THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 347 



each state. The independent city districts might raise further 

 funds for the support of their schools, if they so desired. The 

 school districts in the county might also raise an additional sum 

 for the support of their school, although in the ideal system the 

 county funds should be sufficient for all school purposes. It is 

 essential that the county board of education have power to ex- 

 pend the county funds wherever they are most needed, regard- 

 less of the portion of the funds coming from any particular 

 school district. 



The average county in the United States is too large an area 

 for adequate supervision of its rural schools by the county super- 

 intendent, unless enough assistance is furnished him so that the 

 schools may be visited and the teachers assisted in their work 

 at regular, frequent periods. In the eighteen larger cities in the 

 United States in 1910 there was one supervisor for every nine- 

 teen teachers, devoting half or more than half of his time to 

 supervising. Such close supervision is probably not necessary 

 in the country schools. The county superintendent, however, 

 should have at least one assistant devoting his entire time to 

 supervising the instructional work of the schools for every thirty- 

 five or forty teachers. Massachusetts and Oregon, both of which 

 require all schools to be under expert supervision, have set the 

 maximum as fifty country schools in each supervisory district; 

 that is, fifty schools to one supervisor. In only a few cases, par- 

 ticularly in Massachusetts, do any supervisors have as many as 

 fifty. 



THE CHANGE FROM AMATEUR TO PROFESSIONAL 

 TEACHING * 



HAROLD W. FOGHT 



THE change from amateur to professional teaching may be 

 hastened in several ways: (1) Salaries should be increased 

 enough so a teacher with family may live on his income with- 

 out worrying how to make ends meet. Provision should also 

 be made, by legal enactment, for a liberal sliding-scale salarj^, 

 allowing the teacher's income to increase in direct ratio to 



i Adapted from "Efficiency and Preparation of Rural School Teachers/' 

 Bulletin 49 (1914), U. S. Bureau of Education. 



