USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > A standard history of Kosciusko County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development. A chronicle of the people with family lineage and memoirs, Volume I > Part 15
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STATE TREASURER AS SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
As the settlement of various sections of the state, especially the northern counties, progressed with unusual rapidity in the early '40s, it became obvious that these sectional attempts at betterment of educational conditions could only be made efficacious by gradually placing them under the control of some state-wide agency. Conse- quently, in 1843, seven or eight years after the first schools had been opened in the cabins and barns of the pioneers of northeastern Kosciusko County, the treasurer of state was declared to be ex-officio superintendent of common schools, and in that capacity directed to present annually to the General Assembly an account of the condi- tion of the school funds and property of the various types of schools, both public and private, and suggest plans "for the better organiza- tion of the common schools."
MAGNITUDE OF TASK LOOMS APACE
George H. Dunn was the first state treasurer to perform the addi- tional functions of superintendent of common schools. In the portion of his report dealing with educational matters, he states that the Legislature had required him to "prepare a book of forms and in- structions for the use of officers connected with the public schools," but concludes with this frank statement: "The success of the com- mon school system must depend so much upon the harmonious action of all concerned in its operations, that I felt reluctant to devise or establish rules and forms for the conduct of its offices, until I
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could collect all the information afforded by the legislation and prac- tice of other states, together with such as could be derived from the experience and observation of the officers connected with the system in the several counties of this state. Incessant occupation throughout the year has prevented my giving attention to the preparation and arrangement of the materials so collected, nor will it be in my power to do so until the publication of the Revised Statutes is completed."
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION CREATED
Until the new constitution was promulgated in 1851, each suc- cessive treasurer-superintendent expressed himself more and more emphatically that the duties of the dual-official should be separated, as those connected with the examination and supervision of the system of public schools were amply sufficient to tax the strength and ability of any man. Before the meeting of the constitutional con- vention several bills and resolutions had been submitted to the Legis- lature favoring the establishment of a state superintendent of public instruction and a bureau of education. Finally, the convention car- ried a resolution to the following effect :
"The General Assembly shall provide for the election by the people of a State Superintendent of Public Instruction to hold his office for two years, and to be paid out of the income arising from the educational funds, and whose powers, duties and compensation shall be prescribed by law."
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
The foregoing declaration became section VIII, article VIII, in the constitution of 1851, and various statutes enacted in 1853 defined the duties of the new official. They also established a state board of education, consisting of the state superintendent of public instruc- tion, the governor, the secretary of state, the state treasurer and the auditor. A state board of education, under a different organization, had been often recommended to the Legislature, but never carried into effect.
TOWNSHIP LIBRARIES ESTABLISHED
Elected to the office of state superintendent in 1854, Caleb Mills brought into the administration of affairs in his department a knowl- edge of school conditions in the state, of educational progress up to
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that time, and of practical needs unequalled by any of his prede- cessors and perhaps unsurpassed by any of his successors. Under his administration $100,000 was expended in the purchase and dis- tribution of books to townships, as school libraries, and he was the chief factor in the selection and purchase of the literature.
In 1855 the attorney general of the state was added to the mem- bers of the state board of education, as its official legal adviser, which greatly strengthened its working force.
During the first eight years of its life, interest centered in the selection of books for the township libraries, in the establishment of which about $250,000 was spent in the first three years. Series of text books for uniform use throughout the state were also selected and recommended to the common school officials.
EARLY WORK OF SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS DEPARTMENT
Both in 1855 and 1861 amendments were made that effected the state department of public instruction, which may be denominated the executive board of educational experts, while the state board of education, which contained only one member of the teaching profes- sion (the superintendent himself), was chiefly concerned in the admin- istration and distribution of the school funds. The most important reform effected by the legislation of 1855-61 was more elaborate and accurate reporting from the county officials to the state superin- tendent. The latter was authorized to direct attention of the county commissioners and county auditors to deficits in their reports, which they were required to make good, and he was also empowered to visit said officials and examine their books if he was not satisfied with their statements. By the amendments of these years, the state super- intendent was further authorized to supply to each common school library all legislative journals and acts, and the annual reports of the state board of agriculture and his own department.
Thus, through the superintendent and the two boards of ednca- tion, the state and the county were becoming knit together closely and completely.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION MORE PROFESSIONAL
In 1865, by the reorganization of the state board of education on more of a professional basis, the two departments were brought nearer together. By legislative enactment the members of the board were made to consist of the governor, state superintendent of public
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instruction, president of the State University, the president of the State Normal School (when it should be established; as it was, soon afterward) and the superintendents of common schools of the three largest cities in the state. The superintendent of public instruction was to be ex-officio president of the board, and there was to be a secretary and treasurer elected by the board. This change to a board of professional men put emphasis in the administration of school affairs, upon the educational rather than the legal and financial basis.
The critical and legal problems had been somewhat solved, and with this new board began an educational policy for the schools of Indiana that has made its system and its state board respected throughout the land.
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF 1865
The duties and powers of the board as stated in the law of 1865 are: "To perform such duties as are prescribed by law, and to make and adopt such rules, by-laws and regulations as may be necessary for its own government, and not in conflict with the laws of the State, and to take cognizance of such questions as may arise in the practical administration of the school system not otherwise provided for, and to duly consider, discuss and determine the same."
As stated by Superintendent Greathouse: "Since the early laws are silent on most of the details concerning the management of the schools, the most important matters leading to the development of the public schools of Indiana have been established by the State Board of Education."
The act of 1865, which created the Indiana State Normal School made the state superintendent of public instruction an ex-officio trustee of that institution.
In line with its prescribed duties, the state board of education recommended to the Legislature, in 1867, that the Bible should be read daily in all the common schools of the state and that it be made the standard "on all questions of morality."
Other recommendations were made from year to year, looking to the improvement of the system and especially endeavoring to get the State University and the State Normal School in closer tonch with the schools and teachers of the various counties. As a rule, such sug- gestions and recommendations were practically incorporated into legislative laws and through them into the system itself.
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THE COUNTY EXAMINERS BROUGHT UNDER CONTROL
Among the most important of these were the suggestions to the county examiners of the state, embracing the following points: (a) Necessity of unifying and elevating the standard of teachers in various parts of the state and providing more through examination of the same; (b) naming provisions of school law concerning teach- ers' examination, often violated by examiners; (c) suggesting series of questions in various common school branches; (d) suggestions as to manner of conducting examinations.
In 1871 the state board decided to prepare twelve sets of examina- tion papers upon the required branches, and sent one each month to the county examiners, thus obtaining complete control .of this impor- tant branch of educational work.
COMMISSIONED HIGH SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED
In the year 1873, much progress was made in the harmonizing of high school and university courses, which culminated in the estab- lishment of commissioned high schools. More and more, the state board developed into a "body of experts, with extensive discriminat- ing powers, whose wise recommendations have almost the binding force of legal enactment."
MAKING TEXT BOOKS FAIRLY UNIFORM
In the meanwhile an evil had been developing not only in bulk but in virility, and the whole system of education had become more or less affected for the worse. The lack of uniformity of text books in the public schools of the state had retarded proper classification of the pupils, had been the means of wasting the educational funds raised by taxpayers, and had sadly interfered with the efficiency of the teaching force. Other evils were created and embraced by this fundamental defect.
In the earlier years of its existence, the state board of education had only the power of recommendation as to uniformity of text books. Although it took advantage of this function and its recommendations had been often adopted by the school officials of city, town and county, still, with the growth of population and the multiplication of the schools, such books were far from uniform and confusion was the most obvious outward manifestation in the working of the local sys- tems. In 1865, the board was relieved of responsibility of even
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recommending school books, and the choice was left to township trustees, patrons or teachers, which naturally threw the matter into chaos more confounded than ever.
COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION CREATED
Then, in 1873, the county board of education was created and empowered to adopt texts for the specific territory over which it had jurisdiction. One county might have a uniform set of text books and the adjoining counties entirely different sets. While that legal arrangement lasted, school book publishers surely had their inning and were all in clover-but at the immediate and dire expense of the taxpayers.
STATE BOARD IN CONTROL OF TEXT BOOKS
In 1889 the state board of education came into its own, and re- ceived the reward of its wise and honorable labors of the years when it had at least the power of recommendation; for in the year named it was made a state board of text book commissioners, with power to adopt uniform text books for use in the elementary schools of the state. The period of adoption was fixed at five years, with the privi- lege of revisions and continuance for a like period. In 1905, the period was extended to ten years, except for copy books, histories and geographies, the contracts for which were to remain at five years, and in 1909 a uniform period of five years was re-established.
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT. ADDED TO THE BOARD
Since 1891, when Hervy D. Voris became state superintendent of public instruction, educational matters, especially affecting the dis- trict, village and city schools, have undergone radical changes and generally in line with greater efficiency and harmony. During Super- intendent Voris' administration, county superintendents were added to the representation on the state board of education.
COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND ITS LOCAL ENFORCEMENT
D. M. Geeting was state superintendent of public instruction in 1895-99, and the efforts of his administration centered on the estab- lishment and promotion of the township high school and the com- pulsory educational law. The latter was passed in 1897, and a
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state truancy board created, one member of which should be ap- pointed by the state board of education. In 1913, the Legislature made its membership to consist of the state superintendent of public instruction, a member of the state board of education, and the secre- tary of the board of state charities.
Under the provisions of the law passed in that year, the state truancy board also was empowered to pass upon the "special educa- tional requirements to be possessed by all persons appointed as attend- ance officers and shall take such steps toward the uplift, unification and systematization of methods of attendance work in this state as may be deemed proper." In other words, the state truancy board has the appointment of local truancy officers under its control, and is the judge as to the proper means to be employed to enforce the pro- visions of the compulsory educational law of the state. The co- operation between the teachers and the truancy officers, the proper steps to be taken when it is necessary to resort to legal and judicial proceedings in the case of incorrigible scholars, and other proceed- ings of a fundamental nature are determined by the state board. Having formulated the rules and regulations in general, it is left largely to the principals of the schools as to the handling of special cases which come before them.
THE BETTERMENT OF RURAL SCHOOLS
The administration of Frank L. Jones as state superintendent of public instruction covered the period from 1899 to 1903, and his personal efforts were largely directed toward the betterment of rural schools. He put consolidation on a substantial basis and greatly improved the sanitary conditions and architecture of school build- ings.
During the first year of his administration, an act was passed by the State Legislature adding three members to the state board of education, making eleven in all. The three additional members were to be appointed by the governor for three-year terms-one each annually-and one of them was to be the county superintendent of schools.
Fassett A. Cotton, who served three terms as state superintendent, from 1903 to 1909, materially advanced the consolidation of the rural schools, community interest in the schools organized and the study of agriculture as a radical part of the public system. In other words, the country system of schools was being brought into better control, and the parents and communities into Jeser identification with Vol. 1-11
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teachers and pupils, resulting in a clearer realization and a deeper and more practical interest in the work being accomplished.
REGULATING EFFICIENCY AND PAY OF TEACHERS
In 1907, during the latter period of Superintendent Cotton's ad- ministration, an evil which had caused much criticism and disorgan- ization in the teaching force of the state was partially remedied. Before that year, anyone who could obtain a license was eligible to teach, regardless of scholarship or training, and such teacher could be paid whatever the trustee or school board saw fit to offer and the teacher cared to accept. This lack of all regulation as to qualifica- tion or salary was a direct encouragement to schemers and bold inefficients, and was often more discouraging to those who were really competent but lacked effrontery.
The minimum wage law of 1907 was therefore generally com- mended, as it placed the minimum scholarship of the teacher at graduation from a commissioned or certified high school, and the minimum professional training at twelve weeks in a teachers' train- ing school approved by the state board of education. The duties of the latter were also enlarged by the law, as it was required to pass upon the work of all schools that offered courses for the training of teachers. There are about thirty of these approved schools or depart- ments for the training of teachers in the state.
Robert J. Aley's administration as state superintendent of educa- tion, in 1909-10, was marked by a sustained effort to bring about a closer articulation between the elementary and high schools and the high schools and colleges, but his call to the presidency of the University of Maine transferred that problem to the care of his predecessor, Charles A. Greathouse.
TEACHING OF AGRICULTURE, MANUAL TRAINING AND HOME ECONOMICS
Under Superintendent Greathouse, the department of public in- struction has been enlarged and carefully organized. The greatest extension made at any one time occurred in 1913, when the state Legislature provided for more uniform inspection of high schools, and made mandatory the teaching of agriculture, manual training and home economies in the elementary and high schools of the state, providing at the same time for the establishment of separate voca- tional schools and departments, at the option of the local school authorities. The organization and general supervision of all this
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work were placed in the hands of the state board of education. The details were to be worked out and executed by the superintendent of schools and the department of education.
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM NOW IN FORCE
The provisions of the law of 1913 also affected the membership of the board of education by adding three persons to it, known to be actively interested in vocational education, one of whom should be a representative of employes and one of employers, and discontinu- ing the ex-officio membership of the governor. Under the various enactments affecting the board, the members now number thirteen.
The educational laws as they now stand give the power to issue teachers' licenses to the state board of education, the superintendent of public instruction and the county superintendent of schools.
The state board has control of the entire system, preparing the uniform questions to be used in the examinations, fixing the stand- ards and arranging for licensing the teachers in those subjects not provided for by special statutes. It conducts all examinations for professional and life state licenses and grades all manuscripts on the same. Other examinations are conducted by the county superin- tendents and, with the exception of the high school and supervisors' manuscripts, may be graded by them also.
The board of education manages the state library, appoints five of the eight members of the Indiana University trustees, and names all the members of the board of visitors of the State Normal School.
By the law of 1913 a large responsibility for the character of the state board of education is placed upon the governor of the state, for, under its provisions, he appoints six of its thirteen members. Responsibility also rests upon the school boards of three of the largest cities of the state, as they name the superintendents of their schools as three of the members of the state board.
Three of the remaining four members of the board are presidents of the State Normal School, Purdue University and Indiana Uni- versity, whose qualifications as heads of these schools must neces- sarily be of high rank.
The superintendent of public instruction, head of the state de- partment of public instruction, and elected by the people of Indiana, is chairman of the state board of education.
The character of the entire membership of the board insures wisdom, executive efficiency and prompt professional judgment, and is a sufficient explanation of the results achieved in the educational
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evolution of the system covering the Indiana schools from its smallest rural institution to its broad-gauge universities.
OBJECT LESSON IN THIS CHAPTER
There is not a school in Kosciusko County, or a feature of the system under which its children, youth and maidens, its young men and women, its teachers and its parents, and its communities as a whole, are educated, which are not, in some degree concerned in the development of the educational institutions of the state. All classes of its people ought to get a broader outlook of these relations through the foregoing narrative. This treatment of the subject is in line with the advanced methods of scholastic education, and it will be of some practical assistance to local educators, enabling them to show their pupils the state origin of many of the methods from which all are deriving so much benefit. We venture to add that there may be some information in the record which the elders might study with advantage, either as news or as a revival of matters which have be- come faintly impressed.
STRICTLY LOCAL
The statement of the local facts relating to the schools will have a new significance when the reader understands their origin and the mainsprings which govern the actions of the educators who have worked for the advancement of the county system. Even this sub- ject is subdivided, as no more than an historical synopsis can here be given, the details being largely reserved for the stories of the various townships and even more condensed centers of population, such as villages (towns), and the City of Warsaw.
SUPERINTENDENT SARBER'S SKETCH OF COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM
One of the best general pictures of the Kosciusko County system is contained in the biennial report of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Greathouse, which was transmitted to the General Assem- bly in January, 1917. It embraced historical sketches from the county superintendents, and E. B. Sarber, the predecessor of Jesse Bruner, presented the following for Kosciusko County: "According to tradition, which, by the way, seems to be authentic, the first schools in the county were conducted in Prairie and Turkey Creek, other townships following suit as fast as they were sufficiently settled. No
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school, howover, employing more than one teacher was established until 1854. This was located in Warsaw, enrolled 140 pupils, and was taught by the late Joseph A. Funk, assisted by Miss Emeline Yocum.
EARLIEST SUBSCRIPTION SCHOOLS
"In common with other parts of the state the first school houses were built of logs, had greased paper windows, backless slab benches for seats, and were heated by means of fireplaces, the larger boys being required during school intermissions to cut wood from logs which had been hauled to the school grounds by the patrons. Many of these early buildings were made to "pay a double rent," being
OLD EIGHT-SIDED SCHOOLHOUSE, PLAIN TOWNSHIP
occupied during the week as school houses and on Sunday as places of worship.
"As all the schools from 1836 to 1853 were subscription schools dependent upon private liberality for their maintenance, salaries of teachers ranged from five to fifteen dollars per month. The sub- jects taught were spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic, with the emphasis on spelling.
"FRAMES" AND "BRICKS"
"Soon after free public schools were established, the old log struc- tures gave way to frame buildings having glass windows, home-made desks with backs and heated by stoves. Instead of being plastered.
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these houses were ceiled and one end of the room was painted black, so that the boys and girls in those days had the pleasure of 'work- ing' their problems on real-for-sure black boards. From 1880 to 1900 the frame buildings were displaced by brick. From the standpoint of heat, light and ventilation, these offered little, if any, improve- ment over their predecessors. Better desks, black boards and other equipment were provided, however.
RURAL CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS
"Except in villages and towns all buildings were of the one-room variety, and it was not until 1906, at which date there were 118 of
WAYNE TOWNSHIP CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL
these one-room buildings in use, that the first rural consolidated school was built in the county. Since then the sum of $350,000 has been expended in modern, well-equipped, up-to-date, sanitary con- solidated schools, leaving only about 50 of the old-type buildings to be used the coming year .*
* Since this was written, more than two years and a half ago, the number of old-type schools still in use throughout Kosciusko County has been mate- rially reduced.
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