Problems in American Democracy Part 45

9. The marketing of farm products. (Weld, _The Marketing of Farm Products; Annals_, vol. xlviii, pages 91-238; King, _Lower Living Costs in Cities_, chapter x; Harris, _Cooperation, the Hope of the Consumer_, chapter iii.)

10. Tenancy. (_Annals_, vol. xl, pages 29-40; Vogt, _Introduction to Rural Sociology_, chapter v.)

11. Rural hygiene. (Ogden, _Rural Hygiene_; Gillette, _Constructive Rural Sociology_, chapter xi; Vogt, _Introduction to Rural Sociology_, chapters vii and viii.)

12. Immigrant communities in the country. (_Annals_, vol. xl, pages 69-80.)

13. Rural housing. (_Annals_, vol. li, pages 110-116; Waugh, _Rural Improvement_, chapter x.)

14. The country town. (Anderson, _The Country Town_.)

15. The rural school. (Bailey, _The Training of Farmers_, pages 173- 194; Vogt, _Introduction to Rural Sociology_, chapter xv; Galpin, _Rural Life_, chapter vii; King, _Education for Social Efficiency_, chapters iii and iv; b.u.t.terfield, _The Farmer and the New Day_, chapter vii.)

16. The country church. (b.u.t.terfield, _The Country Church and the Rural Problem_; Gill and Pinchot, _The Country Church_; Carney, _Country Life and the Country School_, chapter iii; Gillette, _Constructive Rural Sociology_, chapter xv; Vogt, _Introduction to Rural Sociology_, chapters xvii and xviii; Galpin, _Rural Life_, chapter xi; _Annals_, vol. xl, pages 131-139.)

17. The Grange. (Carney, _Country Life and the Country School_, chapter iv.)

18. The farmer in politics. (Vogt, _Introduction to Rural Sociology_, chapter xii.)

19. Clubs and organizations in rural districts. (Gillette, _Constructive Rural Sociology_, chapter xiii; Waugh, _Rural Improvement_, chapter v; Galpin, _Rural Life_, chapters viii, x; Vogt, _Introduction to Rural Sociology_, chapter xiv; _Annals_, vol. xl, pages 175-190.)

20. The Country Life movement. (Bailey, _The Country Life Movement in the United States_; Carney, _Country Life and the Country School_, chapter xiii; Gillette, _Constructive Rural Sociology_, chapter viii.)

FOR CLa.s.sROOM DISCUSSION

21. The relative advantages of life in the city and life in the country.

22. Should immigrants be encouraged to settle in rural districts?

23. Advantages and disadvantages of tenancy from the standpoint of the rural community.

24. To what extent should country people copy the social inst.i.tutions of the city rather than develop inst.i.tutions of their own?

CHAPTER XXVI

EDUCATION

307. THE MEANING OF EDUCATION.--A half century ago education might have been defined as the process of acquiring certain types of book knowledge which contributed to the culture of the individual. More recently the concept of education has been broadened and deepened.

Present-day education aims not only to add to the culture of the individual, but to vitalize the community as well. Education is no longer limited to the schoolroom, but includes all agencies and activities which in any way help toward a fuller and more responsible citizenship. Education is no longer confined to infancy and youth, but is a life-long process. Our educational system no longer a.s.sumes that the needs and capacities of all pupils are similar, but attempts so to diversify training that each individual will be enabled to develop his peculiar powers and to contribute to American life in the manner best suited to his individual ability. Taken in its widest sense, education has seven great objectives. These are health, command of fundamental processes (such as reading, writing, and arithmetic), worthy home- membership, vocation, citizenship, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character. [Footnote: These objectives have been formulated by the National Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education.]

308. EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY.--Two centuries ago the education of the ma.s.ses was politically a matter of small concern, for most governments were conducted by a narrowly restricted cla.s.s. But in a democracy education is fundamental. The idea that the ma.s.ses should govern themselves is an appealing one, but before self-government is safe a comprehensive educational system must have made substantial inroads upon illiteracy and ignorance. Not only must the citizen of a democracy be individually capable, but his capacity to cooperate with his fellows must be large. Under an undemocratic government the people rely upon their rulers; in a democracy they must rely upon their own joint efforts. From both an individual and a social standpoint, therefore, democracy demands more of its educational system than does any other form of government.

309. DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.--Education was an important concern in most of the American colonies, and especially so in New England. After 1800 the common school system was extended rapidly, the district school pa.s.sing westward with the pioneer movement. Educational facilities continued to expand and to diversify until at the end of the Civil War period there were more than seven million children in the elementary schools of this country. The period following the Civil War also saw the beginnings of the high school, a characteristic American educational inst.i.tution which arose to take the place of the older Latin grammar schools and the private academies. Normal schools for the training of teachers, and colleges and universities for higher education, developed rapidly after 1880.

Today there are more than three quarters of a million teachers in the United States, instructing more than 25,000,000 students in inst.i.tutions ranging from kindergarten and elementary schools to colleges and universities.

310. MERITS OF OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.--The merits of our educational system are of great significance. We are definitely committed to the ideal of an educated citizenry. It has been the policy of the several states to establish and maintain free public schools. School attendance is compulsory, on full or part time, for children up to a certain age, the age varying from state to state. No public school is sectarian, the freedom of religious thought and action guaranteed by the Federal Const.i.tution having been continued into our public school system. The public schools stimulate democratic tendencies by bringing together large ma.s.ses of children from all walks of life. Our school system likewise has an Americanizing influence upon a large number of foreigners because their children study in our public schools and then carry into their homes the influence of the school. Within the last quarter of a century our schools have greatly extended their functions, becoming, in many cases, genuine community centers.

311. FINANCIANG THE SCHOOLS.--The substantial advances made in American education during the last century are a cause for congratulation. At the same time, our standards of education are rising so rapidly that a number of educational problems are becoming acute.

An important problem has to do with the financial support of our rapidly expanding school system. In many states the schools are inadequately supported by the tax payers. In some of these states the public schools are not readily accessible to large numbers of children, while in the schools that are accessible the equipment is often inadequate to the demands made upon it. In many states teachers still receive insufficient salaries.

Our schools ought not to suffer from lack of funds. Ours is the richest country in the world, and our school system is one of the most vital and fundamental of our inst.i.tutions. Often the failure of taxpayers properly to support the schools is due to either or both of the following causes: First, failure to appreciate the importance of education; second, the lack of accessible wealth as a basis of taxation. The first objection must be met by so perfecting our educational system that taxpayers will be convinced that money invested in schools means large profits in the form of a more efficient and prosperous citizenship. The second objection calls for the reform of our taxation system.

312. CONTROL OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.--In the United States education is a state rather than a national function. There is no Federal administration of schools, each state having its independent system. Each state has a system of elementary education, and nearly every state has a secondary or high school system. Nearly all of the states also have state universities in which instruction is either free or is available at a nominal charge. The public schools are supported chiefly by local taxes and are controlled mainly by the local authorities. In most states local outlays are supplemented, to a greater or less degree, by state contributions. State support is almost always accompanied by a measure of state control, though the extent of this control varies widely among the several states.

313. THE QUESTION OF UNIFORM STANDARDS.--To what extent should there be uniformity within our school system? We have no national system of education, and the lack of coordination between the educational systems of the several states has many undesirable features.

Educational standards vary widely from state to state, and often from county to county within the same state. The confusion growing out of this situation has given rise to the demand for the systematization or standardization of our school facilities.

The question is a difficult one. Most authorities believe that education ought not to be centralized under the Federal government, but ought, rather, to remain a state function. But even though it is not desirable to allow the Federal government to take over the chief educational powers of the state, it is believed by many that some national agency might render valuable service in coordinating the educational programs of the several states. At present many educators feel that the Federal government should insist upon minimum standards in education in the various states of the Union.

Standardization within each state is considered desirable by most authorities. All of the educational facilities of a given commonwealth probably ought to be coordinated under some supervising state agency.

The administrative ideal in state education is so to systematize the schools of the state that they will be bound together by a common purpose, guided by the same set of established principles, and directed toward the same social ends.

314. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.--A serious defect of our educational system arises in connection with school attendance. In many states the school attendance laws are laxly enforced. It is claimed that at no one time is more than three fourths of our school population enrolled in the schools. Of those who do comply with the school attendance laws, there is a considerable percentage which cannot acquire an adequate education within the limits of the compulsory school period. Only about one third of the pupils who enter the first year of the elementary school reach the four-year high school, and only about one in nine is graduated. Of those who enter high school, about one third leave before the beginning of the second year, about one half are gone before the beginning of the third year, and fewer than one third are graduated.

Within the last decade there has been a marked tendency among the several states to enforce school attendance laws more strictly. No less encouraging is the growing belief among educators that the school attendance period ought so to be adjusted that every child will be guaranteed the working essentials of an education. There is grave doubt as to the wisdom of raising the minimum age at which children may withdraw from school, but at least greater efforts ought to be made to keep children in school at least for part-time schooling beyond the present compulsory period. As will be pointed out presently, much is already being done in this direction.

315. EDUCATION AS PREPARATION FOR DAILIY LIFE.--It is sometimes said that our educational system neglects practical activities for subjects that have no immediate connection with the problems of daily life.

Many citizens have thoughtlessly condemned the whole program of education because they have observed that particular schools have allowed pupils to go forth with a fund of miscellaneous knowledge which neither helps them to get a better living, nor aids them in performing the duties of citizenship. On the basis of these and allied considerations, there is a growing demand that education be made more "practical."

There is much to be said for and against this att.i.tude. Some enthusiasts are apparently carrying the demand for "practical"

education too far. The growing importance in our industrial life of efficiency and practical training should not blind us to the fact that education is cultural as well as occupational or vocational. The education of an individual is not estimated alone by the degree to which he succeeds in practical affairs, but as well by the extent to which he shows evidence of training in the appreciation of moral, artistic, and literary values. It is sometimes difficult to see that the study of literature, ancient languages, and similar subjects is preparation for life, and yet wise training in these fields may prove as important as studies which aid more directly and immediately in getting a living.

On the other hand, our educational system must take note of the growing importance of industrial activities. Since education is preparation for life, the school must accommodate itself to the changes which are now taking place in our economic and social organization. As modern society becomes more complex, more tinged with industrial elements, more a matter of cooperation and interdependence, education must become more highly evolved, more attentive to vocational needs, and more emphatic in the stress which it lays upon the actual duties of citizenship.

The more complex the needs of daily life, therefore, the greater the necessity of shifting emphasis in education. But in thus shifting the emphasis in education we must be careful not to disturb the balance between cultural and "practical" subjects. To discriminate between what should be taught and what should be omitted from the curriculum, to retain the finest elements of our cultural studies, but at the same time to fit our citizens to meet the demands of office, shop, and factory,--these are the tasks of the educator.

316. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.--Vocational training is one of the most significant developments in modern education. This type of education is designed to train the young person to earn a good living in that branch of work for which he seems best fitted. Some of the supporters of vocational education believe that this specialized form of training ought to be commenced very early and in connection with the regular curriculum. Others think that vocational education should not be attempted until the child has been given enough generalized training to enable him properly to perform the fundamental duties of citizenship.

But whatever its relation to the curriculum, vocational education is of great significance. If combined with vocational guidance it not only prevents the boy or girl from aimlessly drifting into an unskilled occupation, but it singles out for special attention children who show special apt.i.tude for particular trades and professions. Vocational education for the blind, the deaf, the crippled, and the otherwise disabled is social service of the finest and most constructive type.

317. FEDERAL ENCOURAGEMENT OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.--In February, 1917, Congress pa.s.sed the Smith-Hughes Act, establishing a Federal Board for Vocational Education. This board promotes vocational education in cooperation with the several states, and administers the Federal aid granted to the states under the Act. Each state accepting the provisions of the Act must provide a state board to control a system of vocational schools. Evening, part-time, and continuation schools offer instruction in agriculture, industry, commerce, transportation, and the professions. Each state must also agree to appropriate, either through the state or locally, an amount of money for teachers' salaries, equivalent to the sum received from the Federal board. Such states must also agree to provide proper buildings and meet the running expenses of the system. In the first year under this Act, the Federal appropriations amounted to more than a million and a half dollars. This sum is to be increased annually until the year 1925-1926, when the states will receive $7,000,000 from the Federal government in support of vocational education.

318. LIMITATIONS OF THE CONVENTIONAL SCHOOL TERM.--A few decades ago, the typical school in an American city offered instruction to certain cla.s.ses of young people between nine o'clock in the morning and three or four o'clock in the afternoon, for from 150 to 180 days a year.

During the rest of the time the schoolhouse was idle.

This policy greatly restricted the education of important groups of people. Adult immigrants were barred from the elementary public schools. Persons desiring educational guidance in special fields often found that the school offered them no help. Cripples, men and women employed in the daytime, and other individuals who found it impossible or inconvenient to attend school during the conventional time limits, were restricted in educational opportunity. Many boys and girls who drop out of school because of the necessity of going to work, do so before their education has been completed. For most of these cla.s.ses, the inability to take advantage of the regular school term has meant the denial of adequate education.

319. WIDER USE OF THE SCHOOL PLANT.--Recently the "wider use of the school plant" movement is helping these cla.s.ses to secure or continue their education. For una.s.similated immigrants, day and evening courses in citizenship are now provided in many cities and towns. In many cities vacation schools have been established for the convenience of children who have failed in their studies, or who are able and willing to make unusual progress in various subjects. For those who work by day there is often a chance to go to school by night. For those who find it inexpedient to leave their homes, there are, in many places, travelling libraries and correspondence courses. In some western states the farmer now has an opportunity of taking extension courses from the State university during those seasons in which his work is lightest. For pupils who are under the necessity of partially or entirely supporting themselves, some cities now have part-time or all- around-the-year schools.

320. THE SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL CENTER.--Closely a.s.sociated with the movement to extend school facilities to those who would ordinarily be debarred from them, is the movement toward making the school a social center. Many city and some rural schools now provide free to the general public lectures on science, art, literature, and business.

Moving pictures, dramatics, and other forms of entertainment are becoming a regular feature of this type of school work. In many schools the gymnasiums are available to the public under reasonable restrictions. Folk singing and dancing are being encouraged in numerous schools. Schoolrooms devoted by day to regular school courses are in many places being used during the evening for the discussion of public questions. In these and other ways the school is becoming a center of life for the community. It is extending into the homes of the people and is becoming the instrument of the community rather than of a particular group.