Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-02-03
A Bad Start.

Inc new SupG. OF fuDIlc lHStfucGlOn
has introduced In the Senate a bill
providing State Board for the Elk
animation, and grading, of public
ginal with him, but is taken from the
board of to educated men, who
shall arrange uniform questions, and
send them, under seal, to county, and
city supts, who will have examinations,
and returns the answers to the Board
at Richmond, who will grade, and issue
teaches certificates This means, of
course, another set of salaried officers.
The bill should be defeated for three
reasons,
1st. It will add to the cost of the pub
lie school system. This Legislature has
no business adding to the cost of any
part Of the State government. The
bill does not name the additional cost
of this new Board; but it will, doubt
| less, be large. The sort of men sug-
gested are used to large salaries, and
| the job cut out for them is big one.
They will examine, and grade, the pa
pers sent from the whole state, not less,
say. than 10000 annually. The cost.
therefore, most be considerable. and
should, alone, cause the legislature to
go slow in adopting the measure, even
though it is offered by the new head of
our school department..
2nd. The proposed Board is unneces-
sary. The work is at present done
without extra cost to the State. The
The Board of Education, composed of
the Governor, Attorney-General and
the Supt of Public Instruction, ar
range a uniform series of questions,
and mail to the city and county super
intendents, who hold examinations.
and issue certificates. 1t has worked
we'll, and no demand for q change has
been made by teachers, or school
boards. The proposed law. il adopted,
will take the work from the board of
education ond especially from the Su
perintendent of Public Instruction, the
| working member of the board, and re
lieve the county uperintendent of the
labor of holding examination, &c, and
transfers the whole business to a new
commission, and pay them out of State
funds for it. One objection to county
superintendent has been said to be
that they didn't Lave enough to do,
and now it is proposed to have them
do still less. One objection urged to
the public school system is that it is
too expensive, and here is q PROPOSE
ton to add to the expense! What a
body that legislature is. But the cost
is not the only objection to this new
measure.
3rd. The present plan is the better
one. So far as providing, and sending
out, a uniform list of questions and an.
swers, it matters little whether it is
done by the board of education, or a
half dozen professors. The Governor,
Attorney General and Supt. Of Public
Instruction are sufficiently educated
for that purpose. And whether it il
better for the grading to be done by
county and city superintendent. or by
q central Board at the capital. is q
question about which there may be a
difference of opinion; but it would
seem that the local superintendent
with personal knowledge of the
teachers, their character, and work in
the school-room, would be better quail
fed for grading them. The examina
ton papers alone throw no light or
the teachers temperament, and dis
position, or his, or her, previous sue
cess, or want of success, as teacher.
If the object of the new law is to Sc
cure better prepared teachers, that car
better be done without any additiona
machinery, by taking from the sam,
New York law the provision therein
that third grade teachers, who fail te
better their grade, are Ineligible t.
teach longer than one session. Thi
would effectually weed out inferio
teachers. There is no trouble abou
getting all the good teachers the sohoo
boards can pay. The trouble is ther
is uot money enough. What is needles
above everything else is longer schoo
terms in the country. Keep the school
open more months in the year; an
don't give us more salaried men to he'll
deplete the small fund now received.
GLENMORE.