The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-28

palmistry than of psychology, OF cucnre
or the two-step than Of the art of train
ing children. There are many things III
our Teachers Institutes which cheek
the ardor Of believers in the free public
school system of free democracy. But
it is the best of our teachers who go to
meetings which they are not obliged by
law to attend, those whose public spirit
and public interest lead them to take
every means to extend the horizon OF
their knowledge and the range of their
personal acquaintance. The young wo-
man with a pull has no interest in COM
ing here. The good old lady kept in the
schools for charity's sake has not the
money or the strength for a trip to
Sacramento, and the young man who is
a politicians henchman can do better
than to spend three days hearing school
teachers talk to one another.
There is no nonsense about him, SO he
stays at home, unless the Teachers AS
sociation has something in it for his
health" The right organization of our
schools will leave all of these classes
at home. 1t will make teaching a pro-
fession not to be lightly undertaken or
carelessly performed. 1t will bring back
to the ranks of the public schools many
of our most gifted men and women who
now find their only attractive career in
the overcrowded ranks of the instruc-
torships in the colleges.
How shall We escape from the spoils
system? How shall we free our schools
from personal interference in the in
terest Of personal ends? The best way
to insure good schools is to secure the
best Superintendent possible and then
to give him full power to choose teach
ers. By this means and by this alone
is it possible to adapt means to ends
and make the school system of a city
an instrument which can produce the
best results. All great work is the
realization of some ideal and ideal in
education as elsewhere is the ideal not
Of board but of a man. When a
man is in control of affairs, a limiting
statute prescribing what he shall not
do is an impertinence.
The next best way is to secure a Su-
perintendent through the mans found
necessary in the civil service This
would be efficient or not as the case
may be. Let him attend to clerical
affairs and select his teachers pr him
by competitive examination. Such a
method is pursued in the civil service
OF most enlightened nations and it has
been found almost the only means of
keeping this service free from corrup-
ton. The competitive examination is
not an end in itself but it is usually
the choice of evils. 1t is never the
best way ideally possible, for the surest
way to select good servants Is to trust
a capable and honest man to pick them
out. 1t becomes necessary when we
have to deal with men we cannot
trust. The civil service methods are
used in default of capable and honest
men. They serve to pick out fairly
good public servants and to exclude
political corruption and personal pulls
When the school service is beset by
vulgar politicians and time-servers
anxious to help needy relatives and
greedy applicants, a system of civil
service examinations is our best rem
edy. But we must remember that no
form of competitive examination is an
end in itself. 1t is simply an evil which
may be necessary until a higher civic
morality and a higher sense of pro-
fessional honor among teachers renders
1t superfiuous.
Without competent and trusted Su-
perintendent a school system of the
highest grade is impossible But fair
results of lower order may be
reached by the choice of teachers
through competitive examinations.
Without these, under the spoils sys-
tenn pure and simple the schools will
be as bad as the bosses dare make
them, and none can say that they are
towards. There is not much which
they dare not do.
Three ways to remedy the evils of
politics in the schools may be suggest
ed:
I've may appeal to statute. We
may tie up the school board and Su-
perintendent by laws which shall make
a personal or political appointment
misdemeanor. We may place such
tampering on the judicial level of en-
bezzlement where it morally belongs
But such criminality is hard to de-
fine and harder to prove. Besides stat
utes avail little unless public opinion
backs them. Because the people at
large winks at politics in the schools,
to tolerate it, ignore it or consider it
smart, our school boards feel justified
in dividing UP the spoils. And there
is never much value in restrictive
laws. We have too many statutory
crimes already. Criminal law cannot
go beyond public opinion without
bringing itself into contempt and thus
into ineffectiveness. Only gross Of
fenses such as sale of places for money
or favor or giving them through char
ity could be clearly proven and undex
any statute even these could be sell
dom punished. But after all there is
a great educational value in the severe
enforcement of a just statute even
though its purpose be at first not fully
understood.
Negatively We can strengthen the
case little by repeating all statutes
which strengthen the teachers hold on
his position. Most of these are in the
interest of the incompetent teachers.
They are intended to defend tn ben
eficiaries of one administration from
being thrown out by the next The re-
moval of any teacher who holds his
place on pull is likely to be a good
thing for the schools. 1t should be
left as easy as possible.
There are certain presidents and
methods in the schools of many cities
which make it hard for teachers from
the outside to secure a foothold Bet
ter employ no native-bo teachers
than to accept no others. To move
about is part of education and teach
ers who have never been away from
home are not likely to be very slim
ulating in their professional work CAL