Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1866-02-01
Report Of the Superintendent of Public
instruction.

4nSCTuCllOn. Nt
Representative Gaylord has sent III
a copy Of Hon. Oran Faville's Bienni
al Report to the General Assembly
which is valuable document, full o.
useful statistic reports Of large mum
Der of County Superintendent, sng
gestions, and other interesting mat
ter. From this it appears that in 1864
sixty-three Teachers Institutes were
held in the State in 1866, hty-nine.
Then follows the introductory Re
port, containing suggestions to super
intendents and teachers, regarding
methods of examination, normal
schools, graduation of schools, and
other important matters.
The reports of different County Su
perintendents occupy the larger parI
of the book. The County Superin
tendent Of Floyd County reports the
following
Compared With sclioois in the State
of New York, our schools are third
rate with regard to scholarship. Gu,
teachers ditto; yet Improvement is go
lug on. Our teachers are gradually
coming up to higher standard o.
qualification. Better scholarship il
called for by school officials. and mucl
more interest is manifested by parents
and guardians than formerly in rela
ton to school matters. The coming
of the County Superintendent to visit
tho schools is looked for with delight
i Much embarrassment is thrown in
the way of building new suhool-houses,
from the fact THAT higher rate pei
ceui. cannot be levied in one year fol
that purpose. Most Township Dis
tricts compel each sub d strict ia
build its own school-house, and Eve
mill tax takes too long toraisc the re-
quisite amount. Each snb-district
should he its own Judge of what is
necessary, and the per centagc should
be unlimited for any one year. The
distribution Of the public moneys
among the sub-districts Of the Town
ship, or rather the non-dis,ribution Of
the same, calls for an indefinite nun
Der Of very small Schools in eact
township. This hold TO be the rca
fault with the sub-district system. A
remedy for this might be found in re
stricting School Boards in the forma
| LET, "a. "a Vos,
Der Of scholars. No School, or rather
School district. is authorized to be
| formed in the State Of New York of a
less Number of scholars than forty.
This might perhaps be too many for
the minimum in Northern Iowa. 1t
is fact, however, that our School
districts are usually too small, aud as
a consequence too costly. Under an
independent system most Of these
small Schools would die ont. School
Boards, know, have control Of this
matter, yet individual neighborhoods
will combine and compel. by election
il necessary, School districts in accor-
dance with their wishes. 1t is deli
cate matter, yet think limit should
be set, or a return to the independent
system. This system sub-districts)
is good for small districts, but embar-
RAISING to large ones.
We dissent decidedly from the tone
and temper of the above extract from
the report Of our county superintend-
ent. We regard some of the state
ments as erroneous, while most of the
arguments directed against the school
law can only apply to violations of the
law. Iowa is new State, quite I'M
like the old State of New York, and
the comparisons above are odious and
offensive.