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Contents

Preface to the Seventh Edition xiii

Preface to the Sixth Edition xv
Acknowledgments xviii

1. Acquainting Yourself With Ethics: A Tour of the Ethics Hall of Fame 1

Overview 3
Exhibit 1—Knowledge and Reasoning 3
Exhibit 2—Intellect and Truth 8
Exhibit 3—The Nature of Reality 12
Exhibit 4—The Nature of Morality 15
Exhibit 5—Nature of Goodness 19
Exhibit 6—Actions and Consequences 29
Exhibit 7—Determinism and Intentionalism 32
Exhibit 8—The Ethical Person 35
Review Questions 36

2. Familiarizing Yourself With Ethics: Nature, Definitions, and Categories 38

Overview 40
Warning: The Deception of Occupational Subculture 44
The Philosophy of Wisdom 46
The Nature of Ethics 50
The Scope of Ethics 51
Ethical Theory 52
Credibility of Ethics 53
Categories of Ethical Theory: Normative and Metaethics 55
Normative Ethics: Deontological and Teleological 57
viii CONTENTS

Historical Origins of Ethics 59

Review Questions 67

3. Understanding Criminal Justice Ethics: Sources and Sanctions 69

Overview 70
Ethics of Natural Law 71
Ethics of Religious Testaments 76
Ethics of Constitutional Provisions 82
Ethics of Law 85
Professional Codes of Ethics 90
Philosophical Theories of Ethics 98
Review Questions 99

4. Meeting the Masters: Ethical Theories, Concepts, and Issues 101

Overview 103
The Stoicism School: Ethics of Freedom From Passion, Moral Fortitude,
and Tranquility (Epictetus) 105
The Hedonistic School: Ethics of the Pursuit of Pleasure (Aristippus
and Epicurus) 110
The Virtue School: Ethics of Knowledge and Moral Character (Plato
and Aristotle) 115
The Religious (Scholastic) School: Ethics of the Love of God (Augustine
and Aquinas) 125
The Naturalistic School: Ethics of Egoism and Power (Hobbes and Nietzsche) 134
Ethics of Utilitarianism (Bentham) 143
Ethics of Duty and Reason (Kant) 148
The Existential School: Ethics of Moral Individualism and Freedom
of Choice (Sartre and de Beauvoir) 153
Ethics of Social Justice (Rawls) 159
Review Questions 165

5. The Ambivalent Reality: Major Unethical Themes in Criminal Justice

Management 167
Overview 168
The Imperative of Ethics in Criminal Justice 169
A House on the Sand: The Spoils of Management 171
The Harvest of Shame 173
Principle-Based Management 174
Rushmorean Criminal Justice Agencies 181
 CONTENTS ix

A Profile of Rushmorean Courage: Coleen Rowley, the FBI Agent

Who Directed Her Boss 182
The Extent of Corruption in Criminal Justice Agencies 185
Review Questions 187

6. Lying and Deception in Criminal Justice 191

Introduction and Confession 192
General Theory of Lying 192
The Origins of Lying 194
The Doctrine of Veracity 195
Can Lying Be Morally Justifiable? 196
Basic Rules on Lying 197
The Extent of Lying 198
Institutional Lying in Criminal Justice 199
Conclusion 206
Review Questions 206

7. Racial Prejudice and Racial Discrimination 209

Overview 210
Glimpses of Racism in Criminal Justice 211
Nature of Racial Injustice 212
The Ethical View of Racial Injustice 214
Basic Theory of Prejudice 214
Prejudice and Knowledge 215
Targets of Prejudice 217
Types of Prejudice: Cultural and Psychological 217
Basic Theory of Discrimination 218
Roots of Racism 219
Institutional Racism 228
Exploratory Issues in Racism 235
Moral Guidelines in Understanding Racism 236
Conclusion 237
Review Questions 239

8. Egoism and the Abuse of Authority 242

Overview 243
Glimpses of Egoism in Criminal Justice 244
Perceptions of Egoism in Criminal Justice 245
The Blindness of Egoism 247
x CONTENTS

Types of Egoism 248

Official Responsibility: The Antidote for Natural Egoism 251
Capital Punishment as State Egoism 255
Life Sentences 262
Egoism—Ethics of Means and Ends 265
Ethical Guidelines 269
Conclusion 269
Review Questions 270

9. Misguided Loyalties: To Whom, to What, at What Price? 275

Overview 277
The Continuing Controversy 277
The Ideal of Loyalty 278
The Grammar of Workplace Loyalties 280
The Physiology of Personal Loyalty to Superiors 281
The Peculiar Nature of Personal Loyalty to Superiors 282
The Paradoxical Nature of Personal Loyalty to Superiors 283
Two Controlling Realities 286
Three Self-Evident Truths 288
Logical Findings 289
Cultural and Ethical Concerns 290
Unionized Versus Nonunionized Agencies 291
The Goliath of Disloyalty 292
The Strain of Personal Loyalty to Superiors 293
Arguments in Support of Personal Loyalty to Superiors 293
Arguments Against Personal Loyalty to Superiors 295
The Ethical Imperative: The Duty-Based Thesis 296
Review Questions 298

10. Ethics of Criminal Justice Today: What Is Being Done and

What Can Be Done? 300
Overview 301
The Dual Essence of Criminal Justice: The Social Order and the
Moral Order 302
The Dual Practice of Criminal Justice: The Ideal Model and the
Serviceable Model 303
The Conflict Between the Two Models in Juvenile Justice 305
Where Do We Go From Here? 310
Review Questions 310
 CONTENTS xi

11. Ethics and Police 313

Overview 314
The Problematic Nature of Policing 315
The Peculiar Environment of the Police 316
The Semiprofessional Professionals 317
The Police Prerogative to Abuse Power 319
The Police in Search of a Soul 320
The Intellectual Virtue: Ethics of Democracy 321
Recent Critical Ethical Issues in Policing 326
The Moral Virtue: Ethics of Shunning Corruption 333
Hedonistic and Obligatory Corruption 336
The Obligatory Ethic Not to Deceive 341
Can Corruption Be Administratively Stopped? 343
Conclusion 344
Review Questions 345

12. Ethics and Corrections (Prisons) 349

Overview 350
The Corrections Debate 351
Ethics of Life for Life: The Influence of Beccaria 352
Ethics of Life for Life: The Morality of Punishment 354
Ethics of Life for Life: The Moral Justifications for Prisons 354
Ethics of Life for Life: A Society That Loves Walls 357
Ethics of Life for Life: Putting Pain Back Into Prisons 358
Ethics of Contemporary Corrections 359
Does Rehabilitation Work? What Do Offenders Deserve? 363
Ethics of Man and Corrections: What Good Is Brutality? 368
Ethics of Man and Corrections: The Holier-than-Thou Syndrome 370
Ethics of Man and Corrections: We’re All Doing Time 370
Ethics of Man and Corrections: Postcards From Prison 371
Ethics of Man and Corrections: Rehabilitation Through Inner Corrections 373
Faith-Based Prisons 375
Women’s Prisons 377
Corruption of Prison Personnel 378
Life Sentences 382
Prison Privatization 383
Elderly Prisoners 384
Conclusion 385
Review Questions 385
xii CONTENTS

13. Ethics of Probation and Parole 393

Overview 394
The Professional Orientation of Probation and Parole 395
The Borderless Community 397
The Changing Face of Probation 399
The Case for Community-Based Corrections 402
The Case Against Community-Based Corrections 402
Work Strategies of Probation and Parole Practitioners 405
Common Unethical Practices in Probation and Parole 406
Current Ethical Issues in Probation and Parole 407
Ethical Choices in Probation/Parole 411
Conclusion 413
Review Questions 414

14. The Truth Revealed: Enlightenment and Practical Civility

Minimize Criminality 419
In Essence 420
Evolution of Enlightenment 421
Enlightenment Defined 422
The Enlightened Mind 423
Development of Practical Enlightenment 426
The Hybrid of Enlightenment and Civility 428
Endorsing Enlightenment 430
The Other Twin: Practical Civility 432
Practical Civility Defined 433
Evolution of Practical Civility 434
What Do the Theorists Say? 435
Five Stories to Remember 440
The Future of Criminal Justice Ethics 443
Conclusion 447
Review Questions 448

Name Index 451

Subject Index 457
Preface to the
Seventh Edition

The seventh edition of this book continues to present ethics as an “umbrella of civility” under
which criminal justice agents and the public look at the law and ethical issues in criminal jus-
tice. In this book, students and practitioners will be introduced to the fundamentals of ethical
theory and will be asked to apply ethical theory to decision-making in criminal justice. It is
the hope of the authors that discussing critical ethical issues in the college classroom will
help students make ethical decisions in the field as they advance in careers in policing, law,
or corrections and as informed citizens who vote and participate in American governmental
institutions.
The seventh edition has several new features. First, the discussion of criminal justice
ethical issues is updated. The new edition includes discussion of such recent matters as
police shootings, major investigations of the police in Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore, and
Chicago, the war on drugs, life sentences, the ideal versus the reality in juvenile justice,
juvenile life without parole, the swift and certain deterrence model in probation, the case
for evidence-based rehabilitation interventions, the Good Lives Model, faith-based prisons,
elderly prisoners, and an update on the question of the deterrent impact of capital punish-
ment. The analysis of racism in Chapter 7 is completely updated with discussion of recent
books by Michelle Alexander and Paul Butler. Second, the discussion of ethical theories is
quite similar, but we have put in some boxes to relate current developments to the theoretical
discussions. Third, Chapters 11, 12, and 13 on police, prison, and probation, respectively,
now have boxes that highlight issues discussed in the chapter and conclude with questions for
class discussion. Fourth, Chapter 14, the final chapter, now includes a section on the future of
criminal justice ethics.
Readers of previous editions will notice that a second author has joined with Professor
Souryal. The second author thanks Professor Souryal and the publisher for asking him to
work on this new edition. He has taught criminal justice ethics for some time and hopes that
his insights into criminal justice ethical issues will add to the impressive tradition of Professor
Souryal’s work.
xiv PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION

Both authors thank the editors and staff at Routledge for their expert work in preparing
this edition for publication. We also thank Michael Braswell for his encouragement for this
project.
Sam S. Souryal
John T. Whitehead
March 2019
Preface to the Sixth Edition

Despite advances in the legal and technological aspects of criminal justice, practitioners
continue to face difficult moral choices. These include whether to arrest, use deadly force,
prosecute, offer plea bargaining, impose punishment, and, from an organizational standpoint,
whether to comply with policy, cooperate with supervisors, or treat the public equitably. As
in other public service sectors where discretion is essential, individual and institutional eth-
ics become major vectors. Surprisingly, while the consequences of such choices continue to
cause great public anguish, the moral grounds for these choices have seldom been examined.
In a free society, issues of crime and punishment are perhaps the most deserving of the
moral imperative of justice—a quality the state must extend freely to the guilty and the inno-
cent alike. Moral behaviors need no validation by the state, because they constitute justice
unto themselves. Thus, in responding to immoral behaviors, civilized governments cannot
rightfully employ immoral means. Succinctly stated, the more civilized the state, the more
willing it is to address the “worst in us” by the “noble means” available.
The purpose of this book is not to question the value of the law as the primary instrument
of criminal justice but to present ethics as an “umbrella of civility” under which the law can
be more meaningful, rational, and obeyable. By way of analogy, if the law is compared to
the Old Testament, ethics is comparable to the New Testament. They complement each other,
making Christianity blissful and tolerable. This view of ethics may not impress hardened
practitioners who believe that we “live by the law” but forget that we also “die by the law.” By
the same token, this view may not enthuse students who are so enamored with the trimmings
of criminal justice that they overlook its noble substance. To both of these groups, there is
one rational reply: “No one is free until we can see the truth of what we are seeking.” Without
capturing the truths of criminal justice, we are left with images that may be not only irrational,
but also disgraceful.
This book rejects the cynical view that ethical knowledge and moral character are periph-
eral to the administration of justice. Indeed, every action in the administration of justice is
directed either by the moral of a rule or policy or by the moral judgment of the practitioner
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xvi PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION

who implements it. Furthermore, the obligation to “establish justice and insure domestic tran-
quillity” continues to be the central force behind any act of criminal justice. Therefore, with-
out a fresh look at our weaknesses, biases, and prejudices, the young discipline of criminal
justice will grow into a degenerative field; more like a temple without a god, a body without
a soul, and a theory without a meaning.
In this book, students and practitioners will be introduced to the fundamentals of ethical
theory, doctrines, and controversies, and the rules of moral judgment. They will be exposed
to the ways and means of making moral judgment—but not in specific situations. That is
beyond the capacity of any book and must be left to the minds and hearts of the well-informed
practitioner. Knowledge will be presented in two forms: (1) a thematic perspective that will
examine ethical principles common to all components of the discipline, such as wisdom,
goodness, morality, and justice as well as the common vices of deception, racial prejudice,
and egoism; and (2) an area-specific perspective that will address the state of ethics in polic-
ing, corrections, and probation and parole.
Every academic discipline or professional field is born and slowly grows from an infant
into maturity. In the process, practitioners test its limits, establish its boundaries, and legit-
imize its claims. During the maturation process, serious excesses and failures appear that
create contradiction between the goals of the field and the means by which objectives are to
be met. In attempting to reason away contradiction, an introspection usually occurs urging
caution, denouncing falsity, and searching for the truth. This introspection gradually hardens,
constituting the collective conscience of the discipline—its soul. Eventually, the soul becomes
instrumental in halting intellectual ostentation, in exposing fallacies, and in reaffirming basic
values. This collective conscience keeps a vigilant eye whenever new technology is intro-
duced or a major policy shift is inaugurated. In time, the membership of the discipline or field
comes to recognize that collective conscience and call it by its true name: professional ethics.
The field of criminal justice is certainly young, but not too distant from maturity. It lacks
a unifying philosophy that can give it autonomy and inner strength. Primary issues of crime
and justice still beg for clarification. Secondary issues continue to frustrate rationality, for
instance, the role of the police in maintaining order, the role of prosecutors in controlling entry
into the system, the role of judges in dominating the sentencing process, the role of victims in
reclaiming the central court of justice, and the role of lawbreakers in sabotaging the system
by ingenious means. All such claims compete in an environment of ambiguity, egoism, and
fear. The resulting picture is a mosaic of incoherence and lack of scruples. Consequently, the
field has not proven successful beyond mere survival. Its efficacy has been questioned, both
from within by its officials and from without by its users. Few artificial reforms have been
introduced in the area of criminal justice management, the field’s most logical instrument of
reform. Top management is often controlled by a syndicate of lobbying bureaucrats who lack
integrative thinking and, at times, the tenacity to reason away simple problems. Middle man-
agers are unwitting brokers who “dance on the stairway”; they are as hesitant to face those at
the top as they are reluctant to confront those at the bottom. Frontline workers operate as an
 PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION xvii

army of “apparatchiks,” or functionaries. They suffer from bureaucratic fatigue, a disturbing

subculture, and a confused view of reality.
The introspective voice of ethics in criminal justice is yet to be heard louder and louder
as the comforting shriek of a first-born infant heralds the coming of age of his parents. Until
it is, criminal justice will continue to be perceived with uneasiness and suspicion.
With these well-intended thoughts, this work is dedicated to the better understanding of
ethics—the indestructible soul of criminal justice.
Sam S. Souryal
Huntsville, Texas
2014
Acknowledgments

Both authors are grateful to our students who asked questions that challenged us and moti-
vated us to keep asking questions ourselves. Our students reminded us that we were in their
shoes only a few years earlier. Their enthusiasm about criminal justice and about ethical ques-
tions made teaching fresh every semester.
We also acknowledge our colleagues who challenged us to think and question. They
often gave us ideas and points of view that we had not thought of on our own. If not for them,
several projects in our careers would never have succeeded.
We are grateful to the editors and all at Routledge and their associates who work so hard
to guide, edit, and produce the books they publish. The editors we have worked with have
been helpful in countless ways. We specifically thank Gabriele Gaizutyte, our Production
Editor at Routledge, and Jennifer Bonnar, our Project Manager at Apex CoVantage (the com-
pany responsible for the typesetting, copyediting, and indexing tasks). We also thank Michael
Braswell, who has been an inspiration, colleague, and friend.
1 Acquainting Yourself
With Ethics
A Tour of the Ethics Hall of
Fame

They honestly consider they are doing the right thing.

—E.W. Elkington, 1907, on New Guinea cannibals

Or are you a clear thinker examining what is good and useful for society and spending your life in
building what is useful and destroying what is harmful?
—Kahlil Gibran, Mirrors of the Soul

Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad laws bring about worse. As soon as any man says
of the affairs of the State, “What does it matter to me?” the State may be given up for lost.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The present moral crisis is due among other things to the demand for a moral code which is
intellectually respectable.
—R. Niebuhr

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN FROM THIS CHAPTER

To understand the foundation of ethics, you should learn about the virtue of
knowledge and reasoning, the sources of intellect, the nature of truth, the
nature of reality, the nature of morality, the nature of goodness, the relationship
between actions and consequences, determinism and intentionalism, and the
image of the ethical person.
You will also learn about the reasoning process, Plato’s divided line, the defi-
nition of morality and ethics, the grammar of goodness, the principle of summum
bonum, and the utilitarianism measure.
2
2 ACQUAINTING YOURSELF WITH ETHICS

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Reasoning is a pure method of thinking by which proper conclusions are

reached through abstract thought processes.
The Divided Line is Plato’s theory of knowledge. It characterizes four lev-
els of knowledge. The lowest of these are conjecture and imagination
because they are based on impressions or suppositions; the next is belief
because it is constructed on the basis of faith, images, or superstition;
the third is scientific knowledge because it is supported by empirical evi-
dence, experimentation, or mathematical equations; and the highest level
is reasoning.
Theory of Realism is Aristotle’s explanation of reality. It includes three con-
cepts: rationality, the ability to use abstract reasoning; potentiality and
actuality, the “capacity to become” and the “state of being”; and the
golden mean, the middle point between two extreme qualities.
Ethics is a philosophy that examines the principles of right and wrong, good
and bad.
Morality is the practice of applying ethical principles on a regular basis.
Intrinsic Goods are objects, actions, or qualities that are valuable in themselves.
Nonintrinsic Goods are objects, actions, or qualities that are good only for
developing or serving an intrinsic good.
Summum Bonum is the principle of the highest good that cannot be subordi-
nated to any other.
E = PJ 2 is the guiding formula for making moral judgment. E (the ethical decision)
equals P (the principle) times J (the justification of the situation).
Utilitarianism is the theory that identifies ethical actions as those that maxi-
mize happiness and minimize pain.
Determinism is the theory that all thoughts, attitudes, and actions result from
external forces that are beyond human control. They are fixed causal laws
that control all events as well as the consequences that follow.
Intentionalism is the theory that all rational beings possess an innate freedom
of will and must be held responsible for their actions. It is the opposite of
determinism.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
connection, that the policy of public ownership has been widely
followed in various European countries, particularly in Great Britain,
France, and Germany. In Germany the railroads have been for many
years owned and operated by the government. In all three countries
the telegraphs are government-owned, and are operated in
connection with the post-offices. The telephone service is also in
public hands. Gas and electric lighting plants are to some extent
owned by companies in various European cities, but the majority of
them have been taken over by the municipal authorities. Even the
street railways have been passing under municipal ownership. Many
European cities, moreover, not only operate these various public
services but conduct other municipal enterprises, such as abattoirs,
bakeries, theatres, savings banks, and even pawnshops as well.[237]
Public Ownership in America.—In the American
United States the policy of public ownership has experience has
not been nearly so popular. The railroads, been less extensive.
telegraphs, and telephones are owned and operated by private
companies. They were managed by the national government for a
time during the war, but when the emergency ended they were
returned to their owners. Among the larger cities of the United
States only five or six own and operate their gas plants; about
twenty have municipal ownership of electric lighting plants.[238]
Street railway lines are owned by the city in only three or four
instances; but in several other communities they are being operated
by the public authorities under leases from the owners.[239] When
one bears in mind that the total number of public utilities in the
United States runs up into the thousands it will be seen that the
policy of public ownership has had a relatively small and slow
development on this side of the Atlantic.
Arguments for Public Ownership.—The chief arguments in
favor of public ownership in the United States may be briefly set
forth as follows: First, all public utilities, being 1. Regulation has
natural monopolies, require a stricter measure of failed.
regulation than can ever be provided by any form of public
supervision. So long as these utilities remain in private hands there
will be a continual effort to evade public regulation and this effort
will usually be successful because rich and powerful companies are
exceedingly difficult to control under a democratic form of
government. “We have tried regulation”, the advocates of public
ownership say, “and it has not been satisfactory. Therefore, let us try
the only other alternative, which is to buy out the companies
altogether.” Second, under public ownership the 2. Lower rates and
people would obtain lower rates and better better service.
service. This would be possible because the government could
procure capital more cheaply than private companies and thus make
a substantial saving in interest.[240] It would not be seeking for
profits, but would strive to give service at actual cost. If the
government owned all the utilities, moreover, it could buy supplies
and materials in large quantities and hence at lower prices. Each
street railway company now buys rails, cars, cables, coal, and so on
for itself. If a state owned all the street railways within its territory, it
would purchase these things on a much larger scale. Third, public
ownership means a fairer and better treatment 3. More just to
of the employees. Wages, as a rule, are higher labor.
in public than in private employment (assuming the same degree of
training and skill); the hours of labor are not so long (since the
eight-hour day is now generally recognized in public employment);
and there is better protection against arbitrary dismissal. For these
reasons labor organizations usually favor public ownership. Fourth,
the public service companies have had a 4. The effect on
detrimental influence upon American politics. politics.
They are seekers of public privileges, and in their zeal to obtain
favors are under strong temptation to work in a quiet way for the
election of public officials who will be friendly to them. They form a
part of what Mr. Elihu Root once spoke of as the “invisible
government”. Through their paid agents and lobbyists they try to
influence the action of legislatures and city councils in ways which
are to their own financial advantage but detrimental to the public
interest. The abolition of all franchises and the direct public
ownership of all utilities would remove, it is asserted, a corrupting
influence from American politics. These are the chief arguments
used by the advocates of public ownership.
 The Arguments Against Public Ownership.—But there is
much to be said on the other side. First, it is 1. More costly to
claimed that public ownership, by reason of the public.
higher wages and less efficient management, would prove to be far
more expensive than private enterprise, and that in the long run the
increased cost would have to be paid by the people. This higher cost
might take the form of higher rates for the service or it might come
out of the general taxes; but it would fall on the public in either
case. When the national government operated the railroads during
the war it kept the freight and passenger rates low; the result was a
deficit amounting to about a billion dollars, which had to be made
good out of the public treasury. The taxpayers carried a burden
which should have been borne by the shippers and passengers.
Second, public ownership would mean poor 2. Means retention
service; the utilities would not keep up with of obsolete
modern methods; the public would be put to methods.
great inconvenience by reason of incompetent management. Private
companies are alert, on the look-out for new economies, and always
ready to adopt improved methods. The incentive to all this is their
desire to make greater profits. They do not hesitate to spend money
upon improvements if by so doing they can obtain more business
and increase their earnings.[241] Remove this incentive, as is done
when the government operates a public utility, and everybody takes
his job easily. Third, municipal ownership would 3. Would not
merely substitute the influence of organized improve political
labor for that of organized capital in politics. The conditions.
nation, states, and cities would have an enormous number of
officials and employees on their respective pay rolls. The employees
would also be voters. They would stand solidly for whichever political
party offered them better wages, fewer hours of labor, and other
advantages. The interests of the public would have scant
consideration in the face of organized political pressure from this
huge array of government workers. Even today the city employees
are an important factor in municipal politics. What would they be if
their numbers were doubled or trebled? The railroad employees of
the country number many hundred thousand. Count in their wives
(who are also voters), their relatives and friends, the voters whom
they can personally influence, and you will see that they would form
no negligible factor in national politics. Fourth, 4. European
although public ownership has been moderately experience not
successful in European countries where the applicable.
governments are highly centralized it does not follow that it would
have the same success in this country. In the United States, where
government is conducted on a democratic basis, with short terms of
office and strong partisan forces at work, with the spoils system still
flourishing in many states and cities, public ownership would result
in gross mismanagement and extravagance. If the government is to
engage in business it should first put itself on a business basis.
Before it undertakes to operate the railroads or the telephone
service it should introduce efficiency into its own governmental
functions.
Summary.—In balancing these various Weight of the
arguments, one against the other, and in foregoing
comparing the relative merits of public arguments.
regulation with those of public ownership, much depends upon local
conditions. It cannot be said that either policy is the better one at all
times, in all communities, for all utilities, and under all
circumstances. Where public regulation has been satisfactory there
is a good deal to be said for the policy of letting well enough alone.
Where the policy of regulation has not been successful the
arguments for trying the experiment of public ownership become
stronger. It ought to be remarked, however, that if local conditions
are such as to make regulation a failure they are not likely to make
public ownership a success. A state or community which cannot hold
capital under effective control is not likely to be much more
successful in its dealings with a large body of public employees. No
great weight should be attached to the fact that public ownership
has succeeded in one city or failed in another. The success or failure
of public ownership, as a policy, cannot be fairly judged from this or
that adventure in it, any more than we can judge the outcome of a
campaign from the winning or losing of a single skirmish. Banks
sometimes fail, yet our banking system is sound. Speculators
occasionally succeed, and make fortunes, but that does not prove
speculation to be a profitable form of business.
So far as can be judged from the figures of profit and loss, public
ownership is less economical than private management. The
community which owns and operates a street railway or a lighting
plant or any other public utility will not make a profit, in most cases,
unless it charges higher rates than would be charged by a private
company. The books may show a profit, but this is because not all
expenses which ought to be charged to the plant are put down; they
are saddled upon the taxpayer in some roundabout way. Public
ownership cannot be justified as a matter of pennies and dimes. But
profit and loss are not the only things to be The question is not
considered. The question as to which plan is one of profit and
better for the public is much more than a loss alone.
question of surplus or deficit. The fair treatment of labor, the
reliability of the service, the removal of sinister political influences—
these should be reckoned with as well. And that is where people
with different points of view fail to agree. The advisability of public
ownership is an intensely practical issue which cannot be solved by
appealing to any set rules or principles. It is entirely logical for one
to favor public ownership of the water supply while opposing its
extension to the street railway. One is closely related to the public
health; the other is not. In a well-governed community, where the
service rendered by a private company has proved to be
unsatisfactory, the policy of public ownership may be entirely
justified. This does not mean, however, that the people of boss-
ridden cities, with the spoils system in full operation, should take
over public services which are doing well enough under private
management. Conditions, not theories, should determine which is
the wise policy.
Guild Operation.—In recent years another alternative to private
ownership has been put forth. It is known as guild ownership.
Knowing that many people are disinclined toward public ownership
because they fear that it would merely mean the mismanagement of
the public services by politicians, some labor leaders have proposed
that the utilities should be owned and operated by the organized
employees. In brief they suggest that the government should supply
the capital (receiving interest on it, of course,) and that the
employees should operate the utilities through officials chosen by
them, or chosen by themselves and the government jointly. The
Plumb plan, put forward in 1919 as a solution of the railroad
problem, was a proposal of this nature. Some advocates of guild
operation believe in applying this policy not only to public utilities but
to all industries.
General References
F. W. Taussig, Principles of Economics, Vol. II, pp. 397-418;
Clyde L. King, The Regulation of Municipal Utilities, pp. 3-55;
H. G. James, Municipal Functions, pp. 246-281 (Public Utilities); pp. 282-295
(Municipal Ownership);
Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1917-1918, Bulletins, No. 22
(Municipal Ownership in the United States);
E. M. Phelps (editor), Government Ownership of Railroads (Debaters’ Handbook
Series). Contains material on both sides of the question. See also K. B. Judson
(editor), Government Ownership of Telegraphs and Telephones, and J. E. Johnson,
Municipal Ownership, in the same series;
F. C. Howe, The Modern City and its Problems, pp. 149-164.
Group Problems
1. Government ownership of telegraphs and telephones. History of the
wire services. How the telegraph and telephone companies are organized. Present
methods of regulation by the national, state, and local authorities. Public
ownership of telegraphs and telephones in Europe. The results of European
experience. American experience during the war. Summary and conclusions.
References: K. B. Judson (editor), Government Ownership of Telegraphs and
Telephones (Debaters’ Handbook Series); A. N. Holcombe, Government Ownership
of Telephones in Europe, pp. 441-463; H. R. Meyer, Public Ownership and the
Telephone of Great Britain, pp. 239-268; W. W. Willoughby, Government
Organization in War Time, pp. 191-198.
2. State regulation of public utilities. References: H. G. James, Municipal
Functions, pp. 246-281; C. L. King, Regulation of Municipal Utilities, pp. 253-263;
G. P. Jones, State Versus Local Regulation, in Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, LIII (May, 1914), pp. 94-107; Proceedings of the
Conference of American Mayors, 1915, pp. 123-162; H. M. Pollock and H. S.
Morgan, Modern Cities, pp. 225-249.
3. Municipal ownership in Europe. References: G. B. Shaw, The Common
Sense of Municipal Trading, pp. 17-42; Leonard Darwin, Municipal Ownership, pp.
33-66; Douglas Knoop, Principles and Methods of Municipal Trading, pp. 95-106; F.
C. Howe, European Cities at Work, pp. 37-67; Yves Guyot, Where and Why Public
Ownership Has Failed, pp. 55-71; W. H. Dawson, Municipal Life and Government in
Germany, pp. 208-259; C. D. Thompson, Municipal Ownership, pp. 15-25; National
Civic Federation Report (1907), Part I, Vol. I, pp. 261-302.
Short Studies
1. Franchises. Cyclopedia of American Government, Vol. II, pp. 44-48.
2. A model street railway franchise. C. L. King, Regulation of Municipal
Utilities, pp. 165-181.
3. Gas and electric lighting franchises. W. B. Munro, Principles and Methods
of Municipal Administration, pp. 247-257.
4. Germany’s experience in public ownership. W. H. Dawson, Municipal Life
and Government in Germany, pp. 208-259.
5. Great Britain’s experience in public ownership. Douglas Knoop,
Principles and Methods of Municipal Trading, pp. 306-365.
6. Municipal ownership in the United States. Massachusetts Constitutional
Convention, 1917-1918, Bulletin, No. 22; National Civic Federation, Shall the
Government Own and Operate the Railroads, the Telegraph and Telephone
Systems? The Affirmative Side; Ibid., The Negative Side.
7. Guild ownership. G. D. H. Cole, Guild Socialism, pp. 42-77.
8. Public service commissions. S. P. Orth, Readings on the Relation of
Government to Industry, pp. 308-343.
9. The danger of giving government too much to do. Otto H. Kahn,
American Economic Problems, pp. 235-275.
10. The Plumb plan. Public Ownership League, Bulletin, No. 12, pp. 86-100;
Ibid., Bulletin, No. 14, pp. 59-74; 127-130.
Questions
1. Name all the principal public service industries of the present day. Would you
say that the following are public utilities: abattoirs; grain elevators; coal mines;
pipe lines for conveying oil from city to city; wireless telegraph establishments;
airships carrying passengers; automobiles; taxicabs; jitney busses; hotels;
steamships; docks; banks; hospitals? Why or why not in each case?
2. Make a definition of public utilities which will square with your answer to the
previous question.
3. If a merchant should install an electric generator to provide light for his own
store, would he be then engaged in a public service and would he require a
franchise? If he desired to sell current to his neighbors (without crossing a street)
would he then require a franchise? Give your reasons.
4. Certain industries are particularly suited to public management (for example,
the postal service and water supply). Name some others. Why are they suited?
 5. What provisions should be made in a street railway franchise as regards term,
fares, service, contributions by the company to the public treasury, disposal of the
plant when the franchise expires, and regulation during the franchise term?
6. Can you give any reasons why the government should carry mail but not
telegrams? Parcels by post but not by express?
7. Name some reasons why the effective regulation of public utilities is difficult.
8. What public utilities are operated in your city? By what companies? When do
their franchises expire? Who regulates them? Would any of them be better
managed under public ownership?
9. Which of the arguments for municipal ownership seem to you to be the
strongest, and why? Which of the arguments against?
10. Would it be consistent for an Englishman to favor municipal ownership of
street railways in London but to oppose it in New York after becoming a resident
there?
Topics for Debate
1. Street railways should be (a) owned and operated by private companies, or
(b) owned by private companies and operated by the government, or (c) owned
and operated by the government.
2. Guild operation should be applied to all public utilities.
 CHAPTER XXV
EDUCATION

The purpose of this chapter is to explain why education is made

compulsory, how the schools are managed, what they cost, and what they are
trying to do.

Education and Democracy.—No matter In a democracy

where one may go, in any part of the world, it education is
will be found that political democracy and public essential.
education tend to keep pace with each other. In despotisms one will
rarely find a system of universal, free, public education; or, if it is
found, one can be sure that the despotism will not last very long.
Education is the friend of democracy and the foe of despotism.
Indeed it can fairly be said that without a system of public education
no democracy can be sure of its own permanence. This is because
the maintenance of democratic government depends upon the ability
of the people to think straight and to see things clearly. The more
political freedom you give a people the greater is their opportunity
for abusing it.
In a real democracy the only safeguard is the Free government
common sense of the people, and a system of depends on
free, public education will do more for the intelligence.
diffusion of common sense among the people than anything else can
do. It is unsafe to place the ballot in the hands of people without
giving them the opportunity to acquire that degree of enlightenment
which is necessary to enable them to use the ballot intelligently. The
voter who cannot read a newspaper or understand the public
questions which he is called upon to decide is a poor foundation
upon which to build a government. More than fifty years ago, when
England practically adopted manhood suffrage, some of the old-
fashioned statesmen bemoaned the fact that the multitudes of the
people would be “masters” of the government. “Well, then”, said a
certain member of Parliament, “educate your masters!” That is the
only way to keep a democratic government honest, intelligent,
orderly, and capable.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOOK. By John W. Alexander

From a Copley Print, copyright by Curtis & Cameron,

Boston. Reproduced by permission.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE BOOK

 By John W. Alexander
These three mural paintings are in the East Corridor
of the Library of Congress.
The first depicts the spread of knowledge by oral
tradition. A seer, or wise man, narrates by word of
mouth to his tribesmen the story of the race. This was,
in earliest times, the only way of imparting knowledge.
Then, after many centuries, came the making of
manuscript books on parchment. The monks of the
Middle Ages, as shown in the central picture, spent
much of their time in the laborious task of making
books—each letter being printed by hand. Finally came
the invention of printing. In the third picture
Gutenburg, the inventor, is inspecting one of the pages
just completed by the primitive press which the boy is
turning by hand.

But someone may interpose to ask this If so, why are

embarrassing question: If education helps to intelligent men
make people more intelligent in political matters, sometimes corrupt
in politics?
why is it that well-educated and intelligent
people are often found among corrupt and selfish politicians, and
that even college graduates sometimes become notorious political
bosses? The answer is that in this, as in other things, a general truth
does not cease to be a general truth because there are exceptions to
it. Many well-educated men are unable to earn a living, but would
any sensible person argue that education, as a general rule, renders
no aid toward the gaining of a livelihood? As well might one urge
that newspapers render no service in disseminating the truth
because some of them occasionally print lies. It is quite true that
men are not politically wise in exact proportion to the extent of their
education. The man or woman who is only a grammar school
graduate may have more political wisdom than the most finished
scholar in the land. But this does not impair the fundamental truth
that knowledge is preferable to ignorance in all countries, at all
times, and in every field of human activity.
Education and Personal Efficiency.—To The general
make men and women intelligent in matters of purpose of
government is not, however, the only purpose of education.
education. The general prosperity of the country depends, in the
long run, upon the individual ability of its citizens. Every individual
who proves able to earn his own living, establish a home, bring up a
family, and by his savings add something to the nation’s capital is a
contributor to the national prosperity. Every individual who fails to
make his own way and becomes dependent, either in whole or in
part, upon the efforts of others, is a drag upon the community. In its
own interest, therefore, it is the duty of the whole people to see that
everyone is not only enabled but encouraged to become personally
efficient, able to make his own way in the world, and capable of
pulling his own weight in that many-oared boat which carries the
progress of society along.
The Purpose and Value of Education.— The specific
The purpose of education therefore is three-fold. purposes of
First, it aims to give young 1. Economic. education:
men and women the sort of
training which will enable them to earn a living. This is a primary and
fundamental purpose, because earning a living is one of life’s great
problems. But it is not the only purpose of education; an educational
system would be very defective if it confined itself to this and
nothing more. The second purpose of education 2. Personal.
is to develop the personality of the individual,
his own resources and mentality, so that he may enjoy those durable
satisfactions of life which are not directly connected with the work of
earning a livelihood. The enjoyment which men and women derive
from life is not entirely dependent upon the amount of their
incomes; one need only to look about the community to realize that
this is so. Even a large fortune does not of itself guarantee
happiness. To live a full and contented life it is necessary to know
what is going on in the world, to appreciate its significance, and to
understand the many things which, to the uneducated man or
woman, are hidden mysteries. Education helps an individual to know
himself, to know what is going on around him, to understand the
motives which govern the actions of his fellow-men, and to adjust
himself to the environment in which he lives. Knowledge is power. It
is power in the hands of everyone who possesses it. The third
purpose of education, the social purpose, is also 3. Social.
of great importance. Education aims to train the
individual so that he may better serve his fellow-men. Democracy, as
has been said, rests upon the intelligence of the people. A
democratic government exacts from its citizens a sort of service
which education alone can teach them to give.[242]
The Growth of Public Education.—For The illiteracy of
many centuries in the history of the world the bygone days.
masses of the people were afforded no opportunity for even the
elements of education. Not one person in ten thousand could read or
write. Even kings on the throne were illiterate. There is a well-known
picture of King John, with a crown on his head and a quill pen in his
hand, signing the Great Charter. It is an altogether fanciful picture,
because John Plantagenet could not write a single word, not even
his own name. No copy of Magna Carta or any other document has
ever been found with his signature on it. The only persons who
could read or write in those days were the monks and other officers
of the Church together with a very few laymen who were educated
by them. Even after the invention of printing, education spread
slowly and it was not until the nineteenth century that the
desirability of providing free schools for the masses of the people
came to be generally recognized. Prior to that time education was
almost everywhere regarded as a luxury to be bought and paid for
by the relatively few individuals who could afford it.
In the United States free education goes back The first American
to colonial days. As early as 1647 the colony of schools.
Massachusetts Bay provided that a schoolmaster should be
appointed and paid out of the taxes in every town of more than fifty
families and that this schoolmaster should teach all the children “to
write and reade”; but this example was not generally followed in the
other colonies. It has been estimated that not more than half the
population in the colonial days could read and write. The proportion
of illiteracy among women was especially large because very little
provision was made for educating girls. Even after the Revolution the
system of free, public schools spread slowly and not until the middle
of the nineteenth century did it cover the greater portion of the
country. Since the Civil War, however, the policy of making education
not only free but compulsory has been adopted in virtually every
part of the United States. The total enrolment in the public schools is
now more than twenty-two millions, and the cost of educating the
vast array of young citizens is considerably over a billion dollars a
year.
The Control and Management of The function of the
Education.—As the national constitution gives state in education.
the federal government no power to control education the
responsibility rests with the several states. Every state has
established a system of free, public education, but the methods of
control and management differ greatly from one state to another.
Some states have centralized the management of the schools in the
hands of the state authorities; others leave this very largely to the
school officials of the counties, cities, or districts. Everywhere there
is a state department of education, with a board or a superintendent
in charge, some states having both. The local educational unit may
be the city, town, township, school district, or (especially in the
Southern states) the county. A school board, usually elected, erects
the school buildings, chooses a school superintendent, appoints
principals and teachers (on the recommendation of the
superintendent), and appropriates money for the support of the
schools. The detailed work of managing the schools rests primarily
upon the superintendent.[243]
Central vs. Local Control of Schools.—To Where should the
what extent should the public schools be under chief control be
the control of the state authorities? Is it lodged?
advisable that local school boards should be left free to manage the
schools as they think best, without interference from the state?
These are questions upon which the opinions of educators differ. It is
argued that the school board, in every city, town, or township knows
best the needs of its own community and hence ought to be given a
free hand in meeting these needs. This policy, moreover, affords
each school a chance to try experiments and it is through
experiments that progress in education, as in everything else, is
usually made. On the other hand it is logical to assert that if the
state laws make education compulsory and if the state treasury
grants money to local schools it is the right of the state to see that
the money is properly spent. If every city, town, and village were left
free to manage its schools without any central control there would
be no uniformity in the subjects taught, in the qualifications of
teachers, or in the organization of the schools. It would be difficult in
that case for a pupil to transfer from one school to another, outside
the same community, without finding himself a misfit in the new
institution. A certain amount of central control seems therefore to be
desirable, but it is not for the best interests of education that every
school throughout the state should be conducted in exactly the same
way. A system of that sort tends to deaden the whole process of
education. There is a great deal to be said for home rule in
education, provided there is a sufficient amount of state supervision
to keep the schools up to a proper standard.
School Boards and Politics.—It is generally Keeping the schools
agreed that party politics should have no place out of politics.
in the management of the public schools. There may be justification
for party politics in lawmaking bodies; but in school boards there is
none. There is an efficient way of managing the schools and an
inefficient way; but there is no such thing as a Republican way or a
Democratic way. Yet elections to school boards are, in many
communities, contested upon party lines. Men and women are
nominated and elected, very often, because they belong to one or
the other political party, not because they have good judgment or a
deep interest in school affairs. In this, however, public sentiment is
gradually changing. In many places the school board elections have
become non-partisan; party designations have been taken off the
ballots, and it matters little which party a candidate belongs to. Why
should it? What relation is there between a man’s views on the tariff
or the league of nations and his ability to serve his own neighbors
acceptably as a member of a local school board? There is no visible
relation. Taking the schools out of politics means that the taxpayers
get greater value for the money which is spent in maintaining the
schools, that all questions are decided upon their merits and not by
political favoritism, and that every pupil gets the benefit of better
schools, better teachers, and better educational methods.
Educational Work of the National Government.—The
national government, as has already been pointed out, possesses no
formal powers with respect to education in the states. Nevertheless
it has done a good deal to promote the interests of public education
by publishing the results of investigations into educational problems,
and by rendering advisory assistance to the state authorities. It
maintains a Bureau of Education which is now The national
within the jurisdiction of the Interior Bureau of
Department. At the head of this bureau is a Education.
Commissioner of Education appointed by the President. The
functions of the bureau are almost wholly of an informal character; it
collects data for the use of educators and publishes this material in
annual reports and bulletins.[244] There has been a strong movement
to make this bureau a regular Department of Education, with a
member of the cabinet at its head, and to increase its powers
considerably; but this movement has not yet been successful.
Federal Aid to Education.—Within the last few years there has
been a good deal of controversy, both in Congress and outside, over
a proposal to appropriate further funds from the national treasury
for the promotion of general education in the states, particularly in
those states where the common school system needs toning up. This
proposal is embodied in a measure which has The Towner-
been before Congress for some time but upon Sterling Bill: its
which no favorable action has yet been taken. merits and defects.
[245]
In favor of the measure it is argued that public elementary
education is a national necessity and that if any state cannot raise
sufficient money to keep its common schools up to a proper
standard the interests of the whole nation will suffer in the end.
There is just as much reason, and more, it is asserted, for federal
aid to state schools as for such aid to state roads. On the other hand
it is objected that the policy of large federal subsidies to education
would involve the taxing of the populous and thriving states of the
East, the Middle West, and the Pacific Slope for the benefit of those
other states, especially in the South, where the school system has
heretofore been backward through lack of funds. Most of the federal
government’s income is provided by the taxpayers of states like New
York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts. But in these
states the public school system has already been brought up to a
standard where there is no urgent need for federal assistance. The
chief gainers under the new plan would be the states which
contribute very little of the revenue. In other words, we should be
taxing some states for the benefit of others. A somewhat more
weighty objection, to some minds, is found in the possibility that if
the national government begins the practice of making large annual
grants to the states for educational purposes it may, in due course,
undertake to exercise control over the public school systems of the
entire country. When a government grants money for any purpose it
has an undeniable right to make sure that the money is being
properly spent. To do this it must create some system of inspection.
Inspection leads to supervision, and supervision sooner or later
merges into actual control. It is feared in some quarters that this
would be the ultimate outcome of federal aid to common school
education on any large scale.

THE PUBLIC

BOARD OF EDUCATION

CLERK SUPERINTENDENT COUNSEL

SECRETARY
 PRINCIPALS

ENGINEERS
SUPERVISORS
JANITORS

TEACHERS

PUPILS

HURON PLAN OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION

THE CONTROL OF EDUCATION
This diagram illustrates a common type of municipal
school administration. The voters choose a Board of
Education, or School Board. This body, in turn,
appoints a Superintendent of Schools who has
supervision over all matters of school management. In
some cities the members of the Board of Education are
appointed by the mayor. In the larger municipalities
there are, as a rule, one or more assistant
superintendents.
Make a similar chart showing the organization of the
school system in your own community.

Some Problems of School Organization. A series of present-

—Several problems of great importance are day questions.
engaging the attention of the school authorities at the present time.
The more conspicuous among them may be indicated by a series of
questions which are under discussion wherever educators come
together, but which are also of direct interest to the pupils and to the
community. To what age should school attendance be made
compulsory? How can pupils be kept from leaving school before they
have received a sufficient amount of education? How should the
school course be divided? Should we have junior high schools and
junior colleges as well as regular high schools and regular colleges?
How may the training of teachers be improved? Can the work of the
schools be brought into closer and better contact with the resources
of the public library? Is it possible to use the school plant, after
school hours, for various forms of community service? Can greater
use be made of the school plant during the school day? And where
are we going to get the money with which to carry on all these new
enterprises if we ultimately agree that they are desirable? This list of
questions may seem to contain some that are not related to one
another, but they all point to different aspects of the same great
problem and may be summed up in the one broad query: What
changes in school organization will better enable education to fulfil
its three-fold purpose?
The School Age.—To what age should Compulsory school
attendance be made compulsory? In most of the attendance.
states this age is now fixed at fourteen years (or grammar school
graduation) although some Southern states still maintain the twelve-
year limit. Many believe that even the fourteen-year limit is not high
enough and are urging that it be raised. In some states a step in this
direction has been taken by requiring that all persons under sixteen
years of age who engage in any form of wage-earning employment
must either present a certificate of graduation from grammar school
or must attend continuation classes for so many hours per week.
More urgent than any raising of the school age, however, is the need
for more strictly enforcing the rules which now exist. In some
communities the present age limit of fourteen years is not insisted
upon, with the result that many thousands in the backward rural
sections and in the crowded districts of cities are growing up in
illiteracy. Whatever the age limit it ought to be enforced to the letter.
[246]

Re-arranging the School Divisions.—But The present school

we should not depend wholly upon the stern divisions.
arm of the law for the solution of a problem like that of keeping
pupils at school. When normal boys and girls strongly dislike going
to school, when they stay away at every opportunity and leave
school as soon as they can, we may well suspect that there is
something wrong with the school system itself. Graduation from
grammar school has hitherto been looked upon as the natural point
at which to break off. The majority of pupils leave the schools at that
stage; only a minority go on with the regular school course. Our
whole system of school divisions has therefore brought it about that
there is no logical breaking-off point between the ages of thirteen or
fourteen on the one hand (grammar school graduation) and
seventeen or eighteen (high school graduation) on the other. It is
believed by many educators, moreover, that the last two grades of
the grammar schools have not been so organized as to awaken in
the average pupil a desire to go further. The upper grades of
grammar schools do not differ essentially in their methods of
instruction from the lower grades although the much greater
maturity of the pupils would seem to warrant the use of different
methods.
To improve this situation it is now proposed to The junior high
divide the school course into three parts by school system.
establishing junior high schools, and many communities have
already adopted this plan. The junior high school as usually
organized takes the last two grades of the grammar school, adds on
the first year or the first two years of the regular high school course,
and thus provides a three-year or a four-year program which carries
pupils through to the ages of fifteen or sixteen. The methods of
instruction are those of the regular high school.[247] This plan is said
to have two marked advantages: it induces pupils to continue their
schooling one or two years longer, and it gives them a type of
instruction which is better suited to their age and interests.
Objection is sometimes raised against the junior high school system
on the ground that it involves the introduction of elective studies and
hence may result in the neglecting of fundamentals. It may also
result in bringing all the customary social and athletic diversions of
the high school into the lives of younger pupils. Whether this is an
advantage or a defect may be regarded as an open question.
 What becomes of the regular high school if its The junior college.
first year or two years are lopped off? There are
two alternatives. It may become simply a senior high school with a
three-year or a two-year course, or it may add on two additional
years covering work which has hitherto been done by freshmen and
sophomores in colleges, thus providing what has come to be known
as a junior college course. Where this policy is pursued the pupil can
be carried two years beyond the old high school graduation and
enabled, on entering a college or university, to obtain a degree in
less than the usual time. All this involves a considerable increase in
the expense of maintaining the school system, of course; but it also
increases the service rendered to the community.
The Training of Teachers.—In the last analysis the success of
education depends upon the teacher. Suitable buildings, a well-
planned curriculum, good text books, all contribute their share
towards the efficiency of a school; but these are inanimate things.
Without capable teachers they are of little avail. Now effective
teaching requires two attainments on the part of the teacher, a
knowledge of the subject and ability to impart this knowledge to
others. Both of these things are essential and both are in large
measure the result of training. It is for this Normal schools.
reason that all the states maintain normal
schools in which prospective teachers are trained in the art of giving
instruction. For teachers who are already in service many of these
normal schools provide courses during the afternoon and evening
hours so that teachers may keep abreast of the most modern
methods in education. The universities also Extension courses.
provide extension courses and summer
instruction with the same end in view. All this is highly desirable and
should be carried even further. We are inclined to spend our school
appropriations on buildings, books, supplies, and facilities for the
pupils and to feel that the community discharges its full obligation to
the teachers when it pays them salaries that are by no means
proportionate to the importance of the work in which they are
engaged. But human knowledge is moving forward at a rapid pace
and anyone who does not keep close on its trail is sure to be left far
behind. Unless the teachers are afforded the opportunity of keeping
in touch with everything that is new it is difficult to see how their
instruction can keep pace with the times.
The School and the Public Library.—The public library is an
institution of great educational value and its relation to the schools
ought to be more intimate than is usually the case. Too often the
public library is merely an ornate building with a miscellaneous
assortment of books (mostly fiction) on its shelves. It is regarded as
a place for adult readers primarily. But the way to enlarge this circle
of adult readers is to bring them into touch with the resources of the
library when they are young, and the public schools are the natural
channels through which this can be accomplished.
In well-managed public libraries this is now How the public
being done. Many of them have established library can help the
juvenile departments in which an expert schools.
carefully chooses books that are likely to interest the young. Reading
lists of interesting and timely subjects are also kept posted; the
pupils in the schools are encouraged to use the library in connection
with their studies; illustrated lectures are provided in the late
afternoon hours and on Saturdays, and the whole atmosphere of the
library becomes one of welcome to readers of every age. It should
not be thought, however, that all public libraries are rendering this
degree of service. Many of them are unprogressive in these things.
Wider Use of the Schools.—Under ordinary The school as a
conditions, how many hours of use does a neighborhood
community obtain from its school buildings in center.
the course of a year? Five hours per day, five days per week for
about forty weeks in the year. That makes a total of about a
thousand hours—a year contains more than eight times as many.
When used for school purposes only, school buildings are empty
seven-eighths of the time. But the cost of maintenance (interest,
care, etc.) goes on all the time just the same. These buildings are
admirably suited for many after-school purposes; they are centrally-
located, well heated and ventilated, clean and commodious. Why not
make use of them outside of school hours? The answer to this query
is that many cities are now making use of them for evening classes,
for public meetings, and neighborhood recreation. The high schools
in many cities have become evening social centers for the section in
which they are located. This means that the classrooms, assembly
hall, and gymnasium are opened for lectures, entertainments,
games, and dances, all under the supervision of officials (usually
teachers) who are appointed and paid by the school board. The
complaint is sometimes made that this wider use of the school plant
is not education in the customary sense, but recreation or
amusement, and that the taxpayers should not be required to pay
for adult amusement under color of supporting a public school
system. There is some force in this contention, but so long as the
work is of value to the community, and worth what it costs, the
particular heading under which the money is expended does not
matter a great deal. These evening activities are placed in charge of
the school authorities as a matter of convenience and not because
they are exclusively of an educational character.
The Gary System.—Do we make sufficient use of the school
facilities within the available school hours of the day? The usual
school program does not cover more than five hours, although there
are eight hours between eight in the morning and four in the
afternoon. In Gary, Indiana, a few years ago the Schools on an
school authorities decided that schooling, like eight-hour basis.
labor, should be put upon an eight-hours-a-day basis. Pupils were
therefore kept at school from eight until four, spending half their
time in the classrooms and the other half at vocational work or at
organized play. In this way the classrooms were made to
accommodate twice the customary number of pupils. The Gary plan
was based on the idea that even as regards their play the school can
be of service to pupils and that time spent in learning something
useful should be substituted for time spent in roaming the streets.
Especial emphasis is placed by the Gary plan upon letting each pupil
follow his own line of interests both in the classroom and in the
vocational work. But the system has not, on the whole, proved
popular elsewhere with either parents or pupils. The labor
organizations also dislike it, suspecting that the plan is a capitalist
scheme for getting the children of the worker more rapidly into the
shops and factories.
Vocational Education.—The foregoing The old curriculum.
topics do not exhaust the list of things which
educators are earnestly considering today. There is also the
important question as to what should be taught in the schools and
how it should be taught. For some years the whole curriculum of the
public schools has been in process of change. The training of the
old-time American school was in large measure literary and
intellectual, without any direct relation to the present or future
interests of pupils. It came to us from a past generation, when
education was the prerogative of the well-to-do alone, the privilege
of the leisure class, designed to give culture and erudition. But
inasmuch as nearly ninety per cent of all the pupils in the public
school go directly into some form of industrial or mercantile
employment (not into the learned professions) it can readily be seen
that a school program of strictly cultural studies does not satisfy the
real needs of the community. Hence the demand for vocational
education, for such study and practice as will connect the pupil
directly with his future life work.[248]
In response to the demand for vocational The new
studies the old school curriculum has undergone curriculum.
a striking change. Today it is the disposition of educators to
challenge every subject to demonstrate its value. A subject which
cannot demonstrate that it helps to fulfil some one of the recognized
purposes of education is given a subordinate place in the curriculum
or taken out altogether. In keeping with this attitude the vocational
studies have come into great prominence during the past twenty
years or more, for they are regarded as connecting the pupil with his
future life-work. Shopwork, millinery, sewing, cooking, stenography,
mechanical drawing, and a dozen other branches of vocational work
have been brought into the school program. They are crowding the
older high school studies, particularly the classical languages, into
the background. Special schools of commerce and industry have
been provided in many of the large cities, and special schools of
agriculture in the rural districts.[249]
 No sensible person should regret that the schools have moved in
this new direction; the only question is how far they ought to go. If
the only purpose of education were to teach the art of earning a
living it would be another matter; but do purely vocational studies
afford sufficient scope for the attainment of the other educational
purposes? Man does not live by bread alone. The cultural studies
have their value although this is often overlooked because it does
not appear in plain sight to the naked eye. Even in the vocational
school there should be a proper balance between the definitely
vocational studies and the so-called cultural subjects.
The Newer Methods of School Instruction.—Forty or fifty
years ago all American education, in schools and colleges, was on a
prescribed basis. Definite subjects were laid down to be studied and
everybody studied them. But the plan of allowing students to choose
some or all of their studies was adopted by the colleges and in due
course this elective system worked its way down into the schools.
There is a good deal to be said in favor of the The elective
elective system; it permits a choice of work in system.
accordance with individual interests and capacities. After all, the
school is created for the pupil, not the pupil for the school. The pupil
is the true unit of instruction, not the subject. On the other hand the
elective system may be carried to extremes; in some colleges that
was the case and it has now been found necessary to put
restrictions on the plan. A system of free and unguided electives
leads to a patchwork education, desultory in character and without
depth. It is all right to know a little about everything; but it is even
more important to know some one thing well. Certain subjects form
the groundwork of knowledge, and to go ahead with others before
first mastering them is like building the roof of a house before you
have dug the foundation or erected the walls. Without a grounding
in the great languages, the English language particularly, and a fair
proficiency in mathematics, history, and the elements of science no
one is entitled to call himself an educated man.
The classroom methods have also changed The socialized
considerably in the last generation, and they recitation.
have changed for the better. The older methods sought to drill facts
into the pupil’s mind and resulted, very often, in merely over-
stocking his memory. Today the aim is to utilize, wherever possible,
a method of approach through the interests of the individual and to
show him how every shred of knowledge fits into the whole fabric.
The old methods of classroom instruction laid the entire emphasis
upon individual study and recitations; today much greater emphasis
is being placed upon group activity, which includes group
discussions, group investigations, and group reports. This does not
mean, however, that the individual pupil carries less responsibility
than under the older system. It still remains true that there is no
royal road to knowledge and no system of rapid transit either. No
system can make an educated individual without self-effort.
Education is one of the very few things in the world which anyone
can obtain but which no one can give away.[250]
Financing the Schools.—All new educational enterprises mean
increased expenses. Public education in the United States has
become enormously more expensive during the past twenty years.
The newer methods of school organization and instruction, the wider
use of the schools, the extension of vocational education, the
providing of free text books, the progress of health work in the
schools, the establishment of evening schools, continuation schools,
vacation schools—all these things have caused the cost to keep
mounting year after year. The public schools of A billion dollars a
the United States now cost the taxpayer more year for education.
than a billion dollars per annum. That is twice what they cost ten
years ago. If the expenses double once more in the next decade,
where will the money come from? Practically all of it is now obtained
by taxation; but taxation spreads itself out through rents and prices
upon the whole people as has already been shown. A billion a year
seems to be a large sum. It is a large sum but, strange to say, it is
less than the American people spend every year for tobacco. Money
for the schools, it is safe to predict, will be forthcoming when people
understand what education means to individuals and to the nation.
If present sources of revenue will not stand the strain others must
be found. There is no more profitable way in which the nation can
invest its wealth.
 General References
E. P. Cubberly, Public School Administration, pp. 3-65;
S. T. Dutton and David Snedden, The Administration of Public Education in the
United States, pp. 25-95;
F. J. Goodnow and F. J. Bates, Municipal Government, pp. 335-354 (Educational
Administration);
A. J. Inglis, Principles of Secondary Education, pp. 340-383;
John A. Fairlie, Local Government in Counties, Towns, and Villages, pp. 215-224;
W. E. Chancellor, Our City Schools, pp. 25-77;
W. B. Munro, Principles and Methods of Municipal Administration, pp. 356-402;
George F. Swain, How to Study, pp. 1-21;
The Annual Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education, the
Bulletins of the United States Bureau of Education, and the Annual Reports of the
State Superintendents of Education contain much useful information.
Group Problems
1. The purpose, progress, value, and limitations of vocational
education. The old curriculum, its merits and defects. The rise of manual
training. Its value. Beginnings of industrial education. Its progress. Its scope. Its
place in the school system. Its relation to industry and the attitude of industry
toward it. The attitude of organized labor. Limitations on the scope of vocational
education. References: P. H. Hanus, Beginnings in Industrial Education, pp. 3-27;
David Snedden, Vocational Education, pp. 1-104; Meyer Bloomfield, The School and
the Start in Life (United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1914, No. 4, pp. 117-
133); S. T. Dutton and David Snedden, The Administration of Public Education in the
United States, pp. 404-425; Irving King, Social Aspects of Education, pp. 144-176;
A. H. Leake, Industrial Education, its Problems, Methods, and Dangers, pp. 3-39;
United States Senate and House Committees on Agriculture, Vocational Education
(Report of Hearings, 1912). See also the Proceedings of the National Society for
the Promotion of Industrial (Vocational) Education (published annually).
2. How far should the state control the public schools? References: S.
T. Dutton and David Snedden, The Administration of Public Education in the United
States, pp. 41-72; E. C. Elliott, State School Systems (U. S. Bureau of Education,
Bulletin, 1910, No. 2, pp. 31-68); A. C. Perry, Outlines of School Administration,
pp. 16-28; J. M. Mathews, Principles of American State Administration, pp. 296-
334.
3. The school as a social center. References: Irving King, Education for
Social Efficiency, pp. 262-279; C. A. Perry, The Wider Use of the School Plant, pp.
3-16; 335-380; E. J. Ward, The Social Center, pp. 302-314; National Society for
the Study of Education, Tenth Yearbook (1913), Part I, pp. 1-69.
Short Studies
 1. The social aim of education. Irving King, Education for Social Efficiency,
pp. 11-20.
2. The organization and functions of school boards. W. B. Munro,
Principles and Methods of Municipal Administration, pp. 359-372.
3. How teachers are appointed. F. W. Ballou, The Appointment of Teachers
in Cities, pp. 8-41.
4. Vocational guidance. Irving King, Education for Social Efficiency, pp. 177-
205.
5. How schoolhouses should be constructed. F. B. Dresslar, American
School Houses (U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1910, No. 5, pp. 17-38 and
passim).
6. The Gary system. General Education Board, New York City. The Gary
Schools, a General Account, pp. 17-72.
7. Has popular education failed in America? C. W. Eliot, American
Contributions to Civilization, pp. 203-236.
8. The educational lessons of the war. F. A. Cleveland and Joseph Schafer,
Democracy in Reconstruction, pp. 212-243.
9. Education and economic success. J. Ellis Barker, Economic
Statesmanship, pp. 143-179.
Questions
1. Explain why public education is necessary for the preservation of popular
rights and liberties.
2. If democracy and public education usually go together, why is it that Germany
had an excellent system of public education and yet remained an autocracy down
to 1918?
3. Do the laws of your state provide for compulsory school attendance? If so,
between what ages? What is your opinion as to the proper age limits?
4. Explain the organization and functions of your state board (or department) of
education and your local school board.
5. Give a summary of what the federal government is now doing for education.
Do you believe that it ought to do more? If so, what?
6. How are funds for school purposes raised in your community? On what basis
does the state make its contribution?
7. What suggestions can you make for keeping the schools out of politics?
8. Do you believe that teachers should be appointed under civil-service rules?
9. Do you approve or disapprove of the Gary system? Give your reasons.
10. Make some suggestions for bringing the school and the public library into
closer relations.
Topics for Debate
1. The Towner-Sterling Bill should be passed by Congress.
 2. School discipline should be placed in charge of a student council.
3. The age limit of compulsory school attendance should be raised to sixteen
years.