their relation to the public, and more than all engender wrong constructions on the part of the superintendent respecting the value of the services of the teachers under his charge. A prominent superintendent in an eastern city frankly confesses that he has been held as in a vise, against his better judgment, in this hard mechanical grip of prevailing school organization, and has been obliged to fix the same crude clamps upon his subordinates, because the board of directors have no other conception of efficient school work. He has come to see that accredited practices under this system are wrong, misleading, and demoralizing in the extreme; but he cannot lift himself out of them, because the school authorities have imbibed the notion that these methods are invincible, and will visit any innovations upon them with a summary discharge. I do not know that I can touch upon any more delicate subject than the relation of the superintendent to the teachers under his charge. Even the most highly developed system of school organization and government cannot shut the door against the intrusion of narrow and incompetent men into every department of school work, from the city superintendent down. Until the millennium comes, we may be sure that school quacks will abound, men whose sole qualification is what Emerson calls "the power of face." If the superintendent is one of these, he will invariably make his presence known by despotic measures, resorted to in order to secure for his office the dignity and respect he cannot personally command. Absolutism and charlatanry go hand in hand. It is an infallible sign of empiricism in a superintendent when he makes a preliminary demand upon the school authorities that their management be delegated to him, that he may walk as an unchallenged autocrat among teachers and pupils, inspiring in all alike a terror of his power and awful presence. There is no remedy for this, so far as I know, unless it be in the growing intelligence of boards of directors, and in the safeguards which our statutory provisions may throw around the office. It is, however, fitting in this connection, and always, to urge upon school authorities the necessity of keeping constantly uppermost, in all their deliberations, and especially in the choice of superintendents, the dignity of the office, and the qualifications inherently rooting themselves in well attested devotion to the science of education for its own sake. The city superintendent, above all men, should be the gentleman first, for this will assuredly embody the highest that can be personally said of him. But next to this, and to some extent implied in it, he should be the earnest, thoughtful, patient, enthusiastic student of the human mind; plying his sacred task in this direction, in season and out of season, with pupils, teachers, and patrons; gathering incentive from current speculations, and from mutual counsel and interchange of views with men of his own class, so that his apprehension of his calling shall, in all essentials, harmonize with the thought and experience of those wise and safe leaders, to whom, by common consent, the great educational interests of the century have been committed. RESOLUTIONS. The following preamble and resolutions were offered by the committee and adopted RETIREMENT OF GENERAL EATON. Whereas, We have learned that General John Eaton has tendered his resignation of the United States Commissionership of Education, an office which he has held for nearly seventeen years, 1870-86, a period which has been the most intense and fertile in the development of educational thought, and most distinguished as a period of organization and reorganization of State and city school systems, and also the most prominent as the period of the establishment of new institutions, which has occurred in the history of this country; and Whereas, His earnestness and the power and the wisdom of his counsels have in. fused new confidence into the national legislature, and into the minds of the people, as to the utility of the Bureau, at a time when there was good reason to fear the repeal of the law which had established it and when further appropriations for its support had been refused; and Whereas, By the catholicity of his spirit, and the wide and generous aims of his administration, he soon gained the unanimous sympathy and co-operation of men engaged in every grade and department of educational work and administration, his very first Report (1870) having attracted attention at home and abroad as one of the ables: school reports ever made; and Whereas, This Department of the National Educational Association, and all who have been at any time engaged in the practical administration of school affairs, and all who have had occasion to seek information in regard to educational institutions of every rank, from the kindergarten to the university, have found in his fourteen great Annual Reports much, and generally all, that they have needed to guide and assist them in the discharge of their duties; and Whereas, He has conferred honor on American institutions by his promotion and practical organization of our educational exhibits at the world's fairs in Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876), Paris (1878), New Orleans (1884), etc.; and Whereas, By the special encouragement, early and wisely given, to the introduction of kindergärten, cookery schools, schools for nurses, technical schools, and art instruction, he has greatly contributed to the development of a complete educational system; and Whereas, No one of us, no one engaged in the establishment of common schools, no one seeking to improve methods of education, has ever sought his aid without enjoying his sympathy and assistance; and Whereas, He has especially distinguished himself as a bold and able advocate of the educational power and duty of civil government: Therefore, be it Resolved by this Department, That the thanks of this Department are due to him, and that he is eminently worthy not only of our approval of his administration of the affairs of the National Bureau of Education, but of our admiration of him as a man, and finally of our best wishes for his future success and prosperity. I. Education is a national concern. This truth is recognized, even under monarchical governments, by placing the care of this important interest in the hands of a minister of public instruction, who is a member of the executive department in most civilized countries. This truth is still more obvious in a free republic, where every citizen is a voter; and yet in this Great Republic education is but feebly recognized in a bureau meagerly supported, whose chief executive is less well paid than the superintendents of second-rate cities. We look with hopeful interest upon the wide-spread attention which education is now receiving in the discussion of the bills before Congress. II. In spite of its utter destitution of authority, the Bureau of Education has exerted a most helpful influence upon the education of the country by disseminating val uable information. III. This good result is largely due to the wise, conciliatory, and efficient administration of Hon. John Eaton, the long-time Commissioner of Education, and we desire to express the profound regret of this body that he has decided to retire. THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. Resolved, That the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association hereby renews its repeated declarations of cordial appreciation of the most valuable services and aid rendered to educators throughout the country by the United States Bureau of Education. Resolved, That this Department earnestly indorses the recommendation of the Hon. John Eaton, the retiring Commissioner of the Bureau, that the salary of the Commissioner hereafter be fixed by Congress at $5,000 per annum, thus recognizing the high character of the ability and qualifications required for the efficient discharge of the duties of the office, and in this regard placing this Bureau on terms of equality with other Bureaus of the Government. Resolved, That this Department also heartly indorses the recommendation of the Hon. Secretary of the Interior, made in his last Annual Report, that Congress should deal more liberally with this Bureau, and provide it with more means to enable it to accomplish its work still more successfully, and more fully meet the educational demands of the country at this time. Resolved, That it is the sense of this Department that the pending vacancy in the office of Commissioner of the Bureau of Education can best be filled by a practical educator, one who has the confidence of the practical educators of the country, and who is in thorough sympathy with the common schools of the country and all the institutions that have for their especial aim the preparation of the masses for the practical duties of good and useful lives and good citizenship. Resolved, That the president of this Department be instructed to furnish copies of these resolutions to the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Committees on Education of the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. THE CELEBRATION OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF OHIO. In view of the vast educational results accomplished by the Ordinance of 1787, establishing schools in the Northwest, Resolved, That we, as superintendents of schools, give our hearty approval to the plan of celebrating by appropriate exercises and monumental memorial the one hundredth anniversary of the first settlement under that ordinance, at Marietta, Ohio. "INTERMEDIATE," INSTEAD OF "GRAMMAR." Resolved, That the term "intermediate" be recommended as a substitute in school reports for the term "grammar," as applied to the second four years of the elementary course of instruction in public schools. THANKS. Resolved, That the thanks of the Department be extended to the Trustees of Columbian University, for the use of their hall for the evening sessions; also to the Trustees of All Souls' Church, for the use of their lecture-room for the day sessions. Resolved, That the thanks of the Department be extended to the press of this city for their generous reports of the meetings; also to Professor W. B Powell and other members of the local committee, for their successful efforts in providing for the wants of the Department and for the pleasure of its members. OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. No. 1-1887. THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1887. 14166-No. 1 |