The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-18
ALABAMA DAY AT
 THE SUMMER SCHOOL
ADDRESSES BY PROFESSORS
 BROCK AND M'CARTHA.
Two Alabama Professors Tell About Condition and Progress Here to the Teachers Assembled
 at Knoxville.
Knoxville Journal and Tribune.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune.
 Alabama Day at the Summer Schooi was celebrated yesterday by two able addresses during convocation period, on educational conditions in that State. Ine first was a presentation of existing con dtions; the second dealt especially with the cificulties which have made Ala bama's forward movement peculiarly hard, Both showed marked progress and were full of encouragement. Professor G. w Brock of Opelika spoke first as follows:
 Prior to the year 1899 Alabama may be said to have had no public school sys- tenn worthy of name. The remarkable progress made in common school eau cation in Alabama during the past Tour years may be assigned to two principal causes
 First-The enactment in 1899 of uni form State Examination for law teach ers.
 Second-A liberal increase in State Ap- propriations for public education.
 To understand fully what has been done recently in our State, let us glance briery at conditions as they existed previous to the enactment of the State examination law. A system of examinations for teach ers was provided by law for each county. Hinder this system we had as many diff Ferent standards as there were different counties in the State. In some counties Inc examinations were fairly good in others they were only farce. while m many no examinations at all were helo' and the only requirement for the teacher to obtain whatever certificate he desired was the tender of one dollar. which. of course went into the pockets of the board. In hundreds of cases. the dollar was sent by mail and the certificate was issued to the teacher by the county examining board. Certificates were thus bought and sold. given away and made commercial commodity. Under this system anybody so desiring, could Keep school and experiment upon the young ideas. In one instance I knew of coun- ty superintendent issuing ninety certii- cates> to teachers in one day without any form of examination whatever. It is needless to say that this superintendent and his board received ninety hard earn ed dollars for these certificates. and that the term of office of this superin- tendent was about to expire. You see this business was too important to leave to his successor. In another instance when a teacher had swapped horses witf A county superintendent, the teacher re- ceiyed a first grade certificate as boot
 Another great evil which existed under the old system in Alabama was the whole sale conferring of degrees by some SO called colleges, which degrees were dis tributed with almost as litle discrimina tion as the issuance of certificates tC teachers. Academies located in remote rural districts. high schools and smal institutions of learning throughout tho State obtained charters from the State Legislature with the right to confer de grees. These high schools and acade mics were usually denominated colleges and 1t is a matter of history that tht Presidents of these schools were con stantly exchanging courtesies with on' another. one institution conferring possi bly, the degree Of A. M. upon the Presi dent of another. while the President o