Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-02-10
PRUSSiANiSM WILL NOT FIT -
INTO THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
Promotion Should es Based on Fltness
Rather Than on the Stamp Affixed BY
Any Kind Of an educational Machine

nOES any one suppose that respectful at
II tention would be given to a proposition
that the Constitution should be SO amended
MS to exclude from the presidency OF the
United States every one who had not Sc.
cured college degree indicating that he
had pursued studies in political science?
Yet every argument in support Of the
requirement Of college degree as necessary
preliminary to practice law or to teach
school could be used In defense OF the re-
quirement of college degree Tor the Presi.
dents.
Greater demands are made upon the
training and abilities Of the President than
upon those Of any other citizen. Yet we
have had some pretty good Presidents who
were not college graduates. Indeed, almost
every one Of the forceful men who has occu-
pied the presidency has been vii iitually SELF
educated. Washington was a country sur.
vcyor who was never inside the doors Of
college. Jackson was tackwoods soldier.
Lincoln's formal education was confined to
few weeks in a log schoolhouse. Cleve.
land had the equivalent Of a high school
education. Roosevelt. however, was Har.
ward University graduate. And Wilson was
graduate Of Princeton. And Wilson Is the
only man among the long list of Presidents
who hnd engaged in the formal study of the
the White House went to college for little
while, but he won no degree.
While no one would seriously consider
proposition that a college degree should be
a prerequisite to election to the presidency
of the United States. the BY. Laws Com.
mittee Of the Board Of Public Education in
this city has made a favorable report on
an amendment Of the bylaws which
provides that after September 1, 1925, no
one shall be appointed to the principalship
Of a public school who has not college
degree.
Superintendent Broome has explained that
the change is desired in order to put the
teaching profession in the same class with
the other learned professions, such as the
law and medicine. He did not say the
ministry also, which is usually included
among the learned professions.
1t may be assumed that Superintendent
Broome thinks that by dignifying the teach
ing profession the schools will more sue
cessfully perform their educational func.
tions; for that Is the only reason which can
justify any change in the qualifications Of
the teachers.
But shall We have better schools if men
and women Of fine Abilities executive
capacity and experience in teaching are to
be denied promotion because for one reason
or another they did not 80 to college In their
youth? It Is exceedingly doubtful.
Some of the best teachers the public
school system has ever known were not
college graduates.
Some of the best supervisory officers Of
the public school systems have been men
without teaching experience in the public
schools.
One Of them was the late William n.
Maxwell, who was superintendent Of schools
in New York for years. He was graduate
of an Irish college and taught for few
months in ladies' seminary in Ireland.
He was elected to the associate superin-
tendency of schools from newspaper Office.
and in the course Of time he told the pro-
fessional teaching force how to improve and
develop the school system in ways which
they had no conception Of
II the plan to put all those connected with
the schools through uniform course of
training, Of which this proposition to require
a college degree for principals is part, DR..
Maxwell would never have been connected
with the school system Of New York.
There Is a tendency among school men
toward standardizing teachers and pupils
very much as the manufacture of machinery
machine, wherever 1t is installed, will turn
out bolts with screw threads to which the
nuts from any factory can be fitted.
This uniformity 10 desirable In the pro.
duction of bolts.
But the whole purpose Of the public edu.
cational "vstem is to develop the individual
capacity of children, differing from one an.
other in thousand ways. man or q
woman put through the machinery devised
for making teachers would be Inclined to
attempt to use the machine method in edu
eating the children. All friends of the
schools should set their faces against this
sort Of thing.
The possession Of a college degree does
not qualify man to become school prin.
cipal, nor does the lack of such a degree
disqualify him. The tests for promotion to
principalship should 60 to the heart of the
matter, and every candidate who Is qualified
by experience and capacity should be eligible
whether he ever had any formal education
or not.
The comparison of teaching with the law
Is apt, for in spite OF much effort on the
part of the promoters OF law schools the
Legislature of this State has consistently
refused to require law school degree of
candidates for admission to the bar. And
bar examiners have said that often the
are those who have been trained In law
offices In the old fashioned way.
Formal training in college is desirable
and useful but 1t is not essential Under
the Prussian system no man could enter
any Of the professions who had not pursued
n regular course in established institutions
The boy who studied in one kind of
school was doomed to be a mechanic no
matter what his abilities might be, and the
boy who went to another kind of school
might continue his education through the
university and enter one of the professions.
A caste and class system was set up under
this method which was undemocratic, but
American school men still seem to think
that it was good system.
Let us have the best trained teachers we
can get, but let us not fall under the delu.
sion that there is only one kind of training
that Is effective.