The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-02-03
THEY WANT
THE EARTH.
Are Normal Schools Sole Owners of the
State?
Insidious Steps Being Taken to Center All Power OF
Certificaton in Them

1ss3-45th and 4sth Fiscal Years.
Care and Improvement grounds. 5000
1s95-47th and 4Sth Fiscal Years. .o
Care and Improvement grounds. $500
1S97-49th and 50th Fiscal Years. -
supplies S9 Pc
Salaries of officers ................... o2 40
Care and Improvement grounds. 2eo0
HANDS OFF.
This large expenditure would not be
so much considered if they or their
friends were willing to let other people
alone and here is the rub: There is a
move on foot to take away from the
County Boards of Education, which I'M
der the State Constitution shall have
control of the examination of teachers
and the granting of teachers certifi-
Gates within their respective jurisdic-
tion," the powers granted to them by
the Constitution and vest them in the
Normal Schools, and to the State Uni
versity as an incidental. That this is
so is an open secret.
An examination of the legislation in
troduced two years ago and also this
yCd4 WIN NC SOllN lllClIlS VII lIllS pOlbt.
Two years ago Assembly Bill All was
introduced during the session and was
criticised freely by the Record Union"
and its glazing faults pointed out. 1t
was shelved and A. B. 40 substituted
for il, but the substitute died on the
file. At this session the same old A
B. All hobs up serenely, with all its
original imperfections and injustice, un-
der the guise of Senate Bill II, init o.
duced by Senator Boyce, and Assembly
Bill 297. This can hardly be called ac-
c:dent, for the design is patent. The
first section of the bill amends Section
1.IIO of the school law, providing that
the County Boards of Education shall
meet annually in June, instead of semi
annually, as heretofore, and that at the
annual meeting only shall the boards
examine applicants for teachers certifi
Gates. This amendment is made on the
Plea that we have now hundreds of
PERSONS holding certificates who cannot
obtain employment as teachers and that
by reducing the number of examina-
lions one-half, the number of uuern-
picyed teachers would be reduced No
where, however. is any bill introduced
cutting down by one-half the numbe.
OF graduating classes in Normal Schools
for the same purpose. AS we'll would
il he to by law prohibit the number of
graduations' from the business colleges
on the ground that there are many I'M
employed bookkeepers and bank clerks,
o. to limit the number of physicians
and attorneys who are given diplomas
to practice, on the ground that many
OF them cannot, find openings to- MAKE a
living
This amendment would work a man
ifest injustice to all except Normal
School graduates, who pass out of the
school already furnished under the
present law, with certificates upon
which they may obtain, without exam
nation, grammar grade certificates in
any county in the State. By contrast,
the High Schools of the State, from
which the ranks, of the present teachers
are largely recruited, do not graduate
their classes until June of July. The
graduates of such schools, therefore,
cannot afford to drop their studies just
at the time of graduation and lose their
diplomas, in order to come to the exam
nations. If they neglect the examina
tons and obtain their graduation diplo-
mas, with wider range of higher edu-
cation than the Normal School graduate
they are not on the same footing with
him or her. They must wait another
year, under this bill, before they can
take the examination and obtain their
certificates After obtaining them they
look around for schools to teach, only to
find that almost. if not all the schools Of
the county have practically engaged
their teachers for the coming year be-
fore the examination took place, and
that the High School graduate must
wait for two years, after graduating, in
sil probability, before being able to
secure a school. Both these classes of
teachers are educated at the public
cost. Why should one class be so
heavily handicapped. while the road is
mace smooth for the other or what
right has the State to say to one: 1.-The
other is my favored one and will give
her an opening to make a living, but
there is no room for both of you?"
Certainly the educational qualifica-
tions of the Normal School graduate
are not higher than those of the High
School graduate, as the admission to
tiiC 4NOiiIdi koCIiOOl anu I1hSH SCIlUOi
require the same proficiency, and there
are several instances from this county
of pupils in country schools who did
not wait to graduate from the grammar
school before going to the Normal and
were admitted to the Normal on exam
ination. A graduate of the Sacramento
High School is admitted to the State
University without examination, and
there are a number of other accredited
High Schools in the State. But the
High School graduate is not granted a
certificate without examination, al
though far better qualified as far as
scholastic education is concerned per-
haps, than the Normal graduate, whose
sole superiority is supposed to consist
in the training to teach that he or she
is supposed to have received, and who
may lack some elements of fitness for
the work the High School graduate
possesses.
But the bill wishes to- make sure of it's
work in this respect, and although it
makes a pretense of leaving County
Boards of Education to conduct exam
nations once a year. it stabs them in
sidiorsly by striking out the two sub
divisions of the same section in the
present law that provide for their COM
pensation and incidental expenses. This
omission was called attention to in A..
3. Al two years ago. but crops up
again, and is no oversight, but part OF
deliberate PLAN to legislate the boards
out of existence. as it is not to be sup
posed that the members will travel to
a county town at their own expense
and give days OF time to the business
OF the board without compensation. and
to their own detriment.