CHAPTER XLVI.

CURRENT TOPICS.

CONTENTS.-Teachers' pensions-Transportation of pupils to school-Higher commercial education-Corporal punishment-Coeducation-Foreign students in German universities-Compulsory attendance and child labor-Teachers' salaries.

TEACHERS' PENSIONS.

In the United States no teachers are pensioned from public funds. Voluntary beneficial associations have been formed in some cities and in other localities specified below. In certain States the laws provide for pension funds, the essential difference being that in this case participation is generally enforced upon all teachers. This feature of compulsion has been eliminated from the laws of Illinois and Ohio. In the former State the law applied only to Chicago, where opposition to it resulted in an amendment which provided for voluntary membership only. A consequence of this was that one-fourth of the members in Chicago withdrew, and that the annuity, which was at first fixed at $600, was reduced to $240. The following paragraphs show the varieties of organization, etc.:

Voluntary mutual benefit associations for temporary aid only exist in Baltimore, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo, San Francisco, and St. Paul, and there is one interstate association. These call for $1 to $2 initiation fee; $1 to $5 annual dues. Special assessments of $1 are made in some cases. Benefits in sickness range from 50 cents a day to $10 a week; at death funeral expenses only are paid in some instances, and in others a sum equal to $1 from each member of the association.

Associations for annuity, or retirement fund only, are in New York, Boston, and Baltimore, and there is an annuity guild in Massachusetts. The initiation fees

reported are $3 to $5. The annual dues are 1 to 1 per cent of salary up to $18 or $20. The annuity is from 60 per cent of salary to $600 a year. Time of service required for retirement is from two to five years with disability, or from thirty-five to forty years without disability.

Associations for both temporary aid and annuity exist in Hamilton County (Cincinnati), Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and District of Columbia. Initiation fees, $1 to $10; annual dues, $5 to $40. Annuity, $5 per week to $600 per year, and $100 for funeral expenses in case of death. Temporary aid, during illness, $5 or $6 per week. Time of service required for retirement is two to five years with disability, or thirtyfive to forty years without disability.

Pension or retirement funds are authorized by State legislatures for St. Louis, Boston, Brooklyn, New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Charleston, S. C., and Buffalo, and all cities in Ohio, California, and New Jersey. Dues vary little; they are generally 1 per cent of salary. Annuity, $250 to one-half of salary; maximum, $600. Minimum length of service with disability, twenty to thirty years; without disability, twenty-five to thirty-five years.

There are no new establishments of private annuity funds to be reported for 19001901, but the existing ones report progress, though some fears are expressed that the annual dues are generally too low, a fact which may lead to financial difficulties in the future unless special efforts are made to increase the funds by holding bazaars and securing donations.

The law passed in May, 1902, by the legislature of Ohio amends the law which authorized the cities of Cincinnati and Cleveland to maintain pension funds for teachers, and extends the benefits of such funds over all school districts of the State; that is to say, the school authorities of a district are granted the right to create a fund and retire teachers, but the act does not make it mandatory upon them. The fund is obtained by withholding $2 each month, or $20 a year, from the salaries of teachers who have declared their desire to become contributors and subsequently beneficiaries of the fund. This is the voluntary feature of the act mentioned before. The authorities may retire a teacher from service on account of mental or physical disability and apply the pension provisions after twenty years of service, provided three-fifths of that time have been spent in the service of the district or county and two-fifths of that time in other parts of the State or elsewhere. The term teacher includes principals and supervisory officers. The right to retire voluntarily and become a beneficiary is granted for both women and men teachers alike, after they have taught thirty years, with the same proviso as before. The amount of the pension paid is $10 a year for every year served, but in no case more than $500 a year. Both principal and income of the fund may be drawn upon to pay the pensions. The teachers are to receive certificates monthly showing what amount has been withheld from their salaries. In case a teacher resigns from the profession she may claim one-half of the sum she paid into the fund during her service in school. The act is explicit on the question as to who may serve as custodian of the fund, how it is to be invested, and on other details.

TRANSPORTATION OF PUPILS TO SCHOOL.

The practice of consolidating small schools and transporting the more distant pupils to a central (usually graded) school at the public expense has been resorted to in the following States to a greater or less extent: Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

! A Missouri law of 1901 permits of consolidation of schools, but without the feature of transportation. Some progress in the direction of consolidation has already been made in Louisiana and North Carolina under existing laws.

The following tables give the available statistics on the subject. It will be seen that Maine expends the largest proportion of its school money for transportation, about 3 per cent of the total yet in 1901 there were still in that State 2,896 ungraded schools against 1,349 graded. In Connecticut the proportion expended for transportation is minute (about one-tenth that of Maine) and decreasing, though "numerous small schools are inadequately maintained," and "children find the doors of their own schoolhouse closed and no other opened." (Conn. Rep., 1901, p. 13.)

These facts, taken in connection with the remarks of the State superintendents of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania quoted below, would seem to indicate that consolidation and transportation, in spite of their great and undoubted advantages, have been put into practice as yet only to a very limited degree even in those States where the most progress in this direction has been made, and that their future general adoption is uncertain. It is probable that the various objections and obstacles

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to this plan for improved schools, which have been frequently rehearsed, have in practice more than outweighed its manifest benefits, except in cases where the diligence of school officials and an advanced public opinion have combined to prevail over obstacles and inaugurate a more efficient system of rural schools. a

In Vermont, the average annual cost per pupil for the years tabulated has been $13.16, which, with a school term of 156 days, makes the expense of transportation about 8 cents a day for each pupil. In Connecticut, with a school term of 190 days, the daily cost for 3 years has been about 74 cents. These are averages. In individual cases the cost varies greatly according to the particular circumstances in each

case.

It is the general experience that a saving of money is effected through consolidation of schools. Of the towns in Massachusetts that have tried the plan, 68 per cent report a less cost after consolidation, and only 8 per cent an increased cost. Of 124 New Hampshire towns, 118 report less cost with conveyance as compared with maintaining local schools, 5 report the cost the same, and 1 the cost greater; 26 give the cost with conveyance as one-half of that with local schools, 8 give one-third, 7 give one-fourth, 3 give one-fifth, and 1 each one-sixth, three-eighths, two-fifths, and three-fifths.c

The testimony is very general that consolidation results in improved schools, and is well nigh unanimous that attendance is more regular.

a Chapter III, Vol. 1, of this Report (pp. 161-213) contains reports on this subject by a number of State superintendents giving in detail the experience of localities.

b 62 Mass. Rep. (1897-98), p. 456.

c 51 N. H. Rep. (1900), pp. 276-81.

PRESENT STATUS.

Connecticut.-A law of 1889 provided for the discontinuance of small schools and in certain cases their union with schools of adjoining districts. In 1893 free transportation of pupils was authorized. In 1897-98 the number of schools closed was 84; pupils transported, 849; cost, $11,416. In 1899-1900 there were 639 children transported at a cost of $9,817. The law "has been immensely advantageous to the State" (Conn. Sch. Rep., 1901, p. 11).

Florida. "Several counties have inaugurated the system of consolidating the smaller schools and transporting the pupils by wagons." (Fla. Sch. Rep., 1900, p. 19.)

Indiana. The trustee or trustees of a school district or corporation, upon petition of a majority of voters for the abandonment of their schools and the consolidation of their schools with others in the same township, must comply therewith. (Ind. Sch. Law, 1901, sec. 116.)

No township trustee may abandon any district school without written consent of the majority of voters, excepting schools with an average attendance of 12 or less. A school so abandoned must be reestablished upon written petition of two-thirds of the voters. (Sec. 117.)

"Forty counties have already begun the work of collecting pupils into larger groups by transporting them." (Ind. Sch. Rep., 1900, p. 529.)

Iowa.-An early law (sec. 2800 of the code) provided for the consolidation of the rural independent districts composing a township. Under this statute the people of Buffalo Center township organized themselves into a school township in 1895. It was not proposed at the time to consolidate the schools, but a demand for better school facilities arose, and during the succeeding four years all the rural schools of the township except two were closed in succession and their pupils transported to a central graded school. The experience of this township is detailed at some length in the Iowa School Report of 1901, pages 78-80.

Sec. 2774 of the code provides that when a board is for sufficient reason released by the county superintendent from keeping a school, or when children live at an unreasonable distance from their own school, the children may be sent to school and have their tuition paid in other districts. And when there will be a saving of expense, and children will also thereby receive increased advantages, school boards may arrange for the transportation of any child to and from school in the same or in another corporation. An amendment of 1901 provides that not over $5 may be estimated in the contingent fund for each person of school age for transportation. Consolidation has been tried in 28 counties, transportation in 35, and both in 19. Ninety-five per cent of the county superintendents favor the plan. Good effects are reported in 27 counties, doubtful in 5. Bad roads are the chief obstacle. (Iowa Rep., 1901, pp. 35, 73.)

Kansas. The parents or guardians of any pupils residing more than 3 miles froth the schoolhouse of their district shall be allowed not exceeding 15 cents a day for not more than one hundred days in a year for the conveyance of such pupils. (Sch. Laws, 1901, sec. 49.)

A school district may discontinue a school entirely and send the pupils to school in another district, paying their expenses and tuition (sec. 112a). Or any part of the pupils of a district may be so sent to school in another district (sec. 1126).

Two or more school districts by a majority vote of each may unite to form a union school district and conduct a graded school (sec. 50). Children living 2 or more miles from such school may be transported (sec. 51).

Louisiana.-"In several parishes the effort to consolidate small ungraded schools into large graded schools has been made with the result of considerable improvement in the school work, although I fear that it brought the superintendent under

the ban of those who considered it their right to have a school and a teacher exclusively for their own family use." (La. Sch. Rep., 1900–1901, p. 7.)

Maine.-By an act of 1893 and subsequent amendments school districts are abolished; towns determine the number and location of schools; schools having too few scholars may be suspended for one year; schools having less than eight pupils are discontinued. The superintendent of schools in each town must provide transportation for a part or the whole of the distance, to the nearest suitable school for the full school term in his town, for all pupils who reside so far from school as to render it necessary, in the opinion of the superintending school committee; or he may board scholars near schools. (Me. Sch. Laws, 1901, sec. 1–3.)

Massachusetts.-A law of 1869 provides that the school committee of any town may expend in their discretion money raised and appropriated for transporting pupils to and from school. Towns determine the number and location of schools.

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'The returns indicate that the process of consolidating small and feeble schools is probably still going on, although it is possible that, if the process were at a standstill, the growth in population, with a certain pressure for better terms by those who convey children, might occasion the entire increase," i. e., in the amount expended. (65 Mass. Rep., 1900-01, 115.) For amount expended see p. 2397.

"The number of towns and cities that return expenditures for conveyance has now reached 274, and the expenditures range all the way from $6.25 in Hatfield to $2,640.75 in Lexington." (Ib., 116.)

Michigan.-At least one county (Menominee) has had recourse to transportation. The experience of this county, as reported by the county superintendent, is so instructive that it is quoted here at length (from Mich. Rep., 1900, pp. 179, 180):

In one of our township districts there was a locality with twenty children in it. The parents brought every pressure possible to bear on the members of the board to induce or compel them to build a schoolhouse in that neighborhood to accommodate these children. The board, after canvassing the matter thoroughly, decided to transport these children about three miles to the nearest village school. The parents opposed the plan by every conceivable objection, but the board thought they were right and went ahead. A suitable rig was hired to take the children to school in the morning and home in the evening, at what it would cost to hire a teacher, thus saving the interest on the money invested in building and furnishing a schoolhouse and the expense of keeping up the school and house.

The children attended school more regularly and had the advantages of a village graded school. Every one of the protesting parents are, after the year's trial, now as enthusiastic endorsers of the plan as they were opponents last fall. The board have decided to continue the same plan for that locality another year and inaugurate it in another neighborhood in the same township. Other boards are discussing the feasibility of inaugurating the scheme. This is by far the best method of providing for the children of many localities, and I expect to see it come into more general use throughout the county.

Minnesota.-(Laws, 1901, chap. 262.) Two or more school districts may be organized as an independent school district on petition of majority of freeholders and by vote of electors (Sch. Law, 1901, secs. 214-216). Board of education to be elected (sec. 216). Such board may provide for the transportation of pupils at public expense; every person employed for this purpose must give reasonable bond (sec. 217).

Missouri.-A law of 1901 enables three or more school districts, one of which may be a village district, to unite and form a new district. The new district may maintain a high school and as many lower grade schools as the board of directors may determine.

Nebraska.-A law of 1897 authorizes a city or a high-school district board, by a two-thirds vote of entire board, or any district, board, when authorized by a twothirds vote of those present at a district meeting, to make provision for the transportation of pupils to any other school in their district who live so far from school as to render attendance impracticable without transportation; or they (except city