ABSTRACT
Public school educators often point out they have insufficient resources to "do the job." Teachers and others usually want to provide more services to their students than they can deliver. One of the ways schools reacted to the lean years was to rely on benevolence. Since Canadians are less known for voluntarism than Americans, the British Columbia setting provided a conservative context in which to investigate giving. The dominant principle that guides the direction of resources to most public schools in North America is equality, either for studente or for taxpayers. The extent of parental participation in school activities was sparse. The dominant principle that guides the direction of resources to most public schools in North America is equality, either for studente or for taxpayers. State provision of education appears to have resulted in schools which are underfunded, rule-bound, and disassociated from their immediate publics.
