*
I question whether any other nation can produce such an excellent example
in the cause of education.
--
* There appears to be $39,781,262 missing from these figures.
Possibly Wu Tingfang's figures are incorrect, but it seems more likely
that he neglected to include expenditures by state and local governments.
-- A. R. L., 1996.
--
In every state there are very many schools, both public and private.
There are public schools in every town, and even the smallest village
has its school, while in some agricultural states, such as Wyoming,
where the population is very scattered, teachers are provided by
the government to teach in the farmers' homes wherever three or four children
can be gathered together. The public schools are free and open to all,
but in some towns in the Southern States special schools are provided
for the colored people. Having such facilities for gaining knowledge,
it naturally follows that the Americans, as a whole, are an educated people.
By this I mean the native American, not the recent immigrants and negroes,
but even as regards the latter a reservation should be made,
for some of the negroes, such as Booker T. Washington and others,
have become eminent through their learning and educational work.
The distinguishing feature of the school system is that it is
cheap and comprehensive. In the primary and high schools the boys and girls,
whether they come from the wealthy or aristocratic families, or from
more straitened homes, are all studying together in the same class-room,
and it is known that a President sent his son to study in a public school.
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