Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-23
PROTECT THE SCHOOLS

n NE of the most obnoxious features
u of the altogether bad assem-
" bly, constitutional amendment No.
"a, which is evidently the work of some
political pinhead and not of an edu-
cational expert, reads as follows:
"The legislature shall provide for a
board of education in each county
in the state. The county superintend-
ents and the county boards of edu-
cation shall have exclusive control of
the examination of teachers and the
granting of teachers certificates within
their respective jurisdictions.
The plot to throw the school system
of California into the control of poll
ticians, to betray the very highest in
terests of the state to the influences
which terminated a Ruef and a Gill
lett, is plainly discernible in every
word of proposed amendmepts No. 8
and No. "a, but there are places where
1t sticks out; where it is even more in
evidence and more conspicuous than
it is as a rule, and the passage quoted
is one of those places.
To print this passage should be
enough to damn and doom Nos. and
"a. 1t should be a danger signal.
Owing to the fact that teachers cer-
tifcates are now issued by the state
board of education pedagogy in Cali
fornia is maintained at a high stand
nv - of nto
the proposed amendment No. "a should
be adopted the certificates would be is
sued by county boards of education,
and the standard would b. lowered.
The choice variety of inexpert opinion
as to educational methods and plans
which might be expected with cheer
less confidence would soon result in a
generalization which would play
havoc with the educational prestige
of this state.
One effect of the proposed change for
the worse would be to place a great
handicap on pupils who remove from
one county to another. By crossing a
county line they might find as great
a difference in methods as they would
find by removing from California to
Araby the Blest. There would be
nothing to prevent it.
The schools would be entrusted to
the tender mercies of school boards
composed of country politicians, with
out regard to their qualifications for
the management of educational mat
ters.
So high has been the California
standard that a teachers certificate
earned and granted in California has
been accepted unquestioningly all over
the United States as conclusive evi-
dence of the ability of it's holder.
For the sake Of toadying to politicians
and increasing their power by school
patronage, this advantage is to be
thrown away. UNLESS THE AMEND
MENT IS DEFEATED, AS IT OUGHT
TO BE AND MUST BE.
Another provision of this unthink-
able amendment says: "The state board
of education shall compile or adopt a
uniform system of text books for use
in the day and evening elementary
schools throughout the state, and shall
perform such other duties as may be
prescribed by law. The legislature
shall provide for the printing and pub
fishing of such text books, when adopt
ed, by the superintendent of state
printing. at the state printing Office,
and when so printed and published, to
price Of printing, publishing and dis
tributing the same"
This will bring the school book sup
ply directly within the charmed circle
of graft, and if the amendment is
adopted the politicians will control not
only the profession of school teaching,
but the supply of school literature.
According to the proposed amend
ment a representative of the State uni
versity selected by the president there
of, shall be a member of the state
board of education in place of the presi-
dent himself. Although the president
of the state university holds a
political position, the expert educa-
tional requirement has never been
lost sight of. But the amendment
would do away with educational quail
fication. The amendment would also
deprive the high schools of direct rep
resentation. 1t looks as if an effort
had been made to eliminate from the
board every trace of direct. practical
academic or scholastic representation.
and inhict on California the hideous
anomaly of a non-political profession
debauched by professional politics and
controlled by hampering and hindering
ax-grinding official ignorance.