OCR Text |
Show The school uw. Interesting Lecture Dsiivsred by Supt. E. A. Wilson. At the Final Meeting of Utah County Teachers at Pay- j I son Last Saturday. j Tho Free School Law Taken ito Pieces and Its Mechanism Mechan-ism Fully Explained. 1 wish to preface my remarka on tbe itubject at liand, . by warninj jou tht though 1 were gifted with the eilvery tongue of an orator I 'would not be I able to make you glow with the aurora of enthusiasm on a subject of thhv kind, for there is nothing more dry ; and prosy than the Jaw in the abstract. It is merely a skeleton nnnui : the j flesh and blood and life or tbe plans and specifications of the rchitt ct for a structure. There is nothing more awakening than the law when there is a real, live human being in its meshes, Btriymg to extricate himself, or when two or more litigants meet in battle upon its waves. But I say in the abstract tb law is a very tame, a very " pacific I thing. Every institution of our social J Bystem is based upon law, either j written or unwritten, either statutory I or by common consent. And so our j school system is founded in law. That which is statutory or has been enacted J by the legislature of the nation or the J Territory is legally binding upon us, I as aie also those rules and regulations ! made in pursuance of statutory law; I but like other affairs the great mass of I the proceedings in education are simply the ouigrowth of common con- II gent, or t he survival of what is deemed ji tiie fittest in principles and methods, j! The oceans and gulfs and streams are bounded with the earthy shore, but upon the waters we may row or I sail at will. JusL6o the parents and r teachers aud officers are hedged about 1 by the solid boundaries of the law, while the broad expanse s open f.'r . lue wording of mr ir-dividual tiy. "Whatever you would have appear in the life of a nation you must Urst put I into your schools' holds good to-day as well as in all times past. "The boy is lather to the mas," and we mint sow in his mind sucn seeds as we expect ex-pect to germinal and grow in his ! riper years. 1 In tne early days of the Territory I the srhool system was necessarily 1 somewhat crude, and depended I ontirely for support upon direct tax- I atiou and tuition lees. Later a ter- I ritonal tax was levied for the part : payment of teachers; anil growing out ' of this in came the public free I sciiool system under which ae are now i "' Jr 3eratiug and which it is now iny'pur- - l- pose te i3llcuyT.iactt.-( , . - I' rue school officers are the Terri- I . torial Ommissioners, the county sup erintendents, city superintedenta, iu cities ot the first and second clan, members of the board of examiners and school trustees, besides such subordinate officers as may be appointed ap-pointed by the trustees. It is the duty of the Territorial com-raissiouer com-raissiouer to have general supervison of all the schools in the Territory; to visit the several counties at least onca in each year, to Mpruntioa the territorial terri-torial schoul money t to . the several I counties, according 10 the school popu- - I latum su eacu, to compile school stat ist ics; to carefully watch tae operation! of the ecbool law, and -report -the Governor eachynar, and legislature at tach session, making such recommend atious as he sees fit, and in fact to oversee and superintend, the - hole school system throughout the territory. As you are aware the Territorial Commissioner Com-missioner is appointed by the Supreme Court of the territory, the office v of Territorial Superintendent having been abolished by the law of 1SS7,. but his duties are prescribed partly by the Federal law, but mainly by the law of the territory. In each county there is elected a county superintendent who. has the oversight and superintendent of- the schools in the county, except those in cities of tbe first and- second class, which nave superintendent of -their own. He is to look after the interests of the county, as the territorial com missioner does of the Territory, except in a more specific way. .Briefly his duties consist in visiting the schools under his supervision, at least twice in each school year, advising and directing the teachers in regard to instructions in-structions given, methods employed, etc., keeping a record of all his visits, with an estimate of his opinion of the ability and competency of each teacher; to meet with school officers, .at stated times, for the purpose of inspecting in-specting records, and suggesting methods of keeping accounts and preparing pre-paring reports, to decide controversies jn taming to discipline appealed tohim from the trustees; to see that all the branches required by law are taught, and to report to the board of examiners examin-ers any teachers, whoreluse or fails to comply with tnis requirement. He is to rouipile reports from the trustees" district, reports, and forward th same 10 the commissioner. He Khali an-mialiy an-mialiy hold a teachers' institute of at least Jive days, employ instructors for ih; same, etc. It may be proper to state here that theie is no requirement in the school law. nor has tlnre ever been, for these I county associations, outside of the five I days" summer institute just mentioned, but that this U. 0. 1 A. is, and has been a voluntary association. For the last IVw years the county superintendent superintend-ent and trustees, in "their annual circular, have made it one of the duties of the teacher to be an active member of this association, and this year thac point is embodied in the contract. con-tract. But irrespective of any law or u and sitnplv for the light, they r - v ml at th-ir own expense and v i t. the teachers have taken iml'1 vigorously of the work of these meetings. So much by way of digression. digres-sion. , . . , , I'll iH'.xt school officers we have is the board of examiners, wh ich cob -justs of the county superintendent and two o'lier competent persons appointed appoint-ed b the Hnr.t c urt. Thedutiosof this board is to i.oId examinations at uch times as the county superintend- ent may direct, and to issue certificates certifi-cates of qualification of teachers. The certificates are of : three. grades,- The first is good for five years, and is issaed by the Territorial Commissioner Commis-sioner upon the recommendation of this board. .. The . second is good for two years, and the third for one year. These last two are issued by the board of examiners. The-board, is to establish certain rules to govern them in the examination examina-tion and issuance of certificates, and then-are authorise 3 to "revoke the certificates cer-tificates In certain cases. But the most important school officers,. offi-cers,. I take it, are the trustees, those who bare the. employing -of., teacheri, the arrangement ot the school houses, the care and cuetody of the little learners, the future men and romtn of the coBomtinitT. Prebf bly the vork of tbe trustee is, too, the most thankless thank-less ef 11 our. echo is of all other I officers. - ' o t )-' ' -They have to thonlder the hole load of responsibility that is heeped upon them, and they must Buffer to be roBded from all sides. -It requires a fearless, level-headed nun to make a good trustee The jtrusteei hve the "general! charge,. direction tpd manafement of the ecbools -of the district, and the care, custody and eontrol of the property prop-erty belonging to tbe district" They are to organ ije and maiQtaiaechooLi, furnish f nel and all neceesarv supelies for. tha schools. Theylre..aJaoto- employ teachers, nd t-operate -fitb them in the revertiment and discipline of the echoofe- They.areto eanneet-Ings eanneet-Ings of the taxpayers on qieetions of bonding, levying taxes, electing trustees, or for considering the purchase, pur-chase, exchange, sale or erection of school houses. The trustees shall also fix the length of time the schools shall be taught, and they may prescribe pre-scribe such studies to be pursued as do not violate the provisions of the school law. That is, all subjects mentioned men-tioned in that law must be taught, aud none of those forbidden can be pursued, but we are cot limited there, and such other bra aches may be taught as are deemed expedient by the trustees. 'They shall cause trees to be set out and school grounds improved. They are also to keep an accurate journal of their proceedings and an account of a I! moneys received and disbursed. Indeed, their powers and duties are manifold, and need not be further rehearsed, being familiar to all. What with the provisions of the school law, the requirements of the county circular and the stipulations in the contracts, the teachers have their course in general marked out.. No other educational factor is so patent as the teacher. "As th; teacher is, so is the s-chool." is a trite though true expression. He it is who must gather nature 'a choicest gpms and lay them at the feet of nature's noblest handiwork. handi-work. . , .To enumerate the teacher's legal duties would be to spin but one thread of the woef that he is to weave. So I will hare to content . myself with enumerating a very few of his duties, r hrtnl.i n "t4 the limits of. tns ,tim, . The teacher is to notify the conaty superintendent of the time of -commencing each term and the probable time when it Till eiote; make $ term report-in duplicate at the end of,, each tern, one t -be filed ith the.trnstees and one to-W- forwarded vlth the county superintendent; to leach pupils when thev. are tufficieatly; .advanced," in the foIloTlrig. btinchetr Reading, spelling, vrtting, arithmetic, j language langu-age Jesuons, crammer., geography, D. vhi8tori andphyeioioyyafld hygiepu; aad 1 might 'd, it- ie "the teacher's boanden doty tq watch with a tnoth-exu tnoth-exu care oTer'the.-taorals n veil as the mind and body at teach Kttle pilgrim that comes to vership at hie skrine of inewbrfge. " The text hooka to be used an only those . Adapted -bv, the. convention of school offlcera called for-- that p urpos, atstated times, ifo difference vhat may. be.tbe teacher's or vthe trustee's prijate , opinion aa ;tu jthe .worthinees of any text book, that opinion must be laid, aside if It conflict Tith the adopled course. i . .. 2Koijr we come to touch upon the moving power behind the throne in all this system, and without 4 hich it could not exlstfor a dey.nicely the finances, the, njoney&hexeRti-' . ; try - The school revenue systen is very siaaple . and, Jn rn'r : opinion, very properly and equitably balanced.--In the jfirat place , the people have the power (and allo-c me to aay; it i their moral duty)'; to .levy..-the necessary taxes to furnish school facilities for all children within the . school age residing in their districts. Tbe moneys mon-eys derived from this local tax is to be used exclusively for the building and furnishing of schools. If a revenue reve-nue sufficient cannot be raised to supply sup-ply the immediate wants in this regard there is a provision in the law for issuing bonds to raise the necessary revenue, and thereby allow those who will probably share the burden of paying pay-ing for the bonds as they become due the present privilege of enjoying the benefits. The payment of teachers and the current expenses of running the schools come from another source. There is a standing territorial tax of 3 mills on the dollar on all property in the Territory This is apportioned out to the several counties according to the number of children between 6 and 18 years of ags residing in each. To this territorial fund sacii county is required to add by a special ceunty school tax a sufficient sum to pay the teachers and current expenses, as before mentioned. These two funds are to be apportioned to the districts according to school population, and the law provides that no district shall receive its apportionment . unless schools hare been maintained in the district at leeat twenty weeks during the next preceding school year. The county court is required to lay off inte school districts all .territory embraced. within the county, ;and may I change the .boundaries of any district fcTgooilcauteahowB.,.- ; . t "Every djutrjct school, 6hal) be, open1 for the admission, freeetchargfjOf 11 children oyer. ix and ,nnder;etghteen years of ' g living tn the district." That is the . free school provision., of onr law. And there is a further. compulsory com-pulsory i attendance -section ; ;whlch directs that all children between-ten and fourteen yean of age must attend school at lrtast sixteen weeks In each school rear, .. . ; - I am fully aware, ladle and gentle men, that I have only been able to touch upon some points, which could be with profit more deeply considered, but I trust tho imperfect outline I' have traced will aid us in keeping In mind this scheme which look3 to the broadening and strengthening of mind 1 and heart and body. : ' The school law provides for a city school system in citivs of the first and second cla8s,thit is those of over 20,000 and 5,000 inhabitants respectively there are but three in the territory that come under its provision Salt Lake, Provo and Ogden The schools in each of these cites are under the control of a board of education,! consisting con-sisting of the mayor. and two trustees from each municipal .-ward in cities of the first class, and one from each ward in cities of the second class, i The board has all the powers exercised . by trniteeg in other districts, and i some additional ones, among them tha authority au-thority to levy taxes.; for school purr posegandio appoint j a. cityi.auperio-tendent cityi.auperio-tendent and members of the city, committee of examiners. Their organizations are distinct from that of the counties in which they are located and sre not under the supervision , of the county school officers. They how ever, s receive their proportion pf U territorial and county school moneyi. But in most particulars the city school system is similar to that of the other districts which has been outlined. ;. . . '- Let us, as school officers, and teachr ers, and patrons, watch with a careful eye the workings of this system to .discover .dis-cover ite weak er faulty point?. If it has any, to the end that they mtj bej corrected and to aid in the elevation and perfecton of our school aMtem nntil it shall be second to none in the Union. |