The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1911-12-07

speaker.
-. annual address OF President
-. I Coon, of the North Carolina
<-..bers Assembly, was delivered be-
ga large audience.in the Audito-
Is, IN Raleigh Thursday night.
90 Coon is superintendent OF the
.-.ded schools In Wilson, and was
so.nected with Superintendent JOY
Is Office in Raleigh a few years
.,sylous. Mr.. Coon stated some facts
:" his Raleigh speech which did not
a,..se some Of the politicians in the
,.ck Of the hall, and they howled
MIN down before he had quite fin
sized his address
His address follows:
NO individual deserves to live af-
,er he loses the power Of self-criti-
eIsn. II We teachers cannot endure
honest criticism, both from within
and without our profession, then we
need to be born again and that speed
iy.
Constructive Educational Policy for
North Carolina and, with due apoI-
agy to Aesop and George AIDE, / d.
rect your attention to my subject and
point of view as follows:
Once upon time, before the days
OF the ready-made clothing stores
and their cheap wares, there was a
North Carolina schoolmaster who
found himself in dire need Of a new
pair of trousers. This INDECENT ped
agogue, thinking himself too poor to
secure the cloth and to have the nee
essary trousers made by a tailor, ac-
cepted a small patch Of cloth which
a kind friend proffered him in his
poverty, as nucleus for the begin
ming of the much-needed garment.
By and by, other friends moved by
philanthropic feelings, began to con-
tribute pieces of cloth of different di-
mensions and various colors. Soon
enough cloth was in hand to make
the trousers, and they were pieced
together. But when the teacher wore
his new trousers of many colors to
school the next day the children
could not restrain their merriment.
After several days of fruitless effort
to control his little school, the teach
er was compelled to throw away the
trousers, which had been so gener-
ously provided, and to restore to his
former threadbare garment. And
now the poor schoolmaster had to
much-needed new pair OF trousers!
School System a Patchwork.
Here is the Interpretation Of this
fable The schoolmaster represents
our well-meaning pedagogues and
educational leaders. The friends who
contributed the cloth for the trou-
sers represent the Legislature and
our school officials. And the patch
ed-up trousers stand for the present
school system, which the teachers
and the Legislature haze devised, with
all its diverse and discordant ele-
ments. The school children stand
for the people of the State. And
what happened to the schoolmaster' q
piecemeal trousers is what the peo-
pie will finally make happen to our
school system, which has been patch
ed together with so much expendi-
ture of time, money and energy. Per-
nit me now to finish the picture
with some detailed local coloring
matter.
This Is a time when the people
must be trusted and given large re-
sponsibilties. 1t is time when the
peoples representatives are held to
stricter account than ever before for
their conduct of public affairs. But
We have here in North Carolina
patched-up a system of school adj
ministration which does not trust the
people and which the people cannot
hold responsible for efficiency. Our
county boards of education are re-
sponsible primarily to the party ma
ehinery which happens to be in pow
er and not primarily responsible to
all the people these boards are sup
posed to serve. Generally they are
elected by the Legislature on the
recommendation OF the county Dem
ocratic executive committee or the
county Democratic party representa-
tives in the law-making body; some
times (only in Democratic counties)
they are elected by the people after
nomination in a party convention.
These boards so selected appoint all
the local school officials, except In
the Independent towns and districts,
a vast army for numbers in each
county Everybody knows that 1t is
simply impossible for the work of
these numerous officials to be har-
monious and efficient or that any one
can be held responsible for the fail
ures Of their administration. Yet
every few years since the Civil War
We have seen futile attempts made
70 organize thesa school officers in