The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, February 1885Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Philosophy
The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, February 1885
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
Thus far have been selected for comparison some of those states the
ratios of whose school enrollment to the total population were about the
same. But while these contrasts bring out very clearly the inequality in
the burden of educating the children of our country, yet there are more
marked illustrations at hand.
Take Arkansas, West Virginia and New York, for instance. In Arkansas the
school enrollment is 13.5 per cent. of population, and but 51.3 per cent.
of the children of school age. At the same ratio a school enrollment of
23 per cent. of total population in Arkansas would be but 87.4 per cent.
of the children of school age. West Virginia has a school enrollment of
23.3 per cent. of total population, which is only 87.9 per cent. of her
children of school age. Yet New York, as we have already seen, by an
enrollment of 23 per cent. of her total population secures schooling for
113.3 per cent.—more than all—of her children of school age.
Comparing other states, one with the other—such as Alabama with Maine,
Georgia with New Hampshire, Tennessee with Rhode Island, Mississippi
with Massachusetts, etc.—we see similar, and in some cases even greater
inequality.
Let us now apply these facts practically, and thus reach a clearer
understanding of the effect of this great disparity.
The actual mean average cost of the schooling of each public school
scholar in the United States is about ten dollars. Assuming then that
the adult population of each state bears the burden of educating its
children, and that all the children of school age in each state are
enrolled in the schools—as they should be—let us ascertain how much the
tax per capita would be on the adults bearing this burden in each state
and territory. In other words, let us discover how much in each state and
territory must every adult (male or female) pay every year in order to
supply the ten dollars per annum that it costs to educate each and every
child in that state or territory.
It would cost each adult in Montana, $1.95; in Wyoming, $2.12; Nevada,
$2.12; Colorado, $2.20; Arizona, $2.34; New Hampshire, $2.78; Idaho,
$3.00; Massachusetts, $3.23; Dakota, $3.30; Rhode Island, $3.22;
California, $3.33; Connecticut, $3.27; Maine, $3.43; Vermont, $3.46; New
York, $3.56; District of Columbia, $3.77; Washington, $3.94; New Jersey,
$4.02; Michigan, $4.15; Oregon, $4.29; Delaware, $4.31; Pennsylvania,
$4.26; Ohio, $4.55; Maryland, $4.55; Nebraska, $4.77; Minnesota, $4.70;
New Mexico, $4.65; Wisconsin, $4.86; Illinois, $4.88; Indiana, $5.00;
Iowa, $5.10; Missouri, $5.28; Kansas, $5.32; Louisiana, $5.54; North
Carolina, $5.67; Virginia, $5.59; Texas, $5.86; Kentucky, $5.65; Florida,
$5.78; Utah, $6.07; Alabama, $6.12; Arkansas, $6.12; Georgia, $5.98;
South Carolina, $5.98; Tennessee, $6.00; West Virginia, $5.86, and
Mississippi, $6.28—while, massing the entire Union, the cost to each
adult in it would be $4.70.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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