Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-10-12
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT.
1e Has the Opportunity to Be OF Grea
Value to the County schools

I
Value to the County Schools
| The County Superintendent has the
opportunity to be OF great value to the
schools of his county. Whether he Is
,r not depends upon himself. He must
out himself in the place of his teachers
md people and lead them on from where
;hey are now. There are superintend-
snts who have high ideals of what the
schools should be, but do not know ex-
actly what the schools are. They build
/ their plans upon supposed conditions
that have no existence. They therefore
rritate the people and teachers, and the
people and teachers irritate them. They
| wish to realize results immediately.
They are willing TO labor, but are not
willing to wait. They change the ap-
pearance of things in the count very
soon, but this change is not always
| growth. They are noble men and
women, devoting themselves to their
teachers and schools. but they make the
mistake that uaacher5 often make with
pupils when they crowd them on through
lprocesse es that the pupils do not under
stand, and because the child memories
The process they think he follows the
reasoning Ii the teachers and the
people have low idess OF schools, these
are the starting points to begin to ele-
/
There is another class of superinten-
dents who are always tagging behind.
| The teachers of the county have to pull
them on. The real educational leaders
are the better teachers of the county;
and what educational progress there is
| is stimulated by them. They are as lar
in the rear as the others are in advance.
The trouble with this class is that they
lgenerally hold Office a long time. The
people are very much like them-satis
fed with the old ways. The most valu-
able superintendent Is he who sees
lclearly the next step to take and then
puts his foot down, firmly but good ma
turedly, and does not take it up until
the time comes for another step forward.
Such a superintendent will also remain
IN office long time.
One OF the lines of progress which the
County Superintendent is tree to follow
Is the Improvement of the institute. He
can have his own way, largely. there.
| Where the funds are abundant three
weeks may be spent in the sub .ects, and
one week, the last, in an institute, which
| all the teachers of the county should
be expected to attend. One or more in
stitute workers, not employed in the
school, might be brought in to help con-
duct the institute. the purpose of which
should be inspiration aud guidance
toward better id, ais of the purpose and
ne .hod5 of school teaching. The insti-
lutte ought to be powerful factor in
helping the teachers TO decide between
real, genuine reforms in theory or in
pra Ii g, and those alleged reforms that
spring up and carry the teachers of
their feet, but have no depth of earth.
When test comes they fail. 1t is the
business OF the institute to stimulate
the pro 'essional spirit, and set teachers
to studying their work in the WIDER re-
ations that it bears TO society. The
institute should add a sense of d gni' y
and worth ness to teaching which the
petty detail of the school room Is too
apt to take from it.-G. 2. b., in Pub
lie School Journal.