The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-09-10

teachers selected from the ranks because of
especial vigOr and executive power. They have
grown up with the system which advocated
small pay principals, doing full room work, COM
biued with extensive office supervision. They
know fully the wants and peculiaritles OF our
schools. They are in most cases citizens,
knowing their patrons, some of whom
they taught the alphabet and are now teaching
the "wOrd method to their children, so that they
have become fixtures III a pedagoglc sense, ana
fact the city schools could not do without them.
This class has been somewhat crippled IN It's de-
velOpment by the old system 1naugurated
here years age, Of supervising all the mental
| growth from primary TO high-schOol from the
superlntendents office, so that school prlncl-
pies were not such III TACT, but only III name.
They were simply room teachers who were
made responsible for the order, property and
discipline of the school buildings iii addition to
their daily room work. This was believed TO
be "a cheaper way of supervising the mental
CROWN ana the consequent grazing, t1ah Dy
employing DrOadly-educau0d college graduates
at a good salary who should be not simply
GOOD room teachers but able TO take charGe OF
the mental work and ranking from the primary
up through all the grades. and whose word Is
law in ali grade transfers. AS IL Chlea-
go, and in fact in most systems OF city schools.
The present system OF supervising principals, "a
dozen or so of whom nave charge
of the work in two or three buildings each, may
develop into a system OF intellectual espionage
as good as any yet devised. The relative merits
OF the Indianapolis system of supervision VIII Dc
further developed as time goes on. In any case
it cannot cramp the efforts of capable room
teachers, as the success of any system OF schools
has its foundation in the daily work of these.
SCHOOL BOARD AND OFFICERS.
The city school board is one of the most au-
gust and erudite bodies holding elective office in
our city. They get no pay; they average twenty
tedious sessions annually, occupying an entire
{ gening, besides endless committee meetings
and private interviews with patrons, teachers
and supervisors. They are elected without ref
erence to politics, and probably do more gratu-
itous work for less glory and emOlu-
ments than any other organization in
the city. They have never belied their
trust or used their position for selfish or vain
glorious ends. With large financial burdens
to look after, as well as the intellectual
condition of $4,000 of our young
citizens, they are constantly busy attending to
the mutual relations of pupils, patrons, teachers,
supervisors ana taxpayers. The whole system
reflects credit upon American institutions. ana
shows that the same elective methods which APP
ply In State and city government are dOuhly
efficient in educational matters, and that good
men can be had to hold important office ire
spective of any salary. The present board is
composed of men OF various and no religious
creed; lawyers, PHYSICIANS, business and school
men are represented. The four big Bees on the
board, as they have been facetiously designated,
Messrs. Bell, Brown, BINGHAM ana Browning.
have been for years prominent in school affairs.
MesSrs. VOnnegut, Merritt and Carey are also
reelected as promptly as the year comes around.
Messrs. Smith, StratfOrd, Thompson and Frenzel
are the later elected members progressive IN
view and representing important constituencies.
Austin Brown is president, C. W. Smith, secreta-
~. and DR.. Ii. G.. Carey. treasurer.
Rev. &C. MeCuioch, q. G. Hines, and Mes
DANES Martha N. Mckay and India Harris
compose the citizens advisory library
committees, ana are manly responsible for the
literary character OF the public library.
The aim of the board has not been to indulge
in costly educational experiments, and TO this
END they have maintained their method and
olhcers OF suDerIntendencY Tor many years
without change. The terms of office of Messrs.
y. G. ShOrtridge OS63-74), George Brown QS74-
7S), aud Horace Parbell, cover the essential his
tory of our schools for twenty years, ana the
transitions in progress and management have
been secular rather than spasmOdic under the
direction of this trio of prominent educators.
Mr.. j. j. Mills is assistant superintendent, and
is looked up 10 by teachers and board as a model
of integrity and reliability both as "A citizen and
school manager. Miss Nebraska Cropsey Is the
superintendent of primary instructlOn-an In
diauapOlis woman, a pupil OF the high-schoOl in
1886, a graduate OF OSwego Normal, and for
years so permanent "A part OF our school man.
agement that her cOmpeers were in a fiutter of
excitement when, TINS summer, she conteul-
plated the principalship of a normal school IN
South America. Under these three, and also re-
lated to Lewis Jones, principal of the normal
school, are the twelve apostles known as Super
vising Principals with both "A big $ and a capt.
tai ~, VINO are IN charge OF grade WORK and eX-
aminations i'll the over 200 rooms of the city,
ana also nave ulrect control OF a room IN
which is placed one of the normal emhryOS.
Eleven or more of these each year, with
the aid of Principal Jones, emerge from the
chrysdlI5 stage of "theOrv of teaching" and are
allowed TO try their wings as 'practice teach
ers," at S3O IA month, under the care OF a super
vising principal" also known as "critic teacher"
After a half year of this Work, il they are apt TO
teach and can ''catch or" they progress in grace
and salary until they reach 5000 "a year, or even
become principals at 81, 900, or. perhaps, super-
yising principals themselves, at $l,l0O The
present supervisors are Mary C0lgan, Margaret
Hamilton, George Bass, Emma DOnnan, Clara
Wasnhurn, Nelson Yoke, Henrietta SGhrake,
Henrie Colgan, L. T.. Ford. Mary Ingersoll and
Selma IngeTsOll.. 1t is thus seen that there Is an
extended system of supervision which lnteriocks
with and is a part Of the normal school, and is
designed to reach from the primary grades to the
ron of the system. BY a series OF thirty or forty
report-blanks and by visitation, communication
is established and the office Kept III knowledge of
what is doing i'll the mlnutest qualifications Of
the system.
RANDoM NoTEs-sATURDAY's INSTITUTE.
All the city teachers were assembled from 10
to IL, on Saturday, in Pfaflin's Hall, the most
accessible and pleasantest assembly-roOm the
monthly institute have yet occupied. Here the
announcements were made, by the various sn-
pervisors, for the work of the quarter. A more in
~telligent ard finer looking body OF teachers was
never in our city. superintendent
TGrhell made an address of nearly
an hours length, on the Relations of the will as
a factor in education, which was full of sound
sense ana was listened TO with the closest atten-
ton. He commended thai the psychological ar
ran cement followed in POrter's Human Intel
lect, the textbook of physics, followed by most
of our teachers, should. for practical educational
purposes, be reversed, ana the Will put before
the sensibilities and the. intellect; that orr city
pupils lack IN perseverance aud will-Dower, as
compared with the children of farmers and
villagers; that the intellect is only "A factor, IL
tool in the outcome that VT call x.anhOod and
culture; that colleges fail because they make
knowledge dominant ana suppress will-pOwer
and Discriminate action; that i'll this respect he
believed the wooden school held this summer
was better for "A lad than a course in algebra, as
it directed his thought along the line of muscu-
lar action TO useful ends. superintendent Tarbell
confessed 10 IL profound modlncatlon or his
views in these respects within q few wears,
ana thought herein was the essence of what
down East is known as the ''new education"
Professor Looms was introduced to the teach
ers by superintendent Tarbell, who explained
that the fail of our Arion was not because of