Newspaper Page Text
Educational Netos and Progress
Betterment of Education iu Georgia.
A committee appointed by the Georgia Educa
tional Association and composed of Prof. T. J.
Woof ter, Chairman, J. M. Pound, L. B. Evans and
E. W. Childs, has recently made its report on the
“Betterment of Education in Georgia.” The re-i
port has been published, and deals in such a sensi
ble and progressive manner with the various ques
tions pertaining to schools and educational forces
generally, that it is matter of regret that we can
not publish it in full. Lack of space forces us to
give only selections from it, which we commend as
being in every way wise and worthy of the consid
eration of all interested in the school system in this
State.
To The Georgia Educational Association:
The greatest problem God has set for man is,
how to make man better. There is but one asnwer:
Education.
The problem of government finally reduces itself
to a problem of education. The law is but a school
master to bring man to moral habitude. Christ
commissioned his disciples to educate all men to
Christianity. He gave them essentially a teach
er’s commission.
It is witli certain phases of this supreme problem
we have to do today. This committee was appoint
ed to consider ways and moans for the betterment
of the profession of teaching and the promotion
of education generally in Georgia. The following re
port is therefore respectfully submitted for your
consideration,:
The problem of education divides itself into three
primary problems:
1. The financing of a school system wisely and
effectively.
2. The securing of trained and efficient teachers
for all schools.
3. The proper supervision for organization, man
agement. and leadership in improvement.
Imperfect solution of any one of these will make
impossible a good solution of the other two. Not
any of the three has been other than imperfectly
solved in Georgia. It will be impossible to keep the
three separated throughout our discussion, but let
us note them somewhat in the reverse order of
above mention as set forth in the following needs.
I. A Professional State Board of Education in Lieu
of the Present Ex-Officio One Composed of the
State House Officers.
1. How constituted.
This board should be made up of the Governor,
the State Superintendent of Public Schools, the At
torney General, and a certain number of men of
prominence actively engaged in educational work,
whose terms of office should be arranged so as to
expire at different times. The Governor should be
president of the Board. The State Superintend
ent should be secretary and executive agent of the
Board, and the Attorney General the legal adviser
of the Board.
2. General Powers and Duties.
This board should be empowered to transact all
business now’ done by the present board, to make
and adopt such rules, laws, and regulations not in
consistent with the laws of the State as may be
necessary for its own government, for carrying into
effect the provisions of all acts pertaining to the
schools of the State, and for the direction and gov
ernment of the public common schools of the State.
This board should have charge of the certification
of teachers, the certification of county superin
tendents. the direction of teachers’ institutes, the
adoption of a state course of study and of the text
books to be used in the public common schools, the
apportionment of the state school fund, the inter
pretation of school laws, and the regulation and
promotion of education generally throughout the
State.
3. The Certification of Teachers.
The State Board should have power to grant cer
tificates entitling the holders to teach in the schools
of the State. These certificates should bo divided
The Golden Age for May 23, 1907.
into two classes, County Certificates and Profes
sional Certificates, and further subdivided as the
board may determine. County Certificates might
be granted by County Superintendents if so author
ized by the State Board.
A Professional Certificate might be granted to a
graduate of any normal school or college whose
course of study is approved by the State Board.
It is however understood that any course to be so
approved must include professional subjects. In
short the matter of granting and annulling certifi
cates should be left to the State Board.
4. The Adoption of Uniform Text Books and a
Course of Study.
Here again the State Board should be the unify
ing and directing agency. Without violating the
spirit of the present law, a State Board made up
as we suggest would be the proper parties to pass
on such matters. A Sub-Commission would then
be unnecessary.
5. The Direction of Teachers’ Institutes.
Likewise the teachers’ institutes should be a mat
ter which this board should handle. These insti
tutes should be instruments of great good but be
cause of no strong, central direction they have sad
ly degenerated in some counties.
The State Board should be empowered to make a
list of a sufficient number of prominent educators
who shall be holders of Professional Certificates
and who shall be competent to act as institute in
structors. The times, places and instructors of
these institutes should be fixed by the State Super
intendent after consultation with the various Coun
ty Superintendents, and a special institute fund
should be set aside out of the annual apportionment
made each county. Teachers who attend the insti
tute should be entitled to a salary the same as if
the time spent at the institute were spent in teach
ing.
G. Expenses.
The members appointed by the Governor should
receive a sum equal to their necessary expenses.
The Secretary of the Board should be paid a salary
fixed by the Board, for most of the work of the
Board, especially as a board of examiners, will fall
on the secretary.
11. A State Superintendent of Schools Should be
Substituted for the State School Commissioner
and This Office Put on a More Efficient Basis.
1. The salary of this office is limited by the con
stitution to $2,000. This is an absurdly inadequate
sum, and a constitutional amendment should re
move the limitation.
Georgia cannot afford to have it put down in the
text on civics and taught in her schools that she
considers education the least important work she
has to do.
2. The constitution provides that the legislature
may substitute other officer or officers for the State
School Commissioner. It is recommended that a
State Superintendent of Schools bo so substituted.
This State Superintendent should not only have
charge of the administration of school laws and
general direction of the business relating to the
common schools of the State, but also he should
lie charged with the general superintendence of
instruction in the common schools of the State, the
course of study therefor, the examination of teach
ers. the direction of teachers’ institutes, the super
vision of the work of the county superintendents,
and such other duties as might be legally assigned
him by the legislature or the State Board.
3. The State Superintendent should be ex-officio
a member of the general board of trustees of the
State University and of the several special boards
of trustees of the various normal schools of the
State.
4. The State Superintendent should be author
ized to appoint a deputy superintendent in addition
t<» the present office force, and prescribe 'to duties
of such deputy. The salaries of the office <1 em
ployes of the State Superintendent’s of -houbl
be fixed bv the State Board.
111. To Complete and Make Effective the System of
Supervision, There Must Be Efficient County
Supervision.
The County School Commissioner should be
changed to a County Superintendent who should
be employed for his full time and who should boa
skilled professional school supervisor capable of
instructing his teachers and developing his schools
along modern lines. The County Board should elect
such a superintendent just as a city board elects a
city superintendent. This new order need not in
terfere with any experienced man now in office, but
his successor to be eligible should hold a Profes
sional Certificate.
It is recommended that no maximum salary be
fixed by State law, but that a minimum salary be
fixed especially for holders of Professional Certifi
cates.
IV. A More Complete and Better Correlated School
System.
We need better schools not only for primary and
higher education, but also w’e need more and better
schools lor secondary education that, our primary
schools may lead gradually on to higher training
and culture. This calls for a constitutional amend
ment and laws looking to the development of high
schools especially through local taxation. The pres
ent constitutional restriction discriminates against
the country high school and fails to recognize the
simple truth that there is a unity, a solidarity of
education from the kindergarten to the university.
\\ e must amend the constitution or give a more
liberal interpretation to the phrase, “the elemen
tary branches of an English education only.”
Wc need also further consolidation of schools
until there are three or more teachers in every
school. The one room country school should be the
rare exception not the almost universal rule. The
country child needs graded and high schools adapt
ed to conditions. In brief, our system of country
schools should be just as efficient and complete as
our city systems.
V. An Increased School Fund in Keeping With
the Greatness of the Work
There is no greater work the state, the communi
ity, the parent can do. Nothing is more expensive
than ignorance, nothing more commercially product
ive than education. All history teaches this. Hence
education cannot be slighted by the just state, nei
ther can the parent shift all the responsibility'on
the state. The most successful schools in the
United States are those largely supported by lo
cal taxation. The state should guarantee a mini
mum term, probably 5 months, and this should be
extended to S or 9 months by local taxation. This
is in harmony with democratic principles of local
self government.
Unless the school system is wisely and efficiently
financed it is idle to talk about other phases of the
school problem. Finance is the core of the problem.
In Georgia we are not doing our duty. Tn truth
we disgrace ourselves.
1. It is disgraceful that our country schools
have to wait long for their small pittance. The
State must appropriate to bring up all arrears and
to have money in readiness for prompt payment of
salaries.
2. The State should make liberal appropriations
Io maintain the public common schools a minimum
term.
3. Local taxation must be encouraged, preached,
urged by all intelligent men ami women until pub
lic sentiment is so strong that all schools will be
cheerfully extended to S or 9 months, that excel
lent school houses be built, that suitable '/rounds bo
provided, that every school be equipped with library
and apparatus, that both grounds ami buildings
be aesthetically improved ami kept, that high schools
be developed so as to be accessible to all children,
that all schools he supplied with professionally
trained teachers, and that every county be under
the supervision of a skilled county superintendent.
(Concluded Next Wppk.)
9