The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-03-12

" Ia SAAb - ONL SAASO4
need a superintendent who, in the first
place is competent to properly super
wise instruction from the first grade to
the fourth year in the high school; one
In her classroom n be an aid and in-
SEPARATION to her in her work; a man
who Will voluntarily call teachers. in
consultation in regard to the wants of
the school and the best methods of
imparting instructions; a man who Will
hold. teachers institutes at least once
a month and oftener If good may be &C
compIished; in short, a man who is so
much Of an educator that he will vol
UNFAIRLY comply with the rule which
u him to devote himself exclu-
siVely to the duties of his office, and as
a. student OF educational methods keep
himself posted as to the best methods OF
school management M instruction
and thus keep our schools in n front
rank. A man such as this must give
his undivided attention and thought to
educational subjects; he should visit
other schools and should avail him-
self of every opportunity of becoming
conversant with the best methods of
education in this and other states.
This is the standard for superinten-
dent as required by our rules and we
fully approve 1T. MIR. Hoover does not
measure up to he standard. 1t is per-
sonally known to every member of the
board who has served since Mr.. Hoover
has been with our schools that the sub
stantial part of his service has been
the experimenting of buildings, appa-
ratus, grounds, athletics, attending to
repairs and purchasing supplies. He
is not hired for that purpose. Hun
dreds of men are equally qualified to
do this class of work, n q reasona-
BILE compensation for it would be be-
service as superintendent of teachers
has been perfunctory and mechanical.
There has been practically a complete
failure in the superintendence of teach
arC and aAIrR0finFn uIrnH q q ID rnnyIirnA hNr
the rules above set forth. This condi-
ton is chronic n can only be cured,
we believe, by securing a successor to
MT. Hoover Two years ago, n be-
the board attempted to remedy 1t by
employing a secretary to attend to the
mechanical duties with which Mr..
Hoover had been busying himself. Mr..
exclusively to the .superintendence OF
teachers along the lines of the rules
above referred to. We have been pay
ing this secretary, and. he is entirely
competent, to attend to the purchasing
of supplies and other business details.
We rave also offered to supply Mr..
Hoover with such additional help as
he might need in connection with a
proper superintendence OF the teach
ers. We urged upon him the import
ance of visiting other schools and OBJ
serving the teachers at their work In
order to secure a waiting list OF avail
able teachers. We also urged him to
attend conventions with a view of inn
proving himself rs an educator and
thus benefit u schools, and offered to
pay his expenses. Our effort to have
him devote himself to, and qualify him.
self for an adequate SUPPLEMENTARY
of teachers has been a failure. The
| work he is doing is of the anne general
character as before.
The result of this method Of super
vision has been unsatisfactory. Among
other things the boys I'M girls are
mot sufficiently instructed IN the fun
damentals, and by that we mean in
reading and writing and spelling and
ARITHMETIC. That this is h condition
does not depend upon word AS an
illustration; recently a leading business
mar had occasion to employ twenty
work was simply copying records. All
but two We're graduates of our schools.
Their work was so Inefficient that he
could use only two, and the two retain
ed were graduates of other schools.
The cause was that they couIdtneither
write decently nor spell correctly. The
business men who come ! n contact
with b products Of our schools are
fully alive to this condition. Further
more. those who have children in the
schools can verify the correctness of
our statements in their own homes.
The result has been also that q number
of parents have felt. compelled to place
their children In other schools and in
cur the additional expense for their
MiSbIuGNlpH, 0VHle u LHS CulluTeU VIII
be reasonably proficient. the majority
Of them will be found to be deficient.
There has been much complaint from
parents on this account, as different
members Of the board can testify. and
we believe that these complaints are
we'll grounded. This condition is not
the fault of the teachers, but is due to
the faulty methods in vogue In our
schools. The teachers are required 10
cover certain specified portions OF each
subject within q fixed period of time.
without reference to whether the chill
dren have understood the work or not
The resulting inefGciency Is not to be