The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-06-23
THE SUPERVISION OF PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN N. c.

lore the e2C9eTS Assembly at GSAS-
vile, June II.
In 1890, after my first experience in
close C intact with the management Of
our public schools, and after meeting
teachers and superintendent at the in
~stitutes for a year, I was requested by
the State superintendent to make such
recommendations as l thought would
improve the public school system. The
fist recommendation which | made
was for an increase Of the public school
turd, and the second was for q change
IN the law in regard 90 county superin-
tendents. As my views are now largely
what they were then upon this partIcu-
lar point, l qIote from that report:
The county eupcriutendents whom
l have not met are, as a rule, men OF
character al d intelligence, and they
honestly desire an improvement in the
schools Of tie State. Some Of them are
incompetent. of course, but even those
who are we'll qualified for their posi-
lions have not the opportunity, on &C
count of smaLl salaries, to do the work
that would naturally be expected Of a
superintendent. They are very poorly
paid The average yearly salary Of
the ninety-six superJntendents, accord
ing TO your (uaj FInger's) last report,
was $l75 No man who could become
an tfficient superintendent can afford
to give much OF his time for $175 a
year. and pay his expenses out of that.
Many Of them find 1T impossible to do
any GhIng except TO hold examinations.
IL some counties the salary IL only $50
or So. The county treasurers get
more for handling the school money
than the euperin3erdeuts DO for tteir
work. Tue average superintendent
has another occupation by which he
makes his living, and by the necessity
of the case, his work as & sUperintend
ent . a secondary consider ton.
Ny recommendation is that the State
be divided into about thirty school
divisions, with three or four counties
il each. Let there be one supervisor
Of eaca division, end let what has been
paid 10 county superintendents be his
salary. HIS duties would be similar to
those OF Jul county superintendents,
and he could devote his entire time to
examining the teachers, visiting the
schools, and arousing educational sen
tiCaent IN the different portions of his
division. This would not necessarily
cost any more than the present ey stem
does, and l am sure that the schools
would be much better. Moreover, it
would be easier for the State Superin-
teudent to direct the work of thirty
supervisors, whose whole attention
wOnld be given to the schools, than to
direct the ninety six superintendenta
unGe: the present system"
As before stated, I have had no rea.
son to. change my opinion on this mat
ter. I know that an ideal system OF
8cho,l supervision would require at
least one good superintendent for each
County. This superintendent should
be q man we'll educated and ecbive,
with the ability to conduct Institutes,
TO Instruct teachers in eubjact matter
and methods, and ne should be such a
gocd all,round citizen that the people
Of his county would respect his suggee,
ti0ns and the cause which ne repre-
SCENTS. I do not believe that the cauee
Of public education will greatly sd
vance IN this State until such men
ebail be put in charge OF it and she'll
come IN contact with all the people 81
each community. The old school Law
which was changed by the laet legislar
ture allowed 4 per cent. Of the school
fund TO be used for supervision. But
! as 4 per cent. Of the fund would not
employ a man for each county for al
of his time, only about 2 per cent. il
soma Counties was used to employ {
gupf rintendent and his work was main
~ the Examination Of teachers. If al
Of the 4 per cent. had been used, thC
school authorities could not have EN-
ployed an f :ient superintendent. Tn,
very inefficiency Of the work of super
vision, which was not the fault of tn
county superintendent or of any othe
reason in particular, was what mad
it possible for the system to be abol
ished by the last legislature. 1 hav
no idea that, if we should have an eff
Gent superintendent for each county
it would be possible for any legislator
to abolish the county superintendency
l believe that the next legislature, re
gardlees of its political complexion, wi
be ready to adopt any system of super