, as music,
drawing, manual arts; and (6) of special conditions re-
lated to instruction, as attendance, health, and sanitation.
i. The Educational Expert of the System
In the administration of instruction society gives over
to specially chosen experts the direction of the whole
process subject to the approval of an intermediary
board. This stewardship the superintendent of a sys-
tem of schools primarily stands for. He may share it,
by delegation, with assistants, special supervisors, and
supervising principals; but society ultimately holds him
responsible for results. Through this stewardship so-
ciety provides for the transfer and application of what
it has done directly in establishing schools, in providing
for their maintenance, and in the preparation and selec-
tion of teachers, to the actual work for which the entire
organism exists the instruction of children and youth
and of all who should share in the instruction of the
schools.
225
226 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
2. What the Position Involves
Hence it is that the first aspect of this trust placed in
the office of the superintendent is a looking toward so-
ciety. It involves, first of all, an accounting for the
uses made of the material equipment and support pro-
vided. This obligation is shared with the board which,
indeed, bears the greater part of it. In the second place,
it requires of the superintendent, or of some special
administrative officer, that the material conditions be
carefully considered with reference to the future needs
of the schools. The relative adequacy of the teaching
force must also be reported, together with a statement
of any needed changes, increase, or improvement which
should be provided for. The materials and processes
of education as represented in the programme of studies
and exercises will need to be carefully considered and
judged as to their adequacy in the light of general social
and industrial needs of the community. The board will
usually look to the superintendent for recommendations
on such matters. Those things also which pertain to the
general social life of the school, as well as the relation
of the school to the social life of the community, will
call for a portion of the attention of the supervisory ex-
pert of the system. It is the superintendent who should
know what to emphasize in the work of the schools as
indicated by the general social and economic conditions
of the community. If we add to this the very impor-
tant function of looking after the physical condition and
well-being of the children of all the schools of a given
community we shall see that the field for supervision
even in this portion, most remote of all from the actual
work of instruction, carries with it great responsibil-
SUPERVISION 227
ities and calls for men correspondingly capable and
efficient.
It is the larger administrative function just described
which calls for men and women of great executive abil-
ity, especially in our larger cities; but from the point
of view of the school and the purpose for which it is
established the second aspect of supervision is most vi-
tally important. In this second capacity, first of all,
the superintendent is the director and adviser in the
work of instruction. He must see to it that a wise use
is made of both time and materials toward attaining
the end sought. He must guard against failures on the
part of the teachers under him. To do this, after they
are once selected and assigned, he must carefully coach
the weak or the unskilled that may happen to be in the
group. He must look well after the physical health of
the teachers, their mode of living, their recreations, as
far as he may do so without seeming to meddle.
He it is who will strive to keep the teachers under his
supervision at their best. This he may do (a) by sym-
pathetic assistance and counsel; (6) by constructive
criticism; (c) by bringing to their attention the latest
things in educational progress and encouraging them to
"blaze" new ways into the untrodden paths of educa-
tional procedure toward which we are all looking, moving ;
in other words, by good, all-around leadership.
Beyond and yet closely related to all this he finds
time to study the problems connected with the promo-
tion and classification of pupils. He looks into the
problems of delinquents and defectives and seeks ways
and means by which these may be better cared for. He
inquires carefully into the causes and the cure for elim-
ination and retardation. If the situation lends itself in
the least hopeful manner to such accomplishment, he
228 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
seeks to make the schools real vital centres of commu-
nity life and interest for the purpose of bringing about
a wide-spread and general social betterment.
3. Special and Grade Supervision
In the case of special grade supervision, as kindergar-
ten, elementary, grammar, or high school, the assump-
tion is that there are particular features of the work at
these different stages of the educative process which
call for special study and for peculiar directive ability
in supervision. In the case of supervisors of special sub-
jects the situation is quite different. This type of super-
vision has evidently grown out of the effort to introduce
into the programme of studies subjects with which the
regular teachers were not familiar. Doctor W. A. Jes-
sup, in a study of the "Social Factors Affecting Special
Supervision in the Public Schools," has brought out the
fact that with some special subjects, such as music,
drawing, penmanship, and physical education, the pre-
vailing method is that the "new material is taught by
specialists at regular intervals, followed by drill on the
same by the regular teacher." In manual training,
domestic science, and sewing, Doctor Jessup found the
typical method to be "special subjects entirely under the
charge of specialists and all lessons given by specialists.
The slight tendency away from this method toward
one in which the regular teacher has a share of responsi-
bility is confined almost entirely to the large cities." 1
In a few instances only do elementary-school systems
provide for anything more than such general supervi-
sion of music, drawing, penmanship, and physical edu-
1 "Social Factors Affecting Special Supervision," Doctor W. A. Jessup,
Teachers College Series, Contributions to Education, pp. 116-117, New
York, 1911.
SUPERVISION 229
cation outside of the regular teaching force. At Gary,
Ind., a plan is in operation by which the special teacher
instructs all classes instead of supervising. This is
accomplished by arranging the work departmentally
throughout. On the other hand, large high schools
much more commonly provide for the special teaching
of all these lines, usually without the need of much
supervision.
4. Supervision of Rural and Village Schools
The types of supervision as determined by the estab-
lished units of control and the kinds of schools which
have resulted have already been named in discussing
boards of education. Taking these in about the same
order as previously referred to, the supervision of rural
and village schools would first be considered. Under
present conditions we have found this to be very in-
adequate. Outside of New England, where town super-
vision is provided, and New York, where the State is
districted, regardless of county lines, by the State com-
missioner of education, such supervision is confined
almost entirely to county superintendents. Under this
latter condition the supervision of instruction in rural
schools is largely indirect. The superintendent or his
assistant visits the schools once or twice a year. They
observe the work of the teacher, the equipment, the
general conduct of the school. Usually they talk to the
pupils, and they offer to the teachers such meagre sug-
gestions as their infrequent visits make possible.
In many States these superintendents are not required
to represent any very high standards professionally; in
other words, they are not usually experts in the true
sense. Neither their time nor their preparation enable
them to work out a definite educational policy such as
230 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
to mark strongly the character of instruction given in
the schools under them. Yet this is their chief business.
Sometimes in most instances, in fact they supplement
their visits by a kind of indirect supervision. They send
out circular letters to the teachers. They hold district
and county meetings of teachers to discuss management
and methods in the schools. The work of the county
institute is devoted largely to similar purposes.
The village schools frequently fare better. These
usually employ a principal teacher who does some super-
visory work. He helps teachers to prepare daily reci-
tation and study programmes; aids them in getting the
necessary materials; supervises promotions and classi-
fication; aids in maintaining good order and right con-
duct. Because he must usually teach during the school
sessions, he has to do most of this indirectly or before
and after school. Ordinarily such a principal is a man
or a woman of little experience, a graduate of a normal
school with two years of training to his credit beyond
the high school, or a green college graduate or student
of two or three years' standing, with enough to do to
manage his own classes without bothering much con-
cerning his assistant teachers.
5. County Boards and Better Teachers the Chief
Needs
It is evident enough that a county board, empowered
to employ a sufficient number of supervisors to take
good care of this whole matter of instruction in these
two types of schools would greatly improve conditions.
Furthermore, if we could once establish higher standards
of preparation of teachers for all our schools, as well as
of supervision of instruction, much of the difficulty
would disappear. The schools of Prussia, we are told,
SUPERVISION 231
are able to get along with a comparatively small amount
of supervision. This is due chiefly to the fact that none
but reasonably efficient teachers are permitted in the
schools. The training of these is such that, with a pro-
gramme of studies furnished by the State, they are able
to carry the work of instruction along with a mini-
mum of supervision. Inspection, chiefly, is all that the
schools require. Before we carry the increase in the
supervisory forces too far it might be well for us to get
right generally on the more fundamental proposition
the properly prepared teacher.
6. Supervision of Small Cities
The small city with a population ranging from five
thousand to one hundred thousand may readily consti-
tute a second type. In such cities, as a rule, we find all
the executive duties under the board of education, ex-
cept such as can be handled readily and efficiently by
committees of the board, devolving upon the one man
as head of the school system. Such a position calls for
a man of great versatility. He needs not only to know
the principles and laws of education, but also the best
business methods as they pertain to the management of
schools.
We are only just awakening to the fact that this po-
sition calls for a man trained for his job. The rapid
growth of urban populations makes the demand for new
men in this field quite worthy of consideration on the
part of those who are preparing for administrative work
in education. There are now in the United States (cen-
sus of 1910) 1,191 cities of the class referred to. These
are divided as follows as to size: 5,000 to 10,000, 632
cities; 10,000 to 25,000, 374 cities; 25,000 to 100,000,
185 cities. This offers a suggestive gradation for pro-
232 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
motions where a superintendent is seeking a larger field.
Besides these there are 50 cities of 100,000 or over to
which one may also ultimately aspire. This is saying
nothing of the numerous subordinate offices, as assis-
tant superintendents and ward principals, which are
needed in the larger cities. These places, also, are in
line of promotion for those who are qualified.
When we consider the importance of these positions
in their relationship to the proper administration of in-
struction, and also the number of people needed, it seems
high time that States were beginning to make some ade-
quate provision for the special preparation of this class
of educational experts. Thus far, in the main, we have
been accustomed to let these superintendents "come
up" through varied experiences, well equipped in a prac-
tical way, with a rich fund of empirical knowledge.
They have learned by imitating or by ready invention
where a new situation has been presented. They have
come by a devious course to a fair success, but the way
they came they cannot chart. They can tell to others
how a thing is done, but, as a rule, they know not the
principles involved nor yet how to apply principles in
solving new problems of administration. As a class they
are rapidly passing.
A few institutions, like Teachers College at Columbia
University, or Harvard in its work with the schoolmen
about Cambridge and Boston, have taken up the prob-
lem of the training of experts for the work of supervi-
sion. The time is not far distant, it is to be hoped, when
this will be done extensively by our State institutions.
Educational literature dealing with the problems pecu-
liar to the superintendent's work is rapidly increasing.
From the standpoint of permanency and a fair compen-
sation the conditions were never so favorable as now.
SUPERVISION 233
Some real and worthy careers are opening for strong,
well-trained men. At each succeeding call that comes
for a well-qualified man to fill one of these places there
is demonstrated, over and over, the shortage of men of
the right kind men that are being sought.
Experience, as a part of one's equipment for the work
of supervision, is a necessary factor. Knowledge of the
various standards, tests, and measures of efficiency in
school work and of their application is also very essen-
tial. It would be a great step forward for our universi-
ties to offer scholarships, or fellowships where possible,
for men who have had good initial training and suffi-
cient experience to demonstrate unquestioned ability to
prepare more fully for such work. If practicable they
should serve a brief probationary term, as a part of this
training, under capable expert direction. A still better
arrangement would be a plan for directing their studies
while they are holding actual positions.
As stated above, the superintendent of a small city
system is apt to be the educational factotum of the
board. But even here certain relief may be had through
committees and through combinations of duties with
such assistants as the office may afford. The secretary
of the board may also be the attendance officer, or pur-
chasing agent, or all three. A regular practising physi-
cian may take care of the medical inspection and health
supervision, especially if there be a visiting nurse or two.
By such means the superintendent may be free to de-
vote more time to the direct work of instruction and the
problems more immediately attendant thereto. He may
still have to conduct his own psychological clinic unless
he can find in some principal or high-school teacher one
qualified to do this at a slight additional compensation
and with a programme of class work or other duties ad-
234 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
justed so as to give the required time for the work. Some
local or otherwise available and capable architect may
be retained, as needed, to advise with superintendent
and board in regard to new buildings and all matters
pertaining to the development of the physical equipment
of the schools.
The point to the whole matter is that the all-important
thing is the instructional work; and a city does not need
to be very large to make of its proper supervision a man's
task. There is no weaker point, to-day, in our scheme
of administration, than that caused by this lack of men
properly trained, both in scholarship and professionally,
for the work of supervision.
7. Supervision of Large-City Systems
The peculiarity in the problem of supervision of in-
struction which a large city presents is chiefly one of
distribution of function. Here all the accessory prob-
lems are taken care of by special departments. Two of
these, attendance and physical education and health,
will be discussed in separate chapters. But the super-
vision of the work of teaching alone calls for an or-
ganization quite complex in itself. First there is the
question of assistants directly under the general super-
intendent. Shall these be on the basis of a horizontal
division, by grades; or on a vertical division, by dis-
tricts; or a division by subjects for consideration, as
music, drawing, manual training, attendance, physical
training, and health? In either case what shall be their
duties, what their authority? The first two of these
methods of distribution are in common use, the third
but slightly and in an embryonic way as yet. In this
last form there is involved the idea of efficient supervision
of the teaching work under the supervising principals,
SUPERVISION 235
who would report directly to the superintendent or to
an office assistant. Such supervisors would make up the
advisory board of the general superintendent as is
customary where the other plans of distribution are in
use. Each in his own department would refer all special
cases to the superintendent, who would again refer to
his advisory board, for more thorough consideration, all
the more difficult and complex questions which might
arise. As a matter of fact, the three methods of di-
vision are more or less combined in a number of our
larger cities.
8. Purposes and Aims of Supervising Agencies
Whatever the plan adopted, the aim is to cause the
supervising agencies of the school to help as much as
possible in making the instructional work of the schools
strong and effective. With this purpose in view, and
with the schools of a city organized into rather large
units, as is generally the case, it would seem that the
supervising principal should be the most dependable
factor. Whatever else may be done from the office of
the superintendent should be to help and to stimulate
the work of the principal and to take care of such
special features of instruction as may call for a more
definitely expert treatment.
In order to be able to furnish the necessary stimulus
the special supervisor should study carefully the results
attained by a principal in a given school situation.
These results, compared with those attained by other
principals, should point to relative excellence of method
and spirit which these principals maintain. The entire
system should be so organized and conducted as to ad-
mit of the highest possible degree of freedom and initia-
tive on the part of teacher, principal, supervisor of dis-
236 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
trict, grade, or subject. Each in his place should be
measured by the results attained as well as by a com-
parison of method and management.
Stimuli from the supervisor or principal as applied to
the teacher at work may take on several different forms.
The stimulus to-day may come through directing the
teacher to some new and helpful materials that apply
directly to the problem in hand. To-morrow may come
the need of criticism a fine discernment that shall see
both the bad and the good in a piece of work, that shall
mean hope rather than fear, be constructive rather than
destructive. Another day an illustration may be sug-
gested in the work of another teacher dealing with a
similar problem. Or courage, hope, persistence may
come through some little special notice of a piece of
work, not perfect, yet full of promise.
Such daily contact, sympathetic, full of suggestions,
quick to appreciate, is the great factor in this work with
the real workers the teachers with their classes. The
same general principles apply to all supervisors whether
of grades, special subjects, or all the schools of a given
district. First, and most emphatically, they apply to
supervising principals; next, in a more general way, to
assistant, district, or special supervisor; lastly, to the
general superintendent, before whom, on some occasion,
each and every one of those of whose work he is the
final co-ordinator must pass in review.
The entire supervising force should be on the look-
out for that work which is meritorious and manage to
discover for it some reward. The work of the teacher
is hard enough at best. It will lighten the burden if
what is really well done is always recognized in some
way, and it will tend materially to increase the number
of good, competent teachers. The number of super-
SUPERVISION 237
visors who have learned the art of criticism to that
degree necessary in making such discriminations in the
work of teachers is surprisingly few. We have said that
criticism, for instance, should be constructive rather
than destructive. In this respect we may find in our
schools at least four types of supervisors. First there
is the supervisor who carefully, kindly points out
defects and suggests the remedies even to the extent
of illustrating his points if necessary. Next there is the
one who commends but at the same time suggests an
entirely different treatment, the man of rare construc-
tive ability in the field of instruction. Both these
types of criticism are constructive, stimulating, whole-
some. Then there is a third type, the faultfinder, the
one who tears down without offering anything to replace
what he has utterly demolished. Such criticism is
purely destructive. And a fourth class is no better al-
though a little more pleasant to take; it is that of the
supervisor who is always lauding, indiscriminately, every-
thing he sees. His words are but fulsome flattery and,
in the end, are likely to prove destructive of both cour-
age and effort.
9. The Superintendent and the Training of Teachers in
Service
The fine art of all arts of the superintendent and his
assistants is the art of training teachers. No small part
of the burden of school management is that of improv-
ing the teachers in service of so directing their activi-
ties in school and at sundry other times as to result in
a continuous growth of each individual. This is a part
of the business of the leading spirit in any and all of
the types or units of supervision we have here discussed.
There is growing a feeling of restlessness among the
238 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
great body of teachers as to the real value of much
. that is demanded in the name of "professional training."
Again and again teachers are called from their work
and the schools closed in order that instruction of pupils
may give place to the process of "inspiring" and instruct-
ing teachers. A programme is arranged, often without
much forethought or continuity of purpose, and a meet-
ing is announced for a day, two days perhaps a whole
week. And in a vast majority of cases much of that to
which all are commanded or exhorted to give heed is
entirely irrelevant to the work or growth of those for
whose improvement it is offered.
In the epoch of the " eagle-screaming " celebration of
Independence Day, or the torchlight parade as a win-
ner of votes, there may have been a place for these
teachers' gatherings where stock generalities and enter-
taining speeches made up the entire programme. But
in this day of seeking for new truth, of discovering the
principles on which processes are to be based, it is time
to organize these efforts for professional advancement
about something more definite, more tangible. Too
much time is involved of both pupils and teachers, too
much of the teachers' hard-earned funds, to warrant
such inadequate if not wholly useless procedure. The
superintendent of any unit county, village, or city
who is not prepared to lead teachers under his charge
to something more definitely related to the problems
everywhere calling for solution in the field of education,
should immediately seek to discover what is good form
in writing a humble resignation.
SUPERVISION 239
10. Function of Supervisors in the Selection of
Teachers
Not only must the superintendent and his aids look
after the training of teachers in service but also the re-
plenishing of the ranks from year to year to make up
for growth and loss. Many a superintendent's plans
have been defeated and his efforts nullified by failure to
secure the right kind of teachers for the annual vacan-
cies. Generally speaking, boards of education leave the
selection and nomination of teachers in the hands of the
superintendent and principals. The exceptional cases,
where "pull" is still made the basis of selections at times,
are usually to be found in those cities where boards are
appointive and so subordinated to the political regime
of municipal governments.
The recommendations of the superintendent in regard
to reappointments as well as in naming new teachers
call for very full and careful consideration. There is
involved not only a suitable salary schedule but also the
whole matter of ranking and efficiency of teachers as a
basis for determining the schedule and each teacher's
right to promotion. Nothing can prove more fatal to
any system than the establishment of a scale of salaries
which increases on the basis of time of service solely
without any check upon growth and efficiency on the
part of each member of the teaching force. There are
numerous ways of determining these matters. It is not
in the province of this treatment of administration to
undertake to give a model for a field so large and varied.
Each system should work out its own scheme, in the
light of local conditions, but with insistence upon some
clear evidence of growth and at least sustained efficiency
as a basis for every advance.
240 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
There is involved, incidentally, the need of definite
information for the board as to the range of salaries
paid in other cities where similar social and economic
conditions prevail. Maximum, minimum, and median
standards should be available, not only from the cities
of the country at large, but also from a carefully se-
lected group of cities similarly conditioned as to size,
cost of living, and such other factors as would affect the
status of teaching in comparison with the local schools.
One thing that has been said before will bear repeat-
ing here: the teachers of any local system would better
be selected from the State or country at large. Other
things equal, such a plan will bring better results as to
the vital quality of the teaching corps. The local train-
ing-school may have been and may still be expedient as
a temporary means of securing a sufficient number of
well-trained teachers. No well-informed superintendent
would be likely to recommend the establishment of such
an institution on any other ground.
n. Things Superintendents Should Know
The superintendent, to be successful, will need to
have clearly defined views and a working policy con-
cerning such problems as attendance; health; physical
education; classification and promotion of pupils and
teachers; the care of defective children; the causes and
prevention of retardation and elimination; vocational
guidance and selection; and trade, night, and other
forms of continuation schools.
The wise superintendent will keep in touch with the
financial situation and the limitations his board is
working under in this respect. In all his plans for en-
largement and innovations he will carefully consult these
interests in the light of what he feels will be the truest
SUPERVISION 241
economy in the long run. Although the supervising
architect may be charged with preparing the plans for
all new buildings or additions to old ones, a right condi-
tion of things will leave the final approval, from the
standpoint of adaptability, to the superintendent and
his aids. Nothing is more trying to a conscientious su-
perintendent than to find plans for buildings adopted in
which important features, educationally, have been over-
looked or omitted. For this reason the general super-
intendent should always have a check on the building
plans for the schools.
Similar conditions make it desirable that all the spe-
cial departments that in any way concern the instruc-
tional work of the schools should be subject to review
by the central supervising office. We have noted a ten-
dency in some cities to place the supervision of health
and also of playgrounds under departments of the munic-
ipal government instead of under the board of educa-
tion. Both these special fields bear a direct and vital
relationship to the work of the schools and should there-
fore be under the direction of school authorities and
subject to recommendations and approval by the super-
intendent of instruction.
12. State Supervision
There remain for our consideration here such forms of
supervision as are provided under larger units of con-
trol. That for counties has already been discussed as a
part of a plan for county organization and a county
board. Next above that comes State supervision. It
was probably a wise foresight on the part of those who
framed laws establishing this office that, in most in-
stances, little real authority was vested in the office.
Under our present prevailing condition of political con-
242 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
trol a partisan official possessed of great power in such
an office might easily play havoc with State systems of
education.
We have already discussed this anomalous situation
as it exists in many States under the chapter on boards
of education. Even with a more ideal condition as to
the method of choosing such an official, if we adhere to
the principles heretofore laid down, the State superin-
tendent's office should have little or nothing to do, in a
direct way, with the instructional work of the schools.
But this is not saying that this office may not be a very
useful and important one in its relation to instruction
in a democratic scheme of education. Such an official,
acting as the executive of a State board with depart-
mental assistants under him, becomes a very necessary
and desirable factor in the educational organism.
First of all there are the educational laws of the State
to be enforced. This the State superintendent, in co-
operation with county and district superintendents and
boards, is, or should be, definitely charged with and
duly empowered to execute. Incidental to this execu-
tive relation will appear also the obligation to point out
to the State board, as a basis for legislative recommenda-
tion, wherein, if at all, the laws are defective or inade-
quate. This legal aspect of the office no doubt repre-
sents the most vital service which the superintendent
can render. Such an official, backed by a board of
representative men, should be able to develop the legal
basis for a strong State organization capable of meeting
all demands in the field of public education.
Then there is the certification of teachers. Undoubt-
edly, this whole matter should be subject to the control
and careful supervision of the State executive, again in
co-operation with county and city authorities. It is
SUPERVISION 243
believed by some, also, that such a department should
keep a careful record of the teaching staff of the State
and thus be able to give reliable information to school
authorities concerning the professional records and per-
sonal characters of teachers. This would save many
schools from serious mistakes and would also be a pro-
tection to the deserving teacher in need of a position.
Such a record seems to belong naturally with some cen-
tral office having to do with the certification of teachers.
All reports necessary to show the educational condi-
tion and needs of the State the superintendent should
have authority to collect, tabulate, and publish for the
information of legislators, boards of education, the public
press, and all those engaged in educational work. Such
a system of reports, well chosen and wisely interpreted,
can be made to touch every vital problem of education
in a State. It can do much to eliminate incompetent
officers by insistent demand for the information they
should give, but in many cases may be found incapable
of reporting. It is capable of becoming a strong stimu-
lus to the entire system of schools. The trouble with
most of these offices now is that in the matter of reports
they are ruled solely by what is traditional or what
seems to be politic.
Through such a central office of the State should be
conducted an inspection of all school buildings and prop-
erties used in education of whatever grade with refer-
ence to their sanitary condition, their safety, and their
adequacy for the work that is required to be done.
This might be done directly or through co-operation
with county and city officials, but should always be
subject to strict review by the State department.
In cases where the State offers subsidies to schools
the office of the superintendent should determine whether
244 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
or not the conditions of granting such subsidies are being
fulfilled. But the granting of such subsidies should
never be conditioned in such a way as seriously to cur-
tail the freedom and initiative of local authorities as
regards the instructional work of the schools.
Another important service which the office of the
State educational executive may render is in the super-
vision of teachers' institutes and other general teachers'
organizations. Attention has already been called to the
waste which often characterizes these really desirable
factors in educational progress. There are a few States
where provision has already been made for a stronger
directive control. With a properly constituted State
board and executive, under carefully defined powers and
duties, these gatherings, often so weak and meaningless,
might become powerful forces for professional uplift and
the betterment of our schools. It need not be said, of
course, that all this should be done in a co-operative
spirit, with local, county, city, and State forces working
together to the same end. The real point to the matter
is the need of more definite central supervision with
designated authority.
With such an array as the above of activities for a
State superintendent, it is evident enough that there is
arnple room for such an official, with a strong staff, to
aid hi co-ordinating, stimulating, and improving without
need of infringement upon any essential feature of local
control, initiative or participation. Yet there is that in
our political atmosphere which seems to engender in men
who win success through the popular vote a thirst for
increase of power and control. Always there appears to
go with such an office a restlessness, an itching for what-
ever lies adjacent in a common field of service, an ambi-
tion for aggrandizement of office through numbers and
SUPERVISION 245
an increased annual budget. Such a spirit is not in
accord with the spirit of democracy in education. It is
the selfsame spirit that has built and fostered the evils
of political patronage and political "spoils." From all
such may our free public schools be delivered!
With such opportunities as those enumerated above
for influencing the schools, it is evident that the indirect
effect of the office of State superintendent would make
possible a much more efficient grade of instruction.
Thus, while communities would be left with a maximum
of freedom, the ability of the State's official to aid in the
general advancement of schools of all classes would be
much greater than that which generally prevails at the
present time.
13. Supervision of Normal Schools Needed
Where a State has a number of normal schools some
provision should be made for a central supervision of
them. If they are under a unified State board then the
expert executive staff should provide for this. The real
need of such supervision is more in matters of instruc-
tion than anything else outside of what the business
management of the board could take care of. It could
not be expected that a board of lay members should
deal with instructional work. The need would be,
chiefly, for a standardizing of the work which all would
undoubtedly do in common. There would also be need
of some direction in differentiating individual schools
with reference to certain lines of work so as to make an
equitable distribution of such special features without
omitting any essential thing. There are several of these
special lines of work which all may not need to under-
take in order to meet the demands. Certainly all should
not undertake them because some one school does.
246 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
It is true that these matters might be managed
through co-operation, but some one should at least be
charged with the duty of bringing it about. If special
supervision of this kind were established, including su-
pervision of teachers' courses given in high schools, it
would help materially in many of the States toward
bringing about the establishment of trustworthy stand-
ards which all interested persons or boards might have
access to.
14. Supervision of Instruction in a University
It may sound a little strange for one to refer to such
a thing as the supervision of instruction in a university.
Yet why should it? A considerable proportion of the
instructional work done in our modern American univer-
sities, as every one knows, is done by assistants, or fel-
lows, or instructors, most of whom know nothing about
teaching except by that sort of empiricism which one
has by remembering how he was taught. There has
been a great change in this regard with the rapid growth
of our great State institutions and along with that the
growth in graduate work. If it is right and desirable
that novices in the work of teaching should be super-
vised anywhere above the elementary grades it is cer-
tainly in order here.
The old plea for academic freedom can hardly be urged
with any justness against such supervision. States have
organized these institutions in order to give the very
best possible training to young men and women. As a
matter of sound economy, the organization of the work
should be the best possible as calculated to bring to the
State the largest returns both in quality of training and
the number successfully cared for. Besides, as we have
just shown, there are changed conditions in our institu-
SUPERVISION 247
tions which call for a modified form of administration in
this particular. And it is probably cheaper and better
for the State to provide for the supervision rather than
to pay the greater price for men of wider experience,
even if enough men were to be had, which seems not to
be the case at present.
Such supervision might readily be provided by depart-
ments, subject to advisement from the office of each
dean or director of a college or school in the university.
If rightly entered into it would greatly improve the in-
struction of lower classes, would tend to reduce the
"mortality" among freshmen, and would undoubtedly
save many worthy young instructors from failure and
premature retirement from the work of teaching. Here,
again, the force of an outworn tradition relentlessly grips
the situation and prevents what might easily mark a
great forward movement in college and university ad-
ministration.
15. Inter-Institutional Supervision
We come finally to a certain phase of supervision
which includes something of all these other types. There
are certain inter-relationships among the different edu-
cational institutions when considered as to grade. As
the individual moves forward from elementary to inter-
mediate school, from intermediate to high school, and
from high school to college or university, there are artic-
ulations to be looked after and readjustments to be made.
These steps should be so arranged as to come about with
the least possible waste in expense, or time, or spirit.
The method of fixing arbitrary schedules or pro-
grammes of study by State departments or by the insti-
tution higher up has been proven unsatisfactory and in-
adequate. For every one knows that programmes of
248 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
study are live and sensitive things organisms that are
changing, growing with every passing year. Hence the
fixing of set standards to be formally applied by a State
department to all conditions alike that may exist in a
given State has proven impracticable. On the other
hand, the institution higher up is apt to fix its own base
line, regardless of how far up the one below can come,
and preserve its normal condition as a stage in a con-
tinuous evolution. This, too, is unsatisfactory.
The method of co-operative study of the scheme of
materials and exercises that make up the curricula of all
our schools is more to the purpose. This naturally
brings about comparisons, readjustments working down-
ward instead of upward, and at the same time the normal
flexibility and adaptability of the programme as a grow-
ing, changing organism. With such a plan in opera-
tion it matters not so much from what quarter the
supervision and adjustment of these articulations for
every-day working purposes may come. The one essen-
tial feature of it is that it should be in rather close and
intimate touch with the work that is actually in progress
on both sides of a given line of contact.
In the case of the lower grades, this work may be well
cared for by the supervising forces in our city and county
systems. The chief point of difficulty lies between the
high school and the higher institutions. The most suc-
cessful working plan thus far devised in this case has
been found to be the co-operative plan for the study of
standards, with a man of large experience in public
high-school work coming back to these schools as ad-
juster from a place in the ranks of university instructors.
CHAPTER XIV
THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS
i. Definitions
From the preceding chapters it must be evident that
we are still using most of the terms referring to educa-
tional administration somewhat loosely. In the discus-
sion of "Supervision," for instance, the terms "superin-
tendent" and "supervisor" are sometimes used as
synonyms and sometimes as having quite different
shades of meaning. Our dictionaries, in fact, permit the
treatment of the three terms "inspection," "supervision,"
and "superintending" as synonyms. It seems fitting,
however, that the educational public, at least, should
agree upon differentiated meanings of these terms in
any discussion of administration. Professor E. C. Elliott
has already called attention to such a differentiation
when he speaks of the external forms of control of the
school as "(a) the legislative, (b) the administrative,
(c) the supervisory, and (d) the inspectorial." l Prob-
ably not all would agree with his use of these terms.
For instance, he uses "administrative" in a much more
restricted sense than the common acceptation of this
term among educational writers seems to warrant. He
thus makes the terms "supervisory" and "inspectorial"
1 " Instruction; Its Organization and Control," by Edward C. Elliott,
chap. V, pp. 107-110, in " High School Education," by C. H. Johnston
and others. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912.
249
250 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
co-ordinates of "administrative," instead of subdivisions
of it, as in the present writing. He also fails to differ-
entiate supervision from superintending, although we
are much in need of the two terms with a distinctness
of meaning at our present stage of progress in the formu-
lation of a science of education.
In our chapter on "Supervision" the purely synony-
mous use of the three terms "inspection," "supervision,"
and "superintending" has been adhered to or implied
because we are there dealing in a general way with sev-
eral phases of closely related aspects of the administra-
tion of instruction in our schools. The manifestly rapid
development of a field generally designated as the
"inspection of schools" makes it desirable at this point
to define the three functions to which we refer when we
make use of the three terms in question. Such defining
is also necessary in order to be more strictly in accord
with our present plan of treatment of the field of school
administration.
We speak of a superintendent as one who exercises a
watchful care and direction over a group or series of
processes directed toward a common end or interest.
Such a function may or may not involve direct personal
contact with those directly engaged in carrying out the
details of the work which a given project requires. It
may even be true that a superintendent is practically
unknown, as a person, to most of those actually at work
under him. At the same time, these workers may be
overseen, or "supervised," by experts selected for that
purpose. Thus, the supervisor comes into direct per-
sonal contact with those of whose work he is the over-
seer.
In a small system, where comparatively few workmen
are involved, one person may perform the two functions.
THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 251
Likewise, the supervisor may be a workman, or a super-
intendent both supervisor and workman all three in
the one person. But the one who is only a workman
cannot be a supervisor; nor can the one who is only
supervisor and workman be said to be a superintendent.
We need these two terms, each with a distinct meaning,
when we are discussing large city school systems or
other large units of control in education. Otherwise, we
shall constantly be getting confused in our discussions
of administration. So, also, the terms "inspector" and
"inspection" are coming to be a necessity in our ad-
ministrative terminology.
An "inspector" is one who looks into or investigates
a process or an institution in an official capacity. He is
not habitually in personal contact with the workers,
nor does he necessarily have authority to direct as super-
intendent. He represents a third factor, whose function
it is to see whether or not the end sought by the process
or institution is being attained. It is true that either
the one who superintends or the one that supervises
may also at the same time be acting as inspector; but
not the other way about if we adhere strictly to the
meaning of terms. Thus far in practice there has been
a general confusion of function as well as of terminology;
but we seem to be gradually emerging into-a^condition
where distinctions in both respects are to be more marked
and specific.
In a large city system, for instance, there is necessarily
a superintendent managing and directing the work of
all the schools. But this superintendent must depend
upon others to directly supervise instruction. These
supervisors we have found to be either (a) those who
oversee the instruction in special subjects, as music,
drawing, domestic arts, and science ; (6) those who super-
252 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
vise the instruction in a given district, or of a given grade ;
or (c) supervising principals placed over the schools of
separate buildings.
In a State system we may have a general superin-
tendent of instruction with special functions distributed
among several assistants. There may also be inspectors,
such as of school buildings with reference to sanitation
and safety, or of the general character and work of the
schools with reference to certain standards required as a
basis for the distribution of State funds or other pur-
poses. We could scarcely say that there would be any
strictly supervisory function by the State, with reference
to instruction in the schools, unless it should be of that
in State institutions.
2. Recent Development of the Inspectorial Function in
Education
The office of inspector in city systems is at present con-
fined chiefly to the two functions of medical inspection
and the inspection of buildings and grounds. Aside
from this the development of inspection has thus far
been mostly by States as units rather than by districts,
townships, or counties.
In the inspectorial work of States, as we have found
in most other phases of school administration, the differ-
ent units have as yet had but little in common. The
work first developed in the East, chiefly in Massachusetts.
Here it has related largely to matters of health and safety,
with some standardizing of schools as a basis for certain
subsidies granted by the State. We may readily sum-
marize the purposes of inspection as thus far developed
under the following heads: (i) health and sanitation;
(2) safety of buildings; (3) the classification and stand-
ardizing of schools (a) as a basis for subsidizing, (6) as
THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 253
preparing for technical and professional training in
higher institutions, (c) as fitting for certification in some
department of civil service. The widest possible varia-
tions have occurred under (3).
3. Some Interesting Variations and Their Causes
In New England and the Eastern States schools have
been standardized chiefly as a basis for subsidization.
Until recently the matter of preparation for college and
university work has been cared for in that section by
means of entrance examinations and by certification
based upon the scholarship records of students entering
from the different secondary schools. The New England
College Entrance Certificating Board is one of the re-
sulting developments. The very elaborate plan of in-
spection recently developed in New York stands out as
a very striking type, unlike all others in most respects.
Under this system regents' examinations and school
inspection are inseparably associated. The inspectors
are chosen primarily to inspect by academic subjects,
although they also may be expected to check up all the
academic work of any school they may visit. These
inspectors are looking especially into the instructional
work of the secondary schools in order to make possible
the highest degree of progress and to see to it that the
examinations correspond to the work of the schools.
They are also charged with the enforcement of such
legal provisions as compulsory attendance, fire laws,
sanitation, and equipment generally. As these latter
features become adjusted their work takes on a form
more pedagogical in character, thus assuming the super-
visory aspect.
To the States of the South and West, however, a some-
what different problem of inspection is presented. Most
254 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
of these States have developed strong normal schools,
State colleges, and universities. The last named institu-
tions early adopted the certificating plan for admission
of high-school graduates. Long before there was any
thought of State high-school supervision or inspection
in those sections the State universities found it neces-
sary to inspect and standardize high schools in order to
be able to operate successfully the certificating plan.
Such inspection began in Michigan and spread rap-
idly to the North Central States. More recently the
Southern States, through the co-operation of the General
Education Board, have adopted a similar plan.
This relationship was entirely voluntary on the part
of high schools and universities and was entered upon
for mutual helpfulness in furthering the cause of State
education. The standards established were usually those
recognized as essential to efficiency of work along the
lines of preparation everywhere considered as the staples
of high-school education.
Gradually through the North and West other influ-
ences have developed to modify this situation. Some
States have undertaken to subsidize high schools. Oth-
ers have passed laws specifying completion of high-
school work as a prerequisite to certain privileges, as in
case of bar examinations and the standardizing of medi-
cal education, or the permission of high schools to offer
courses for the normal training of teachers. In most
of these States where normal schools have developed
there has appeared a spirit of jealousy toward the rapidly
growing universities. Thus through a combination of
causes there are appearing many modifications of the
original methods of inspection of high schools.
THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 255
4. Types of Inspection Developed
In the North Central group of States we may find five
distinct types or conditions of inspection as a result of
the operation of the above-named forces: (i) State De-
partment and university inspection working co-opera-
tively as in the case of Missouri. (2) Two distinct
systems of inspection, one carried on through the State
Department and the other by the university, with more
or less of duplication and some friction. This type is
best typified by Wisconsin. (3) Inspection by the uni-
versity only, as in the case of Michigan. California on
the coast, and Texas in the South are of the same type.
(4) Inspection under a representative State board, as in
Minnesota, Indiana, and North Dakota. (5) Inspec-
tion through the State Department only, as in the cases
of South Dakota and Montana. As for the rest, it may
be said that there are appearing practically as many
modifications, or combinations, of these five types as
there are States remaining in the North and West. It
is fair to predict that none of these types will continue
long as they are. A careful study of the whole situa-
tion seems to lead to the conclusion that, as yet, no
carefully developed plan, organized in the interests of
the most efficient service by this agency for the im-
provement of instruction, has been formulated.
One of the recent and interesting types to develop in
the field of inspection is that now in process of organiza-
tion in Kansas. The situation in that State may be
best epitomized by the following from a recent letter
by Hon. E. T. Hackney, president of the State Board
of Administration, a board created at the last session of
the legislature: "We are trying to so organize our
inspection work for the high schools, that we will not
256 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
duplicate inspection in any case. With that in view we
have a secretary who has charge of the general field, and
he can send a man from any of the institutions to make
the inspection for him, usually selecting a man who is
best fitted to do the inspection work and who resides
closest to the school to be inspected. Generally the in-
spection work is done by one man in each school, and
he takes enough time to cover a number of cities on
one trip."
Here is an honest effort to secure two very important
conditions of efficient inspection a unified plan which
eliminates duplication and conflict, and economy in its
execution. The former is provided for by the simple
device of a general secretary with power to direct in-
spection, the latter by utilizing men from different
institutions to inspect the schools in their vicinities.
The second may also become, in some degree, a unify-
ing principle under tactful management.
Iowa has recently evolved a plan of inspection under
a State Board of Secondary School Relations, appointed
by the State Board of Education of that State. This
would come under type (4), as given above, were it not
for a recent development which establishes inspection
also from the State Department.
Perhaps the most interesting recent enactment for
the administration of inspectorial work is that provided
for by an extraordinary session of the legislature for the
State of Ohio, February, 1914. Section 7753 of this new
school code reads as follows:
The superintendent of public instruction shall appoint two
competent public high-school inspectors, who are connected
with no college or university, two public high-school inspectors
selected from the faculty staff of the college of education of
Ohio State University, and one public high-school inspector from
THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 257
each of the faculties of the Ohio normal colleges at Oxford and
Athens and the Ohio normal schools at Kent and Bowling Green.
The inspectors appointed by the superintendent of public in-
struction from the faculty staffs of the college of education,
normal colleges, and normal schools shall be nominated by the
presidents of their respective institutions. The superintendent
of public instruction may also appoint, when necessary, com-
petent instructors from any public or private school to inspect
such high schools as the superintendent may direct.
The law goes on to define the duties of these inspectors.
Those from the various institutions are to devote not
more than half of their time to the work, while those
appointed by the superintendent directly are to give all
of their time to inspection. The inspectors are to meet
on call at Columbus for conference with regard to stand-
ards to be established. They are to report all inspec-
tions of schools to the department and to each of the
institutions named above. All final recommendations
for the rating or approval of schools are to be based on
a majority vote of the inspectors.
When it is remembered that the superintendent of
public instruction in Ohio is not elected by popular vote,
but appointed by the governor of the State, it will be
seen that the above legislation marks a distinct step in
the effort to satisfactorily solve the problem presented
by this particular phase of the administration of instruc-
tion. If this remarkable new educational code had made
provision for the appointment of the chief educational
executive of the State by a State board of education, as
discussed in chapter VII, it would have given practically
an ideal solution to the problem. As it is, the departure
thus taken in Ohio from the original methods of inspec-
tion in that State will be followed with great interest by
all students of school administration.
There are various other departures from the special
258 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
types enumerated, which should be mentioned here.
Iowa has recently provided, through the State Depart-
ment, for an inspector of normal courses in high schools
and inspectors of the smaller high schools. This now
gives the State Department three inspectors, while the
State Board employs an inspector and two assistants.
The University of Minnesota provides for the inspec-
tion for accrediting private secondary schools and non-
subsidized public high schools. Cincinnati University
provides an inspector for accrediting secondary schools
both in the city and outside. This inspector is also
professor of secondary education and assistant superin-
tendent of the city schools. In this latter capacity his
supervision extends only to high schools, on which he
reports to the superintendent. He also recommends
teachers for appointment to positions in the high schools.
As professor of secondary education he participates in
the training of teachers of secondary grade. Illinois has
recently provided an assistant to the superintendent of
public instruction, whose special function is announced
as the standardizing of high schools, with special refer-
ence to the execution of the new free-tuition law and the
certificating law, both of which were enacted in 1913.
Heretofore, for the past twenty-five years, all inspection
and standardizing in the State have been done through
the university. The University of Chicago has a system
of affiliated schools whose relationship is determined by
inspection. This list is not confined to the State of
Illinois.
5. Work of the General Education Board in the South
In the Southern group of States the General Education
Board in most cases pays the expenses of inspection.
The States included in this group are Virginia, West Vir-
THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 259
ginia, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana (until recently), Ten-
nessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas. In all cases, except
Arkansas and Louisiana, the inspector is attached to the
department of education of the university and is paid
through that institution. In the two States excepted,
the office is attached to the State Department.
Under this arrangement in all the States of the South
the inspector co-operates with the State Department,
making regular reports to that department as a basis
for meeting other needs for standardization in each par-
ticular State. In all but the two named above, the in-
spector is also a lecturer in the department of secondary
education in the State University. Thus, a complete
uniform and co-operative plan is provided without dupli-
cation or friction.
Since this work of inspecting and lecturing on secon-
dary education under the General Education Board be-
gan in 1905, $12,000,000 has been expended in new high-
school buildings, and there has been an increase of
$2,500,000 in the annual income of high schools. The
number of public high schools has increased from 1,032
in 1900 to 2,194 in 1910; the number of teachers from
2,648 to 6,482; and the number of pupils from 62,289
to I37469- 1
The exceptional case among the above-named group
of States where two inspectors are employed, the sec-
ond one being for the State Department, is Tennessee;
but in this case the two co-operate most harmoniously.
Texas, as has been previously noted, has only university
inspection at present and is independent of the General
Education Board.
1 The author is indebted to Professor J. S. Stewart of Athens, Georgia,
for the information concerning southern high-school inspection.
260 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
6. Associations of Colleges and Secondary Schools
Besides these various systems of State inspection of
schools, there exist two organizations of colleges and sec-
ondary schools, including respectively the North Central
States and the Southern States. These organizations
are for co-operation among the States with special ref-
erence to the accrediting of schools for college entrance
by certificate. The standards adopted necessarily vary
somewhat from those of any one State. This is due to
the fact that they must include all of the highest stand-
ards of all the States in the group. It is also intended
thus to establish an ideal to which the weaker schools
may aim to attain.
The inspection for these associations is done by the
regular inspectors of the States, who have in charge the
accrediting for university entrance. They report to all
the inspectors in a body, and after the approval of these
reports by the board of inspectors, a report is made to
a representative body or commission on accredited rela-
tions. The advantage of such uniform accrediting falls
chiefly to the secondary schools and to such higher in-
stitutions, within and without the territory included, as
do not maintain accredited lists of their own. It has
exerted a marked influence in raising the standards of
efficiency in secondary-school work of the two sections
included by these associations. There has also resulted
a fine spirit of mutual understanding and co-operation
among the colleges and secondary schools.
7. Some Conclusions
From this brief survey of the field of inspection it is
easy to discern a condition of transition in which there
THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 261
is at present no distinctly basic principle dominant.
The very rapid development of three types of institu-
tions in our State systems of education high schools,
normal schools, and universities has brought about this
state of confusion. Conditions widely at variance in
different sections of the country have tended in no small
degree to enhance the resulting turmoil among our edu-
cational forces. Had there been State universities from
the beginning, and in all the States, the situation would be
greatly simplified. So, likewise, would the non-political
organization of all state departments of education or
public instruction have greatly reduced the present com-
plexity of conditions.
But, since conditions are as we find them, it behooves
all who are sincerely and unselfishly concerned with
the development and perfection of our system of public
education to make a careful survey of the field and seek,
to evaluate the different forces which are now seemingly
contending for recognition or mastery in this relatively
new field of administrative responsibility. To enumer-
ate again, these forces are: (i) State universities, which
originated the practice of inspection for standardization,
in order to be able to extend to high schools the boon of
entrance by certificate instead of the entrance examina-
tion. (2) State departments upon which legislation has
laid the duty, either directly or by implication, of stand-
ardizing high schools for granting of subsidies and other
purposes. (3) State normal schools seeking to find their
exact place in the general scheme of State education,
from which they seem to have been detached temporarily.
(4) Institutions on private foundations which, by reason
of the traditions on which they were established, do not
find it easy to recognize general State standards for col-
lege entrance.
262 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
Now, these are all worthy factors in our scheme for
the general diffusion of intelligence and scholarly attain-
ments. Each should, therefore, receive such sympathetic
and broad-minded treatment as may be due in the light
of what may be found desirable and necessary to the highest
efficiency of the public-school system of the State. Certainly
no such motive as a mean jealousy, or the desire for ag-
grandizement of a public office, or selfish interest in any
kind of institution should be permitted to restrain or
hinder such administrative organization as may be found
to be best suited to the attainment of that efficiency.
Let us seek to examine further into the aims and prin-
ciples involved in this undertaking. First of all, it is
proposed, for diverse purposes, to standardize our high
schools. Now, it is in the very nature of standardiza-
tion to tend to bring about a static condition of any in-
stitution. Our school system is, and should always be,
a growing organism. Its most marked characteristic
should be its readiness of adjustability to the changing
conditions and needs of society. In dealing with this
matter of inspection, therefore, what conditions on the
part of the inspecting staff of a State are most likely to
operate in favor of continued growth and adjustability?
Will routine work by officials from a State department
or under a State board be most conducive to such growth?
Or will there be a distinct advantage in favor of close
contact on the State side with a State institution of
learning? And if we are choosing a State institution,
would it be preferably a normal school or a university,
or does it make no difference either way?
However people may differ as to the possible evolution
of the normal school, it must always be true that its
most distinct function, in most cases, at least, will be the
preparation of elementary-school teachers. On the other
THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 263
hand, it will always, in the nature of things, be the
primary function of the university to deal with the sources
of knowledge and with the more complete organization
of systems of science and philosophy. Which of these
contacts is most likely to preserve in the inspector that
attitude most favorable to the growth and adjustability
of the schools he inspects?
Inspectors themselves everywhere shrink from the
narrowing tendencies of their work when it is exclusively
that of inspection. Any one of them would gladly turn
from the work to accept a professorship in education.
If we ask them why, they will tell us that the fundamen-
tal reason is the desire to escape from the inevitable fate
of a formal, routine service. University inspection has
everywhere been characterized chiefly by the construc-
tiveness of its policy. The universities have sought, as
best they might, to turn to the high schools, through the
office of the inspector, all the forces of their influence
available for that purpose toward the development of
better high schools. They have most frequently led in
the advocacy of a broader and more liberal programme
of studies for the secondary stage of education.
A most common oversight of those who advocate a
purely bureaucratic management of inspection is the
tendency to take as standards those States where there
is no State university. They overlook the fact that here
is a great co-ordinate force in the field of State education
which is not to be found in Massachusetts or New York;
that the institution representing this force is inseparably
bound up, in its interests, with high schools and normal
schools; that the logical solution of the problem is,
therefore, in a State board, through which these differ-
ent forces and State supervision, duly co-ordinated, may
develop harmoniously in all their interrelationships, as
264 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
has already been pointed out in the chapters on Boards
of Education and Supervision.
The recent development of inspection in the South
indicates that there has been in the minds of those who
have organized it a clear recognition of a distinct advan-
tage in having university co-operation in this work. A
similar attitude is noted in the recent changes in Iowa,
Kansas, and Ohio, although not so distinct as in the
Southern adjustment.
It would be unfortunate for both high-school and
university education, if a day should come when States
should undertake to determine all standards of inter-
relationship between public secondary schools, normal
schools, and universities without co-operation among
these institutions and the consequent free and ready
transfer of the vitalizing principles of growth. Such a
result would seem inevitably to lead to a state of rigid
formalism in education on a plane of mediocrity such as
no nation or age has ever yet witnessed.
In his study of "Admission to College by Certificate,"
Professor Joseph L. Henderson, visitor of schools for the
University of Texas, has summed up the matter fairly
when he advocates that the work of visitation and classi-
fication of schools be conducted by State universities in
all States where this has long been the practice.
In some situations he would favor a control shared by
the State university and the State department. In such
cases, the State department would give attention to the
enforcement of all legal requirements such as affect phys-
ical conditions, or the status of different types of schools
to be organized. This would leave the determination of
scholastic standards mainly to the universities.
In cases where boards are in control, he holds that
universities should assist in maintaining such standards
THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 265
as are necessary to the successful use of the certificating
system of college entrance.
In larger district organization he sees also an advan-
tage to the different States included in toning up their
respective systems and giving a still higher standard for
the stronger schools. He suggests the desirability even
of a national system of standardizing through the Na-
tional Association of State Universities.
He closes with these words: "No system of certifica-
tion which does not regard the welfare of the schools
and colleges alike and which does not bring them to-
gether in intimate co-operation for the upbuilding of the
entire school system will meet the demands which gave
rise to the fundamental idea of admission to college by
certificate." 1
Probably no one has come nearer to stating a clear
basis for adjustment in this new field of administrative
effort. Given a State board with sufficient authority,
and with clearly defined powers and duties covering this
particular aspect of a State system of education, and it
would seem possible to elaborate a scheme of co-opera-
tion which would work to the general advantage of all
concerned. The treatments suggested by Professor Hen-
derson for the different types presented by present
State organizations would then help at least to point
the way to effective solutions.
1 See "Admission to College by Certificate," by Joseph L. Hender-
son, Teachers College, Columbia University, Contributions to Educa-
tion, 1912, especially pp. 168-9.
CHAPTER XV
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
One very vital phase of the administration of instruc-
tion and one directly related to the supervision of schools
is the problem of securing normal attendance. Of what
good is it that society maintain schools at such cost to
all the people unless the ends for which they are estab-
lished be attainable? And how can they be attainable
if a considerable proportion of those who should avail
themselves of the privileges of free schooling refuse or
fail to. attend? The fifth of those principles, on which
schools are believed to be established and maintained
as a public charge, reads as follows: "In order to insure
the general effectiveness of such a system society must,
by legal compulsion if necessary, see to it that parents
keep their children in school long enough to enable them
to get at least the minimum of knowledge, wisdom, and
skill necessary to the highest good of the individual and
the well-being of the State." 1
i. Causes Affecting Attendance at School
There are numerous causes which tend to affect at-
tendance at school in almost any given community. The
distance which pupils have to go, or obstructions, nat-
ural or artificial, may cause irregular attendance. Fre-
1 See chapter V, p. 67.
266
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 267
quently in the outlying districts of cities homes are very
much scattered. The relatively small population makes
it difficult to adjust the distribution of buildings. Some
families are sure to be left too far from the school to
enable smaller children to attend with regularity. Some-
times there is a difficult barrier such as a dangerous rail-
road crossing. In the country, likewise, it frequently
happens that distances are too great, or roads impassable
on account of mud or a swollen stream.
For those having some distance to walk to school very
rainy or severely cold weather is likely to affect the at-
tendance. One of the most fruitful causes of absence,
however, is sickness, or quarantine on account of con-
tagious diseases. This cause operates in both city and
country and presents a serious problem in many cases.
The whole question of health calls for very careful super-
vision as directly affecting the instructional work of the
schools.
Lack of proper clothing or books, and often lack of
food among the very poor in cities, are other causes for
absence or total non-attendance unless there is careful
supervision, and provision made for the clothing, food,
and books necessary. Closely allied to these causes is the
support of large families on meagre incomes, which makes
the work of the older children in the family a bread-and-
butter necessity.
A dislike for school and indifference of parents as to
the need of education have been found to be fruitful
sources of absenteeism of pupils from the public schools
both in city and in country. These causes, singly or in
combination, frequently lead to more serious results than
just absence from school. Here is to be found a funda-
mental cause for truancy, which soon becomes chronic
and often leads to vagrancy or something worse. It
268 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
is here, chiefly, where parental schools and reformatories
get their inmates.
In the rural districts absence of older pupils who should
be in high school is due largely to the fact that often
the high schools are not free to pupils from outside the
districts by which they are established. The price of
tuition then becomes the drawback and keeps a large
percentage of this group out of school at a premature
stage in their education. It will thus be seen that the
problem of school attendance takes on many forms and
calls for much careful supervision.
2. Legislation Affecting Attendance
In recent years the problem of irregular attendance
has become a matter of such concern as to enlist the
attention of State legislators very generally. According
to the United States commissioner 1 there were, prior to
1900, over thirty States that had enacted laws for com-
pulsory attendance. At first the legislation was not of
a character calculated to be effective. More recently,
however, a different type of legislation has come into use.
All States in the North in 1910 required attendance
through compulsory-attendance laws. Closely allied to
this compulsory-attendance legislation is child-labor leg-
islation. This also shows a marked advance, especially
in the later forms of legislation which make the laws
enacted much more effective. In 1911 alone important
measures improving child-labor provisions were adopted
in Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hamp-
shire, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. 2
1 Com. of Education Report, 1911, vol. I, pp. 17-18.
2 See U. S. Com. Report., op. cit., pp. 104-5.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 269
3. The Question of Free Transportation
States are also beginning to provide, through legisla-
tion, for the free transportation to and from school of
children living beyond certain distances from the school
centre. This is in order to overcome the inequality of
the cost of education because of unequal distances. It
is all a part of the movement toward consolidation of
rural schools with the purpose, through co-operation, of
getting better and larger educational facilities for the chil-
dren of the country. Even in cities a similar provision
has to be made. The following quotation taken from
the report of Associate Superintendent Haaren, as given
in the Annual Report of the City Superintendent of
Schools of the City of New York for 191 2, 1 indicates a
situation existing in that city:
"It is, of course, a nice question to determine what
duty devolves upon the city to furnish transportation to
the children attending its schools, but there is no ques-
tion that if such were not furnished, not only would
there be a great decrease in the amount of money al-
lowed by the State for the instruction of the children,
and an increase in the difficulty of enforcing the com-
pulsory education law, but a great decrease in the op-
portunity for education afforded the children, and a
consequent loss to the city and State in intelligent citi-
zenship.'' Here is a concise statement of the signifi-
cance of the whole matter. In this instance it is an oc-
casion for city legislation. Undoubtedly there is here
presented a problem affecting a number of our larger
cities. In most instances the portable schoolhouse fur-
nishes a fairly good solution; but there are always some
situations on the extreme borders, or where people live
1 See p. 287 of the Fourteenth Annual Report.
270 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
scattered through a commercial district, in which there
are not enough children in one place to render this ar-
rangement an economical one.
Certainly it is true of high schools that there are fre-
quently too few to bring out the normal attendance in
a city. The cost of transportation in time and money
gets to the point where it is too burdensome or where it
outweighs interest in further education. This is a ques-
tion in city management of schools which calls for a
much more careful study and adjustment, in many in-
stances, than it has yet received.
4. Free Text-Book Laws
In many of the States, especially in the northeastern
groups, free text-book laws are in force. This eliminates
the question of cost to families in this particular as a
bar from attendance at school. In still other States the
laws permit boards of education to provide books for
"indigent children." This seems to be a survival of
the idea of free schools for the poor. It can hardly be
said to take the place of free text-books outright to all
alike. When it comes to providing food and clothing,
the problem is a different one. Some cities do provide
free lunches for ill-fed children, and a number of cities
provide lunches at actual cost. But the problem of
clothing has to be handled usually through the co-opera-
tion of some one or more charitable organizations. In
the city of New York out of about one third of the school
children, this being the number examined by physicians
in 1912, nearly ten thousand children were found to be
suffering from malnutrition. While this subject belongs
properly under a discussion of health, yet these figures
give a glimpse of the importance of the question of proper
feeding of children as related to their effective instruc-
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 271
tion. It is certainly a question as to how far compul-
sory-attendance laws may be enforced without making
provision for feeding and for all other necessities that go
along with that physical condition essential to vigorous
mental growth.
There seems to be a decided misconception in some
quarters as to the purpose and necessity of lightening
the burden of education upon families by providing gen-
eral school supplies, text-books, and tuition free, and at
general public expense. Here and there may be heard
the charge of paternalism, either muttered or loudly pro-
claimed, according to the type of objector. Let it be
not forgotten, however, that these items fall far short
of covering the cost to parents of large, or even moder-
ately large, families of keeping their children in school.
The problem of clothing alone, according to prevailing
standards in most urban communities, is the cause of
much anxious planning and economizing hi many an
honest citizen's home. There is little danger, under
stringent attendance and child-labor laws, of any hurt-
ful paternalism.
5. Free Tuition in High Schools
Legislation is not lacking in some States whereby free
tuition in high schools is provided for all. Indeed, there
is a recent tendency toward free high schools in a num-
ber of the States, especially in the North Central and
mountain States. Many of the laws are as yet inade-
quate or faulty. For instance, here is a State where
there is a constitutional limitation to the amount which
may be levied for school purposes. In a considerable
number of village districts, and especially in mining or
manufacturing regions, the full levy is required, and
more, to support anything like adequate elementary
272 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
schools. In such a State, in order to make a free-tui-
tion law constitutionally valid, it is necessary to limit
what a district may pay for such purposes to " funds
not otherwise appropriated." In such cases, often the
most needy, it is impossible for the non-high-school dis-
trict to pay any tuition.
California meets this in a most effective way. All
non-high-school territory in a county is taxed by the
county supervisors to the amount necessary to pay all
tuition accounts incurred by the attendance of pupils in
this territory upon near-by high schools. The tuition
in this case, as it should always be, is the actual per-
capita cost of operating the school attended, including
in the estimate interest on the money invested in the
school plant.
6. Absence from School as a Factor in Retardation
and Elimination
There is no doubt but that absence from school, what-
ever the cause, is a strong factor in the retardation and
ultimate elimination of pupils from their classes. Doc-
tor Leonard P. Ayres finds in irregular attendance one
of the important causes of retardation. He estimates
that less than three fourths of the children in our cities
continue in attendance as much as three fourths of the
year. "Irregular attendance," he concludes, "is ac-
companied by a low percentage of promotions. Low
percentage of promotions is a potent factor in bringing
about retardation. Retardation results in elimination." l
Doctor C. H. Keyes, in his study of progress through
the grades of city schools, 2 found that repetition of
1 "Laggards in Our Schools," Leonard P. Ayres. Charities Publica-
tion Committee, New York, 1909, chap. XII.
'"Progress through the Grades of City Schools," C. H. Keyes,
"Teachers College, Columbia University, Contributions to Education,"
1911.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 273
courses is directly related to absence from school. Out
of 1,797 cases absent 0-9 days were found only 14 per
cent of repeaters; out of 231 cases absent 20-29 days,
40 per cent; while 209 cases absent 50 days or over fur-
nished 73 per cent. He also found that home environ-
ment had a very direct bearing on progress; also that
changing schools was responsible for very many cases
of repetitions. On the latter point he says: "Changing
schools during the year about doubles the probability
that a pupil will repeat the work of the year in question."
Superintendent Maxwell, of New York City, in his
annual report for 191 2, l calls attention to the fact that
the chances for promotion not only increase as the period
of attendance increases, but that the chances are very
much greater. He concludes "that there is no more
dominant factor in promotion than regularity of atten-
dance."
7. The Truancy Problem.
The truancy problem has been and still is a persistent
one. The care of this type of delinquency is not only
expensive but it leads to so many unwholesome after
effects when the health of the social organism is consid-
ered. Because of its productiveness of evil, it is desir-
able that every possible means be utilized for its reduc-
tion to the minimum in our public schools.
Among the instrumentalities that have been devised
for the purpose of counteracting or overcoming truancy
may be mentioned the following: i. Special or ungraded
classes. 2. Courses strongly industrial, such as prevo-
cational courses for boys. 3. Transfer to rural environ-
ment for agricultural and dairying pursuits along with
academic training. 4. Parental schools organized hi the
1 Op. tit., p. 86.
274 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
city. 5. Organizations on the "Boyville" or "George,
Jr., Republic" basis, in which the organization of boys
looks after the individual and administers all necessary
correction. Such organizations are easiest to operate
where the boys are segregated at least into special classes.
Judging from such experiments as have thus far been
made, it seems likely that much of this evil would be
eliminated by the establishment of the intermediate
school on a departmental basis (see chapter XVII) and
the general introduction of a larger amount of industrial
work above the sixth grade. If, added to this, there
could be more attention given to the organization of all
activities of the school on a "community-life" basis, it
seems likely that the major part of this evil would be-
come extinct by natural processes. And as for any
remnant that might persist, a careful attention to phys-
ical or mental defects, or to the counteracting of home
conditions extremely abnormal, should cause a practi-
cally complete disappearance of the defect.
The attendance department of the Oakland, Cal.,
schools, in its report for 1911-12, puts special emphasis
on inadequate home conditions as a cause of truancy and
non-attendance. The parental home is there recom-
mended as a remedy.
Superintendent Maxwell, of New York City, finds that
a very fruitful cause of truancy is in "the issuance of
employment certificates to boys and girls who have not
secured employment." 1 He recommends as a remedy
that school records, on the basis of which alone certifi-
cates can be issued, be withheld until a more advanced
grade is reached and until evidence is produced from
the prospective employer that the pupil will be employed
if the certificate is granted.
1 Op. ell., p. 241.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 275
We are told that 17 per cent of city school systems
make provision for morally exceptional children. 1 These
provisions are in the form of (i) classes for the delin-
quent, incorrigible, and refractory, or (2) parental and
residential schools. The first largely predominates.
8. Plans for Supervision of Attendance
A very effective organization for a medium-sized city
for taking care of this problem of attendance in its vari-
ous aspects is that of the city of Newark, N. J. This is
a city of about three hundred and sixty thousand popu-
lation. The head of the attendance department is Su-
pervisor Charles A. MacCall, who has been in this ser-
vice for about eleven years. He is assisted by a number
of attendance officers sufficient to look after each district
of the city promptly and thoroughly. These officers are
invested with authority to enforce the compulsory-at-
tendance and child-labor laws. There is a complete
system of reports. The attendance department co-oper-
ates with (a) teachers and principals, (b) parents, (c) the
medical inspector, (d) the parental school (not under the
board of education), (e) the juvenile court. It seeks the
co-operation of employers of children and also brings
them to account for any violation of the child-labor laws
for which they are responsible. The department also
seeks to find ways and means for providing clothing
where the lack of it keeps children from school. This is
done through charitable organizations and through the
aid of philanthropic citizens of means. The city is pro-
viding two buildings, one on each side of the city, es-
pecially planned and equipped with proper facilities for
the rational training of truants and other delinquents.
1 Bulletin, 1911, No. 14, U. S. Bureau of Education. "Provision for
Exceptional Children in Public Schools," p. 33.
276 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
In dealing with these classes the officials are actuated
fundamentally by the idea that the work is one of sal-
vage to society of efficient, law-abiding members rather
than simply to protect society for the time being by a
forced segregation and isolation of those morally defec-
tive. Through the activity of this department for the
year 1910-11, 24,764 pupils were returned to public
schools and 2,705 pupils were returned to parochial and
private schools.
As regards the child-labor law of New Jersey under
which the attendance supervisor was working, Mr. Mac-
Call expresses the significant opinion that too much
stress is laid upon the age qualification and too little
upon the educational and physical qualifications. 1
Here we have reviewed in a brief way one of the most
vitally important departments of supervision having to
do with effective instruction in our schools. The fol-
lowing words from Professor Thorndike serve well for a
conclusion to this chapter: 2 "Thus to release people more
and more from ordinary labor when they are young and
protect them by proper early training from disease, ig-
norance, waste, misery, and baseness is for the general
good. Of the lifetime one has to live for the world, a
large portion say from eighteen to twenty-four years,
according to the individual's nature is best spent in ac-
tivities chosen for their value in making his whole life
finer and more serviceable, irrespective of their immedi-
ate money price. The community that bravely insists
on protecting the young against being used up in help-
ing the community get a living soon finds itself getting
a better living, and other things of much more worth."
1 See ssth Annual Report of the Board of Education, Newark, N. J.,
IQIO-II, pp. 206-211.
2 "Education," E. L. Thorndike, Macmillan, 1912, pp. 236-8.
CHAPTER XVI
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH
i. The Principle Involved
The fourth principle by which the efficiency of our
educational system may be tested is: 1 "The situation
demands the most economic treatment of the problem
of education, financially, in the matter of time, and also
in health conditions, that is consistent with its most effec-
tive administration." Society is rapidly learning that a
wise economy in social organization demands a maximum
of conservation of individual life and health, with the
maximum of salvage possible from those who are physi-
cally defective. The minimum attainment sought with
the latter group is to render each individual honestly
self-sustaining. Such a result means more than that to
the individual. It carries with it the consciousness of
independence, a feeling closely related to that of self-
respect.
2. Relation of Health to Attendance and Instruction
Attention has already been called to the relation which
health bears to attendance at school. No less signifi-
cant is its relation to the successful instruction of those
who remain at school. It has long been known that
certain chronic pathological conditions in children tend
1 See p. 75, chapter V.
277
278 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
to nullify the effects of instruction even under circum-
stances otherwise most favorable. How can the child
whose head is racked with pain because of decaying
teeth, or whose breathing is impaired by adenoids or
catarrh, or whose aching head throbs because of strain
upon eyes that are out of focus be expected to get any
satisfactory results from study?
On the point of attendance Doctor A. H. Hogarth
says: 1 "Systematic medical inspection will eventually
lead to an increased attendance of children at school.
The report of the interdepartmental committee on medi-
cal inspection shows that the various medical officers,
who have already acted on behalf of the local education
authorities, have done much toward improving the at-
tendance of the children at school, and have frequently
prevented unnecessary school closure, in cases of out-
breaks of epidemic diseases." Likewise Doctor Gulick
and Doctor Ayres, in their collaborated work on medical
inspection of schools, say: 2 "We are beginning to find
out that many of our backward pupils are backward
purely and simply because, through physical defects,
they are unable to handle the work of the school pro-
gramme. What these defects are and the causes that
lie behind them are things that we must know. If we
do not know them we must find them out and guard
against them. Education without health is useless." In
his report for 1910-11, Doctor George J. Holmes, super-
visor of medical inspection for the city of Newark, N. J.,
shows a decrease in days lost by quarantine of 40,000
as compared with the previous year.
1 "Medical Inspection of Schools," A. H. Hogarth, London, Henry
Frowde, Oxford Univ. Press, 1909, p. 66.
2 "Medical Inspection of Schools," Luther G. Gulick, M.D., and
Leonard P. Ayres. New York Charities Pub. Com., 1908, p. 16.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 279
3. Health Supervision Demanded as Result of
Neglect
A knowledge of the need of spontaneous play out-of-
doors, of vigorous physical exercise in field and gymna-
sium as an offset to the evil influences of an indoor, sed-
entary life, is as old, at least, as our knowledge of the
literature of the ancient Greeks. In our anxiety to ac-
complish great results in intellectual advancement we
have shortened the hours for such exercise in our schools;
and because of the false economy of a grossly material
age we have denied to the schools the necessary open-
air space and the appliances for out-of-door stimulation
of the physical individual. It is, indeed, high time that
health, hygiene, and playground evangelists should call
attention vigorously to this neglect and the results it
is bringing upon us.
4. Medical Inspection the First Need
No scheme for education is complete to-day which
does not, at least, undertake to make provision for these
conserving factors among the forces of the schools. And
what is involved in such a provision? First of all, skilled
medical inspection under the supervision of a man or
woman who is not only a trained physician but also
understands the principles of physical education. Such
a supervisor must have under his direction enough assis-
tants to enable him to cover the field of his office thor-
oughly.
This will involve more than medical inspectors. Those
who look after the physical education directly should be
subject to the medical inspector's direction in so far as
is necessary in order to carry out the prescriptions made
280 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
for corrective exercises for those having defects to be
overcome or cured. There will also be needed trained
nurses. These will aid at the free clinics which will be
conducted as a result of such defects as decaying teeth,
adenoids, and other remediable conditions. They will
also follow up recommendations made to parents by
visits, in order to make plain to those who do not under-
stand the necessity and importance of such treatment
as has been recommended.
5. The Psychological Clinic Next
Certainly not less important, though more difficult
than the discovery and treatment of physical defects, are
the detection and effective dealing with mental defects.
This calls for the psychological clinic, conducted by one
or more skilled specialists who know the tests and their
application in determining whether the child is mentally
normal, subnormal, or supernormal. The presence of
such an expert or department in the school system will
involve also the provision for special classes for the
proper treatment of those found to be abnormal, with
teachers especially qualified to apply the educational
processes prescribed.
6. Medical Supervision of Games and Sports
Required
Either this organization of the health department of
the schools or else the municipal health officer will look
carefully after the first appearance of contagious or in-
fectious diseases among pupils and will promptly take
the steps necessary for their eradication. The depart-
ment of physical education, in co-operation with the
health department of the schools, will closely supervise
the games and sports of pupils or students in order (a)
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 281
to see that special cases are getting the particular treat-
ment called for; and (b) in order to forbid a form of
exercise that is too excessive on the part of those who
are suffering from such defects as impeded breathing,
heart weakness, or malnutrition.
7. Emphasis Should Be Placed on Hygienic Conditions
To be most efficient, emphasis will be placed on pro-
phylactic treatment; that is, the health department will
seek to prevent disease by strict attention to hygienic
conditions and by cultivating respect for the laws of
health. The water-supply and drinking facilities, dust-
free schoolrooms, hygienic seating will become impor-
tant elements in the work of this department. Every
county system, city, normal school, college or university
has need of such a department, thoroughly organized
and equipped for good, telling service. The city high
school of twelve hundred or more pupils should have
its resident physician in charge of all such work. The
university with its larger group of students should have
a strong department, calculated to conserve the health
of the entire student body to the highest degree pos-
sible. The best knowledge and skill of men and women
trained for such work should be available here, repre-
senting the last word in applied science along all these
lines.
8. Specially Trained Experts Needed
In order to get those properly prepared for such ser-
vice, States should offer university courses with special
inducements for men and women to prepare themselves
to meet the standards of knowledge and skill demanded.
There will need also to be a liberal policy as to salaries
282 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
to be paid such experts if anything tike the ability that
the situation demands is to be available for this field.
It is useless to expect those who can readily command
liberal incomes from ordinary practice to devote their
time to this work in the schools for a pittance. When
we consider the interests involved, the lives at stake,
the possible retardations of children, the waste in the
schools because of neglect of health conditions, the prog-
ress being made seems too slow, the social consciousness
awakens all too tardily.
The facts show, however, that educational growth in
this respect has been very rapid. The first school sys-
tem to give any attention to medical inspection was
San Antonio, Tex., in 1890. This came because of an
epidemic of smallpox, and was confined to the preven-
tion of such outbreaks. It was Boston, in 1894, that
first undertook anything tike a complete organization
of this work. According to the reports made by the
Russell Sage Foundation in 1911, or fifteen years after
the initiation of the work in Boston, out of 1,038 cities
reporting there were 443 which had medical inspection
of schools. Out of this number 337 reported the ad-
ministration of the inspection to be under the board of
education and 106 by the city board of health.
9. Important Recommendations of American Medical
Association
The American Medical Association, in a report of its
committee on the medical inspection of schools, recom-
mends two divisions of inspection as advisable: (i) The
field of educational hygiene under boards of education.
(2) Care and control of contagious and infectious dis-
eases under boards of health. The purposes of the work
of educational hygiene under boards of education were
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 283
outlined in full by this committee. They seem to be so
complete and excellent that they are here quoted in
full: 1
PURPOSES OF THE WORK
1. The establishment of biennial, annual, and, when necessary,
more frequent skilled physical and developmental examinations
of pupils and students by a staff of experts. The establishment
of initial examination of pupils by the teaching force of the
schools, as far as the teaching force is qualified, prior to the
skilled examinations by experts.
2. By effective action, based on the data of these examina-
tions, to secure (a) the correction of physical anomalies and
thus remove the growth barriers of children and youths, and
(b) whenever possible and practicable, to adjust educational
activities to meet the requirements of physical and mental
health, growth, and development, and thus establish a special
field of education for the maintenance of continuous health and
development supervision of pupils and students.
3. To maintain a scientific and systematic study of mental
retardation and mental deviation of pupils and students by
skilled examination, and, whenever possible and practicable, by
skilled training in special schools.
4. To establish skilled physical and health examinations of
candidates for teachers' positions prior to their election to de-
termine vital fitness for their work, and thereafter to maintain
continuous supervision of health and efficiency to teachers as
related to the work of the schools.
5. (a) To organize and supervise courses of technical instruc-
tion in hygiene for pupils, students, and teachers, in the means
of conservation of physical and mental health, growth, and
development; in the means of correction and prevention of
defects, disease, and degeneracy; (6) whenever necessary for
efficiency, to give practical and technical instruction to the
teaching force of the schools, while engaged in teaching, in the
initial physical and developmental examination of pupils and
in the skilled physical and developmental and psychoclinical
examination of exceptional pupils, abnormal and supernormal.
6. To establish and maintain well-equipped medical anthro-
1 Journal American Medical Association, 57, 1751-7, Nov. 25, 1911.
284 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
pometric and psychoclinical laboratories in the public schools
which shall afford opportunity and equipment:
(a) For sufficiently skilled medical, anthropometric and psy-
choclinical examination of exceptional pupils and of all pupils
requiring special examination;
(b) For such technical training of teachers in the laboratory
and experimental phases of educational work, connected with the
physical and mental examination of pupils, in clinical psychol-
ogy and in experimental pedagogy as is essential for the intelli-
gent handling of pupils;
(c) For essential work in hygiene and sanitation.
7. To exercise expert sanitary supervision in the planning and
maintenance of school buildings and grounds.
8. To bring about the establishment of dental and medical
clinics for pupils whose parents are financially unable to provide
essential medical and dental aid.
9. Whenever possible and practicable, to co-operate with
State, county, and city health officers in the detection of and
reporting of contagious diseases.
10. Each department of educational hygiene to constitute a
bureau of practical investigation and research in educational
hygiene, and as such to co-operate with the State bureaus of
educational hygiene whose functions will or ought to be the
organization and supervision of State-wide work and investiga-
tion in this special field of education looking forward to the
establishment also of a national bureau of educational hygiene.
An approximate grouping of pupils, based on the data of
physical and developmental examinations which ought to follow
the examination of pupils and students, i. Those for whom
medical and dental aid is essential. 2. Those whose respira-
tory or circulatory systems are defective or are poorly devel-
oped, for whom a larger amount of out-of-door life and physical
activity is essential, or other modification of school activities
necessary. 3. Those whose nervous systems are defective or
poorly developed and who require an unusual amount of out-
of-door life, physical activity, special care, and skilled training.
4. The segregation of pupils requiring an unusual amount of
physical activity for possible mental growth both sexes. 5.
Segregation of pupils of truancy and criminal tendencies, or
otherwise showing more or less degeneracy, and assignment to
special schools with special training. 6. Segregation of men-
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 285
tally defective pupils and assignment to special schools. 7.
The segregation of supernormal pupils and assignment to special
schools. 8. As far as practicable, the grouping of pupils in
accordance with development age.
In this programme, school nurses are assistants to the staff.
Their field work is essentially as follows:
To assist members of the staff in the skilled examination of
pupils and otherwise as assistance is needed; to assist teachers
in making preliminary surveys of their pupils and in giving ini-
tial examinations, notifying parents of essential needs of pupils,
etc.; visiting parents and in all justifiable ways establishing
effective co-operation between home and school. Further, the
function of the school nurse is that of the social educator in the
field of hygiene. As such, the work of the school nurse is one
of high order.
The staff of experts, the teaching force of the schools, and
school nurses, working from the standpoint of education, form
an educational corps to secure the effective co-operation of home,
school, and school authorities in meeting the requirements of the
physical and mental health and growth of pupils. When edu-
cational means fail, the law must remedy instances of neglect
of health and growth of children.
Each department of educational hygiene should act, as far
as practicable and consistent with the required established
work, as a bureau of investigation and research.
The functions of departments of educational hygiene are two-
fold: i. Carrying out certain established work of the schools.
2. Investigation and research of problems of health and devel-
opment, of clinical psychology and of experimental pedagogy.
Two classes of experts stand out as pre-eminently qualified
for work in this special field of education: i. The psychologist
educator. An expert in child hygiene, in educational and clinical
psychology, and in practical experimental pedagogy; skilled in
physical and mental diagnosis of normal and abnormal growth
and development and having a knowledge of elementary medi-
cine; a thoroughly trained broad-gauged expert in education.
2. The skilled physician who has had sufficient training and
acquaintance with educational work.
Your committee, therefore, joins in a recommendation al-
ready made by Doctor Terman, of the department of education
of Leland Stanford University, essentially as follows: That steps
286 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
be taken to bring about a conference of representatives from
the United States department (bureau) of education, the Na-
tional Education Association, the American Medical Association,
the American Institute of Homoeopathy and other national medi-
cal associations and the Russell Sage Foundation for child wel-
fare, which committee, after joint consideration of the problems
involved, shall formulate and recommend alternative systems of
educational hygiene which in time would be accepted as stand-
ard requirements in this special field of education.
10. Legislation Providing for Medical Inspection
The department of child hygiene of the Russell Sage
Foundation has done and is doing a great work in help-
ing to bring about better conditions for school children
as regards health and general sanitary conditions.
States are coming to realize the need of definite action
in regard to these things. Each year legislation occurs
somewhere placing emphasis on playgrounds, medical
inspection, sanitary buildings one and all of these.
The sanitary building laws of Ohio and Indiana passed
in 1911 are good illustrations.
Legislation providing for medical inspection accord-
ing to statistics furnished by the Russell Sage Founda-
tion 1 for 1912 was established in nineteen States and the
District of Columbia. Of these, seven States have man-
datory laws, ten permissive, and the other two States
and District of Columbia have regulations effective with
the same force as law. The following statement from
the same source is a good description of the provisions
such laws should contain: "Every such law should make
provision for frequent inspections of children by duly
qualified school physicians to detect and exclude cases
of contagious disease. It should provide for examina-
1 "A Comparative Study of Public-School Systems in the Forty-Eight
States," 1912, p. 31.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 287
tions of all the children by school doctors to detect any
physical defects which may prevent the children from
receiving the full benefit of their school work, or which
may require that the work be modified to avoid injury
to the child. It should empower school physicians to
conduct examinations of teachers and janitors, and
make regular inspections of buildings, premises, and
drinking water, to insure their sanitary condition."
ii. The Playground Movement
No less important as a conservator of the health and
vigor of school children is the playground movement.
There now exists in this country a Playground and Rec-
reation Association of America. The chief aim of this
organization is to act as a propaganda for more and bet-
ter play and recreation facilities for both children and
adults. At the 1911 meeting of this association it was
reported that 22 cities, employing 643 workers, were
actively engaged in playground work, and that in the
12 months preceding about $3,000,000 was spent in 184
cities for the improvement and establishment of play-
grounds.
Another indication of growth in the direction we are
discussing is seen in recent legislation. In 1911 Indiana
passed laws providing for public playgrounds, baths, and
comfort stations in first-class cities. Kansas provided a
tax for parks and public playgrounds in cities. Massa-
chusetts established supervision of sports on school play-
grounds. Michigan provided for physical training in
normal schools and city districts; the formation of cor-
porations for maintaining playgrounds; and permission
for districts to maintain school gymnasiums. Minne-
sota provided for parks and playgrounds in cities. New
Hampshire permitted town appropriations for public
288
playgrounds. Ohio made it possible for boards of edu-
cation to secure playgrounds. Pennsylvania provided
for boards of recreation in first-class cities. Rhode
Island established public playgrounds in Providence.
Wisconsin made provision for physical training in cities
and in normal schools and training-schools for teachers;
and for school boards in cities to maintain gymnasiums,
playgrounds, baths, etc. Thus it appears that this coun-
try, following the example of leading European countries,
is rapidly awakening to the needs of our situation along
lines of public recreation and especially in our schools.
12. The School Should Supervise the Play
It will be seen that work so closely related to the in-
structional work of the schools in fact, constituting a
part of the instruction itself will be much more effective,
more completely co-operative when administered under
boards of education than when under separate boards.
Where it is designed, however, to combine recreation
for school children with that provided for adults, it
seems apparent that a separate management should be
provided. The sentiment of those who have closely
studied the subject seems to favor a distinct treatment
of the problem for children and youth as a part of the
work of the school. Such, indeed, has long been the
attitude of colleges and universities.
CHAPTER XVII
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS
i. Sequence in Education
All learning of the schools, of whatever grade, is re-
lated. It simply represents the sum total of race ac-
complishment in acquiring useful arts, in setting up
institutions, and in organizing systems of thought with
reference to various aspects of nature and of human
life individually and in association. In this it consti-
tutes a progression. Hence, practically all there is of
sequence in the school processes is determined by the
order of this progression. Briefly summarized, this se-
quence would run somewhat as follows:
(1) The school arts, such as language, drawing, simple
construction; forming habits of observation
and of arranging and recording results of ob-
servation; numbering and classifying.
(2) Simple thought processes, experimenting; learn-
ing how to study world, race, and national
movements; extending language study to those
of other races; learning how to interpret nat-
ural phenomena in terms of generalized for-
mulas or principles; drawing, color work, and
construction as applied to the arts of life.
(3) Pushing out to some frontier of human knowledge;
reorganizing thought systems in harmony with
289
290 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the progress made; arranging and applying
groups of principles in the carrying forward of
all human projects, as in (a) agriculture, (b)
commerce, (c) the mechanic arts, (d) jurispru-
dence, (e) medicine and surgery, (/) education
and social betterment, (g) government, (ti) re-
ligion; extending knowledge and mastery of
the expressional arts.
Here we have given the basis for the three general
groupings of an educational system, assuming all condi-
tions normal and regular. In actual operation we find
various limitations to this progression as related to in-
dividuals limitations as to individual capacity, eco-
nomic conditions, environment, or inclination. As a re-
sult, at each stage provision should doubtless be made
for the acquisition, in a more intensive form, of some
skill or knowledge, or both, which shall equip such
handicapped individuals with the ability to sustain
themselves without becoming a social charge or a social
menace. This takes no account of pathological cases
demanding special remedial treatment rather than the
ordinary educative, processes of the school. In her work
with special classes in the city of Newark, N. J., the
supervisor of this department finds that by the appli-
cation of the Binet-Simon tests there are frequently left
on her hands children for whom education can do prac-
tically nothing. Perhaps there is no better way than
through the experience of the school for defectives to
differentiate and segregate these pathological cases.
2. Interdependence of the Three Stages of Education
In these three successive stages of progression, rep-
resenting the elementary, middle, and higher processes
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 291
of education, each higher step is dependent upon the
ones below it, while often one of the chief stimuli for
acquiring the earlier steps is found in those steps higher
up. The whole system needs, therefore, to be so co-
ordinated as to admit of the free action of all stimuli,
whether acting from below upward or drawing from
above upon those below. As the streams flow down
from the mountains, spreading into the valleys and
across the plains to nourish the vast and varied growths
of a continent's vegetation, so, in a sense, should there
flow down from the frontiers of human research into
the hidden truths of nature and of human life streams
of refreshing knowledge to quicken and transform all
the arts and institutions of man into ever better and
more highly perfected types.
3. Basis for Organization of Educational Institutions
Such a conception of education presupposes a scheme
of organization for its administration such that provi-
sion shall be made for the dissemination and application
of all useful learning among the out-of-school classes as
well as to those who are of school age. How else are
we to make any real progress in the fundamental arts
and processes which underlie and vitalize all human in-
terests? This modern way of viewing the educational
situation gives quite a different significance to the work
of our schools and colleges. Instead of following a tradi-
tion as we have been doing until now, we are beginning
to look about us hi order to discover, if possible, the
most direct lines of relationship and contact of what-
ever we undertake to teach with the real, essential, well-
rounded human life and action. Night schools, schools
for special classes, extension courses, correspondence in-
292 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
stniction, expert commissions, and advisory boards are
some of the results already observable.
May we not justly say that it is the chief end and
aim of public education thus to provide for the highest
possible well-being of all classes of people of whatever
calling or social status they may be, each in accordance
with his ability to acquire and to use? It follows, then,
that science and the results of scientific research, whether
it be in regard to material things, life as manifested in
nature generally or human life as it appears in man's
social relations, should be capable of appropriation by
the masses as far down as possible. In other words, we
should begin as early as possible in the training of the
young to turn over to them the fundamental truths in
regard to all phenomena whether natural or social. To
do this it becomes quite evident that all educational
instrumentalities must essentially work in harmony, and
that the organization of our school curricula must be
such as to lead most directly and with a maximum
economy of time to the ends sought.
What, then, should be the basis for organization into
particular types of the various kinds of educational in-
stitutions needed in the accomplishment of the purposes
and aims of an efficient system of popular education in
a country like our own? This brings us to a difficult
point at which, if we should err in our ultimate differ-
entiation of types, we might, according to the opinions
of some, bring about results disastrous to our cherished
ideals of democracy. Chief among these ideals are those
of equal opportunity to all and the efficiency of the
individual in the social group. If we organize schools
in types varying in accordance with the needs of the dif-
ferent industries and professions, shall we not bring about
a social stratification with a condition far removed from
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 293
our idea of equality of opportunity? We frequently hear
it said that the school should minister to the peculiar
needs of the community which it serves. Do we mean
by this that rural schools should be solely for those who
are to practise the rural arts? or that city schools are
solely for those interested in commerce, or the mechanic
arts, or professional work, each varying in accordance
with the extent to which any one or more of these con-
ditions may prevail? Or should a cosmopolitan scheme
of education be furnished alike to both country and
city so as to admit of that free passing from one to the
other according as ability or inclination on the part of
the individual might seem to direct? Is not this what
we really mean when we talk about equal opportunity?
4. Problem of Differentiation of Pupils* Work
But if we are correct in this latter inference, then there
is something more to be provided for in our system of
schools than merely to make it possible that each pre-
pare according to ability or inclination. For how is the
youth to know, or how are we to know, his peculiar
tastes and capacities, in order that he may be directed
along the lines of inclination or ability? It seems evi-
dent that somewhere in the scheme, not too early to
be premature, yet not too late to catch him in school,
there must be a way and the means for testing each
individual at least in the light of what we know to be
the fundamental requirements of each general field of
human endeavor. We should probably never be able
to differentiate successfully, in this respect, as among
the various mechanic arts or the professions; but we
surely might do so as between these larger general
groups, or even between individuals of either group when
294 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
the training in skill and knowledge required is distinctly
different in type.
Generally speaking, we may safely dismiss this process
of differentiation to the period of adolescence, or to the
second of the three periods previously suggested. This
amounts to saying that in the elementary grades, up
to and including the sixth, no attention need be given
to inclination or preference so far as they may relate to
any particular choice of an occupation. Indeed, there is
abundance of work peculiarly adapted to this period
which should be had by all in order that each may enter
fairly and with equal preparedness upon the lines of
work in which he is to seek to discover himself or be
discovered by his teachers.
The vocationally selective courses offered in some of
our high schools mark a certain progress along this line
of differentiating pupils according to their respective
abilities and inclinations as they may be found to be
more or less clearly denned. But what are we to say
in regard to the external forces expressed in social needs
and quite as important in determining what the school
shall undertake to teach? Here comes in the social sur-
vey, covering a careful review of social demands and
occupations, as a basis for indicating the educational
needs of a given community.
Recent experience in New York City in connection
with the vocational guidance survey conducted by Miss
Barrows is of interest in this connection. This survey
was undertaken primarily as a means of determining
what there was for children to do who, for economic
reasons, must leave school as early as possible and go
to work. The outcome seems to point definitely to a
demand for vocational training rather than for an or-
ganized effort to aid such children in getting suitable
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 295
jobs. To express it in Miss Barrows's own words : l
"What the children want is vocational training. The
kernel of truth in this popular movement for vocational
guidance is the need of vocational training for children.
Vocational guidance should mean guidance for training,
not guidance for jobs." Carefully conducted surveys
of industrial and other social conditions of a commu-
nity should, if properly interpreted, give much useful and
definite information desirable as a means by which to
determine what subjects and exercises a school should
offer in order to become most directly effective in serving
the social needs of the community to which it ministers.
It should always be borne in mind, however, that if all
are to be at their best in service it may be necessary
for some, perhaps many, to prepare for lines of work
scarcely represented at all in the community where they
are being educated.
5. Organizing and Adapting Schools to Varying Needs
If, then, we are agreed that the truly democratic type
of education is cosmopolitan, our questioning now turns
to the manner in which best to organize this type so as
to adapt it to the needs of the different situations to be
found in a country so varied as to population and in-
dustries.
There are certain typical and generally recognized
situations which will serve us here. These are (i) the
rural schools, including the one-room country school
and the schools of the numerous agricultural villages;
(2) city schools; (3) colleges, universities, technological
1 " Report of the Vocational Guidance Survey," by Alice P. Barrows,
Bulletin no. 9, Public Education Association. City of New York, 1912,
p. 14.
296 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
and professional schools; (4) schools for the defective
classes, as those for the blind, deaf, and feeble-minded.
At no point in the system does it appear so difficult
to secure the cosmopolitan school as in the case of the
rural districts. In the old-time, one-teacher school it
was quite possible, when the teacher knew the art of
teaching, to teach the few subjects required very effec-
tively. With the great increase in the number of things
which we expect the schools to do, it has now become
practically impossible for one teacher to handle all the
work. At the same time, the schools are, in most in-
stances, relatively very small. In fact, there are often
too few pupils to enable the teacher to arouse enthu-
siasm in school work.
The only remedy for this situation seems to be in
bringing the schools of several districts together for ele-
mentary training and then establishing at a central point
in each group of these consolidated schools a high school.
Such a group, for purposes of instruction, should con-
stitute a unit for supervision. In this manner a com-
plete and properly co-ordinated programme of studies
and activities could be worked out and kept in effec-
tive operation. The principal of the central high school
could readily assume this local supervisory function,
while the county superintendent, operating under a
county board of education, would have general super-
vision over all. The arrangement of such districting
into convenient groups would be much better accom-
plished if left to the county board with the expert assis-
tance of the county superintendent, as has been pre-
viously suggested. 1
1 See chap. VII.
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 297
6. Conditions Needed for Rural Schools
The dominant note in such a scheme of education
would naturally be found in rural rather than urban
interests. At the same time, it should be possible for
the pupil whose inclinations point to a business or
professional career to find as good preparation available
in the home district, as far as elementary and high-school
training goes, as could be found in any city-school sys-
tem. By such a plan the high school would be made as
free to our country boys and girls as to their city cousins,
a consummation now long overdue in most of the rural
districts of America. An elementary training is a great
blessing as far as it goes; but it attains fruition, so far
as school training is concerned, only when followed at
least by a high-school course. The former does little
more than prepare one to become educated; the latter
gives a good start in an actual education. Thus it is
that the high school has become an inseparable part of
our common-school system.
This whole problem is as much a social and economic
one as it is educational. Much educational work must
be done among farmers before ever any adequate provi-
sion can be made for modern rural schools, so as to make
them in every way at least equal to those of the city,
and with a natural environment far surpassing anything
which the cities can provide. According to Foght ' we
are now "spending $33.01 on the city child's education
for every $13.17 on the rural child's." In some Cana-
dian provinces 2 the government offers subsidies as an
inducement to districts to consolidate. Why would
this not be a good thing for the States to do? Cer-
1 H. W. Foght, "The American Rural School," 1911, Macmillan, p. 18.
1 U. S. Com. Report, 1907, I, 238.
298 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
tainly, if we are ever to secure the development, in any
efficient way, of agricultural education in our rural
schools, we must first secure a more co-operative and
compact organization, such as consolidation makes pos-
sible. And all this means a change in the social and
economic outlook of the people of our rural communities.
The following paragraph taken from the report of the
Michigan State commission on industrial and agricul-
tural education 1 sets forth fairly the situation with refer-
ence to the necessity for widening the scope of educa-
tion in the rural schools: "The one-room school has
performed a large part of the education of the people in
the past; but with the changed conditions in the coun-
try and improvements in all forms of industry, and es-
pecially in agriculture, such a school has become less
and less able to meet the needs of the present genera-
tion in preparing it for life's duties. In these schools
we find a very small amount of apparatus, small school-
yards and only one instructor, and it is, therefore, prac-
tically impossible for the rural school to enter upon the
field of vocational instruction. The most that it can
possibly do is through the introduction of elementary
forms of hand-work, domestic art, nature study, and the
elements of agriculture, to develop a respect for voca-
tion. All these subjects must be taught as incidental
because of the absolute necessity of training the chil-
dren in what may be called the regular or academic
subjects, such training being designed to give them the
power to gather thought from the printed page and to
make such computations as are necessary in the every-
day affairs of life. Of these things the rural school
should give to every child a very definite possession.
1 Michigan State Com. on Ind. and Agr. Education, Report. Lansing,
1910, pp. 28-29.
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 299
If the rural school does its elementary work well it may
have served its purpose, but it cannot and will not fully
meet the needs of the rural population."
Another matter which calls for serious consideration
in organizing the instructional work of rural schools is
how to make provision for some training for those
young men, more advanced in years, who are early with-
drawn from the schools to work on the farms. The es-
tablishment of free rural high schools for all will do much,
of itself, toward solving this difficulty. There will still
be found necessary, however, short courses for winter
months, if not, also, night courses for such boys and
young men. The one-room, one-teacher school cannot
be expected to provide for this; but the consolidated
schools, with the central high school for each group, could
find a way to make provision for this very important
class who are now to be found continuously out of school.
7. Town and City Organization
With the schools of the towns and cities the situa-
tion in some respects is much better. They are better
equipped materially and the organization for purposes
of instruction is more complete. The teachers are usu-
ally better prepared and the number employed is rea-
sonably adequate. Frequently, however, there seems to
be great waste in the supervisory forces. In many cases
the men employed are not properly trained. They do
not know how to go about the real work of supervision.
In other cases they are kept too busy with mechanical
or clerical duties, or with class teaching, to be able to
devote any time to the essential work of the office.
In spite of such limitations the city school systems
have made good progress in the organization of the
materials of education. In their elementary and high
300 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
schools may usually be found a very broad and com-
plete representation of subjects for study and various
other exercises for school training, including music,
drawing, and art work, physical education, the manual
arts and household arts, and economics. The one thing
lacking in the most marked degree is provision for train-
ing in real vocational lines. In order to supply this de-
ficiency successfully it will probably be necessary to re-
construct the organization of the programme and the
consequent distribution of pupils on some such basis as
the six-four-four plan.
8. The Problem as It Appears in Colleges and
Universities
In the case of colleges and universities may be noted
a lack of differentiation between the two rather distinct
functions which these institutions clearly represent in
the field of education training for professional service
and training for research work on the frontiers of a par-
ticular department of learning. The one calls for strong
teaching ability on the part of the instructor and for a
certain segregated organization of those representing and
imbibing in common the ideals of the profession which
they would pursue. The other requires absolute fealty
to a given, circumscribed field of learning, with all the
equipment and scholarly traits of the specialist. It
seems evident in these two cases that the organization
of materials should differ somewhat even as the aim and
the method of approach should differ. Further, there
should be somewhere in the first group, or perhaps de-
tached as a third line, a type of instructors and an organi-
zation of materials prepared to tone up and lead forward
those who have passed from the university into the field
of life's activities. By some such means there might be
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 301
carried to them new knowledge and fresh inspiration
from the work going on at the frontiers of the learning
process.
Certain it is that in these more advanced courses of
training the curricula should be planned somewhat def-
initely. They should lead either to the acquisition of
professional training sufficient to prepare the individual
most effectively for civic usefulness and social service
in his chosen line or to the field of research work.
Under the former group should come the lawyer, the
surgeon, the engineer, the agriculturist, the educator,
the journalist, the expert in various business depart-
ments; under the latter, government experts studying
new problems afield, and university professors working
in libraries and laboratories and also afield, in all the
various departments of human interests and human
needs that are open to such betterment as the discovery
of new knowledge, new principles, or new combinations
of physical forces may bring.
9. Requirements in the Case of Defectives
The organization for the training of defectives pre-
sents a special field, requires a treatment pathological
rather than normal. There are those morally defective
to be trained to habits of right living and right social
attitudes. Experience seems to show that training to
some useful service more in the order of trades furnishes
the best basis for the inculcation of sound principles and
the formation of such habits as are calculated to restore
this unsocial element.
The physically defective who require a special train-
ing are chiefly those who are deaf, blind, or feeble-minded.
For each of these classes, in order to render them capable
of caring for themselves, even partially, there is neces-
302 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
sary that form of education which shall most nearly
overcome or furnish a substitute for that which is lack-
ing. Such training requires the segregation of these
classes in schools specially equipped and with teachers
specially trained and peculiarly fitted for doing this
work.
10. Programme of the Elementary School
But what as to the content of the programme of
studies? What materials should be drawn from nature
and what from history, and in what order? In the ele-
mentary school the basis for training in the school arts
should come, first of all, from local historical materials,
such as home life and customs; industries, with some-
thing of primitive types to aid in developing a historical
perspective; local institutions and the organization of
society for purposes of government and for public ser-
vice. Then there should be much drawn from litera-
ture, including biographies, and from history told in
story form or as very simple narrative. Art should
also contribute its historical side.
Next there should be liberal studies from nature, be-
ginning, perhaps, with familiar animals and plants, to-
gether with other and general aspects of nature. Along
with the development of the expressional arts, especial
care should be taken in the training of the observational
powers and the formation of habits of accuracy in re-
cording or organizing results of observations.
n. Programme of the High School
As this work advances into the high-school grades its
scope should gradually enlarge and the treatment in-
tensify. Laboratory accessories should come more and
more into use in the nature work; while, on the histori-
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 303
cal side, libraries, cabinets, charts, and maps should be-
come important features as the work progresses. Foreign
language should be introduced, especially for those look-
ing to either professional careers or to advanced study
and research. In the former cases modern language, or
mathematics, or drawing and art work, or shop work
should equip the individual with whatever accessory arts
may be prerequisites to entering upon a particular pro-
fession. In the latter, similar training should be had,
after thoughtful determination, in order to fit one for
the various lines of research which a given field may
seem to demand.
12. The Weakness of the Old Order
The above characterization of the content of the pro-
gramme applies chiefly to the standard recognized ac-
tivities of the schools as they are now organized. We
have already laid down the principle that education,
through the public schools as a means, is for the purpose
of training individuals for social efficiency and social
betterment. In order to accomplish this aim the school
should instruct children and youth (a) in the formation
of right habits; (6) in acquiring the skill necessary for
rendering some service needed by society and essential
to the permanent well-being and efficiency of the indi-
vidual; (c) in the processes and experiences necessary
for the cultivation of the mind both in the acquisition
of useful knowledge and in the ability to think clearly;
(d] in establishing the habit and tendency to right con-
duct; (e) in the principles of good citizenship.
There is a generally prevalent feeling among educa-
tional people, and, indeed, among thoughtful people of all
classes, that in order to attain these ends we are greatly
in need of a reorganization of the materials of education
304 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
as usually expressed in the programme of studies of the
elementary and secondary schools. Probably no phrase
comes nearer to expressing what is generally felt to be
lacking than that a motive is needed. We try to do
too much in the abstract. We conjure up materials
from any and all sources, materials entirely unrelated
in any organic sense to the lives of children and youth,
in order to train in the school arts. Most of the content
material presented is from books, without much thought
as to its motivation or as to whether or not the pupils
have any basis for interpreting it, or, in other words,
are able to assimilate it in such a way as really to con-
tribute anything toward the real process of informing
their minds. Various ways and means of supplying
what is thus felt to be lacking have been tried. Out of
all the resulting experiences thus far seems to come the
evidence that, where pupils are provided with something
to do that definitely relates itself to the every-day in-
terests of life, motive for their academic work is not
lacking. Especially is this true where the teachers of
these academic subjects present them in such a way as
to indicate their relationship to human accomplishments
along lines of action similar to those in which the pupils
are engaged.
All of this is in accord with the theory of psycholo-
gists as applied to the learning process. "No experi-
ence is of importance unless it is organized," says Royce,
in his "Outlines of Psychology." l But experiences, to
be organized, need to be connected in some orderly
manner or by means of common threads of interest;
and the process of such organization depends, in child-
hood and youth, chiefly on action as a basis. This
same general idea is pretty definitely expressed by
1 Royce, Josiah, "Outlines of Psychology," p. 351.
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 305
Dewey in his "Moral Principles in Education," 1 in a
discussion of the manner in which the power of judg-
ment is cultivated. "Acquiring information," he says,
"can never develop the power of judgment. . . . The
child cannot get power of judgment excepting as he is
continually exercised in forming and testing judgments.
He must have an opportunity to select for himself, and
to attempt to put his selections into execution, that he
may submit them to the final test, that of action."
Again the same writer, in discussing the elementary
curriculum, expresses the need of definite lines of action
in a still more emphatic way when he says: 2 "That the
elementary curriculum is overloaded is a common com-
plaint. The only alternative to a reactionary return to
the educational traditions of the past lies in working
out the intellectual possibilities resident in the various
arts, crafts, and occupations, and reorganizing the cur-
riculum accordingly. Here, more than elsewhere, are
found the means by which the blind and routine experi-
ence of the race may be transformed into illuminated
and emancipated experiment."
The fine discriminations in motor activities which
result from the acquisition of skill in doing are first
mental before they become automatic and habitual. It
is here, doubtless, that are gained some of the most im-
portant points in the process of organizing our experi-
ences into those varied but closely related elements
which we have in mind when we refer to our knowledge
in regard to any of the ordinary relations in life, whether
natural or institutional. Thorndike 3 thus explains this
'Dewey, John, "Moral Principles in Education," Riverside Educa-
tional Monograph, p. 55.
2 Dewey, John, "How to Think," p. 169.
3 Thorndike, E. L., "Elements of Psychology," p. 300.
306 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
process of the cultivation of skill through motor activ-
ity: "A skilled movement may commonly be divided
into the coarser adjustments with which it starts and
the finer adjustments which come into play in response
to the guiding sensations. . . . Motor skill is thus by
no means a matter of delicacy of movement alone. It
implies also the capacity to receive and attend to the
fine differences in sensations which are the guides to the
finer adjustments, and, most important of all, the capac-
ity to make connections between sensations and move-
ments, to eliminate the unnecessary and undesirable
movements."
13. The Element Most Needed Is an Industrial
"Core"
The trouble, in other words, with the school curricu-
lum is not so much that it is overloaded, as Dewey would
express it, as that there is lacking a sufficiently constant
and extensive basis for the organization, in connection
with motor processes, of the fundamental experiences
undertaken to be set up in the minds of children and
youth from lessons and problems that are only abstrac-
tions, without any basic, concrete relation in experience.
And it is just this lack which an industrial core or basis
to all this period of training would supply.
All educational experience thus far tends to corrobo-
rate this point of view, and that, too, with emphasis.
Witness the results obtained in the education of the
negro at Hampton and Tuskegee; or by the introduc-
tion of manual arts into city high schools and agricul-
ture into rural high schools; or by the George, Jr., Re-
public and the various industrial schools for boys and
girls who have started wrong or sought to evade the les-
sons of the strictly academic schools. It is but natural
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 307
that the query often arises: Why not make this work
prophylactic instead of corrective?
Primarily, the purpose of the introduction of this in-
dustrial work should be educational; but it need be
none the less practical on that account. And, when we
come to the various "turnout" points in the process
of education, there might well be an intensification of
the industrial or "trade" aspect of this training. In
this respect Superintendent Wirt has set up an excel-
lent example in the schools at Gary, Ind. Under en-
tirely different conditions a similar situation is being
evolved in many of our larger cities. The Los Angeles
schools are a fine illustration. The organization of
various types of prevocational classes and schools is
illustrative of the same movement.
14. Specialization and Adjustability
Aside from the character of the industrial work to be
offered there can be little room for any suggestion, even,
of specialization before about the middle of the high-
school period. Here the inclinations, capabilities, and
limitations of the individual pupil should have become
sufficiently apparent to make possible a pretty definite
choice of the line of work to be pursued and empha-
sized in the further training which may seem practicable
or desirable, both from the point of view of the individ-
ual and that of society. In making this choice, how-
ever, little if anything else should weigh other than the
physical, mental, and moral capabilities of the indi-
vidual.
Here, again, we are confronted by the problem of wisely
differentiating the materials of education, as represented
in the curriculum, so as to offer lines of training to
308 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
correspond to the differentiations among pupils and
also in our social conditions and needs. It seems evi-
dent enough, in spite of the contentions of those who
still insist that the traditional curriculum is best, that
there must be this adjustment of materials to the vary-
ing educational needs of the individual and society.
For while it is true that the particular applications of
knowledge and skill to the affairs of life to-day may give
place in the next generation to an entirely different
situation, calling for new knowledge and new skill, yet
the matter of interest as a motive, a vitalizing principle
in the conventionalized processes of the school, calls for
this definite relationship to the things that now are.
This puts a special emphasis upon the necessity of
adjustability on the part of the individual. Not the
least of the problems of modern education is that of
finding the way by which to enable the individual to
project himself through the entire active period of life
without the breakdown that is likely to come with in-
ability to adjust readily to the changing conditions of
life. As we seek to promote health, and thereby to
lengthen a man's expectancy, we must also provide for
this other contingency of adjustability in service, else
it were better not to extend the life period. The prob-
lem seems to point definitely to the need of those ele-
ments in the training of the school which will develop
most freely the power of initiative, constructive power,
ideals.
It seems probable that, when the final sifting and
weighing of the values in the curriculum are accom-
plished, if such a consummation is possible, there may
remain elements which all alike must have, in order to
be properly prepared for needed adjustments. If such
there be. then these will become the constant elements
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 309
of all our curricula. All other types of material for the
training of the schools will then need to be arranged,
sequentially and in accordance with time requirements,
either in separate and definite- curricula or in larger,
variable groups, from which the individual may elect
according to the purposes and needs of his prospective
career in life. It is interesting to note the progress
that is being made in experiments for determining
somewhat definitely the time factor in covering the tra-
ditional courses of the elementary programme. Cer-
tainly there is great need for the establishment of a
reliable time measure of the pupils' effort in order to
achieve the purposes of the teaching and exercises here
set up. This is not to mean that we should shorten
the period preceding the university training of an indi-
vidual, but that we may be able to bring him to it
better informed and more skilful.
15. Knowledge Lacking of Educational Values
There is also much that remains to be demonstrated,
as regards the actual values inherent in the different
subjects taught, expressed in terms of actual results per-
ceivable in the education of the individual. Just at
present there are lines of work about which pretty good
guesses may be made. In other directions varied and
conflicting opinions are rife. Perhaps no greater single
service could be rendered to education at this stage than
to make it possible to state, with some degree of defi-
niteness, the educational values of the chief groups of
materials now demanding attention in the schools.
310 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
1 6. The Demand Is for Greater Flexibility of the
Curriculum
In his report on the educational aspects of the public-
school system of New York City, 1 referring to the
curriculum of the elementary schools, Dr. Frank M.
McMurry calls attention to the need of greater flexi-
bility. This view is corroborated by Dr. Paul H.
Hanus in discussing editorially the "Report as a Whole."
Such an expression, and from such sources, should ex-
ercise a profound influence on the future development
of the elementary-school programme. The feeling is
altogether too common that effective administration calls
for absolute uniformity in the curricula for all schools
of a system, regardless of local conditions.
In the programme of the high school we have recourse
to wide election in order to meet this situation. In
some instances, as in Los Angeles, Cal., the flexibility
is further increased by differentiating the high schools.
Pupils desiring to emphasize some particular element in
their high-school education select the high school which
stresses this line of work. This makes the high school
somewhat less readily accessible to the pupil; but it
enables a particular school to go further in a certain
line than where the schools are all equally composite,
as in Saint Louis. It is also a more economical way
when it comes to the expensive equipment needed for
the various technical courses.
Such a plan of differentiation could hardly be operated
so readily in elementary schools. But certainly it is
1 Report of Committee on School Inquiry on Educational Aspects of
the Public School System, part II, "Elementary Schools," Frank
M. McMurry. City of New York, 1911-12.
THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS 311
practicable to allow considerable latitude in stressing
certain elements in the general programme, in changing
the actual materials used as well as the presentation, so
as to meet peculiar social needs and conditions in dif-
ferent parts of a large system. Then there is also op-
portunity in such a plan for a larger degree of initiative
on the part of both teachers and principal.
17. The Principle of Economy Involved
This brings us to the consideration, finally, of the
principle of economy involved in constructing the cur-
ricula of our schools. Although the mass of materials
seemingly requiring attention in any complete scheme
for the training of youth has increased rapidly in volume
during the past quarter of a century, yet no very suc-
cessful attempt has as yet been made by the schools
generally to reorganize this mass of materials into such
simple unities as shall bring it within the scope of the
period of training available to the average pupil.
In a similar sense the- demand for a more highly spe-
cialized and varied ability in the teaching force is notice-
able, with a corresponding increase in the equipment
called for. All these changes involve a heavy increase
in the educational budget. If that public sentiment
which ever stands behind the taxing powers of our gov-
ernment is to acquiesce in all this growth in cost it will
only be by making apparent the relative importance, the
actual civic and industrial need, of what the schools pro-
pose to do. But more important than financial econ-
omy, essential as this may be, is that economy of time
to be sought, through a better arrangement of sequences,
in order to prepare the individual, without loss, for effi-
cient service.
All this goes to demonstrate the fact that all friends
312 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
of true educational progress are bound to count care-
fully the various elements of cost involved and to elim-
inate every wasteful factor in the administration of in-
struction. In other words, it is the business of those
of us who are specialists in this field of education to see
to it that society actually gets from the schools, in a
genuinely economic sense, those values for which public
education is instituted and maintained.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE TEACHER
Here, after seventeen chapters, we approach the heart
of the whole matter. Imagine a line at which are to be
found, on the one side, all those who are to be taught;
on the other side, all those who are to teach. Here are
to be brought, in proper order, all materials of educa-
tion. The personality of the teacher, en rapport with
that of the child, produces the atmosphere in which this
material is to be contemplated, mentally digested and
assimilated, in the processes of education. All that has
preceded exists solely that this may be possible, and that
it may be done most economically, most effectively, as
concerns the highest welfare of the individual and of the
social group.
i. The Teacher Should Volunteer the Service
And who and what should the teacher be? Society
has assumed at least partial responsibility for the train-
ing of those who are to teach, and should do so quite as
completely as soldiers are trained for the business of
war. Society also undertakes the selection of those who
are to teach, including all the raw recruits who seek to
enlist in the work without special preparation. The
supervising agencies of the schools are supposed to take
care of the teachers' progressive training in service.
But, as for the attitude of all those who enter the ser-
vice, they should be volunteers. Economic compulsion
313
314 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
undoubtedly causes many to seek positions as teachers.
With these it is largely only a temporary "shift." The
exceptional cases may belong in one of two classes : those
who stay in the work because they lack the courage and
force to voluntarily get out and those who cultivate a
real liking for the work and so deliberately choose to
remain.
2. The Typical Teacher Characterized
It is safe to say that the vast majority of those who
have taught for three or more years have chosen the
work of the teacher with some deliberation and as a
matter of preference, either before entering upon it or as
a result of experience. But, when we consider the short-
ness of the average life 1 of the teacher, the real number
who have deliberately chosen to teach becomes rela-
tively very small. "The typical American male public-
school teacher," says Coffman, speaking in terms of
medians, "is twenty-nine years of age, having begun
teaching when he was almost twenty years of age, after
he had received but three or four years of training be-
yond the elementary school. In the nine years elapsing
between the age he began teaching and his present age
he has had seven years of experience, and his salary at
the present time is $489 a year. Both of his parents
were living when he entered teaching and both spoke
the English language. They had an annual income
from their farm of $700, which they were compelled
to use to support themselves and their four or five
children."
1 Coffman has shown that 77+ per cent of rural teachers, 44+ per cent
of town, 44.65 per cent in cities of 8,000 and over, and 28.6 per cent in
cities of 100,000 and over teach five years or less. (L. D. Coffman,
"The Social Composition of the Teaching Populations," Teachers Col-
lege, Columbia University, Contribution to Education, 191 1.)
THE TEACHER 315
Similarly, the same writer characterizes the female
teacher as follows: "The typical American female
teacher is twenty-four years of age, having entered
teaching in the early part of her nineteenth year when
she had received but four years training beyond the
elementary schools. Her salary at her present age is
$485 a year. She is native born of native-born parents,
both of whom speak the English language. When she
entered teaching both of her parents were living and
had an annual income of approximately $800, which
they were compelled to use to support themselves and
their four or five children. The young woman early
found the pressure, both real and anticipated, to earn
her own way very heavy. As teaching was regarded as
a highly respectable calling, and as the transfer from
the schoolroom as a student to it as a teacher was but
a step, she decided upon teaching."
Here we have a fairly correct picture of the situation
of the teacher in real life. What can be expected of our
schools under such conditions? Certainly, experience
has long since shown us that we get much more and bet-
ter by way of results than we should naturally expect.
But in such general characterizations we must remem-
ber that there is always a goodly list above median
who are able to project themselves, through others of
inferior qualities, into a much wider field of influence
than that represented by mere numbers. It is "the
little leaven," after all, that is able to make us socially
optimistic and render our schools reasonably efficient
in spite of the general showing presented in terms of
preparation by our teaching force. Nevertheless, it is
undoubtedly true that one of our first cares should be
to raise these standards to a much higher average level.
316 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
3. Personality in Teaching
But no amount of training in scholarship or profes-
sionally can make amends for the lack of certain per-
sonal qualities essential to successful teaching. Here
the matter of selection is a far more difficult problem
than in matters of training. The latter may be deter-
mined somewhat formally by means of the individual's
student record and by examinations. The only effec-
tively formal way to determine a successful personality
is by observing the actual teaching work of the indi-
vidual teacher and gauging the achievement in terms of
such standards as are available for the subjects taught.
It is in this aspect of the work that our methods are
most crude and faulty. Outside of some few city sys-
tems there is no adequate method of checking and re-
cording the capabilities of those who teach in terms of
their personal qualities.
Every call that comes from teachers' agencies or city
superintendents seeking information concerning candi-
dates asks particularly about the " personality " of the
teacher. Now, what is this thing about which all em-
ployers desire reliable information? And how is one to
know the answer? If one knows the individual in ques-
tion well and has seen him at work, he may venture to
state a few facts about those personal qualities which
go to make up personality; otherwise one's opinion must
be largely a guess. And even at best it is not always
easy to state facts, much as the necessity of the case
may require the plain truth about a candidate for a
given teaching position.
By personality we mean what is included in character
and something more. One may possess an excellent
THE TEACHER 317
character and yet fail as a teacher. There may be lack-
ing assurance, directive power, convincing qualities of
speech and action, which play an important part in per-
sonal control of others or in commanding their respect.
One's personal appearance is a partial index of this
quality. Voice, cleanliness, taste in dress, facial habit,
grace of movement or lack of it, all aid one in judging
of the personality of another. Hence it follows that one
may develop or modify his own personality. For ner-
vousness, composure may be cultivated; for harshness of
voice, soft and musical notes; for brusqueness, affabil-
ity; for careless dress, tastefulness; for uncleanly hab-
its, scrupulous neatness. It is not quite correct to think
of personality as being, like the leopard's spots, inevi-
tably fixed. But for him who thus despairs there is apt
to be lacking that central factor in personality force of
will. Think of what could be done in the case of a Helen
Keller; of a Demosthenes overcoming an impediment
of speech to go down in history as a world-renowned
orator; of the Elmira experiment with the twelve worst
criminals. Only sheer lack of will need cause any one
to despair. Wise coaching on the part of a supervisor
is capable of producing marvellous results in cases which
otherwise might be hopeless.
4. The Teacher's Ethics Concerning Appointments
In the matter of appointments there seems to be a
woful state of things among teachers generally. Fear
of failure to secure any appointment often leads to what
appears to be a serious laxity in the average teacher's
code of ethics. Possibly, when the teacher's tenure be-
comes less precarious, less subject to personal or neigh-
borhood whims, on the one hand, or a mistaken estimate
318 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
of values in positions, on the other, this state of things
may subside. As things now are, the moral effect on
the profession is deplorable. No teacher should accept
an appointment merely to secure him against final fail-
ure to obtain one. One's attitude should be that of
determining a finality. There should be a willingness
to "bide the consequences" when one accepts or de-
clines an appointment to teach; and, indeed, the cases
are rare, if one has the will, where such an attitude will
not most surely win success in the long run. Occa-
sionally, unexpected and therefore unsought openings
come which so evidently mark a turning-point in one's
professional career as to call for a reconsideration and
request for honorable release. To such a request, fairly
and rightly presented, few school boards will offer a
denial. It is the heartless disregard of contracts for
the sake of a few dollars more, or a little easier or
more notable position, that has exasperated school
boards and school superintendents almost beyond en-
durance. Such teachers have simply never learned real
values; they do not know how to estimate the cost
of such an act.
5. Professional Attitude of the Teacher
This consideration brings before us the larger ques-
tion of the professional attitude of the teacher. Such
a relation on the part of the individual teacher appears
with reference to (i) the administrative organization of
the schools; (2) the individual members of the teaching
force of which he is one; (3) the school as a whole in
its larger social aspects; and (4) various larger educa-
tional interests. The school is an organization in which
several individuals, the number varying with the popu-
lation included in the unit of control which the school is
THE TEACHER 319
to serve, are colaborers toward a common end and pur-
pose. Such a situation always calls for that spirit of
co-operation which we sometimes express as esprit de
corps, " team- work." In other words, to follow the
phraseology of athletics, each one must play his part in
the game not only as an individual but as part of the
team and therefore at the call of the captain. In the
best sense this is not subordination, it is perfect co-
ordination; and in teaching as well as in athletics he
"plays the game best" who fully and heartily recog-
nizes this fact.
This spirit of the individual, properly adjusted in a
great social service, shows itself in the matter of ap-
pointments and contracts to which reference has already
been made. It appears also in the teacher's attitude
toward the superintendent and all supervising officers.
It manifests itself in the spirit with which all rules
are observed, all suggestions heeded, all advice and
counsel received and appropriated. It becomes evident
also in the promptness, fulness, and accuracy of reports;
in attendance upon and participation in all meetings of
special groups or of the entire teaching body; in a will-
ingness to share the burden of preparation for discus-
sions or in carrying on investigations relative to the
more difficult problems of the school; in the way in
which any emergency call is received, whether in case
of illness or absence of a fellow teacher, or because of
some unforeseen excess of work to be distributed, or in
the face of some accident or grave danger.
Not less vital and important is that professional atti-
tude which manifests itself in the teacher's relationship
to the other members of the corps as well as of the
profession at large. The true spirit shows forth in a
genuine comradeship. Each individual has a jealous
320 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
care for the professional reputation, the personal well-
being of every member of the group. If one is in any
difficulty, sympathy is apparent from each of the others.
Does another achieve something of note, receive some
special honor or recognition, it is counted as so much
gain for all. The fair-minded teacher permits no evil
gossip, in his presence, concerning any other member or
official of the corps. A right professional attitude is
inimical to covetousness, to jealousy, to unfair play. It
never expresses itself in an effort to "protect" local or
State teachers against fair competition by outsiders.
Entirely aside from the personal responsibilities of
the teacher in instructing the pupils assigned to his
care, there are certain general interests connected with
the general social life of the school in which all teachers
are called to share. This relation is most marked in a
large school unit or centre. To ignore or neglect this
aspect of the teacher's work, without good cause, is a
serious breach of professional obligation. The indi-
vidual who enters into contract to teach in a certain
capacity, without having carefully considered and ac-
cepted this and all other professional obligations as
essential to the success of his work individually and of
the school as a whole, will probably not proceed very
far without some unhappy experiences.
Then, too, there are interests involving professional
spirit and loyalty lying entirely outside of the particu-
lar school in which one is called to instruct. It is one
of the peculiar characteristics of democratic institutions
that each individual must devote some time and trouble
to matters of general public concern without pay. In
this respect the teacher is not exempt; and especially
does the obligation lie to lend a hand in all honorable
and unselfish plans for the betterment of schools and
THE TEACHER 321
for general professional uplift. This does not imply
that there should be an attitude of supine acquiescence,
as by compulsion, in doing what is a downright wrong
or imposition. The individual always has a right to
be heard; but when full and free discussion has been
had and a decision reached the individual should strive
to make the decision of the majority his own in so far
as immediate action is concerned.
6. The Teacher's Rights and Privileges
No such effective co-operation as is implied in the
foregoing discussion of the teacher's professional atti-
tude will be possible without due recognition, on the
part of all in authority and all coworkers, of the rights
and privileges of the teacher. It has been seen to be
the province of society to train and select teachers. No
matter what may have been the teacher's antecedents,
this training and selection should be sufficient guarantee
of the teacher's right to respectful treatment as a mem-
ber of society. If there remain any real personal causes
for even an approach toward social ostracism, then so-
ciety, and not the teacher, is culpable. The teacher,
once chosen and appointed, is entitled to consideration
commensurate with the high calling of those who are
to be the intimate guides and instructors of the young.
Each teacher owes it to himself and, indeed, to his
calling to keep in touch with the normal social life
about him. The allotment of work should be such as
to make readily possible his recognition and acceptance
of this relation which should be cherished as at once a
privilege and an obligation.
There are also the professional rights of the individual
teacher. He is entitled to a fair and impartial rating
by those who supervise his work; to advancement and
322 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
recognition on merit for service rendered and for abil-
ity displayed. No extraneous "influence" should have
weight here. The duties assigned should leave the
individual a fair chance for participation in all the
privileges of his profession proportionately with those
with whom he works. Speaking abstractly, the individ-
ual teacher has a right to expect those opportunities
necessary for and essential to his professional improve-
ment that lie outside of his immediate personal work in
the school. Neither the board nor the supervisor can
rightfully neglect making provision for such participa-
tion in the recognized means of training in service.
Most vitally important of all are the personal rights
of the teacher the right to compensation adequate to
enable him to meet all his obligations, family, social,
professional; the right to a fair and equitable allotment
of hours; to suitable room and equipment; to the sym-
pathy and respect of all coworkers, whether of equal
rank or otherwise, in the distribution of the tasks of
the school; to opportunity for such rest and recreation
as the strenuous nerve strain of the teacher's work re-
quires. How else can the spirit of the teacher be free,
the mind clear and alert, the body a sure support, in
vital energy, for the duties of the schoolroom?
7. The Teacher's Duty to Self
The teacher's duty to himself is akin to his personal
rights in effect. Of what consequence will all these
other things be how will leisure or compensation or
sympathy profit the individual who is profligate of self
and all material resources; who neglects the oppor-
tunity for physical recuperation; who drains his vital-
ity to the dregs in a vain effort to do the impossible
or in a lazy dread of unaccustomed physical exertion?
THE TEACHER 323
Equally fatal would be the neglect of his mental life
and growth, of that wider reading and experience which
will give him a broader outlook on life. The teacher who
grows old and worn-out before his time is not he who
numbers the most years of existence or of service. It
is the one who settles helplessly into the routine of
daily tasks, content to permit them to absorb his whole
time, to become the sum total of his entire round of
experiences. To such a one life is little, if any, longer
than the time it takes to acquire a set of habits asso-
ciated about a few closely related central experiences.
The work of the teacher calls for the man at his best
the man who is alive, growing, enthusiastic, adjusting
himself daily to the changing demands of his task. It
is the final purpose of the administration of education
to place in the hands of such persons the instruction of
all those who should be taught. That type of admin-
istration of instruction which undertakes to impose
fixed methods upon the teacher is fatal. It nullifies at
one stroke all that the entire fabric of organization out-
side the teacher's domain was intended to accomplish
that of aiding him in the independent, untrammelled
occupation of his domain.
8. Preparation Which the Service Demands
The school is that convention of society in which it
is undertaken to set up a series of experiences, selected
and condensed as compared with individual life experi-
ences, in order that the young may come thus prema-
turely into possession of the essence of those things
which represent the best of what the race has achieved
up to the present time. At the very best the task is a
stupendous one, made more so by each passing year.
The teacher is the artist, the inspiration, the vitalizing
324 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
medium in the process. His task is not, as some sup-
pose, to measure off lessons by the page or exercises
by the hour until the years of preparation of childhood
and youth have been lived through. His is a far more
complex problem of service. He is constantly experi-
menting not with inert matter but with life with hu-
man life both in its physical and mental aspects. He
constantly seeks the material, the exercise, the experi-
ence which is to set up in the bodies and minds of
individuals experiences that correspond, in their trend,
to those fundamental conventions which represent the
legacy of all past generations to those of the present
and future; individuals who, in turn, are to bear forward
the trophy for another lap in life's endless relay.
Viewed in such a light, what preparation, befitting
such a task, should the teacher seek for himself? Shall
it be just barely enough to pass the lenient require-
ments of certificating laws made obsolescent by the
swift march of progress? Or shall it be the very most
and best that his effort can win, with plans for an-
nual instalments of increase sufficient to keep a little
ahead of the best educational practice? Certainly, if
one is sincere with himself and with his calling, nothing
short of the latter will do. Only the time-server will
be content to drift along, resorting to all sorts of sub-
stitutions for professional merit in order to keep himself
employed.
But when it comes to a specialized choice in the field
of teaching a different problem is presented. Here one
must study his or her own tastes and aptitudes with
the purpose not only of avoiding that which is distaste-
ful but also of finding that to do which shall be a per-
ennial joy in the doing. For the price of success in the
teacher's field is inexorably heavy, and serious will be
THE TEACHER 325
the handicap where real love for the work is lacking.
It is doubtless true that there will be found differences
in the present promise of various fields of teaching as
far as compensation is concerned. Public sentiment is
very fickle in such matters. Nevertheless, there is a
fine success to be won in any field. Is the teacher lured
by the present glamour of some recent development in
education calling for a special preparation and promis-
ing a larger reward? Let him beware lest he undertake
a task of which he may soon grow weary. Let him not
disregard the real bases of value in that which he is to
take up deliberately as his Life's task.
In making such a selection from the larger field one
should consider the possibilities of promotion and the
initial preparation which such promotion will require.
As life's responsibilities increase with years for such is
the normal experience of mankind there will come also
the need of increase in one's income. Fortunate, indeed,
is that person who always, when opportunity presents
itself for advancement in a chosen career, finds himself
ready to take advantage of it.
CHAPTER XIX
CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS
i. The Problem Stated
No other problem in the field of educational adminis-
tration that is related directly to instruction presents so
many stubborn difficulties as does the problem of classi-
fication and promotions throughout the various stages
of the educative process. This is undoubtedly due to
our system of mass education, made necessary by reason
of our attempt to make free public instruction universal.
Nor is there any way of escape, except through a process
of political and social reversion. Overwhelmed as we
are in our efforts to provide facilities for all, even en
masse, how utterly hopeless and inconceivable becomes
any thought of a system of individual instruction.
And, indeed, it is not likely that any such system would
prove superior to the present simultaneous or class sys-
tem of instruction. On the contrary, the latter method
probably has more in its favor than would equal the
sum of all its disadvantages. Any teacher who has
gone from the tutoring of a single student to the enthu-
siasm of numbers and the interchange of thought of
class teaching is readily prepared to appreciate the ad-
vantages of class work.
2. The Theory of Classification
In our educational progress we seem to have been a
little slow in finding a satisfactory basis for classifying
326
CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS 327
groups of individuals together for purposes of instruc-
tion. However, when we consider the newness of it all,
the movement no longer strikes us as being so very
tardy. The general theory is that there are minds
which move at an average or median rate, usually des-
ignated as normal and constituting a majority of chil-
dren or youth of a given age or stage of development.
Below these are subnormal types, and above are super-
normals. The aim in classification should be to keep
the normals moving regularly forward together, while
the subnormals are set out for special treatment and the
supernormals moved ahead with a rapidity commen-
surate with the superior facility with which they are able
to master the work of a given period.
3. Frequent and Careful Revision Necessary
This theory is a very general one and carries with
it several possibilities of error in interpretation or appli-
cation. In the first place, some of the factors causing
these differences are likely to be eliminated, as time
goes on, by the natural processes of individual physical
and mental development. Thus, one who was sub-
normal last year may be a good normal this year. In
the second place, the tests for normal or other condi-
tion may be wrong hi character or imperfectly applied.
In either emergency, the results will be misleading and
liable to end in a loss for the individual. This means,
simply, that classifications should be subject to frequent
and careful revision.
4. Individual Work and Correct Measure of
Achievement
It implies also that there will need to be always indi-
vidual work on the part not only of the teacher of the
328 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
special class but also a modicum of individual work by
the teacher of normals. Such treatment of the prob-
lem calls for constant alertness on the part of the teacher
in charge as well as of the immediate supervisor of the
work. It requires, moreover, a clear understanding of
what experiences are to be set up in the minds of the
pupils, through the processes of instruction, at a given
stage of development and by a given subject or exer-
cise. Only on such grounds of knowledge and insight
can there be any intelligent testing and judging of the
pupil's achievement. One of the most common failings
of our present-day methods is due to the prevailing
practice, at all stages of educational work, of applying
only quantitative or memoriter tests in the efforts to
determine a pupil's progress. Thus far, in our attempts
to measure achievement, too much sameness has char-
acterized the treatment of subjects widely different.
Think, for instance, of testing achievement in history
study by the same question-and-answer method ap-
plied to mathematics. How is such a method to throw
any light on the socializing process which has been go-
ing on, a mental process of change of which the pupil
himself may be entirely unaware? Yet is this not the
chief end sought in the teaching of history? Students
in school or college are mentioned as having good
minds but slow of expression, meaning, ordinarily, that
they think things through and therefore gain real in-
formation. On the other hand, the precocious indi-
vidual talks glibly of a subject only as he remembers
the sayings of some writer or lecturer, while he thinks
little or not at all. The common practice would be
to underrate the former and overrate the latter. The
rather exceptional teacher will discover the really sig-
nificant facts about the two and probably reverse the
CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS 329
ranking. In high school or college, the ratings of sev-
eral different teachers, through the device of distribut-
ing grades, will serve as a check and balance. In the
case of the elementary schools the supervisor of in-
struction should be able to act as a check upon errors
in judgment by teachers.
5. Correct Classification Calls for Careful Study of
Changes in Individuals
In order to establish and preserve a good working
classification, a very close watch needs to be kept upon
the pupils of the first five or six grades of the elemen-
tary school. If the basis for classification has thus been
well looked after through these first years, there should
be little trouble later on. Both teacher and supervisor
will need to have clearly in mind such measurements
for achievement as are available. Not until recently
has attention been called definitely to the possibility
of a real scientific measure of efficiency in a given sub-
ject. The time will doubtless soon come when no one
will think of making promotions in our schools on any
other basis. The children who early manifest a weak-
ness or inability to carry the simpler exercises of the
first few grades will call for special care. If, after due
testing, any are found decidedly below normal in their
mental ages they should receive special expert treat-
ment in the school for specials.
6. Special Care in Case of Abnormals
Similarly, provision will also be made for those who
show a decidedly supernormal capacity. These should
be moved forward to the next group above as soon as
they are found to be prepared for the work of that
group. A careful elimination of specials, both below
330 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
and above normal, should make it comparatively easy
to preserve the regular classification. At the same time,
it will always be necessary to bear in mind that not all
who classify regularly for a given year will necessarily
remain normal for all succeeding years. A sudden awak-
ening of some dormant power may discover a new super-
normal. Such awakening may come as a result of a
cycle of development completed during a vacation and
thus account for one of those marvels in the character
of a dull or ordinary boy who has suddenly been trans-
formed to a paragon of docility and aptness in the grade
higher up.
Then, again, some of those classed as specials in the
subnormal group will be restored, as thoroughly com-
petent, to their regular grade. There is always danger,
in the case of those classed in the deficient group, that
this condition may be taken for granted as a perma-
nent thing. For this reason, only specially capable
teachers should ever be intrusted with the teaching of
these groups. Ultimately, there should come out of the
classes for those who were found to be laggards at least
two groups of pupils: (i) those who are able to recover
their grades and keep up with normal classification; (2)
those who are permanently defective but who are ca-
pable of taking a fair degree of mental training when
made sufficiently concrete. For these, regular vocational
training should be early provided. It is assumed here
that those who might otherwise constitute a third group
as hopelessly defective mentally should have been dis-
covered earlier and differently cared for under direc-
tion of the psychological clinic.
Non-attendance at school, especially when caused by
sickness or when accompanied by severe physical labor
amounting to overwork, will be likely to add to the
CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS 331
second class even from the ranks of those who started
out fairly as normals or even stronger. These should
have especially careful treatment in order to enable
them to regain as much as possible of the opportuni-
ties of which external circumstances may otherwise per-
manently deprive them.
Besides the special classes already referred to, there
will or should be classes for tuberculars with suitable
open-air conditions, classes for those of defective hear-
ing, for the blind, and for cripples. These classes will
all require teachers especially qualified to deal with the
peculiar difficulties in instruction which such cases pre-
sent.
7. Periods of Promotion as Affecting Classification
As a very important factor in preserving right stand-
ards of classification, some careful provision for ease of
movement from one class to another next above is essen-
tial. The semiannual promotion plan was among the
first devices to be set up chiefly for this purpose. But
here the time to be bridged over is frequently too long
to be successfully covered. The plan carries with it the
idea of special promotions on the part of the acceler-
ants in a given group. It also simplifies the problem of
getting those slightly retarded in readiness for the regu-
lar forward movements of classes.
A still more effective device for simplifying such
interclass movements is the one developed at Cam-
bridge, Mass. By this plan two parallel courses are
arranged for the eight grades of the elementary school.
Course A, the basal course, is divided into twenty-three
grades, three for each year except the eighth, which has
but two. Thus each grade covers the work of about
three months. Course B, the parallel or supplementary
332 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
course, covers the same work in six years and is divided
into seventeen grades. That is, pupils taking the basal
course are required to do only two thirds as much
work in a given time as those in course B. In each
course there are three regular promotions a year, except
in the last, where there are but two, in order to adjust
to high-school entrance. Such a plan it will readily be
seen, makes interclass changes, either upward or down-
ward, a comparatively simple matter. 1
8. What Shall Be the Basis for Promotions
Whatever may be the plan adopted for general and
special or inter-class promotions, some well-considered
scheme as a basis for these promotions will be neces-
sary. There are at least five such general schemes in
use: (i) regular monthly and term examinations; (2)
the class record of the pupils as kept from day to day;
(3) a combination of (i) and (2) according to some arbi-
trarily fixed ratio; (4) class record supplemented by a
test intended to show the ability of the pupils to do the
work which is to follow in the next higher grade; (5)
promotion by subjects based on ordinary examination
and class-record ratings. Few schools are to be found
where scheme (i) is used exclusively. Scheme (2) oc-
curs more frequently and especially in higher grades of
school work. If the record has been thoughtfully made,
not on the spur of the moment, as merely estimating
the percentage value of a recitation, but deliberately
after the class recitation is closed as expressing the com-
prehension, the growth of the pupil, the estimate thus
recorded may be a very safe index of the pupil's ad-
vancement.
1 For a fuller description of this plan, see the Annual Report of Cam-
bridge for 1910, pp. 19-21.
CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS 333
Still more satisfactory will be scheme (3) if thought-
fully carried out. The examination should serve chiefly
to indicate the pupil's grasp of knowledge involved, his
clearness of analysis and consequent accuracy, his log-
ical organization of the work gone over. The class rec-
ord should show clearly a definite progress in knowl-
edge and thought power or the contrary. Each should
serve to check the other. The arbitrarily fixed ratio
would better be avoided. A curious modification of
this method is found in use hi some high schools. Pupils
who attain a certain standard in class record are ex-
cused from the examination. This practically announces
to the school that the sole utility of the examination
consists in determining the pupil's rank and that even
in this relation it can just as well be dispensed with. As
a matter of fact, the examination, rightly conducted, may
be one of the very best correctives for both teacher and
pupil. This real value should not be thus discredited.
Scheme (4) differs from (3) chiefly in the nature of
the examinations, especially that made from the office
of the superintendent. These examinations or tests are
so framed as to seek to test the pupil's ability to go on
with his work. The plan eliminates the possibility of a
mere memory test of what has been gone over in class.
It seeks to know the ability to use the knowledge and
power attained as applied to the doing of the next grade
of work. Especial emphasis has been put upon this
method in the Oakland, Cal., schools under the super-
vision of J. W. McClymonds. It has been used effec-
tively in connection with a plan for special promotions
adopted as the prevailing method in the Oakland schools.
Scheme (5) is advocated with the idea that pupils
should not mark time in all other subjects because of
failure to carry one or two. Not only does such a plan
334 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
do away with this evil of useless repetition but it also
makes possible the repetition of work not at first accom-
plished under much more favorable circumstances. It
also facilitates the adaptation of the school curriculum
to the needs of the individual pupil. The objections
urged against this plan are: (a) difficulties of adminis-
tration involved; (&) danger that the pupil may neglect
a distasteful subject; (c) interference with desirable cor-
relation of work.
A very interesting modification of scheme (5) is de-
scribed and commended by Superintendent W. H. Max-
well, of New York City. 1 The particular plan was in
use in Miss Tucker's school, Public School No. 163,
Manhattan. By this type of classification a pupil when
promoted to a grade is classified on the basis of his
weakest subject. " In grades where there are two classes,
the classes formed would be graded on the basis of
weakness in arithmetic and in language. In grades hav-
ing three classes, classification would be made on the
basis of weakness in arithmetic, language, and manual-
training subjects. The new classes are designated and
known as 4 B Arithmetic, 4 B Language, 4 B Manual
Training instead of as 4 B 1 , 4 B 2 , 4 B 3 ." By means of
such a plan each pupil in the school receives double
time in his or her weakest subject, and so in many cases
a pupil who is at first weak in a given subject later
may rank strong in his class. Such a scheme of reor-
ganization of classes seems to avoid most if not all of
the disadvantages of the method of subject promotions.
9. The Question as Applied to High Schools
Thus far the elementary school has been under con-
sideration. The situation is changed materially when
1 See Report of New York City Schools, 1910-11.
CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS . 335
the high school is reached or even before this where
the intermediate school is organized on the depart-
mental plan. In both these situations promotions are
almost universally by subjects, and the pupil who fails
in a given subject either takes it over again at the first
opportunity or substitutes an equivalent, according to
the degree of election permitted in the school of which
he is a member. The most troublesome cases in such
instances are subjects in sequence. There is also to be
encountered the difficulty of classifying so as to avoid
conflicts in recitations. On the whole, it would seem
that the plan used in the Manhattan school might be
applied to great advantage in our larger high schools.
10. In Higher Institutions
In higher institutions generally the system of credit
hours is used with liberal election schemes. If a sub-
ject in which a student fails to make his credit happens
to be prescribed for his course as a prerequisite to other
essential courses, or for graduation, the student must
simply work through the difficulty as best he can in the
time remaining for the completion of his work. The
only help for the situation in these higher stages, aside
from a general improvement of undergraduate instruc-
tion, is a more careful selection of courses in prepara-
tion in the high school and also of the special line of
work to be taken in the college or university.
ii. The Problem of Transfers
In this process of classification and promotions there
arises, as a sort of by-product, the problem of dealing
with transfers from one school to another. The devel-
opment of modern industries and commerce has greatly
increased the mobility of our population. As one result
336 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
of this change scarcely a week passes during the months
when schools are in session that does not bring to the
administrative office of the schools of practically every
town and city one or more pupils by transfer from
other systems. These become special cases for adjust-
ment. Differences in school management always stand
out prominently in such instances. Fortunate, indeed,
is it for the pupils concerned if they do not lose some-
thing by the exchange. The work done in given sub-
jects in the schools thus compared may differ widely
either in quantity or quality, or both. Some things
required in one school system may be entirely lacking
in the other. The problem is frequently acute.
In the case of the early elementary grades any dis-
crepancy in work may soon be corrected, although not
without becoming something of a tax upon the time of
teacher and principal. As we advance in the grades the
relative flexibility is less and the adjustment conse-
quently more difficult. In the high school a scheme of
equivalents may be used either by tacit agreement or
by formal approval of the board. But even this will
not always take care of subjects remaining in sequence
through two or more years. In colleges and universi-
ties the problem presents many complications due to
wide variation in aims and purposes affecting the for-
mulation of curricula. In one case a subject may be
purely elective which in another corresponding pro-
gramme may be made a prerequisite to courses fol-
lowing.
There is a certain form of transfers for which the
above discussion does not provide. It is the demand
arising each year and often through the year for trans-
fer of pupils from one school to another in the same
system. Frequently, too, such transfers are called for
CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS 337
on account of overcrowding in certain schools caused by
some sudden influx of population to the school com-
munity. The latter cases are frequently best cared for
by the use of the portable schoolhouse which serves as
an annex to the established school.
In the case of transfers called for on account of the
thousand and one reasons which patrons offer in pre-
senting their requests at the office of the superintendent
there is usually more or less trouble in store for that
official. Where regular district boundaries are estab-
lished for both elementary and high schools the matter
has to be handled with great care. The situation will
be rendered still more acute when requests are backed
up by "influential citizens" or where, in case of dis-
trict representation on the board, influence is brought
to bear upon the superintendent through the member
from that portion of the city in which the petitioner
lives.
Perhaps the most fortunate arrangement, all things
considered, is to avoid the district plan of assignment
altogether, as has been practised in Oakland, Cal., for
a number of years. Pupils may then seek the school
of their choice, but with the understanding that if the
school to which they apply for admission has more appli-
cants than there is room for the preference will be given
to those residing nearest to the school. Then in case
of rejection the pupil must go to the next best school of
his or his parents' choosing where he can be admitted.
This throws the whole responsibility back where it be-
longs, on the ones seeking transfer for special reasons.
12. Need of Reform in the Matter of Transfers
In all its aspects the matter of transfer of pupils in
our schools and students in our colleges really calls for
338 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
some radical reform in the interests of true economy.
The waste in this case will be seen to be both financial
and in life possibilities of children and youth. Prob-
ably nothing short of a closer and more expert super-
vision such as was advocated in chapter XIII can be
found to effectively remedy the defect. There are, no
doubt, situations where a little more flexibility in the
shape of a willingness to accept equivalent work along
other lines than those required by the receiving school
or institution would save students entering by transfer
from irretrievable loss. Such a course, if adopted, needs
to be clearly thought out by some one who is broad
enough to weigh relative values rather than by some
instructor or administrative officer whose subject or
institutional prejudice might lead him to be partial in
judgment.
13. Scientific Treatment Will Bring Relief
It marks a great day in educational advancement that
the light of real scientific study has been turned on these
problems. Even now no city superintendent of any
city that is educationally self-respecting dares to neglect
a careful survey of his classifications. He will see to it
that the number and causes of retardation are known;
and if remedies are not provided, so far as it is now
possible for school authorities to prescribe them, it will
not be by reason of failure on his part to make proper
recommendations to his board. The work to be under-
taken by the commission on school efficiency established
by the Department of Superintendents of the National
Education Association 1 is evidence that our superinten-
dents are awake to both the needs and the possibilities
presented in these problems which concern so closely
1 Established at the Philadelphia meeting, 1913.
CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS 339
this important phase of the work of instruction the
classification and promotion of the young throughout
the period of public-school training.
14. University of Missouri Plan
Similar efforts to arrive at a more rational treatment
of the problem, as it appears in colleges and universities,
are not lacking. In this field the University of Mis-
souri has led in a very decisive and creditable way by
adopting the device of scientifically distributing stu-
dents' grades according to the natural distribution of
ability or achievement. The plan was adopted by the
faculty of the University of Missouri in 1908. The fol-
lowing brief description of this method of grading quoted
from another writer 1 will be sufficient for the purposes
of this discussion: "The system in question was intro-
duced by the faculty, and its administration is in charge
of a special committee of the faculty. It is definitely
based upon the assumption that the distribution of abil-
ity or achievement in college classes is approximately
normal. Every teacher is expected to rank the students
in his classes in order of merit and then to assign the
grades E and S (excellent and superior) to the 25 per
cent ranking highest, the grades I and F (inferior and
failure) to the 25 per cent ranking lowest, and the grade
M (medium) to the remaining 50 per cent between. At
present the distribution of the grades E and S and I and
F among the groups of students ranking highest and
lowest, respectively, is left to the individual teachers.
The committee on grading, after the close of each sem-
ester, publishes a statistical table showing the char-
*" Scientific Grading of College Students," Raymond W. Sies, Pro-
fessor of School Administration, University of Pittsburg, 1912. (Re-
print from Univ. of Pittsburg Bulletin, vol. VIII, no. 21.)
340 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
acter of the grading of each teacher for the semester
and since the inauguration of the present system. This
table is circulated among the faculty. Teachers whose
grading deviates markedly from the standards estab-
lished are called to account by the committee and asked
to justify their failure to conform. The grading of
teachers of small classes is expected to conform to the
standards only when taken through a series of semesters
or years. This new system has very largely eliminated
the diversity of practice in grading at Missouri."
It seems entirely within the range of possibility that
some such scientific method for measuring achievement
through examinations will in time be so perfected and
its operation be found so satisfactory as to lead to its
general adoption by college and university faculties.
In fact, it may readily become more general in its appli-
cation; for there is no reason why it might not apply
to all systems of markings where different portions of
the individual's work are to be graded by different
teachers. This would include all high-school work and
might also readily apply to the elementary or inter-
mediate school where the work is departmentally ar-
ranged. There would also readily appear a field for its
use in teacher's examinations where the markings of
subjects are by different persons. There is certainly
room for some such improvement in all these depart-
ments of educational classifying by grades.
CHAPTER XX
ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF THE SCHOOL
There are certain activities and relations of the schools
having to do more or less directly with the work of in-
struction which have not yet received the attention they
deserve in this treatment of the subject. In all types
and at all stages of educational work some more or less
definite daily programme of study, recitation, exercise,
or lecture is usually followed. The arrangement of
such a programme, in any case, requires some care with
reference to certain principles involved.
i. The Daily Programme
Children in the early years of school work need little
time for study. About all they can do between recita-
tions will be to engage in some seat work, such as writ-
ing, drawing, cutting, and construction, with materials
ready to hand; or they may engage in directed play.
Gradually, as they advance in age and grade, they should
be taught the steps in preparation of lessons or exer-
cises. As they advance into the period of sustained
thinking, even of limited duration, they should be set
problems which call for such mental exercise along dif-
ferent lines as represented in the different subjects.
But always the period for such work should be timed
to correspond to the limitations of the power of atten-
tion to one thing and of the pupils' range of mental
341
342 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
action. Likewise, in the recitation period, the time
should vary, gradually increasing upward. The teacher
should ever be alert to note the flagging interest and
lack of attention which mark the limit of successful ef-
fort for a given period.
There is no finer test of the teacher's ability than
the degree of success with which the adjustment of as-
signed study work and that undertaken in the recita-
tion are seen to correspond to the present attainments
of the members of a class as to power of sustained effort
in attention. On the other hand, there is no more fruit-
ful source of waste and of the forming of bad habits on
the part of those taught than the failure on the part
of the teacher to regulate the periods on a basis at least
approximately normal.
Not only age and degree of advancement but also the
character of the subject or exercise have to do with the
determination of these periods. Further, the time of
day, the physical condition of those taught, various
unavoidable distractions will come in for consideration
as modifying causes. Only those who intuitively grasp
and sense these things, or those who, through careful
study of psychology, have mastered the principles in-
volved and their application, can be intrusted, without
thoughtful advice and direction, with the adjusting of
the time factors of the daily programme.
2. The Problem of Fatigue
Expressed in another way, it is the problem of fatigue
that is to be hourly, daily met and solved. Under the
old methods of the school, people thought to compel at-
tention to study. It mattered not if the child's mental
alertness was gone, the ability to fix attention on a given
exercise exhausted. The everlasting "you must," with
ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF SCHOOL 343
threatened punishment for failure, has had to yield to
the psychological law. This does not mean soft peda-
gogy. It is not the difficult things that come later in
the exercises of the school that cause the trouble and
are to be avoided or explained away by the teacher.
Real interest in doing, in overcoming, will carry the
pupil over these hard places, leaving him with the fine
reward of conscious success at the end. Fatigue is not
distaste for doing a thing. It is nature's cry of " enough "
and must be heeded, or unpleasant, possibly disastrous,
results may follow. This does not always require cessa-
tion of effort. A variation in occupation or exercise
may serve the purpose. In the earlier grades brief pe-
riods of attention to learning processes should be fol-
lowed by play, preferably in the open air. As pupils
progress, the periods for the recitation or for study may
gradually increase in length. As this ability to attend
and later to concentrate for much longer periods upon
problems of business or of one's profession or other call-
ing is fundamental to successful living, its normal and
full development in the process of education becomes
very important.
3. Value of the Play Instinct
On the other hand, it is well that the play instinct be
kept alive throughout not only the period of one's school-
days but to the end of life. For, while variation of ac-
tivity may be made to serve more and more as a means
of relief from fatiguing effort, there is nothing quite
equal to the spontaneous, happy spirit of play to relieve
the tension to one's nervous system which comes from
any prolonged attention to a sustained line of thought,
no matter what may be the subject. Equally vital, as
well as difficult of adjustment, therefore, is this problem
344 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
of providing, in the programme of school exercises, for
proper periods of relaxation in healthful sport.
4. Theory of Rest
There will still remain the need of rest, which also
should be a matter of care at all stages of school work,
and especially with the very young, the abnormal, or
the underfed. Somewhere, either in the home or in the
school, or in both, the human race, especially the Ameri-
can branch of it, needs to be instructed in the art of
resting and also in discovering the need and the value
of rest as a means of increasing one's happiness and
power of accomplishment. We hear much about the
cause of temperance, and that is well. But we go on
disregarding one of the most fundamental causes of in-
temperance by neglecting to study and teach the art
of resting and its proper application. If, in our school
work, by the introduction of certain features of the
Montessori method or by any other means, we may
instil from early childhood right habits and, later, prin-
ciples of rest as related to accomplishment, no doubt we
shall have gone a long way toward the elimination of
a real national weakness.
5. The Lunch Problem
Closely allied to problems of recreation, fatigue, and
rest is the lunch problem of the schools. The matter
of properly nourishing the body in these days of com-
plexity of food supply with all the uncertainty of source
and quality grows yearly more serious. The situation
is further aggravated in our cities by the confectioners'
stores which always spring up in close proximity to the
school. Could it be possible that some day there should
be employed by each school unit of control large enough
ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF SCHOOL 345
to support such a thing an expert whose duties should
include the recommendation to parents of what to in-
clude in the child's lunch either brought to be eaten
cold at school or served at the home dinner-table? Does
not this midday refreshment bear a sufficiently close
relationship to the normal work of instruction to war-
rant such treatment? Already our large city schools
are attempting a remedy by providing the warm lunch-
eon at cost. In several instances, also, the underfed
are being cared for by providing them with good milk
to drink at the schools for specials, where most of those
suffering from this and other forms of malnutrition go.
In one city, 1 at least, provision is made by the student
organizations of some of the high schools for supplying
sanitary candies and other sweets at school on a basis
of actual cost of making and handling.
6. The Problem in Higher Institutions
The situation as regards all these problems affecting
the daily routine of school exercises is at least as unsat-
isfactory, proportionately, in the case of our higher in-
stitutions of learning, commonly speaking. The general
disregard of any thorough treatment, either sane or
sanitary, of problems of recreation, rest, and refreshment
in connection with student life at these institutions is
simply astounding to one who has developed any sen-
sibilities toward such situations. Can it be possible that
we may adequately justify these practices leading to a
general devitalizing of this body of what may readily
be considered the choicest of our young men and women
solely on the ground of the inviolability of their re-
cently acquired personal freedom? Has the State, has
society, which establishes and maintains these institu-
1 The city of Los Angeles, Cal.
346 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
tions of learning for the public good, no voice, no right,
no duty in attempting to regulate these practices?
7. Meaning of Recitation and Study Periods
The value and the legitimate uses of the study period
and of periods for recitation, exercise, or lecture need to
be understood and appreciated by all those having a
part in the work of instruction. They should be ap-
proached, they will be approached, by the true teacher
as one accepts a rare opportunity. They have been
looked forward to prepared for. The next thing in
order is clearly seen, together with the normal process
that is to unfold with the steps which follow. There
is no dallying over forgotten relations; no filling in of
time with aimless or empty questions or remarks; no
uncertain note; no careless turning aside to waste time
on questions merely incidental or unrelated entirely to
the real, vital purposes of the hour. The well-directed
recitation will vary from day to day. Now it will be
to test the pupils on principles to be applied; again
will come the formal drill on something which must
become automatic; next will follow a general discus-
sion of some event, or character, or institution, or proc-
ess; or there may appear the need of careful guidance
in preparation of work. To-day the teacher may utilize
the time for expositional work; to-morrow the pupils
may do all the talking. Whatever may be uppermost
at a given time, there will always be a definite aim in
view, a certain work to be accomplished, as part of the
larger general purpose which a given subject may rep-
resent in the whole process of education.
ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF SCHOOL 347
8. The School as a Community
The more nearly the school represents a community
organization, at least in miniature, the greater will be-
come its vital force in the larger community of which it
is, or may be, an idealized counterpart. We have had
too much of the completely isolated type of school for
the good of education. Even when we speak of the
"idealized counterpart" the thought is not that the
school should be idealized away from its normal envi-
ronment and contacts with wholesome interests of every-
day living. It is rather that the school should repre-
sent these wholesome interests in proper adjustment
and as far as possible without the unwholesome influ-
ences to be found at work in most communities. In
order to do this there will come days when the regular
daily programme will need to be varied or set aside
entirely. Such special days and exercises carefully
chosen as representing ideals to be emphasized and in-
stilled are an essential part of education. But there is
always a chance on these occasions of losing sight of the
real ideal and developing undesirable habits instead.
Among the special days and exercises above referred
to are the birthdays of our great national characters,
traditional days of a semi-religious character, great
events in literary history, or special days for certain
seasons of the year. Then there are the special oppor-
tunities for exhibiting achievement in such interests as
English expression, in rhetoricals; musical accomplish-
ment, vocal and instrumental; art work, pure or ap-
plied; various other accomplishments, as in manual and
household arts, etc. When the school has succeeded
well hi taking on the community aspect these things
348 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
will all come in as a natural part of community life,
and will thus be greatly enhanced in their educational
value and also in the interest aroused on the part of
the community at large. For instance, the music and
literary exercises may come, as a matter of course, in
the expression of community feeling on some memo-
rable occasion to be celebrated. Another illustration
would be found in a school where efficiency in house-
hold and manual arts was made manifest in various
schemes of interior furnishings or decorations of school-
rooms for special purposes. This would also bring into
the presentation much of art and design. Always it is
the usual formal set programmes and exercises that the
children and older students dread and shrink from,
while those things which are natural and obvious as a
part of the community life are done with readiness and
real pleasure. It need scarcely be added that when
such a condition exists these things are also better done.
9. School Savings-Banks and School Gardens
In connection with this community spirit of the school,
the school garden and the school savings-bank have be-
come important features in many city school systems.
Among cities which lead in the school-garden feature
are Cleveland, Memphis, and Los Angeles. Cleveland
was the first to organize a regular department for this
work with the appointment of a curator to supervise
the work. Memphis has also taken steps for a similar
supervision under the direction of Superintendent L. E.
Wolfe. Los Angeles has over sixty gardens in opera-
tion, according to the 1912 report. The high schools of
the latter city are particularly strong in this respect.
Regular courses are given in small gardening, horticul-
ture, and landscape work. At the Gardena high school,
ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF SCHOOL 349
which is the agricultural high school of the city under
the scheme of differentiation which Superintendent
Frances has established, is the most extensive plant of
all. Here about ten acres of ground are available. The
courses include, with those given above, farm crops,
dairying, and poultry-raising. The system is fully or-
ganized for the city, with a supervisor and several as-
sistants.
The school savings-banks are an older development
in the schools. The first of these is said to have been
started in 1885 in Long Island City, N. Y. The ob-
ject of this feature is to cultivate habits of thrift. In
1912 the reports showed twenty-five States as having
savings systems established in some of their schools.
In some instances this business feature has assumed
rather large proportions. In Pennsylvania, for instance,
the reports for January i, 1912, showed a balance to
depositors of $344,769.87; Ohio reports for the same
year gave $109,610.65; and California, $77,513.52.
Seventeen other States showed balances ranging from
$1,000 to nearly $70,000.
10. High-School Management of Business Affairs
Closely allied to this latter interest, as tending to
develop thrift and also a wholesome community spirit,
is the plan of having the students of high schools man-
age all business affairs of the high-school community.
Here Los Angeles comes to the fore again with a fine
organization of student activities and interests in which
the teachers freely join. They assume the business
management not only of their athletic, social, musical,
dramatic, and literary events, but also of book ex-
changes, confectionery booths, and cafeteria lunch
service. If they need to construct a tennis-court or an
350 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
amphitheatre for athletic purposes, or provide a print-
ing outfit or a moving-picture equipment, they organize
stock companies, selling stock to students and teachers,
and go ahead. And here comes in a bit of fine civic
training. No one receives any financial gain out of these
enterprises. A faculty member, as treasurer, checks all
accounts. If there is any surplus after all bills are paid,
this goes to a general school or school-community fund.
In one instance, at least, a portion of the proceeds is
used to defray the expenses of indigent students in
order that they may continue in school.
ii. Extension Work of the School
This active relationship of the school, not only as a
community within itself but also and especially as con-
cerns the larger community of which it is a part, bears
a very close and intimate relationship to the sum total
of the achievement of instruction. It becomes a power-
ful factor in establishing the school hi the minds and
hearts of the community to which it looks for its con-
tinuation and support. In many of our cities the
schools are coming gradually to be looked upon as social
centres. In the more progressive cities and districts
schools are being built with this idea definitely in view.
Rooms are provided for literary clubs, for lectures, for
public assemblies of various kinds. Laboratory and li-
brary facilities are being more widely shared by those in
school and out. Provision is being made for the social
life of the young as well as for the training in night-
schools of those out of school who are thirsting for
knowledge. All are familiar with the elaborate system
of public evening lectures conducted by the schools of
New York City. These lectures are free and are con-
ducted at many different centres 174 according to the
ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF SCHOOL 351
1912 report. The lectures offered are technical in char-
acter. The centres are presided over by specialists, and
the lectures grouped under three headings as to subjects:
(1) literature, history, the fine arts, and social subjects;
(2) science and industries; (3) geography and descrip-
tion of countries. The same report (1912) shows the
total number of lectures to have been 5,573, with an
average nightly attendance of 179 and an aggregate at-
tendance of 1,000,190.
In the city of Cleveland the lectures are of a popu-
lar character. Milwaukee has developed a strong sys-
tem of lectures, mostly illustrated, which are proving a
great stimulus to social betterment. Many other cities,
ranging from most of the leading large centres to smaller
cities generally, are undertaking similar lines of work.
All of this is helping to bring about that condition nec-
essary in order to so distribute the results of progress
in learning among all the people as to preserve such a
healthful state of general intelligence on the part of
those whose school days are over as the character of
our social order demands.
There is also a corresponding passive or receptive
side to the larger social relationships of the school. The
enlistment of patrons in these social aspects of educa-
tion through the organization of patrons' clubs has
marked the beginning of better things educationally
in a number of centres where now are to be found some
of the best educational systems in our country.
12. Vacation Schools
A perennial problem of the school is the vacation
time. If all the pupils could be pleasantly and profit-
ably employed, at play or at work, in their homes or
through home influences, the situation would be different;
352 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
no problem would exist. But such is not the case in
most instances. The result is worse than a mere break-
ing off from all the lines of development set up in the
school. In the case of many of the pupils, especially
of the elementary grades, new and abnormal lines of
development are started. In the cities, where many of
the children are thrown upon the streets for the ordi-
nary long summer vacation, the problem becomes acute.
There are not lacking other and urgent reasons for
the establishment of vacation schools as these educa-
tional organizations are most frequently called. The
school period of many of the children is limited at least
to the legal limit by reason of economic pressure. The
summer term makes it possible to gain the length of
one ordinary school year in three or, at most, four sum-
mers of attendance. Such an extension of time also
gives those who have fallen behind through illness or
other enforced absence, or by reason of mental slowness
in certain subjects, an opportunity to make up lost
ground and so keep out of the classes for "specials."
The first of these vacation schools was opened in
Newark, N. J., where in 1912 the first experiment was
also made in the all-year school. The earlier forms of
these schools, and, indeed, the form now most common,
was intended especially to furnish occupation under
suitable surroundings for children in the more con-
gested portions of cities. These schools undertook such
exercises as directed play, singing, nature study, and
some light manual work. More recently another type
has developed, which is distinctly academic in character.
The all-year schools of Newark are examples. These
were so successful the first year that the number of
schools was greatly increased for the summer of 1913.
ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF SCHOOL 353
13. The All- Year Type of School
The courses in these all-year schools are arranged so
that the work corresponds to the regular school pro-
gramme. The regular school year is divided into three
terms of twelve weeks each, leaving twelve weeks for
the summer term or quarter. In this way slow pupils
may gain time, while those who must shorten the school
period make more rapid progress while in school. Cleve-
land conducts a vacation school of this character. In
some cases, however, the summer or vacation school is
organized chiefly for those who are delinquent in their
work. Such a review school is typified by the work
done in Saint Louis by recommendation of Superinten-
dent Blewett. This work also seems to have proven suc-
cessful and to meet a real demand.
In the all-year schools of Newark there were enrolled,
in the summer of 1912, 764 grammar pupils, 1,695 pri-
mary, and 390 kindergarten, or a total of 2,849. The
average attendance was 2,397, or 9 T -7 P er cent. In the
Saint Louis experiment in 1911 there were in attendance
in grade schools 1,592 and in the high schools 676 pupils,
or a total of 2,268. At the beginning of the last week
of the term (seven weeks of six days each, morning ses-
sions only) the total membership was 1,595. These fig-
ures are given here merely to show to what extent the
people have responded where opportunities have been
furnished, on the same level as regular school work, for
summer attendance at school.
Evidently sentiment is rapidly crystallizing in favor
of such an extension of the school programme, already
an established practice in many higher institutions of
learning. The State legislature of Wisconsin in 1911
354 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
enacted a law permitting cities of that State to organ-
ize and maintain vacation schools. As in all other move-
ments for improved and enlarged educational facilities,
the problem of financing is involved. If, as is doubt-
less true, it can be shown that such a movement is but
the shifting of a social burden with a distinct gain by
reason of the shift, there can be little doubt but that,
with the general readjustment going on in our schools,
the all-year session will become a fixed policy of States
and communities generally, or, at least, of city com-
munities.
What has been said in regard to the school as related
to the community may be said with special emphasis of
normal schools and universities. For both of these
types there is a great work, in the larger community
of the State as a whole, in conveying to teachers at
work in the schools the results of such laboratory work
in education as these institutions may be called upon
to do. In the nature of the case, most of this would de-
volve upon the universities as the institutions organized
more specifically for carrying forward research in the
field of educational progress. At the same time, there
is a very promising field for the normal schools in bring-
ing up the training of our elementary teachers in ele-
mentary psychology, the theory of instruction, and espe-
cially the technic of the classroom. This is a field
of activity for these higher institutions the possibilities
of which have scarcely been touched as yet.
We may say, indeed, that the university in particular
has for its community work in the State the whole field
of industrial and civic interests. In the acceptance of
this obligation our colleges of agriculture are far in the
lead, a fact due in no small degree to the impetus given
by the more recent federal grants of subsidies for the
ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF SCHOOL 355
carrying forward of this particular department of State-
wide education. Among institutions undertaking to
meet this responsibility in a broader sense, as including
general civic interests, the State of Wisconsin is clearly
entitled to the distinction of leadership.
CHAPTER XXI
PRIVATE EDUCATION AND BENEFACTIONS AS
RELATED TO PUBLIC EDUCATION
i. Growth of Private Compared with Public
Education
No discussion of educational administration in a de-
mocracy like our own could be complete without some
reference to the work done through private initiative
or beneficence. In view of the history of educational
development in this country, it is but natural that there
should have been established large numbers of schools
as private enterprises or as a part of systems of educa-
tion of a religious character and serving often as propa-
ganda for sectarian religious doctrines. With the fuller
development of a system of public education the num-
ber of such schools has relatively decreased, as shown
by statistics. The United States Commissioner's Report
for 1911 gives the following: In 1890 there were 12,-
494,233 children receiving instruction in public elemen-
tary schools and 1,116,300 in private schools of the
same class. In 1910 the corresponding numbers were
16,898,791 and 1,441,037, respectively, showing a rela-
tively large increase in the public schools. For schools
of secondary grade the numbers for the same years were
221,522 and 145,481, in 1890, and 938,437 and 193,029,
in 1910, thus showing a still greater relative increase
for the public schools of secondary grade. For students
356
PRIVATE EDUCATION AND BENEFACTIONS 357
receiving higher instruction the figures are, for 1890,
43,393 and 91,849; for 1910, 159,713 and 180,915. In
this case, while the number of students attending pri-
vate institutions still leads, the difference has been re-
duced from 48,456 to 21,202, or by more than one half.
The higher instruction here includes (i) universities and
colleges, (2) schools of medicine, law, and theology, and
(3) normal schools.
2. The Problem Presented
Thus, in an open field where private initiative has
been entirely unrestrained, public education is steadily
gaining ground. This freedom has left individuals or
organizations practically without guidance or restric-
tion in the establishment of various types of schools.
As President Pritchett puts it in his 1911 report: "In
all but a few of the States of the Union any association
of men who, for educational or business reasons or as a
matter of local pride, desire to start a school or college
may incorporate under the State law and obtain the
right to grant all the degrees that higher institutions
may confer. This lack of supervision both on the part
of the general government and, to a large extent, on the
part of the State governments has resulted not only in
an extraordinarily large nuniber of institutions bearing
the name of college or university, but it has resulted also
in the fact that these Institutions have become involved
in local rivalries, so that they represent in very small
measure national ideals or national purposes." Doctor
Kerschensteiner, in his comparison of public education
in Germany and in the United States, voices a simi-
lar thought when he says: "Excessive freedom [in the
United States] leads to the development of private edu-
cational institutions to an unusual degree, and, since
358 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
they are frequently established for profit rather than
for cultural aims, or in other cases are denominational
in purpose, they may become a real disadvantage to
the State."
3. What Should Be the Attitude of the State?
These views, coming from men of such eminence edu-
cationally and in positions to judge broadly and in an
entirely impartial spirit, cannot pass unheeded by any
loyal citizen of our republic to whom they may come.
It would certainly seem that where such great interests
are at stake States should not hesitate to act in such
manner as to protect the nation against any possible
organization of forces likely to prove inimical to our
cherished ideals and institutions. In the first place, it
seems fair to say that no educational institution found
to be established and maintained purely as a commer-
cial enterprise should be permitted to receive or retain
a charter. And in deciding all such cases the State
should have the benefit of the doubt. In the second
place, schools maintained by religious denominations,
where a large part or all of the pupils' legal school
years is spent in such training, should be required to
give ample instruction in the history of our country and
in a knowledge of the nature and obligations of citizen-
ship. They should also be required to use every oppor-
tunity to instil our national ideals. For securing the
observation of such requirements, such schools or insti-
tutions would necessarily have to be open to inspection
by the State.
It may be said of any non-State institution estab-
lished for educational purposes that its incorporation
should carry with it the obligation to uphold our na-
tional life and institutions and to do nothing to hinder
PRIVATE EDUCATION AND BENEFACTIONS 359
in any way the proper development and efficiency in
operation of any part of State systems of education.
How, with anything short of such regulation and super-
vision, can we be assured that we are not harboring in
our midst some propaganda of ideals that are utterly
inimical to democracy? How else can we justify com-
pulsory-attendance laws? There are in our midst, to
be sure, a number of great institutions well known and
revered because of their great service to the nation.
They sprang from the same spirit of liberty and inde-
pendence which actuated those who founded this nation.
There are others of later origin also, established, let us
believe, out of an unselfish devotion to our national wel-
fare. Let it not be supposed that any of these are to
be included in the characterizations given in what pre-
cedes or follows.
It is not enough that the founders of these less desir-
able schools and institutions declare that they are only
catering to a real demand; that there are those who
prefer to be in a class by themselves and to pay for what
they get. If by such means there is to be fostered and
perpetuated an unwholesome class feeling, then such
schools are unfavorable to the instilling of ideals essen-
tial to democracy and should be dispensed with. Of
all institutions which should not be permitted to exist
unless thoroughly imbued with our national ideals and
spirit are those institutions which are to train the
teachers for our public schools.
4. Educational Foundations
In an entirely different class, however, are those in-
stitutions commonly known as educational foundations. 1
1 A very good description of these is to be found in the U. S. Com-
missioner's Report, 1911, vol. I, pp. 29-34.
360 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
Among the most notable of these are the following: (i)
The Carnegie Institution, founded in Washington in 1902
and incorporated by act of Congress. The initial en-
dowment was $10,000,000, subsequently increased to
$22,000,000. This was founded for the purpose of co-
operating with other institutions so as to encourage, in
a broad and liberal manner, such research and discovery
as might require time and the employment of able men,
and to seek to further the application of knowledge to
general social improvement. (2) The same year there
was organized the General Education Board in New York.
The charter of this board makes its function broad and
far-reaching in all departments of education. It was es-
tablished with the same general purpose of co-operation
in solving the more difficult problems in the field of pub-
lic education. This board has an endowment (1911) of
$30,000,000, the gift of John D. Rockefeller. It also
holds in trust the sum of $22,000,000 from the same
source. The activities of this board have, in the North,
been confined to the promotion of higher education.
In the South its work has been of a broader nature.
Much has been done through this board to build up
secondary education in the Southern States. 1 (3) In
1906 Mr. Carnegie again came forward with the estab-
lishment of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advance-
ment of Teaching. The endowment was first set at $10-,
000,000, but was afterward increased to $15,000,000.
The purpose set forth by the donor in his letter to the
trustees stated that the revenue from this fund was to
be used to provide retiring pensions for teachers of
universities, colleges, and technical schools in the United
States, Canada, and Newfoundland. At first, State in-
stitutions were not to be included, but were afterward
1 More fully discussed in Chapter XIV.
PRIVATE EDUCATION AND BENEFACTIONS 361
added, together with the increase of $5,000,000 in the
endowment. (4) The Russell Sage Foundation was es-
tablished by Mrs. Russell Sage, New York, 1907, by a
gift of $10,000,000. Its purpose, as set forth in the
charter, included research, publication, education, and
the establishment and maintenance of various charitable
and benevolent enterprises. Mrs. Sage stipulated par-
ticularly that "it should be its aim to take up the larger,
more difficult problems, and to take them up so far as
possible in such a manner as to secure co-operation and
aid in their solution." (5) The Jeanes Fund was given
by Miss Anna T. Jeanes, of Philadelphia, in 1907. The
fund was $1,000,000 and was to aid in securing better
rural schools for the negroes. Reports show that much
effective and valuable service has been rendered through
the administration of this fund.
It is due the founders and trustees of these munificent
additions to the forces for educational uplift that the
American public generally should know of and appre-
ciate these gifts and the far-reaching influences for good
which have thus been set up. It is doubtless true that
there has been sometimes in the administration of these
various foundations an inclination to overlook the re-
strictions as to infringement upon the free evolution and
operation of public educational institutions. It is prob-
ably also true that this may be attributed to the zeal
of administrators along their own preconceived lines
rather than to any fundamental purpose in the pro-
jection of these beneficences. Taking the work already
accomplished by them as an index, there are certainly
great possibilities in store, much, probably most, of
which will have a more or less direct bearing upon pub-
lic instruction in our schools.
CHAPTER XXH
THE FORWARD LOOK
i. Persistence of an Educational Ideal
In the fourth century B. C. Aristotle wrote as follows
in his "Politics": "No one will doubt that the legisla-
tor should direct his attention above all to the education
of youth or that the neglect of education does harm to
states. The citizen should be moulded to suit the form
of government under which he lives. For each govern-
ment has a peculiar character which originally formed
and which continues to preserve it. The character of
democracy creates democracy, and the character of oli-
garchy creates oligarchy; and always the better the
character the better the government." No man can
estimate what tremendous influence over the minds of
succeeding generations of statesmen the writings of this
great thinker of antiquity have wielded.
In 1524 A. D., or nearly two thousand years after
Aristotle, Martin Luther, in his letter to the city offi-
cials of Germany in behalf of Christian schools, gave
expression to these memorable words: "Even if there
were no soul, as I have already said, and men did not
need schools and the languages for the sake of Chris-
tianity and the Scriptures, still, for the establishment of
the best schools everywhere, both for boys and girls,
this consideration is of itself sufficient, namely, that so-
ciety, for the maintenance of civil order and the proper
362
THE FORWARD LOOK 363
regulation of the household, needs accomplished and
well- trained men and women." Thus early under the
influences of the Christian era, with all Europe in the
turmoil of reorganization, was expressed the fundamen-
tal quality of popular education as a means of perpetuat-
ing the home and the state.
Coming on down the centuries for about two hundred
and sixty years we read again, in the language of the
Ordinance of 1787: "Religion, morality, and knowledge
being necessary to good government and the happiness
of mankind, schools and the means of education shall
be forever encouraged.'/ As practical evidence of faith
in the significance of this statement, the framers of this
remarkable document provided a substantial basis for
the endowment of public education in the States, yet
unborn, of the vast Northwest.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state
of civilization," wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1816, "it ex-
pects what never was and never will be. The functions
of every government have propensities to command
at will the liberty and property of their constituents.
There is no safe deposit for these but with the people
themselves; nor can they be safe with them without
information." In 1845, after having led in that great
educational revival in New England which brought
about the establishment of normal schools and gave Mas-
sachusetts a State board of education, Horace Mann, the
first secretary of that board, wrote in his educational re-
port for that year: "Our common schools are a system
of unsurpassable grandeur and efficiency. Their influ-
ences reach, with more or less directness and intensity,
all the children belonging to the State. They act upon
these children at the most impressible period of their
existence, imparting qualities of mind and heart which
364 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
will be magnified by diffusion and deepened by time,
until they will be involved into national character, into
weal or woe, into renown or ignorance; and, at last, will
stamp their ineffaceable seal upon our history."
Advancing another half century in American history,
we find again the thread of thought clearly expressed,
in 1898, by Woodrow Wilson, now President of the
United States, in the following words: "Popular edu-
cation is necessary for the preservation of those condi-
tions of freedom, political and social, which are indis-
pensable to free individual development. And, in the
second place, no instrumentality less universal in its
power and authority than government can secure popu-
lar education. . . . Without popular education, more-
over, no government which rests upon popular action
can long endure. The people must be schooled in the
knowledge, and if possible in the virtues, upon which the
maintenance and success of free institutions depend."
Again, within the present year, President Charles W.
/Dabney, of the University of Cincinnati, speaks as fol-
/ lows: "Man has, indeed, the right to govern himself,
but without education he has not the capacity. Suf-
frage is not a natural right but a privilege assigned to
those who qualify themselves for its proper exercise in
accordance with a standard fixed by the state. All men,
except abnormals, possess the capacity for education,
and when educated have the power to govern them-
selves and the right to take part in the government of
others. Democracy means self -government; self-govern-
ment necessitates universal education, and universal edu-
cation can only be accomplished by free public schools
under the control of all the people."
In this series of expressions, extending through a pe-
riod of twenty-two and a half centuries, what a remark-
THE FORWARD LOOK
able persistency is seen of the fundamental note the
need and importance of education as a safeguard to
the state. Yet who of us is prepared to comprehend
the full significance of this principle when applied to
evolution of a great country like our own? What is to
be the measure of this knowledge, this information, this
intelligence of the masses as we sweep on to still unknown
stages of our national life history? We know that in
our constructive work in the building of bridges, of
ships, of great city buildings that ascend skyward men
begin to doubt the sufficiency of those mathematical
formulas by which, heretofore, the builder has been accus-
tomed to solve problems of strength and resistance. So,
in this realm of the human understanding of great social
and economic problems, who is to say what shall be the
measure of that intelligence and that wisdom on the
part of a great body of people whose dwelling-place ex-
tends so far and includes so many variations in those
natural forces which are known to affect human lives?
2. The Problem of To-Day
The clear note struck by Aristotle has grown chiefly
in volume and in the extent of its application. It is the
remarkable persistency of it which must remove the last
shred of any doubt that may have lingered in our minds.
The problem of to-day is to find what applications to
make of this principle and what must be insisted on by
society as the minimum amount of popular education.
The common man, no matter what part he may have
in the industrial world, shares equally with all his fel-
lows in that concern which society feels lest he be not
equal to the obligations of citizenship in this great
democracy. The man of wealth and leisure society
scans no less dubiously as it seeks to discern the proper
366 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
fitting of his sons and daughters for their share in the
common heritage of civic obligation. With every indi-
cation of the increase in the numbers of those physi-
cally defective or morally delinquent all normal mem-
bers of the social body instinctively shudder. Who has
not, at times, caught glimpses of this thing we call
democracy, in its nakedness, appearing to our startled
vision as some grewsome creature, its deformities laid
bare in some lightning's flash of circumstance?
If Aristotle had said the last word as to the efficiency
of education as a national resource we might be excus-
able if we looked with pessimistic vision toward the
future. There is nothing in his words suggestive either
of industrial efficiency or of social conservation. It is
in the fact that subsequent ages have witnessed a vast
increase in the scope and meaning of popular education
that we find grounds for a splendid optimism. At no
time in the history of education has there been seen such
a broadening and deepening of educational thought and
outlook as is now apparent. We are in the midst of a
great social movement bounded by no lands and by no
seas.
3. The Great Question of Social Conservation
Everywhere we hear of numerous problems which are
being discussed, such as the following: vocational gui-
dance and education; continuation schools and schooh
for the out-of-school classes; child-labor and compul-
sory-attendance legislation; physical education and
health, including the playground movement; care of
the poor and underfed; sex-hygiene and moral educa-
tion; the care and training of defectives and delin-
quents; vacation schools; free high schools for all with
equitable cost of schooling as affected by books, dis-
THE FORWARD LOOK 367
tance pupils have to go, or transportation. All these
are but parts of that larger social movement the
great question of social conservation.
4. The "Feeling of Nationality" Our Hope
We turn, then, to the one steady, persistent hope as
we read its interpretation in the tendencies of to-day.
From the clear note of the past, blending harmoniously
with the stronger tones of the present, we read the
promise of future security. One doubt only remains:
Will the masses also hear and respond? By what means
are we to arouse and concentrate popular interest with
sufficient force upon the task of perfecting a system of
free public education that is equal to our peculiar situa-
tion? "If the feeling of nationality is alive among a
people," writes Doctor Georg Kerschensteiner, "unify-
ing forces appear of themselves without compulsion from
any central authority, even in decentralized govern-
mental functions. This is true of the little Swiss fed-
eration as well as of Germany and America, and it is
an indication that healthy organization, adapted to the
living conditions of a nation, will make its own way
everywhere."
It is this "feeling of nationality" upon which we must
depend, then, for the further and more adequate devel-
opment of our educational forces and their common ac-
ceptance by the masses. It is upon this basis that the
appeal of this volume is made to the American public.
Nothing short of a profound faith in the ultimate ex-
pression of the people as it shall appear in the structures
they rear, through their laws, for the right education
of all the children and youth of the land can bring
order and security to this democracy. Our school sys-
tem has thus far successfully met and turned aside the
368 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
dangers of ecclesiastical control. The sway of the poli-
tician in certain departments of this branch of social
service seems to be steadily waning. We have still to
deal with a certain type of narrow industrialism that
would make of the schools a training place for human
machines instead of thinking men and women who are
bigger than their jobs.
Our greatest danger, after all, seems to appear among
the ranks of those who are assumed to be society's
experts in the field of education. This is true not nec-
essarily because of any positive attitude or movement
against those readjustments which the educational situ-
ation demands. It appears more in a negative attitude
of indifference and inaction, too often, alas! the result
of ignorance rather than deliberate choice. From what
has been presented in the preceding pages there appear at
least five things which should be insisted upon. In this
insistence will be needed that "feeling of nationality"
to which Doctor Kerschensteiner refers. In fact, it should
have an intensity amounting to real patriotism a patri-
otism strong enough to enable us all, educators, legisla-
tors, members of educational boards, and all others
called to lead in the promulgation of educational ideals,
to put aside all lesser motives for the nation's good.
5. The Five Essentials to Progress
The five things most necessary are as follows: i. The
thorough and continuous study of the present and changing
social needs, both local and national, as related to our sys-
tem of public education. In this respect it seems that we
have been guilty of serious neglect. The present indus-
trial outcry against the work of our schools is in evi-
dence here. Our teachers and supervisors, and practi-
cally all institutions for the training of teachers, should
THE FORWARD LOOK 369
respond promptly and wisely to this call. But there
should be no undue haste. It would be folly for the
people to rush to the building of special schools with
none prepared to teach them. No less ill-timed would
it be for teachers to prepare themselves before the peo-
ple are ready to provide for the lines of work which
industry demands.
The people are too ready to assume that anything
may be taught in the schools by simply printing it in
a curriculum. They do not always realize that the time
and resources of the schools are already employed to
the utmost limit. Many unthinkingly attribute ail op-
position by teachers and supervisors to the immediate
introduction of vocational courses to a general disap-
proval of such work. What is needed is that all should
get together. Those who are the chosen leaders in these
matters should study the problem, socially and educa-
tionally, and seek to adjust the schools to the doing of
these evidently necessary things in the most economic
and efficient way possible. In this respect America has
a peculiar problem which each State must solve in its
own way. And this will be done. The coming school
system will provide equal opportunity, commensurately
with capacity, for the training of every future citizen
of the Republic not made so by the act of naturalization.
2. The freeing of all educational experts from political
influence in tJieir appointment. This applies to all
teachers and those closely related to the administration
of instruction. To make this possible every superin-
tendent of schools, every principal or president of a
school or an institution, should be selected by an inter-
mediary board whose members are chosen at large for
the unit of control which they represent and who are
elected by the people in a manner distinct from regu-
370 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
lar political elections. This applies to districts, cities,
counties, and States, and is a vitally essential step in
the forward movement of education.
3. There need to be established by all the States right
standards for the preparation of teachers and supervising
officers. Some States have already led in the fixing of
such standards. The best thought of the country is
pretty generally agreed as to what these standards
should be. If there remains any doubt, it is with ref-
erence to superintendents and supervisors. Compara-
tively little attention has been given to the special
training required for these officials. Yet there is no
point in our system of education where the need of
reform is more acute. The obstacles in the way are
selfish rather than patriotic motives. The "feeling of
nationality" is sadly lacking here.
4. The principles of good business management should
be much more fully applied not only to the business admin-
istration of education but also to many matters closely re-
lated to the administration of instruction. There needs
to be a better accounting system for the finances of the
schools; but along with this should also be a fuller ac-
counting on the side of output, of achievement of the
schools, as compared with the investment, in capital
and lives, which society is annually making in them.
There should be a more businesslike management of the
health problem; of the care of defectives and delin-
quents; of the whole business of classification, both as
to lines of preparation which individuals should pursue
and also as to forward movements of classes or indi-
viduals in the processes of education.
Our whole scheme for the training of teachers in service
is crying out for readjustment in the interests of econ-
omy and effectiveness. Too many teachers' gatherings
THE FORWARD LOOK 371
are held without sufficiently definite results. The feel-
ing seems to prevail that they can be made to atone
for inadequate preparation. Teachers meet together
in large masses, in district, State, and national gather-
ings, with little definite, organized work. The theory
is that "inspiration" is the great thing needed. As a
consequence, there is large expenditure of time and
money quite out of proportion to the results attained.
5. There is urgent necessity that more care be taken in
the cultivation of right habits and the inculcation of such
ideals as shall form a basin for a better morality and for
good conduct. It has been truthfully said that intellec-
tual keenness is the most powerful instrument of de-
struction or injury which can be put at the disposal of
depraved and criminally minded members of society.
Along with all plans for the betterment of instruction
should go the careful adjustment to it of those exer-
cises, lessons, and experiences which shall make for better
character. "Although we talk a good deal about what
the wide-spread education of this country means," says
Theodore Roosevelt, "I question if many of us deeply
consider its meaning. From the lowest grade of the
public school to the highest form of university training,
education in this country is at the disposal of every
man, every woman who chooses to work for and obtain
it. ... Each one of us, then, who has an education,
school or college, has obtained something from the com-
munity at large for which he or she has not paid, and
no self-respecting man or woman is content to rest per-
manently under such an obligation. Where the State
has bestowed education the man who accepts it must
be content to accept it merely as a charity unless he
returns it to the State in full in the shape of good citi-
zenship."
REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING, BY CHAPTERS
AND IN GENERAL
CHAPTER II. NATIONAL IDEALS AND STANDARDS
1. Draper, Andrew S., "The Nation's Educational Purpose."
N. E. A. Proc., 1905.
2. Martin, G. H., "Evolution of the Massachusetts Public
School System."
CHAPTER III. EVOLUTION or THE FREE COMMON SCHOOL
1. Anderson, L. F., "History of Common School Education."
Henry Holt and Co., 1909.
2. Brown, S. W., "The Secularization of American Education."
Teachers College, Columbia Univ., Contributions to Edu-
cation, 1910.
3. Campbell, Douglass, "The Puritan in Holland, England and
America," 2 vols. Harpers.
4. Kilpatrick, W. H., "The Dutch Schools of New Netherland
and Colonial New York." U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin,
1912, no. 12.
5. Parker, S. C., "The History of Modern Elementary Educa-
tion." Ginn and Co., 1912.
CHAPTER IV. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS: LAWS AND
UNITS OF CONTROL
i. Snyder, Edwin R., "The Legal Status of Rural High Schools
in the United States." New York, 1909.
CHAPTER VI. THE SYSTEM AS TESTED BY THE FIVE PRINCI-
PLES OF CHAPTER V
1. N. E. A. Bulletin, 1913, pp. 19-29.
2. Pritchett, Henry S., in Carnegie Foundation Report, 1911, on
"Educational Progress and Tendencies from a National
Point of View," pp. 45-123.
372
REFERENCES FOR READING . 373
3. Report of the Michigan State Commission on Industrial and
Agricultural Education, Lansing, Mich., 1910.
CHAPTER VII. BOARDS OF EDUCATION
1. Ellis, W. S., "Organization of the School Board," N. E. A.
Proc., 1910, pp. 631-4.
2. Foght, H. W., "The American Rural School," ch. II. Mac-
millan, 1911.
3. Hunsiker, B. L., "Functions of School Boards." N. E. A.
Proc., 1003, pp. 910-914.
4. Jones, L. H., "Best Methods of Electing School Boards," N.
E. A. Proc., 1903, pp. 158-9.
5. Moore, E. C., " How New York City Administers Its Schools."
World Book Co., 1913.
6. Report of the Education Commission of the City of Chicago.
Chicago, 1899.
7. Report of Commission Appointed to Study the System of
Education of the Public Schools of Baltimore. U. S.
Bureau of Ed. Bulletin, 1911, no. 4.
CHAPTER VIII. MAINTENANCE AND OTHER FISCAL ASPECTS
OF EDUCATION
1. Cubberley, E. P., "School Funds and Their Apportionment."
Teachers College, Columbia Univ., 1906.
2. Elliott, E. C., "Some Fiscal Aspects of Education in American
Cities." Teachers College, Columbia Univ., 1905.
3. Jackson, Geo. L., "The Development of School Support in
Colonial Massachusetts." Teachers College, Columbia
Univ., 1009.
4. Sies, Raymond W., "Teachers' Pension Systems in Great
Britain." U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin, 1913, no. 34.
5. Strayer, G. D., "City School Expenditures." Teachers Col-
lege, Columbia Univ., Contributions to Education, 1905.
6. Updegraff, Harlan, "A Study of Expenses of City School
Systems." U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin, 1912, no. 5.
CHAPTER IX. PREPARATION OF TEACHERS
i. Brown, J. F., "The Training of Teachers for Secondary
Schools." Macmillan, 1911.
374 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
2. Home, H. H., "The Function of a School of Pedagogy."
Education 30 : 275-280.
3. Ruediger, W. C., "Agencies for the Improvement of Teachers
in Service." U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin, 1911, no. 3.
4. Williams, H. G., "The Place of the Normal School in Educa-
tion." N. E. A. Proc., 1909, pp. 548-556.
CHAPTER X. THE SELECTION OF TEACHERS
1. Bachman, F. P., " Certification of Teachers Prepared by State
Institutions." Education 26 : 40.
2. Cowdrick, "The Licensing of Teachers." Education 19 : 299.
3. Cubberley, E. P., in Fifth Year Book, part II, Nat. Society
for the Study of Ed., 1906.
4. N. E. A. Proc., 1897, pp. 297-8. "Round Table Discussion
of Certification."
5. N. E. A. Proc., 1905, pp. 240-1. Report of Com. on "Inter-
state Recognition of High Grade Teachers' Certificates."
6. Updegraff, Harlan, "Teachers' Certificates Issued under Gen-
eral State Laws and Regulations." U. S. Bureau of Ed.
Bulletin, 1911, no. 18.
CHAPTER XI. PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOLS
1. Dressier, Fletcher B., "School Hygiene." Macmillan, 1913.
2. Hollister, H. A., "Public School Buildings and Their Equip-
ment, with Special Reference to High Schools." Univ.
of 111. School of Education Bulletin, no. i, 1909.
CHAPTER XIII. SUPERVISION
1. Bobbitt, Franklin, "The Supervision of City Schools."
Twelfth Year Book, part I, Nat. Society for Study of
Ed., 1913.
2. Chancellor W. E., "Our Schools Their Administration and
Supervision." D. C. Heath and Co., 1905.
3. Jessup, W. A., "Social Factors Affecting Special Supervision."
Teachers College, Columbia Univ., Contributions to Edu-
cation, 1911.
4. Perry, A. C., Jr., "The Management of a City School."
Macmillan, 1908.
REFERENCES FOR READING 375
5. Suzzalo, Henry, "The Rise of Local School Supervision in
Massachusetts." New York, 1906.
CHAPTER XIV. THE INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS
1. Henderson, Joseph L., "Admission to College by Certificate."
Teachers College, Columbia Univ., Contributions to Ed.,
1912.
2. "History of High School Inspection." Bulletin no. 2. Board
on Secondary School Relations, Iowa.
3. School Laws enacted by the 8oth General Assembly of Ohio
at its Extraordinary Session, 1914.
CHAPTER XV. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
1. Ayres, Leonard P., "Laggards in Our Schools." Russell Sage
Foundation, New York, 1909.
2. Keyes, C. H., " Progress through the Grades of City Schools.
A Study of Acceleration and Arrest." Teachers College,
Columbia Univ., 1911.
3. Strayer, G. D., "Age and Grade Census of Schools and Col-
leges." U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin, 1911, no. 5.
4. Thorndike, E. L., "The Elimination of Pupils from School."
U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin, 1907, no. 4.
CHAPTER XVI. PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH
1. Gulick and Ayres, "Medical Inspection of Schools." Russell
Sage Foundation, New York, 1908.
2. Wood, Dr. Thomas D., "Health and Education." Ninth
Year Book, part I, Nat. Society for the Study of Ed., 1910.
Wood, Dr. Thomas D. and others, "The Nurse in
Education." Ninth Year Book, part II, do.
CHAPTER XVII. THE CURRICULA OF THE SCHOOLS
1. Brown, J. F., "The American High School," ch. III. Mac-
millan, 1909.
2. Hollister, H. A., "The Program of Studies," ch. VII in
"High School Administration." D. C. Heath and Co.,
1909.
3. McMurry, Frank M., Report as Member of Committee on
School Inquiry. New York City, 1913.
376 ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
4. Munsterberg, Hugo, "Vocation and Learning." The Peo-
ple's University, St. Louis, 1912.
5. Row, Robert K., "The Educational Meaning of Manual Arts
and Industries." Row, Peterson and Co., 1909.
6. Snedden, David S., "The Problem of Vocational Education."
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1910.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE TEACHER
1. Bagley, W. C., "Craftsmanship in Teaching." Macmillan,
1911.
2. Coffman, L. D., "The Social Composition of the Teaching
Population." Teachers College, Columbia Univ., Con-
tributions to Education, 1911.
3. Colgrove, C. P., "The Teacher and the School." Scribners.
4. Perry, Arthur C., Jr., "The Status of the Teacher." Hough-
ton Mifflin Co., 1912.
5. Thorndike, E. L., "The Teaching Staff of the Secondary
Schools of the United States." U. S. Bureau of Ed.
Bulletin, 1909, no. 4.
CHAPTER XIX. CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTIONS
1. Blan, L. B., "A Special Study of the Incidence of Retarda-
tion." Teachers College, Columbia Univ., Contributions
to Education, 1911.
2. Dearborn, Walter D., "The Relative Standing of Pupils in
the High School and in the University." University of
Wisconsin Bulletin, no. 312, High School Series, no. 6.
3. Sies, Raymond W., "Scientific Grading of College Students."
Univ. of Pittsburg Bulletin, vol. VIII, no. 21.
4. VanSickle-Witner-Ayres, "Provision for Exceptional Children
in Public Schools." U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bulletin, 1911,
no. 14.
CHAPTER XX. ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONS OF THE SCHOOL
1. Perry, C. A., "The Wider Use of the School Plant." Russell
Sage Foundation, New York, 1910.
2. "The City School as a Community Centre." Tenth Year
Book, part I, Nat. Society for the Study of Education.
3. "The Rural School as a Community Centre." Tenth Year
Book, part II, do.
REFERENCES FOR READING 377
CHAPTER XXI. PRIVATE EDUCATION AND BENEFACTIONS AS
RELATED TO PUBLIC EDUCATION
i. Bureau of Ed. Report, 1911, vol. I, pp. 20-34.
IN GENERAL
1. Bard, H. E., "The City School District." Teachers College
Columbia Univ., Contributions to Education, 1909.
2. Butler, Nicholas Murray, "The Meaning of Education,"
Macmillan, 1898.
3. Cubberley, E. P., and others, Report of Survey of the Public
School System of the City of Portland, Ore.
4. Davenport, Eugene, "Education for Efficiency." D. C.
Heath and Co., 1909.
5. Draper, Andrew S., "American Education." Houghton
Mifflin Co., 1909.
6. Education in Vermont, Bulletin No. 7, parts I and II. The
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Learning.
7. Garber, J. P., "Current Educational Activities." Lippin-
cott, 1912.
8. Hoag, Ernest B., "Organized Health Work in Schools,"
U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1913, no. 44.
9. Johnston, C. H., and others. "High School Education."
Scribners, 1912.
10. Kerschensteiner, Georg, "A Comparison of Public Education
in Germany and in the United States." U. S. Bureau of
Education Bulletin, 1913, no. 24.
n. King, Irving, "Social Aspects of Education." Macmillan,
1912. (Contains well-chosen bibliographies on several
topics discussed in the preceding pages.)
12. Maxwell, William H., "A Quarter Century of Public School
Development." American Book Co., 1912.
13. Strayer and Thorndike, "Educational Administration."
Macmillan, 1913.
14. Yocum, A. D., "Culture, Discipline and Democracy."
Christopher Sower Co., 1913.
INDEX
(Numbers refer to pages')
ACADEMIC FREEDOM, 246.
Academy of Arts and Sciences, Bos-
ton, 41.
Adams Act, 17.
Adams, Charles Francis, 41.
Adams, John, 41, 42, 43.
Administration denned, 221-223.
Alabama, 127, 259.
All-year schools, 353.
American Institute of Homeopathy,
286.
American Medical Association, 282,
286.
Anderson, L. F., 24.
Anglo-Saxon, 7, 140.
Annapolis, 20, 70.
Appalachians, 19.
Appointments Committees, 202.
Aristotle, i, 43, 362, 365.
Arkansas, 127, 259.
Athens, Ga., 259.
Athens, Ohio, 257.
Attendance, compulsory, 99, 100, 253,
268, 269, 271, 275, 360.
Australia, 4.
Austria, 27, 29.
Ayres, Leonard P., 272, 278.
BAGLEY, W. C., 160.
Balliet, T. M., 61, 62.
Baltimore, 65, 122.
Bard, H. E., 161.
Barnard, Henry, 134.
Barrows, Miss, 294, 295.
Belgium, 26.
Berlin, 43.
Binet-Simon tests, 290.
Blewett, Superintendent Ben, 353.
Board of Education, State, 51, 66, 69,
113, 114, 129-131.
Boards of Education of different units
(chapter), 106-132.
Boston, 140, 232, 282.
Boston Academy of Arts and Sciences,
41.
Bowling Green, Ohio, 254.
Boyyille, 274.
British Isles, 40.
Brown, Elmer E., 166.
Buchanan, President, 16.
Bureau of Education, United States,
17, 70, 83.
Butler, Nicholas Murray, 21, 22.
CALIFORNIA, 46, 50, 63, 66, 70, 91, 96,
194, 204, 255, 272, 349.
Cambridge, England, 40.
Cambridge, Mass., 232, 331-332.
Campbell, Douglass, 40.
Campbell, Fred M., 145.
Canada, 4, 360.
Canadian provinces, 297.
Carlton, F. L., 134, 135, 137.
Carnegie, Andrew, 215, 360.
Carnegie Foundation, 157, 360.
Carnegie Institute, 360.
Carter, James G., 17, 20, 126.
Certificating Board, College Entrance,
253-
Certification, 65, 69, 186-189.
Chicago, 80, 122.
Child-labor laws, 271, 275, 276, 360.
Cincinnati, 78.
Cincinnati University, 258, 364.
City training schools, 80, 171, 172.
Civil War, 41, 49, 173.
Classification and promotions (chap-
ter), 326-340.
Cleveland, 80, 348, 351, 353.
Clews, 33, 34, 133.
Coffman, L. D., 314.
College Entrance Certificating Board,
253-
Colonies, 2, 17, 29; 38-40; 45, 48, 134.
Colorado, 47, 194, 268.
Colorado Normal School, 204.
Columbia, District of, 70, 286.
Columbia University, 35, 175.
Columbus, Ohio, 254.
Comenius, 41, 43.
379
380
INDEX
Commissioner of Education, United
States, 17, 143, 195, 268, 356.
Compensation of teachers, 151-155.
Compulsory attendance, 99, 100, 253,
268, 269, 271, 275, 360.
Congress, 14, 16, 19, 45, 71, 134, 360.
Connecticut, 15, 33, 47, 57, 68, 127,
133, 143, 179, 186.
Continuation schools, 75, 79, 240, 366.
Cousin, M. Victor, 43.
Cubberley, E. P., 142, 194, 198.
Curricula of the schools (chapter), 289-
312.
DABNEY, CHARLES W., 364.
Daily programme, 341-42.
Dartmouth College, 34.
Declaration of Independence, 44.
Defectives, 81, 82, 84, 105, 121, 217,
227, 240, 276, 301, 366, 370.
Delaware, 35, 40, 68, 78, 80.
Delinquents, 81, 82, 84, 105, 217, 227,
275. 366, 370.
Demosthenes, 317.
Denmark, 26, 29.
Denver, 204.
Department of Superintendents of
the National Education Associa-
tion, 338.
Detroit, 140.
Dewey, John. 305, 306.
Direct taxation, 141.
District of Columbia, 70, 286.
Draper, Lyman, 134.
Dutch, i, 26, 35, 36, 40, 41.
Dutton and Snedden, 65, 68.
Education, 166.
Education Board, General, 66, 254,
258, 259, 360.
Educational foundations, 359.
Educational Review, 178.
Eliot, Charles W., 139, 140.
Elliott, E. C., 249.
Elmira experiment, 317.
England, 27, 28, 39, 41, 135.
Ethical and professional attitude of
the teacher, 317-321.
Evolution of free common schools
(chapter), 24-42.
Extension work, 350-51.
FAIRLIE, J. A., 60, 62, 65, 68.
Fatigue, 342-43-
Federal Government, 15-17, 20.
Federal policy concerning education,
14; 16-17, 19, 21.
Feeling of nationality, 367-68
Fellenberg, 43.
Ferdinand William III, 25.
Ferry, M., 29.
Fichte, 43.
Five essentials of progress, 368-370.
Florida, 66, 112, 127, 128, 194, 259.
Foght, H. W., 297.
France, 2, 21, 28, 29, 41, 42, 115.
Francis, J. H., 211, 349.
Franco-Prussian War, 2, 28.
Franklin, 41, 43.
Frederick the Great, 25.
French, F. G., 26.
Froebel, 76.
GARDENA HIGH SCHOOL, 348.
Gary, Ind., 76, 229, 307.
General Court of Elections, 33.
General Education Board, 66, 254;
258-260.
George Jr. Republic, 274, 306.
Georgia, 37, 47, 66, 112, 127, 194,
259-
German Empire, 2, 25, 106, 347, 367.
German Universities, 43.
Germanic races, 52.
Goodnow, F. J., 65.
Gottingen, 43.
Governor Wentworth, 34.
Granville, 111., 16.
Greek scholars, 29.
Guizot's law, 28.
Gulick, Luther G., 9, 278.
HAAREN, ASSOCIATE SUPERINTEND-
ENT, 269.
Hackney, E. T., 255.
Halle, 43.
Hamilton, Alexander, 14, 126.
Hampton, 306.
Hanus, Paul H., 122, 310.
Harper, William R., 122.
Harris, William T., 138.
Harvard College, 33, 232.
Hawley, Gideon, 68.
Helen Kellar, 317.
Henderson, Joseph L., 264, 265.
Hogarth, A. H., 278.
Holland, 26, 29, 40.
Holmes, Doctor George J., 278.
Hood, William H., 156.
Humboldt, 29.
IDAHO, 47, 194.
Illinois, 63, 64, 91, 194, 258.
Illinois Educational Commission, 65,
68.
Independence Day, 238.
INDEX
381
Indiana, 46, 57, 62, 64, 153, 179, 255,
268, 286, 287.
Industrial education, 79, 89.
Industrial League, 16.
Inspection, medical, 93, 94, 233, 278,
279, 282, 285.
Inspection of Schools (chapter), 240-
265.
Iowa, 57, 62, 70, 91, 143, 256, 258, 264.
Italy, 2.
JAMES, EDMUND J., 16.
Japan, 2, 8.
Jeanes Fund, 361.
Jeanes, Miss Anna L., 361.
Jefferson, Thomas, 14, 36; 41-43; 50,
363-
Jessup, W. A., 228.
Johnston, C. H., 249.
Journal of Education, 138.
KANSAS, 67, 70, 112, 114, 187, 194,
255, 264, 287.
Kent, Ohio, 257.
Kentucky, 66, 112, 119, 127, 259.
Kerschensteiner, Doctor Georg, 357,
367, 368.
King's College, 35.
Kirkpatrick, W. H., 35.
Klemm, L. R., 25, 27.
Knox, John, 28.
LANDRATH, 31.
Landrecht, 25.
Latin schools, 26, 172.
Latin states, 29.
Leland Stanford University, 285.
Leyden, 40.
Library of Congress, 83.
Lincoln, Abraham, 16.
Locke, John, 40, 41, 43.
Long Island City, 349.
Los Angeles, 76, 204, 211, 307, 310,
348, 349.
Louisiana, 57, 66, 127, 180, 194, 257.
Louisiana Purchase, 49.
Lunch problem, 344-345.
Luther, Martin, 43, 362.
McCALL, CHARLES A., 275-276.
McCIymonds, J. W., 333.
McMurry, Frank M., 310.
Maine, 127, 169, 179.
Maintenance of schools, a working
scheme, 146-151.
Manhattan, 334, 335.
Mann, Horace, 18, 20, 54, 126, 363.
Manual training schools, 75, 79.
Maria Theresa, 27.
Martin, G. H., 12.
Maryland, 36, 66, 127.
Massachusetts, i, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20,
29, 32, 33, 37, 42, 44, 47, 48, 53, 61,
68, 126, 133, 143, 169, 179, 186, 252,
263, 287, 363.
Massachusetts Bay, 133.
Maxwell, Superintendent W. H., 273,
274, 334-
Medical Association, American, 282,
286.
Medical education, 254.
Medical inspection, 93, 94, 233, 278,
279, 282, 285.
Memphis, 348.
Mexican lands, 49.
Michigan, 47, 57, 62, 112, 194, 254,
255, 268, 287.
Michigan State Commission, 298.
Military schools, 75.
Milton, 41, 43.
Milwaukee, 351.
Minnesota, 47, 50, 57, 70, 179, 180,
255. 287.
Mississippi, 47, 78, 112, 127, 143, 194,
259-
Missouri, 47, 57, 62, 194, 255, 268.
Mobile, 65.
Monastic schools, 24.
Montana, 112, 194, 255.
Moore, E. C., 122, 132, 150.
Morrill Act, 1 6, 17.
NAPOLEON, 28, 42.
Napoleonic wars, 2, 25.
Nashville, 204.
National Association of State Univer-
sities, 265.
National Education Association, 122,
152.
National University, 14, 19.
Nautical schools, 75, 79.
Naval school, 70.
Naval training stations, 70.
Naval war college, 70.
Nelson amendment, 17.
Netherlands, 26, 41.
Nevada, 47, 80.
New Amsterdam, i, 12.
Newark, N. J., 275, 278, 200, 352, 353.
New England, 12, 18, 20; 36-38; 40,
44, 57, 61, 76, 117, 126, 127, 129,
133, 134, 186, 229, 253, 363.
Newfoundland, 360.
New Hampshire, 34, 127, 268, 287.
New Jersey, 35, 62, 68, 112, 143, 194,
276.
382
INDEX
New York, 15, 35, 40, 42, 47, 50, 68,
76, 115, 126, 128, 169, 180, 194, 209,
216, 229, 253, 263.
New York City, 78, 80, 122, 132, 140,
269, 270, 273, 274, 294, 310, 334,
350, 360.
New York City University, 61, 150.
New Zealand, 4.
Nomination and appointment of
teachers, 199-208.
Normal schools, 15, 26, 28, 30, 46, 69,
75, 80, 104, 166; 168-175; J77i J 79
245, 261, 262, 354, 357.
North Carolina, 36, 44, 66, 77, 78, 127,
259-
North Central States, 254, 255.
North Dakota, 46, 57, 62, 255.
Northwest Territory, 44, 49.
Norway, 27, 29.
Nussbaum, Miss Sophie, 26.
OAKLAND, CAL., 56, 145, 204, 208,
274. 333. 337-
Ohio, 57, 62, 78, 112, 179, 194, 256,
257, 264, 286, 349.
Ohio Normal Colleges, 257.
Ohio Normal Schools, 257.
Ohio State University, 256.
Oklahoma, 47; 112-115; 195.
Ordinance of 1787, 14, 49, 134, 363.
Oregon, 66, 112, 143.
Orient, 2.
Oxford, England, 40.
Oxford, Ohio, 257.
PARENTAL SCHOOLS, 268, 273, 275
Parish system, 37, 52.
Peabody College for Teachers, 80.
Pennsylvania, i, 12, 15, 34, 40, 47, 62,
127, 134, 169, 194, 288, 349.
Penn, William, 34.
Pensions, teachers', 156-160.
Persistence of an educational ideal,
362-365.
Personality in teaching, 316, 317.
Pestalozzi, 43.
Philadelphia, 78, 80, 204, 361.
Philippines, 70.
Physical education, 228, 234, 240, 279,
280, 300, 366.
Physical education and health (chap-
ter), 277-288.
Pilgrims, 40, 41, 48.
Plato, i, 43.
Playground and Recreation Associa-
tion, 287.
Playgrounds, 124, 279; 286-288.
Play instinct, 343.
Popular support of schools, 133-141.
Portland, Ore., 122.
Porto Rico, 70.
Preparation of teachers (chapter),
164-181; 223, 224.
Prevocational schools, 307.
Principles by which to test schools, 72-
75; 00-105.
Pritchett, Henry S., 157, 158, 357.
Private education and benefactions
(chapter), 356-361.
Providence, R. I., 288.
Prussia, 2, 16, 21, 25; 29-31; 230.
Psychological clinic, 94, 105, 215, 233,
280, 283.
QUAKERS, i, 34.
RAMAGE, J. R., 37.
Reconstruction period, 49.
Reformation, 12, 24, 26, 27, 29, 32, 38,
133-
Reformatories, 268.
Regents' examinations, 253.
Renaissance, 29.
Rest, 344.
Revolutionary war, 37, 42.
Rhode Island, 15, 70, 77, 127, 179,
288.
Rockefeller, John D., 360.
Rockies, 19.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 371.
Rousseau, 43.
Royce, Josiah, 304.
Rural schools, 84-87; 103, 104, 137,
170, 202, 229, 293, 295; 297-299;
361.
Russell Sage Foundation, 93, 282, 286,
361.
Russia, 29.
SAGE, MRS. RUSSELL, 361.
Saint Louis, 80, 140, 162, 310, 353.
San Antonio, 282.
San Francisco, 65, 140.
Scandinavia, 2.
School accounting, 161-163.
School and Home Education, 160.
School as a community, 347-348.
School attendance (chapter), 266-276.
School buildings, 210-215.
School gardens, 348.
School legislation, 44-51.
School savings-banks, 349.
Scotland, 27-29; 40, 178.
Scriptures, 28.
Secularization of education, 5, 32, 134.
Sequence in education, 289-290.
INDEX
383
Sierras, 19.
Sies, Raymond W., 339.
Smith, A. T., 27, 28.
Smith, C. L., 36.
Smithsonian Institution, 83.
Snedden and Button, 65, 68.
Snedden, David, 178.
Social survey, 294, 295.
South Carolina, 37, 47, 49, 66, 78, 127,
143, 194, 259.
South Dakota, 57, 62, 91, 112, 180,
194, 255-
Spain, i.
Spokane, 204.
State Universities, National Associa-
tion of, 265.
Stewart, J. S., 259.
Supervision of schools, 85-87; (chap-
ter), 225-248; (definition), 240-
252.
Swiss Federation, 367.
Switzerland, 29.
TAXATION, 7, 48, 135, 137, 138, 140,
141.
Taxation, direct, 141.
Teachers' Agency, 202.
Teachers College, 175, 232.
Technical schools, 75, 79.
Tennessee, 57, 66, 80, 127, 179, 194,
259, 268.
Terman, Doctor, 285.
Texas, 47, 49, 127, 180, 255, 259,
268.
The teacher (chapter), 313-325.
Thorndike, E. L., 276, 304.
Trade schools, 75, 79.
Training schools, city, 80, 171, 172.
Truancy, 267, 273, 274.
Turkish domain, 27.
Turner, J. B., 16.
Tuskegee, 306.
Types of schools established, 75-83.
UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCA-
TION, 17, 7, 83.
United States Commissioner of Edu-
cation, 17, 143, 195, 268, 356.
Units of control, 52-71; 83-88; 241.
Universal education, 12.
Universities, 26, 27, 28, 30, 69, 75, 78,
104, 246, 254, 261, 263, 264, 288,
295, 300, 354. 356, 357-
University of Chicago, 258.
University of Cincinnati, 258, 364.
University of Colorado, 204.
University of Copenhagen, 26.
University of Illinois, 16.
University of Michigan, 42.
University of Minnesota, 258.
University of Missouri, 339-340.
University of New York, 14.
University of Texas, 264.
Utah, 46, 147, 180, 268.
VACATION SCHOOLS, 75, 351, 352, 354.
366.
Vermont, 127.
Virginia, 36, 37, 47, 50, 78, 112, 127,
143, 204, 258.
Visiting nurse, 233.
Vocational guidance, 240, 294, 295.
Vocationally selective courses, 294.
WASHINGTON, D. C., 70, 360.
Washington, George, 14, 19.
Washington State, 47, 96.
Wentworth, Governor, 34.
West Point, 20, 70.
West Virginia, 112, 258.
William and Mary's College, 78.
Wilson, President Woodrow, 364.
Wirt, Superintendent, 307.
Wisconsin, 169, 255, 268, 288, 353,
355-
Wolfe, L. E., 348.
Woodward, C. M., 140.
Wyoming, 47, 80.
Wythe, 36.
YALE COLLEGE, 33.
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