CHAPTER IV

THE HIGH SCHOOL AS A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE

BY HOMER W. JOSSELYN, À.M.

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ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

The High School as "Big Business."-From the date of the establishment of the English Classical High School in Boston, in 1821, there has been a marvellous development in the field of secondary education in the United States. Looked at from any angle-enrolment, number of high school teachers, or buildings-the figures are stupendous. Such great advances have been made also in the value of high school property, in the annual expenditures and in the annual income, that we may regard the high school only in one light, that of other "big business" enterprises.

Everywhere the importance and necessity of providing secondary education to improve the civic, social, economic, and spiritual welfare are recognized as never before. It is difficult to find a community into which any of the effects of our modern development have penetrated where there is opposition to the high school as such. Since the famous Kalamazoo decision there has been yearly a lessening of the antagonism which was formerly shown by a considerable element in every town against publicly supported high schools.

Extension of High School Opportunities.-The effort American towns and villages have been making to give

every child an opportunity to attend a high school is one of the great achievements of the century. The hope, however, that all classes of pupils will in any measure make use of this opportunity and that society will receive large returns from their high schools is not now so striking. To increase the enrolment in schools of secondary grade from the industrial and wage-earning classes progressive communities are offering newer types of courses and curriculums, or setting up other types of schools.

Within the next few years high school education will cease to be a luxury-an intellectual equipment onlyand will become a necessity because of its practical value. Michigan very recently passed the law that completion of an elementary school course should no longer exempt boys and girls from compulsory school regulations. Ohio and Indiana and other States imply a similar conception in their recent statutes. This, of course, means that larger numbers of pupils will enroll in the high schools of these States, and, as many will have no aptitude for book knowledge, the further development of the elective system and larger opportunities for practical training will result.

In common, then, with all other American institutions our public high school has grown tremendously within the last two or three decades. The fact, however, that it is a public enterprise has retarded the development of the proper standards of administration. That there is an imperative need for adequate business administration is more clearly seen if we consider the facts for public education as a whole.

Statistics for Public Schools. In 1900 the number of public school teachers reached 423,062, and by 1909 the

total increased to 506,040. During the same period the number of public schoolhouses jumped from 248,279 to 257,851. The value of school property in 1900 was $550,531,217, while in 1909 it reached the enormous sum of $967,775,587. This means that to-day more money is invested in public school property than it cost to run. the federal government in 1910.

Sources of public school revenue have kept pace with the development of school property. The following table gives the main facts in brief.1

A little study of these figures shows us that the amount of the local tax has increased 90 per cent in nine years. This is all the more remarkable when we remember that, while the country's population increased 20 per cent and school population only 15 per cent, the income for schools. increased 83 per cent.

Considering the cost of public schools, we find that the expense in 1900 was $214,964,618, and in 1909 $401,397,747 an increase of 86 per cent. In 1900 the cost per capita of population to meet this was $2.84, while by 1909 it had jumped to $4.45. The total expenditure per pupil for common school purposes in 1900

1 1 Figures based on Report of Com. of Ed., 1911.

was $20.21, and in 1909 it was equal to $31.65, or an increase of 56 per cent. Accompanying this increase, however, was a steady falling off in the percentage of the total common school income devoted to salaries for teachers. In 1900, 64 per cent of the total income was for teachers' salaries, but in 1909 it decreased to 59.2a decided drop and one that cannot be realized with any degree of satisfaction. There was a wide range also in the enrolment statistics throughout the country. In the larger cities the proportion of persons six to twenty years old attending school 1909-10 ranged from 51 per cent in Richmond to 69.8 per cent in Cambridge. The cities with 65 per cent and over are Boston, Cambridge, Denver, Los Angeles, New Haven, Oakland, and Worcester. Cities with a low percentage, 55 per cent and under, are Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Memphis, New Orleans, and Richmond.1 The fact that cities of a small percentage of school attendance are found, almost entirely, in the South is largely, but not wholly, explained by the large negro population in southern cities.

One of the very interesting facts found in the report of the commissioner of education for the public schools is that there has been a decided decrease in the percentage of children five to eighteen, or the common school population in the past three decades. In 1880-90 the number of children five to eighteen increased 23 per cent; 1890-1900 the increase was 17 per cent, and 1900-10 the percentage of the increase dropped as low as 15 per cent, and that, too, in the face of the fact that our total population increased more than 21 per cent.

Important High School Statistics.-Turning now from the figures for the common schools as a whole to the 1 Figures based on 13th census, U. S., 1910.

statistics showing the increase for the last twenty years in the number of high school buildings, teachers, and pupils as found in the reports of the commissioner of education, we see by the constant and rapid advance clearly the interest and faith of the American people in secondary education. Within the past decade the increase in the value of property used for high school purposes and for current expenditures has been marvellous. Never have any people shown such willingness to tax themselves for educational purposes as our people are showing to-day throughout the whole length and breadth of our land. Some conception of the magnitude of this most significant sociological fact may be gathered from the figures given in the following table based on the statistics found in the latest report of the commissioner of education.

There were, then, 3,500 more high school teachers in 1911 than in the year ending June, 1910, and of the total number,45,167, there were 20,152 men and 25,015 women. A clearer conception of all the facts relative to the increase in the importance of secondary education may be gained by studying the charts that immediately follow.1

The author wishes to acknowledge gratefully the assistance given by his pupil, Mr. Paul Kruger, in the construction of these charts.