Chapters on school supervision; a practical treatise on superintendence; grading; arranging courses of study; the preparation and use of blanks, records, and reports; examinations for promotion

Preface

Every man is a debtor to his profession. At the outset of his career, the current practice which he adopts is an inheritance left him by his professional ancestry; and this, in turn, is to be transmitted to the next generation with such additions as his own industry, sagacity, and thrift, have been able to accumulate during a life of professional toil. Science grows by the increments — insignificant, perhaps, in themselves — which individual experience contributes to the common stock; and no one has a moral right to leave the world without taking care to assure to posterity the net results of a life devoted to a special pursuit.

The profession of teaching has not enjoyed a profusion of such legacies. While men in other professions willingly contribute the results of their matured experience to those who are to succeed them, teachers have been slow to render such a service to their professional brethren. Compared with Law, Medicine, and Theology, Teaching is almost without a professional literature. In the other professions named, not only is there a vast collection of practical works, vi PREFACE.

the recorded results of individual experience, but there are numerous treatises on the history and philosophy of the several sciences — attempts to collate the great facts in each art, and to deduce from them certain first principles which may serve to prepare the way for a more rational practice. Of works of the first class there are but comparatively few to which teachers may have access; while of the second class there is scarcely a single example, in English, which, with any propriety, can be called a treatise on the philosophy of education. The great law of the division of labor has called into existence a new class of professional men, whose duty is the supervision of schools and school systems; yet, up to this time, no work, not even the most elementary, has been published on an art whose importance can scarcely be over-estimated.

The present work is offered as a contribution to the practical literature of teaching. Its general scope and purpose are best explained by remarking that it is a record of experience. The plans and suggestions which it embodies were not inspired by mere theories of what ought to be, or of what might be, but are the results which have been reached in the course of a considerable experience in the management of schools. It is not meant by this that all the plans herein contained are original; on the contrary, many of them have come, either by suggestion or adoption, from the current practice in school supervision. The writer

PREFACE, Vll

will scarcely be robbed of any credit which really belongs to him, if the reader .is left to infer that this book merely presents an outline of the i3ractice which is current in our best graded -schools.

It is due alike to the reader, the writer, and the critic, to state that this treatise is written from a particular point of view, — that of a superintendent of a school system such as is found in the smaller cities of this country. I do not presume to wTite for the instruction of those who superintend the school systems of our larger cities. Having had no experience in work of such magnitude and complexity, I have no fitness for giving advice as to the doing of this variety of school-work.

I am not aware that a work of this special character has ever been presented to the public; and, as it has been composed without models to follow, it will, no doubt, be easy to base a just criticism both on its matter and its method. If it serve no other good jDurpose, it will, I hope, stimulate abler hands to execute a similar undertaking, more worthy of the i^rofession whose interests it is designed to promote.

The doctrines which are embodied in this work are expressed with the utmost frankness, yet not, I hope, with any thing wdiich borders on dogmatism. Freely granting to all men the right to express their opinions with freedom and

Viii PREFACE.

emphasis, I here claim a similar right to express my convictions on some disputed questions in educational policy. I see very clearly that some of the opinions which are here embodied will meet with a hearty protest in many candid minds; but, while I can not hope that the general line of policy which I have attempted to set forth will be acceptable to all, I think I may, without imjDropriety, bespeak that judicial fairness which dares to weigh opinions at variance with cherished convictions.

One remark may save the author from misinterpretation and the reader from possible mistakes. In all that relates to practical school-work, such as grading, tabulating courses of study, arranging programmes, etc., etc., the aim has been chiefly to illustrate the general principles which should be observed. In actual practice such modifications must be made as peculiar circumstances may require.

I take pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to Superintendents Doty, Rickoff, and Harris for some of the forms included in this volume. Others have been prepared expressly for this work, and are the exclusive property of the Publishers.

W. H. Payne.

Adrian, Mich.,

Notice to Examining Committee ....

-Many of these forms are copyrighted, and are the property o f the publishers

Chapter I The Nature And Value Of Superintendence

(II)

SUMMAR Y.

Mental energy and muscular energy. Human society a hierarchy of forces. The highest forms of labor often undervalued. The highest form of labor that which involves the expenditure of the highest form of force. Division of labor a law of human progress. Civilization a process of differentiation. Division of labor as applied to education. A school system requires direction by one responsible head. Two varieties of labor are required in every systematized industry. Empiricism in teaching. The reign of law. The science of education. Educational science in Great Britain. The need of school supervision not every-where acknowledged. The responsibility of superintendents.

THE NATURE AND VALUE OF SUPER- INTENDENCE.

1. Mental energy and muscular energy. — The hand and the brain both toil. Each has its appointed office to fulfill, and each is entitled to a consideration proportionate to the quality of the service which it renders. The energy which is expended in lifting and pounding has its measurable value; and the mental pov/er which determines the nature and amount of muscular activity has its value. But these values are not the same, and are not measurable by the same standard. The human organism is the seat of a hierarchy of forces. Some are appointed to command, others to obey; some are employed in devising plans, others in executing them; some work in silence, far removed from sensual observation, others are obtrusive and give ceaseless evidence of their existence. Mental energy and muscular energy have their respective values. Each is indispensable in the economy of nature, and each is to be valued according to its rank in the hierarchy to which it belongs.

2. Human society a hierarchy of forces. — Human society is also a hierarchy of forces. Organization implies subordination. If there is to be a plan, some one must devise it, while others must execute it. As the members of the human body execute the behests of the supreme intelligence, so in human society the many must follow the direction of the few. It is not possible to conceive a state of society in which there are not inequalities based on gradations in the ability to govern. For one man who can design a house, there are a thousand who are able only to lay the brick and the stone as they are directed. For one man competent to plan a military campaign, there are myriads of soldiers whose province is to obey the orders of their commanders. Human society is organized on the principle that the weak are to be protected by the strong, the improvident by the provident, and the masses of mankind voluntarily submit to the guidance of those who have the faculty of directing.

3. The highest forms of labor often undervalued. —

The energy which is expended in supervision, in direction, in government, is not always estimated at its just value. In general we estimate the value of labor by the amount of demonstration which accompanies it. The sailor who climbs the mast, who furls the sail, and who heaves out the bilge-water, seems a more useful man than the helmsman who scarcely moves a muscle of his body. So accustomed are we to measure all things by the impressions which they make on our senses, that we are slow to acknowledge the supreme importance of those imponderable forces which really govern and direct. The thunder terrifies, and so Jupiter Tonans is worshiped and propitiated. It w^as left to a later and* a wiser age to discover that the agent which blasts and kills is as imponderable as thought. Men, too, are inclined to measure all labor by a reference to their own experience. Agricola, who sweats as he toils, and is covered with the dust which his own violent exertions have , raised, can scarcely realize that Clericus, cool-browed and clean, is at all worthy of a laborer's hire.

DIVISION OF LABOR. 1 5

4. The highest form of labor that which involves the expenditure of the highest form of force. — But

the highest form of labor is that which is attended witli the expenditure of the highest form of force. Between muscular energy and mental energy, the antithesis is too striking to be overlooked; but different orders of intellectual power may give their possessors unequal spheres of usefulness, and may therefore entitle them to unequal rates of compensation. Abilities may be ranked according to their relative comprehensiveness. The commanding general, who, at one glance, takes in the whole military situation, and wields his forces so as to meet the exigencies of the situation, is the natural .superior of the thousands who, Avith powers of mind less comprehensive, merely execute the plans prescribed by their leader. The highest forms of labor, therefore, are those Avhich^ involve the expenditure of the highest forms of energy.

5. Division of labor a law of human progress. —

That distribution of labor which characterizes our higher civilization has established system and method in every branch of human industry. Where the several portions of a complicated process are assigned to special hands, a general plan must bind together the related parts, and secure their harmonious and efficient action; and back of this plan there must be an intelligence to coordinate and control. He who secures uniformity, accuracy, and harmony in a complicated industrial process, imparts additional value to the products of each man's toil. Superintendence is therefore not only a necessity, but is the highest and most productive form of labor.

6. Civilization a process of differentiation. — Civilization is a process of differentiation. Rude tribes are homogeneous with respect to their industrial state. There is no division of labor whereby each man devotes himself to that pursuit in which he has the most skill. But as civilization advances, occupations become more and more diverse, as men restrict themselves to industries more and more specific. In new settlements, a tradesman sells hardware, groceries, dry-goods, medicines, boots and shoes, etc. ; but as population increases, and other tradesmen come into competition Avith him, he restricts himself to a single branch of trade, in which he is specially skilled. In the tribal condition of mankind, the same man is priest, lawgiver, physician, and teacher; but soon there is a separation of functions, each man devoting his attention to the pursuit for which he has the greatest aptitude. As the priest was the most learned man in early communities, he was also the teacher; and the first schools were connected with places of religious worship. The church has ever been the foster-parent of the school; and Christianity has signalized her conquests by founding institutions of learning. Gradually, however, the work of instruction has been relegated to laymen, and teaching has become a secular employment. But traditions are slow to disappear, and even now it is rare to find a college president who is not a clergyman, and there are few schools in which there are not religious observances of some description.

7. Division of labor as applied to education.—

Isolated schools may meet the requirements of a sparse population; but in highly civilized and populous communities, the work of instruction follows the great law of the division of labor, and different portions are assigned to those who have special aptitudes. It is soon discovered that children are best taught in a school by themselves: and if the number of pupils is sufficiendy large, the adults are assigned to one teacher; those who are younger, to a

TWO VARIETIES OF LABOR. 1 7

second; and the mere children, to a third. Thus there arises the idea of grades, based primarily on age, and finally on acquirements. Farther than this, certain branches of instruction are assigned, as specialties, to teachers who have a peculiar fitness for giving instruction in them. Pupils thus classified by age and attainments, and taught by those who are specially fitted for restricted portions of the work of instruction, constitute a Graded-School, or a system of such schools.

8. A school system requires direction by one responsible head. — It is thus seen that the work of instruction follows the law which prevails in all other industries — differentiation, classification, system; and, as in a complicated process of manufacture, while each workman is held responsible for that part which he executes, some one man is held responsible for the general result; so in an extended system of instruction there should be a responsible head, able to devise plans in general and in detail,' and vested with sufficient authority to keep all subordinates in their proper places, and at their assigned tasks. A graded-school of a thousand pupils and twenty teachers involves a system of great complexity, and requires the nicest adjustments in order to work with harmony and efficiency. The arrangement of courses of study, the examination and classification of pupils, their discipline and correction, the oversight of teachers, the compilation of records — these are some of the items on which depends the success of the system, and which require the attention of a single responsible head.

g. Two varieties of labor required in every systematized industry. — Two varieties of labor are required in every occupation — that of planning and that of executing.

Most men work after prescribed rules. It is easier to follow the footsteps of others than to beat a new path for ourselves. Some, however, are most naturally and successfully employed in organizing, planning, and supervising. This difference is constitutional. While most men are content to know how a process is performed, a comj^aratively few are imi^elled to study the rationale of methods. In other words, there is empirical knowledge and scientific knowledge — a knowledge of processes merely, and a profounder knowledge of the laws which underlie these processes. The engineer who drives his engine merely from imitation, and the engineer who understands the construction of this wonderful machine and the mechanical principles which are involved in its working, possess two widely different grades of qualifications. The first is a machine in charge of a machine; to the other, the engine is as though it were transparent, revealing its minutest part, and wholly subject to his directing will. In case of accident, these two orders of knowledge are brought into striking contrast. The lower knowledge is useless in times of derangement — under abnormal circumstances; while the higher, being able to penetrate into the causes of disturbance, may restore the normal situation of affairs. The peculiar value of scientific knowledge is the extent of its jDre visions — previsions which may be employed either in anticiiDating and providing against disaster, or in devising new and better j^rocesses.

10. Empiricism in teaching. — It is safe to say that there is no profession in which empiricism prevails to such an extent as in teaching. In other professions there is a course of preparatory training, designed to unfold the scientific principles which underlie the arts in question; and in actual practice there is constant reference to the laws which are involved in the various cases presenting themselves, and an effort to discover the causes of that which is abnormal,

THE REIGN OF LAW. 19

and thus to proceed by rational methods. In teaching, however, tradition and imitation are dominant. In this country, at least, teaching is for the most part a mechanical employment, and teachers differ from one another chiefly in industry and tact. To superintend the work of instruction with advantage requires, at least, considerable executive ability, a somewhat complete knowledge of the branches taught, and ready skill in discipline. With these qualifications alone, a system of instruction may be kept from deteriorating, but it is not likely that it will be improved to any considerable extent — improved, that is, by the conception of more philosophic methods, and the skillful adaptation of means to desired ends. What is involved in an improvement purposely made ? A close scrutiny of the principles involved ; an ideal scheme of what is desirable; and an intelligent employment of adequate means. The improvement is first constructed in thought, by ' ' the scientific use of the imagination, " and then the plan is patiently embodied in practice. Superintendence, then, requires, in addition to practical skill, scientific prevision derived from a profounder knowledge of the science of education.

II. The reign of la"w. — A characteristic feature of modern thought is the extension which has been given to the province of law. Formerly, physical phenomena alone were thought subject to the laws of cause and effect, while vast domains of nature were relegated to the caprices of chance; but now, social phenomena and mental phenomena, the organization of society and the creations of the intelligence are admitted to be under the reign of law. If, even now, certain classes of phenomena can not be explained by bringing them under higher generalizations, it is not because they are not cases of a general law, but because the network is so complicated that human ingenuity has hitherto been unable to unravel it; yet it is certain that the whole current of modern thought is setting steadily in the direction of extending the domain of law, and hence of scientific prevision. It is thus that each art has its correlative science; that is, each process is recognized as depending on definite laws of cause and effect, a knowledge of which will serve to account for failures and to open up the way for studied improvements.

12. The science of education. — Along with the discovery that mental phenomena may be explained by referring them to the general laws which regulate the processes of thinking, feeling, and willing, there has dawned the idea that education Is not merely an imitative art, but that, in fact, it rests on an ascertainable basis of law, and that its processes may be perfected by bringing them into harmony with nature. While this conception is slowly gaining ground, educational methods are still chiefly empirical; teaching is, for the most part, an art without principles, — a handicraft exercised from convenience or from necessity. To be ennobled, an art must offer free scope to the exercise of the intellect ; the trained hand must derive fresh accessions of skill from the cultivated brain. Education is waiting to be thus ennobled; and coming generations should be trained by the skill of teachers who are able to adapt means to desired ends, through a knowledge of the laws which underlie the unfoldings of the human intelligence, and even the assertions of the human will; and if the great army of teachers must follow prescribed methods, they should be led by those who are master workmen, versed both in the theory and practice of teaching. How shall our educational methods be regenerated? How shall they be subjected to revision and correction? By what standard shall novel methods be tested? These queries disclose the need of recognized first principles

EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 21

to wliich we may refer for proof of the validity of our methods, and by the light of which we may place the art of teaching in that course of progress which characterizes all other professions. FaciUties should be given for the cultivation of this new science, and for bringing its truths to bear on the current practice of teaching. Superintendents of schools should be the apostles of this new gospel, and should preach its truths to those who depend on them for guidance.

13. Educational science in Great Britain. — There is reason to think that an educational philosophy is now in process of formation, and that, ere long, there will be a rational escape from many of the uncertainties, absurdities, and embarrassments which now beset all varieties of school work. The following extract from a recent number of The Popular Science Monthly gives evidence of the direction in which educational thought in Great Britain is moving.

' ' One of the most important papers read in the Section of Economic Science of the British Association was that by Mrs. Gray on the 'Science of Education.' The author complained that in Britain there is no adequate or general conception of what education is, and, therefore, of the magnitude and complexity of the facts on which a science of education, which can never be an exact, but only a mixed and applied science, must be based. We start with a confusion of terms, using education as synonymous with instruction; and the confusion of thought indicated by this misnomer runs through our whole treatment of the subject. It is surely time that this confusion should be replaced by a scientific conception of the process which should result in the most valuable of all products, — human beings developed to the full extent of their natural capacity. What is wanted is that teachers, like practical navigators, should be furnished with the principles of a science they have not had to discover for themselves, and with charts to guide their general course, leaving to their individual acumen the adaptations and modifications required by special circumstances. We have such knowledge to guide us in improving our breeds of cattle and our crops. Must we remain without it in the infinitely more important business of improving our human crop, of getting out of our human soil all that it can be made to yield for social and individual good? Must every tyro still be allowed to try experiments, not in corpore vili, but on the most delicate and precious of materials — the human body and mind — in the most powerful of all forces — human passions and the human will; experiments in which success or failure means virtue or vice, happiness or misery, lives worthy or unworthy; sowing with every action a seed of good or ill, to reproduce itself in an endless series beyond all human ken?"'

14. The need of school supervision not every- ■where acknowledged. — It is an anomalous fact that while all men freely acknowledge the need of enlightened supervision in mechanical employments, in trade, and in government, there is often extreme reluctance to admit its value and necessity in the management of school systems. Men who themselves are most usefully employed in directing the affairs of a printing-office, of a book-store, or of a foundry, will deny to a school the right of having a responsible head. Nor is it difficult to account for this reluctance. First, there is the general fact that teaching is not generally regarded as an art having processes of its own, requiring skill of a special kind, and needing special preparation for its duties. In the view of all who have formed this notion of teaching, ' the man who is charged with the duty of sujDcrvising the work of instruction is a supernumerary. Then there is the special fact that, as yet, there has not been a clear differentiation between teaching and superintendence.

KESrONSIBILITY OF SUPERINTENDENTS. 23

The fact that superintendence requires a different kind of knowledge, perhaps a higher order of knowledge, is not generally admitted. And thus it is that even if some oversight is deemed to be requisite, it is assumed that it can be exercised in an unofficial capacity by the Board of Education or by some one of the regular teaching force. The real fact is, as I have attempted to show, that the complicated structure of a graded system of instruction requires a constant oversight by one responsible head, able to direct the movements of the whole system, and vested with sufficient authority to enforce, if necessary, a compliance with his decisions; and, further, that, in response to this need,, the law of the division of labor has called into existence, out of the teaching class, a new body of professional men who differ from teachers as an architect differs from the workmen who follow the jDlan which he has prescribed.

15. The responsibility of superintendents. — By

that inherent law of progress whereby vocations are specialized, the active administration of city and village school systems has been intrusted to superintendents and principals. Though not authorized to expend a dollar of public funds on their own authority, they virtually direct the outlay of a large portion of the moneys raised for educational purposes. By common consent, superintendents are allowed to have an influential voice in the arrangement of courses of study, in the adoption of text-books, in the selection of teachers, in the purchase of apparatus, in the distribution of work, and, in general, in every important item of school economy. In reality, therefore, the turning point of success in public school affairs is the industry, skill, and good sense of those who are charged with the duty of employing the ways and means which the people so generously supply. It is a discreditable fact that, on the whole, the net results of our public school administration are far below what they ought to be, when considered with reference to the total expense at which they have been secured ; and it is a fact still more discreditable that, to a considerable extent, this result is chargeable to the incompetence of those who have the direct supervision of schools — to a lack of professional skill in the performance of the trusts which have been assigned them. In all industries the condition of success is skilled labor — skill in the operative and skill in the oversight of operatives ; a skill which uses every item of material to the best purpose, and turns out the greatest amount of the best products. In teaching there is a lack of skilled labor, and especially of that variety of labor which is most truly productive — supervision. It is to an awakened zeal among superintendents and principals that we must look for a body of doctrine which shall introduce rational processes into all departments of school work, and thus make possible an economical use of the resources which a generous people bestow on universal education.

Chapter II

THE SUPERINTENDENT'S POWERS DEFINED AND SOME OF HIS GENERAL DUTIES DISCUSSED.

■ SUMMARY.

The people may delegate certain powers to a Board of Trustees. A Board of Trustees may assign certain duties to a superintendent of schools. Superintendents and principals. The time which may be profitably devoted to general supervision. A superintendent should not be subject to interference in the discharge of his professional duties. The classification of pupils. The selection of teachers. The examination of teachers. The sources from which graded-schools may derive their teachers.

THE SUPERINTENDENT'S POWERS AND DUTIES.

i6. The people may delegate certain powers to a Board of Trustees. — When the people have chosen a certain number of men, as their representatives, to administer a portion of their interests, a virtual contract has been made whereby these interests have passed for a time from their direct control into the hands of their agents. The powers thus assigned are irrevocable during the period for which these representatives are chosen, or until they are removed from office by impeachment or other legal process. Thus during their term of office the trustees of a school district have the entire administration of school affairs, and are not subject to the dictation of those by whom they were appointed. From the very nature of the representative system, certain limits are assigned to the jurisdiction of school officers; but while acting within these limits, their official action should be dictated only by their own enlightened sense of duty. What end is gained in electing men of superior qualifications to official positions, unless they are granted some independent use of their own wisdom and discretion? Officials should certainly respect the honest convictions of their constituents, but they should as certainly be guided in their official acts by their own convictions of right and duty in all matters which have been intrusted to their care. In case of evident maladministration, the people may obtain legal redress; or if there is dissatisfaction with the manner in which an officer has performed his duties, there is the effectual remedy, at the close of his official term, of choosing his successor. The employment of teachers, the fixing of their salaries, the selection of text-books, the adoption of courses of study, the purchase of libraries and apparatus are among the duties exclusively assigned to boards of trustees; and the integrity and intelligence with which these duties are performed will determine the efficiency and worth of the school system.

17. A Board of Trustees may assign certain duties to a superintendent of schools. — By a further extension of the representative system, a board of trustees having charge of the general educational interests of a community may delegate certain powers and assign corresponding duties to a superintendent of schools; and while acting within the limits of these delegated powers, this officer is as far removed from interference by the board of trustees as the latter is from interference by the people.