USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A standard history of Elkhart County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume I > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
While the voting of special taxes was doubted on a constitutional point, it became apparent that it was weak in a practicable point. The existence of this provision in the law greatly retarded the organization and impaired the efficiency of the schools. In many townships the trustees, on exploring their territory, found few or 110 schoolhouses fit to be occupied. They proposed a township tax for the erection of houses, but the proposition was voted down. They renewed the proposition at subsequent meetings, but it was again and again voted down. Under these circumstances, the first year of the existence of the township system was not a very success- ful one.
Vol. I- 8
114
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
FIXING A TEACHING STANDARD
Another impediment to popular education, in 1853-54, was the great deficiency in number and qualifications of teachers. In some townships teachers of no grade could be obtained in sufficient num- bers to supply the schools. But few of the persons offering them- selves for examination could pass according to law.
The scarcity of well qualified teachers was well understood by those who framed the school law of 1852. By its provisions the superintendent was required to appoint deputies in each county to examine all applicants for license to teach, and to license them, if found qualified, for one or two years. The law, however, erected no specific standard of qualification. It left to the examiner the right of determining, at his discretion, the amount and variety of knowledge the applicant should exhibit in order to entitle him to a license. The examiner in each case took into consideration any peculiar circumstances that might exist in the county or township in which the teacher was to be employed. In some counties and in some townships, where schools were few and teachers scarce, and the children few, young and backward, it was found expedient to employ persons to teach who were by no means qualified to take charge of schools in advanced towns.
But in this respect the school law was changed in 1853. The authority to appoint examiners, by the amendment, was transferred from the superintendent to the county commissioners, and a standard of qualification was determined. The committee on education who prepared the amendatory law, while erecting a standard of qualifica- tion for teachers, at which all persons proposing to teach should aim, at the same time made provision to meet the emergencies existing at that time, and authorized a temporary license, at the discretion of the examiners, to persons who might not be able to pass a rigid examination in all the branches constituting the standard.
CONSOLIDATION OF COMMON SCHOOL FUND
The common school fund available in 1854 amounted to $2,460,600. This amount was subsequently increased to a very great extent from many sources. The common school fund was intrusted to the several counties of the state, which were held responsible for the preservation thereof, and for the payment of the annual interest
115
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
thereon. The fund was managed by the auditors and treasurers of the several counties, for which these officers were allowed one-tenth the income. It was loaned out to citizens of the county, in sums not exceeding $300, on real estate security.
Under this phase of the school law the common school fund was consolidated and the proceeds equally distributed each year to all the townships, cities and towns of the state, in proportion to the number of children therein. This part of the law met with great opposition in 1854.
TOWNSHIP LIBRARIES ORGANIZED
In reference to the township libraries, which were organized in 1855, the superintendent of public instruction, in 1854, says: "Much time and labor, and thought, have been devoted to the selec- tion of books to form the libraries. We have made copious selec- tions of historical works, deeming the reading of such books both interesting and useful."
Caleb Mills entered upon his term of office as superintendent of public instruction at the close of the year 1854. In his report, pre- sented to the Legislature in January, 1855, he says : "It is distress- ing to know that many localities can have no schools, because in- structors cannot be obtained and it is but little mitigation of our grief to be assured by county examiners, that more than half the teachers could not be legally authorized to teach if a rigid con- struction of the statute on this point should be pressed." The super- intendent, in this report, called loudly for some means by which teachers could be qualified for the important duties of conducting the schools.
In regard to the township libraries, which had previously been established under the new law, Mr. Mills remarked: "There is a peculiar felicity in this provision of the system inasmuch as it will prove, in no slight degree, especially in the rural portions of the commonwealth, an important substitute for the living teacher, and answer the purpose of a school of uninterrupted session. These volumes will be like gushing fountains to minds thirsting for knowl- edge. They will furnish to our youth, and adults of every age and pursuit, intellectual nutriment and mental stimulus. The wearied apprentice, the tired ploughboy, the exhausted clerk, and the secluded domestic, will find in them encouragement and solace
116
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
under all their toils, privations and discouragements." And again, in the same report, in relation to school buildings, he says: "Among the pleasing signs of progress in educational matters, may be named the tasteful and commodious school structures that have been erected, or are now in the process of erection in various parts of the commonwealth. They have risen in all their beauty and sym- metry of proportion, not only in the towns, but they have gone up in some of the rural portions of the State."
During Mr. Mills' term as state superintendent the public schools progressed, and attempts were even made to establish graded schools in some localities. These met with much legal opposition and a strong general sentiment arose in opposition to the entire law of 1852, which resulted in the courts declaring it unconstitutional in 1858. Soon came the Civil war and for years the cause of the public schools was submerged under the greater necessity of pre- serving the life of the nation. This period, which so tested the faith and endurance of the friends and leaders in the cause of popular education, was composed of almost equal portions of des- truction and neglect-destruction by the judiciary and neglect by the state, with palliating circumstances to be advanced in excuse of the latter body. The facts are so well stated in Smith's "History of Indiana" that the writer will not attempt to improve upon their statement.
GENERAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYSTEM
"The State had entered upon a new era, and gave promise of soon having a public school system that would be the pride of all and would reflect great credit upon the people," says that work, in referring to the promulgation of the law of 1852. "But every community must, of necessity it seems, be inflicted with people who oppose all progress. Those who drafted the constitution of 1850 no doubt meant wisely, but they were not always happy in finding the right words to convey their meaning, and they let slip into the constitution a clause that has been productive of untold litiga- tion and vexation to all legislatures. In declaring the powers of the Legislature, the constitution provides that all laws shall be general and of uniform operation throughout the State. That poor, unex- plained word, 'uniform,' has been made to cover many an attack upon laws that were good and wholesome. So it was in the case
117
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
of the school law of 1852. Taxpayers were found who objected to being taxed to educate the children of the State, and a suit, or rather two suits, were brought to overthrow the law on the plea that it was not of 'uniform operation' throughout the State; that it gave to incorporated cities and towns rights and powers not given to the country districts, and that even in the country districts there was not uniformity, for one district might levy a tax and another not, or one might levy a tax of twenty-five cents and another one of fifty cents, or that through this tax one district might keep open its school for four months, while another that did not tax would only have two months."
Strange to say, a court was found to uphold such objections. The court could not distinguish between "uniform operation" and uniform execution. The operation of the law was uniform, for it gave to all the same rights, and it left all equally free to exercise the rights thus given, or to let them sleep, as they saw fit. Its application by the people was not uniform, and with that the con- stitution had nothing to do. The law gave all the children the opportunity to learn, and the court might as well have declared that the law was unconstitutional, because all the children did not, or could not, learn in a uniform degree. As stated, the court did overthrow the law, and by its action greatly retarded the growth and prosperity of the state for more than a decade. It went through all the land that the people of Indiana were opposed to education, notwithstanding they had voted for free schools by a majority of more than 80,000. The decisions of the courts were a death blow to the graded schools. They had been started in many of the cities, but for the want of funds had to be discontinued, and all the schools of the state were relegated to the general fund, and when that was exhausted they were compelled to close.
The friends of popular education were disheartened for a while, but they soon rallied and began to devise means to overcome the objections to a common school system, and contemplated for some time making an effort to change the constitutional provision which had been declared to stand in the way, but the war with all its excitement and horrors came, and the attention of the people was for the time called away from everything else to the duty of saving the Union. It was not until 1865 that a new law was enacted. When it went into operation no one was found with temerity enough to
118
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
attack it before the courts, and although the decision of 1858 has never formally been overruled, it has been so practically.
FOUNDING OF TEACHERS' INSTITUTES
Into the law of 1865 some new features were introduced, one of the most important being the establishment of teachers' institutes. These institutes have been a great power for good, and have accom- plished a great work in raising the character of the schools. They have not only improved the standard of the teachers, but have stimulated a thirst for knowledge among the children, and have made the schools more popular than ever before. In fact, they have been the nerve, the very marrow of the public school system. The law of 1865 has been supplemented by others, each one calculated to perfect the system and to widen its scope. The power of taxation has been increased, and trustees have been authorized to issue bonds to procure funds for the erection of new and more commodious buildings.
EDUCATION OF COLORED CHILDREN
The education of the colored children was also provided for in 1869. As stated in a former part of this work, up to 1830 the colored children were entitled to admission to the public schools on an equality with the whites. In fact, the constitution of 1816 pro- vided that the common schools should be open to all, but in 1830 a prejudice arose against the colored people and it found its way into the legislation of the state, and into the schools, and colored children were barred from the right to participate in what was the common property of all, until after slavery was destroyed and the colored man became a citizen; then once more he could send his children to the public schools.
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY CREATED
Space will not permit giving in anything like detail the various laws which have been enacted from time to time for the betterment of the school system, nor, in fact, to mention them, and we will have to confine our remarks to those points in the laws which have
.
119
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
been the most potent for good. Going hand in hand with the teachers' institutes in the work of improving our school system, and in raising the standard of education in Indiana, has been the estab- lishment of the office of county superintendent, and the organization of the county boards of education. The legislators have always paid willingly. At first teachers were employed without any examination at all; then the trustees were authorized to examine all applicants before employing them to teach. Then another advance was made, and a county examiner was appointed for that purpose. It was generally some business man who had but little time to give to the work, and often times cared but little about it; so examinations were seldom thorough. Then, too, each trustee was an autocrat in his own peculiar province, deciding upon what textbooks should be used, and governing the schools according to his own ideas, and hence there was no uniformity anywhere. Trustees themselves were often men of very limited education, and did not always have the good of the schools at heart.
TEACHERS REQUIRED TO BE ADAPTABLE
The Legislature, in 1873, determined to take one step in advance, so it passed a law providing for the election of a county superin- tendent, and all the schools in the county were placed directly under his supervision. About this time, also, a different and better system of examinations for teachers' license was adopted. The people began to realize that it was not the one who could always answer certain questions, taken from the textbooks, that made the best teachers. An acquaintance with the best methods of conveying instruction, of assisting the dull scholar while not unduly holding back the bright one; the power of governing children and drawing out of them all that was best, and restraining that which was not good, are now deemed essential qualifications for teachers. Many learned people absolutely lack all faculty of conveying to others, especially to children, any part of what they know. Such a person would be a failure as a teacher, while some one else who did not possess a tithe of his actual knowledge, but did have the faculty of imparting what he knew to the child, would be successful. All these points began to be taken into consideration in the selection of teachers. Adaptability is of as much importance as ability.
120
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
UNIFORMITY OF METHODS AND TEXTBOOKS
The introduction of the county superintendent helped very ma- terially in all these improvements, and it also brought about a uni- formity in the county which was altogether lacking before. Nor did the improvement stop there. By frequent consultations between the county superintendents and the state superintendent, there came to be, without hardly perceiving it, a uniformity between all of the schools in the state. In this great work the organization of the county boards of education had much to do. The county boards are composed of the county superintendent, the township trustees and the presidents of the boards of schools trustees of the cities and towns in the county. The county superintendent did not meet with complete favor at first, and several efforts were made to abolish the system, but all were thwarted, and now the superintendents are so rooted and grounded into the school system as to be immovable.
Another step forward was the law of 1889, providing for a uni- form system of textbooks, under the management of the state board of education. Before that law was enacted the textbook question was a very vexatious one, to parents especially. The books they purchased one year might not be good the next, and the books their children used in attending school in one township might be useless to them on moving into another. The buying of books was a heavy burden to parents, and many efforts were made to find a solution of the difficulty, and finally the Legislature put the whole matter in the hands of the state board of education, and textbooks for the entire state were to be advertised for, and the price to purchasers was fixed by law. This has been a great improvement on the old system.
TEACHERS' INSTITUTES OF TODAY
There is no single feature of the township or county system of education more pronounced in its development and far-reaching influence than that which relates to the teachers' institute. Fully recognizing that fact the state, the county and the township have co-operated to give it ever greater expansion, and those in educational authority have earnestly brought to the notice of the teachers the necessity of attendance upon its meetings.
Along the same lines, the Legislature has been induced to pass
121
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
laws making such attendance obligatory, under penalty of both fine and revocation of license, and neglect on the part of the township trustee to have a specific contract with each teacher under his juris- diction providing for such attendance is cause for removal from office.
The act passed by the General Assembly of 1915 provides that at least one Saturday in each month during which the public schools are in progress "shall be devoted to township and city institutes, or model schools for the improvement of teachers; and two Saturdays may be appropriated, at the discretion of the township trustee of any township, or the Board of School Trustees or Board of School Commissioners of any city. Such institute shall be presided over by a teacher, or other person, designated by the trustee of the town- ship, or by the city superintendent, or other person designated by him."
In the last publication on the subject prepared by the state superintendent of public instruction, Charles A. Greathouse, are the following suggestions :
"The school exists as an institution of society in order that the teacher may be furnished the most favorable conditions for the act of teaching. The teaching act is the crowning process in all school work. The Township and City Institute should be a model school for teachers. There is no better place for the mind of one teacher to come into vital touch with the mind of another teacher. In these institutes the city and county superintendents may observe, to a great extent, the thinking the pupil is doing in school; the thinking the teacher is doing and the process of handling questions, direc- tions, objects, assignments, etc., or the manipulation of means in teaching.
"Man improves education, as he improves any other human activity, by open-minded thought about it, by learning the results of existing forms of it, by experimenting with other forms, and by making reasonable our notions of what changes should be made and how to make such changes. In former years only the township teachers were required by law to hold these institutes. The General Assembly of 1915 saw the need for extending the provisions of the law and enacted a law not only requiring those teachers teaching in the townships, but also teachers teaching in our cities to at- tend and participate in these institutes. This change should be valuable to the city teachers. It may not be desirable to all, but
122
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
yet, if it is valuable to the majority of teachers, it should be desirable because it is valuable. Therefore, the value of these institutes largely depends upon the spirit manifested by the teachers and superin- tendents when participating in them.
"School trustees should grasp this opportunity and be in attend- ance at each institute. Here they become better acquainted with their teachers and ascertain, through their relation to the institute, the character of their work in the schoolroom. It will be an addi- tional incentive for teachers to put forth every effort to make a successful institute, if they feel that some one, to whom they are responsible, is present and interested in their progress. One of the controlling elements in success is a feeling of responsibility to some one, and a desire for recognition of faithful work. It would give a fresh impetus to the teacher's work if, in some way, the county or city superintendent will express his approbation of their individual efforts to those teachers who are always punctual, wide awake, and active workers.
"The Township and City Institute is a convenient and appro- priate center to discuss the organization of schools, the course of study, methods in classroom, co-operation with patrons, and other important agents in the schools. Patrons should be invited to be present and participate in the discussion. Especially is it the duty of the teachers and school officials to secure the needed co-operation of the patrons on the prevocational work that has been introduced in the schools.
"The practice of preparing and reading a paper should be dis- couraged. Brief pointed introductory talks by able leaders, fol- lowed by discussion in which every teacher takes part, will give life to the institute and inspiration to the teachers. Actual observa- tion of actual teaching is ever productive of good results. In most localities a class of children can be secured and an actual recitation given. If this is done with proper care, it will be very valuable to the institute.
"The year 1916 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the admission of our State into the Union and bespeaks an appropriate recognition. The matter is in the hands of the Indiana Historical Commission, appointed for the specific purpose of conserving the historical interests of the State and for providing for the observance of the Indiana Centennial. Some knowledge and appreciation of State and local history is implied on the part of all as a basis of
123
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
good citizenship and a liberal education. It is an essential element contributing to our broader and larger patriotism. National history is largely a composite of local history and cannot be properly under- stood without having followed to some extent the development of some community, region, or State. Special incentive is offered for such study in Indiana in the ensuing school year. The teachers of the State will gladly co-operate with the Indiana Historical Com- mission."
ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS FROM PROGRAMS
To those who are not teachers and, presumably, have not had access to the literature issued by State Department of Public Instruc- tion on this important subject of "The Township and City Institute," the following extracts are taken from the programs of the ten institutes for which provision has been made, as fairly illustrative of the scope of their work :-
First Institute, under subject "The Teacher and the School":
"State some of the cardinal principles of the new education.
"How has Child Study influenced our course of study and method of instruction ?
"State some laws of mental development that Child Study has revealed.
"What light has Child Study thrown upon moral instruction in our public schools ?"
Second Institute, under same heading :
"State the difference between the theory and practice of teaching. Distinguish between the science and the art of teaching.
"What is personality? And what are the best means of acquiring the right kind of personality?
"Define initiative and executive ability. Why are they necessary in teaching? How are they acquired?"
Third Institute, under "Transportation in Indiana":
"Roads, state and national; Canals; Railroads; Interurbans."
Fourth Institute, under "Education in Indiana":
"Public Schools; Private; Colleges; Universities; Education in Benevolent and Penal Institutions; Newspapers; Clubs; Leading Educators."
Fifth Institute, under "Domestic Science":
124
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
"How can the teaching of Domestic Science aid in the sanitation, decoration and economy of the home?
"Give the methods by which the teacher's instruction in domestic science can be carried over into the homes of the patrons of the school."
Under "Agriculture," same institute :
"How can the teaching of agriculture in our public schools aid the farmer ?
"What elementary principles of soil may agriculture teach the boys in order to preserve the fertility of the soil?
"What is the relation of the proper rotation of crops to improve- ment of fertility of the soil?
. "How can the teacher of agriculture correlate arithmetic and language with the subject he teaches?"
Sixth Institute, under "The Teacher and the School":
"Mention some wrong tendencies that have grown out of the fact that teachers devote all their time to recitation work.
"Describe the 'study recitation' as used in the German schools.
"Give the four prerequisites of a good recitation."
Seventh Institute, under "Natural Resources and Industries of Indiana":
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.