Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-22
EDUCATIONAL FADDISTS
AND STANDPATTERS BARRED
Governor Sproul Is Expected to Appoint O
Broad.Minded, All-Around Man as
Successor TO Doctor Schaefer


l. will be advanced or set back by action
taken in Harrisburg this winter.
The General Assembly has been asked
to increase the appropriation for teach
ers' salaries in order that living wage
! may be paid. Some of its leaders are
saying that the schools cost too much
already and they are asking the advo-
Gates of better pay for the teachers where
the money will come from.
They ignore the fact that the most
profitable investment of public money
is in the public schools. They do not
seem to care that the rate of pay for
the teachers in this state is far below
that in those states whose public schools
are admittedly the best. And they are
not impressed when they are told that
unless we raise the pay we are likely
to lose many of the good teachers we
now have, for they cannot live on their
salaries. It is impossible to get two
thousand dollar teacher for a thousand
dollars, nor can you get tweIve-hun-
dred dollar teacher for eight hundred
dollars. The children are entitled to the
best instruction that it is possible to buy
for them.
The wage question is critical. If it is
not decided right the schools are likely
to suffer.
The selection of the right kind of
man to succeed the late Doctor Schaeffer
as Superintendent of Public Instruction
is as important as the right settling of
the wage question.
Do,tor Schae 1yoc an efficient off
cial. He did much to improve the schools.
His successor should be man who will
build on the foundations that he laid and
increase the efficiency of the whole sys-
tenn. The Governor has an opportunity
to win the gratitude of every believer
in popular education by selecting the
right sort of man for the post.
There are two sorts of men usually
considered in connection with state
superintendency of public instruction.
First are the good routine men, who are
successful as administrators, but are con-
servative with regard to educational
progress and are content to let things
drift rather than incur the amount of
hard labor and hostile criticism to carry
out a successful policy.
ne StCOnu Iype Is IIle lduulsI, he
programs of educational conventions are
largely taken up with the mouthings of
the faddists, each of whom has some
panacea for all the ills of the educational
world. The very fact that these men
offer panaceas should convince thought
full persons that they are of limited in
telligence and have superficial minds.
Once in while such a man is put in
position of authority over the schools of
state. He disorganizes the work of
education until sensible persons can unite
in sufficient force to secure his retire.
ment
The new Superintendent of Public In
struction should be neither a faddist nor
an educational standpatter, but broad
minded man in sympathy with the whole
circle of educational methods and quail
fled to decide how far each method should
be carried in order that the young people
of the state may be prepared for the
duties of citizenship. For that is really
the primary purpose of popular educa-
ton at public expense. If our school
system does not turn out boys and girls
able to understand the functions of a
citizen in a democracy it breaks down
completely.
There are four phases of the problem,
| the solution of which is up to the state
| Department of Education.
The first is the education of the chill
dren living in the cities and the larger
towns.
! The second is the education of the
children in the rural districts
The third is the Americanizaton of the
foreign born, those of foreign descent.
The fourth is the industrial training
of those who must earn their daily bread
There is little need for the assistance
of the state superintendent in the larger
cities, but any man big enough to be
state superintendent should and would
cooperate through suggestions and ad-
vice with the city superintendents toward
the improvement of their educational
systems.
The development of the rural schools
has attracted much attention in Penn
sylvania as well as in many other states.
In some states the activities of the SUI
perintendent are confined to the rural
schools. 1t would be as great mistake
to name as superintendent here man
who thought of nothing but the rural
schools as to appoint any other kind of
a faddist.
This state has taken the lead in pro-
viding education for the foreign-born
for we have large population of this
kind. But this work has not yet resulted
in the sort of education for which there
is great need. The policy should be
continued and expanded until all of the
foreign-born children and children of
foreign-born parents are thoroughly