The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-06-19
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Editor Palladium:

In the course of his address to the
members of the Richmond High
School Alumni. assembled at a recent
reception for the class of 1911, Attor-
ney Paul Comstock, president of the
association. referred at some length to
phase of education, which. he ear
nestly asserted. was. in proportion to
its Importance. either the most sadly
misconstrued or else the most care
lessly managed of modern educational
matters. His remarks were to con-
siderable extent concerned, in fact,
with modern methods in the election
OF Boards of Education. In closing he
recommended that the association
take some action toward the ameiiora-
ton of these methods.
Now, Mr.. Comstock's discourse, COM
ing on the eve of school board cleo
ton, was of particularly vital interest,
presenting as it did the cultural as
we'll as the practical necessity of
more varied personelle on Boards of
Education. AS such, although it con-
tanned nothing definitely novel or rad
ical, it furnished food for thought.
No doubt most of us have heard the
question under consideration discuss
ed. AS teacher in Indiana and else
where l have had a practical opportu-
nifty of observing the workings of diff
ferent educational boards, and l speak
without bias when l say, that to my
knowledge there is nothing which SO
retards present-day educational devei-
opment as the miscellaneous compost
ton of such bodies. AS is we'll known
they are often merely the result of po-
litical preferment, and l, for one, can
not conceive of more open insult to
modern intelligence. The miserable
inadequacy of the politician in his own
province is distasteful enough, even to
the charitably inclined, but politics at
the helm of cultural progress tends to
exhaust all patience. Educators with
whom / have discussed the matter as
a unit deplore such control, and for
reasons which are intensely practical,
from any viewpoint whatsoever. AS
one high school principal said "Un-
der such conditions we can be certain
of nothing. We are badly enough han
dicapped by politics in this state A
Southern educator said to me, but
personal observation convinces me
that We are not in the same class with
Indiana" Indiana, famed for poetry
and politics! lncongruous, to say the
least, especially when the poetry de-
ponds on politics!
If we lay aside the above objection
to politics as a factor in education,
We come face to face with a condition
even more serious. l refer to incom-
potency. Too frequently school affairs
are in the hands of men who not only
lack the requisite education, but are
also lacking in proper interest. One
board president once blandly admitted
to my superintendent that he knew
nothing about school matters, cared
little about them, and wished he were
safely relieved for his responsibility.
What progress is possible under such
management? Inquiry will prove that
this is not an isolated instance. Truly
the people who elect such men are in
need of education!
| d
affairs are not in a parlor's condition
the people of this ultra-commercial-
lied republic simply need to be awak-
lened to the fact that it requires mem
bers of wide cultural, ethical and so.
cial experience to leaben educational
committees chosen under the popular
delusion that it requires business
men to control the managerial end OF
all things. Richmond, witness its
stable progress in education and cul
ture, has been fortunate in retaining
as members of it's school board, men
of integrity and consistent purpose as
we'll as cultural interest. They may
not have pleased everybody. and it is
fortunate in the interests of broad HUI
mainly that they failed to do SO, bu
the magnificent new high school build
ing is living monument to their pub
llic-spirited efforts. Yet the people o
Richmond are on the eve of an oppor
tunity yet broader. Will they b.
broad" enough to grasp it?
/ am not a Presbyterian In fact
am not affiliated with any church a
the present time, but when l hear the
name of the Rev. T. J. Graham sug
gested as a desirable candidate To-
, election to an office of such consider
able though seemingly unrealized i'm
portance. l am moved to believe tina
if the people of Richmond neglect thu
opportunity of electing him, they viii
be lacking in a just appreciation o
the requirements of the office. MI
Graham, | am convinced, is man o
, broad experience culturally. who vii
bring to the membership of the boar
line. I assume. of course, that a NAL
of high education and high ideals CON
bin ed with broad and liberal religion
ideas is a desirable man for the place
If you will admit that there is a plac
for such men in American public life
l do not mean, moreover. by high edt
cation" and high ideals" excellenc
, in Greek roots and airy speculation
} based on improbable hypothesis. bu
a clear and uncircumscribed apprecis
ton of the relative values of actus
experience with a sane endeavor fo
the uplifting of those values.
: Little remains to be said. We hay
, the opportunity, knocking once.