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Show I EDUCATION L THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. V FftlOBftlC J. HASKIN. Editor's Not. Taw W tk nrst iattillntat of b ightue day ril ' br Mr. Hukia tb gubieet f education is tb United Btatee. Thee article will b brood U scop, secnrat ia ttatmant, interesting- ia tub-" tub-" jert matter aad of anprnao importance ia tk valu of th loformatioa tbey will afford. Thau letters ahould bo road by every eekool ekild aad by ovary, paroat ia tk oonmuaity. . - , - ij ment for educational purpoeee throughout the country approaimatee $100,00(1,000. Aside from the provlelon made by the national government and the large auma devoted to educational purpoeee br the Individual etatea, account ahould be taken of the Immenee eume eet apart for educational purpose br private philanthropy phi-lanthropy Toward Practical Utility. ' Th general board of education bee control of funde providing an annual Income In-come of Il.i00.0oe devoted to different objecta of ediftattonal reeearrh. Thie Includee the J. D. Rockefeller epeclal fund, general fund, and foundation: the Anna T. June fund; the Camegl foundation foun-dation fund. Including tb penelon pro-vlaloa: pro-vlaloa: and the Rueeell Bage foundation fund, which la devoted chiefly to aoclal aclenoa research. The tread of eduoatloa la America la towerde practical utility rather than feneral culture. It la becoming adenine aden-ine rather than classical. Vocational education may now beglB In the kindergarten: kinder-garten: It ende la the college or university. univer-sity. While the publlo achoola, providing, provid-ing, aa they do, the educational resources re-sources of fully 71 per eent of the country coun-try population, are of first conW. ration ra-tion In this respect, the higher Institutions Institu-tions of learning are also developing along this same line. It le now recognised recog-nised that applied mechanical akill haa aa much educational value aa classical literature. The engineering degreee C. K., at. B. or E. B. are aulte aa honorable honor-able aa attainment aa the professional degrees of the phyaletaa, lawyer or clergy cler-gy ansa. ' Better la done Bar. . Of equal advantage la the advanr mad In agricultural education, which la the distinctive note of progress for the twentieth century. Rural education. Including In-cluding the consolidation of the email country achoola, the provision for high echoot ooursea in rural districts, and the development of the state agricultural college, has . made tta greateet strides during the past Ave yeare. Hi her educational faclllt!, (specially In the aclencea. may now bo found In America than extet In Europe, while many American' etudente still go abroad to study, each year Incroaeea th number num-ber of foreign Students coming to study here. That the attainments of American unlvareltlea are recognised In Europe la evidenced by tb number of profeeeora now found In European universities. Only laet year a professor of English In aa American university was tnvltd to Cambridge to teach English to the English, Eng-lish, aad aJmoet every large Institution of Europe now baa American professors upon Its staff of teachera. America s attitude toward tb educational educa-tional progreas of the world baa been helpful. The part this nation la now playing la aupplylng modern educational facilities to the Chlneee will go down In history aa an unparalleled procedure. Modern Japaa acknowledge a great debt to American educators, and. in so f ar aa the practical adenoea are concerned, th nations of th world all com to UM United State to learn. Many feature of thle great and complex com-plex American eystsm of education are of only professional or technical Interest, but every Amerloao -ought to know eomethlng of the general, character of the eeboole of hie land. 1 the eeven-teen eeven-teen article that will follow, a compre-benslv compre-benslv review of th utlr system will be give. T0laretW fl EDUCATION. ' II. The Commwi aekoal. - i within th pagt year esaaldarAbjIy over half a billion dollars hava been expended In th United States upon education In It various form. Th vaht of propsrty devoted t educational purpoeee, act Including In-cluding public library buildings, amounts to fully two billion dollars. The Interest on the money thue invested would give an annual income amounting to ten million mil-lion dollar. These figure Include Only the valuation of property belonging to regularly eetabllahad Institutions of learning, learn-ing, namely: the public achoola. unlveral-tle, unlveral-tle, collegea and technical schools, the private achoola of varloua kinds below the college grade and the profeeelonal school. Including theology, medicine, law. charmaey. dentistry and aexlagogr. Each year th growing population of th nation Increases the demand for educational edu-cational facilities, and the building erected erect-ed and the new Institutions being opened keep rapid pao with thia growth. Despite De-spite the oft made criticism of AmaHoa'a educational eystem or the lack of it, a very little oonetderatloa will show that the twe billion American dollar tnvwted In permanent educational factlltlee are paying a growing dividend of Intelligence and prosperity to th whol nation. There le no other country In th world today which earn pases wtta the UaMee) State, either In the equipment of Ite educational plant or the annual expenditure to promote pro-mote it efficiency. It Ads eUfttdtney. While th national government doea not attempt to eierrla direct authority over any of the aohoole of the country. It ha a potent suggest lv authority in It bureau bu-reau of education. - The bureau collect data of th durational development throughout th world, and by diffusing this Information through It varloua ohan-nels ohan-nels continually aids In promoting the efficiency ef-ficiency of all rlaseae of educational Institutions. In-stitutions. Th bureau baa been especially espe-cially helpful In promoting the unification of educational standarda, which haa been the chief aim of American educator during dur-ing the past quarter of a century. Thia unification I being attained to a gratifying gratify-ing degree, eepedally throughout the public pub-lic schools. Th course of study haa now become so nearly uniform among the different dif-ferent states that a child may move from one to the ether aad take up hie school work without any mat rial loss of time. There are a number of volunteer organisations or-ganisations which hav bee very helpful help-ful In the educational progress of ths country. Most of these are recognised by the government authoritiee and their sug- f estfons carefully considered. Chief among hsae Is the National Educational association, asso-ciation, a very large body composed of the prominent tear hers of th country and laymen Interested In educational work. This organisation end research Into methods meth-ods and achool condlttono le doing more than any other body to promote th efficiency effi-ciency of tb different institution f learning. cbool "Ollowg riaf. During th put few year tb fritted States has also developed a colonial school eystem quite aa Important a that of any of the other great nations of th world. The public school always follows th American flag, ao that In the Philippines, In Porto Rico and even on th Panama canal son there are now well organised American achoola doing practically the same work In the grades which hava been found moet profitable for Amertona children chil-dren at horn. . Owing to th fact that m educational mattera the rlghta of the Individual steles have been recognised a paransouat: there le no national executive center for duration dura-tion In America, consequently critic hav declared that this country haa no educational educa-tional eystsm. that ths schools ar a ml-eallaaeoue ml-eallaaeoue eenoetlea of educational ex -perl menu with no uniformity of either object or method. Thle charge may hav been partially true a generation ago but there I no justification for Ita repetition today. More Bxpealnjeats Hr. Throughout the whol world education ha beoQ In a process of evolution during the put century. Th United Stales, a the youngest of the a' eet Batloaa. at the beginning may hav been lees abes to cos with the needs than the longer ea-tabliahed ea-tabliahed government. But whatsver wu lost In th beginning by th lack f a central organisation has base) compensated compen-sated for by the spontaneous work of th separata states. One state could better make an experiment In an educational theory than the whole country at large. Each state has been active In Investigating Investigat-ing and trying new educational methedo. In this way better reeulta have beea obtained, ob-tained, with leas loo of time, and th beet Ideals hsve been quickly incorporated Into American eduoatUss. Por example, the discoveries of Proebel end Pestalossl war mor quickly put Into general see In American achoola than In the oountrtee where they originated because be-cause sf th fact that tb statu war able to act independently. Wbll uch tat control It own Kbllc school, which are supported par-illy par-illy by Ita own system of taxation, the national government has been very llb- era! In appropriation to aupplement the a tat funds. With th policy of snoour-aging snoour-aging rather than controlling public education edu-cation In the different stales, large Knta of land for achool purpoeee hav n made from tint to time. PrlvaM roads Help. Theee. grants now amount altogether to 7e.tM.tl acres with a valuation approximating ap-proximating lizo.too.ooo. In addition to this, the national government provide for ach agricultural experiment station connected with a slate agricultural college col-lege appropriatloae amounting to over liso.ooe annually, beside a 128.00 perpetual per-petual endowment for each of these col-leges col-leges themeelvee. Thle I equivalent to a capitalisation fund of ll.004.ooe at 4 per cent for uch state and territory, or, In the aggregate, about IM.OOO.eO More. In addition lo all this soms t.eoo.eeo acre of swamp lands and other special grants ar devoted to duration. In 1UT tha 'surplus funds of ths United Statu treasury were loaned to soms of the statu for educational pur-1 poeu to the amount of IU.OOO.DoO. Thia fund eonetltutu a portion of the echuol fund of these statee. Tha total value of the aid given bv the national govern- |