Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1857-04-16
Election of County superintendent.

before they assemble to elect County Superin-
tendents for the next three school years The
proper performance of that duty, so as to ef-
feet the original design Of the liberal and far
seeing Legislature which established the Office
will be of incaculable benefit to the State, and
the contrary will be equally Injurious 1t is,
therefore, our design, as one amongst the thou
sands OF Pennsylvanans who have been watch
ing the workings of this new feature in our
educational system, with intense interest, frank
ly to state the conclusions to which our obser-
vationS have led. ...-.-.-.--- .-
Three years ago, few Directors or others
had any clear view Of the necessity, nature,
mode of operation or probable results of this
Office. The natural consequences were, in the
first instance, numerous mistakes in selection
and compensation. These have been, we think.
enormously attributed, both in anG out of the
State, to a settled purpose to defeat the office,
out of general hostility to the system Itself
In few cases this feeling may have had its
influence /; but in most the action complained
OF really grew out of mere want of knowledge
OF the nature Of the Office itself, and an honest
belief that such an addition to the expense and
the working machinery of the system was Who'll
ly unnecessary. Whatever may have been
the cause, however, it is certain that, in 1854
the duty of selecting County Superntendents
was so performed as to produce one or other
of the three following results Either,
! |. An incompetent person was chosen who,
of course, failed, no matter what the salary
| Or,
,. \ competent person was chosen, who. in
most cases, failed or was greatly crippled in
his operations by total inadequacy of salary.
! Or,
| B. competent person was selected, with
adequate salary, who fulfilled the just expec-
tations of the friends of the measure.
/ From this it would appear that fitness in the
person and adequacy of compensation are the
clements-the essential conditons-of success.
OF course, as in all other complex afairs there
are instances that appear to conflict with this
conclusion !; but on close inspection they Will
be found rather to confirm it. For example
one Superintendent may have been so well
! qualified for the station and so devoted to the
! system, that he discharged its duties at most
Shamefnfy adequate salary But who will ar
que from this, that it is the right Of the pub
| lie to impress such burthen on private means
or individual patriotism Or, it may have been
that all the conditions appeared to be secured
both adequacy OF salary and skill aud eX-
perlenCe III the art of teaching vet failure
GHsued. Yet who will condemn the Office of
County Superintendent because here and
| there, a good teacher may have made a poor
Superintendent? Many an able lawyer makes
a miserable Judge few Of the most successful
practising physicians are qualified for the Pro
tesSor's chair and So capital teacher of
boys may not succeed as the Teacher of Tea
| cherS, and the administrative officer Of a COM
| pijcated school system
| 1t would be no difficult task, at the present
| juacturc, to run over the whole State and show
| the correctness of the conclusions Just stated.
Cases of full success or Of entire failure or of
| partial failure or success might be instanced,
in strict accordance with them But it is nei-
! ther proper nor necessary. What we have to
do with, now, are general results. These are
so plain that he who runs may read, and re-
quire no announcement of the facts OH which
| they rest, from IS.
| Taking it for granted, then, that experience
has fully justified the wisdom of the IIegsla-
ture in requiring the selection of a fit person
aud the payment of sufficient salary for this
Office, two questions arise =
|. Who is fit person for the Office
2 What is sufficient salary
In answer to the first question, it may. in
the words Of the school law, he replied that
fitness consists in
|. " Literary and scientific acguircmcnts"-
These are both indispensable, and the degree
Of them should be considerable In every
comfy, schools Of every rank and grade
from the primary to the high school, with its
full round of brancheS-either are or must
soon come into existence ; and TO discharge
the Office properly, the Superintendent must
be qualified to examine all the Teachers.
to visit them, and to " give such instruc-
tOns in the Art Of Teaching and the method
thereof in each school as the condition and
grade Of each shall require. How can this be
done, except by one who is scholar enough to
teach the teacher of the highest branch Taught
in the highest school in his county
2. " Skill and experience IN The Art Of Teach
ing" is another requisite aud is also extra t.
ed by the law hot only skill to know but
practice to do. 1t is no doubt true, that, in
some instances, the Office has been well filled
by persons of no great, or possibly Of no actn
al experience in the art. This is owing to the
known fact that some men have naturally in
them SO much of the elements of the Teacher
and such a love for the work and the cause
as to supply, to great degree all other de
fectS. But the exception only proves the rule
for the Instances of failure for want OF this
element have been too numerous 10 leave the
question doubtful. The safer and the legal
rule, is, in all cases, to require this skill and
experience"
But mere learning and professional skill are
not sufficient unless as the law and the neces-
sity of the case everywhere intimate they are
accompanied with the power to make them cf-
fcient. Hence,
3. Ability to tmpart hnowledge and gire IN
formation publicly, as teett as priratety as iais-
pensabLe. Since the passage Of the act of Is
54,-in addition to the public meetings for the
examination of teachers, and the public vista
tion of schools in the presence of directors and