e
parents were as enlightened and expert in school training and education
problems in general as school-teachers and their inspectors and
superintendents. As a matter of fact, the parents, especially in the
rural districts, are quite backward, and often even ignorant, in these
problems. This is the root of the trouble with the local school
inspection and direction. A county superintendent is not always elected
for his merits as an educator, but often for his popularity, influence,
and "agreeableness." An elected county superintendent usually cannot
come into conflict with the parents--for instance, by insisting on a
rigid enforcement of the school-attendance law entailing the arrest of
the parents for disobeying the law--without losing his position at the
next election. This condition causes frequent change or "rotation" of
the county school superintendents, and is in itself a considerable
defect of the existing system of school inspection and direction. With a
few exceptions, county superintendents who were interviewed complained
of this "rotation" to the writer.

In most cases no educational or experience qualifications are required
by any higher authority for inspectors. As a result local politics,
village gossip, and jealousies have free play.

Usually there is no provision for office expenses, assistant, or
clerical force. The superintendent's salary is low, often lower than a
teacher's salary. The superintendent of Ziebach County, South Dakota,
received only $44.76 monthly, while the average teachers salary was
$55.04 per month. Another county superintendent told the writer that all
his salary went for gasoline and repairs for the automobile with which
he made his inspection tours. To the question why he served the county
without compensation he answered, "Because I love the 'game' and have my
own private income."

Another defect is the fact that the superintendents have to cover too
large a field. A county contains from one hundred to three hundred
teachers, and nearly as many schools. The county superintendent is able
properly to inspect all the schools under jurisdiction only once or
twice a year, which is not sufficient for the direction of the school
work. Quite a number of the county superintendents complained about the
lack of authority over teachers, especially in their selection and
appointment. Under such a condition, if a teacher carries out the
superintendent's wish or advice, she does so merely fro