The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1902-01-03

Mankato performed the ceremony.
The bride formerly resided in this
city and is a young lady who is a IA
vorite OF all who know her. The best
wishes of all will accompany her and
her husband through life.
Mrs. U. o. Cox entertained num-
Der of ladies Monday afternoon in
honor of her sister-in-law, Miss Rose
Cox. Refreshments were served and
all had a pleasant time.
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT AND
-. POLITICS. .. .ua 60 s.. ...n
Elsewhere in this issue we reproduce
the psper.-which..was read by W. E.
Freeman.-.counry.-- superintendent. of
schools of Blue Earth county before the
superintendents section of the state
educational association at st. Paul last
week. 1t is most admirable paper,
and deserves the careful perusal of all
interested in school matters, and es-
pecially of the rural schools. While it
may have been somewhat bold on the
part of Mr.. Freeman to tackle the lion
in his den by reading such paper be-
fore the superintendent, .-yet we be-
lieve that candid. fair-minded men
and women will agree with him that
Just such features as he alludes to do
exist and to the detrimsnt of the rural
schools. While Mr.. Freeman state
ment as to the poor progress the rural
school has made may be somewhat
strong, for they have---made. much
progress, and have given -many--men
and women good, preparation .-.for
life s..work, yet it is a fact, sas he. has
most. Observation-Disclosures -that.com-
pared with the city. schools..sstheys have
been greatly neglected. 1t is--..further
well known fact, as....Mr. Freeman
asserts, that many persons are elected
to the position of county superinten-
dent who are not fitted for the position
eithersby.education ors.the-.faculty of
administering the Office to the. best ad-
vantage of the schools, while it is often
commented upon, that all too many
superintendents are swayed.. in their
decisions in school matters to consid-
erable..extentss by political. influence.
They.hesitate far tooss--many times and
wonder how..this or thatswill -. set with
thisssclass or that class, and, POSSIBLY
unconsciously. many. times, they..make
decisions they-would not make, were
it not for this one or that one, who
has more or less political influence in
his community, and whose friendship
they feel to be valuable.
We make certain requirements on
the part of those we select to superin-
tend our city schools, but seven times
out of ten select a candidate for
county superintendent without a
thought as to his qualifications for the
special work he is to do Not every
man who has college education or
who has taught few terms of school
will make a successful superintendent
of rural schools, any more than he will
of city schools. But how rarely is this
fact considered. By this we do not
mean that none think of this side of
the question. Many do, but they are
not always able to bring about that
which is to the best interests of the
schools, and the man who has the
strongest political pull gets the place
regardless of qualifications. We do
not mean that this is always the case,
any more than Mr.. Freeman meant
that the picture he drew would fit
every superintendent in the state, or
possibly even majority of them.
1t is possible the st. Paul Dispatch
is right in the admirable editorial
which we reproduced yesterday, in
advocating that county superintendent
should be removed from all political
influence by being appointed. This
might be an improvement, especially
if the qualifications required were
raised to level of those we insist up
on in our city superintendent, and
that we be allowed as wide a range
for selection as in the case in the mat
ter of city uperintendents. And fur
Their, that the appointing be arranged
in some way, 80 that political pull
will not..demand and absorb it for its
own.
Our rural schools certainly demand
more attention than has been given
them in the past, .and it is most reas-
surfing that they are today command
ing more. The work that is being done
towards consolidation and developing
the township school out of the district
school is right step in the way OF
progress, and simply means that the
youth in the country will then have
advantages which will somewhere
near equal. those which are now enjoy
ed by their city cousins. Perhaps
when this is brought about, there will
then come the state inspector which
Mr.. Freeman suggests, and this will
help eliminate that evil of political
influence to which he refers, from the
pathway of the county superintendent.
/
I O. p, Anderson has gone To Water.