xt7pnv996j2f https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7pnv996j2f/data/mets.xml General Education Board (New York, N.Y.) 1921 books b92-84-27376179 English General Education Board, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Education Kentucky. Public education in Kentucky : a report by the Kentucky Educational Commission / prepared under the direction of the Commission, by the General Education Board. text Public education in Kentucky : a report by the Kentucky Educational Commission / prepared under the direction of the Commission, by the General Education Board. 1921 2002 true xt7pnv996j2f section xt7pnv996j2f
PUBLIC EDUCATION
IN KENTUCKY
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PUBLIC EDUCATION
IN KENTUCKY
A REPORT BY THE
KENTUCKY EDUCATIONAL
COMMISSION
PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE COMMISSION
BY THE GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD
GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD
61 BROADWAY
NEW YORK
1921
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CONTENTS
PAGE
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. . . . . . . V
PART I. PRESENT CONDITION OF SCHOOLS
I. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY . . . 3
II. STATE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 7
III. LOCAL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 26
IV. TEACHERS . . . . . . . . . 52
V. BUILDINGS, GROUNDS, AND EQUIPMENT 71
VI. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TERM AND
COURSE OF STUDY . . . . . . 86
VII. PUPIL PROGRESS AND INSTRUCTION. . 98
VIII. HIGH SCHOOLS. . . . . . . . . ii8
IX. SCHOOL FINANCES. . . . . . . . 132
PART II. NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS
X. BETTER STATE ORGANIZATION AND AD-
MINISTRATION . . . . . . . 149
XI. BETTER LOCAL ORGANIZATION AND AD-
MINISTRATION . . . . . . . i56
XII. BETTER TRAINED TEACHERS . . . . I69
XIII. BETTER FINANCIAL SUPPORT . . . . 190
APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
HONORABLE EDWIN P. MORROW
Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
Frankfort, Kentucky
The legislature of Kentucky in I920 enacted a law
providing for a state educational survey. This law is as
follows:
- i. That the Governor be, and is hereby authorized and
empowered to appoint a commission of five persons, to make a
survey of the public educational system of the State, including
all schools and educational institutions supported in whole or in
part by public taxation, for the sake of determining the efficiency
of their work, and to report its findings, with recommendations
for improvement, to the Governor.
- 2. It shall be the duty of said commission to employ ex-
perts, not residents of Kentucky, to make a thorough survey
of the school system of the State as to organization, co-ordi-
nation, administration and general efficiency, and to conduct
such survey in accordance with approved scientific standards of
educational research.
- 3. That the members of said commission shall serve with-
out pay, except actual expenses incurred in the discharge of
their duties. Said commission is hereby authorized and empow-
ered to purchase such supplies and employ such clerical help in
addition to the expert service hereinbefore provided, as may be
necessary for the proper discharge of its duty within the limita-
tion herein prescribed.
- 4. That the commission and its employees shall be accorded
free access to all public records. All persons having charge of
any schools or educational institutions supported wholly or in
part by public funds shall furnish all the information available
and render all the assistance possible in making the survey com-
plete, and any person who wilfully withholds records or informa-
tion within his possession or obstructs the work of the commis-
v
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
sion in any way, shall be fined in any sum not less than one
hundred dollars or more than five hundred dollars in any court
of competent jurisdiction.
- 5. That there is hereby appropriated out of any money
in the treasury not otherwise appropriated the sum of ten
thousand dollars or as much thereof as may be necessary, for the
purpose of defraying the expense of the survey hereby pro-
posed.
- 6. That on account of the pressing need for an early re-
organization of the school system of the State, an emergency
is hereby declared to exist and this law shall take effect from and
after its passage and approval by the Governor.
In accord with the provisions of this law, you ap-
pointed an Educational Survey Commission composed
of the following five members: W. A. Ganfield, President
of Centre College, Danville; Alex. G. Barret, lawyer,
member of the Louisville Board of Education, Louis-
ville; J. L. Harman, President of Bowling Green Univer-
sity, Bowling Green; C. J. Haydon, President- of the
Springfield Board of Education, Springfield; Miss Katie
McDaniel, insurance, formerly County Superintendent
of Christian County, Hopkinsville. The Commission
organized May i i, 1920, electing Dr. Ganfield chairman,
and Mr. Barret secretary.
Pursuant to the provisions of section 2 of the enact-
ment, the Commission secured the assistance of the
General Education Board of New York City in making
the survey. The General Education Board furnished
to the Commission the services of the following staff:
Dr. Frank P. Bachman, local director, Frank L. Shaw,
statistician, and Miss Anna C. Thornblum, secretary.
Dean M. E. Haggerty, College of Education, University
of Minnesota, advised on the testing program.
V1
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
The State of Kentucky appropriated the sum of
io,ooo, of which 8,ooo was used in part payment of the
expenses of field work, and iooo in part payment of
printing the report. In addition to providing the survey
staff, the General Education Board contributed the
sum of I5,000.
Fifteen months were devoted to the survey. During
this time Dr. Bachman visited sixty-six counties and
made a careful study of the conditions in thirty-three
of them, and also studied conditions in about half of the
principal cities of the state. He had the active co-op-
eration of the educators of Kentucky, including repre-
sentatives from the faculties of the colleges, normal
schools, and the University of Kentucky, members of the
state department of education, and county and city
superintendents.
Standard tests or examinations were given to the
school children in nine representative counties and in
fifteen cities. Fifteen thousand seven hundred pupils
were examined in the fifth, seventh, and eighth grades,
and nearly 59,000 test papers were marked and the
results tabulated. Data on pupil progress were col-
lected from these same nine counties, and from 222 graded
school districts and 47 cities, or from a total of 136,828
children. Information was collected on the training
of 11,7I2 of the 13,563 teachers, or 86 per cent. of the
total number.
Questionnaires were sent to all city superintendents,
graded school principals, and county superintendents,
Vii
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
asking for information on school finances, length of school
day and term, consolidated schools, provisions for super-
vision, attendance officers, medical inspection, school
nurses, office equipment, and clerical assistance. Infor-
mation of many kinds was also collected from the records
of the state department of education, school laws, and
other sources.
The Commission desires to acknowledge with sincere
appreciation and gratitude the generous professional and
financial assistance of the General Education Board.
We further record our grateful acknowledgment of the
helpful counsel and advice of Dr. Wallace Buttrick,
President of the General Education Board, and of Dr.
Abraham Flexner, Secretary of the Board. Dr. Flex-
ner also gave liberally of his time in perfecting the
report, and made several visits to the state to counsel
with the survey staff and the Commission.
We would further express appreciation of the splendid
co-operation and helpful service rendered by the Hon.
George Colvin, State Superintendent of Public Instruc-
tion, and Dr. John W. Carr, Director of Health Educa-
tion.
Members of the Commission have served without pay,
being reimbursed only for the actual expenses involved
in the discharge of their duties. The i,ooo reserved
for this purpose will more than provide for their expenses.
The Commission has not outlined plans or recom-
mendations that are impossible of attainment. The
suggestions and recommendations offered are practicable
...
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL ix
and within reach. We venture to hope that the find-
ings of this survey will aid the citizens and the legisla-
ture of the Commonwealth in providing a school system
that will ultimately afford to all the children of the state
"the power that knowledge gives."
Very respectfully,
(Signed) W. A. GANFIELD, Chairman
ALEX. G. BARRET
J. L. HARMAN
C. J. HAYDON
KATIE MCDANIEL
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PART I
PRESENT CONDITION OF SCHOOLS
CHAPTERS I-IX
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Public Education in Kentucky
1. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY
E DUCATION is the sole hope of democracy. "A
popular government," wrote James Madison,
"without popular information, or the means of
acquiring it, is but the prologue to a farce or a tragedy,
or probably both. A people who mean to be their own
governors must arm themselves with the power that
knowledge gives."
How well has Kentucky armed itself "with the power
that knowledge gives "
Dr. Leonard P. Ayres, one of the foremost authorities
in the field of public education, has recently published a
comparative study of the efficiency of state school
systems. According to Dr. Ayres, Kentucky ranked
thirty-fifth in i890, thirty-sixth in i9oo, fortieth in i9i0,
and forty-fifth in i9i8. That is, during the last four
decades Kentucky has steadily fallen behind, when com-
pared with the other states and territories. In illiteracy
Kentucky ranked thirty-sixth in i9oo, in i910, and in
I920.
What is the explanation Physically, the state is
highly favored. Of its 40,000 square miles, Io,ooo are
3
4 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY
surpassed in fertility by no other land either in America
or Europe; 22,0oo more, not quite equal to the best, are
still excellent; only about 7,000 square miles are of in-
ferior quality. "It is doubtful," writes Shaler, "if an
equally good showing can be made for any other state in
the Mississippi Valley, and there are few regions in the
world where so large an area with so little waste land can
be found." Coal, iron, and stone abound. The eastern
coal district, " somewhat less valuable than that of
Pennsylvania, is exceeded in value by that of no other
state." The deposits of iron ore are outranked only by
those of five or six other states. Thus the state is admi-
rably adapted to agriculture and is liberally endowed
with fuel, iron, and stone.
Not the niggardliness of nature, but the mischance of
history holds the state back. Peopled in the first in-
stance by emigrants from Virginia, the state inherited
the slave-holding system. Social organization was
distinctly aristocratic. Manual toil was stigmatized.
Kentuckians were generally engaged in activities that
needed little capital and gave little employment or out-
look to white labor. The coal and iron lay untouched
below the soil, and emigration passed Kentucky by.
Even to-day the conservatism of the state discourages
well-trained, progressive, and adventurous youth. The
handicaps under which Kentucky suffers and has suffered
are man-made and can be removed by men.
Poor education is the inevitable result of the conditions
described. The political leaders of ante-bellum Kentucky
Oldest Type of One-Room Rural Schoolhouses
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PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY 5
were not thinking of a whole state peopled by a vigorous
and industrious race armed with the power that knowl-
edge gives. An excellent Anglo-Saxon stock thus largely
lost, as far as public education is concerned, the first
century of its history. Public schools got but a feeble
start; -higher education, until very recent years well-
nigh ignored by the state, was provided by a few small
colleges. which, invaluable to the students attending
them, were entirely inadequate to meet the situation.
The general level of education was thus low, and an ill-
educated population neither desires education keenly
nor does it produce the wealth needed to support the
schools on which the hope of better things depends. Thus
social sluggishness accounts for the defects of the school
system; and an inferior school system prolongs the
period of social and industrial inertia.
Fortunately there is evidence that a movement in the
right direction has started. Public interest in education
is being aroused and various organizations are demand-
ing higher standards and better conditions. This new
interest found expression in the enlightened and progres-
sive educational legislation of I920. These measures,
supported by both parties, provided, among other things,
for the election of county boards of education by the
people, for an increase of mandatory county taxes, for
better school attendance, and for the state certification
of teachers. Already the sums available for the common
schools have greatly increased, rising from 8,309,000
for current expenses in I947-19i8 to about io,oooooo
6 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY
in 1920-I921. There has apparently been a correspond-
ing improvement in school attendance.
Fundamental social changes are coming about. The
old order, which began to disintegrate after the Civil
War, has now practically disappeared; modern demo-
cratic conceptions of social and industrial organization
are in the air. They have not yet completely and se-
curely established themselves; they are far from dominat-
ing the political and educational policy of the state; but
they have found a voice and will assuredly prevail. The
present survey, made at the instance of the constituted
authorities, with the support of the progressive leaders
of the state, is a contribution to this end.
The report endeavors to depict fairly and thoroughly
the educational conditions in the state. It will describe
the existing organization and, building upon progress
recently made, will suggest the next steps that are at the
moment desirable and feasible. It is futile to discuss
ideals. An educational Utopia cannot be brought
about in Kentucky at once. At most measures can be
taken which, themselves an improvement, will facilitate
advance. That done, the rest will have to be left to the
patient effort and devoted self-sacrifice of successive
generations.
II. STATE ORGANIZATION AND
ADMINISTRATION
K ;ENTUCKY entered the Union in I792; not until
i908 did the laws of the state actually require all
local units to establish schools and levy taxes
for their maintenance. So recently have the people of
the state realized the full importance of public education
in a democracy!
The slow movement which thus culminated a dozen
years ago may be briefly sketched. Very early in its
history, public lands were appropriated for the establish-
ment of seminaries and colleges. No distinction was
made between public and private institutions-the state
gave impartially to both-and no thought was taken at
this time of the prior importance of common schools.
These were first legally recognized in i838. The state
had received-like other states-a gift from the federal
government; it undertook to apportion the income from
85o,ooo-something over one-half its share-to com-
mon schools; but it did not undertake to require, to
support, or to supervise public education.
The constitution of i85o declared the principal of the
common school fund to be inviolate, but laid upon the
general assembly no mandate to establish schools. The
7
8 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY
general assembly therefore consistently declined to levy
taxes for school purposes. Nevertheless, on four differ-
ent occasions-in i849, i855, 1869, and i882-the people
by large majorities approved successive propositions to
levy state taxes for school purposes. Thus, the income
of the common schools was increased by popularly im-
posed levies, amounting in the aggregate to twenty-two
cents on each ioo of taxable property.
The mandate requiring the general assembly to
"provide for an efficient system of common schools
throughout the state" and to appropriate to the com-
mon schools the income from the common school fund
and any sum which may be produced for purposes of
common school education by taxation or otherwise, first
appeared in the constitution of i89i. Even so, the
general assembly on its own initiative and without a
direct mandate from the people did not levy a dol-
lar of public taxes in support of public schools until
i9o41-thirteen years after being empowered to do so.
Not until i893 did the statute books contain a single line
of legislation actually requiring the establishment of
schools and the levying of local taxes in support thereof,
and not until i908 was this mandatory legislation made
general for all local units.
The legislation of i893 and i908 transformed a volun-
'There is one possible exception to this statement. The general
assembly of its own accord levied in i88o a tax of one-half of one cent on
each ioo of assessed value of property for the support of the Agricultural
and Mechanical College.
STATE ORGANIZATION
tary into a compulsory Eystem, and thus registered an
entirely new conception of the state's relation to public
education. Prior to i893 every community decided for
itself by majority vote whether or not a public school
should be established. Nowadays not only common
schools, but also high schools, must be maintained. Simi-
larly, the community used to decide by vote whether
or not it would levy a local school tax; nowadays local
school taxes must be levied up to a fixed minimum.
Then, any kind of schoolhouse might be built; now, only
such schoolhouses may be erected as are approved by the
superintendent of public instruction. Then, state school
funds might be expended for any school purpose; these
may now be expended only for the payment of teachers'
salaries, and all expenditures, irrespective of whether the
funds are derived from local or from state taxation, are
subject to inspection by the superintendent of public
instruction or his agents. Formerly, parents might send
their children to school or not, as they pleased; now they
must send them, under penalty of law, for the full time the
schools are in session. The trustees used to certificate
the teachers for their respective schools; now teachers
are certificated by a state board of examiners.' The
trustees likewise used to fix the length of term; it must
now be at least six months, and the statute looks for-
ward to further extensions. The trustees formerly
selected the textbooks; a state commission now selects
1A few state and approved private higher institutions, as well as city
boards of education, are also authorized to certificate teachers.
9
Io PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY
them. They prescribed the coirse of study; this is now
prepared by the state board of education. The state
board of education also prescribes general rules and
regulations for the government of all schools, and the
superintendent of public instruction is empowered to see
that they are observed.
The options originally exercised by local authorities
have thus been abolished, and most of their former
powers transferred to the state board of education, the
superintendent of public instruction, or other state
boards or officials. Obviously, if these large powers are
to be effective, the central educational authority would
have to be reorganized accordingly. It must be so
equipped as to exercise intelligently the functions with
which it has been lately endowed. But this has not
been done. Though the duties and responsibilities of
the state department have become vastly greater, the
department remains to-day substantially what it was
when its duties and responsibilities were nominal.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
The schools of Kentucky-elementary and high-are
organized as a single system, over which preside a state
board of education and a superintendent of public in-
struction. These officials deal with educational matters
of general interest to the people of the state. Similarly,
the public schools of a county, exclusive of those of
graded and city school districts, form a subordinate
local system, presided over by a county board of educa-
STATE ORGANIZATION
tion, which deals with educational matters of particular
interest to the county. Two other subordinate and
local systems-the graded school districts and the cities
-are independent of the county system, though a part
of the state system. Boards of trustees or boards of
education have charge of the schools in the respective
graded school or city school districts. The central
authority is meant to give unity to the educational effort
of the state; the local authority is meant to promote
local interest, pride, and initiative.
Kentucky's state board of education was created in
i838, and was then and still is composed of ex officio
members-the secretary of state, the attorney-general,
and the superintendent of public instruction. Its com-
position is unfortunate, and its powers have never been
such as to enable it to make itself effective. It is au-
thorized to hold funds and property for the benefit of the
common schools; prescribe rules and regulations for the
government of the schools; make courses of study; and
recommend suitable books for district libraries. But
these duties are largely nominal. There are, for exam-
ple, no funds or property to hold; and prescribing rules
and regulations for the government of the schools, courses
of study, and lists of suitable books for district libraries
are technical matters in which an ex officio board has
taken and could take only a perfunctory or ineffectual
interest.
In dealing with the state board of education, the legis-
lature has not pursued a consistent policy. At one time
I I
I2 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY
the general assembly confers powers, at another takes
them away. For example, until i852 the state board
participated in the distribution of the common school
fund, but this function was thereafter exercised by the
state superintendent and the state auditor. Between
i852 and i893 the board recommended textbooks for use
in the common schools, but was thereafter entirely re-
lieved of this duty. Similarly, the board for many years
prescribed blanks and forms for all school records and
reports, but in i893 this authority was transferred to the
state superintendent.
Meanwhile other boards have been created to share or
altogether take over functions that properly belong to a
state board of education. To illustrate: The state
board of education prescribes rules and regulations gov-
erning high school certificates; issues high school certifi-
cates to graduates of higher institutions within and
without the state; grants certificating powers to private
institutions doing teacher-training work of a satisfactory
grade; extends, for life, certificates of teachers having
twenty years of experience. Yet the real power of cer-
tification is vested in the state board of examiners,
which is practically an independent body.
Again, a properly organized state board of education
would supervise teacher-training institutions, handle
all matters concerning vocational education, and select
textbooks for the public schools; but Kentucky, splitting
up its educational administration, possesses four differ-
ent boards of normal school regents; a state board of
STATE ORGANIZATION
vocational education, which includes the members of the
state board of education, created as recently as i9i8; and
an independent state textbook commission, created in
19I4 to select textbooks.
But whatever its powers, an ex officio state board of
education cannot be effective. A man elected to one
office may not have the interest and seldom has the time
requisite to the performance of an entirely different set of
duties. The secretary of state and the attorney-general
may, as members of the state board of education, give
the state superintendent casual assistance, but they
have their own special tasks for the performance of
which they are responsible to the people, and these will
and should receive their first attention. Moreover, they
know that in the long run the people hold the superin-
tendent of public instruction responsible for the conduct
of the schools, and they cannot make themselves an-
swerable for his administration.
The political character of the board also prevents it
from assuming a position of influence. Each of its
members is nominated by a political party, elected by
party vote, and is expected to be loyal to party interests.
Under these circumstances, whatever they do, they are
likely to be regarded as partisan. Perhaps this fact, as
much as lack of public sentiment, explains the reluc-
tance of the general assembly to entrust to the board
duties and functions that properly belong to it, and ac-
counts for the creation of other boards-such as boards
of normal school regents, state board of examiners, state
I3
14 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY
textbook commission, state board of vocational educa-
tion, etc.-which divide both authority and responsibil-
ity and render effective administration impossible.
Again, the state board has, since i89i, lacked con-
tinuity. Every four years sees a complete change in
personnel, and with it at least the possibility of a
complete change in educational policies. A new
administration comes into office without plans or
policies of its own, and as a rule goes out before policies
and plans can be developed. The public schools of the
state have thus been left to drift. No official is in posi-
tion to propose to the legislature or the people a policy
which looks ahead over a space of years; chaos and back-
wardness are the inevitable consequences.
The present situation as respects the state board may
be summarized as follows: The state board has recently
assumed large educational responsibilities, financial and
supervisory, and is without any proper agency to meet
them. The state board of education is impotent because
of its political complexion, its ex officio composition, and
its short tenure. The state should have a properly con-
stituted board, invested with proper powers-including
those now exercised by the normal school regents, the
state textbook commission, state board of examiners,
and vocational education board. The state can neither
form nor pursue a coherent educational policy in any
other way. The consolidation suggested would ob-
viously create a strong educational department at
Frankfort; but, as will appear from suggestions to be
STATE ORGANIZATION
made as we proceed, local units will retain all the powers
and all the opportunity that they need.
STATE TEXTBOOK COMMISSION
The work of the boards created to share functions
properly belonging to a state board of education will be
discussed in other connections. By way of illustrating
the situation a brief account will be given here of the
state textbook commission.
The state has tried almost every conceivable way of
selecting textbooks for rural schools.' Up to i852
selection was left to parents, in consequence of which
there were almost as many textbooks in a school as
there were children. Since i852 six different methods
of selection have been in vogue: (i) Between i852 and
i873, selection by the district trustees for their respective
schools from lists recommended by the state board of
education; (2) from i873 to i893, selection by the county
board of examiners and the county superintendent from
lists recommended by the state board of education;
(3) from i893 to I904, selection by the county board of
examiners freed from all state restrictions; (4) from I904
to i9io, selection by a county textbook commission from
a single list agreed upon between the several county
textbook commissions and a state textbook commis-
sion; (5) between i9io and I9I4, reversion to the
'In general, the selection of textbooks for graded and city school dis-
tricts has consistently remained in the hands of the respective boards of
trustees or boards of education.
Is
PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY
county textbook commission freed from all state re-
strictions, practically the method in vogue from i904
to i910; (6) since 1914 there has been a single list for all
rural schools prepared by the state textbook commission.
With all these attempts, no satisfactory method has
yet been devised for selecting textbooks for rural schools.
There is widespread opposition to a single state com-
pulsory list, and it is said to be a matter of common
knowledge that there was corruption in the last state
adoption. This zig-zag experience, capricious changing
from one kind of machinery to another without genuine
improvement, is fairly typical of the state's educational
history. Nothing could more clearly illustrate the
chaos that results from the absence of trained and con-
tinuous leadership. The problem of textbook selection
is in itself not difficult. A properly constituted state
board of education would, as we shall in a moment see,
have as its executive officer a state superintendent. The
state superintendent, in co-operation with representative
educators chosen by himself, would form a textbook com-
mission. The commission would prepare a list of text-
books, containing four or five suitable texts in each
subject, fix the retail price of the same with the pub-
lishers, and present the list to the state board of education
for adoption, the state board having the right to reject
textbooks on the proposed list, but not to add them.
Counties and cities would each, in that event, set up a
similar machinery. The county superintendent or the
city superintendent, as the case might be, with an ad-
I I
;I ", k
X ,E I,4= z0SA., X
Three-Windox-. Rural Schoolhouses, Without Cloakroom, but with
Front Porch
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STATE ORGANIZATION
Visory committee of county or city teachers, would make
a selection from the state list and submit the list so
selected to the county or city board of education for
approval. This plan is peculiarly adapted to Kentucky,
since it harmonizes the two methods which have so long
conflicted with each other, namely, the single compul-
sory state list and the independent local list.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
The law of i838 creating a state board of education
provided, also, for a superintendent of public instruction,
appointed by the governor for a term of two years. In
i850 the superintendent became a constitutional officer,
elected by the people for four years; the constitution of
i89I prohibited his re-election.
The duties of the first state superintendents were
chiefly clerical. They compiled the returns from the
school census, assisted in apportioning state school funds,
collected data on school enrollment and attendance,
and made an annual report to the general assembly. Not
until i864 were they required to give full-time service or
to maintain an office at Frankfort. In fact, nearly all
the early state superintendents were ministers holding
active pastorates, who gave to the schools only such
time as they could spare from their religious duties.
Latterly the responsibilities of the state superintendent
have been increased. The clerical work of the office has
mounted by leaps and bounds. It now involves the
collection and tabulation of many kinds of