The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-04-18
what are County superintendents
Good For?

The above question has been often put,
and the following answers have been CIV
en-: 81 give it up" II don't know" "They
are no good" "Give me something easy"
&c. What harm do county superinten-
dents do? This question. unless by few
who feel aggrieved, is answered in about
the same way as the first. That such
questions should be asked at all and that
they should be so answered would plainly
argue that the good or bad so far done by
the county superintendents has been so
small as to deserve the name of microscop-
ic. have no hesitancy whatever in say
ing that great majority of supcrinten-
dents have been no more than hindrancr
to the advancement of popular education
that many have brought discredit upon
our school system, while very few were
capable of performing and did perform the
duties of the office as the law intended
that they should. Many persons, with
good reasons, think that the office should
be abolished as useless. | could not agree
with them in this The office, think, is a
good and necessary one. The fault lies in
the men heretofore elected to the office and
in our directors for electing such men.
County superintendent are, as rule,
practical politicians-such len as elect
themselves to office. No one who is fit for
the office can engage in anything of the
kind. No one who can adorn the office
can stoop so low 1t is dragging our pub
lie school system, the most liberal in con-
ception in the whole world, in the dust to
have those who aspire and are elected to
its head begging for votes. 1t is bad
enough to have men do so where such n
high standard of morality is not so abso-
lutely necessary as in this office. The Of
flee pays enough and it was the intention
to have for it men of the purest morality
and ripest scholarship, and men who take
a deep and disinterested interest in the
cause of popular education. Such men will
not electioneer and are therefore not elect
ed. For this Office, as for all others, the
least worthy are most determined in their
demands. There are many good things
which superintendent can do if they be
moral and competent; but if immoral and
incompetent they will bring dishonor not
only upon themselves as they have done
and upon the office as they haye done, but
upon the whole system of which they were
elected to the head.
The first and foremost duty of the coun-
ty superintendent is like that of the watch
dog. If we were always sure of getting a
supply of good teachers there would be NO
need of him at all Those who are least
worthy to teach are the most persevering
| in their efforts to obtain license and a
school. They leave no means, worthy OF
otherwise, untried. With the most careful
watching OF honest and competent super.
| men who will disgrace them and viii dc
very much harm in corrupting the pupils
| thereof. There is no place in which youth
| will learn wickedness so readily as where
lewdness and wickedness are set in au
thority over them. What would you ex,
pect were the superintendent himself i'm.
moral? What could you expect where he
employed improper aud unbecoming means
| to secure his election? Is il too much to
say that If he presumed to bribe others
that he can himself be bribed ? This mat
ter of morality in our teachers is too much
neglected. 1t should be the first qualifca.
tion, and without it no superintendent
should presume TO grant certificate.
Then OF all men the superintendent, whose
duty 1t is to keep unworthy persons out OF
the schools, should be most moral and dis
cerning. lie should not only be incorrupt
but lncorruptible, There is about as much
sense in electing an impure man to this
office as in making Satan the gate-keeper
of heaven. Cannot our schools be KEEP
out of politics. Ii they cannot, then
say II would be better not to have any pub
lie schools. Can only those who will
electioneer be elected superintendent Il
30, then | would say abolish the office BY
all means. Such men can do no good Il
the office ..
Besides being watch dog the superin
tendent has another important duty to per
form. Our public schools are behind tn
age. In many places teaching is conduct
ed in the slow and unnatural ways of5C
years ago In everything else great i'm
provements have been made. Tnere is NJ
one who can do half as much for the i'm
provement of our schools as the superin
tcndent, II he be the right man. There /
no one who can keep the schools back a,
he can and has doue. One who ha
taught for well nigh half century, an
who is an author of some renown, told m
that OF the many superintendents he ha
met-many OF whom he taught-he foun,
them as a rule more deficient than tn
teachers they were to examine. Such me
cannot lead the public schools on, an
they Will not allow the schools to go be
yond themselves. We should have men /