CHAPTER XX

THE STATE-Continued

THE STATE AND EDUCATION

The Modern Basis of Public Education.-That rapid transformation in our school and college system which is now attracting such wide attention is mainly due to two new ideas,-first, we now see that advanced "schooling" is not an advantage for those who can afford it but a necessity for all classes, so that we are taking steps to open up the higher and highest grades of secondary and college work to the humblest citizen; second, we have discovered that no one fixed rigid group of courses is "education," but that many new subjects offer a training of the highest value. These two changes in our thought have enlarged the duties and service of the State government to surprising proportions. In 1910, the latest year for which statistics are available, there were enrolled in the public schools 17,800,000 pupils, or 71% of the persons of school age. The average attendance was 12,800,000. The teachers numbered 523,000, of whom four-fifths were women. The average payment of women teachers was $53 monthly; of men $68. The value of school property was over one billion dollars, and the expenditures for the year were $426,250,000. This expenditure represents $4.64 per capita of the population, or $33.34 per pupil in attendance.

We are also encouraging each individual to spend a longer time upon his schooling and we now see that even adults can profit by vocational studies and advanced technical courses. At the same time the number and variety of subjects to be taught has broadened out until there are at present few fields of human knowledge which are not included in the programs of the State supported institutions. More of us are "going to school," we are going for a longer time and are studying an endless variety of new subjects with great advantage. Literally the nation is now in training.

The Subsidy System.-To satisfy this new demand, the States. have built up and strengthened their administrative machinery by many devices chief among which are the State subsidy to local school districts and the State minimum standard for all local schools. The effect of these has been to extricate the weaker school districts from hopeless poverty and inability to meet the new demands, on the one hand, and to bring order and system out of the chaos of local inefficiency, on the other. The State Board of Education or the Superintendent recommends for a share in the

State appropriation, those districts which have kept their local schools open for a sufficient length of time during the year, and have maintained adequate standards and teaching force in the subjects required by the State. Sometimes the State appropriation equals one-third of the whole local school expense. This large subsidy from the State treasury is an essential item in the income of the local district and no effort is spared to satisfy the prescribed standard, and to share in its benefits. This plan, which is adopted from the English "Grant in Aid" system, has become necessary because of the extreme and bumptious independence of the local district authorities, which resisted all other efforts to raise the standard, while the legislature on its part was unwilling to force a change by compulsory methods. The plan would work far more effectively if the State Superintendent were more freely furnished with his own agents to inspect the local schools and if we could rescue our local school administration from the handicap of party politics. Some of our Commonwealths in addition to the subsidy plan have tried further means of securing efficiency.

The New York Plan.-The System adopted by New York has had an excellent influence upon the public schools. This is a central board of regents with authority to grant, alter and revoke the charters of universities, colleges, academies, etc., distribute to them the funds appropriated by the State, inspect such institutions, require annual reports, establish examinations and confer certificates, diplomas and degrees. But, in addition, the board by its power to fix the standard of examination for all degrees granted by the State, controls all the schools, since under this power it prescribes a certain preparatory as well as college course for the degree. In this way a high and uniform requirement is kept in all the secondary schools of the State. The executive work is conducted by a Commissioner of Education chosen by the board. His powers in the main are like those of other State superintendents. Numerous other Commonwealths have recently followed the New York plan and have given extended powers to the central officials so that the tendency toward central State control is a firmly fixed and successful policy in all our school systems.

The Central Authority.-The question as to the form of the central authority has been answered differently in different commonwealths. Most of them have established a department of public instruction under the control of a single official, the superintendent. Others have given the power to a board. At first glance the difference seems slight but a serious question of principle is involved. A single-headed authority, the superintendent, possesses the advantages which arise from any centering of authority, at a definite point, viz., quickness and efficiency of action, greater willingness to accept new ideas and to keep abreast of the times, and definite1 Massachusetts is now considering the entire support of the public schools by the State treasury.

ness of responsibility and power. In favor of a board holding office for a long time, a greater freedom from political interference and from partiality is urged, also greater steadiness and conservatism and a broader point of view. It will be apparent that where the fear of political interference is predominant, the board plan should be preferred, while in other States the greater danger might arise from stagnation and inactivity; if so, power should be vested in a superintendent. In estimating the relative desirability of the two plans it should be remembered that a steady increase in the powers of the central State officers is taking place, with a more insistent demand for efficient action and control over the local authorities. Where conditions permit, we should therefore give preference to a system in which the single official head will be given more power while the board will be made advisory. Some one head must be supreme in school administration as in any other business enterprise of large proportions.

The Illinois Superintendent.-In Illinois a State Superintendent of Public Instruction is elected by the people for four years. His powers and duties are to keep general records of reports of local school officers and other documents relating to the school system, supervise all the common and public schools of the State; advise the county superintendents as to conduct of schools, construction of schoolhouses and methods of securing competent teachers; report annually to the Governor, make general rules and regulations for the execution of the school laws, give legal advice to school officers, hear and determine controversies arising under the school laws of the State when appealed from a county superintendent, grant teachers' certificates, visit such charitable institutions of the State as are educational in character, prescribe forms for reports, require reports from county superintendents and local boards under penalty of forfeiture of the State appropriation to schools in such districts and require reports from heads of public educational institutions within the State.

The Massachusetts Board.-In Massachusetts a Board of Education consisting of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and eight other persons appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Council for eight years, exercises the general control of the Commonwealth over its public schools. The place of a superintendent is taken by the Secretary of the Board, who is paid, the members of the board being unpaid. The board, or under its direction, the Secretary, requires reports from local boards, preserves records, makes a detailed report on condition of the schools, suggests improvements to the legislature, visits as often as possible the different parts of the commonwealth for the purpose of arousing and guiding public sentiment in relation to education, appoints agents to visit the schools in towns and cities, manages the State normal schools, holds Summer schools for teachers, directs examinations for teachers' certificates, manages the school fund of

the State and distributes the State appropriation to various towns for school purposes.

Local Authorities.-Each county has its own superintendent of schools who watches over the local district boards and reports to the State authority on their condition. In some States he also issues local teaching certificates and holds an annual teachers' institute for the purpose of stimulating and inspiring the instructing staff. The county is divided into school districts with an elected local board in each district; these boards choose the teachers, manage the school property and generally administer educational affairs; they have also the power of taxation for school purposes, and when necessary they may sell bonds to build new schoolhouses, etc. The entire control over higher education including colleges, universities and all bodies which grant degrees, is exercised by the central State authorities, either through a State board or a special Council. These latter determine when an educational institution shall have the degree-granting power, and recommend or oppose the granting of charters of incorporation to new institutions by the Secretary of State.

New Problems.-The States are now wrestling with two new problems of unusual importance and interest:

How to make the Universities and Colleges of greater public service and usefulness.

How to offer some vocational training in the elementary and high schools, in order to fit them more closely to the needs of the people.

The work of making our Universities more serviceable is one that deserves the greatest care and attention of the State. A University represents an investment of 10 to 50 millions or even more, and requires for its ordinary expenses and additions, from one-half to three millions yearly. How can these funds be made most productive to the community? In the past our higher institutions have done a great work in offering the best scientific and cultural education to those few who could afford to take the complete prescribed groups of courses. They have aimed chiefly to equip the leaders of thought and action. In this field they have rendered an invaluable service. The question now arises-can they not also widen their sphere of usefulness to include more of that vast multitude which we call "the people" and which is abundantly more able to furnish leaders than are the leisure classes? Another newer question presses still more insistently-ought the University to fix its attention solely upon the production of leaders? Can it not offer some of its facilities to those of the masses who are able to profit by them? Can it not even adapt its courses, relax some of its rigid groups of subjects and rearrange its methods so as to bring to all who can grasp and use them, some of those immense stores of inherited and acquired knowledge which would be of inestimable value to the plain common man who has never dreamed

of being a leader? We have already seen how high the scientific researches and attainments of the University can reach-we have still to find how broad can be its public usefulness.

University Extension.-Because of the strong popular movement in the Western States the University question has received more attention there, and in Wisconsin particularly the widest development of the new idea has occurred. Here the University as a State institution is supported mainly by public funds and aims to meet the broadest public needs. Certain features of its work have been noticeably successful.1

1. An Extension Department reaches the homes, the farms, the shops and factories of the people. Extension classes with lecturers from the University staff, correspondence courses, demonstrations and conferences, have opened up countless new opportunities for practical study and the work of "sending the University to the people" has been carried on with such vigor and success that all classes feel a direct interest. President Van Hise has pointed out that scientific knowledge has grown far more rapidly than the means of spreading it; the people are being left behind. We have accumulated a great store of information, of practical and scientific principles and other useful knowledge, but it is in the keeping of scientists and experts and has not been made available to the masses of the people. The Wisconsin idea is to open up this fund of helpful knowledge to the immediate use of the community. In the correspondence division there are over five thousand students with a hundred members of the faculty taking part in instruction. Fifty-seven local classes have been organized, and are visited by the professors from time to time. The Extension department has sought to gather in a number of other activities which could be helped by a close union with the University. Among these are: The Municipal Reference Bureau, which answers questions on city and village problems,

The Anti-Tuberculosis Campaign with conferences, exhibits, etc. The Lecture Bureau, which has three organization extension centers in Milwaukee, Oshkosh, and Lacrosse.

2. The noteworthy farming work of the University. Nowhere has there been such a careful and successful study of the agricultural needs of the State and such a remarkable fitting of new courses to these needs. The lumber and farming interests of Wisconsin have been foremost among her resources. The University Agricultural Department looking decades ahead, has seen that no modern, growing commonwealth can long depend upon timber as its chief or even as a leading industry. Accordingly the central feature of

1 It should be clearly understood that in choosing principally the University of Wisconsin and in it principally the extension courses for discussion at this point, it is intended not to criticise nor ignore other courses nor other institutions, but rather to show by a single example what can be and is being done to increase the dividend paid to the people by the University investment.