Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-04-03
THE scHooI-BooK QUESTION.

EDS. REcoRD-UsIoN Of late there has
been considerable discussion in regard to the
large number of textbooks used in the public
/ schools. There seems to be two points to be
taken into consideration in this discussion,
and both have been dealt with in generalities.
The first is, what expense can be saved by
diminishing the number of books? The seq
cond, have we any practical demonstration
| that the schools can be as successfully taught
without them and produce results to justify
| the reduced expense? In this article pro-
pose to consider the first-but only in relation
to this (Sacramento) county, as, by the con-
| stitutional change, each county is independ-
ent In the selecting OF It's own textbooks,
and also exCounty Superintendent Landes
has made some recommendations to the Board
of Supervisors which can be taken as the basis
of my calculations. The school law made it
the duty of the State Board of Education
ito prescribe and enforce the course of study
and the use of a uniform series of text
books in the public Schools" and it not only
made it the duty of the County Superintend-
ent, but also the trustees and teachers, to en-
force the course of study.
In 1870 the State Board prescribeda course
of study, which, after trial OF four years,
was found to be too impracticable, both IN
general detail and the large number OF text
books required. In 1874 another course was
prescribed which was less comprehensive and
diminished the number of textbooks. The
State Superintendent in his report for 1874.
estimated the reduction to be a saving OF
500, coo to the whole State. A comparison
of the old and the new course shows that the
latter discontinued the use of Monteith's In
PRODUCTION to Geography, Browns Institutes
of Grammar, Wilson's Primary and Larger
Spoilers, Sixth Reader and Marks Geometry :;
and the use of the following were optional
with the teachers, or they could teach the
subjects orally or by lectures Robinson's
Primary Arithmetic, Cutters Elementary
Physiology and Hotz's Physics.
As the books are still in use in the schools,
according to Superintendent Landes' report
it is evident that the old course has been fol-
lowed insteadof the new for the last six years.
In order to arrive at fair statement of the
unnecessary expense incurred by following
the old course, L have obtained the aggre-
gate number of pupils who have been in the
grades using the books not required since the
adoption of the new course six years ago, and
also the price of the books Introduction to
geography, price 70 cents, used by 4, 26S pu
pills, cost S3,201; primary speller at
20 cents, 4,513 pupils, 1902 CO.; larger
speller at 40 cents, pupils 4,425, 1870;
Marks geometry, at 81, pupils 2, 626, 81, 636 !;
Institutes of grammar, at 81, pupils 1,4S5,
81, 4S5. By substituting the 81 first lines for
the Institutes OF grammar there would be
I,964 less pupils required to buy the first
lines, at 30 cents, $982; sixth reader, at
81 %, pupils 2,626, So, 2S2 50; and by using
the fourth reader two years instead of one,
and the fifth in place of the sixth, there
would be S2S less pupils to use the fifth, at
81, 1898. The total amount saved, SIS, 072.
The optional studies as recommended by the
new course and by the report ofSuperintendent
Landers TO be taught orally are: primary
arithmetic, at % cents, pupils 4, 513 81, l2S 20;
physiology at so cents, pupils ?, 626, 81, leo 50:
physics, at 81, pupils, i,.4S5, sl.485. Total,
81, IA, saved by oral teaching; and the grand
total, $40, 1856, saved in this county alone, if
the new course of study had been
rigidly enforced Kerl's grammar and a
commercial arithmetic have never been
adopted by the State Board of Education,
hence if they are used in the public schools
of the county it was without any legal right
and if the higher arithmetic and other ad-
vanced studies, as algebra, the larger physi-
ology and philosophy, are taught in any other
than the High School Of the city, they must
have been used either by those who have not
properly mastered the studies of the common
SCHOOL COuIst, III NiICh case Tue scuoOl W Us
not properly graded, or by those who have
faithfully gone over the common course of
study, and whose parents are often unable to
pay the expense of the academy or the high
school away from home.
Why has this large sum been paid out, and
too often by those who can i'll afford it? Is
it because the schools cannot be well taught
without these books, or has the law been
loosely enforced? l am almost forced to the
conclusion that, with the law lying dormant,
in six years some of these books would have
been put aside, if there is any virtue in the
educational progress so often spoken of. j.