New Britain herald., 1930-03-27

remarkable, and at first sight is the harder to explain, when we realize how much we still need to accom- plish before we shall generally have either the schools or the trained teaching force that 'We ought to have. If, disregarding the marked recent progress that we have made and the many exceptions in cities and counties here and there, VIC con- slider the United States as a whole, we still find that over half our teachers, who are in charge of at least one-third Of the pupils of this ing for the service they are attempt ing to render.
 That We have been able to do | the creative work we have done. and to make the progress in education we have made, working with the i partially untrained and the rapidly | changing, teaching force we have l had to work with, is all the more | significant, That we have made re- | marllablc progress in the develop ment of our teaching and in the or ganization of our schools, despite 1 hampCring conditions, there can be no question, so there must be some ! good rcason-a reason characteristic of our development as q people-to account for this progress. Let us examine this problem and trace | briefly the five forces which have most largely contributed to tho suc- cess Of public education in America.
 Our School Textbooks
 Probably the most important Of the forces directly responsible for American education has been the creation of the high standard Amer ican textbook, which has long scrv-
 cd as q guide for both teachers and
 pupils. With us the school text. book has always occupied q position of importance. In the early days ot our schools, when trained teachers were almost unknown and profcs- sional supervision lacking, the sue 4 determined by the textbooks in use. Today other and newer textbooks arc contributing their part toward
 rcshaplng and directing instruction.
 Professional Books For Teachers
 The second force that has en-
 ablcd Us to accomplish so much in
 the creation of high grade schools,
 despite our handicaps, has been pro
 teSSlonal books for teachers. No-
 where in the world have SO many
 and guidance of teachers been pro-
 duced, during the past J0 years, as
 in the United States. Successful teachers, with the same zeal that
 has led to the sharing of ideas with
 others in the production of school
 text books, have also published, in the form Of professional books, their
 best ideas as to teaching procedures : for the guidance of other teachers. summer school Instruction
 "A third fierce in our marked educational progress has been the organization of summer school in
 Struction for teachers.
 Summer school instruction has
 made possible for teachers in scrV- : ice from six to twelve weeks of or
 Ganized study in Normal schools and institutions of collegiate grade, un- dcr the direction of qualified instruc- tors, and under conditions conducive to careful thinking.
 Professional School Supervision The fourth force in our dlstinc-
 tive educational advance has been
 the development Of superior grade
 of professional school supervision , Unlike most European countries where high degree of state cen
 tralization of control and uniformity
 of procedure has tended to stamp out initiative and create routine , workers, we in America have placed r a distinct premium on initiative, or
 iginality in thinking, and creative
 power on the part of those rcsponsi-
 ble for the organization and admin r istration of our schools. The result . '''o pNNl thc tNtIutloIl Nttl HH ol 'i
 unsurpassed type of profcssiona
 school officer.
 "To the professional school super . intcndcnt, boards of education havt s gradually delegated many dutic' and powers formerly exercised D, , them. As our city superintendent: of schools have, with time, come tt ] represent a continually increasing | degree of technical training anc , professional skill, boards of educa $ tion by rules and the state by law. ;, have guaranteed to them continual = ly increasing powers. After three n quarters of a century of evolution ;. the office of city superintendent o r schools has today become the cen