The Mean Proportional in the Problem of State Education

S. J. HUNTER, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

OME years ago in an address before the National Educational Association, President Eliot said, "The mass of the rural population-that is to say three-fourths of the American people-is unprovided with secondary schools." This problem is one which still merits consideration. In 1886 the state of Kansas, in order to give educational opportunity to this rural population, enacted a law which made possible the establishment of a county high school in counties having a population of six thousand inhabitants or over, "for the purpose of affording better educational facilities for pupils more advanced than those attending district schools, and for persons who desire to fit themselves for the vocation of teaching."

The method of procedure in establishing the county high school and of conducting the same is provided for in the enabling act. Under the provisions of this, when one third of the electors shall petition the county commissioners requesting that a county high school be established at a place named in the petition, or wherever the commissioners shall at their discretion think proper, they shall give notice twenty days previous to the next general election, or previous to a special election called for this purpose.

If the proposition receive a majority of the votes cast, the county commissioners appoint six persons, resident freeholders of the county, not more than two from one city or township, who shall with the county superintendent of instruction constitute a board of trustees for the school. At the next general election trustees are regularly elected by the people, their terms of office dividing them into three classes, serving one, two, and three years respectively, the respective terms being determined by lot. The levy for maintenance is limited to three mills, and for building to three mills. The county

high school is maintained by the entire county, and bears the same relation to the grades, both rural and urban, as the city high school does to the city grades alone. A certificate of graduation from the grades admits to the high school. Tuition is free to all residents of the county.

The three classes of instruction provided for are: a general course, a brief literary course designed for those who will not pursue academic studies further; the normal course, arranged for those who intend to become teachers-this course. prepares for entrance to the first year of professional work of the State Normal School, and graduates from this course are entitled to teachers' second grade certificates, enabling them to teach for two years in their own counties; the collegiate course, as its name implies, is a complete preparatory course for entrance to the State University. Proviso is also made that should the number of students applying exceed the facilities of the school each township shall then be allowed its quota. Tuition is required of non-resident pupils.

These are the cardinal points of the law, and mark the legislation upon this subject until the year 1897. During this period, 1888-1897, three counties taking advantage of this act established high schools-the first one in Atchison County in 1888, the second one in Dickinson County in 1889, and the third one in Labette County in 1893. Other counties endeavoring to enjoy the privileges of this act were prevented, largely, as might be supposed, by the rivalry of towns contending for the location. The subject has been agitated in a large number of counties in the State, has been brought before the county commissioners, and in some cases has reached a vote of the people. While the additional taxation may have been a feature in the defeat, the fact that the upbuilding of the high school was liable to benefit some town or some part of the county at the expense of the other part, bears the greater responsibility for the relatively small number of high schools existing under this act proper. Upon this point it is interesting to note that the three schools above mentioned were established on terms of exchange carried out by two parts of the county. In Atchison County the east half of the county promised to give

the west half of the county a county high school, provided the west half in return would assist in building a court house at Atchison-the county seat located on the east side. In Dickinson County one part of the county received a county high school, and the other part bonds for a railroad. The same kind of railroad proposition was the grounds upon which the county high school was established in Labette County.

The county high schools of the State, however, are not limited to these three, but in addition there are county high schools in Clay, Lane, Norton, Thomas, Scott, Sumner, Montgomery, Cherokee, Sherman and Crawford Counties. These have, with exception of Clay County, all been established by special acts of the legislature. These acts in every case establish the location of the school and impose upon the city receiving the same certain obligations. For instance, in Sumner County, Wellington, the seat of the school, furnishes the buildings, free of rent, for a period of twenty-five years.

That other counties not included in the first law might enjoy the privilege of the county high school, the State legislature in 1897 added to the law of 1886, giving commissioners in counties of population less than that stated in the law, power to negotiate with public school districts at the county seat for establishment of a county high school in connection with the city schools.

In order that advanced students of adjoining counties may partake of the benefits of neighboring county high schools, the State legislature of 1899 added two paragraphs to the law, enabling school districts in counties not maintaining a county high school to levy a tax to pay the tuition of its resident high school pupils in a city high school in same county or in a high school in an adjoining county.

This article, then, will be confined to the workings of the high schools established under the regular act and created by special legislation. None of these schools have been established without some opposition. There have been, however, two excellent illustrations of the fact that with the existence of the high school and the full realization of its benefits, this opposition. has disappeared. In 1893 the Atchison County High School burned, together with its contents. It would have been quite

possible at this time for the people to have presented objections and to have finally set the institution aside. On the contrary, there was a strong sentiment expressed for the speedy reconstruction of the building and the maintenance of the course of instruction in other quarters during the intervening period.

In Sumner County the school was established in the city of Wellington by special act of the legislature, in accordance with which the city of Wellington, the county seat, was to furnish the building free to the county for a period of twenty-five years. Thus the county high school, obviously, served the city of Wellington as a city high school. Upon this ground vigorous opposition arose against the high school in the other towns of the county desirous of maintaining their own high schools, and unwilling to pay for the expenses of the county high school at Wellington. The rural population it may be said, however, were almost a unit for the existence of the high school. The question of the further continuance of the school under the special act was submitted to a vote of the people, and a decision favorable to the school followed. Sumner County has twentyone railroad towns besides Wellington, the county seat, hence it is not surprising that the favorable majority was small.

If these schools could be peripatetic, tarrying nowhere long enough to enhance the value of reality, or if rival communities could come to terms regarding the place of its location, it is not improbable that a county high school would be established in every county in the State. In every other respect the workings of the system are satisfactory.

The influence of the county high school upon the growing generations and its educational effects are points worth considering. The influences of the high school are measured to a large degree, although probably not always correctly, by the numbers in attendance. The records of three of the schools may be said to illustrate this for all.

TABLE I

TABLE OF ENROLLMENT AND TAX LEVY FOR THREE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLS

ATCHISON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL, EFFINGHAM, KANSAS

(Special and irregular students, such as in music and stenography, are not included in enrollment.)

NOTE. The annual tax levy for 1890-91 was 3.5 mills.

NOTE.-Three mills for erection of buildings; 1-1.5 annually since for maintenance.