Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-10-23
VOICES OF THE PRESS.

Portland Press.)

|
and Kindred Evils existing in the admin
| istration of public schools" has let in a
| flood of light upon our public schools and
exposed to view some of their serious
short comings. The picture which he
| presents of some of the rural schools is
far from a pleasant one but 1t is no
doubt truthful one. Persons familiar
with our schools have long known that
they fell far short of being what they
should be, or what the majority of the
people thought they We're In many par
| ticulars Maine has lived up to her motto
"dirigo," but the public school is not one
of them. Instead of leading she has
Jagged in the procession, until many
| states far younger have got ahead Of
her. According to Superintendent Stet-
son this has not been due to lack of
funds. but to lack of interest on the part
of the rural population and bad methods
which have resulted in absolute waste of
a large part of the money raised for the
| schools.
During the year 1S94-5 there was exnend
ed to maintain the schools of this State
the sum of 81. 766, 323.07, an average of S555
| for each school provided they were so
arranged as to average thirty pupils each.
This amount. says Mr.. Stetson, is large
enough, II properly expended. to furnish
every child in the State with an opportu-
nifty to be instructed by competent
teacher for thirty weeks during each
year. and also to furnish high school in
every town of the State of more than
| twelve hundred Inhabitants, and to nav
| for one. and in many instances two terms
| of high school in the smaller towns
After paying all the expenses connected
| with maintaining these schools there
would be balance remaining large
enough to procure competent superinten-
| dents for all the schools of the State if
arrangements were made to place thirty
| five or forty schools in charge of each su-
perntendent
This is what might be done were the
money raised judiciously and systemati-
cally expended. What is done Mr. Stet-
| son illustrates by an example drawn from
one of the rural towns of about 1000 in
| habitants. This town is supporting nine
| schools where three could accommodate
all the pupils that attend the nine Every
expenditure is about trebled by the exist
| ing arrangement. BY reducing the num-
| Der of the schools the salaries of the
| teachers could be raised to reasonable
sum, the length of the terms could be
greatly extended and still there would be
| surplus big enough with the aid that
| the State offers to maintain a free high
| school for two terms of ten weeks each
| and pay the instructor a salary of $40 a
month. The squandering of school funds
| is, says Mr. Stetson, appalling to per-
sons who have made study of these
questions 1t begins when the lot for
| the schoolhouse is selected and the school
house built and it never stops Poor, I'M
slightly and unfit for the purpose though
| many of the schoolhouses be they cost
more than they need to if the construc-
| ton were placed in the hands of COM
| petent persons. For the school supplies
| the highest market price is frequently
i paid. Some of the items of expenditure
are utterly absurd. Thus Mr.. Stetson re-
| lateS case where a man charged 81 for
a trip to town to get pane of glass
| which cost with the setting Is cents. The
| fnr fvlnl Dc FrA< l.:
than is asked for it in neighboring town
| markets. and it is common thing in
| some towns for the seller of wood for
school purposes to cheat in the measure
| ment.
The waste in teachers salaries is much
| greater than anywhere else Not that the
| salaries paid are high absolutely. for they
| are often very low, but high relatively
| that is to the value and amount of service
| rendered. A great deal of the money eX-
| pended for this purpose is practically
| thrown away, so incompetent is the
| teacher, while some of it is worse than
| thrown away, inasmuch as some of the
| teachers are so unfit that they do positive
| harm to the pupils. Worse still than the
| extravagances and incompetence which
| Mr.. Stetson narrates is the lack of inter-
est which the people of many of the ru-
raj towns take in their schools. They do
| not visit the schools, says Mr.. Stetson,
and therefore cannot study them; they do
| not know the teacher; they are not fa-
| miliar with the work DONE the methods
| used or the results achieved. They are
| content with voting money for school pur-
poses. and leaving the school officers to
select less, erect buildings. provide fur
n:shings and employ teachers. Mr.. Stet-
son observes truly that good schools can
| never be maintained in any community
| in which the parents are Indifferent about
| what is done for the schools and how
| they do their work.
| Mr.. Stetson notes also a decline in the
| tone of the pupils growing, no doubt very
largely out of the indifference and erro-
| neOuS ideas of parents. MANY of them
feel says Mr.. Stetson. that they are
not in school to yield obedience to law
| full authority, to have a just respect and
wholesome regard for the teacher to COM
| ply with the rules and regulations made
| by school officials, and to master, by their
own efforts. the work assigned them
| But, instead many children feel that they
| are sent to school to be amused; that it is
| part of their legitimate business to crit
| icise the teacher, report what she does or
| they think she does, and what she says
| or they think she says, to comment up
| on the same. and to have the work which
| is given them to do put in so attractive
| and understandable form that they can
master it-by simply nodding acceptance to
| its tender. They waste their energy, per-
vert their lives contract bad habits come
i
| wholesome motives, and become selfish in
| feeling and action. and enfeebed in mind
| and body. When one realizes that there
are 1889 children enrolled in the schools
| of Maine at the present time. then does
| he begin to understand the terrible waste
| that is being made by these same young
people. They fail to appreciate the pur-
pose for which they are in school, what
| their attitude toward the school should
| be. what work they should do while in
school, and what purpose the school is to
serve in their life and development"
All this is not very pleasant reading and
| no doubt there are people who will think
that Mr.. Stetson had better kept the dis
agreeable facts quiet. They are the kind
of people, however, who had rather see
contagious diseases spread all over
community than to have any public pre-
cautions taken lest they may injure bust
| ness. Only by pointing out evils clearly
and forcibly can public attention be di-
rected to them. and unless public atten-
| ton is directed to them they will never be
cured. Mr.. Stetson is doing a good work
and it is to be hoped that he will keep on.
We have pointed with pride to school
system. or lack of system. which in many
respects is very faulty quite long enough.