Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-05-09
TO STATE HIS CASE.
Supt. Ament Preparing His Ex.
haustive Defense.
HE WILL REVIEW THE SITUATION.

Thinks Rock Island Schools Are In . Rot
and That His Refornatory Methods Have
Caused the Opposition to Him-A Las,
Effort.
The Union will in q day or two
give itself over to a statement on be-
half of Superintendent of Schools j.
+. Ament, designed as defense of
his attitude with reference to the
schools of Rock Island and the teach
ers. Mr.. Ament has been devoting
himself studiously to the prepare
ton of this document for several
days and is still at work on it. 1t
will be voluminous and exhaustive
and will require at least a
i-psge supplement of the Union
to contain it. The ground to be
taken by the superintendent, there is
reason to believe, will be that
when he came here he found the
Rock Island schools in a rut, en-
closed in Chinese wall, so to speak.
He was forewarned of this situation
before coming here, and admonished
by distinguished educators OF the
unenviable task before him. He
realized that where for SO many
years the schools had been governed
by one man they had nece ssarily
gotten into a rut and that new
methods abreast q the times would
occasion dissatisfaction; and refor-
nation would consequently not be
easily wrought. Nevertheless he
went fearlessly about his task, and
regarding his relation to the teachers
as Of purely q business nature, be
disregarded sentiment and dealt with
them with but single eye, the best
course as he saw it for the advance
ment of the common school system
as whole. He proposes to contrast
the common school system here, and
the wages paid. with other cities in
the state. such as Rockford, Bloom
ington. Peoria. Moline. East St.
Louis and Aurora. and from this in
tends to show that Rock Island is
paying a higher standard of wages
than any other city in the state, and
this in the face of the fact that from
ocean to ocean a similar situation
as far as inadequacy of the general
system to meet the requirements Of
the times, does not exist. The basis
of the superintendent defense in q
word is to be that while the school
district Of Rock Island is expanding
more money for educational pur-
poses. there is not another city in
the country the standard Of efficiency
of which is. comparatively speaking.
so low as it is in Rock Island. The
schools are enclosed in a wall, the
penetration of which with the force
OF enlightened ideas and modern
methods is found to be attended by
discomfort and opposition.
Makes the Child . Study.
Mr.. Ament will declare that he
has given his life to child study.
That is his profession, his life's work
and he has had the interests of
the child foremost in his mind,
and in carrying out q policy which
involved his honest convictions he
has not sought to curry the favor Of
the teachers or of the board Of edu-
cation. He believes his professional
reputation is at stake and will
seek to appeal to the people TO
judge him. He will endeavor to set
forth the righteousness of his course
and will hold up the training of the
youthful mind as paramount to the
feelings of the teachers or the oppose
ton Of board members. The superin-
tendent will endeavor to show by let
tiers that his record ut Carroll was not
as reported, and he may be expected
to mildly pay his compliments to the
present president of the board of
education here for the antagonizism
he has shown to him, and also to
Principal Halsey, etc. The state.
ment will include considerable
tsbulation and the superintendent
will rely largely upon these Stats
tics to substantiate the arguments
he makes in his own defense.
The Anticipated Effect.
The effect of his vo'uminous ar
gument, Supt. Ament is confident
will be to change public sentiment
completely around, and that he
will be the hero Of the hour
here. ard a martyr to the
cause of good schools. Hi,
aim, obviously. is to ingratiate him
self into the minds of the patrons Of
the schools by making himself ap-
pear devoted to their children above
everything else in the schools, while
at the same time he will seek TO
have them believe that while they
have been paying more for teachers
than any other city in the state, the
system is inferior to any other in this
broad land, and that because he has
sought to make it better he must