the public school in very many States is to-day under a most serious handicap because of its lack of financial 2 support. This lack of support is due in many cases not so much to indifference on the part of patrons as to the unscientific methods employed and to the inefficient laws under which the schools of many States are compelled to labor. The present is demanding in many communities every available resource for the education of the youth; the future must be even more insistent. With the new avenues open everywhere to greater community service and to better training of students for life-work there must be constantly increasing funds if the work is to be well done. Centralization of equip-1 ment and transportation of the student must figure largely in our final solution, but, whatever the method of procedure toward betterment, it is clearly evident that a radical change must be effected both in the manner of securing and in the manner of distribution of funds. The best results cannot be secured under the system of taxation now in vogue throughout the greater part of the United States. To secure such results there must. be a most careful scrutiny of methods employed at every point, from the levying of the tax to the expenditure of the school funds. The present methods of providing revenue are the haphazard, outgrown methods of a past age and are not worthy of our enlightened citizenship. They are undemocratic because the burden of taxation not equalized, some localities being overloaded with

ht of the levy while others escape entirely. district can rely upon its railroad tax to carry is unfair to the "other fellow," and district with a two-million

cape a school levy en

CHAPTER III

THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL

JAMES HOWARD HANGER, A.M.

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, ROSSVILLE, KANS.

Some Shortcomings of the American High School.The present wide-spread movement to give free secondary education throughout the United States is of great social significance. This movement indicates the presence of a more truly democratic spirit in education. It is the direct outgrowth of the idea of equality upon which our government rests and is the spontaneous expression of our nineteenth and twentieth century social reconstruction. The public school is the means by which a free democracy perpetuates itself. Unless this mechanism the school-be accessible to all it falls short of the needs and the demands of a truly democratic society. Perhaps no one to-day who is at all in touch with the public school situation would maintain that the school system is accomplishing what we have a right to expect it to accomplish. To state that our public schools are the best possible schools would be to display one's utter ignorance of the conditions existing in them, no less than of the possibilities of the public school as evidenced by such countries as Germany. But too few educators even have seen the underlying principles of our public educational system in their full significance. We have

taken for granted the fact that the schools are providing the means for a broad equality for all who come within their doors, and few have looked deeply enough to be able to criticise, and too few of these have had the temerity to raise their voices in protest at the failures disclosed. The incompetency of superintendents, principals, and teachers of the whole school system, which permits an appalling waste of our social assets, certainly should challenge attention. The hundreds and even thousands of boys and girls who thus drop out annually are hopelessly lost to the best in our civilization.

A discussion of the various shortcomings of the American school is beyond the province of this chapter; suffice it to say that it is not touching, by any means, more than a small fraction of those whom it should touch, nor has it proved itself capable of holding those intrusted to its charge. Failure on the part of the school authorities to provide suitable programmes of study and other means for social adjustment is largely responsible for this result. The many boys and girls who annually drop out of our public schools, entering "blind-alley" occupations, or worse, idling away their golden hours. upon the street, constitute a most serious indictment. of the present system. The loss to society at this point. is appalling, and means simply that the expenditure by the community upon these individuals is largely a social waste. The school, by proper adjustment, certainly should stop this leakage and conserve all such possibilities to the state. This may be accomplished by proper legislation directed either toward the raising of the compulsory school-age limit or toward providing continuation schools for those who have gone out into their lifework. Unless the public school does maintain a hold on

each individual child until he can either "find himself" or be prepared in some measure to gain a livelihood, it is a failure. The school may even become a menace to its community when it serves as a "blind" to its patrons, and by its vain show tricks them into believing that it is fulfilling its purpose and realizing their aims. The recent attempt on the part of Wisconsin to secure better service from her schools is very significant in this respect. By her provision for the appointment of an expert commission for the investigation of the school problems of the State, and by her adoption of a law making attendance at some continuation school compulsory up to the age of seventeen, she has taken a unique place among the States of the Union, and has set a high mark toward which other States might well direct their efforts. This movement, first developed in the better schools of our large cities as exemplified rather notably in the schools of Kansas City, Kans., under the direction of Superintendent M. E. Pearson, is a harbinger of the better days to come in rural education, and of the larger opportunity for those driven early into the fight of life. Such a movement is the result of our new conception of our responsibility socially to each individual member of the state.

Schools Must Be Well Financed. But no institution can be efficient unless it be well financed. No matter how great the efficiency of teachers nor how expert the ability of the executive officers the school cannot do its best work while in cramped quarters or while fighting for existence. In order that it may become an efficient socializing instrument, doing well its work of equipping each individual child for service in life, the public school system must be placed upon a firm financial basis. But

the public school in very many States is to-day under a most serious handicap because of its lack of financial support. This lack of support is due in many cases not so much to indifference on the part of patrons as to the unscientific methods employed and to the inefficient laws under which the schools of many States are compelled to labor. The present is demanding in many communities every available resource for the education of the youth; the future must be even more insistent. With the new avenues open everywhere to greater community service and to better training of students for life-work there must be constantly increasing funds if the work is to be well done. Centralization of equipment and transportation of the student must figure largely in our final solution, but, whatever the method of procedure toward betterment, it is clearly evident that a radical change must be effected both in the manner of securing and in the manner of distribution of funds. The best results cannot be secured under the system of taxation now in vogue throughout the greater part of the United States. To secure such results there must be a most careful scrutiny of methods employed at every point, from the levying of the tax to the expenditure of the school funds. The present methods of providing revenue are the haphazard, outgrown methods of a past age and are not worthy of our enlightened citizenship. They are undemocratic because the burden of taxation is not equalized, some localities being overloaded with the weight of the levy while others escape entirely. When any district can rely upon its railroad tax to carry on its school, it is unfair to the "other fellow," and when an entire Kansas district with a two-milliondollar property valuation can escape a school levy en