Stephen Beauregard Weeks

“ When a general view of the history and growth of the public school movement in Arizona is undertaken, it is easily possible to comprehend the steady, if uneven, development in the course of the same. In the first place the Territory did not receive its preliminary organization until the days of the Civil War, and was therefore the heir of all that had been said or done or thought on the subject of education in the older States. ”

“ The boards of supervisors of the several counties should be compelled to divide the counties into one or more school districts, and levy a tax upon all the property of the county to raise a sufficient fund, with the money derived from the Territory, to maintain, for a term of at least six months each year, one or more free schools in each of the counties. This will undoubtedly, to a small extent, increase taxation; but I hardly believe there is a property owner who would not prefer to pay an increased tax than see the rising generation grow up in ignorance ”

“ We may accurately say, then, that while Arizona did not escape the almost universal struggle which has been waged at one time or another by one interest or another against the public-school system, there has never been a day since the organization of the Territory when the public-school idea did not stand out boldly and distinctly as a function of the modern State. ”

“ I am of the opinion that our Government should adopt a system of free schools for the whole people, and that, as soon as it were put in operation, it should by law compel the attendance of every child of sound mind and proper age throughout the length and breadth of the Republic. ”

“ Our law at present is liberal in its encouragement of the organization of high schools, and there are many localities where one would prove of inestimable value to the cause of education. * * * No school system is perfect without the high school. There is a missing link which no other school can supply, unless, indeed, our normal and university must supply the stepping stone by being burdened with a grammar department to supply the course furnished by the high school. ”

“ Half the population spoke no English; few of the children had ever seen a school; and while the more intelligent of both races were anxious for schools, the great mass of the people were not only indifferent, but sometimes even hostile. ”

“ Under the system of appointment in use in Arizona the general supervision of the schools was made subject to the whim of the governor every two years, and during the nineteenth century it was customary for each governor to change the school superintendent, in this way subjecting the schools to a succession of new men who, however well disposed and anxious to serve the schools, were hardly through the initiatory stages of office before called on to vacate for another, who began not where they left off but where they began. ”

“ There is always a lack of interest in high-school work in newly settled countries. Not only is there a lack of interest manifested, but strong opposition frequently arises to any effort to provide liberally for the maintenance of high schools. A great many do not seem to appreciate the fact that the high school is one of the rounds of the educational ladder that can not be dispensed with without serious danger to our educational interests. ”

“ It was shown that the building used for the negro school was the newest, best constructed, and most sanitary of all the school buildings in the district; that its equipment was equal if not superior to the others and that the pupils received more attention, because the attendance was smaller, than they received in the white schools; and that the course of study was the same. The conclusion of the court was in substance that “equality and not identity of privileges and rights is what is guaranteed to the citizens.” ”

“ It is evident to those who are victims of such mistakes that the normal school at Tempe insists upon a thorough English education before anything else is considered. If in time it is demonstrated that our young men and women come from the public schools very proficient in the common branches, then will be ample time to extend the course to meet their needs. At present the course as outlined is, in our opinion, that which our students need to fit them as teachers, as well as to make them most useful as men and women in any walk in life. ”

“ The people of Arizona have not even yet learned the valuable lesson of partially supporting their schools by local taxes, and rarely levy special taxes upon districts except to meet the expense of erecting new school buildings.
While there was enough authority in the law to provide schools, there was as yet nothing to create a strong desire for them. Gov. McCormick had done much to advance the material interests of the Territory, but founding schools was not his forte. What the people most needed was an educational leader, and he was soon to be supplied. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is therefore substantially true to say that the first advocates of the public school found a field without previous claimants, clear of obstacles, fallow for cultivation, and with the greater part of the more intelligent population in direct sympathy with its purpose. ”

“ Free schools have been taught, during the past year, in every school district in the Territory for at least three months. The advancement by the pupils has been extraordinary, and the sentiment of the people has become interested and cemented into a determination to make almost any sacrifices to educate the rising generation. No officer interested with putting the school law into operation has yet received any compensation for his services; so that every dollar raised for school purposes has been applied to furnishing schoolrooms, the purchase of books, and payment of teachers. ”

“ It is admitted that the permanency of our institutions depends upon the intelligence of the people. Free public schools are the means of diffusing knowledge among the rising generation and preparing the youth of the land to exercise with intelligence the duties of American citizenship when clothed with its cares and responsibilities. ”

“ I would suggest that the Territorial school money to which each county is entitled be divided equally among all the districts. This plan would aid very materially the outside districts, and would work no injury on the schools in the towns and villages. In nearly every town of any importance in the Territory, such as Globe and Tucson, there is an abundance of school money, far more than will be required for school purposes for the present year. ”

“ I consider it imperatively necessary that we shall do something for ourselves.
The present school law has been found inadequate to accomplish the desired object; in fact, it has been wholly inoperative. To obtain the means to put a free school system in operation I would recommend that a portion of the Territorial revenues be set apart for school purposes, and that this fund be divided between the several counties of the Territory in proportion to the number of children that attend school. ”