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Cornell University Library 
 LB1567.D76 
 
 Addresses before the rural education sec 
 
 3 1924 013 374 438 
 
DDRESSES.BEFORE THE RURAL EDU- 
 CATION SECTIOl^J OF THE NEW YORK 
 STATE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 
 
 Andrew S. Draper LL.B. LL.D. 
 
 Commissioner of Education 
 AND 
 
 Thomas E. Finegaji M.A, Pd.D. 
 Third Assistant Commissioner of Education 
 
 STATE NORMAL COLLEGE 
 NOVEMBER 28, 191I 
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 EDUCATION DfiJPARTMENT 
 
 1913 
 
 i-J»H-3000 (7-IIOlS) 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013374438 
 
WHAT IS EXPECTED OF DISTRICT SUPERINTEND- 
 ENTS 
 
 ANDREW S. DRAPER, COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 
 
 I would not disguise the fact that I have more real satis- 
 faction in this meeting of newly chosen district superintendents, 
 all with their new and higher standing, powers, and functions 
 established in the Education Law, than in any educational 
 gathering I have attended in many years. This is the first 
 concrete result of a campaign for uplifting the country schools 
 that was stoutly, and often subtly, resisted, and that was more 
 than once menaced with humiliating failure. It was a longer 
 and more serious struggle than it should have been. The pub- 
 lic understanding of the matter was much confused, and it re- 
 quired as much explanation and argument to accomplish the 
 absolutely obviqus thing in New York school administration 
 as ought to be necessary to carry a presidential election or an 
 amendment to the Federal Constitution. There are many here 
 today who became real veterans in that long campaign, and 
 they may be assured that I am glad to see them here. It is 
 not strange if we have something of the feeling of old soldiers 
 who carry forlorn hopes to glory. With sincere appreciation 
 of the constancy and the efficiency of so many in this good 
 cause, it is a little difficult to speak of one, but it really ought 
 to be said that a lion's share of commendation ought to go to 
 Dr Thomas E. Finegan, Third Assistant Commissioner of 
 Education, for the unanswerable and always good-natured 
 ways in which he has shaped up the arguments, the keenness 
 with which he has scented ambuscades, and the absolutely un- 
 relenting earnestness with which he has braced up the troops 
 on every part of the field. It is fortunate that he is to have 
 much to do with administering the system. Many of you 
 know much of country schools, but there is not one of you that 
 knows more of them than he does. He will speak to you in a 
 little time. I have something of the feeling that I might well 
 leave it to him to do all the speaking, but I confess that I 
 wanted a part in the exultation and I would have no doubt in 
 any mind as to the measure of my concern and of my expecta- 
 tions about this epoch-making movement in New York edu- 
 cation. 
 
You have been appointed superintendents of the rural schools. 
 There are two hundred and seven of you, almost twice as 
 many superintendents as there were school commissioners. 
 The old districts were generally so large that real supervision 
 was impossible, even if the old law had contemplated it, which 
 it did not. Putting two districts where there was one before is 
 an important factor in increasing the efficiency of supervision. 
 That gives the superintendent a much better chance to do some- 
 thing worth while, but whether he does it or not depends upon 
 himself. The Education Department expects much of each, 
 and will do all it can to help each to do conspicuously good 
 work; it will censure a superintendent for indifference and will 
 remove him for wilfully or ignorantly violating either the letter 
 or the spirit of the new law. This is plain language, but plain 
 language is best. It would be absurd to characterize it as a 
 menace or a threat. It is in the interest of two hundred and 
 seven officials whom the law places under my supervision, 
 every one of whom starts out with my confidence and carries 
 with him my good wishes. It is for the sake of a perfect under- 
 standing. I have my responsibility as well as you yours. 
 What I say is in the discharge of that responsibility. 
 
 It is well to be much more explicit and to tell you in detail 
 what the Education Department expects of you. 
 
 In the first place it expects that you will be free and inde- 
 pendent school superintendents. It can not be said too often 
 that the common schools are to be kept free from all political 
 or denominational partisanship. Officers of the schools are to 
 assert this and exemplify it. They are to bar out everything 
 to which any patron of the schools can justly object. Above 
 all, they are not to descend to any course of partisan conduct 
 to which fifty, or twent}^, or one per cent of the people may be 
 conscientiously opposed. They are to attend to the schools 
 very exclusively. The plain English of this is that they are not 
 to help run political machines; they are not to do political 
 work for leaders or committees. They are to hold their own 
 opinions and vote as they please, but they are not to make 
 themselves obnoxious to any by exerting any influence of their 
 position as superintendent of schools to effect nominations or 
 get votes for a ticket on election day. The school organization 
 is to offend none; it is to count upon the support of all. This 
 is at once sound principle and good policy. You will be ex- 
 pected to regard it conscientiously. 
 
You will of course seek to enlarge your knowledge and im- 
 prove your professional qualifications. It is one of the very 
 strong points of the new law that it excludes the uneducated 
 from these superintendencies. You have gained certificates of 
 your ability to teach in the schools of the State without further 
 examination. That means much, but if there is one among you 
 who thinks it is enough he is doomed to failure. Read syste- 
 matically for the enlargement of your knowledge. Of course 
 keep up with the current news. But there is a vast difference 
 between knowledge and news. Appreciate it and act accord- 
 ingly. Efficient school superintendents must have knowledge, 
 not merely of the technical rules of arithmetic and grammar, 
 but of the world's stores of literature. No one really has any 
 hold upon that without the sincere desire to tighten his grasp. 
 If you have that, your grasp upon administration, and courses 
 of study, and methods of teaching, and all such, may come very 
 quickly and easily to those of you who are active. But if you 
 are long on frills and pretense, and short on the substance of 
 iknowledge, if you are without the elements of intellectual 
 growth, your rising sun will be obscured by a cloud and is 
 even liable to drop out of the heavens altogether. 
 
 The law provides that a district superintendent " shall devote 
 his whole time to the performance of the duties of his office 
 and shall not engage in any other business or profession." 
 That is good English, easily understood. It will not be con- 
 strued so as to take its vitality out of it. You may not practise 
 law, or medicine, or seek insurance, or till a farm, while holding 
 this office. The law also says that when you are not engaged 
 in the clerical and administrative work of your office, you shall 
 be visiting and inspecting the schools. You understand that: 
 do not get confused about it. How truly you observe all this 
 will soon be known to the Third Assistant Commissioner of 
 Education, and he is bound to act upon what he knows. Be so 
 square and true about it that he will have no question marks 
 against your name. 
 
 For your own sakes I bid you to read, and reread now and 
 then, section 393 of the Education Law. It is not pleasing reading 
 for a public assemblage, but it contains good propositions to 
 commune with in secret. It tears upon the relations of superin- 
 tendents to the sale of books, furniture, apparatus, and the like 
 to the schools; to contracts made by trustees; and to gifts 
 and rewards for exerting official influence in favor of the pur- 
 
8 
 
 chase of any school supplies or for recommending the employ- 
 ment of a teacher. There is no need of studying this section to 
 see just how far one may go without violating the law. The 
 principle is absolute that a schpol superintendent can not law- 
 fully accept any emolument beyond his salary for the exercise 
 of his official influence or authority. He must understand that 
 completely. 
 
 If sections 393 and 394 of the Education Law claim the secret 
 contemplation of superintendents, there can be nothing secret 
 about section 395. All of its fourteen subdivisions deserve to be 
 printed large and posted in the schoolhouses. It declares, not 
 what the superintendent is prohibited from doing, but what he 
 is required to do. Where the law directs that certain definite 
 things shall be done and creates the officers to do them, the 
 people are justified in expecting that there will be results. 
 
 It is expected that the schoolhouses will be cleaned and reno- 
 vated and made sanitary and comfortable. It is expected that 
 outbuildings will be made decent and convenient, free from any 
 immoral stains and suitable for the free use of children. Do 
 not evade this thing and of course do not bluster about it. Talk 
 of it without hesitation. Expect that the teacher will help. 
 See the trustee about it. If necessary, tell him what should be 
 done and how to do it. Assume that he will be glad to do it. 
 if he should refuse, then require him to do it. Do not require 
 too often, but there will be many times when you will have to 
 require, and when such times come be sure that you follow the 
 matter to the very end. 
 
 It is expected that out of all this there will be a fresh impulse 
 toward new buildings in the places of such as are unsuitable for 
 use and beyond repair. The law leaves less excuse for dis- 
 reputable schoolhouses in New York than in any other state. 
 Keep sane but be persistent about the matter. Talk with the 
 people in their homes, induce district meetings to discuss it, 
 and be on hand yourself to show pictures and plans of new 
 houses that will stir the pride of the village or the neighborhood. 
 The Education Department will provide the material to aid you. 
 
 Next spring as the snow is disappearing, when the colts begin 
 to kick up, and the cows begin to look for the first blades of 
 green grass, and the hens begin to scratch on the sunny sides 
 of the barns, and the boys must play leapfrog, it will be time for 
 raking off the school grounds, straightening the walks, and set- 
 ting out a tree and a shrub or two. 
 
There is a direction in this law that you hold meetings of 
 trustees and advise with them and counsel them in relation to 
 the interests of the schools. That is a new and an important 
 provision. Find the convenient time and place where you can 
 get five or ten trustees together, and have dinner in company 
 and talk over buildings and teachers and courses of study. Let 
 them do all the talking they will; but answer criticisms, ex- 
 plain needs and difficulties, and bind them together in the sin- 
 cere determination to have the most attractive schoolhouses 
 and the most vital teaching in your supervisory district. Make 
 sure that the first meeting is so interesting that all will want to 
 come to the next one. 
 
 And here we are again around to the teacher and the things 
 taught, but we have come to this part of the circle this time 
 with a new and larger opportunity to do something worth 
 while. I admonish you to be exacting yet just, firm yet kind, 
 aggressive yet balanced and sane. Much more is expected of you 
 than we have had from the school commissioners. Each one of 
 you has had much of the training and not a little of the exper- 
 ience of the teacher. You have lived in the atmosphere and 
 you are moved by the spirit of the school system. Do by teach- 
 ers as you would be done by and as the interests of children 
 and the progress of the New York school system require. Help 
 the young teachers and try to keep the older ones zestful and 
 happy. But the teaching must be progressive and vitalizing, 
 and the fact that it is must be evidenced by the children in their 
 homes. 
 
 You have been commissioned to lead the school work of sev- 
 eral towns. Do not hesitate to take the lead. Show that you 
 are the superintendent by superintending. Embrace every fair 
 opportunity to quicken public sentiment through the news- 
 papers and by speaking at all manner of gatherings. When 
 you write and speak do it as well as you can. Try to gain a 
 sense of educational perspective, by which I mean try to have 
 a sane appreciation of educational values; remember that not 
 half that is to be learned is in textbooks, and that children are 
 justified in rebelling against teaching that has no life or juice 
 in it. Fall in with the very common thought of the day and 
 associate doing with thinking in teaching. Make certain that 
 the children are trained soundly in English, and in simple 
 mathematics, and in truthfulness, and in manners; mix in 
 rational sports, regard for health, knowledge of the earth, and 
 
lO 
 
 love for animals. Adjure teachers to train children to respect 
 labor and to do thing's, never losing sight of the fact that while 
 nothing can excuse any American child from a mastery of the 
 fundamentals of an English education, yet the boy who is long 
 on training a horse, or sailing a boat, or raising corn, or making 
 a wagon, and a little short on the literary side of things, is 
 likely to be a larger and a more useful man than his mate who 
 is quick and exact in the schoolroom but seems unable to j^et 
 hold of something which he can do to earn a living and which 
 the world must have done. But we are not forced to an election 
 between these children with differing traits and tendencies. 
 Both of them, all of them, are to be trained in both culture and 
 efficiency. Equalizing advantages somewhat, making abso- 
 lutely sure of the fundamentals, we are to give special gifts or 
 propensities their opportunities. 
 
 I advise you to encourage the schools to interest the pupils 
 in the agricultural and mechanical and homemaking industries. 
 It is to be done through the ingenuity and versatility of the 
 teachers. School literature is full of this thing, and you may 
 easily work it into the schools. It is fascinating to children. 
 If I thought it would work harm to the reading and writing 
 and numbers, I would oppose it. I know it will work to their 
 advantage. If I thought it would keep pupils from going to high 
 school and college, I would oppose it. I think it will send more 
 to the higher schools. It will broaden the higher schools or at 
 least it will concentrate their intensiveness upon the work that 
 has the largest claims. The vital need of the educational work 
 of this country is the training of pupils in manual and vocational 
 efficiency. What helps the hands of pupils will help their heads. 
 What is needed is greater respect for all manner of work, and 
 special enthusiasm for some particular work. Too mam- nev^er 
 have any enthusiasm for anything. Never let go of what is in 
 the books, but encourage the schools to do whatever will 
 arouse the special interest of pupils in something. 
 
 Why not public commendation for the neatest schoolhouse 
 and the best kept grounds in }rour supervisory district, as the 
 railroads give for the best kept section along the road? Why 
 not a competition between the schools in a town or in the dis- 
 trict over the farm products raised, or the hand work done by 
 boys and that done by girls? Encourage the ingenuity of 
 teachers in initiating movemicnts which can do no harm and 
 will arouse the interest and appeal to the pride of children and 
 parents. 
 
II 
 
 The teachers institutes have been discontinued. They were 
 good in their day, but their day is past. The teachers are 
 at the very beginning more thoroughly trained than they used 
 to be. They do not need so much lecturing and stimulating 
 as they did before the uniform examinations were established 
 and the literature and other helps for teachers were so prolific. 
 What they do need is frequent conference with the superin- 
 tendent and between themselves. You are to arrange such 
 conferences. They may be by neighborhoods, or towns, or 
 two towns. They should of course be in a perfectly healthy 
 environment where all may be glad to go. They should be for 
 a territory which will enable all to come in the morning and 
 return at night. A good nutritious dinner at reasonable ex- 
 pense should be arranged. Then there should be a live confer- 
 ence on the everyday interests of the schools. Something of 
 the success of these conferences will depend upon the settings 
 of the room you meet in. It would be better to sit around a 
 table where each one may look all the others in the face, than 
 in a stiffly arranged schoolroom or church. You will have to 
 have plenty of good, live materials for these conferences. You 
 will know where to get these materials. But give the teachers 
 every opportunity to tell their troubles and ask their questions. 
 Having done that, confer about the schoolhouse and grounds, 
 and about the school library and the appliances and apparatus. 
 Confer about the work in general and about the adaptations to 
 particular localities or individuals. Confer about what the 
 teachers are doing for self-improvement. Confer, I say; do not 
 lecture. Do not do it in a stilted way but in an easy, familiar 
 way, so that all may have an inclination to enter into the mat- 
 ter, and may go home at the end with the feeling that it was 
 worth while to attend. Let the gathering be small enough 
 for a conference, and insist that it shall be a conference. Avoid 
 formal or heavy papers. You will not need stenographers. 
 Keep agents out. They may have their place, but it is not 
 there. Do not expect some one from the State Department; 
 carry forward these conferences on your own account. Do 
 not wind them up with a dance. Act freely and hold them 
 often. In a word, establish relations with the teachers in your 
 district similar to those which exist between an efficient super- 
 intendent and the teachers in a city or village. Begin to as- 
 sume that the everlasting country school problem is really 
 solved. 
 
12 
 
 Of course you will look after the teachers training classes, 
 and you will be well known at the normal schools. You 
 should steadily seek to reinforce these institutions and connect 
 your schools with them so that the schools will be reinforced 
 by them. 
 
 You are to advise the trustees as to the employment of 
 teachers, the adoption of textbooks, and the purchase of library 
 books and supplies. Do it freely if you really know what you 
 are talking about. If you are a little uncertain make a busi- 
 ness of finding out so you can talk confidently. Your success 
 will depend very largely upon the new teachers employed, upon 
 fitting teachers into the places to which they are best adapted, 
 and upon the books and appliances which are provided for the 
 schools. Out of all this the new spirit of the schools must 
 grow. As this duty will be very common and extremely im- 
 portant, you are likely to see much trouble in connection with 
 it. You certainly will unless you have firm ground under your 
 feet and act without fear or favor. Under no circumstances 
 do anything in this connection under influence, persuasion, or 
 threat. Think matters all over for yourself and do just what 
 you think is for the best. More trouble comes to public offi- 
 cers because of their commendable desire to please some 
 friends, or through their unworthy desire to show their powers, 
 than from any other cause. Bend to nothing of this kind. 
 Stand up straight, leaning neither forward nor backward. 
 Have reasons for what you do, whether you think it necessary 
 to state them or not. Be able to look any man or woman in 
 the eye. Let the consequences be what they may, bear your 
 own responsibility in ways that satisfy your own minds and 
 consciences, and let other people carry the responsibility that 
 belongs to them. 
 
 It would be well to announce a certain day in each week 
 when you will be at home, so that all who may want to come 
 and see you may count upon finding you. Apparently it 
 should be a day when teachers are free from the schools. You 
 are bound to know the roads in your district as well as the 
 mail carrier does, and you ought to be as familiar with all the 
 homes as is the tax collector. An official visit to a school is 
 not made by a look at the schoolhouse. Work half a day 
 with a school and make a visit accomplish something worth 
 while. Scrutinize all the parts of the building and outbuild- 
 ings, and look to the furnishings and appliances. If there is a 
 
13 
 
 nuisance on the premises, require that it be abated at once as 
 the law amply empowers you to do. If the building needs 
 repairs or if the teacher is without conveniences for her work, 
 go and see the trustee and arrange to have things made right. 
 Make your visit very welcome to the teacher. Do not sneak 
 and do not bluster. Do not let the thermometer drop forty 
 degrees while you are there. More emphatically still, do not 
 flatter. Just be kind and frank and capable. Know what in 
 the way of spirit and efficiency ought to be there, and work to 
 get it there. Bring in something that will brace up the school, 
 make the teacher a little more earnest, a little more courageous, 
 and a little more sure-footed. If it is necessary to suggest 
 things to her, as it generally will be, do it without hesitating 
 but in ways that will gratify her if she has many of the attri- 
 butes of a true teacher. Before you correct her it would be 
 well to make sure that what you propose is consistent with the 
 educational policies, theories, and methods which the training 
 classes and normal schools have been instilling into her. Per- 
 haps it would be better to see first whether she has the school 
 in her hands, holds the interest and respect of pupils, and is 
 giving them plenty to do. If she has, it might be well to let 
 her keep on doing' it in her own v.'ay, vv'hether her ways seems 
 to meet the sacred canons of the higher pedagogical criticism 
 or not. If she has not, then go in and try to improve matters, 
 with the assurance that you will not make them worse, and 
 with knowledge that it is your business, and with some con- 
 fidence that it is within your power to make them better. Do 
 not gossip around the district. Do not have profound secrets 
 or many confidences. Do not make promises to be performed 
 longer ahead than tomorrow or the next day. When you 
 enter into an engagement, take out your notebook and put it 
 down, and mark it off when you have done as you agreed. 
 Do not cross bridges before you get to them, and when you 
 do cross them march over like an old soldier, erect and right 
 in the middle of the road. 
 
 You will have to use your sense as to the exercise of your 
 powers. The law always assumes that powers will be exer- 
 cised by rational officers. That does not mean that an officer 
 shall be left to himself to determine what the law is or what 
 it means; nor does it mean that an officer may decide whether 
 a law shall be executed or not. The purpose of the law must 
 always be considered; mere expressions must never be taken 
 
14 
 
 by themselves and invoked to overthrow or thwart the manifest 
 intent. Your duties and functions are general. You will have 
 to do some things which are not specified in the Constitution 
 and the written laws. The main purpose of the Education 
 Law concerning you is that you shall be capable and assiduous 
 in building up the schools and in quickening education in your 
 districts. You are to do whatever you can do that will pro- 
 mote that end, unless it violates some law or invades some 
 right. 
 
 It is to be hoped that you will distinguish between the man- 
 agement of the business interests of the schools through the 
 district meetings and the trustee system, and the supervision 
 of the instruction through superintendents. Beyond tender- 
 ing friendly advice you should not interfere with school meet- 
 ings or the doings of the trustees, except in cases where the law 
 expressly empowers you to give directions. As to the instruc- 
 tional work, you should not allow the meetings or the trustees 
 to do more than give you friendly advice. As to the teaching, 
 you should know what needs to be done, and see that it is done. 
 But by all means, officers chosen to promote the same good 
 ends should treat each other with every consideration and work 
 together harmoniously and efifectually. 
 
 The new law provides for the payment of your official ex- 
 penses by the State up to a limit of three hundred dollars a year. 
 That is an important factor in the new plans for keeping you 
 traveling about your districts. Your bills will have to be sworn 
 to and they must be approved by the Commissioner of Educa- 
 tion. None but moneys which you actually pay out will be 
 approved. Now let there be no foolishness about this thing. 
 Carry a memorandum book, and enter every item you pay out 
 and at the time when you do it. Every three months transfer 
 that list to the blank forms provided and send it to the Depart- 
 ment. Be exact to the cent. There is no need of bending over 
 backward : if a farmer offers you a dinner, as farmers are prone 
 to do, eat it unless there is danger of some aberration of mind 
 which may dispose you to charge the State for it. It is hard 
 for most of us to be away from home, and when your duty 
 requires it you are entitled to make yourselves comfortable if 
 you can. But whatever else you do, keep your integrity and inde- 
 pendence ; they are the mainstays of success in school supervision. 
 
 The salary paid you by the State is not large. But you 
 have accepted the trust. The State is not likely to increase 
 
15 
 
 the amount very soon, because the State has been induced to 
 assume an additional burden of more than $150,000 for this 
 rural supervision, only after much persuasion. But there is no 
 reason why the supervisory district should not add to the super- 
 intendent's salary. If he is worth more, there is every reason 
 why that should be done. Such addition to the salary by the 
 supervisory district is the only expense which the district will 
 have to incur for school supervision. The State pays a part 
 of the salaries of superintendents in the cities and villages, but 
 not the whole of them, as it now does in the farming districts. 
 The new law encourages the districts to add to your salaries. 
 It can be done by the supervisors of the towns in the district. 
 I do not advise that you agitate that subject. I would not 
 fawn upon supervisors and disgust them if they are self-re- 
 specting men. You can not expect them to increase your sal- 
 aries unless the sentiment of the people supports it. I would 
 try to do so much for the schools that the people would know 
 about it and the common sentiment of the district would say that I 
 ought to be a little better compensated. Men and women who think 
 more about success than about wages are the ones who in the end 
 get the most wages. 
 
 You are the advance agents, the leaders and promoters, of 
 an educational revival in the rural districts of New York. 
 Your territory reaches to the remotest corners of the State. It 
 lies everywhere beyond the boundaries of the cities and the vil- 
 lages of five thousand people. It runs through all the valleys 
 and lies over all the hilltops of our imperial Commonwealth. 
 Your work has to do with all the homes. It has much to do 
 with the potentiality of our lands, with the volume and value 
 of our manufactures, with the happiness of the people, and with 
 the greatness of the State itself. It must be a rational, not an 
 emotional or spasmodic, revival. It must possess learning, it 
 must steadily gather in knowledge and power, it must organize 
 with expertness and fearlessness, it must apply pedagogical 
 methods that have been proved to be of worth, and it must 
 exercise, wisely and for a long time, the powers which the 
 State has entrusted to it, if it is to justify the recent legislation 
 which has given it existence and created its opportunity. 
 
 You are all-important factors in a great undertaking which 
 is expected to mark the opening of a new era in New York 
 education greater than any that has gone before it. In a year 
 or two there must be very definite results in every county of the 
 
i6 
 
 State. I have not dared merely to appeal to you to bear your 
 part sanely and bravely. I have declared what is expected of 
 you. There is nothing impossible, indeed nothing extremely 
 difficult, about organizing an enduring educational movement 
 which will further uplift the State and add to her prestige in 
 all the states. I anticipate it with entire confidence. You may 
 be assured that it will not be put in jeopardy by any failure 
 of the supervision which the law directs the Education Depart- 
 ment to give to the work you are to do. The Department is 
 intensely in earnest, and expects to be exacting, even unre- 
 lenting. But that only means that its officers want to join 
 earnestly, honestly and sanely with you, and want you to join 
 in the same way with them, in a very serious and a very vital 
 undertaking, the success of which will bring honor to all of 
 us, and, what is vastly more important, will bring great advan- 
 tage to the people whom we cherish and to the State which we 
 are all anxious and proud to serve. 
 
THE OBLIGATIONS AND OPPORTUNI- 
 TIES OF DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENTS 
 
THE OBLIGATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF DISTRICT 
 SUPERINTENDENTS 
 
 THOMAS E. FINEGAN, THIRD ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 
 
 The pleasure of meeting the district superintendents selected 
 under the law of 1910, the first body of real, professional school 
 superintendents chosen to supervise the country schools of this 
 State, has been anticipated with keen interest for many weeks. 
 No body of educational experts has ever been chosen in this 
 country or elsewhere which has possessed greater opportuni- 
 ties to render their constituents pronounced service than is af- 
 forded by the work upon which you district superintendents 
 are about to enter. 
 
 This is not only your distinct opportunity but public senti- 
 ment is so well crystallized upon the necessity of the perform- 
 ance of this work, that negligence or failure on your part to 
 avail yourselves of this great privilege will not be pardoned or 
 tolerated. The very necessities of the civilization and commer- 
 cial interests of the whole State are such that the work which 
 has been assigned to you must in some way and by some body 
 of educational supervisors be completely and satisfactorily per- 
 formed. You must therefore possess a true conception of the 
 service which you are to render the schools under your super- 
 vision, or the legislative authority of our State which responded 
 to an advanced educational sentiment in the creation of your 
 office with its powers and duties, will undoubtedly be invoked 
 to abolish the office and create some other agency to perform 
 its functions. In other words, as you enter upon the perform- 
 ance of your duties, you must understand that you are to ren- 
 der unselfish and distinguished services to the educational sys- 
 tem of the State and that you are not simply to regard your- 
 selves as fortunate persons who have been chosen to fill a 
 public office and entitled to the emoluments thereof. 
 
 That you enter upon this work in the proper spirit and with 
 a clear realization of its importance is confidently believed. 
 That you are competent to perform this service, judged by the 
 standards of intellectual attainments and educational experi- 
 ence, is amply attested by the credentials which you bear. Of 
 the two hundred and seven superintendents authorized under 
 the law, two hundred and four have been chosen. Of these, 
 
 19 
 
20 
 
 forty-two are college graduates; twenty are graduates of the 
 State Nbrmal College; ninety-two are graduates of State normal 
 schools; thirty-five hold life state certificates; and twenty-eight 
 hold the teachers permanent certificate. Several are graduates 
 of both colleges and State normal schools. The average teach- 
 ing or supervision experience is twenty years. Many have 
 served as high school principals or village superintendents and 
 fifty have rendered efficient services as school commissioners. 
 Since the days of the Revolution, we have been taught that 
 " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and with this body 
 of educated, experienced men in charge of the supervision of 
 our country schools, we may well believe that the price of suc- 
 cess in your undertaking will be " eternal vigilance." 
 
 You should possess a complete mastery of the machinery 
 of the school system of the State. You should understand the 
 history of its growth and progress. You should have clear 
 ideas of its aims and purposes. You should always be stu- 
 dents of educational problems and alert in determining the 
 necessity of improvements and changes which are demanded 
 by the best educational thought of the day. It is quite as im- 
 portant that you should study and understand these problems 
 and be able to contribute toward their solution as it is .that 
 you should possess a comprehensive knowledge of courses of 
 study, of the subject matter which is to be taught, and of the 
 accepted methods of presenting a subject in the classroom, if 
 you expect to render efficient services to the State and to the 
 district in which you are employed. 
 
 You should have a keen appreciation of the accepted policy 
 of the State in its maintenance of a system of free common 
 schools. The schools wherever located are always the institu- 
 tions of the State. The schools in each supervisory district are 
 the schools of the State and a part of the State system of free 
 common schools established under the Constitution. A gen- 
 eral policy adopted in relation to the management of the schools 
 of the State applies alike to the schools of each supervisory dis- 
 trict. This has been the accepted doctrine of the State in relation 
 to public education for a century. This principle has been re- 
 peatedly upheld by the highest courts of the State. You are 
 therefore not to look upon the schools of your supervisory dis- 
 trict as being separate and distinct from the schools of the rest 
 of the State. Each of you has a common interest and purpose 
 in all your work which bears upon the entire school system of 
 the State. 
 
21 
 
 What has been said upon this point should not be construed 
 to mean that there is to be a tendency to centralize in working out 
 and carryingf into effect the details of the operations of the 
 school system. This discussion has been for the purpose of 
 pointing out as clearly as possible the relations which you 
 bear to the State in the performance of your duties. On the 
 other hand, the greatest liberty and freedom and initiative will 
 be accorded district superintendents. They are not to be re- 
 stricted or hampered. The burden of many details which the 
 Education Department has been required to administer under 
 the present plan of supervision is to be turned over to you, 
 but you will be held to a strict accountability in your plan of 
 executing them. It is quite probable that Mr Wiswell will 
 obtain more information from daily inspection reports and will 
 therefore be less exacting in his demands for a final annual 
 report on library affairs. It is also within the range of human 
 possibilities for Mr Sullivan to loosen the reins somewhat on 
 the distribution of blank attendance certificates. If he should, 
 you may rest assured that there will be a day of final reckoning 
 for the superintendent who transcends his power in the issuance 
 of one of these certificates. In short, if you will do as much to 
 exalt and dignify and respect the office of district superin- 
 tendent as the Commissioner of Education and all those asso- 
 cited with him will do, you can make the office one of the most 
 important, honorable and serviceable in the public school 
 system. 
 
 In this connection it seems advisable to comment upon a 
 practice which has grown up in the office of school commis- 
 sioner. It is the practice of shifting responsibility. Many 
 school commissioners who were unwilling to shoulder official 
 responsibility have often said, '" This is a requirment of the 
 Department and I have no discretion in the matter," " I shall 
 be willing to do this if the Department will consent," and at 
 the same time they well knew that the law prohibited their 
 doing the very things under discussion. The days are rare 
 when the Department does not receive communications from 
 teachers and school officers saying that they have written upon 
 the request of a school commissioner. Conduct of this kind 
 weakens the grasp of your professional standing and authority 
 and utterly destroys your official influence. Meet every ques- 
 tion upon its merits and when a direction or even an official 
 order is to be given perform your duties squarely and take the 
 
22 
 
 responsibility that goes with it. Do the thing because you 
 know it is the right thing to do and not because some superior 
 official may have suggested it. Performance of your official 
 duty in this manner will strengthen your character and your 
 official prestige and command the respect of your constituents. 
 
 Before January i, 1912, you should become so familiar with 
 the Education Law that you will be able to answer any or- 
 dinary legal school question. If a question is presented to 
 you for determination and you need time to investigate, take 
 it and inform your inquirer that you will advise him within a 
 specified time. Then go into the question and determine it. 
 You will surprise yourself in a short time* on your accumulation 
 of a knowledge of the school law and Department regulations 
 and also on your ability to determine things yourself. Write 
 to the Department whenever necessary or when you need as- 
 sistance upon a vexatious question. Ordinarily write direct 
 to the chief of the division who has the administration of the 
 work to which the subject matter of your inquiry is related. 
 If his reply is not sufficiently illuminating, write an assistant 
 commissioner and, if this official disappoints you or fails to give 
 the aid sought, go direct to the court of appeals in educational 
 matters in this State — to the Commissioner of Education. 
 There you will always be heard with cordiality, patience and 
 helpfulness. 
 
 So far the functions of your office have been treated in a 
 general way only. With these general principles in mind, let 
 us consider some of the specific phases of your work which 
 should command your prompt attention. 
 
 The question has been frequently asked, " What is the first 
 thing which we shall be expected to do?" You are to enter 
 upon your term of office on January i, 1912. That day is a 
 legal holiday and one of those holidays on which the public 
 schools may not be in session. Nothing will be expected of 
 you on that day. But on the following morning at near nine 
 o'clock, you should be at the door of some schoolhouse. There 
 should be two hundred and seven real genuine school inspec- 
 tions on that day. There should be a thorough examination into 
 the physical conditions of the school property and the equipment 
 of the school. The construction of doors, stairways, staircases 
 etc., should be especially looked into to ascertain if the law 
 intended to provide adequate egress in case of fire is complied 
 with. If the building needs repairs or if its condition is such 
 
23 
 
 that a new building should be erected or if the construction of 
 the outbuildings does not conform to the law and they are not 
 in a clean and wholesome condition, you should wait upon the 
 trustee before you leave the district. You may be able to 
 obtain from the teacher information as to the sentiment of the 
 district and the characteristics of the trustee before you call 
 upon him. Talk with him informally about the situation and 
 show him the needs of the district. He will not always readily 
 agree with you but this need not discourage you. If necessary- 
 induce him to call an informal meeting which you may attend 
 and there present in as convincing manner as possible the 
 neglect of the district and the improvements which should be 
 made. 
 
 You should make a careful inventory of the apparatus and 
 other necessary helps. If the district has not a suitable dic- 
 tionary, globe, maps, charts, furniture etc., you should make 
 a note of it. You should examine the school library to ascertain 
 if the books which it contains are adapted to the needs of the 
 district and are sufficient to meet the demands of the elementary 
 syllabus. A deficiency in this respect should be noted. These 
 too are matters which you should take up with the trustee be- 
 fore leaving the district. As these officers are usually busy men 
 and sometimes of defective memory, it would be well to advise 
 them that you will send a written report of the district needs 
 with the expectation that they will be provided without delay. 
 The teacher may be relied upon to advise you whether your 
 suggestions have been complied with. A second visit to a 
 school miay be necessary to see that improvements are being 
 made as suggested. Never fail to follow up any case demand- 
 ing attention until your directions have been fully complied 
 with. Acqiiire the reputation from the start of demanding only 
 those things which are just and proper and equitable to the 
 interests of the children and then insist upon a complete com- 
 pliance with your demands. 
 
 Proceed cautiously but firmly. Very often you can secure 
 the cooperation of influential women as well as men who will 
 be of material aid in your work of improvements. Be patient 
 and exhaust every available means before issuing a formal 
 order, but make such order when necessary. The law vests 
 you with much power in these matters and you should know 
 your rights therein. A trustee may expend $50 for repairs 
 to the schoolhouse without authorization by a district meeting. 
 
24 
 
 If that amount is insufficient, you have the authority to make 
 an order authorizing the expenditure of an amount not to 
 exceed $200. When this amount has been expended, you may 
 make an order for the expenditure of another like amount. 
 You should designate in this order the particular repairs to be 
 made. 
 
 When a schoolhouse has no furniture or its supply is insuffi- 
 cient or if the furniture in use is unfit and not worth repairing, 
 you may make an order directing the trustee to expend $100 
 or so much thereof as may be necessary for the purchase of 
 suitable furniture. You should designate in your order the 
 furniture which must be provided. 
 
 When a schoolhouse is unfit for use and not worth repairing, 
 you may make an order of condemnation and compel the erec- 
 tion of a new building. You have absolute authority to de- 
 termine the amount which should be expended in the construc- 
 tion of such building. The district meeting may reduce the 
 amount expressed in your order by 25 per cent but if you are 
 proficient in percentage you can fix the amount on a basis to 
 afford a school building adequate to the needs of the district. 
 The making of one of these orders should come only when 
 " patience has ceased to be a virtue " and the assessed valua- 
 tion of the district which determines its ability to pay should 
 be taken into consideration. 
 
 Give special attention to the provisions of section 457 of the 
 Education Law which relates to the outbuildings. School au- 
 thorities have full power to include in a tax budget the amount 
 which a district superintendent approves for constructing or 
 repairing these buildings. Failure on the part of a trustee or 
 a board of education to obey this section of the law is sufficient 
 ground for removal from office and for withholding the public 
 money of the district. Do not hesitate to invoke this authority 
 when it is necessary to provide such outbuildings as should be 
 found in any civilized community. 
 
 Many of our school districts have inadequate sites. You 
 should inaugurate a movement which will lead to an increase 
 in the size of school sites. The children of every school dis- 
 trict in the State are entitled to a playground. It should not 
 be upon the streets. Play enters as much into the proper edu- 
 cation of a child as study. These playgrounds might well be 
 called the schools' athletic fields. They should be large enough 
 to afford room for the usual games in which children are in- 
 
25 
 
 terested. They might well contain croquet grounds, tennis 
 courts, a ball ground, etc. Of course, it will not be possible 
 to provide all these things in all the school districts in the State, 
 but if your interest in the matter and your powers of persua- 
 sion are sufficient, very many of these may be provided in thou- 
 sands of the districts and all of them in, some. Start the move- 
 ment in one district and see how rapidly the plan will spread. 
 The expense is not great in a city and will be even less in the 
 country. Principal Deevey of one of the public schools of 
 this city will be very glad to show you an equipment which 
 cost $125 and provides amusement for four hundred children. 
 Every village and many of the country centers should provide a 
 playground where the boys of the community may as a matter 
 of right have recreation and amusement without becoming 
 trespassers. The logical place for these recreation centers is 
 in connection with the schools. Establish such centers for the 
 boys and they will not be found at the country grocery listen- 
 ing to and participating in the filthy discussions which you and 
 I know abound in such places. 
 
 You will be expected to forward to the Education Depart- 
 ment weekly reports of your visitations. Proper blanks will 
 be transmitted to you in due time. There will be one change 
 in relation to these reports to which your attention is directed. 
 Except in extraordinary cases the Department will not com- 
 municate with school officers on the necessity of improvements 
 to school property. District superintendents will attend to 
 such matters. To be of service these reports must be trans- 
 mitted regularly at the end of each week. 
 
 All reports required of district superintendents must be filed 
 as directed by the proper officer of the Department. Unneces- 
 sary reports or duplication of reports so far as possible will be 
 avoided. The serviceableness of a report depends upon its 
 prompt transmission. A single superintendent may hold up 
 important work of the Department through failure to make his 
 report as required by law. An efficient officer will not be 
 guilty of such an offence and the offence will not be tolerated 
 in another officer. 
 
 There are about fourteen hundred school districts in the State 
 having an enrolment of less than ten pupils each. There are also 
 fourteen hundred school districts having an assessed valuation of 
 $20,000 or less. This is an average of seven of these small districts 
 to each supervisory district. In some counties the average is lower 
 
26 
 
 and in many it is much greater. Nearly one-half of these districts 
 are located in twelve counties. These are as follows : Cattaraugus, 
 41 ; Chenango, 75 ; Cortland, 43 ; Delaware, 68 ; Jefferson, 54 ; Madi- 
 son, 64 ; Oneida, 75 ; Oswego, 41 ; Otsego, 90 ; St Lawrence, 58 ; 
 Steuben, 50; Washington, 43. 
 
 A satisfactory school can hardly be maintained with so small 
 a number of pupils and the expense of the maintenance of a 
 good school on such a low valuation makes the taxation bur- 
 densome. It would therefore be in the interests of economy 
 of administration and sound school policy if all of these dis- 
 tricts could be dissolved and annexed to adjoining districts. 
 Such action, however desirable, is often impossible. Yet such 
 action might be taken in many of these cases. The subject 
 should have your attention. It is not intended that you should 
 immediately make such orders as the Education Law authorizes 
 you to make in such cases to wipe out all of these districts. 
 In the dissolution of school districts, this general principle is 
 controlling : " Where a school is already established and the 
 inhabitants of the district insist upon retaining it and are will- 
 ing to support it, the district should not be dissolved." Of 
 course, some overwhelming educational necessity might be 
 sufficient to overcome this general rule. The action which you 
 take in these cases should be with the common consent of the 
 districts to be affected. When you have become sufficiently 
 acquainted with the territory of your district to reach a con- 
 clusion on the advisability of action in any district, you should 
 take the question up with the trustee and other leading citizens 
 in the district. Point out to them the advisability of living in 
 a school district which is strong numerically and financially 
 instead of one which is weak. Show to them that their prop- 
 erty is enhanced more in value by a strong school within a rea- 
 sonable walking distance than a weak school nearer by. 
 
 We have considered only the physical side of the school. 
 Suitable buildings, adequate equipment and attractive grounds 
 have their place and influence in our scheme of public educa- 
 tion. But the professional side of the work is quite as im- 
 portant. Your inspection of this phase of school work is one 
 of the most vital services which you are to render in your ad- 
 visory capacity. You will have some inadequately trained and 
 inexperienced teachers under your direction. They need your 
 assistance and many of them desire it. Gain their confidence by in- 
 
27 
 
 dicating your kindly interest in them and your endeavor to be of 
 service to them. 
 
 The place where you can render your greatest service is in 
 the schools of your poorest teachers. You will be found there 
 oftener than in your best schools. The one great end to be 
 attained is better teaching. Better teaching will make the 
 school more attractive and hold the children longer. You 
 should resolutely determine that the teaching of the funda- 
 mentals shall be more patient, accurate and thorough and shall 
 have direct bearing upon the child's life. You are to give the 
 same intelligent direction to the work in our ungraded schools 
 that a city or village superintendent gives to the schools under 
 his supervision. You should guide each teacher in the course 
 of study. You should determine along what lines work shall 
 be emphasized in the seventh and eighth grades. Your body 
 will be given representation on each of the committees which 
 outline the work of the elementary syllabus. Previous to the 
 Capitol fire, members of the Department had prepared for rural 
 schools several sample programs based upon the work done in 
 some of the test of these schools. This material was destroyed 
 but the work is again well under way and will be in printed 
 form for your service in the near future. In all of this work 
 you should have clearly in your mind that the prime function 
 of the elementary schools is to develop the intellectual powers 
 of the child and to inculcate into his being the idea that he is 
 ultimately to take his position in life to render service in some 
 form not only for himself but for mankind in general. 
 
 To accomplish all these things there must be better teachers. 
 How are these to be obtained and how can district superin- 
 tendents aid in securing them? There are employed in the 
 present school commissioner districts fifteen thousand of these 
 teachers. About four thousand of these hold life state certifi- 
 cates, college graduate certificates, State normal school diplo- 
 mas and special certificates. These teachers are generally em- 
 ployed in the schools maintaining academic departments. The 
 ungraded schools are usually taught by those holding training 
 class certificates and other forms of certificates issued by the 
 school commissioners. About one-half of these hold training 
 class certificates. Only four hundred and thirty of the ele- 
 mentary certificates were issued last year and we look to a dis- 
 continuance of this form of certificate. 
 
28 
 
 Eighty-nine training classes are maintained at present. It 
 will not be possible materially to increase this number. The 
 number of applicants for admission to these classes is insuffi- 
 cient to warrant such action. About the best that can be 
 expected is one class for every two supervisory districts. Super- 
 intendents should agree upon the schools to be designated to 
 instruct these classes. It is immaterial in which supervisory 
 district the class is maintained. The school containing the best 
 facilities for this work and able to command the largest number 
 of the best qualified applicants should be agreed upon. 
 
 We must gradually work to a higher standard of qualifica- 
 tions for admission to these classes. One-third of those now 
 entering training classes have completed an approved four-year 
 high school course. This should be the ultimate requirement 
 for admission to such classes. Through your efforts this stand- 
 ard may be set. Some of you will say that the issuance of the 
 teacher's academic certificate diverts this class of pupils from 
 the training classes. The facts do not sustain this argument. 
 There are more high school graduates in the training classes 
 now than there were before the issuance of the academic teach- 
 er's certificate. The issuance of this form of certificate should 
 increase the number of this grade of pupils in the training 
 classes. Over one thousand teachers holding the academic cer- 
 tificate were employed in the rural schools last year. An addi- 
 tional thousand will be employed this year. At the end of next 
 year and annually thereafter, there will be about two thousand 
 teachers who have had two years' experience in teaching, who 
 are graduates of an approved high school course, and who are 
 without certificates legally qualifying them to teach. It is from 
 this class of teachers that you should find recruits for your train- 
 ing classes. With their education and experience, and one year's 
 work in a training class, they would possess a splendid equip- 
 ment for teaching in our country schools. Locate these teachers. 
 Suggest this course to them and induce as many of them as 
 possible to enter training classes. 
 
 Your visits to the schools of a town will reveal the weakest 
 points of your teachers. You may discover that the subject 
 of reading is poorly taught. Call a meeting of the teachers of 
 the town. If you are not an expert in teaching reading, find 
 some one who is. Call upon the normal school nearest you for 
 assistance. Call upon the training class teacher or upon the 
 principal of one of your high schools or some other teacher in 
 
29 
 
 your district who is able to give instruction in that particular 
 subject. Devote the day to a consideration of it and then go 
 back into these schools in the following week and see that the 
 improvements suggested at the conference are put into opera- 
 tion. If the teachers are weak in the teaching of arithmetic, 
 pursue a similar course. Do not feel that this work is impossi- 
 ble until some substitute for teachers institutes is provided. Do 
 your best with the forces at your command and any additional 
 service necessary to the success of your work will in due time 
 adjust itself and will be upon proper, well-conceived plans. 
 
 Put as much life and spirit into the classroom work as 
 possible. Enthuse your teachers. Show them how to bring 
 their pupils into the actual spirit of the subjects in which 
 instruction is given. Show them for instance that the study of 
 history is not a consideration of dead matter but of subjects 
 which still bear upon and influence the life and development of 
 our intellectual progress and our democratic institutions. In- 
 augurate a campaign incident to school work by which the 
 school children shall mark every historical spot in every school 
 district in the State. Indicate the great Indian trails, the line 
 of march in the great Revolutionary struggle, such as Wash- 
 ington's retreat up the Hudson, Schuyler's operations in the 
 Champlain valley, the battles of Saratoga and Oriskany, Sulli- 
 van's expedition, etc. To mark these historical lines, use the 
 common boulder, the granite or the bluestone which is found in 
 nearly every county in the State. This can be done without 
 loss of time to the children and be made an instrument of great 
 benefit to them and of patriotic service to the State. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great progress which has been made in 
 the educational work of the State, there are yet many important 
 questions connected with the administration of the public school 
 system which have not been satisfactorily worked out. If there 
 were no unsolved problems in this work, your opportunities 
 would be somewhat limited. It is your good fortune that there 
 still exist many questions of educational policy to be determined 
 in the particular field which you district superintendents repre- 
 sent. These problems demand careful consideration from all 
 those who are charged with responsibility in the administration 
 of the State's educational system. 
 
 It has long been the ambition of the people of every small 
 village in the State to provide the best educational facilities 
 possible for their children and yet this work has been planned 
 
30 
 
 without some real definite purpose to be accomplished. The 
 enactment of the union free school act in 1853 was an expression 
 of the sentiment of the people upon this question. The purpose 
 of that law was to bring together more pupils and a greater 
 amount of property to the support of a single school so that 
 more efficient teachers might be employed and broader courses 
 of study maintained without imposing too great a burden of 
 taxation upon the locality. It was this desire of the people for 
 more advanced instruction and the enactment of the law of 1853 
 which has developed our splendid system of free public high 
 schools which permeates every section of the State. It often 
 occurred that these academic institutions were organized be- 
 cause the overwhelming public sentiment of the community was 
 in favor of providing more liberal educational facilities for all 
 the children. In many cases schools of academic grade were 
 organized because enterprising business men desired to main- 
 tain as good schools as some rival neighboring village possessed. 
 In other cases people desired their children at home at the ages 
 when they attend high schools and they believed it would be 
 more economical to provide advanced instruction at home than 
 to pay board and tuition away from home. It is immaterial 
 what the controlling motive was which led to the organization 
 of these schools. We have them and none too many. The work 
 which they are doing is neither unappreciated by the State nor 
 unimportant in its influence upon the life of the communities 
 in which they are located. The fact that the people have cheer- 
 fully organized and m'aintained these schools is evidence of 
 their support and cooperation in all reasonable plans which will 
 promote sound educational policies and provide a scheme of 
 instruction which will bear directly upon the training and equip- 
 ment of boys and girls for the service which they will in all 
 probability assume in the practical activities of life. 
 
 There are six hundred and ninety-eight free public high 
 schools in this State. These schools are distributed as follows: 
 seventy-three in the cities, forty-one in the villages having a 
 population of 5000 or more, seventy-eight in the villages having 
 a population between 2000 and 5000, and five hundred and five 
 in the villages having a population of 2000 or less. In other 
 words, of the six hundred and ninety-eight public high schools 
 in the State, five hundred and eighty-three are located within the 
 territory which is under the supervisory jurisdiction of the two 
 
31 
 
 hundred and seven district superintendents who are to assume 
 their duties on January ist next. 
 
 The duties of a district superintendent relate largely to rural 
 schools and therefore to elementary education. Yet, in my 
 judgment, the question as to what shall be the definite work of 
 these five hundred and eighty-three schools of secondary grade 
 which are located in the supervisory districts of the State is one 
 of the most important questions which will demand your serious 
 consideration. The work which these schools do has an impor- 
 tant bearing upon the work and life of all the schools which are 
 tributary to them. 
 
 Statistics upon the basis of supervisory districts are not avail- 
 able but the statistics based upon the reports of school commis- 
 sioners are sufficient to show the point which is under consid- 
 eration. These reports include the statistics of the villages of 
 5000 population or more. The high schools which are located 
 outside of the cities were attended last year by about 30,400 
 pupils. The elementary schools in the same portion of the State 
 for the same year were attended by about 430,000 pupils. The 
 expense of maintaining these high schools and academic depart- 
 ments was $2,590,183. The expense of maintaining all the ele- 
 mentary schools outside of cities for the same year was $10,- 
 145,585. In other words, the number of children in attendance 
 upon the elementary schools is to the number attending the high 
 schools of the supervisory districts of the State as fifteen to one 
 while the expense of the maintenance of these schools is as four 
 to one. The point is not as to whether we are spending too 
 little upon the elementary schools or too much upon the high 
 schools. It is not even intended to suggest that less should be 
 expended on academic instruction, for much more could be 
 advantageously used for this purpose. The question is. Are the 
 people getting as much for what they are expending on these 
 academic schools as they should receive? Could these institu- 
 tions be operated on a basis which would give a greater return 
 on the investment? 
 
 The number of pupils attending the high schools which are 
 located outside of the cities is about one-fourth of the total enrol- 
 ment of all the high schools of the State. Assuming that the 
 attendance for each of the four years in these high schools bears 
 the same relation as their aggregate attendance does to the 
 aggregate attendance of all the high schools we obtain illumi- 
 nating results. This basis of computation would show that in 
 
32 
 
 high schools of the supervisory districts there would be the 
 following enrolment : 
 
 First year 1540° 
 
 Second year 8200 
 
 Third year 5000 
 
 Fourth year 3400 
 
 Number graduating 2500 
 
 From these figures it is seen that at the end of the first year of 
 these high schools about one-half of the pupils drop out. At 
 the end of the second year, about two-thirds of those in attend- 
 ance during the first year have dropped out and at the end of the 
 third year about four-fifths of those in attendance during the first 
 year have dropped out. Of those who enter the fourth year, only 
 about three-fourths are graduated. This decrease in yearly attend- 
 ance may be accounted for in a measure through the fact that part 
 of these schools are only junior and middle high schools. But 
 even at that the situation is humiliating. There are on the 
 average four graduates to each of the six hundred high schools. 
 It is not an uncommon thing to find a high school having one 
 or two members in the graduating class who are preparing for 
 college. 
 
 Is it not possible to redirect the work of these schools by the 
 adoption of courses of study which will attract and hold and 
 constantly increase the number of pupils in these advanced 
 schools? It is not intimated that these schools should not pre- 
 pare pupils for college or that because there are so few desiring 
 to pursue the college preparatory course that such courses 
 should be discontinued. Most assuredly these courses are to be 
 continued and you should be able to increase the number each 
 year who enter upon the study of such courses. You should 
 soon become acquainted with every boy and girl in attendance 
 upon the schools of your supervisory district. You should be 
 an inspiration to many of them and you should encourage and 
 direct as many of them to the colleges of our country as show 
 attainments which should lead them in that path. 
 
 But you are to do even more than this. You are the official 
 guardians of the educational interests of about four hundred 
 and fifty thousand children. Of these only fifteen thousand ever 
 enter the secondary schools. What is to be done for the four 
 hundred and thirty-five thousand, about one-half of whom have 
 not satisfactorily completed the elementary course? These boys 
 
33 
 
 and girls are to have your serious thought and attention. These 
 six hundred high schools touch the life of every farm in the 
 State. These schools are within driving distance at least of 
 every home in the agricultural sections of the State. What 
 can you do to aid in placing in these schools a scheme of instruc- 
 tion that will bear directly upon the service in life which these 
 young people will be required to render and which will be 
 uplifting and helpful to them ? No scheme of instruction is com- 
 plete or fair today which fails to take into account the needs of 
 the girls who are to become the future mothers and homemakers 
 in this great State. It is fortunate for the interests of the State 
 that there are sitting in your membership today thirty-nine 
 women who will see to it that the children of their sex shall 
 have an equal advantage in the instruction of the public schools 
 which is to fit them for their life service. This is one of your 
 problems and when you shall have contributed to its solution 
 you will have rendered the State and all mankind a service of 
 immeasurable value. You will not be accountable to me for 
 what you fail to do for the secondary schools under your super- 
 vision but I am sure that my esteemed colleague Dr Wheelock, 
 the Second Assistant Commissioner of Education, will have you 
 in mind. 
 
 If important matters relating to your work have been omitted 
 in this discussion, have the graciousness to overlook this short- 
 coming. If too much in detail has been suggested, have the 
 charity to pardon the offense. It is the earnest hope of the 
 speaker that matters sufficient in number and in importance 
 have been suggested to afford you a year of busy, profitable, 
 official life. Let us enter upon this work on January ist next 
 with a determination that an account of our stewardship at the 
 end of the period of five years shall show a greater improvement 
 in the educational facilities of our country schools than has been 
 shown in any generation of their existence. Let the obligations 
 imposed not only by law but by your conscience and the rare oppor- 
 tunity of a service vital to the interests of the State and her people 
 be your inspiration in this work.