River ... said, 'Work all day.' said, 'Work all day.'" The Mechanics Free Press in Philadelphia, speaking of the children in the factories, said, "We have known many instances where parents who are capable of giving their children a trifling education one at a time have been deprived of that opportunity by their employers' threats that if they did take one child from their employ, a short time, for school, such family must leave employment . . . and we have even known such threats to be put into execution." Working hours and labour conditions were such that an educated citizenship was practically impossible. Class distinctions were breaking down, however, and the power was shortly to pass from those who believed in aristocratic government with the education of a few leaders to those whose belief was centred in democratic government with its most necessary corollary, the education of all at public expense. The ministry gave way to the law as the leading profession. Harvard College ceased listing its students according to the social standing of their parents. Migration westward to the new and unsettled portions of the country left class lines behind; while the rise of industry, with the consequent movement of labour from rural to urban centres, brought great masses of working-men together, shortly to be organised so that the wishes of the common people might be heard. Between 1825 and 1850 a wave of interest in education for all the people swept over the country. Two conditions were responsible for this-the breakdown of class lines in the new west and the rise to power of organised labour. People from all sections of the country had moved into the new lands in the west. There were no conveniences. It was a struggle from the start, and accidents of birth or training helped but little. Men were equal, democracy was fostered, and education for all or education for none was the demand. While the new lands were being settled, another powerful change was being made. Labour was coming into the city to work in factories, and the unorganised men, women, and children unaccustomed to new surroundings and under strange conditions were unable to cope with the manufacturer suddenly grown powerful. As a result, hours of labour lasted from sunrise until late at night, women and children worked as long as adult males, and general conditions were as intolerable as when Sir Robert Peel started his work in England years before. To remedy these consequences of the Industrial Revolution the working-men banded together into labour unions, and so powerful did these organisations become that they practically forced, along with other reforms, public universal education on the states in which they lived. The reports of committees of these unions are well worth extended study, not only in reference to the beginnings of public education in the United States, but with reference to the change in the theory of the state. The west, being democratic, fostered public schools. The east, having organised labour, did the same. In the south cotton was the principal crop. Cotton demanded work of a low grade, chiefly slave labour. Slave labour excluded the small farmer, fostered great plantations, and wealthy people who were large land-holders covered the land. There were almost no cities. There were no manufactures. There was an aristocracy of rich people who could afford to educate their children at private expense excluding the children of the negroes and the "poor whites." Having, therefore, neither democracy nor organised labour the south lagged behind. At the same time higher education was developing. The government had granted land, the proceeds from the sale of which had gone to found universities supported by the state and open without charge to students of that state. Normal schools had been founded for the training of teachers, and because there were few schools beyond elementary schools, admitted elementary school graduates. The universities could not do this. As a consequence, the public high school, modelled after the old grammar schools and academies, was introduced to fill the gap. Thus the system of education in the United States was produced. Poor people were originally trained in apprentice or pauper schools; rich people in academies, colleges, and universities. The poor people's school is now the elementary school, the first step in education designed for every citizen of the United States. The university, supported by the state, is the final step in the training of leaders. Between the two is the public high school. Each is free, open equally to all American children; and while there were variations in the order of development, every state has such a system supported at public expense. III. ORGANISATION OF EDUCATION Public education in the United States divides itself naturally into four groups-the elementary school, the high school, the college, and the professional school. Although they were originated for different purposes, to-day they are built one upon the other, the lower school preparing for the higher. The educational scheme may be illustrated by the following diagram: In these schools 21,632,514 students were enrolled in 1913. They were distributed as shown in Table I., p. 12. IV. CONTROL OF EDUCATION State Control.-Education in the United States to-day can accurately be said to be a state function. All of the states to a greater or less degree recognise this and all of them exercise some control over the local units. States require each local unit to provide schools and to institute improvements of various sorts. Funds are appropriated to help local units to make necessary provision, and by the wise administration of these state grants to local authorities much power has been put in the hands of central authorities. Nearly all the states have Boards of Education, with a State Superintendent of Public Instruction as their executive officer, in charge of the educational activities of the state.1 There are four The median salary of this officer was $3000 in 1913-14. The highest salaries are paid by New Jersey and New York, $10,000. Massachusetts may pay as high as $10,000. The salaries as paid in the various states are as follows: IT IT 5,000 4.500 4,000 3,600 6 8 3,000. 1,800 -U.S. Bureau of Education, 1914, Bul. No. 16, p. 298. common types of these boards. There is the ex-officio body as is found in Colorado, composed of state officers, such as the state superintendent of public education, the secretary of state, and the state treasurer, who hold office by virtue of official position. There is the board, found in Indiana and Washington, composed TABLE I 1 School and College Enrolment in the United States in 1913 of such educational officers of the state as the president of the state university, the presidents of the normal schools, etc. There is the board, found in Arkansas, California, New York, and Tennessee, which is appointed by the governor of the state. There is the board which is elected, by the people as in Michigan, or by 1 U.S. Commissioner of Education, Annual Report, 1914, vol. ii. p. vii. 3,000 3,000 20,000 20,000 53,000 53,000 60,000 60,000 544,972 294,662 839,634 the legislature as in Connecticut. The powers of these boards vary greatly. The board has but little power in Kentucky or Colorado where the first type is found. In New York, New Jersey, and Indiana, however, large powers are vested in the board, and very important functions are exercised by it. In Montana and Oklahoma, in addition to power over the lower schools, the same board acts as the board of control for the state university, the agricultural and mechanical colleges, and other state institutions. The tendency has been gradually to centralise power in the board of education. Educational conditions vary widely in the individual states and from state to state. State control of education varies widely also. The very brief digest of the school laws of New York and Colorado which follows shows the type of state control found in each of these two states. DIGEST OF THE STATE LAWS OF NEW YORK AND COLORADO, 1912 |