Читать книгу Introduction to the scientific study of education - Charles Hubbard Judd - Страница 37

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The enactment of laws is only one step in securing attendance. Especially is there difficulty where local authorities are intrusted with the enforcement of the laws. The records of school operations in the Northern states show that compulsory education was not really enforced until in the ’80’s and later. The sort of difficulty encountered is clearly illustrated by a clipping from the Statesman, a daily paper of Austin, Texas, which sets forth the situation late in 1916 under the Texas law, which was then just beginning to be effective.

The compulsory school attendance law will be effective during the coming year. The compulsory term of the first year of the law’s operation will be three months, or 60 school days, and the board of trustees of each school has the authority to specify the months during which attendance shall be compulsory. The Austin City School Board has ruled that the compulsory term shall begin January 1.

The matter of providing truant officers has not yet been dealt with, either by the City School Board or by the County Board of Education. The law provides $2 a day as remuneration to the truant officer for the time actually served by him. The City Superintendent believes that the logical procedure for the city will be to secure the services of the county probation officer, provided it is found practicable for him to take on the additional duties.

The County Board of Education meets next Monday and will probably discuss this matter. It cannot act, however, except on the petition of fifty citizens. In case no such petition is presented, the County Superintendent says that it will devolve on each school principal to report to the County Superintendent those children who are not in school, and she can call on any peace officer to execute the law. It is not thought likely that the probation officer will find it possible to act as truant officer for the county.

The reason why the beginning of the compulsory period was placed so late as January 1 is that many of the children likely to be affected—largely Mexicans and negroes—will be needed in the cotton patch during the fall. Also in the city, many poor boys and girls will be able to earn something during the Christmas holidays. There are serious objections to the plan, however, since the child who enters school so late in the session will be at a serious disadvantage, and the extra attention he will demand of the teacher will work a hardship on the other pupils. Moreover, in the city the school session is divided into two equal periods, the first of which ends only a month after the child is required to begin attendance. This will involve serious difficulties.

The compulsory attendance law applies to children eight to fourteen years of age, with certain exceptions. The compulsory term the second year will be eighty days, the third year 100 days.

Defective children are exempted; also rural children more than 2½ miles from a school, and on the written statement of a parent that the services of her child of twelve years or more who has reached the fourth grade are needed for the mother’s support, such a child may be exempted.

Even a casual reading of this quotation calls attention to the fact that there is the keenest competition between employment and education. The modern industrial system finds children profitable for certain purposes and uses them. If society is to enforce its judgment that these children ought to be in school, that judgment will have to express itself in mandatory terms. The federal government has recently taken a hand in the matter. It is difficult or impossible in some states to get suitable legislation against the exploitation of child labor by unprincipled employers. State legislatures have too often shown themselves subservient to the dictates of such employers. In 1916 the Congress of the United States passed a law restricting child labor in all trades which produce commodities intended for use in interstate commerce. This federal law is another expression of the judgment of civilization that childhood is a period which should be devoted to education.

It is also shown in the Texas quotation that the machinery for keeping account of children is complicated. The ordinary school authorities cannot deal with the matter without adding attendance officers to their staff. These officers must be supplied with adequate information. This in turn calls for a special school census, because the ordinary national enumeration and even the state and city enumerations are not frequent nor complete enough. One of the most progressive of the New England states has recently adopted legislation looking to the creation of a more adequate system of records. This new law is described in the Commissioner’s Report of 1916 as follows:

In order to facilitate the enforcement of its attendance law, Massachusetts provided in 1916 for the registration of minors. City and town school committees are required under the new law to ascertain the name, age, and other essential facts respecting every child between 5 and 7, between 7 and 14, and between 14 and 16 years of age, and respecting minors over 16 years of age who cannot read and write. A card giving these data must be kept for every child or minor. The attendance officer is required to examine these cards and see that children attend school as required by law. Supervisory officers of private schools must within 30 days report the enrollment of children of compulsory attendance age, and when any child withdraws from school must report the same within 10 days.13