344 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



The first public school in California was opened in 

 San Francisco on April 3, 1848,, in advance of the 

 gold discovery, when the city had a population of 850. 

 An early writer naively declares that it "would have 

 been opened sooner if the population had not been 

 to so large an extent already grown up." The con- 

 stitution on which California was admitted to the 

 Union in 1850 provided for a system of common 

 schools to be supported in all districts of the State. 

 Immediately also private schools and colleges were 

 established by the missionaries which many religious 

 denominations sent to guard the spiritual welfare of 

 the gold-seekers. Thus, from the very beginning, the 

 educational outfit of the State was developed not to 

 meet a crying need of a juvenile population but an- 

 ticipatory of it. This was fortunate because it en- 

 abled the pioneer educators to proceed more leisurely 

 toward the realization of a system of public instruc- 

 tion which included many improvements on methods 

 and policies prevailing in older states. During sev- 

 eral decades this condition continued in California 

 and afforded educational reformers an excellent op- 

 portunity for progressive work. More recently, how- 

 ever, with the swift gain in population, the demand 

 for instruction has increased to such an extent that 

 though outfitted for public instruction of all grades, 

 from primary schools to the University, on most dem- 

 ocratic plans and although public expenditure has 

 been most liberal (over fifty millions a year), Cali- 

 fornia is finding it difficult to meet the demand for 

 educational facilities although the equipment is rela- 



