The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1923-06-09

while i am speaking OF school
and matters educational, I want t
say that you have q man whom
the teachers and educators of tn
Kentucky schools , regard as on
Of the greatest educators in tn
state"
There was q we'll timed burs
of Rotarian applause at those ex
travagant words. "a...
"He is a man of great vision,
continued the brotherly booster, Il
man who has built up a plal
for a school system in Paducah
and the people of Paducah will
suffer II they are not able tt
keep such a man, Modern timeI
demand trained teachers and edu
Gators"
Despite Supt. Risely's disma
croakings, the Paducah schools have
done we'll the past five years. Abov'
all, there have been peace an(
harmony since the stormy petre
of the educational seas banishet
himself from Paducah.
Despite supt. Risely's estimate
of Bentley, the latter utterly failed
to get another school in all Ken
lucky, and there Is evidence thai
he tried plenty of them.
Duluth is only the third superin
tendency that J. H. Bentley has
held. He taught a couple Of years
in the St. Joseph, Mo-, high school
He then went to the boys high
school in Louisville, where he was
an instructor for couple Of years
That was followed by couple OF
years service as high school prin'
cipal at Henderson, Ky.,'a conserva
tive town of about $1,000 people
He was receiving $500 year
wanted $4,000, but failed to gel
it. To save $500 year, the Hen.
derson school board saw Bentley
get the superintendency at Paducah
a city of about 10000, at $2,50t
a year.
After. losing out at Paducah
Bentley finally got into the high
school at Richmond, Ind. The high
school principal going into some
war activity, gave Bentley promo.
ton to the superintendency, start.
Ing at $4,000, attaining a salary
os szseae and then having "A zoo
s = - wa ! S,l lacss1 &
keep him from Dnfn 4 = cffy d 80.
four times the size OF Richmond
with $500 year and great pos.
sibilities of different kinds.
At Paducah, Bentley had himself
surrounded with some fairly I'M
posing Notifications, but they proved
to be flimsy and superficial IN his
time Of need. There, as elsewhere,
he played up close and hard to
the daily papers. He ever put his
best foot forward and, where he
found himself ignorant, used the
big bluff. :
"What'll I talk about at the
Rotary club meeting?" he is rep
resented as saying. "I'll give them
the latest address by Nicholas
Murray Bntler-none of them will
know the difference"
Bentley did so and the Rotarians
took in the stolen educational dope
with open mouths, exclaiming be-
tween gasps:
What a wonderful man."
Hot air, camouflage, bluff and
CUFF and free use of the complacent
newspapers had the unsophisticated
element sitting up and passing
compliments. The aspiring and eryy
superintendent made the Paducah
people think they never had seen
an educator before. -,
"If we do not hold tightly to
him, Chicago or st. Louis will get
him." they truly believed.
When Bentley tried to bluff his
way through at a session OF the
union men,, however, he admitted
to a friend that he never came
nearer to getting caught in all his
life. The union card boys knew
what they were talking about, but
Bentley was bluffing. He barely
managed to get by and lesson was
learned by which he is assumed to
have profited.
Down there In Paducah, one of
Bentley's bizarre ideas~was that the
public schools are no place to teach
morals and that school board MEM
bers. have no business to visit the
schools unless accompanied by the
-.--.
Down in Paducah, Bentley did
not visit the teachers and there
were many who complained of his
aloofness and his brusqueness. No
inspiration, no divine spark passed
from him to his teachers. They
asked for an educational fig and
he gave them thistle, so to speak.
In those days, too, wage scale
and Standardization Of wages We're
a sealed book. Only four out of
125 teachers truly were strong for
Bentley in the Paducah schools.
Supt. Bentley has learned some
thing of wage scales and standard
ization of wages, thanks to the
Duluth Teachers association.
Paducah Is not a western boom
town. 1t is a calm, old, settled
community, with fixed customs and
traditions that are akin to the
laws of the Medes and Persians.
Many a family in Paducah is an
institution.
Miss Ada Brazelton was prin-
cipal of the high school when
Bentley came to Paducah from
Continued on page %