Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 153, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1915 — MANY ARE REFUSED SCHOOL LICENSES [ARTICLE]

MANY ARE REFUSED SCHOOL LICENSES

Inference Would Be That Jasper County Boys and Girls Are Below Average Intelligence. The more the conduct of the Jasper counity schools by Superintendent Lamson' is investigated the more does it become apparent that Jasper county aspirants to teach are discriminated against. Whether this result is because of the scrupulous honesty of Mr. Lamson in carefully grading the manuscripts of all applicants or not is a matter that The Republican is unable to figure out, but the fact remains that many graduates from the Rensselaer high school who have taken the normal course required by law are unable bo get ‘license’s and that this fact has wrecked their ambitions to teach and thus lay the foundation for a college education.

The writer has talked to former trustees, to school patrons, to disappointed applicants and to friends of education from all over the county and has yet to find any person who approves the management of the schools in Jasper county.

Our attention was called to four girls of the 1915 graduating class of the Rensselaer high school who had qll taken the examination and failed to pass. At least one was unable to borrow the money with which to attend the normal school unless it was certain she was to get the license. She will not 'be able to teach, although she doubtless would have been able to do fully as as many of the imported agency teachers. Another who had failed to pass went away to school for the summer and will try again, although relatives fear that she will not be passed. There are girls working in various occupations about town who are graduates of the Rensselaer high school and whose ambition had been to teach and then go to college. They were failed every time they took the examination. One girl is working a sa servant, but she is a bright and spirited girl and had she been given the encouragement that it would have been fair to have given her, she would have been sent to normal school and would doubtless hove proven a splendid teacher and would have been a great financial aid to hen* parents. One farmer trustee remarked to the writer that he had tried with all his power to get a license for a girl in his township, a bright girl and a high school graduate, but that Supt. Lamson had defeated her on every application and that he had been compelled to employ teachers from other places who were sent here through agencies and who were far from efficient. He said that he never knew of a case where Mr. Lamson had given any aid or encouragement to an applicant in Jasper county. *He seemed to regard them with suspicion and to fear that they would get through was the inference he had gained. The writer called upon Superintendent Lamson at his office last week and was shown the grades that a number had made. Charley 'Blue, Mrs. John L Gwim and Miss Day Jordan had all made excellent grades in most topics, particularly in arithmetic, history, reading, writing, grammar and geography. Mr. Blue in examinations (taken in 1913 and 1914 had made in arithmetic grades up to 95 and 100, in spelling grades up to 90 and §5, in U. S. history up to 90, in writing up to 89, in reading up to 89, in physiology up to 97, in geography up to 93. His grades in science of education had been placed as high as 92 in one instance, but in that examiantion he had been failed in reading, arithmetic, grammar, and physiology. Imagine an examination made so difficult that a teacher of fifteen years’ experience could not pass in reading. In other examinations Mr. Blue had been failed in Hteratuhe, grammar and science of education. Printed across one of the eraminatkra blanks sent out from the office of the sltate superintendent for thfc teachers’ examinations is the following: “THE BOARD SUGGESTS THAT, SINCE MANY QUESTIONS ADMIT OF A VARIETY OF ANSWERS, CREDIT BE GIVEN FOR THE INTELLIGENCE SHOWN IN ANSWERS, RATHER THAN FOR THEIR CONFORMITY TO THE VIEWS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.”

This gives rather wade range for the superintendent to exercise and seems to give him control of the license proposition entirely. It has made it possible for him to defeat for license sudh applicants as Mrs. John, I. Gwin, who was failed in literature when it is doflHaiii to doughnuts that aha knows more about literature than Superintendent Laanson cook! learn if he devoted the remainder of his days to the study. It is this power that makes It possible to defeat Chcries Blue on the science of education and reading and grammar after be had been given licenses year

after year for seven years by Mr. Laznaon himself. It is this power than makes ft possible to defeat Miss Day Jordan, of Barkley township, whose all around ability as a teacher an/1 whose qualities of excellence make her greatly desired as a teacher. _ It is this power that blights the ambition of girth and boys who have struggled through four years of high school with the hope of teachnig to help repay their parents for the sacrifices they have made. Mr. Lamison said to the writer last week that he does all in his power to help the local applicants, showing them many favors. Asked if he had a right to help them, he replied, “Well, I do it any how.” One former trustee said to the writer a few days ago: “This agitation is a good thing. It should have been started two years ago.” Another trustee said to The Republican: “The trustees will meet Monday. The best thing that could happen would be to have Mr. Lamson hand in his resignation.” The writer talked to a former trustee in Newton county recently. The trustee said that in Newton county the superintendent, William Schanlaub, made it a point to give the home applicants schools and that almost all of the teachers in that county resided in Newton county. There were few imported teachers. The Republican is not advised as to the number of applicants who have failed to pass after graduating from the Rensselaer high school, but an examination of Mr. Lam son’s records, that is a hasty examination, showed that many had failed. It is a practice in that office to grade part of the papers only until the applicant fails in one topic. Failure to get an eligible grade in one means that a license will not be issued. Failure to receive their grades on all topics leaves the applicant in the dark a* to which to study up on. Whether this is practiced in other offices or not we are not advised but Mr. Lamson states that he makes this a practice. Just what his manifold duties are that makes it impossible to grade the papers entire we are unable to find out. Some trustees say that much of his time is spent in trying to run their business. Others say that he has been very kind in helping them make up annual reports, etc., for trustees. He has an assistant in his office about all of the time and he draws pay for every day in the year. But he only grades the papers “until he finds one on which the applicant has failed.” Mr. Lamson was asked if he ever had any correspondence with Homer

Cook, who conducted an agency for teachers. He replied that he had secured some teachers through Mr. Cook when he could not get them otherwise. Homer Cook is now auditor of state. He was formerly speaker of the house and his name was mentioned during the last campaign in connection with several matters that did not look altogether right. He is said to be the man who framed things up to have the terms of superintendents extended two years, thus fostering a man like Lamson on to the schools of the county for six years instead of only four. The superintendents are presumed to have contributed liberally for the lobbying that sent this measure through. It is safe to say that 60 per cent of the teachers employed in Jasper county are from outside. Many of them were hired through agents. They are frequently, we may say generally, those who are not wanted in thenown counties as teachers. They are good enough for Jasper county and they paid Homer Cook and other agents 5 per cent of their year’s salary, something Mke $3 per month for getting a school here. If .there were sixty teachers out of Jasper county last year, the effect was paying out of the county treasury school money something like SIB,OOO that should have been paid to struggling and ambitious Jasper county men and women and boys and girls. Any superintendent with a fair degree of igenuity would have found it possible to have given schools last year to many of those who were turned down and in whose places were employed poorer qualified teachers from other counties. THE REPUBLICAN WILL NOT CONCEDE THAT THE GRADUATES FROM THE RENSSELAER HIGH SCHOOL ARE NOT JUST AS WELL QUALIFIED TO TEACH AS THOSE OF ANY OTHER COUNTY IN INDIANA. THE REPUBLICAN BELIEVES THAT THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF THIS COUNTY ARE NOT TREATED FAIRLY AND THAT FOR SOME REASON THEY ARE TURNED DOWN WHEN THEY ASK FOR LICENSES v TO TEACH SCHOOL.

A highly educated gentleman from Indianapolis said to a writer a few days ago that he knows it is the policy ip many counties for the superintendent to grant licenses to any who show themselves possessed of fair abihty even though they may fail in some of the very hard examinations that are required. He said that the policy in most places was to give the high school graduates a chance, especially in cases where they came from families where sacrifices had been made. He asked: “What chance has a poor girl who* has planned for four years to teach when turned down by a superintendent? Will she have to take a commercial course and enter an office or will she

have to go to work in some one's kitchen?” Another said: “I would giye a job to any high school graduate who showed fair prospect of making a good teacher and then I would help them make good with the school.” The Republican is preparing to write a number of letters to teachers who came to Jasper county from other places if \heir addresses can be .learned and ascertain whether they had made application here for schools before they applied through the agencies. Also to find out how much some of these agencies charge and to get what other information is available. The Republican believes that the district schools of Jasper county are not doing as well as they should and that they will not do what they should until a new superintendent is secured. Information is desired that will help to bring this about. Call at The Republican office or write us or cadi by telephone. ~