Co-Operative Methods in the Development of School Support in the United States; A Study of Methods of Supporting Schools--In the Colonies, by the Federal Government, by the States, a Statistical Study of Support for Twenty-Two Years, and (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ...and philanthropic endeavor, it was a gradual, though inevitable, change that came to substitute the tax for the miscellaneous methods of voluntary systems. Thus the notion of taxation for schools grew out of the methods of voluntary systems when social demands showed the necessity of a reconstruction and of a dependence upon more reliable and constant sources. With the rise of state systems the income of permanent school funds figured as an important item in the funds of school support. In this respect it seems as if taxation were an expression of effort harmonizing the two aspects of responsibility for the education of youth; the activity of the state, expressed in the growth and development of the permanent funds, and the interest of local communities expressed in benefactions, gifts, tuition, appropriations, and so forth. Taxation has had a vital meaning in relation to both aspects of support. Each state made its own evaluations of the various available sources of support but taxation finally came to be appreciated as the backbone of such support. The objection to taxation, --and considered a fundamental one, --that education was a private benefit and as such should be supported by those receiving the benefits, was formidable and effective for a long time and has not been fully met by popular sentiment even yet. That wealth should be taxed for the education of the children of the citizens was a principle felt to be incompatible with democracy. There is some objection to the principle in certain states and in most states there is an ultra-conservative attitude toward increasing taxation to meet the new educational demands in the modern school. The open hostility of a century ago does not surprise us when it is noted that in 1910.