Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1907-04-04
Commission to Revise School Laws.

s"S oNSSS''oiy NOIluItlOII !" PhVStCo'
and reform, the flood of bills concern
ing education now puzzlIng the
brains of members of the legislature
indicates that Pennsylvania is de-
veloping state of mind that would
make glad the hearts Of Thaddeus
Stevens and Horace Mann. In the
course of the last fifty years almoct
everything in the commonwealth
has been reformed but the school
system. AS the schoOlbOard member
in search of some item of informa-
ton vainly thumbs his way through
successive amendments, addend.,,
qualifications and explanations more
or less vaguely referred to in the lin
dex of his "School Laws" he is not
at all sure that he doesn't need re.
forming himself.
Both legislator and school director
may therefore be expected to look
with favor upon bill for the crea-
ton of a commission of experts who
will shake the old"Be if enacteds"
and "provideds"into printers pi and
set them up again into rational and
up-to-date system of school adminis-
tration-
Within the last few years every
state bordering on Pennsylvania has
created its school system anew, and
each iD some of its provisions has
given model that Pennsylvania
could profitably follow if it did not
have to appear as another darn of
gusset on thing of shreds and
patches.
If our state superintendent of pub
lie instruction, a man of more than
ordinary ability, did not occasionally
use something else than red tape in
his needle he couldn't keep on mend
ing. Unlike his neighbor in New
York state, he has no judicial power,
no corps of school inspectors; no
means of testing the relative etiici-
cheney of his schools. The life GER
tificate which he issues to teachers
not traiacs ~ the normal schools =.
granted on recommendation of local
committees which vary
N the. requirements they demand,
md is recognized by New York or
New Jersey although they endorse
zach others life certificates. Legally
his status islittle more than that of
, mere statistican.
There is Woeful lack of correlation
between the elementary schools,
nigh schools, normal schools and
colleges of our state The normal
schools are consequently compelled
o provide preparatory courses, and
10 usurp the functions of high schools.
Their final examinations are con-
lucted by temporary boards, which
liffer in their composition for each
school and vary greatly in the de-
gree thoroughness with which they
perform their work. AS result, the
normal school diploma can not be
given definite and fixed recognition
n determining the standing of grad
lates entering colleges and universi-
les.
The county superintendent of
schools are elected at a biennial con-
vention by local school boards not
always beyond the reach of local
politics. The minimum professional
qualifications demanded of the sup
is three years of any
sort of teaching in any kind of school
added to a "prOfessional" certificate
hat any grammar school graduate
should be able to earn. The fact that
most superintendent are men of
superior attainments is not due to
the standard fixed by the acts of
1854 and 1867. Over the professional
work of the county superintendents
the state superintendent has no con-
troll whatever. Nor has he direct
of its results except from
incidental sources and from annual
or descriptive reports is
sued by the superintendent them
selves. The conception given by the
Yellow Journel or the Comic Week
ly of a bank directors knowledge of
his bank is the closest existing anal
ogy to the information concerning
u A .