Higher education in the United States is closely articulated with secondary. In 1914 there were 216,493 students in the colleges and universities of the United States, of which but 87,820 were in public institutions. Of the 67,066 students in professional schools, but 12,289 were in public institutions. The graduate of the or dinary high school who wishes to continue his education may go to college where he spends another four years in general education before taking up his professional studies or he may go directly to the professional school and finish his scholastic career in three or four years and enter upon his life work at 21 or 22. A few of the large universities of the East demand the baghelor's degree for admission to their professional schools, which means that the student can hardly enter upon his career until 25 or 26. In conformity with the recent de mand that young men and women be prepared to earn a livelihood at an earlier age, some of these universities permit the first year of the professional course to be elected as the senior year of the undergraduate course, and Colum bia University now grants both the bachelor and the professional degree for a six-year course. This has given additional stimulus to the junior college movement started some years ago by a number of Western universities particularly Chicago and California. According to this plan the first two years of the college course is formed into a junior college with a pre scribed course of study looking toward pro fessional studies. The junior college movement has also afforded an opportunity to some small and poorly endowed colleges to restrict their efforts to the work of the freshman and sopho more years and affiliate with a large institu tion having a senior college, e.g., a considerable number of colleges in the Mississippi valley have entered into junior college relations with the University of Chicago.
The development of the junior college is only one evidence of the spirit of social service that animates the higher institutions of educa tion in the United States to-day. The college is no longer content to be a place devoted solely to giving students culture and mental discipline, and the university a place to train men for the learned professions. Curricula and organization are constantly undergoing revision in order bet ter to meet the needs of society and to solve its problems. The development of graduate schools, research departments, schools of com merce and finance, summer schools, extension work, correspondence schools and seasonal courses, show the extent to which the college and university are being socialized. Although this is particularly true of the State universities which exist west of the Alleghanies, it is be coming increasingly true of the urban institu tions that have grown up in the East whether under private or public support.
One of the most important features of pub lic education in the United States is the training of teachers. This is done chiefly by the State normal schools, city training schools and de partments of education of colleges and univer sities. In 1914 there were 95,286 students in the normal and training schools, of which 89,537 were in public institutions. In every State, public school teachers must be certified under State laws, and, although in some of them positions in the rural elementary schools may be secured with a minimum of preparation, the tendency is everywhere to demand professional training. This training is becoming uniformly
a two years' pedagogical course based upon high school graduation. Until a decade ago the only requirement to teach in the public high schools was an ability to pass an examination in the subject which the applicant wished to teach. But the National Education Association has gone on record in favor of requiring the bachelor's degree and most of the larger cities now require that and some professional training in addition. In 1914 in all departments of edu cation there were 706,152 teachers,. of which number 537,123 were women and 169,029 were men.
Parochial and Private Schools.— In the United States there is no monopoly of educa tion by the State. Churches, corporations and individuals are permitted to maintain schools, the State merely demanding that these schools maintain a certain standard of work. Several of the religious denominations have thoroughly organized systems of schools, especially the Roman Catholics and Lutherans, both of which maintain that religious and secular education must be given at the same time and by the same In support of this principle the Roman Catholics spent last year approximately $35,000, 000 for the instruction of a million and a half of its children in 67 colleges and 985 schools, and the Lutherans a proportionately large sum for the instruction of one quafter million chil dren. The Roman Catholic schools are most numerous and strong in the. New England and the Middle Atlantic States, the Lutherans in the Middle West. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the appropriation of public funds for the support of these sectarian school systems was in many States a burning question, but in almost every case where it came to an issue it was defeated, and now more than half the States have constitutional provisions prohibit ing the appropriation of public funds for any sectarian purposes.
There is no general system of private schools in the United States such as exists in England, and the number of private schools engaged in elementary education is comparatively small. But about one-fifth of all schools engaged in secondary education are under private endow ment. Though a few of these are vocational in character, the great majority are preparatory schools fitting young men and women for col lege. In higher education the proportion of public and private institutions is reversed, less than 20 per cent being upon public endowment, though among these are the great State uni versities like Wisconsin and California. Of the 800 institutions in the United States which bear the name "college" but 261 have an endow ment of more than $100,000 and a student body of more than 100. About half of the others are glorified high schools which may in time be come junior colleges. Too much credit cannot be given to the remaining small colleges scat tered throughout the country which give a higher education to the young men and women of the immediate locality who would have been unable to go to a university at a distance. For this and other reasons there will probably al ways remain an important place for the small college in American education despite the im mense growth of the State universities and of the endowed universities.