The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1904-08-11

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tenn under an optional law have made
it's adoption compulsory.
One of the principal benefits of the
system is the great saving in cost to
the community. In Michigan at the
time the investigation was conducted
it was found that the average cost per
year per pupil of school books had
been reduced from ninety-eight cents
under the plan of individual purchase
to an average of forty-seven cents in
rural districts and of ffty-nine cents
in the city districts under the plan of
public purchase. For the higher cost
in cities the high schools with their
more numerous and more expensive
books were largely responsible. In
Minneapolis the average cost of main
tanning the system is about fifty cents
per year per pupil after the first year
and in Duluth about forty-nine cents.
The reason for the heavy reduction in
cost as compared with the private
purchase plan is first that the books
are bought at wholesale and secondly
that books once bought are used over
and over again., while under the in
dividual plan they are slowed away
as soon as the youngest child is
through with them.
Moreover, this saving is made in
face of the fact that greater variety
of books are used than is the case
when the INDECENT pupils have to be
considered.
The educational and other benefits
are no less clearly established by the
testimony of those who have tested
the system. Instead of having to
wait until pupils provide themselves
with new books they are on hand the
first day. Moreover, the delays in
individual cases, due to the inability
of some families to buy books i'm
mediately, are eliminated. Again,
every pupil has his own book. There
is no borrowing and no studying
together, with it's attendant democrat
ization of discipline. It means
greater uniformity and it enables the
teacher to accomplish more and do
her work BETTER It results in a
greater variety of books, as we have
said, and broadens oportionately
the instruction. Most important of
all it induces a larger attendance, puts
all the pupils on an equal footing and
tends to wipe out humiliating dis
tinctions. Since it gives to every
child an equal chance for an educa-
ton, the free text book system may be
considered the logical complement of
compulsory education. On these
points there is practically no dispute
among those who have had practical
experience with the system.
The weight of the testimony, more
over, is that it is easier under this
system to secure desirable changes in
text books. The experience of some,
however, has been just the opposite.
Obviously, this contradiction is to be
explained by the attitude of the local
school authorities. If they are in
clined to be saving they will resist
changes with as much determination
as they would resist them if the bur-
den were to fall directly on the parents
of the pupils. It is, however, to be
noted that the cost of changes is from
forty to fifty per cent less under the
free system.
1t is also asserted by some that
books are better treated by the pupils
and last longer and that the pupils
learn neatness and acquire sense of
responsibility for public property un-
der the free system. But on this point
opinion is about evenly divided; the
discrepancy being due perhaps to
differences in local regulations and
to differences in the ability of teach
ers to impress pupils with their re-
sponsibility. In this connection the
objection is made that the system pre-
vents home study: but this is obviously
only matter of regulations. Nor
does the objection on the score of the
transmission of disease carry much
weight even in the opinion Of those
who raise it, many Of them pointing
out that any danger in this respect can
be met by rules such as are in force
in the public library of this and
other cities. On the social side, few
make the point that the system creates
feeling of dependence on public as
sistance, but this objection is rare and
appears to be largely theoretical.
In fact the only objection that is not
disputed is that the pupil no longer
creates home library or has any
books for future reference-not even
his school dictionary. This objection
is clearly Of minor Importance CON-
pared with the advantages of the free
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