Book review: Ellis does good job of chronicling erratic path of education in state

This Book Review by Carlton Jackson (Butler County) in the Bowling Green Daily News:

Let’s say that it’s the early 20th century, and you aspire to be a teacher in the Kentucky school system; therefore, you need a certificate. You have to travel to Frankfort and take a two-day test, which requires an average of 90 to pass. Included are questions such as “your remedy for whispering,” “locating three principal rivers and five cities” of the commonwealth (p. 149), and how do you get the general public interested in the “work of the school”?

Let’s say further that either you are afraid to take this test or that, after you do, you have misgivings about whether you passed. One remedy for this dilemma is to obtain the services of a “Question Peddler” (p. 150). He or she would make the rounds of candidates on the night before the test and offer them the answers to stolen questions (p. l50).

Such a system had not been practiced before, and after some important changes, they were not used in the future. This process, among others, is ably described and explained in William E. Ellis’ “A History of Education in Kentucky,” published by the University Press of Kentucky. Ellis, a Foundation Professor Emeritus of History at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, has done a most creditable job of chronicling the erratic path of Kentucky’s educational systems.

He starts with a lengthy segment, “1775 to the Beginning of the Civil War,” and alternates between discussions of elementary and secondary educational systems and higher education, which, like its junior counterparts, developed in “ups and downs,” largely depending on which political party was ascendant. Kentucky politicians proved over and over that yes, they were in favor of an educated citizenry, just as long as it meshed with their own ideologies. To an uncomfortable degree, this situation is still true today. The present-day Kentucky public education system began with the fourth Constitution of the State in 1891 (pp. 97-98). The only state behind Kentucky in creating such a system was Mississippi. There were all kinds of schools established or continued by this constitution. “Blab” schools were popular and denominational schools were added to the system, as well as vocational “academies.”

Unfortunately, the long arm of politics intruded into the newly created school system. The election of school superintendents brought into power some officials who had not been in a classroom in their entire lives. Also, it encouraged nepotism and, along with the “trustee ship,” catered to local ideologies, causing teachers’ jobs to be in constant jeopardy. The author points out that “as the trustee system entrenched itself into the county systems, it became one of the leading causes for the inefficiency of education” (p. 23). The author hints more than once that if the Kentucky school system had separated from money-grubbing politicians, it could have been one of the best in the country.

With elementary and secondary education systems, Ellis continues his narrative to the creation of the Kentucky Educational Reform Act. In l988, Judge Roy Corns of the Circuit Court in Frankfort found that Section l83 of the Kentucky Constitution was grievously violated. The section required the legislature to treat all school districts equally in administering budgets. The discrepancies were especially glaring between urban and rural, and black and white. Most people, including President George H.W. Bush, believed that with this court ruling, “Kentucky had arrived again at an important crossroads in the history of public school education” (p. 403). Renowned historian Thomas D. Clark called it “Sunrise in Kentucky” (p. 403).

KERA had great promise when it was activated in l990. There would be new cooperation between parents and teachers (site-based decisions), anti-nepotism rules, taxing of property at its full value and, above all, accountability. (It soon appeared, however, that the only “accountability” the public wanted was that of the teacher - hardly ever that of the principal and superintendent, the parent, or even the pupil).

KERA soon became inundated with “test results,” which made critics argue that it “taught to the test.” This was especially true when President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind entered the scene. Portfolios, it has been said, led more than one good Kentucky teacher into early retirement. While KERA still has its advocates, especially among administrators and colleges of education, many teachers are averse, even hostile, to it. Ellis quotes a Kentucky teacher: “What has happened in the 18 years since KERA was introduced has moved beyond a paradigm shift into a full-blown paranoid slide into a sludge pit of indexes, calculations, punitive measures, debilitating demands on time and energy, threats, empty promises and above all, assessment, assessment, and more assessment - assessment that has to be calculated, measured, graphed, analyzed and adjusted, looked at, shared, discussed, celebrated and wept over” (p. 409).

As one can easily see, the judgment on KERA is far from complete.

In reference to higher education in Kentucky, the author gives full discussion of Transylvania, the first college west of the Appalachians, as well as to denominational schools, such as Georgetown, Bellarmine, Brescia and Centre. He devotes most of his space on higher education to State College, funded by the federal Morrill Act in 1862, later called “State University,” which in 1916 became the University of Kentucky. Other publicly funded schools were the “Normals,” which ultimately became “State Teachers Colleges,” and still later, simply “State Colleges.” Included were Eastern Kentucky in Richmond, Morehead, Murray, Kentucky State in Frankfort and Western Kentucky in Bowling Green. As might be imagined, great wrangling occurred between UK and the “regionals” for public monies. Budget battles became even more complicated with the University of Louisville’s entry into state support.

In the picture section of this book is a photograph of Gov. Ned Breathitt signing a bill in 1966 creating universities out of the “regionals.” As the saying goes, one picture is worth a thousand words. The visage of UK President John W. Oswald is anything but serene, while the newly minted university presidents (Carl M. Hill of Kentucky State, Robert R. Martin of EKU, Kelly Thompson of WKU, Ralph H. Woods of Murray and Adron Doran of Morehead), look upon the event with satisfaction.

One quibble with this book is that Ellis constantly refers to EKU, WKU, et al, as “regional universities.” These institutions may have been “regional” while normal schools or teachers’ colleges, but once they attained university status they were not regional. In a way, if you’re regional, you’re not a university; if you’re a university, you’re not regional. The operative word here is “comprehensive.”

This book will long be the definitive account of education at all levels in the commonwealth. Professor Ellis is to be congratulated for bringing together such disparate parts - and in such a readable fashion - of this important and fascinating subject. He has a lengthy bibliography and a workable index. This book is highly recommended.