Our Schools; Their Administration and Supervision

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1905. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... j v CHAPTER IX THE STATE SYSTEM AND THE DISTRICT SCHOOL For the purposes of administration and supervision the jurisdiction of the United States Bureau of Education may be ignored. Whether or not there should be more national control of all American public schools than there is at present is a debatable question of such magnitude as properly to require a book by itself. At the present time, we are required to think almost exclusively of the State systems1 and of their subordinate districts, the city schools and the country schools. Between these two in most States is the township school. Whether or not there should be more State control of free public schools is at the present time scarcely a debatable question. The tendency is decidedly in the direction of centralization, in the interests of efficiency and progress. For a well-developed educational system there might be the following organization: -- i I. A State board of education, of from seven to fifteen j members well distributed through the State, appointed by the governor for a term of five or seven years, from two classes of eligible persons: First, not less than half should be either public school educators holding the highest State 1 Most of this book is concerned with a discussion of the questions involved in the administration and supervision of the school systems of communities of from five to fifty thousand people. Nevertheless, for the complete view, it is necessary to consider briefly the State system as a whole, and the country school so far as it exists apart from cities. The State system and the country schools, now combined in union graded schools or in city systems, are among the weakest features in American free public education.: ertificate, or presidents or professors of, incorporated col be...