THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 369 



some districts, and even where it is practicable, the consolidated 

 school, pupil for pupil, will always be more expensive to oper- 

 ate than the city school. Not only must the cost of transporta- 

 tion be met, but expert teachers for these schools must be paid 

 higher salaries than are demanded by teachers of the same ability 

 and training in the city schools. Indeed, in the few states 

 where a consistent effort has been made to furnish the country 

 child with teachers as well qualified as those in the city schools, 

 it has been found necessary to increase the rural teachers' sal- 

 aries from 10 to 20 per cent, above the city level. 



As long as schools are supported entirely or almost entirely 

 by local taxation, then, it is clear that the country child cannot 

 have the educational advantages of the city child. The per 

 capita wealth of the rural districts, taking the country as a 

 whole, is very far below the per capita wealth of the urban dis- 

 tricts. School funds raised by general state taxation and dis- 

 tributed to the local communities in proportion to their educa- 

 tional needs have done something to reduce these inequalities, 

 but except in a very few cases the state funds are so meager 

 that their influence is almost negligible. 



It is again the narrow neighborhood conception of educational 

 responsibility that has stood squarely in the way of progress. 

 In general, each local community has been educationally self- 

 sufficient. The American people have accepted the principle 

 that it is just and equitable to tax individuals in proportion to 

 their wealth for the education of all the children of the com- 

 munity. They have not as yet followed the course of reasoning 

 to its logical conclusion. They have n-> ; thoroughly accepted 

 the equally sound principle that it is just and equitable to tax 

 communities in proportion to their wealth for the education of 

 all the children of the state. 



Combined with the neighborhood conception of educational re- 

 sponsibility as a handicap to progress is a tendency still to think 

 of the public school as an essentially philanthropic enterprise. 

 In the arguments for increased funds for school support, the 

 value of education to the individual and the disadvantage under 

 which the individual suffers when he is denied educational 

 privileges have had a preponderant place. ' The claims of the 

 state and of the nation for an enlightened citizenship have been 



