The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1912-04-08
Declares Mr.. Shawkey in a
Speech at the Con-
ference.

The country needs more school
money and It ought to have it. It
has been hobbed to enrich the city,
The city has steadily sucned the life
blood from the rural sections till the
present anaemie condition e1cites
alarm, , declared NJ. P. shawkey before
the educational conference at Nash
Vile, Tenn.
contending that It was almost in
conceivable that an Intelligent people
should employ an army of unskiIled
workmen to do careful piece Of work
and make no provision for the direc-
ton of their activities and yet it was
precisely what the rural communities
were doing, the city had shown great
er wisdom in it's educational policy.
He said forty-two states provide for
county superintendents.
I'm every fourth country school this
teacher is but boy or girl in her
teens, with, limited scholarship, no
special training, and teaching her
first term Of school. The most desc
late and hopeless picture in our whole
educational scheme is that of the re-
mote country school, an unattractive
box on "a knotty halfacre, alongside
Of a muddy road, poorly heated and
ventilated aud supplied, with rough
furniture, without curtains, paint or
decoration, to which We have assign
ed an unframed seventeen year old
girl, who grows homesick and dis
couraged- because she finds neither
social nor Intellectual associations to
satisfy her hearts desire. Upon such
a teacher amidst such surroundings
we throw the responsibility Of con-
trolling the big eighth graders, of
winning the little kindergartners, of
moulding the community, of preach
ing the gospel of good roads and ag-
riculture, and looking after the pub
lie health.
zone hundred thousand, or a little
more than one-fourth of all the rural
teachers of the whole country are
beginners each year. less than one
out of ten Of them have had normal
training, 1t is admidst conditions
such as these that the rural district
supervisor renders his greatest SER
vice. He is friend and counselor.
In West Virginia where the
plan of rural supervision is yet young
although nearly one-fifth Of our rural
schools are under supervision, we
find thattthe percentage of school at
tendance this year in these districts
where supervision is in effect has
| gone up to eighty-three per cent of
the enrolment as against an average
of slxty-nine per cent for the entire
state last year,-a result of such a
substantial nature as to leave no
doubt of its Significance. The same
rate of improvement throughout the
state would mean an increase OF
10000 in our average attendance
which would mean that much clear
gain in school efficiency.
District supervision also provides
the board of education with expert
knowledge of school affairs in their
district. A president of board in a
large district declared recently why
our supervisor has shown us where
we have twenty-five schools too many.
We didn't know that, we will con-
solidate next year In another case
1t was in the finances, and the su-
pervisor saved the entire amount of
his salary on the fuel bills for the
year.
THE supervisor becomes a COM
munity leader in a place where lead
ership is sorely needed" says Mr..
shawkey- ct matters not whether +
be a question of good roads, good
health, good schools. good government
or anything else good, he becomes q
natural leader to give direction and
effectiveness to the latent sentiment
in favor of these things, which is al
ways found in every community. This
of course means more efficient living
in the community. In West Virginia
this official is proving a most helpful
factor in promoting boys and girls
corn and tomato growing clubs.
ut is a conservative estimate to
say that a good supervisor will in
crease the efficiency Of the work done
in the average district from 25 to
40 per cent. "A district employing so
teachers for term of six months
could therefore pay supervisor
| 800 a month for ten months and fig
urc itself ahead at least $3.50 on its
investment But If such a district
could not increase its expenditures 1t
might cut out the salaries of its
teachers $500 per month, thus pro,