Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-02-04
Ill. ADVANTAGES OF A COUNTY
 UNIT.

UNIT.
 By J. R. Jewell, Dean School of Edn.
 cation University of Arkansas.
 The most important reform needed In our Arkansas school system is the abolition of the district as the unit oi school government and the substitu ton therefor of the county. The school district is an artificial unit estab. lished for a single and special pur. pose, and like nothing else under heaven; consequently our schools are governmental outcasts, bearing no re. lation to the county governmen, which, for every other function, is the only recognized unit. It is in such school system alone that ore sees three times as many officers as teach. CTS, which is just like an army with three times as many officers as sol. diers or business concern with three times as many foremen as laborers.
 There should be no words of abuse for school trustees. Many of them arc honest and honorable men. But, in selecting 25,00O officers for any ad ministrative function, it is folly to ex. pect that many of them should havs an intelligent conception of the du ties to be performed. The duties o1 school officials are peculiar, and re quire culture, business acumen, high aims for human progress, and capac. ity for intelligent leadership. But. the prevailing sentiment in majority Oj districts is that anybody will do f,1 school trustee. The school district is so small that few men care to incur the displeasure of their friends and neighbors in trying to perform the du ties required of school trustees.
 There are some who cling 10 the district system because, they assert it is the most democratic form ot school government. On the contrary it is the most autocratic. When an election is held, the vote is, by nc means, an indication of the popular will
 The school district is democracy gone to seed, worthless inheritance from Massachusetts, from whose system our own was copied at it's beginning But Massachusetts, after disastrous experience similar to our own, dis. carded her system many years ago and one of her distinguished sons, Horace Mann, had declared that the school district is the greatest blunder in the whole history of educationa legislation"
 By making the county the unit 01 school government, it is obvious that it's citizens would manifest the same interest in the administration of it's schools that is now had in other gov ernmental functions. In the cities the best citizens are selected by the en tire municipality to control the schools, and the whole city contributes to their support
 Under the county system there would be an average of five or six school off. cials. Surely it would be easier to select school board of this limited number who would have and would manifest an interest in popular education, than it would be to secure three times as many superior men as there are schools. And, too, 1t is equally ob. vious that since this board would be elected by the whole municipality, the electors would hold them to a strict accountability for the success full administration of other county af fairs.
 This matter of county unit is Tn. extricably tied up with the matter of a better system of taxation, which will be the topic of the next article in this series. Every county in Arkan sas presents examples of adjoining school districts, one of which with very low taxation can raise more money for school purposes than it can stand, while the other by taxing itself the legal limit cannot raise enough to maintain school fit to send the children of the community to. For instance, in Monroe County, District No. has six times the assessed vaIu. ation of District No. 26, adjoining it. although 1t has only two more white pupils, and can raise annually for school purposes $1,76s.2l. while the latter district can raise maXinur1 of $300.9O. District No. 38, that ad joins No. 26 has valuation of only 1 $17,0OO, and so can raise maximum of only $119.31. Every principal oi democracy urges that every child in 1 Monroe County-and every other coun. I ty of our state-have equal oppertuni. ties for fair education with every other child. How unfortunates indeed ! are those children of such -distnicts as 1 No s9 in Monroe County compared wiyh those of District No. l,tuatil we have a county unit for their beuedt