Community Civics and Rural Life Part 42

The state superintendent is sometimes elected by popular vote, sometimes appointed by the state board of education or by the governor. Under the state superintendent there are deputy superintendents, heads of departments, and supervisors of the various branches of educational work. The diagram on page 293 shows a plan of organization proposed for one state by the United States Bureau of Education.

RELATION OF STATE TO LOCAL ORGANIZATION

The extent of the supervision and control exercised by the state department of education over the schools of the state varies within wide limits. In some cases it is very little. In many states there are state courses of study that are followed more or less closely by local communities. In a number of states the textbooks used by all schools are selected either by the state board of education or by a special state textbook commission. In New York State the examination questions used in all schools are prepared by the state educational authorities. Some states furnish text books free, and in a very few the state even prints all textbooks. It has not been easy to work out a well-balanced plan of state administration of schools that would ensure a thoroughgoing education for the entire state, and that would at the same time leave sufficient freedom to local school authorities to adjust the work to local needs.

HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSt.i.tUTIONS

Many of the states support higher educational inst.i.tutions, such as state universities and state agricultural colleges, at which attendance is free for citizens of the state. There are also special state schools for defectives, such as the blind and the deaf.

POLICY OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT TOWARD EDUCATION

The national government gave its first support to public education by the Ordinance of 1787 under which the Northwest Territory was organized. It provided that "religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary government to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged." As new states were organized, sections of the public lands were to be reserved for school purposes. Grants of public land were also made for the establishment of agricultural colleges and experiment stations.

THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION

We have also noted the national cooperation with the states for agricultural extension work and for vocational education. The United States Bureau of Education is under the direction of the United States Commissioner of Education. It has exerted its chief influence through its investigations of educational methods and its numerous reports and other publications. It serves as a sort of educational "clearing house" for local and state school authorities. One of its chief endeavors has been to increase the educational opportunities in rural communities.

Report on the following:

Provisions of your state const.i.tution with regard to education.

Cost of public schools per year to your community; your county; your state.

How this cost is met in your town or county. Portion paid by the state.

Organization of your state department of education. Compare with the organization of state departments in neighboring states.

Arguments for and against the method of choosing your state board of education and your state superintendent.

Do the rural schools and city schools of your state operate under the same state supervision? Why?

Use of state course of study in your school and community.

Selection of textbooks for your school.

Advantages and disadvantages of uniform textbooks and course of study. Of uniform examinations throughout the state.

Management and support of your state university.

Qualifications for admission to the state university and state agricultural college.

Why you are (or not) going to college.

The value of the state university or agricultural college to your state.

State educational inst.i.tutions for the blind, the deaf, etc.

Arguments for and against national control of education.

Chief provisions of any bill now before Congress for a national Department of Education.

READINGS

In LESSONS IN COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL LIFE:

Series A: Lesson 11, Education as encouraged by industry.

Series C: Lesson 8, Preventing waste of human beings.

In Long's AMERICAN PATRIOTIC PROSE:

Educated men in politics (Grover Cleveland), pp. 255-257.

The educated man and democratic ideals (Charles E. Hughes), pp.

286-288.

In Foerster and Pierson's AMERICAN IDEALS:

The American scholar (R. W. Emerson), pp. 133-155.

Democracy in education (P. P. Claxton), pp. 156-157.

Reports of local and state departments of education.

Publications of the United States Bureau of Education.

Latest annual report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education. These annual reports contain excellent summaries of every phase of education in the United States and in many foreign countries.

Bulletins. Send to the Bureau for List of Available Publications.

These bulletins relate to every important aspect of education, school organization and administration, etc. Many of them are of special application to rural education.

Teachers of civics will find the following helpful:

1915, No. 17, Civic education in elementary schools as ill.u.s.trated in Indianapolis (Government Printing Office, 5 cents).

1915, No. 23, The teaching of community civics (Government Printing Office, 10 cents).

1916, No. 28, The social studies in secondary education (Government Printing Office, 10 cents).

1917, No. 46, The public school system of San Francisco, chapter on civic education.

1917, No. 51, Moral values in secondary education.

1918, No. 15, Educational survey of Elyria, Ohio, chapter on civic education (Government Printing Office, 30 cents).

1919, No. 50, Part 3, Civic education in the public school system of Memphis. Write to the U.S. Bureau of Education for list of references on pupil self-government. Also write to the School Citizens' Committee, 2 Wall St., New York City, for material on the same subject.

Earle, Alice Morse, CHILD LIFE IN COLONIAL DAYS (Macmillan).