The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-04-13
$685.. a IFor the D!spatch.I
County OrganizatiOn-The Free School
'... System. ' -
No. III.


$50. System. ". l.
No. III. .... d a..
1t is not proposed to discuss in this place
the policy of :. free Schools" They are upon
us, and, backed up by "uniYersal suHrage,3'
the system is likely to prove permanent hx-
ture in our midst. s ....a.
In this view of the case, whether we ap-
prove or disapprove Of the institution, it
would seem to be polite and sensible in our
people, with diminished resources and bur-
dened by taxation, to recognize the fact OF
its existence, and to so regulate the running
of the machine as to effect the largest amount
of: good with the least expenuiture-of mo.
ney. - ----
engine Of power for good or evil no. one can
deny; and the fear that at no distant day, in
the hands of ambitious and INSCRIPTIONS
men, it may be welded as an instrument OF
o )presslon is not an unreasonable suspicion.
rnat the present Superintendent Of Public
Instruction Or. .Rutfner) means well, and
will endeayor to abstain from the improper
exercise of all that immense power and pa
tronage which is now centralized in the Ed
uca,ional Board, we do not intend to queS-
Ii IN further than TO note The fact that through
the columns Of the Educational Journal "a
portion Of the expenses Of which, we be-
lieye, is betrayed by the State) be has already
seen fit to instruct bis school officials to med
die in our county elections.
But ne do question the policy Of in1estips
Dr.. r. or any other one man With The sole
po,cer, UtrtudLy, of app0illtin3a III the county
superintendent and trustees. wao, in turn,
appoint all the teachers, III all the one hue
dred and odd counties o.. ..le ctate. Sut2!y
some Of all this extensive appointing power,
as to the school trustees at least, might be
more safely entrusted to the county judges
or to the board Of supervisors.
That the present free school system in the
rural districts has not always proved sue.
cess, but in many Instances is signal fail
ure, its most ardent friends will not deny.
This result, we think, is mainly due to the
following: 1st. The sparseness ofour 1'opu-
lation generally for while in some OF the
counties the aggregate population-Of white
and colored is sufficiently. dense, being
nearly equally divided, it is necessary to have
a double set Of school-houscs all over the
county, aud it is often mpraclicable to secure
the requisite number OF pupils. This draw.
back, in course of time, by an increase of
population, may he to some extent RENE
died, and for the present some small supple
and there in the counties would suffice. ID.
A lack of discipline tn the schools, Of that
rigid accountability on the part Of both
teachers and scholars riich is indispensable
to the efficiency and uitaIity Of free schools.
AS to the causes OF this latter condition of
things they are mainly due, we think, to
the following: 1st. Much Of the manage
ment of these schools by law deyolves upon
the township school trustees; but the office
of trustee, as a rule, in the counties "goes
begging"; few or none seek it, and nearly
all who accept the position do it very reluc-
family, and for the simple reason that the
duties Of a trustee are onerous, responsible,
and Misunderstanding HMM mid.winter,
at his own cost and charges, to visit distant
points, to attend six or seven board meet
inss, 10 visit the schools of his township and
to exercise o general supervision over the
same without receiving q cent of compensa-
tion I'd. The pay of county superintendent
being by law fixed annual salary instead of
a per diem pay, depending upon the amount
of work done.
Now, it is plain that, as a rule, no school
trustee will long perform (a1eH, gratuitouslV
the onerous duties of his office in townships
as large as ours usually are. Each trustee
should be allowed per diem at least sufi-
cient to pay for days labor on his farm,
say at least 81 per day; and there would
seem 10 be no good reason why the county
superintendent should not be paid for bis
services in the same way, per- diem say of
| So, requiring Of him '.quid pro quo" in
| the way OF work-tbat he shall visit all the
schools in bis county at least trice during
the school session, subject each one 10 a rigid
| inspection, and report to the township trus-
tees the condition of the. same, in order that,
| if not properly conducted, such action may
| be taken as is proper in the case. -.;
This plan of allowing per diem, to both
suEerintendents and trustees, we are conf
dent, would not only diminish the expense
| of our school system. but render il far more
efficient and popular, and we would then
get rid of that continual ,rrangle which
every year springs up in many OF the coun-
ties between the county superintendent and
the Board of Supervisors, as to supplement-
ing the pay Of the former by laying county
taxa measure which Is often oppressive
and hateful to a majority Of the people-an
evil which is likely to increase from year to
year, aud one which will finally ALLEVIATE
many Of the true friends of popular educa-
ton. sass ....r I.,...
DR.. Ruffner's able and elaborate report of
1873, together with the Educational Jour.
nal, throws some light upon these, points.
OF the school system in SO States Of the
Union in the year 1871, there is no report
from 6 States. Or the remaining 80 there
were 10 that employed county superinten-
dents-to wit: California, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, New
jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, at
an average pay per year Session Of nine
months, we presume,) Of 1902. Or at the
rates per session OF five months, Of $3.50.
Delaware had no county superintendent.
Rhode Island, Connecticut, aud Massachu-
sets had u superintendent ny townships,