THE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AS SUPERVISOR.

Every community should be asking itself, "What can we do to better our schools." They were excellent once, they have retrograded. How shall we rescue them? They are good, how can we maintain their excellence? They need improvement, how shall it be brought about? Who will direct this change? Upon the answer given this last question by school boards in towns employing a force of ten or more teachers depends the future of the city schools in Wisconsin, and in a large measure also of neighboring states; for Wisconsin is an educational leader.

The school board that has not delegated supervisory powers to some particular person finds itself confronted with two classes of problems. The first class is purely business matters relating to the financial management of the schools. They are fairly well fitted to Ideal with these. The second line of duties is in an educational direction. Somebody must frame courses, select and direct teachers, choose texts, hold teachers' meetings, be a final authority in matters of discipline. Is there a school board in the state of Wisconsin with the temerity or ignorance to presume that they could throw light on any one of the thousand questions that arise in connection with each one of the educational problems suggested? Heaven forbid!

Since no well-balanced man will attempt that he cannot possibly do, it follows that as some one must supervise and unify a school system, a board must delegate their power in these lines to the best qualified man available. Who shall it be?

The most natural general answer is that it must be someone better acquainted with educational ends and means than any of the school force he oversees. Cities that do not recognize this truth, which think that teachers do not need supervision, that an educational system will correlate and unify itself, such cities I say have compromised on the supervision question by making one member of the board or some professional man resident in town, superintendent of schools. Sometimes this is done with the best of intentions, on the avowed theory that though principals and teachers may change the schools go on just the same under the supervision of a man who does not move. Further, it is more economical, for such supervision costs but one or two hundred dollars a year. Such a system of supervision (?) has been placed in the city charters of several Wisconsin towns most of which are now abandoning it.

Why they are abandoning the business man

superintendent idea is almost too evident to need explanation. Supervision to be worth the name must be professional, constant and conscientious. No business man can grasp and solve educational problems on a moment's notice. A salary of a few hundred dollars would not even tempt him to turn aside from his ordinary line of thought to try it. As a result the different grades are in about the same relation to each other as the country schools in a township; teachers are left to the dictates of their own conscience as to the faithfulness with which they perform their duties. Perfunctory inspection or visitation by one who is not qualified to criticise or suggest, accomplishes nothing of real good. Teachers' meetings and pedagogical supervision are often forced on a principal whose heavy high school duties and pre-occupied time prevent his doing much of permanent value. system, if such it may be called, breaks down and a substitute is sought. The most natural move is to make the high school principal supervisor of the eight grades and of the four years of the high school. This calls to the work one who is actively engaged in teaching, acquainted in a measure with its problems, interested in the grades at least to the extent of seeing good work done preparatory to the high school. Further this secures the services

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of one man doing the work of two for one man's salary. Who would not admit that these seem clear arguments in favor of the high school principal as supervisor in schools where supervision is the great need?

Before going farther let me repeat what has been suggested as to real supervision. To be worth the name supervision must come from a source higher in training, broader in knowledge, deeper in its zeal and teaching purpose than the range of the powers of the teachers supervised. The superintendent must know each subject in its richness of relation and mould methods that reveal to teacher and pupil this unity in variety. This means in the superintendent the union of the eqivalent of university culture with normal training or its equivalent. Granting for the present that he has time for the duties of visitation is the average high school principal equipped for the work of supervision?

It is freely granted that years of experience or more than ordinary native tact and skill modify what follows-please bear this in mind when these generalizations are put forward; first that the men at the head of many Wisconsin high schools are comparatively young men, and second that they depend either on a college course or a normal school education for their knowledge of matter and method. The

college trained principal may have received a splendid general education, but under ordinary circumstances this does not give him a mastery of the best methods of teaching fractions, it does not qualify him to outline and direct a course in drawing, to tell what supplementary reading should be introduced in the fourth grade, or direct a teacher as to the proper point at which to call pupil's attention to the use of a scale in map drawing. The fact that he may have taught the higher branches in a high school for two or three years does not necessarily make the questions asked much easier of solution.

The case with the normal trained principal is about reversed. His professional training may have called his attention to the technical questions given in the preceding paragraph and he could throw light on their solution, but it is to be remembered that he is first of all principal of the high school, with the duty of teaching his classes in such a way that they are prepared as to matter and method to continue study for themselves in after life or under the direction of university professors. If the aid given grade teachers takes his time he must then depend largely on previous preparation. If he is a high school graduate he has his high school training, such as it may have been, plus possibly, not necessarily, a term or half-year of normal school work in, say, physics or general history or English literature. With time taken up with preparation of material for grade teachers, so there is opportunity to do no more than skim through the text-book assignment for the next day, I submit there can be none of the teaching our high school pupils demand. As a normal friend put it, "I feel like a man running a race. I just get within hailing distance of to-day's tasks when to-morrow's work joins the race. and hits up the pace.'

In this discussion it has been conceded that the high school principal has time for inspection. But it is not the case. Suppose he has even four vacant periods a day to inspect, though I think half as many will strike the average. This leaves him four studies to prepare in such a way as to come to the class room with an amount of knowledge that makes a text book unnecessary. It makes him turn over to assistants, already overworked, studies that he knows he ought in justice to assistant and pupils, to be teaching himself. When he is inspecting some assistant is holding recitations in the main room. Nine chances out of ten, owing to the character of the assistant, the study, or the pupils, the principal would be earning his salary better if he had taken charge

of the main room and allowed the assistant to retire with the class to a side recitation room. Further, what has the supervising principal carried to his visitation? A mind occupied with the problems of the high school for which he is still directly responsible and which is his nearest and dearest interest. It is the high school that makes or breaks his reputation as a teacher. If things go wrong there, he has no one to hold responsible but himself, and he knows that however much good inspection in the grades may do it is silent work for a class of pupils who are not keen critics of methods, and if it makes him spend less of needed time on the high school which is much in the public eye. If things go wrong there with seventyfive keen and worthy critics to report at home, his work in the public schools falls flat then and there. Now confess my brother supervising principal, is this not your attitude of mind? And you are right in it.

For the grades the principal as supervisor is better than the business man or no supervision at all; it would be still better if he could select the teachers on the force; but for the supervising principal himself, and for the high school of which he is the head, the scheme is not good. It fools the board and people into satisfaction with shame, half-way measures. Where the force includes ten or more grade teachers, an enrolment of six or seven hundred pupils or even fewer, with a high school that requires three teachers, and the whole school system housed in more than one building-to such a school system a superintendent, who teaches but a class or two in the high school, and has a principal to hold responsible for the conduct of this department, and can then devote mind and time to the school system in its entirety-be he normal or university trained, is, if he is fairly capable and conscientious-the cheapest man on the force, no matter what salary he his paid.

Grand Rapids, Wis. GUY S. FORD.

IS THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT A SUPERVISOR?

Under existing conditions in Wisconsin, the superintendent can hardly be said to supervise, in the fullest sense of the term, the work of the school room. His field of labor is too broad, his authority too limited.

schools a day he can rarely spend more than two hours in the school room. That length of time twice a year can suffice to do very little in the line of personal supervision. Very few such officers spend that much time in any one school. In many counties they find it impossible, with their other duties crowding upon them, to visit all the schools even once a year. It is extremely doubtful if, by reports, by correspondence, or by any other substitute for personal inspection, the work of the school room can be adequately supervised.

In the famous schools of the Jesuits of the middle ages, close supervision was deemed of prime importance. Quick says of them that since the revival of learning no body of men played so prominent a part in education as the Jesuits. With their talent for organization they framed a system of schools that drove all important competitors from the field, with the result that, for more than a hundred years nearly all the foremost men in Christendom had received the Jesuit training. Great care was taken in these schools that changes in the staff of masters did not lead to change in the management. Each teacher was bound to carry on the established instruction by the established methods. To secure this a rigid system of supervision was adopted, and reports were furnished by each of several officers to his immediate superior. The teachers were carefully watched both by the rector and by the Prefect of studies, and it was the duty of the latter to visit each teacher in his class at least once a fortnight, to hear him teach. Our best city supervision now is on much the same system, and confessedly realizes the best results. Not until county schools have a skilled supervisor for every forty or fifty schools and the work has the entire time of this officer, can we hope for satisfactory returns. Under the present system the superintendent sees but little of the teacher's work and method. A few recitations may, to the practical observer, show what a teacher can do, but what she will do in the ninety-nine days he is not present often varies widely from what he is led to expect. So the good results to accrue from his visit and the few suggestions he may make, depends largely upon the character and zeal of the teacher.

The more experience one has in this office the more he realizes the lack of any direct legal authority to meet numerous emergencies that arise. An applicant appears for examination, and we are satisfied from past observation or common report that no certificate can be granted this person without jeopardizing the moral or intellectual interests of the pupils in

some school. Yet the applicant may write papers earning the required percentage. In such a case the burden of proof rests with the examining office if a question is raised as to the propriety of granting a certificate. The matter of revoking a certificate is still more difficult to reach, even where flagrant cases occur. To remedy these defects in our system we urge the need of the superintendent being given a larger discretion in questions of moral character, and ability to teach as demonstrated by practice. The very looseness and indefiniteness of the law governing his duties in general leaves this office one in which an unworthy official may do much harm, an indifferent one do nothing; but one who is earnest, conscientious, a real teacher and a lover of youth has here an almost boundless field for the exercise of his talents. While this field of influence is so broad, the effort must be wise and well-directed, and be backed by a strong public sentiment or it falls to the ground because of the lack of statutory authority. Let me suggest a few lines where his supervision is only advisory, but where his influence, if exerted where it will do the most good, may bring about many improvements in the schools under his charge.

The law gives him no power to designate textbooks to be used, or to change those already in use, yet by recommendations to school boards from his wide knowledge of the different elementary text-books extant he may secure the exchange of many of the older and poorer editions for books that are the product of the best modern thought, pedagogical in plan and literary in expression. By being "instant in season and out of season" he may eventually reach all but those farthest removed from his influence, and most conservative in their thoughts and opinions. In like manner the condition of the school house and outbuildings may be improved, and the comfort and moral well-being of the pupils looked after. Sometimes our legal authority has been stretched to accomplish it, but the end reached has seemed to justify the means. In reporting our visits to school boards we have brought these matters to their attention, and have had the satisfaction of seeing five new school houses erected and furnished, others refitted, and a large number of new outbuildings taking the place of those which had long been physically and morally unfit for use. These schools will now do better work, exert a wider influence and turn out material for better manhood and womanhood.

Black-boards, dictionaries, registers, maps and charts have been reported on urgently

and often, with encouraging though not unvarying success. It has seemed, at times, like "casting bread upon the waters," though we have more than once been surprised in seeing fruits "after many days." We have dwelt strongly on these material things, being convinced that the best pedagogics would not avail without preparing the ground, the best methods be sadly handicapped from lack of usable material and from unhappy surroundings. What one has done with tolerable success others can improve upon, for school boards, when approached in the right way will, in the main, prove that they have the interests of the schools at heart.

We have usually visited our seventy-nine schools twice a year, a few three times, still we realize how scant is our observation of the work that is done. To supplement, besides reports and correspondence, we call the teachers together frequently in local and general meetings, where all give and receive instruction, information and counsel. The summer schools have been officially conducted, that the attendance and instruction might both tend to meet the observed needs of the school

room.

Another means by which the teacher's work may be directed is through the popularizing of graduations from the rural schools. The superintendent can interest himself in the advancement of the pupils in the course of study, urge the value of graduation, send the teacher out to induce the pupils who have left school through lack of definite aims, to re-enter and thus increase the size and strength of graduating classes. In this county we have held joint graduating exercises at different points, where the graduates are honored with much of the ceremony that makes commencement day such an event in the higher schools. Thus an ambition "to stand in their places" is roused in the younger classes. Parents, too, add to the enthusiasm by their presence and interest. At the same time we keep control of the class work by requiring teachers to follow the Manual in all things, give strict examinations on uniform questions, the papers being re-examined before diplomas are issued. Promotions from the middle to the upper form are similarly conducted. The latter we regard as worthy of the careful attention of the superintendent, as it is possible for pupils to get into the upper form through the connivance or carelessness of teachers, when the work of the lower grades is very imperfectly understood. The effect of these mid-course examinations, if carefully conducted, will be to greatly strengthen graduating classes, certainly in quality, perhaps also in numbers.

The purchase and management of the township school libraries should receive much attention from the superintendent, for through these libraries he is able to supply much supplementary material that could not otherwise be placed in the hands of the pupils. He must first make sure that proper books are purchased. Then he can assist the teacher in grading them to the different classes, direct as to their use, and urge the pupils to search out the treasures which these volumes contain. Not only is helpful material placed in their reach for the time being, but tastes for good literature are formed that shall be of inestimable value in their education. These suggestions are not new to most workers in our rural schools, but hoping they may be helpful to some, is the spirit in which they are here presented. There is much ground for pessimistic views on this subject. Yet we wish to repeat that a grand field of labor is open to the earnest officer, the results of which the bounds of his county will not limit, and eternity alone fully reveal. If he be an inspiration to teachers and pupils, if he stand for progress, for industry, for high ideals, his influence is boundless. He may be handicapped, he may see much of his best effort fail of the fruition he desires; still we know of few fields where more energy and devotion are needed, or where these qualities will bring about grander results than in the sphere of the county superintendent.

C. E. LAMB,

Supt. La Crosse Co. Schools.

SOME FUNCTIONS OF A CITY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.

The official duties of a city superintendent of schools bring him into relation with at least five classes of persons, viz.: the community, the parents, the pupils, the teachers, and the board of education. By standing rules of the board of education, the relation of the superintendent to some of these classes of persons is partially defined. The powers and duties of a superintendent are so many and so varied, however, that it is impossible to define them fully by rules. Many powers and duties are so generally understood or so plainly implied as not to require statement in that form. But it is helpful to all parties concerned occasionally to recall some of the duties that are implied and commonly performed by superintendIn the few minutes that are at my disposal, it will be impossible to do more than to present a few thoughts on the relation of the superintendent to the foregoing classes of persons.

ents.

Relation to the Community.

For

An educational system in order to have coherence and vitality must be a growth, always progressive. Every new departure should be a safe and natural advance. Changes should be made to build up, not to tear down. the strength and wisdom which shall combine permanence with progress, guard schools from crude conceits, infuse heart and vitality into mechanical methods of teaching, and secure a steady unfolding of well-matured plans, the community looks principally to its superintendent. The superintendent is more and more regarded as the professional expert of the community and, on all educational questions, he is regarded as an authority, just as an attorney is regarded as an authority on legal questions. In the suprintendent the qualifications of the scholar, the business man, and the professional man are supposed to be combined in due proportions, and to be exercised with just correspondence on all needed occasions.

With the manifold duties devolving upon the superintendent in the business department of his office, and the limited time and means at his disposal for professional duties, the work of supervising the instruction, must, in many cities, be more or less neglected or at best must receive but superficial attention.

The purpose and character of different superintendents vary widely and in essential respects. One makes a study of schoolhouse architecture, and devotes his time and energy mainly to manipulating the board so as to get them to erect good school buildings; another spends most of his time in attending to the routine work of the office; a third may make the mere machinery of school work his chief concern, devising plans for managing the promotion of pupils and for conducting examinations and conveniently tabulating the results; a fourth may make some one phase of school work, such as language-work, manual training, drawing, geography, etc., the main purpose of his effort; still another may endeavor to advance the work of the schools along all of these lines at the same time.

It is the duty of a superintendent to make the schools strong in the community, to make them popular with the people. In order to do this, the efficient superintendent sets into working order all of the educational influences in the community. He often renders the schools invaluable service by interesting the fathers and mothers, the tax-payers and voters, in their present condition and needed improvements. He may gain their attention and support by inviting them to teachers' meetings, where all interested can learn of what is

being attempted and of the purpose, means and methods of modern education; by holding evening meetings at which questions of methods of instruction and of discipline may be discussed by both parents and teachers; by school exhibitions, where some of the more tangible results of school work can be displayed; by arranging special visiting days, when the regular work of the schools can be observed; by providing monthly and yearly reports of pupils' work and progress for the inspection of parents; and by interesting the local press in reporting school news and abstracts of addresses at teachers' meetings and other gatherings connected with the schools.

Relation to Parents.

The superintendent should endeavor to show parents that, by striving to improve the general work of the schools, he is laboring for the educational welfare of their children as truly as is the teacher who hears recitations. He often acts the part of intermediary in settling differences and misunderstandings between parents and children on the one hand and teachers on the other. On account of dealing with children, the teacher's vocation inclines. him to self-assertion; he is apt to become opinionated and dogmatic. A parent's love is apt to blind him to the faults in his own children, even if he does not magnify the faults of others. Bring an opinionated teacher and such a parent together, and you have conditions which are favorable to a first-class controversy. This condition suggests one of the principal functions of a superintendent. The skill and wisdom of this officer will be seen in curbing the teacher's vanity and in curing the parent's blindness, and at the same time retaining the co-operation of both. Most controversies properly cleared of misunderstandings are reduced to a compass so small as to shame those who persist in standing upon them. But parental opposition and meddling is not so much to be feared as parental indifference to the work of the schools. "It would be an excellent thing," says ex-State Supt. Pickard, in his book on School Supervision, "if the superintendent could plan meetings with parents where open discussion of methods of instruction and discipline would bring the parties to a better understanding of each other's views." Such meetings would do much toward awakening a helpful interest in the schools, and they would be the means of avoiding some of the misunderstandings that arise.

The superintendent should be fertile in devices which work silently and gradually toward improving the method of instruction or of discipline. Take for example a device having a