hat nearly all the
children could secure these certificates. These tests created a great
impetus in the direction of correct pronunciation and language. Some
teachers, from mistaken kindness, had been accustomed to refrain from
correcting the children on such words, but as superintendent I found
that both the parents and the children wished drill in pronunciation and
were gratified at their success. This is only a sample. I would advocate
the giving of tests, or examinations, on any subject in the school
likely to lead to good results and to stimulate the minds of the pupils
in the right direction. The county superintendent and his assistants
might agree to lay the accent or the emphasis on different subjects, or
lines of work, in different years.

=Keep Down Red Tape.=--In all the work of supervision, the formal
part--the accounting and reporting part--should be kept simple; the
tendency in administrative offices is too often in the direction of
complexity and red tape. Wherever there is form merely for the sake of
form, it is well worth while to sound a note of warning against it.

=Help the Social Centers.=--The county superintendent and his assistants
can be of inestimable value in all the work of the social centers. They
should advise with school boards in regard to consolidation and other
problems agitating the community. They should lend a helping hand to
programs that are being carried out in any part of the county. They
should give lectures themselves at such social centers and, if asked,
should help the local communities and local committees in every way
within their power.

=Conclusion.=--The problem, then, of superintendence is, we conclude,
one of the large and important problems awaiting solution in rural life
and in rural schools. It is the binding force that will help to unify
all the educational activities of the county. It is one of the chief
stimulating and uplifting influences in rural education. As in the case
of most other school problems, the constant surprise is that the people
have not awakened sooner to the realization of its importance and to an
honest and earnest attempt at its solution.

CHAPTER XII

LEADERSHIP AND COOePERATION

=The Real Leader.=--Real leadership is a scarce and choice article; true
leaders are few and far between. The best kind of leader is not one who
attempts to be at the head of every movement and to do everything
himself, but rather he who makes the grea