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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
Textbooks have always held a peculiarly important position in public schools in the United States, hence their selection has been significant. In the early days of the Republic and long afterward the quality of the textbook was more likely to effect education of high quality than any other factor, including the often poorly educated teacher. The first part of this essay deals with the struggle in Florida for uniformity of textbooks, the second with the fight for diversified instructional materials. Sources for the data have been chiefly primary, including the minutes of the selected county school boards, the annual and biennial reports of the state superintendents of public instruction, the laws of the State, and the minutes of the State Courses of Study Committee, with supplementary use of secondary sources, such as publications of the Florida State Department of Education and the Florida Education Association.
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15. Ibid., September 1, 1877.Google Scholar
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17. Laws of Florida, 1883, ch. 3446.Google Scholar
18. Everett Cochran, Thomas, History of Public School Education in Florida, Bulletin 1921, No. 1. Tallahassee, Florida; State Department of Education, 1921, 175.Google Scholar
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