Why is a laboratory fee charged in certain courses? Is a laboratory fee just in a class in physics? in chemistry? in drawing?
In case a boy is going to become a plumber, is the public under any obligation to train him so that he will become an expert? How about a doctor? What steps does the public take to insure efficiency in teachers? in railroad engineers? in mail clerks?
What are the state laws with regard to the amount of tax that may be levied for schools? Are upper limits really necessary?
A certain town is about to build a new schoolhouse. The building will cost in the aggregate about $30,000. If the building is provided with a sightly lawn in front and with an ornamental pattern in the brick, it will cost $400 more than if it is perfectly plain and the yard is made of gravel. If the corridor is made sixteen feet wide rather than twelve, the cost will be $400 greater. Shall the two expenditures be made or not?
Clark, E. Financing the Public Schools. The Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation. (Copies may be secured from the Russell Sage Foundation.) This is a volume of the Cleveland survey.
Cubberley, E. P. Public School Administration. Houghton Mifflin Company. This deals with the problems of public-school organization, including the general principles of finance.
Rugg, H. O. Report on the finances of the school system of Grand Rapids in the “School Survey, Grand Rapids, Michigan.” Board of Education, Grand Rapids.
Rugg, H. O. Report on the finances of the school system of St. Louis in the “School Survey, St. Louis, Missouri.” Board of Education, St. Louis.
[CHAPTER V]
DELEGATING RESPONSIBILITY FOR CARRYING ON SCHOOLS
Class Instruction given over to the Teacher
Although the community as a whole recognizes the need of education, and is willing to supply the necessary financial support, it cannot manage directly the details of school operation. The community cannot decide what seven-year-old children shall study. The community cannot decide what ought to be done with a disorderly pupil. It becomes necessary, therefore, for the community to devise some method of picking out suitable representatives who can carry on the schools.
The first task to be thus delegated was that of classroom instruction. One reads in the records of the early town meetings of New England how the whole community participated in the discussion of all financial matters and of many problems connected with the course of study. For example, the site of a schoolhouse, its cost, and its plan have always been subjects of community discussion. Again, the community has often decided whether it wants geography taught or certain branches of mathematics. But when it came to the daily routine of school work, the community employed a teacher and turned the children over to him.