April 20, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



375 



from being subordinated to local political 

 or personal ends. 



School boards of this type interfere with 

 the proper administration of the schools 

 in almost every conceivable way. The 

 writer could give fifty illustrations of the 

 improper exercise of power on the part of 

 city school boards and school-board mem- 

 bers which have come to his attention dur- 

 ing the past five years, almost all of them 

 being against the best interests of the 

 schools and interfering with their proper 

 administration and development, and more 

 than one good superintendent could be 

 mentioned who has been driven from office 

 by such confusion of functions. Our edu- 

 cational advance is irregular and in spots, 

 and progress is frequently followed by 

 retrogression. The large power of control 

 now exercised by city boards of education, 

 and the lack of any clear definition in our 

 laws as to the rights and functions of the 

 professional expert boards of education are 

 directed by law to employ, is to-day one of 

 the serious hindrances to satisfactory and 

 enduring educational progress. That this 

 condition tends to turn many young men 

 of capacity away from school administra- 

 tion as a career, and certainly drives some 

 of our experienced men into other occupa- 

 tions, can not be doubted. The remedy for 

 this condition lies in legislation that will 

 guarantee to every superintendent of 

 schools a right to be present and be heard 

 when any matter concerning the organiza- 

 tion or administration of the schools is 

 under consideration; the clear right of 

 initiative in the selection, promotion and 

 retention of subordinates; and the initia- 

 tive in many other matters which concern 

 the management of the schools. This will 

 guarantee to the superintendent of schools 

 what may be considered as rights in the in- 

 terests of the schools, and would in no way 

 interfere with the work of any board of 

 education interested in proper school ad- 



ministration. While I have stated else- 

 where that, in principle, it is perhaps wiser 

 that the superintendent of schools should 

 not be entitled to a vote, it may neverthe- 

 less become necessary, if our school boards 

 are not otherwise controlled in their ig- 

 norant interference with the work of a 

 good superintendent, to follow the practise 

 of a number of our corporations and seat 

 the superintendent ex-officio as a member 

 of the board of directors, and with a right 

 to a recorded vote on every important ac- 

 tion taken. 



A third obstacle to proper city educa- 

 tional progress is the short term — ^usually 

 one year — for which our superintendents 

 of schools are commonly elected. A trial 

 period of one year may in some cases be 

 desirable, but thereafter the period of elec- 

 tion should be long enough — four or five 

 year terms — to give the superintendent an 

 opportunity to carry out a constructive 

 educational policy. The present annual 

 election is a splendid means of keeping 

 superintendents in subjection to boards 

 who want to manage affairs, and to elimi- 

 nate easily all who can not be kept under 

 perfect control. The short term, the un- 

 certain tenure and the lack of power to do 

 much in too many of our cities not only 

 prevents capable men from rendering effec- 

 tive service to the communities which em- 

 ploy them, but also drives from the serv- 

 ice men of ability and promise. The lack 

 of any high professional standards, based 

 on education and professional preparation, 

 the want of a form of a professional state 

 certificate for supervision, coupled with 

 the short and uncertain tenure, also en- 

 ables boards of education to drive good 

 men from office and then fill their places by 

 others of a much lower degree of profes- 

 sional competency. 



If public education in the United States 

 is to increase in importance as a great con- 

 structive undertaking of our people; if 



