Scientific Studies and Central Supervision
Example after example could be given of the organization of public supervision on the basis of private scientific investigation. These examples are important not only as exhibitions of the demand for more central supervision but also as demonstrations of the demand that all the larger problems of the school system be approached in the scientific spirit. The school system of this country, like all public institutions, has passed through the period of first organization. This was a period of urgent practical demands. Work had to be done by any means that came to hand. The situation was like all pioneer situations. In many cases teachers who were meagerly trained had to administer unorganized courses of study, and the public had to be satisfied with results which were, to say the least, uncertain. The pioneering period is not altogether passed yet, but there is wealth enough in most communities to support a more deliberate type of organization. There is a perfection of the instruments of education, an organization of the agencies of education, and a standardization of results which were impossible in earlier days.
The business of the central officers in a school system can be defined in terms of this discussion as the collection and distribution of scientific information and the administration of the system in keeping with the scientific information thus collected. Such a formula can be carried over to problems other than those enumerated thus far in this chapter. The problems of promotion and of the course of study, even the problems of class management and instruction, have large supervisory aspects with which the central school officers must deal.