The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-05-06
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT.
SUPERINTENDENT SMITHS RE-
PORT.
AN ARGUMENT FOR HIS OFFICE.
FACTS AND FIGURES.


The following is synopsis of the report
| made by County Superintendent Smith,
; Saturday, to the county board of education,
past two years:
, 10 the 1Iarion Ceanty Bjard OF Education, in
SESSION Saturday, May 1, 1876.
GENTLEMEN or THE COUNTY BOARD: The
| law OF oar state bids US to assemble to-day
\ as we have often assembled heretofore. ia
Sho interests of ou- public schools. IL is a fl
oecssion for glance back ward. A month
Eron to-day the frst term of our existence
aud it is time H for us eh0ea, TO-
know whether We have done well or i'll. IL
| matters not what .uninformed critics NAV
! say OF us, sven thoGgh we are declared a
4 nuisance in certain dark cslities, and
\ though the legislature votes down our wages
| TO q point below that of the common hod
carriers pay-yet We may see and feel that
| during the two years of trial, our schools
nave been more than doubled in their
usefulness. The legislature was mis-
taken in its verdict, simply because it could
| not w2is a reasonable time for results It
| iss unfair and unkird to condemn a acause be-
| isEe IL has haa q trial. To say an enterprise
b as failed before its plans Rave been carried
! out, j. e., before its natural term has expired
] is 70 be impolitely and bOorisbly hssty. AS
| well might one condemn the design Of an
arciutect before Bs has reached the roof
Of his building; The edifee is
process OF erection, and it is gross injus-
tice to- the builder TO pronounce upon it
| thus TOO early. propose to show ia this
paper that our work has been in a high
degree useful; and, though compelled TO
| finish the designs Of our term of employ
| ment at a disadvantage, and in great humiii-
alton and pain, yet We can show 60 the in
| telligeIt, and, possibly, to the weak dema-
/ gogue who would rather Save pec-
pies votes than minister TO their good, that
| our work has contributed TO the accomplish
! ment of the following results: I. The im-
! prOvement OF our teachers, who are quietly
| and yet powerfully implaDnng principles
| in the hearts OF an On-coming people. 2
| The btttering OF pupils facilities so that the
| labOrs Of the teachers are more effective,
even though the teachers had not been i'm
| proved. 3. The correcting OF the condition of
| school property, thereby stopping expenses
| which before had been poured out TO little
purpose. 4. The winning Of the peoples az
| tentiOn to their schools, whereby they have
| been induced TO utiliZs thousands Of d0llars
| by sending their children more regularly. &
The abolition of brutality and filthiness;
two things which are evil aud only evil,
| AID which have existed in cur
| schools TO an alarming extent
When we observe that the farmers are op-
posed to county boards of education and
county sUpsrintendency, and that they de-
mand the abolition Of the school system,
and even that their legislature has struck
its fatal blow, we are but repeating the OBJ
servation made bv every chapter in the his
tory Of man. This system is as much
TIE CAUSE OF THE FARMER
as machinery is thu boon of
the iaborer. 1t is in fact
intended for nobody else. It proposes to
systematic and purify the country schools
and to give them what they need, what
their patrons pay for and what they ought
to have. /. Nobody except a county sup
erintendeDs can form q cOrrecs conception
Of the condition in which unsystsmatic
schools will be found. Teachers In some |
are incompetent and nobody finds it out. |
GOod teachers Tide hobbies and nobody cor |
rects their tendency. Dishonest ones cheat |
the children out of their tuition and nobody |
exposes their Tillainy. Young teachers be- |
gin their work and strug .le painfully along, |
beset with Inistakes, and nobody shows /
them better. Months will sometimes elspse |
before beginner knows how 10 construct /
programme. InEubordinate pupils often
them in the art Of governing. Little ones |
among the pupils are neglected and nobody |
plescs their csuse. VINO is to de- |
tsrmine the inaccuracies of teachers
when they make erroneous statements? rhs
pupils dare not; the parents can not; the |
trustees VII not, and yet il ought 10 be
done. There should bs a qualified critic.
with ability aud auth~rity TO interpose and
with mapliness sufficient TO forbid lis
shrinking. Som9 such duties have been
done in this county. Not less than twenty
i've poor teachers of l873-74, fsiled to secure
employment in '74-5. We have found
score or go again, who could not bs re-eul-
ployed next fall. Their names are at your
Service if you wish ID know them. Our
COURSE OF INSTRUCTION
which we adopted among our first doings
has so enlarged the field and so restricted the
speed IN each branch, that no conscieotious
teacher has found time for hobbyism.
Children have received attention in gaogra.
ply aud grammar in neighborhoods
which, from time immem0risl, had known
nothing but spelling, reading and arithme-
tic. Penmaushlpand language, too, have
come ia for their portion, and the little /
ones all over the county can write. In |
order 20 clearly understand the effecs Of this
course of instruction in our schools, it is
necessary to see a school in charge OF an
failed TO receive the instrument
at the opening of the year. In
our rounds we found one such
and were astonished TO see him almost
through the Grammar text, alter two
months work, with a class uoable TO define
OIdHAdi. OkAhuhidpuHg EiyuOioEfg
"Anslysis," "Psrsing," or any other gram
matical term in which the text ideas are
couched. He had no class in Geography,
and paid no attention whatever to PEN
manship. One half of his pupils
were without states. A class in
the spelling book. struggling over the
lesson which commences with the word
mulberry" whose ages ranged from ten to
fourteen. could not write word of the les
son. This was the only school in the county
f1af sol f.oI .xs
from the superintendent; we could not
tell whether others would have been
so depraved uoder :liko crcum-
stances or not. Boz We hest ate not TO say
every dollar paid TO that teacher was lost
from the children. Tke whole relation of
supervising agency to tho Young teacher is
for good. We persuaded several Of them 10
attand the normal school and thua nanra