Arizona republican., 1922-01-01

- AVNO Ny ANS~HAA.
requiring specialized training. In ad-
dition, there is whole new field
of occupations open to women.
The modern school to fit it's prod
uct for these has been forced to
enrich its course of study to an
extent scarcely dreamed of in the
past, and text books, equipment and
teacher have reflected the demand
for specialization. The school has
become highly organized, and the ne
cessity has naturally developed for
better methods of school admins
tration not only in the supervision OF
instruction, but in the distribution OF
funds. The greatest strides in this
have been made by city systems, but
there is fortunately growing real
ization on the part of the general.
public that the same advantages can
be secured by applying the same prin-
ciples to county and state school adj
ministration. In this state the rapid
growth of school population has made
it apparent that there are defects
in our own plan Of administration
that need remedyihg.
Burden Well Distributes
Arizona has one of the most ad-
mirable systems of school support
in the country. in that 1t distributes
the burden over @ large instead Of
small unit, and in general equal
ICES both the expense and education
al opportunity. The money is collect
ed where the wealth is foundA and
distributed where the children are;
and state and county both assume
a large share OF the support OF the
individual districts. The value OF this
in creating uniform system OF the
schools can scarcely be overestimat-
ed: but the defect comes in our fall
ing to use the same unit for the ad-
ministration of the schools as we do
for their support.
The measure secured from the last
legislature known as the county unit
was designed to remedy this, but be-
cause OF certain defects could not
be put in operation. It has been val
liable nevertheless because of the
general discussion It has evoked, al
though to secure fair tryout Of
the principle measure more close
have to be evolved. In passing judg-
ment upon 1t the public needs to be
warned that such q law will not do
all that is claimed for It by either
it's friends or its enemies. Its pur-
pose Is simply to give to rural schools
advantages that have hitherto been
available only to city systems, to
eliminate the waste and duplication
that inevitably arise from the present
loose and decentralized plan OF ad-
ministration: but above all, by plac-
ing the emphasis on professional in
stead of political qualifications to
make the office Of county superin-
tendent one of educational leader
ship with sufficient permanency to
make possible definite and construc-
tive policies.
Duties Enlarge
The same arguments apply with
equal force to the state department
of education. When the office was
was first created in most states, 1t
had few duties other than clerical.
It's chief function was to secure q
few general reports and to supervise
in merely nominal fashion the work
Of the schools; but the increasing
complexity of educational organiza-
ton has changed all that. Today the
demands made upon q state office
and the needs 1t is expected to fill,
would surprise the layman who has
retained the old conception Of its
field Of usefulness.
The gathering Of reports and sta
tistics, the general supervision of ru-
raj, secondary and vocational educa-
tion, the conduct of institutes, the
reduction Of illiteracy, the dissemina-
tion of information on educational
progress and needs, the securing Of
school legislation, the certification
OF teachers, and the maintenance of
teaching standards, the preparation
of courses of study, the selection and
distribution OF text books are the
logical functions Of q state depart
ment.
It is unnecessary to argue that
such q varied and specialized work
demands special training or to point
out that department discharging
these duties properly cannot be built
UP In day or q month. Like the
county educational office, II can new
or attain its full usefulness until It
Is given responsibilities approaching
the demands made upon 1t, and until
1t Is relieved from the handicap of
periodical changes of administration
for reasons that usually have no con-
nection with education or the work
the department has been doing.
Up to Standard
The first definite steps to bring
this part Of Arizonas educational
system up to standard of the re-
mainder was taken at the request of
the State Teachers association by
tho last legislature which repealed
a number of hampering restrictions,
and made the state board of educa-
tion entirely responsible for the cer-