But
positively incompetent school committees are the exception in
Massachusetts; usually the people make the selection from their best
men. But in the public school you get the immediate, direct supervision
of the public. Not merely in the election of committees, but in a daily
interest and vigilance whose results are freely disclosed to the
superintending committee, as every inhabitant feels that his
contribution, as a tax-payer, gives him the right to judge the character
of the school, and makes it his duty to report its defects to those
charged with its management. The real defects of a school, especially of
a high school, will be first discovered by pupils; and they are likely
to report these defects to their parents. In the case of the endowed
private school, the parent feels that he buys whatever the trustees have
to sell, or takes as a gift whatever they have to offer free; and he
does not, logically nor as a matter of fact, infer from either of these
relations his right to participate in the government of the school. In
one case you have the observation, the judgment, the supervision, of the
whole community; in the other case you have the learning and judgment of
five, seven, ten, or twelve men.
2dly. The faithfulness of the teacher is very much dependent upon the
supervision to which he is subject. This is only saying that the teacher
is human.
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