Chapter 5. American Education



Out of a total population of 91,972,266 in the United States
there were, in 1910, 17,506,175 pupils enrolled. Few nations can show
such a high percentage of school students. The total number of teachers
was 506,040. Educational efficiency on such a scale can be maintained
only by a large expenditure of money, and from the statistics of education
I find that the sum received from tuition fees was $14,687,192 gold,
from productive funds $11,592,113 gold, and from the United States Government
$4,607,298 gold, making a total of $70,667,865 gold.*
I question whether any other nation can produce such an excellent example
in the cause of education.

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* 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.
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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,