The record-union., 1899-07-11

deals may be expected to follow
There is no excuse for paid School
Board in an American city. Such
board can only be given work enough
to occupy it by stripping the Super
intendent, the Supervisors, the Princi-
pals and the business officers Of the
school system Of their. just powers and
responsibilities TIL ideal member Of
School Board is the representative pro-
fessional man or man of affairs, who
understands and reflects public senti-
ment, who is accustomed to act prompt
ly on matters of large concern and
with a broad outlook, and who VIII
bring to problems Of school policy and
to the consideration of the recommen-
dations of the professional ofncers OF
the board a mature, well balanced
Judgment and an unbiased care for the
highest public interest. Such men
will not serve for pay, nor will they
nor should they-give all their time TO
the business of the schools.
The San Francisco innovation is, I
feel sure. a bad one. 1t is to be re-
gretted, too, that the adoption OF new
charter was not made the occasion for
! doing away with the custom of electing
the Superintendent of Schools by the
voters at the municipal election,
custom peculiar to San Francisco and
| to Buffalo, and one which of necessity
introduces into the choice of Super
intendent influences and cOnS1dera-
tions which should never have a place
there.
| Despite these important exceptions,
| however, the general movement for
| improved city school administration
has gone forward rapidly and in the
right direction. The tendency to IN
trust professional duties to professional
men and women, and to protect them
| from political or personal influence IN
| their exercise, is uppermost. That hot
bed of politics and jobbery, the local
committee system, is being done away
| with The Principal is emerging as a
| school official whose powers should Oe
increased and his influence recognized.
The great body of the teaching force,
always suspicious of change, and usu-
ally opposed to it, are gradually COM
ing to see that the new administrative
scheme means for them increased free
dom from deadening routine, from out
side pressure and influence, and that
! it makes for the power, the dignity
and the professional upbuilding of the
| teacher himself. In all these respects
| the year has been distinctly one OF
| progress.
Il am struck by the fact that the
| American college, as now constituted,
| with it's classical and it's scientlhc
| courses side by side, is the type toward
which there is well-developed move
| ment in England, an easily recog-
nizable one in France, and notice
able, though as yet blind and unorgan-
tsized, one in Germany. This is the
meaning of the municipal colleges
which are rapidly increasing in
strength in England, and attracting to
| themselves new sources of support. Oh
these, Owens College, Manchester, IS
| the best equipped, but University Col
Ilege, Liverpool, claims attention, par
| ticularly in America, because of its
| brilliant efforts to work out the prob
lem of an academic organization IN
| close relation to the needs of great
modern municipality.
1T seems on the whole apparent that
the year has been one not of change
| only, but Of progress. The conviction
| of the Importance of real education Is
stronger than ever before, and the eff
| forts to attain it are more widespread
| and more earnest. That questions Of
educational organization and admins
tration should be everywhere most
| prominent just now, is significant of
| the Importance of the demand for eff
cheney and effectiveness as well as of
the readjustment of the entire educa-
tional scheme to the present needs and
capacities of the public. These mat
| ters are as important in their way as
| topics touching education on the more
| philosophical side are in theirs. The
! conception of, education as process
based on the history of civilization,
and making demands upon the whole
power of the community as well as
upon the entire capacity of the child.
is not now seriously challenged. This
conception Of education alone stands
the test both of experience and OF
philosophical scrutiny. 1t is the char
acteristic insight of the closing years
Of the nineteenth century. It remains
for the twentieth to apply it in all it's
fuflness."
There will be one more session Of
the National Council on Tuesday morn
ing, and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon
the National Educational Association
Convention proper will open.
xxyrrr ruApHrn WITH rpTHfE 81