The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-11-24

| devoted to the examination Of teachers, ex-
animation OF records, etc.
The law already quoted imposes great labor
| on the county su-perintendents in the way
Of examining dockets, records, etc., all chan
nels through which how additions 10 the
read the law TO conviRce him, that il faith
fully obeyed, 1t will require considerable
time to visit the various parts of the county
and so many records. We have no
statistics In this office showing the amount
of time that has been devoted to that work,
bat many of the superintendents in their
written reports state the time. From OBJ
serving these / think / am certainly within
bounds when / say they have given on an
average ten days to this work, and II they
had all been able to fully meet the require
ments of the law, they would have devoted
much more time to that work. None ofthis
labor, rot a moment of this time, was re-
quired OF the examiner.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
Besides these specific duties the law pro-
vides that the County Superintendent shall
nave the general superintendent of the
schools o: his county. No such labor and
responsibility were imposed on the Exam
liner. / nave no means of estimating the
amount of time and labor required by this
clause of the law. Some idea of it may BIS
formed from another clause in the
same section: "He shall labor in
every practicable way to elevate the
standard of teaching and. to improve the
condition of the schools of the county"
Under these provisions a great variety of
useful labor has been reformed by the coun-
ty superintendent, such as preparing a
course of study for schools and a daily pro-
gramme to direct the teacher, requiring
monthly reports of the teachers, assisting
in grading the schools, settling difficulties
between pupils aud teacher, and teacher and
parents, etc. Some of this would be done
while he was visiting the schools; hence /
make no estimate of it, although much of
the labor would require extra time.
Let us summarize:
Days.
Time employ ed in visiting 70
In examing dockets, records, etc ...-.----.... 10
At 81 90 per day this would be $500 90 to
each county superintendent for labor that
was not required of the examiner. In 90
counties this would amount to $50, 500 90, a
few dollars more than the excess OF the cost
of county superintendent over that of
county examiners. 1t thus appears
that all the extra pay received
by the superintendents, and a little
besides, is for extra work, and
that the work formerly done by the exam
liners is now done by the superintendents at
a less cost to the state than under the old
law.
Having ascertained the extra labors of the
county superintendent, and that his extra
pay arises wholly from extra labors imposed
by the legislature, it remains for us to ex
anime the results of those labors to see
whether they justify the expenditure of the
superintendent additional pay. These re-
suits are of two kinds: L. Those that can be
estimated in money. 2. Those which can
not be so estimated. Let us consider them
in this order. What then are the moneyed
results of the county superintendent's extra
labors? Compare the following statistics for
1872, the last year under the county exam
iner, and for 1874, the first year of county
SUPPLEMENTARY.
1873. 1874.