Page:History of Public School Education in Arizona.djvu/141

Rh demand for teachers, although at present the laws in force discourage the young teacher from beginning work in his home State. Educational journalism is behind, due undoubtedly to lack of support, this coming in turn from lack of teachers and the scarcity of persons interested in educational problems. The State has not yet grown beyond the stage of physical necessities on the one hand and the mere accumulation of wealth on the other, but the basis of the centralization and expression of school thought has been laid in the teachers’ county institutes and the Teachers’ State Association. With all the money needed, the State still awaits the increase in personnel which is as necessary as material. Indeed, one of the troubles in Arizona has always been that the pupils increased faster than the accommodations. For this reason it was ofttimes impossible to enforce the compulsory attendance laws. Schoolhouses, although built by bond issues more often than by taxes, at this period were often inadequate.

In recent years commendable progress has been made toward centralization. The examination of teachers is in the hands of the State superintendent. He mails the questions for the formal teachers’ examinations to the county superintendents, who acting in the capacity of educational clerks set the examination. The papers are then read and graded in the superintendent’s office and to each teacher is guaranteed equality of treatment and of marking. The offices of county judge of probate and county superintendent have been entirely separated by law, and salaries assigned in proportion to services rendered.

The State board of education is the authority in the organization and administration of educational affairs. The State superintendent takes his orders from this board and is its executive officer.

The enrollment and attendance in Arizona have always been relatively high, and in the last 20 years the enrollment has never been less than 71 per cent (1913–14) of the school population and has been as high as 86 per cent (1910–11). During the same period the per cent of those enrolled in average attendance has risen from 59 (1898–99) to 78.5 per cent in 1915–16, and the per cent of school population in average attendance has gone from 41.6 per cent in 1901–2 to 56.1 per cent in 1915–16. It is to be noted also that this attendance is on a basis of the total school population between 6 and 21 years of age and makes no allowance for pupils in private schools. This increase in attendance is not at any uniform rate, but when one period is compared with another it becomes very marked.