In the infancy of peoples, they find it necessary to appoint a guardian over themselves, i. e., an absolute monarch. In monarchies sustaining school systems, they are organized on this basis-the poor have no control, or limited control over their school. This is also true where the preponderating population are ignorant and incapable of managing their affairs, viz: in Alabama the State Superintendent appoints the County Superintendent, who in turn appoints local Boards of Trustees. The same result is reached in other Southern States. By the aristocratic form of government I mean not only that in which the power is placed in the hands of a few, but also that form in which the few are not chosen by the people governed. It is to be distinguished from the popular sense of the term. Applied to the "Office of School Trustee," it includes the system wherein the township, including several districts, is the unit: Township Boards, either appointed or elective, hiring teachers and transacting all the business for the schools in the township. The democratic system is that in which the people elect Boards of Trustees for their districts with powers plenipotentiary. It rests upon the idea that the people are capable of rearing their children and attending to their own business. With proper checks, it is the American idea, and that is equivalent to saying it is the correct. idea. The one Trustee idea. The Trustee. What he is what he ought to be. I would warm up the school system with American sentiment, principles and patriotism, and leave it in the hands and hearts of the American people. EVENING SESSION. State Superintendent Ira G. Hoitt delivered an able address on "What are the Respective Rights of Parents and Teachers in the Management of Schools?" He elaborated the following points: The parent may demand that the teacher train the intellectual faculties of the child to such an extent as to make the mind an engine to do any work to which it may be called. Exactness, thoroughness and patience go to make a thinker; and the judgment, the power to weigh evidence, intellectual candor, thoroughness in search and accuracy in statement are the qualities to be developed. The teacher should inspire in his pupils a reverence for justice, and teach them to enjoy pleasures by their temperate use and to abstain from evil. indulgences. They should be made to feel that the indulgence in alcoholic stimulants is a most destructive evil. The child should be made to know and to practice, as a duty, obedience to authority, and to feel penitence for wrong-doing. Pure thoughts and pure feelings should pervade the minds of the pupils, and moral thoughtfulness should be securely enthroned. The teacher and the school should discipline these moral qualities. They are more valuable than all the stores of learning." The child's individuality should be respected, and he should be taught the correct value of things. The conclusion is inevitable that the parent has the right to require of the teacher that he cultivate the intellect, train the eye and the hand, care for the health, nourish the morals, arouse the patriotism, stimulate the energy and exert every influence to return the child to his parents a self-respecting, self-reliant, law abiding son or daughter, capable of dcing something and being somebody thoroughly imbued with such a moral influence as must command unhesitating and unequivocal obedience to law, induce neatness, enjoin sobriety and temperance, require attention and industry, quicken the wits, promote respect for society, encourage independent thinking, create a love for the beautiful, exact loyalty to truth, and inspire a reverence for God. This much the parents have a right to demand of the teacher. It is the duty of the teacher to meet cheerfully and efficiently all these requirements. C. C. Stratton, President of Mills College, read an essay upon "By what Method can a Teacher Educate the Parent?" He assumed at the outset that the duties of parents and the rights of teachers are not fully recognized. The interests at stake are very great, embracing the pres ent and future welfare of the child, and parents and teachers should work together for the common end. But we find parents withholding authority which legitimately belongs in the school-room, failing to sustain the discipline of the school, making disparaging remarks in the presence of students concerning the character, ability or work of the teacher, withholding that confidence and information which are so essential in order that the nature of the child may be clearly understood and intelligently addressed. These facts suggest the urgent need of some remedy. The parent as well as the child must be educated. But how? One will say, we must resort to the printing press. Another would have recourse to the lecture platform. A third would educate the rising generation, that the light of parental responsibilty spread through the regular work of the school. To my mind none of these remedies promise an adequate remedy. If the teacher would command the reverence for his character and the respect for his opinion and rights, which are accorded to the clergyman, the physician and the lawyer, he must strive to rival these learned professions in the mastery of his chosen calling and the extent of his attainments. As a rule, men are taken at their worth, not in this calling or that, but at their intrinsic worth. The lawyer's claims are regarded, because he can success fully manage our business, and the physician's because he can successfully care for our health, but not because of their titles or degrees. The teacher should be, from the start, the oracle of the school-room, and come to be the oracle of the neighborhood. The direct and the only road to this elevation runs by the way of thorough scholarship, adequate professional training, and a richly stored mind. Then, but not before, will professional character and pride and enthusiasm and success command the neighborhood as they command the school-room. At the conclusion of Dr. Stratton's address, the Association adjourned, and proceeded in a body to the residence of Governor Waterman, where they had been invited to a reception. In behalf of the teachers of California wę desire to express their thanks for this pleasant recognition on the part of Governor and Mrs. Waterman. FOURTH DAY. The exercises of the Association opened this morning with a paper on "The Kindergarten in the Public School," by Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, of San Francisco. This address was listened to with absorbing interest by the audience, and all were deeply impressed with the belief that Mrs. Cooper saw in the Kindergarten wonderful opportunities for good. The key-note of her address was the prime necessity of educating all the faculties of the child symmetrically. Her paper was unanimously endorsed by a vote of the Association. This was followed by a paper entitled "Making our School-rooms Beautiful and Attractive," by Miss Fidelia Jewett of the San Francisco Girls' High School. The subject was admirably treated, in fact the paper was something so unique and discussed a topic of such vital importance to our schools that the Association desired its publication in the JOURNAL. At the close of the paper, President Cook stated that he desired to present a large photograph, suitably framed, to that school which should make the most mprovement in school-room decoration during the next six months, the ward to be made by State Superintendent Hoitt at the next meeting of the Association at Pacific Grove. The committee on resolutions reported the following in addition to several others extending thanks to all who in any way had contributed toward making the Association a success. Resolved, That it is the sense of this Association that the best interests of the schools of California demand that Kindergarten instruction be made a part of the common school course, and to that end we recommend that children be admitted to the schools of the age of five years. Resolved, That the President of the Association be instructed to appoint a committee of five, whose duty it shall be to investigate the subject of manual training, and report the results of their investigation, and, if found feasible, a plan for its incorporation into the schools of the State. Resolved, That we recognize the importance of the State Teachers' Reading Circle as an educational factor; that we heartily indorse the movement; that we earnestly request all County Superintendents to present the subject of the Reading Circle at their County Institutes, and urge upon their teachers the advantages to be derived by pursuing the course of study. Resolved, That we reaffim the resolution passed at the last annual meeting requesting the Board of Regents of the State University to establish a Chair of Pedagogics in that institution. Resolved, That we publish and distribute to the members of this Association the proceedings of this meeting and of meetings to come; to this end that a committee of five be appointed by the Chair to determine ways and means and to publish the proceedings of this meeting. Resolved, That the Chair be instructed to appoint a committee of nine to incorporate the California State Educational Association, and that said Association, when incorporated, shall require a life membership fee of not less than ten dollars and annual fee of not less than one dollar. Resolved, That we urge upon the Legislature the importance to the youth of California of a law prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors. Resolved, That this Association learns with regret of the retirement of Mr. Jas. Denman, of San Francisco, from the profession of teaching, which he has adorned for two score years. That we assure him that his services as member of the first State Convention held in 1853, and of every State Convention that has assembled since that time, as President of this Association, as Principal of the first free school in San Francisco, as Superintendent of that city for three terms, and as Principal of the Denman school for thirty years, will never be forgotten. That we congratulate him upon the good fortune that enables him to retire from the arduous work of the school-room while he is still vigorous in mind and body, and hope that he will continue to give us the encouragement of his presence and the benefit of his councils for many years to come. Resolved, That we have heard with feelings of profound regret that our former Secretary, Miss May Madden, has gone from this Association to take a life membership in one toward which many of our hearts yearn with untold longing, and that we extend to her in her new relation our hearty congratulations and best wishes. Resolved. That we recognize liquor saloons as schools of vice, directly opposed to all the ends sought by our public school system, and that we believe all teachers should, by precept and example, labor in accordance with this belief. Resolved, That in the death of George Tait, who was for several years a leading educator in the State at the time when such services as he could render were of great value, the profession to teaching has lost an active friend and the State a useful citizen. The President appointed the following committees in accordance with the above resolutions: On Manual Training--Fred M. Campbell of Oakland, Mrs. S. B. Cooper of San Francisco, James G. Kennedy of San Francisco, G. Schoof of San Jose, and S. D. Waterman of Stockton. On Publication-J. B. McChesney of Oakland, Ira G. Hoitt of Sacramento, Albert Lyser of San Francisco, A. L. Mann of San Francisco, and Madison Babcock of San Francisco. On Incorporation-James Denman of San Francisco, J. B. McChesney of Oakland, Ira G. Hoitt of Sacramento, Ira More of Los Angeles, James T. Hamilton of San Francisco, Geo. R. Kleeberger of San Jose, Albert S. Cook of Berkeley, F. M. Campbell of Oakland, and J. W. Anderson of San Francisco. The incoming officers were then installed, after which the Association adjourned. State Official Department. JANUARY, 1889. IRA G. HOITT, State Superintendent Public Instruction, EDITOR. COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS' VETO POWER. HON, IRA G. HOITT, Supt. of Public Instruction. } Dear Sir: In answer to your inquiry of this date, I have to say, that when a school certificate is granted by the County Board of Education on a majority thereof, it is the duty of the County Superintendent to affix the seal and his signature thereto, which he may be compelled to do by mandamus. Very truly yours, G. A. JOHNSON, Att'y Gen'l. -Ladies being eligible to the office of School Trustee, have they the right to vote for such officer? If not, is it not rather inconsistent that they may hold but not vote for candidates for such office. 4.--By an act of the Legislature, approved March 12, 1874, all women Over the age of 21, and who are citizens of the United States, and of this State, are eligible to educational offices, but are not entitled to vote. [See Art. II, Sec. 1, Constitution Cal.] USE OF SCHOOL PROPERTY. -Since our law makes it the duty of the Board of Trustees to have ontrol of the property of the district, how could tho tax payers who pse converting the school-house into a ballroom, o rule the Trustees? 4.-Section 1621, Sub. 2, of the Political Code gives the Trustees full control of the school building, and there is, as I see, no redress, but in electing such Trustees as are willing to carry out the wishes of their constituents. MEETING OF THE STATE BOARD CF EDUCATION. The State Board met December 27th, in the office of the Secretary. |