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diff --git a/21213-h/21213-h.htm b/21213-h/21213-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d173e2b --- /dev/null +++ b/21213-h/21213-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3404 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta name="generator" + content="HTML Tidy for Linux/x86 (vers 1st November 2002), see www.w3.org" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of New Ideals in Rural Schools, by George + Herbert Betts.</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } +div.trans-note {border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; + margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: center;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} +/* LISTS */ +ul { position: relative; + width:80%; + margin-left:5%; + list-style-type:none;} +li { margin-top: 0.25em; + line-height: 1.2em; } +span.ralign { position: absolute; + right: 0; + top: auto; } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 12%; + } + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + +/* FOOTNOTES */ + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px; margin-top:1em; clear: both;} + .footntoes h3 { margin-top: 0.5em;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 85%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's New Ideals in Rural Schools, by George Herbert Betts + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: New Ideals in Rural Schools + +Author: George Herbert Betts + +Release Date: April 24, 2007 [EBook #21213] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW IDEALS IN RURAL SCHOOLS *** + + + + +Produced by Tom Roch, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images produced by Core Historical +Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University) + + + + + + +</pre> + + <h3>Riverside Educational Monographs</h3> + <h4>EDITED BY HENRY SUZZALLO</h4> + <h5>PROFESSOR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION<br /> + TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY</h5> + <h1>NEW IDEALS IN RURAL SCHOOLS</h1> + <h3>BY</h3> + <h2>GEORGE HERBERT BETTS, <span class="smcap">Ph</span>.D.</h2> + <h4>PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY<br /> + CORNELL COLLEGE, IOWA</h4> + <div class="figcenter" style="width: 70px;"> + <img src="images/p0001.jpg" width="70" height="99" alt="p0001" title="" /> + </div> + <h4>HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> + BOSTON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO</h4> + <center> + The Riverside Press Cambridge + </center> + <br /> + <center> + COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY GEORGE HERBERT BETTS<br /> + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + </center> + <h3>CONTENTS</h3> + <!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + <ul> + <li><a href="#EDITORS_INTRODUCTION"><span class="smcap">Editor's + Introduction</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"><br /> + </li> + <li><a href="#PREFACE"><span class="smcap">Preface</span></a><span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"><br /> + </li> + <li><a href="#I">I.</a><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><span class="smcap">The + Rural School and Its Problem</span></span><span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_1">1</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"><br /> + </li> + <li><a href="#II">II.</a><span style="margin-left: 1.1em;"><span class="smcap">The + Social Organization of the Rural School</span></span><span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_25">25</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"><br /> + </li> + <li><a href="#III">III.</a><span style="margin-left: .7em;"><span class="smcap">The + Curriculum of the Rural School</span></span><span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_57">57</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"><br /> + </li> + <li><a href="#IV">IV.</a><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">The + Teaching of the Rural School</span></span><span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_92">92</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"><br /> + </li> + <li><a href="#OUTLINE"><span class="smcap">Outline</span></a><span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"><br /> + </li> + </ul> + <!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2><a name="EDITORS_INTRODUCTION" id="EDITORS_INTRODUCTION"></a>EDITOR'S + INTRODUCTION</h2> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> + <div style="margin-left: 3em;"> + <p>In presenting a second monograph on the rural school problem in this series we + register our sense of the importance of rural education. Too long have the rural + schools suffered from neglect. Both the local communities and the State have + overlooked the needs of the rural school system. At the present hour there is an + earnest awakening of interest in rural life and its institutions. Already there is + a small but certain movement of people toward the country and the vocation of + agriculture. A period of agricultural prosperity, the reaction of men and women + against the artificialities of city life, the development of farming through the + application of science, and numerous other factors have made country life more + congenial and have focused attention upon its further needs. It is natural, + therefore, that the rural school should receive an increased share of + attention.</p> + <p>Educational administrators, legislators, and publicists have become aware of + their responsibility to provide the financial support and the efficient + organization that is needed to develop<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" + id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> country schools. The more progressive of them are + striving earnestly to provide laws that will aid rather than hamper the rural + school system. In his monograph on <i>The Improvement of the Rural School</i>, + Professor Cubberley has done much to interpret current efforts of this type. From + the standpoint of state administration he has contributed much definite information + and constructive suggestion as to how the State shall respond to the fundamental + need for (1) more money, (2) better organization, and (3) real supervision for + rural schools.</p> + <p>It is not so clear, however, that rural patrons, school directors, and teachers + have become fully aware of their duty in the matter of rural school improvement. To + be sure much has been done by way of experiment in many rural communities; but it + can scarcely be said that rural communities in general are thoroughly awake to the + importance of their schools. The evidence to the contrary is cumulative. The first + immediate need is to reawaken interest in the school as a center of rural life, and + to suggest ways and means of transmuting this communal interest into effective + institutional methods. To this end, Professor Betts has been asked to treat the + rural school problem from a standpoint somewhat different<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> from that assumed by Professor + Cubberley; that is, from the point of view of the local community immediately + related to, and concerned with, the rural school. In consequence his presentation + emphasizes the things that ought to be done by the local authorities,—parent, + trustee, and teacher. Its soundness may well be judged by the pertinent order of + his discussion. Having stated his problem, he initiates his discussion by + suggesting how the social relations of the school are to be reorganized; only later + does he pass to the detail of curricula and teaching methods. It is a clear + recognition of the fact that the community is the crucial factor in the making of a + school. The State by sound fiscal and legislative policies may do much to make + possible a better country school; but only the local authorities can realize it. + The trained teacher with modern notions of efficiency may attempt to enlarge the + curriculum and to employ newer methods of teaching, but his talents are useless if + he is hampered by a conservative, unappreciative, and indifferent community. When + the school becomes a social center of the community's interest and life, there will + be no difficulty in achieving any policy which the State permits or which a skilled + teacher urges. Scattered schools<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" + id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> will be consolidated, and isolated ungraded + schools will be improved. Given an interested community, the modern teacher can + vitalize every feature of the school, changing the formal curriculum into an + interesting and liberalizing interpretation of country life and the pedantic drills + and tasks of instruction into a skillful ministry to real and abiding human + wants.</p> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> + <div style="margin-left: 3em;"> + <p>No rural population has yet been able permanently to maintain itself against the + lure of the town or the city. Each civilization at one stage of its development + comprises a large proportion of rural people. But the urban movement soon begins, + and continues until all are living in villages, towns, and cities. Such has been + the movement of population in all the older countries of high industrial + development, as England, France, and Germany. A similar movement is at present + going on rapidly in the United States.</p> + <p>No great social movement ever comes by chance; it is always to be explained by + deep-seated and adequate causes. The causes lying back of the rapid growth of our + cities at the expense of our rural districts are very far from simple. They involve + a great complex of social, educational, and economic forces. As the spirit of + adventure and pioneering finds less to stimulate it, the gregarious impulse, the + tendency to flock together for our work and our play, gains in ascendancy. Growing + out of the greater intellectual opportunities and demands of modern<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> times, the + standard of education has greatly advanced. And under the incentive of present-day + economic success and luxury, comfortable circumstances and a moderate competence no + longer satisfy our people. Hence they turn to the city, looking to find there the + coveted social, educational, or economic opportunities.</p> + <p>It is doubtful, therefore, whether, even with improved conditions of country + life, the urbanization of our rural people can be wholly checked. But it can be + greatly retarded if the right agencies are set at work. The rural school should be + made and can be made one of the most important of these agencies, although at the + present time its influence is chiefly negative. With the hope of offering some + help, however slight, in adjusting the rural school to its problem, this little + volume is written by one who himself belongs to the rural community by birth and + early education and occupation.</p> + <span style="margin-left: 32em;">G. H. B.</span> + <p><span class="smcap">Cornell College</span>, <i>February</i>, 1913.</p> + </div> + <hr style="width: 35%;" /> + <h1>NEW IDEALS IN RURAL SCHOOLS</h1> + <h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + <h3>THE RURAL SCHOOL AND ITS PROBLEM</h3> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span> + <h4><i>The general problem of the rural school</i></h4> + <p>The general problem of the rural school is the same as that of any other type of + school—to render to the community the largest possible returns upon its + investment in education with the least possible waste. Schools are great education + factories set up at public expense. The raw material consists of the children of + succeeding generations, helpless and inefficient because of ignorance and immaturity. + The school is to turn out as its product men and women ready and able to take up + their part in the great world of activities going on about them. It is in this way, + in efficient education, that society gets its return for its investment in the + schools.</p> + <p>The word "education" has in recent years been taking on a new and more vital + meaning. In earlier times the value of education was as<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>sumed, or vaguely taken on faith. + Education was supposed to consist of so much "learning," or a given amount of + "discipline," or a certain quantity of "culture." Under the newer definition, + education may include all these things, but it must do more; it <i>must relate itself + immediately and concretely to the business of living</i>. We no longer inquire of one + how much he knows, or the degree to which his powers have been "cultivated"; but + rather to what extent his education has led to a more fruitful life in the home, the + state, the church, and other social institutions; how largely it has helped him to + more effective work in a worthy occupation; and whether it has resulted in greater + enjoyment and appreciation of the finer values of personal experience,—in + short, whether for him education spells <i>efficiency</i>.</p> + <p>We are thus coming to see that education must enable the individual to meet the + real problems of actual experience as they are confronted in the day's life. Nor can + the help rendered be indefinite, intangible, or in any degree uncertain. It must + definitely adjust one to his place, and cause him to grow in it, accomplishing the + most for himself and for society; it must add to the largeness of his personal life, + and at the same time increase his working efficiency.<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + <p>This is to say that one's education must (1) furnish him with the particular + <i>knowledge</i> required for the life that he is to live, whether it be in the shop, + on the farm, or in the profession. For knowledge lies at the basis of all efficiency + and success in whatever occupation. Education must (2) shape the <i>attitude</i>, so + that the individual will confront his part of the world's work or its play in the + right spirit. It must not leave him a parasite, whether from wealth or from poverty, + ready to prey upon others; but must make him willing and glad to do his share. + Education must (3) also give the individual training in <i>technique</i>, or the + skill required in his different activities; not to do this is at best but to leave + him a well-informed and well-intentioned bungler, falling far short of + efficiency.</p> + <p>The great function of the school, therefore, is to supply the means by which the + requisite <i>knowledge</i>, <i>attitude</i>, and <i>skill</i> can be developed. It is + true that the child does not depend on the school alone for his knowledge, his + attitude, and his skill. For the school is only one of many influences operating on + his life. Much of the most vital knowledge is not taught in the school but picked up + outside; a great part of the child's attitude toward life is formed through the + rela<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>tions of the + home, the community, and the various other points of contact with society; and much + of his skill in doing is developed in a thousand ways without being taught. Yet the + fact remains that the school is organized and supported by society to make sure about + these things, to see that the child does not lack in knowledge, attitude, or skill. + They must not be left to chance; where the educative influences outside the school + have not been sufficient, the school must take hold. Its part is to supplement and + organize with conscious purpose what the other agencies have accomplished in the + education of the child. The ultimate purpose of the school is <i>to make certain of + efficiency</i>.</p> + <p>The means by which the school is to accomplish these ends are (1) the <i>social + organization</i> of the school, or the life and activities that go on in the school + from day to day; (2) the <i>curriculum</i>, or the subject-matter which the child is + given to master; and (3) the <i>instruction</i> or the work of the teacher in helping + the pupils to master the subject-matter of the curriculum and adjust themselves to + the organization of the school.</p> + <p>These factors will of necessity differ, however, according to the particular type + of school in question. It will therefore be necessary to inquire<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> into the special + problem of the rural school before entering into a discussion of the means by which + it is to accomplish its aim.</p> + <h4><i>The special problem of the rural school</i></h4> + <p>Each type of school has not only its general problem which is common to all + schools, but also its special problem which makes it different from every other class + of schools. The special problem of any type of school grows out of the nature and + needs of the community which supports the school. Thus the city school, whose pupils + are to live the industrial and social life of an urban community, confronts a + different problem from that of a rural school, whose pupils are to live in a farming + community. Each type of school must suit its curriculum, its organization, and its + instruction to the demands to be met by its pupils. The knowledge taught, the + attitudes and tastes developed, and the skill acquired must be related to the life to + be lived and the responsibilities to be undertaken.</p> + <p>The rural school must therefore be different in many respects from the town and + city school. In its organization, its curriculum, and its spirit, it must be adapted + to the requirements of the rural community. For, while many pupils from<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> the rural schools + ultimately follow other occupations than farming, yet the primary function of the + rural school is to educate for the life of the farm. It thus becomes evident that the + only way to understand the problem of the rural school is first to understand the + rural community. What are its industries, the character of its people, their economic + status, their standards of living, their needs, their social life?</p> + <p>The rural community is industrially homogeneous. There exists here no such a + diversified mixture of industries as in the city. All are engaged in the same line of + work. Agriculture is the sole occupation. Hence the economic interests and problems + all center around this one line. The success or failure of crops, the introduction of + a different method of cultivation or a new variety of grain, or the invention of an + agricultural implement interests all alike. The farmer engaged in planting his corn + knows that for miles around all other farmers are similarly employed; if he is + cutting his hay or harvesting his grain, hundreds of other mowing machines and + harvesters are at work on surrounding farms.</p> + <p>This fund of common interest and experience tends to social as well as industrial + homogeneity. Good-fellowship, social responsiveness and neigh<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>borliness rest on a basis of common labor, + common problems, and common welfare. Like-mindedness and the spirit of + coöperation are after all more a matter of similar occupational interests than + of nationality.</p> + <p>Another factor tending to make the rural community socially more homogeneous than + the city community is its relatively stable population, and the fact that the stream + of immigration is slow in reaching the farm. It is true that the European nations are + well represented among our agricultural population; but for the most part they are + not foreigners of the first generation. They have assimilated the American spirit, + and become familiar with American institutions. The great flood of raw immigrants + fresh from widely diverse nations stops in the large centers of population, and does + not reach the farm.</p> + <p>The prevailing spirit of democracy is still another influence favoring homogeneity + in the rural community. Much less of social stratification exists in the country than + in the city. Social planes are not so clearly defined nor so rigidly maintained. + Financial prosperity is more likely to take the direction of larger barns and more + acres than of social ostentation and exclusiveness.</p> + <p>America has no servile and ignorant peasan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" + id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>try. The agricultural class constituting our rural + population represents a high grade of natural intelligence and integrity. Great + political and moral reforms find more favorable soil in the rural regions than in the + cities. The demagogue and the "boss" find farmers impossible to control to their + selfish ends. Vagabonds and idlers are out of place among them. They are a + hard-headed, capable, and industrious class. As a rule, American farmers are + well-to-do, not only earning a good living for their families, but constantly + extending their holdings. Their farms are increasingly well improved, stocked, and + supplied with labor-saving and efficient machinery. Their land is constantly growing + in value, and at the same time yielding larger returns for the money and labor + invested in it.</p> + <p>The standard of living is distinctly lower in farm homes than in town and city + homes of the same financial status. The house is generally comfortable, but small. It + is behind the times in many easily accessible modern conveniences possessed by the + great majority of city dwellers. The bath, modern plumbing and heating, the + refrigerator, and other kindred appliances can be had in the country home as well as + the city. Their lack is a matter of standards rather than<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> of necessity. They will be introduced + into thousands of rural homes as soon as their need is realized.</p> + <p>The possibilities for making the rural home beautiful and attractive are unequaled + in the city for any except the very rich. It is not necessary that the farmhouse + shall be crowded for space; its outlook and surroundings can be arranged to give it + an æsthetic quality wholly impossible in the ordinary city home. That this is + true is proved by many inexpensive farmhouses that are a delight to the eye. On the + other hand, it must be admitted that a large proportion of farmhouses are lacking in + both architectural attractiveness and environmental effect. Not infrequently the + barns and sheds are so placed as to crowd the house into the background, and the + yards for stock allowed to infringe upon the domain of the garden and the lawn. All + this can be easily remedied and will be when the æsthetic taste of the dwellers + on the farm comes to be offended by the incongruous and ugly.</p> + <p>No stinting in the abundance of food is known on the farm. The farmer supplies the + tables of the world, and can himself live off the fat of the land. Grains, + vegetables, meats, eggs, butter, milk, and fruits are his stock in trade. If + there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> is any + lack in the farmer's table, it is due to carelessness in providing or preparing the + food, and not to forced economy.</p> + <p>While the farming population in general live well, yet many tables are lacking in + variety, especially in fruit and vegetables. Time and interest are so taken up with + the larger affairs of crops and stock, that the garden goes by default in many + instances. There is no market readily at hand offering fruit and vegetables for sale + as in the city, and hence the farm table loses in attractiveness to the appetite and + in hygienic excellence. It is probable that the prosperous city workman sits down to + a better table than does the farmer, in spite of the great advantage possessed by the + latter.</p> + <p>The population of rural communities is necessarily scattering. The nature of + farming renders it impossible for people to herd together as is the case in many + other industries. This has its good side, but also its bad. There are no rural slums + for the breeding of poverty and crime; but on the other hand, there is an isolation + and monotony that tend to become deadening in their effects on the individual. Stress + and over-strain does not all come from excitement and the rush of competition; it may + equally well originate in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg + 11]</a></span> lack of variety and unrelieved routine. How true this is is seen in + the fact that insanity, caused in this instance chiefly by the stress of monotony, + prevails among the farming people of frontier communities out of all proportion to + the normal ratio.</p> + <p>Farming is naturally the most healthful of the industrial occupations. The work is + for the greater part done in the open air and sunshine, and possesses sufficient + variety to be interesting. The rural population constitutes the high vitality class + of the nation, and must be constantly drawn upon to supply the brain, brawn, and + nerve for the work of the city. The farmer is, on the whole, prosperous; he is + therefore hopeful and cheerful, and labors in good spirit. That so many farmers and + farmers' wives break down or age prematurely is due, not to the inherent nature of + their work, but to a lack of balance in the life of the farm. It is not so much the + work that kills, as the <i>continuity of the work</i> unrelieved by periods of rest + and recreation. With the opportunities highly favorable for the best type of + healthful living, no inconsiderable proportion of our agricultural population are + shortening their lives and lowering their efficiency by unnecessary over-strain and + failure to conform to the most funda<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" + id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>mental and elementary laws of hygienic living, + especially with reference to the relief from labor that comes through change and + recreation.</p> + <p>The rural community affords few opportunities for social recreations and + amusements. Not only are the people widely separated from each other by distance, but + the work of the farm is exacting, and often requires all the hours of the day not + demanded for sleep. While the city offers many opportunities for choice of recreation + or amusement, the country affords almost none. The city worker has his evenings, + usually Saturday afternoon, and all day Sunday free to use as he chooses. Such is not + the case on the farm; for after the day in the field the chores must be done, and the + stock cared for. And even on Sunday, the routine must be carried out. The work of the + farm has a tendency, therefore, to become much of a grind, and certainly will become + so unless some limit is set to the exactions of farm labor on the time and strength + of the worker. It separates the individual from his fellows in the greater part of + the farm work and gives him little opportunity for social recreations or play.</p> + <p>One of the best evidences that the conditions of life and work on the farm need to + be improved is the number of people who are leaving the<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> farm for the city. This movement has + been especially rapid during the last thirty years of our history, and has continued + until approximately one half our people now live in towns or cities. Not only is this + loss of agricultural population serious to farming itself, creating a shortage of + labor for the work of the farm, but it results in crowding other occupations already + too full. There is no doubt that we have too many lawyers, doctors, merchants, + clerks, and the like for the number of workers engaged in fundamental productive + vocations. Smaller farms, cultivated intensively, would be a great economic advantage + to the country, and would take care of a far larger proportion of our people than are + now engaged in agriculture.</p> + <p>All students of social affairs agree that the movement of our people to towns and + cities should be checked and the tide turned the other way. So important is the + matter considered that a concerted national movement has recently been undertaken to + study the conditions of rural life with a view to making it more attractive and so + stopping the drain to the city.</p> + <p>Middle-aged farmers move to the town or city for two principal reasons: to educate + their children and to escape from the monotony of rural<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> life. Young people desert the farm for + the city for a variety of reasons, prominent among which are a desire for better + education, escape from the monotony and grind of the farm life, and the opportunity + for the social advantages and recreations of the city. That the retired farmer is + usually disappointed and unhappy in his town home, and that the youth often finds the + glamour of the city soon to fade, is true. But this does not solve the problem. The + flux to the town or city still goes on, and will continue to do so until the natural + desire for social and intellectual opportunities and for recreation and amusement is + adequately met in rural life.</p> + <p>Farming as an industry has already felt the effects of a new interest in rural + life. Probably no other industrial occupation has undergone such rapid changes within + the last generation as has agriculture. The rapid advance in the value of land, the + introduction of new forms of farm machinery, and above all the application of science + to the raising of crops and stock, have almost reconstructed the work of the farm + within a decade.</p> + <p>Special "corn trains" and "dairy trains" have traversed nearly every county in + many States, teaching the farmers scientific methods. Lectur<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>ers on scientific agriculture have + found their way into many communities. The Federal Government has encouraged in every + way the spread of information and the development of enthusiasm in agriculture. The + agricultural schools have given courses of instruction during the winter to farmers. + Farmers' institutes have been organized; corn-judging and stock-judging contests have + been held; prizes have been offered for the best results in the raising of grains, + vegetables, or stock. New varieties of grains have been introduced, improved methods + of cultivation discovered, and means of enriching and conserving the soil devised. + Stock-breeding and the care of animals is rapidly becoming a science. Farming bids + fair soon to become one of the skilled occupations.</p> + <p>Such, then, is a brief view of the situation of which the rural school is a part. + It ministers to the education of almost half of the American people. This industrial + group are engaged in the most fundamental of all occupations, the one upon which all + national welfare and progress depend. They control a large part of the wealth of the + country, the capital invested in agriculture being more than double that invested in + manufactures. Agricultural wealth is rapidly increas<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>ing, both through the rise in the value + of land and through improved methods of farming. The conditions of life on the farm + have greatly improved during the last decade. Rural telephones reach almost every + home; free mail delivery is being rapidly extended in almost every section of the + country; the automobile is coming to be a part of the equipment of many farms; and + the trolley is rapidly pushing out along the country roads.</p> + <p>Yet, in spite of these hopeful tendencies, the rural community shows signs of + deterioration in many places. Rural population is steadily decreasing in proportion + to the total aggregate of population. Interest in education is at a low ebb, the farm + children having educational opportunities below those of any other class of our + people. For, while town and city schools have been improving until they show a high + type of efficiency, the rural school has barely held its own, or has, in many places, + even gone backward. The rural community confronts a puzzling problem which is still + far from solution.</p> + <p>Certain points of attack upon this problem are, however, perfectly clear and + obvious. <i>First</i>, educational facilities must be improved for rural children, + and their education be better adapted to farm life; <i>second</i>, greater + opportunities must be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg + 17]</a></span> provided for recreation and social intercourse for both young and old; + <i>third</i>, the program of farm work must be arranged to allow reasonable time for + rest and recreation; <i>fourth</i>, books, pictures, lectures, concerts, and + entertainments must be as accessible to the farm as to the town. These conditions + must be met, not because of the dictum of any person, but because they are a + fundamental demand of human nature, and must be reckoned with.</p> + <p>What, then, is the relation of the rural school to these problems of the rural + community? How can it be a factor in their solution? What are its opportunities and + responsibilities?</p> + <h4><i>The adjustment of the rural school to its problem</i></h4> + <p>As has been already stated, the problem of any type of school is to serve its + constituency. This is to be done through relating the curriculum, the organization, + and the teaching of the school to the immediate interests and needs of the people + dependent on the school for their education. That the rural school has not yet fully + adjusted itself to its problem need hardly be argued.</p> + <p>It has as good material to work upon in the boys and girls from the farm as any + type of schools<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg + 18]</a></span> in the country. They come of good stock; they are healthy and + vigorous; and they are early trained to serious work and responsibility. Yet a very + large proportion of these children possess hardly the rudiments of an education when + they quit the rural school. Many of them go to school for only a few months in the + year, compulsory education laws either being laxly enforced or else altogether + lacking. A very small percentage of the children of the farm ever complete eight + grades of schooling, and not a large proportion finish more than half of this + amount.</p> + <p>This leaves the child who has to depend on the rural school greatly handicapped in + education. He has but a doubtful proficiency in the mechanics of reading, and has + read but little. He knows the elements of spelling, writing, and number, but has + small skill in any of them. He knows little of history or literature, less of music, + nothing of art, and has but a superficial smattering of science. Of matters relating + to his life and activities on the farm he has heard almost nothing. The rural child + is not illiterate, but he is too close to the border of illiteracy for the demands of + a twentieth-century civilization; it is fair neither to the child nor to society.</p> + <p>The rural school seems in some way relatively<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> to have lost ground in our educational + system. The grades of the town school have felt the stimulus of the high school for + which they are preparing, and have had the care and supervision of competent + administrators. The rural school is isolated and detached, and has had no adequate + administrative system to care for its interests. No wonder, then, that certain grave + faults in adjustment have grown up. A few of the most obvious of these faults may + next claim our attention.</p> + <p><i>The rural school is inadequate in its scope</i>. The children of the farm have + as much need for education and as much right to it as those who live in towns and + cities. Yet the rural school as a rule never attempts to offer more than the eight + grades of the elementary curriculum, and seldom reaches this amount. It not + infrequently happens that no pupils are in attendance beyond the fifth or the sixth + grade. This may be due either to the small number of children in the district, or, + more often, to lack of interest to continue in school beyond the simplest elements of + reading, writing, and number. It is true that certain States, such as Illinois and + Wisconsin, have established a system of township high schools, where secondary + education equal to that to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg + 20]</a></span> had in the cities is available to rural children. In other States a + county high school is maintained for the benefit of rural school graduates. In still + others, arrangements are made by which those who complete the eight grades of rural + schools are received into the town high schools with the tuition paid by the rural + school districts. The movement toward secondary education supplied by the rural + community for its children is yet in its infancy, however, and has hardly touched the + larger problem of affording adequate opportunities for the education of farm + children.</p> + <p><i>The grading and organization of the rural school is haphazard and faulty</i>. + This is partly because of the small enrollment and irregular attendance, and partly + because of the inexperience and lack of supervision of the teacher. Children are + often found pursuing studies in three or four different grades at the same time. And + even more often they omit altogether certain fundamental studies because they or + their parents have a notion that these studies are unnecessary. Sometimes, owing to + the small number in attendance, or to the poor classification, several grades are + entirely lacking, or else they are maintained for only one or two pupils. On<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> the other hand, + classes are often found following each other at an interval of only a few weeks, + thereby multiplying classes until the teacher is frequently attempting the impossible + task of teaching twenty-five or thirty classes a day. Children differing in age by + five or six years, and possessing corresponding degrees of ability, are often found + reciting in the same classes. That efficient work is impossible under these + conditions is too obvious to require discussion.</p> + <p><i>The rural schools possess inadequate buildings and equipment</i>. The average + rural schoolhouse consists of one room, with perhaps a small hallway. The building is + constructed without reference to architectural effect, resembling nothing so much as + a large box with a roof on it. It is barren and uninviting as to its interior. The + walls are often of lumber painted some dull color, and dingy through years of use. + The windows are frequently dirty, and covered only by worn and tattered shades. There + is usually no attempt to decorate the room with pictures, or to relieve its ugliness + and monotony in any way. The library consists of a few dozens of volumes, not always + supplied with a case for their protection. Of apparatus there is almost none. The + work of the farm is done with efficient modern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" + id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> equipment, the work of the farmer's school with + inadequate and antiquated equipment.</p> + <p>While the length of the school year is increasing in the rural districts, <i>the + term is yet much shorter than in town and city schools</i>. Many communities have not + more than six months of school, and few more than eight. This shortage is rendered + all the more serious by the irregular attendance of the rural school children. A + considerable amount of absence on the part of the younger ones is unavoidable under + present conditions when the distance is great and the weather bad. After all + allowance is made for this fact, however, there is still an immense amount of + unnecessary waste of time through non-attendance. Many rural schools show an average + attendance for the year of not more than sixty per cent of the enrollment. Going to + school is not yet considered a serious business by many of the rural patrons, and + truant officers are not so easily available in the country as in the city.</p> + <p><i>In financial support the rural school has of necessity been behind the city + school</i>. Wealth is not piled up on a small area in agricultural communities as is + the case in the city. It would often require square miles of land to equal in value + certain city blocks. But making full allowance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" + id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> for this difference, the farmers have not supported + their schools as well as is done by the patrons of town and city schools. The school + taxes for rural districts are much lower than in city districts, in most instances + not more than half as high. It is this conservatism in expenditure that is + responsible for many of the defects in the rural school, and particularly for the + relatively inefficient teaching that is done. The rural teachers are the least + educated, the least experienced, and the most poorly paid of any class of our + teachers. They consist almost wholly of girls, a large proportion of whom are under + twenty years of age, and who continue teaching not more than a year or two. Not only + is this the case, but effective supervision of the teaching is wholly impossible + because of the large area assigned to the county or district superintendent of rural + schools. In no great industrial project should we think of placing our youngest and + most inexperienced workers in the hardest and most important positions, and this + without supervision of their work.</p> + <p>The rural school has not, therefore, yet been adjusted to its problem. It has a + splendid field of work, but is not developing it. Our farming population have + capacity for education and need<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" + id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> it, but they are not securing it. There is plenty of + money available for the support of the rural school, but the school is not getting + it. Enough well-equipped teachers can be had for the rural schools, but the standards + have not yet required adequate preparation, nor the pay been sufficient to warrant + extensive expenditure for it.</p> + <p>In the rural school is found the most important and puzzling educational problem + of the present day. If our agricultural population are not to fall behind other + favored classes of industrial workers in intelligence and preparation for the + activities that are to engage them, the rural school must begin working out a better + adjustment to its problem. Its curriculum must be broader and richer, and more + closely related to the life and interests of the farm. The organization of the + school, both on the intellectual and the social side, must bring it more closely into + touch with the interests and needs of the rural community. The support and + administration of rural education must be improved. Teachers for the rural schools + must be better educated and better paid, and their teaching must be correspondingly + more efficient. The following pages will be given to a discussion of these problems + of adjustment.</p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> + <h3><b>THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE RURAL SCHOOL</b></h3> + <p>Every school possesses two types of organization: (1) an <i>intellectual</i> + organization involving the selection and arrangement of a curriculum, and its + presentation through instruction; and (2) a <i>social</i> organization involving, on + the one hand, the inter-relations of the school and the community, and on the other + the relations of the pupils with each other and the teacher.</p> + <h4><i>The rural school and the community</i></h4> + <p>The rural school and community are not at present in vital touch with each other. + The community is not getting enough from the school toward making life larger, + happier, and more efficient; it is not giving enough to the school either in helpful + coöperation or financial support.</p> + <p>In general, it must be said that most of our rural people, the patrons of the + rural school, have not yet conceived education broadly. They think<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> of the school as + having fulfilled its function when it has supplied the simplest rudiments of reading, + writing, and number. And, naturally enough, the rural school has conceived its + function in the same narrow light; for it is controlled very completely by its + patrons, and a stream cannot rise higher than its source.</p> + <p>Because of its isolation, the pressing insistence of its toil, and the monotony of + its environment, the rural community is in constant danger of intellectual and social + stagnation. It has far more need that its school shall be a stimulating, organizing, + socializing force than has the town or city. For the city has a dozen social centres + entirely outside the school: its public parks, theatres, clubs, churches, and + streets, even, serve to stimulate, entertain, and educate. But the rural community is + wanting in all these social forces; it is lacking in both intellectual and social + stimulus and variety.</p> + <p>One of the most pressing needs of country districts is a common neighborhood + center for both young and old, which shall stand as an organizing, welding, + vitalizing force, uniting the community on a basis of common interests and + activities. For while, as we have seen, the rural population as a whole are markedly + homogeneous,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> + there is after all but little of common acquaintanceship and mingling among them. + Thousands of rural families live lives of almost complete social isolation and lack + of contact with neighbors.</p> + <p>This condition is one of the gravest drawbacks to farm life. The social impulse + and the natural desire for recreation and amusement are as strong in country boys and + girls as in their city cousins, yet the country offers young people few opportunities + for satisfying these impulses and desires. The normal social tendencies of youth are + altogether too strong to be crushed out by repression; they are too valuable to be + neglected; and they are too dangerous to be left to take their own course wholly + unguided. The rural community can never hope to hold its boys and girls permanently + to the life of the farm until it has recognized the necessity for providing for the + expression and development of the spontaneous social impulses of youth.</p> + <p>Furthermore, the social monotony and lack of variety of the rural community is a + grave moral danger to its young people. It is a common impression that the great city + is strewn thick with snares and pitfalls threatening to morals, but that the country + is free from such temptations. The public dance halls and cheap theaters of the + city<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> are + beyond doubt a great and constant menace to youthful ideals and purity. But the + country, going to the opposite extreme, with its almost utter lack of recreation and + amusement places, offers temptations no less insidious and fatal.</p> + <p>The great difficulty at this point is that young people in rural communities are + thrown together almost wholly in isolated pairs instead of in social groups; and that + there are no objective resources of amusement or entertainment to claim their + interest and attention away from themselves. They are freed from all chaperonage and + the restraints of the conventions obtaining in social groups at the very time in + their lives when these are most needed as steadying and controlling forces. The + result is that the country districts, which ought to be of all places in the world + the freest from temptation and peril to the morals of our young people, are really + more dangerous than the cities. The sequel is found in the fact that a larger + proportion of country girls than of city girls go astray. Nor is the rural community + more successful in the morals of its boys than its girls. In other words, the lack of + opportunities for free and normal social experience, the consequent ignorance of + social conventions, and the absence of healthful amusement and recreation, make + the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> rural + community a most unsafe place in which to rear a family.</p> + <p>But the necessity for social recreation and amusement does not apply to the young + people alone. Their fathers and mothers are suffering from the same limitations, + though of course with entirely different results. The danger here is that of + premature aging and stagnation. While the toil of the city worker is relieved by + change and variety, his mind rested and his mood enlivened by the stimulus from many + lines of diversion, the lives of the dwellers on the farm are constantly threatened + by a deadly sameness and monotony.</p> + <p>The indisputable tendency of farmers and their wives to age so rapidly, and so + early to fall into the ranks of "fogyism," is due far more to lack of variety and + recreation and to dearth of intellectual stimulus than to hard labor, severe as this + often is. Age is more than the flight of the years, the stoop of the form, or the + hardening of the arteries; it is also the atrophy of the intellect and the fading + away of the emotions resulting from disuse. The farmer needs occasionally to have + something more exciting than the alternation of the day's work with the nightly + "chores." And his wife should now and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" + id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> have an opportunity to meet people other than those + for whom she cooks and sews.</p> + <p>But what has all this to do with the social organization of the rural school? + Much. The country cannot have its theaters, parks, and crowded thoroughfares like the + city. But it needs and must have <i>some</i> social center, where its people may + assemble for recreation, entertainment, and intellectual growth and development. And + what is more natural and feasible than that the public school should be this center? + Here is an institution already belonging to the whole people, and set apart for the + intellectual training of the young. Why should it not also be made to minister to the + intellectual needs of their elders as well, and to the social needs of all? <i>Why + should not the public school building, now in use but six hours a day for little more + than half the year, be open at all times when it can be helpful to any portion of the + community?</i></p> + <p>If young people are to develop naturally, if they are to make full use of their + social as well as their intellectual powers, if they are to be satisfied with their + surroundings, they must be provided with suitable opportunities for social mingling + and recreation in groups. This is nature's way; there is no other way. The + school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> might + and should afford this opportunity. There is not the least reason why the school + building, when it is adapted to this purpose, should not be the common neighborhood + meeting place for all sorts of young people's parties, picnics, entertainments, + athletic contests, and every other form of amusement approved in the community.</p> + <p>Such a use of the school property would yield large returns to the community for + the small additional expense required. It would serve to weld the school and + community more closely together. It would vastly change the attitude of the young + toward the school. It would save much of the dissatisfaction of young people with the + life of the farm. It would prove a great safeguard to youthful morals. It would lead + the community itself to a new sense of its duty toward the social life of the young, + and to a new concept of the school as a part of the community organization. Finally, + this broadened service of the school to its community would have a reflex influence + on the school itself, vitalizing every department of its activities, and giving it a + new vision of its opportunities.</p> + <p>The first obstacle that will appear in the way of such a plan is the inadequacy of + the present type of country schoolhouse. And this is a seri<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>ous matter; for the barren, squalid + little building of the present day would never fit into such a project. But this type + of schoolhouse must go—is going. It is a hundred years behind our civilization, + and wholly inadequate to present needs. Passing for later discussion the method by + which these buildings are to be supplanted by better ones, let us consider further + the details of the plan of making the school the neighborhood center.</p> + <p>First of all, each school must supply a larger area and a greater number of people + than at present. It is financially impossible to erect good buildings to the number + of our present schools. Nor are there pupils enough in the small district as now + organized to make a school, nor people enough successfully to use the school as a + neighborhood center.</p> + <p>Let each township, or perhaps somewhat smaller area, select a central, + well-adapted site and thereon erect a modern, well-equipped school building. But this + building must not be just the traditional schoolhouse with its classrooms and rows of + desks. For it is to be more than a place where the children will study and recite + lessons from books; it is to be the place where all the people of the neighborhood, + <i>old and young</i>, will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg + 33]</a></span> assemble for entertainment, amusement, and instruction. Here will be + held community picnics, social entertainments, young people's parties, lectures, + concerts, debating contests, agricultural courses for the farmers, school programs, + spreads and banquets, and whatever else may belong to the common social and + intellectual life of the community.</p> + <p>The modern rural school building will therefore be home-like as well as + school-like. In addition to its classrooms it will contain an assembly room capable + of seating several hundred people. The seating of this room may be removable so that + the floor can be cleared for social purposes or the room used for a dining-room. One + or two smaller rooms will be needed for social functions, club and committee + meetings. These rooms should be made attractive with good furniture, rugs, couches, + and pictures. The building will contain well-equipped laboratories for manual + training and domestic science, the latter of which will be found serviceable in + connection with serving picnics, "spreads," and the like. The entire building should + be architecturally attractive, well heated and ventilated, commodious, well + furnished, and decorated with good pictures. In it should be housed a library + con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>taining + several thousand well-selected books, besides magazines and newspapers. The + laboratories and equipment should be fully equal to those found in the town schools, + but should be adapted to the work of the rural school.</p> + <p>The grounds surrounding the rural school building can easily be ample in area, and + beautiful in outlook and decoration. Here will be the neighborhood athletic grounds + for both boys and girls, shade trees for picnics, flowers and shrubs, and ground + enough for a school garden connected with the instruction in agriculture. Nor is it + too much to believe that the district will in the future erect on the school grounds + a cottage for the principal of the school and his family, and thus offer an + additional inducement for strong, able men to devote their energies to education in + the rural communities.</p> + <p>Now contrast this schoolhouse and equipment with the typical rural building of the + present. Adjoining a prosperous farm, with its large house, its accompanying barns, + silos, machine houses, and all the equipment necessary to modern farming, is the + little schoolhouse. It is a dilapidated shell of a rectangular box, barren of every + vestige of beauty or attractiveness both inside and out. At the rear are two + outbuildings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> + which are an offense to decency and a menace to morals. Within the schoolhouse the + painted walls are dingy with smoke and grime. The windows are broken and dirty, no + pictures adorn the walls. The floor is washed but once or twice a year. The room is + heated by an ugly box of a stove, and ventilated only by means of windows which + frequently are nailed shut. The grounds present a wilderness of weeds, rubbish, and + piles of ashes. It is all an outrage against the rights of the country child, and an + indictment of the intelligence and ideals of a large proportion of our people.</p> + <p>If it is said that the plan proposed to remedy this situation is revolutionary, it + will be admitted. What our rural schools of to-day need is <i>not improvement but + reorganization</i>. For only in this radical way can they be made a factor in the + vitalizing and conserving of the rural community which, unless some new leaven is + introduced, is surely destined to disorganization and decay.</p> + <h4><i>The consolidation of rural schools</i></h4> + <p>The first step in reorganizing the rural schools is <i>consolidation</i>. Our + rural school organization, buildings, and equipment are a full century behind our + industrial and social advancement. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" + id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> present plan of attempting to run a school on + approximately every four square miles of territory originated at a time of poverty, + and when the manufacturing industries were all carried on in the homes and small + shops. Our rural people are now well-to-do, and manufacturing has moved over into a + well-organized set of factories; but the isolated little school, shamefully housed, + meagerly equipped, poorly attended, and unskillfully taught, still remains.</p> + <p>Such a system of schools leaves our rural people educationally on a par with the + days of cradling the grain and threshing it with a flail; of planting corn by hand + and cultivating it with a hoe; of lighting the house with a tallow dip, and traveling + by stage-coach.</p> + <p>The well-meant attempts to "improve" the rural school as now organized are futile. + The proposal to solve the problem by raising the standards for teachers, desirable as + this is; by the raising of salaries; or by bettering the type of the little + schoolhouse, are at best but temporary makeshifts, and do not touch the root of the + problem. The first and most fundamental step is to eliminate the little shacks of + houses that dot our prairies every two miles along the country roads.<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + <p>For not only is it impossible to supply adequate buildings so near together, but + it is even more impossible to find children enough to constitute a real school in + such small districts. There is no way of securing a full head of interest and + enthusiasm with from five to ten or twelve pupils in a school. The classes are too + small and the number of children too limited to permit the organization of proper + games and plays, or a reasonable variety of association through mingling + together.</p> + <p>Furthermore, it will never be possible to pay adequate salaries to the teachers in + these small schools. Nor will any ambitious and well-prepared teacher be willing to + remain in such a position, where he is obliged to invest his time and influence with + so few pupils, and where all conditions are so adverse.</p> + <p>The chief barrier to the centralization of rural education has been local + prejudice and pride. In many cases a true sentimental value has attached to "the + little red schoolhouse." Its praises have been sung, and orator and writer have + expanded upon the glories of our common schools, until it is no wonder that their + pitiful inadequacy has been overlooked by many of their patrons.</p> + <p>In other cases opposition has arisen to giving<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> up the small local school because of + the selfish fear that the loss of the school would lower the value of adjacent + property. Still others have feared that consolidation would mean higher school taxes, + and have opposed it upon this ground.</p> + <p>But whatever the causes of the opposition to consolidation, this opposition must + cease before the rural school can fulfill its function and before the rural child can + have educational opportunities even approximating those given the town child. And + until this is accomplished, the exodus from the farm will continue and ought to + continue. Pride, prejudice, and penury must not be allowed to deprive the farm boys + and girls of their right to education and normal development.</p> + <p>The movement toward consolidation of rural schools and transportation of the + children to a central school has already attained considerable headway in many + regions of the country.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a + href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> It is now a part of the rural school + system in thirty-two States. Massachusetts, the leader in consolidation, began in + 1869. The movement at first grew slowly in all the States, not only having local + opposition to overcome, but also meeting the problem of bad country roads interfering + with the transportation of pupils.</p> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>During the + past half-dozen years, however, consolidation has been gaining headway, and is now + going on at least five times as fast as the average for the twenty-five years + preceding 1906. Indiana is at present the banner State in the rapidity of + consolidation, the expenditure for conveyance having considerably more than trebled + since 1904. The broad and general sweep of the movement, together with the fact that + it is practically unheard of for schools that have once tried consolidation to go + back to the old system, seems to indicate that the rural education of the not distant + future will, except in a few regions, be carried on in consolidated schools.</p> + <p>The relative cost of maintaining district and consolidated schools is an important + factor. Yet this factor must not be given undue prominence. It is true that the cost + of education must be kept at a reasonable ratio with the standard of living of a + community. But it is also true that the consolidated rural school must be looked upon + as an indispensable country-life institution, and hence as having claim to a more + generous basis of support than that accorded the district school.</p> + <p>While it is impossible, owing to such widely<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> varying conditions, to make an + absolutely exact statement of the relative expense of the two types of schools, yet + it has been shown in many different instances that the cost of schooling per day in + consolidated schools is but slightly, if any, above that in most district + schools.</p> + <p>The aggregate annual cost is usually somewhat higher in the consolidated schools, + owing to the fact of a greatly increased attendance. A comparison made between the + cost per day's schooling in the smaller district schools and consolidated schools + almost invariably shows a lower expenditure for the latter. For example, the fifteen + districts in Hardin County, Iowa, having in 1908 an enrollment of nine or less, + averaged a cost of 27.5 cents a day for each pupil.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" + id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> At the same + time the cost per day in the consolidated rural schools of northeastern Ohio was only + 17.4 cents a day, the district schools being more than fifty-seven per cent higher + than the consolidated. Similar comparisons show the same trend in many other + localities. In a great many of the small district schools the cost per pupil is as + high as in consolidated schools where a high school course is also provided. It has + been found that the average cost per year of schooling a child in a con<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>solidated school is + but little above thirty dollars, while in practically all smaller district schools it + far exceeds this amount, not infrequently going above fifty dollars. This means that + average rural districts that are putting at least thirty dollars a year into the + schooling of each child can, by consolidating their schools, secure greatly improved + educational facilities with no heavier financial burden.</p> + <p>Not the least important of the advantages growing out of rural school + consolidation is the improved attendance. Experience has shown that fully twenty-five + per cent more children of school age are enrolled under the consolidated than under + the district system. The advantage of this one factor alone can hardly be + over-estimated, but the increase in regularity of attendance is also as great. The + average daily attendance of rural schools throughout the country is approximately + sixty per cent of the enrollment, and in entire States falls below fifty per cent. It + has been found that consolidation, with its attendant conveyance of pupils, commonly + increases the average daily attendance by as much as twenty-five per cent.</p> + <p>It is true that in many regions it may at present prove impossible to consolidate + all the rural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> + schools. In places where the population is so sparse as to require transportation for + very long distances, or where the country roads are still in such a condition in wet + seasons as to be practically impassable, consolidation must of necessity be delayed. + In such communities, however, the rural school need not be completely at a + standstill. Much can be done to make even the one-room schoolhouse attractive and + hygienic. With almost no expense, the grounds can be set with shade trees, shrubs, + and perennial flowering plants. The yard can be made into a lawn in front, and into + an athletic ground at the sides or the rear. Enough ground can be added to provide + for all these things, and a school garden besides. The building can be rendered more + inviting through better architecture, and more attention to decoration and + cleanliness. An adequate supply of books and other equipment can be provided. While + the isolated rural school can never take the place of the consolidated school, while + it should always be looked upon as only temporarily occupying a place later to be + filled by a more efficient type of school, it can after all be rendered much more + efficient than it is at present. And since the one-room school will without doubt for + years to come be required as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" + id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> supplement of the consolidated school, it should + receive the same careful thought and effort toward its improvement that is being + accorded the school of better type.</p> + <h4><i>Financial support of the rural school</i></h4> + <p>The rural school has never had adequate financial support. There has been good + reason for this in many regions of the country where farm property was low in value, + the land sparsely settled and not all improved, or else covered by heavy mortgages. + As these conditions have gradually disappeared and the agricultural population become + more prosperous, the school has in some degree shared the general prosperity. But not + fully. A smaller proportion of the margin of wealth above living necessities is going + into rural education now than in the earlier days of less prosperity. While the + farmer has vastly "improved" his farm, he has improved his school but little. While + he has been adding modern machinery and adopting scientific methods in caring for his + grain and stock, his children have not had the advantage of an increasingly efficient + school.</p> + <p>The poverty of the rural school finds its explanation in two facts: (1) the + relatively low value<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg + 44]</a></span> of the taxable property of the rural as compared with the town or city + district, and (2) the lower rate of local school tax paid in country than in urban + districts. The first of these disadvantages of the rural district cannot be remedied; + but for the second, there seems to be no valid economic reason.</p> + <p>The approximate difference in the local school-tax rate paid in urban and rural + districts is shown in the following instances, which might be duplicated from other + States:—</p> + <p>In Kansas, the local school tax paid in 1910 by towns and cities was above eighty + per cent more than that paid by country districts. In Missouri, the current report of + the State Superintendent shows towns and cities seventy-five per cent higher than the + country. In Minnesota, towns and cities average nearly three times the rate paid by + rural districts. In Ohio, towns and cities are more than ten per cent higher than + rural districts, even where the rural district maintains a full elementary and high + school course. In Nebraska and Iowa, the town and city rate is about double that of + country districts.</p> + <p>When there is added to this difference the further fact that town and city + property is commonly assessed at more nearly its full value than<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> rural property, the + discrepancy becomes all the greater.</p> + <p>It is not meant, of course, that farmers should pay as high a school-tax rate for + the elementary rural school as that paid by town patrons who also have a high school + available. But, on the other hand, if better school facilities are to be furnished + the country children, rural property should bear its full share of the taxes + required. The farmer should be willing to pay as much for the education of his child + as the city dweller pays for a similar education for his.</p> + <p>During the last generation farmers have been increasing in wealth faster than any + other class of industrial workers. Their land has doubled in value, barns have been + built, machinery has been added, automobiles purchased, and large bank credits + established. Yet very little of this increased prosperity has reached the school. + Library, reference works, maps, charts, and other apparatus are usually lacking. In + Iowa, as a fair example, a sum of not less than ten nor more than fifteen cents a + year for each pupil of school age in the district is required by law to be expended + for library books. Yet in not a few districts the law is a dead letter or the money + grudgingly spent! In many rural schools the teacher<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> has to depend on the proceeds of a + "social," an "exhibition," or a "box party" to secure a few dollars for books or + pictures for the neighborhood school, and sometimes even buys brooms and dust pans + from the fund secured in this way.</p> + <p>This is all wrong. The school should be put on a business basis. It should have + the necessary tools with which to accomplish its work, and not be forced to waste the + time and opportunity of childhood for want of a few dollars expended for equipment. + Its patrons should realize that just as it pays to supply factory, shop, or farm with + the best of instruments for carrying on the work, so it pays in the school. Cheap + economy is always wasteful, and never more wasteful than when it cripples the + efficiency of education.</p> + <p>State aid for rural schools has been proposed and in some instances tried, as a + mode of solving their financial problem. Where this system has been given a fair + trial, as for example in Minnesota, it has resulted in two great advantages: (1) it + has encouraged the local community to freer expenditure of their own money for school + purposes, since the contribution of the State is conditioned on the amount expended + by the district. This is an important achievement, since it serves to train the + community to the idea of more liberal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" + id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> local taxation for school purposes, and it is + probable that the greater part of the support of our schools will continue to come + from this source. Another advantage of state aid is (2) that it serves to equalize + educational opportunities, and hence to maintain a true educational democracy. + Wealthier localities are caused to contribute to the educational facilities of those + less favored, and a common advancement thereby secured.</p> + <p>While the theory of state aid to rural education is wholly defensible, and while + it has worked well in practice, yet there is one safeguard that needs to be + considered. It is manifestly unfair to ask the people of towns and cities to help pay + for the support of the rural schools through the medium of the State treasury except + on condition that the patrons of the rural schools themselves do their fair share. + Mr. "A," living in a town where he pays twenty mills school tax, ought not to be + asked to help improve Mr. "B's" rural school, while Mr. "B" is himself paying but ten + mills of school tax. The farmer is as able as any one else to pay a fair rate of + taxation for his school, and should be willing to do so before asking for aid from + other taxation sources. Rural education must not be placed on the basis of a + missionary enterprise. State aid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" + id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> should be used to compensate for the difference in + the economic <i>basis</i> for taxation in different localities, and not for a + difference in the <i>rates</i> of taxation between localities equally able to pay the + same rate.</p> + <br /> + + <p>We may conclude, then, that while neither the rural school nor the community has + been fully aware of the possibilities for mutual helpfulness and coöperation, + yet there are many hopeful signs that both are awakening to a sense of + responsibility. Federal and state commissions have been created to study the rural + problem, national and state teachers' associations are seeking a solution of the + rural school question, and, better still, the patrons of the rural schools are in + many places alive to the pressing need for better educational facilities for their + children.</p> + <p>Growing out of these influences and the faithful work of many state and county + superintendents, and not a few of the rural teachers themselves, a spirit of progress + is gaining headway. Several thousand consolidated schools are now rendering excellent + service to their patrons and at the same time acting as a stimulus to other + communities to follow their example. State aid to rural education is no longer an + experiment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> + The people are in many localities voluntarily and gladly increasing their taxes in + order that they may improve their schools. Teachers' salaries are being increased, + better equipment provided, and buildings rendered more habitable.</p> + <p>The great educational problem of the immediate future will be to encourage and + guide the movement which is now getting under way. For mistakes made now will + handicap both community and school for years to come. The attempt to secure better + schools by "improving" conditions in local districts should be definitely abandoned + except in localities where conditions make consolidation impracticable for the + present. The new consolidated school building should take definitely into account the + fact that the school is to become the <i>neighborhood social center</i>, and the + structure should be planned as much with this function in view as with its uses for + school purposes. The new type of rural school is not to aim simply to give a better + intellectual training, but is at the same time to relate this training to the + conditions and needs of our agricultural population. And all who have to do with the + rural schools in any way are to seek to make the school a true vitalizing factor in + the community—a leaven, whose influence shall permeate every<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> line of interest + and activity of its patrons and lead to a fuller and richer life.</p> + <h4><i>The rural school and its pupils</i></h4> + <p>One of the surest tests of any school is the attitude of the pupils—the + spirit of loyalty, coöperation, and devotion they manifest with reference to + their education. Do they, on the whole, look upon the school as an opportunity or an + imposition? Do they consider it <i>their</i> school, and make its interests and + welfare their concern, or do they think of it as the teacher's school, or the board's + school or the district's school? These questions are of supreme importance, for the + question of attitude, quite as much as that of ability, determines the use made of + opportunity.</p> + <p>It must be admitted that throughout our entire school system there remains + something to be desired in the spirit of coöperation between pupils and schools. + The feeling of loyalty which the child has for his home does not extend + commensurately to the school. Too often the school is looked upon as something forced + upon the child, for his welfare, perhaps, but after all not as forming an interesting + and vital part of his present experience. It is often rather a place where so much + time and effort and inconven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg + 51]</a></span>ience must be paid for so many grades and promotions, and where, + incidentally, preparation is supposed to be made for some future demands very dimly + conceived. At best, there is frequently a lack of feeling of full identity of + interests between the child and the school.</p> + <p>The youth, immaturity, and blindness of childhood make it impossible, of course, + for children to conceive of their school in a spirit of full appreciation. On the + other hand, the very nature of childhood is responsiveness and readiness of + coöperation in any form of interesting activity,—is loyalty of attitude + toward what is felt to minister to personal happiness and well-being. In so far, + therefore, as there exists any lack of loyalty and coöperation of pupils toward + their school, the reasons for such defection are to be sought first of all in the + school, and not in the child.</p> + <p>While this negative attitude of the pupils exists in some degree in all our + schools, it is undoubtedly more marked in our rural schools than in others. In a + negligible number of cases does this lack of coöperation take the form of overt + rebellion against the authority of the school. It is manifested in other ways, many + of them wholly unconscious to the child, as, for example,<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> lack of desire to attend school, and + indifference to its activities when present.</p> + <p>Attending school is the most important occupation that can engage the child. Yet + the indifference of children and their parents alike to the necessity for schooling + makes the small and irregular attendance of rural school pupils one of the most + serious problems with which educators have to deal. County superintendents have in + many places offered prizes and diplomas with the hope of bettering attendance, but + such incentives do not reach the source of the difficulty. The remedy must finally + lie in a fundamental change of attitude toward the school and its opportunities. Good + attendance must spring from interest in the school work and a feeling of its value, + rather than from any artificial incentives.</p> + <p>How great a problem poor attendance at rural schools is, may be realized from the + fact that, in spite of compulsory education laws, not more than seventy per cent of + the children accessible to the rural school are enrolled, and of this number only + about sixty per cent are in daily attendance. This is to say that under one half of + our farm children are daily receiving the advantages of even the rural school. In + some States this proportion will fall as low as three tenths instead<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> of one half. In + many rich agricultural counties of the Middle West, having a farming population of + approximately ten thousand, not more than forty or fifty pupils per year complete the + eight grades of the rural school.</p> + <p>If the rural school is to be able to claim the regular attendance and spontaneous + coöperation of the children it must (1) be reasonably accessible to them, (2) be + attractive and interesting in itself, and (3) offer work the value and application of + which are evident.</p> + <p>The inaccessibility of the rural school has always been one of its greatest + disadvantages. In a large proportion of cases, a walk of from a mile to a mile and a + half along country roads or across cultivated fields has been required to reach the + schoolhouse. During inclement weather, or when deep snow covers the ground, this + distance proves almost prohibitive for all the smaller children. Wet feet and + drenched clothing have been followed by severe colds, coughs, bronchitis, or worse, + and the children have not only suffered educationally, but been endangered physically + as well.</p> + <p>It has been found in all instances that public conveyance of pupils to the + consolidated schools greatly increases rural school patronage. It makes<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> the school + accessible. The regular wagon service does away with the "hit-and-miss" method of + determining for each succeeding day whether it is advisable for the child to start + for school. So important is this factor in securing attendance, that a careful study + by Knorr<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" + class="fnanchor">[3]</a> of the attendance in Ohio district and consolidated schools + shows twenty-seven per cent more of the total school population in school under the + influence of public conveyance and other features peculiar to consolidation than + under the district system. He concludes that, broadly speaking, by a system of + consolidated schools with public conveyance, rural school attendance can be increased + by at least one fourth.</p> + <p>The life in the typical rural school is not sufficiently interesting and + attractive to secure a strong hold upon the pupils. The dreary ugliness of the + physical surroundings has already been referred to. And even in districts where the + building and grounds have been made reasonably attractive, there is yet wanting a + powerful factor—the influence of the social incentive that comes from numbers. + In hundreds of our rural schools the daily attendance is less than a dozen pupils, + frequently not representing more than three or four families. The classes can + therefore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> + contain not more than two or three pupils, and often only one. There is no + possibility of organizing games, or having the fun and frolic possible to larger + groups of children. Add to this the fact that the teaching is often spiritless and + uninspiring, and the reason becomes still more plain why so many rural children drop + out of school with scarcely the rudiments of an education.</p> + <p>Here, again, the consolidated school, with its attractive building, its improved + equipment, its larger body of pupils, and its better teaching, appears as a solution + of the difficulty. For it does what the present type of district school can never + do—it makes school life interesting and attractive to its pupils, and this + brings to bear upon them one of the strongest incentives to continue in school and + secure an education.</p> + <p>Finally, much of the work of the school has not appealed to the pupils as + interesting or valuable. This has not been altogether the fault of the curriculum, + but often has come from the lack of adaptability of the work to the pupils studying + it. Through frequent changes of teachers, poor classification, and irregularity of + attendance, rural pupils have often been forced to go over and over the same ground, + without any reference<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg + 56]</a></span> to whether they were ready to advance or not. In other cases, careless + grading has placed children in studies for which they were utterly unprepared, and + from which they could get nothing but discouragement and dislike for school. In still + other instances the course pursued has been ill-balanced, and in no degree + correlated. Often the whim of the child determines whether he will or will not study + certain subjects, the teacher lacking either the knowledge or insistence to bring + about a better organization of the work.</p> + <p>The unskilled character of the rural school-teaching force, and the impossibility + of securing any reasonable supervision as the system is at present organized, make us + again turn to the consolidated school as the remedy for these adverse conditions. For + with its improved attendance, its skilled teaching, and its better supervision, it + easily and naturally renders such conditions impossible. Give the consolidated + school, in addition, the greatly enriched curriculum which it will find possible to + offer its pupils, and the vexing question of the relation of the rural school to its + pupils will be far toward solution.</p> + <p>Let us next consider somewhat in detail the curriculum of the rural school.</p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span + class="label">[1]</span></a> See "Consolidated Rural Schools," Bulletin 232, U. + S. Department of Agriculture.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span + class="label">[2]</span></a> Bulletin 232, U. S. Department of Agriculture, p. + 38.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span + class="label">[3]</span></a> Bulletin 232, U. S. Department of Agriculture, p. + 51.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> + <h3>THE CURRICULUM OF THE RURAL SCHOOL</h3> + <p>If we grant the economic ability to support good schools, then the curriculum + offered by any type of school, the scope of subject-matter given the pupils to + master, is a measure of the educational ideals of those maintaining and using the + schools. If the curriculum is broad, and representative of the various great fields + of human culture; if it relates itself to the life and needs of its patrons; if it is + adapted to the interests and activities of its pupils, it may be said that the people + believe in education as a right of the individual and as a preparation for successful + living. But if, on the other hand, the curriculum is meager and narrow, consisting + only of the rudiments of knowledge, and not related to the life of the people or the + interests of the pupils, then it may well be concluded that education is not highly + prized, that it is not understood, or that it is looked upon as an incidental.</p> + <h4><i>The scope of the rural school curriculum</i></h4> + <p>Modern conditions require a broader and more<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> thorough education than that demanded + by former times, and far more than the typical district rural school affords. The + old-time school offered only the "three R's," and this was thought sufficient for an + education. But these times have passed. Not only has society greatly increased in + wealth during the last half-century, but it has also grown much in intelligence. Many + more people are being educated now than formerly, and they are also being vastly + better educated. For the concept of what constitutes an education has changed, and + the curriculum has grown correspondingly broader and richer.</p> + <p>It is therefore no longer possible to express the educational status of a + community in the percentage of people who can merely read and write. Educational + progress has become a national ideal. The elementary schools in towns and cities have + been greatly strengthened both in curriculum and teaching. High schools have been + organized and splendidly equipped, and their attendance has rapidly increased.</p> + <p>But all this development has hardly touched the rural school. The curriculum + offered is pitifully narrow even for an elementary school, and very few high schools + are supported by rural communities. In fact, a large proportion of our rural<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> population are + receiving an education but little in advance of that offered a hundred years ago in + similar schools. This is not fair to the children born and reared on the farm; it is + not fair to one of the greatest and most important industries of our country; and it + cannot but result disastrously in the end.</p> + <p>If the rural school is to meet its problem, it must extend the scope of its + curriculum. It was formerly thought by many that education, except in its simplest + elements, was only for those planning to enter the "learned professions." But this + idea has given way before the onward sweep of the spirit of democracy, and we now + conceive education as the right and duty of <i>all</i>. Nor by education do we mean + the simple ability to read, write, and number.</p> + <p>Our present-day civilization demands not only that the child shall be taught to + read, but also that he shall be supplied with books and guided in his reading. + Through reading as a tool he is to become familiar with the best in the world's + literature and its history. He is not only to learn number, but is to be so educated + that he may employ his number concepts in fruitful ways. He must not only be familiar + with the mechanics of writing, but must have knowledge, interests,<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> experience that + will give him something to write about. The "three R's" are necessary tools, but they + are only tools, and must be utilized in putting the child into possession of the best + and most fruitful culture of the race. And, practically, they must put him into + command of such phases of culture as touch his own life and experience and make him + more efficient.</p> + <p>The rural school cannot extend the scope of its curriculum simply by inserting in + the present curriculum new studies related to the life and work of the farm. The + modification must be deeper and more thoroughgoing than this. <i>A full elementary + course of eight years and a high school course of four years should be easily + accessible to every rural child</i>. Less than this amount of education is inadequate + to prepare for the life of the farm, and fails to put the individual into full + possession of his powers. Nor, in most instances, should the high schooling be left + to some adjacent town, which is to receive the rural pupils upon payment of tuition + to the town district. Unless the town is small, and practically a part of the rural + community, it cannot supply, either in the subject-matter of the curriculum or the + spirit of the school, the type of education that the rural children should have. For + in so far as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> + the town or city high school leads to any specific vocation, it certainly does not + lead toward industrial occupations, and least of all toward agriculture. It rather + prepares for the professions, or for business careers. Its tendency is very strongly + to draw the boys and girls away from the farm instead of preparing them for it.</p> + <p>While the rural child, therefore, must be provided with a better and broader + education, he should usually not be sent to town to get it. If he is, the chances are + that he will stay in town and be lost to the farm. Indeed, this is precisely what has + been happening; the town or city high school has been turning the country boy away + from the farm. For not only does what one studies supply his knowledge; it also + determines his <i>attitude</i>.</p> + <p>If the curriculum contains no subject-matter related to the immediate experience + and occupation of the pupil, his education is certain to entice him away from his old + interests and activities. The farm boy whose studies lack all point of contact with + his life and work will soon either lose interest in the curriculum or turn his back + upon the farm. If the boys and girls born on the farm are to be retained in this form + of industry, the rural school must be broadened to give them<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> an education equal to that afforded by + town or city for its youth. If the rural community cannot accomplish this end, it has + no claim on the loyalty and service of its youth. Rural children have a right to a + well-organized, well-equipped, and well-taught elementary school of eight years and a + high school of four years, with a curriculum adapted especially to their interests + and needs.</p> + <p>It is not meant, of course, that the rural school, with its present organization + and administration, can extend the scope of its curriculum to make it the equal of + that offered in the grades of the town or city school. Radical changes, such as those + discussed in the preceding chapter, will have to be made in the rural district system + before this is possible. That these changes are being made and the full elementary + and high school course offered in many consolidated rural schools, scattered from + Florida to Idaho, is proof both of the feasibility of the plan and of an awakened + public demand for better rural education.</p> + <p>The broadened curriculum of the rural school must contain subject-matter + especially related to the interests and activities of the farm; upon this all are + agreed. But it must not stop with vocational subjects alone. For, while one's + vocation is fundamental, it is not all of life. Education<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> should help directly in making a + living; it must also help to live. Broad and permanent lines of interest must be set + up and trained to include many forms of experience. The child must come to know + something of the great social institutions of his day and of the history leading to + their development. He must become familiar with the marvelous scientific discoveries + and inventions underlying our modern civilization. He must be led to feel + appreciation for the beautiful in art, literature, and music; and must have nurtured + in his life a love for goodness and truth in every form. In short, through the + curriculum the latent powers constituting the life capital of every normal child are + to be stimulated and developed to the end that his life shall be more than mere + physical existence—to the end that it shall be crowned with fullness of + knowledge, richness of feeling, and the victory of worthy achievement. This is the + right of every child in these prosperous and enlightened times,—the right of + the country child as well as the city child. And society will not have done its duty + in providing for the education of its youth until the children of the farm have full + opportunities for such development.</p> + <h4><i>The rural elementary school curriculum</i></h4> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> + <p>By the elementary school is meant the eight grades of work below the high school + which the rural school is now meant to cover.</p> + <p>Whatever is put into the curriculum of a nation's schools finally becomes a part + of national character and achievement. What the children study in school comes to + determine their attitudes and shape their aptitudes. The old Greek philosophers, + becoming teachers of youth, turned the nation into a set of students and disputants + over philosophical questions. Sparta taught her boys the arts of war, and became the + chief military nation of her time. Germany introduces technological studies into her + schools, and becomes the leading country in the world in the arts of manufacture. Let + any people emphasize in their schools the studies that lead to commercial and + professional interests, and neglect those that prepare for industrial vocations, and + the industrial welfare of the nation is sure to suffer.</p> + <p>The curriculum of the rural school must, therefore, contain the basic subjects + that belong to all culture,—the studies that every normal, intelligent person + should have just because he belongs to the twentieth-century civilization, and in + addi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>tion must + include the subjects that afford the knowledge and develop the attitude and technique + belonging to the life of the farm. Let us now consider this curriculum somewhat more + in detail.</p> + <p><i>The mother tongue</i>. Mastery of his mother tongue is the birthright of every + child. He should first of all be able to speak it correctly and with ease. He should + next be able to read it with comprehension and enjoyment, and should become familiar + with the best in its literature. He should be able to write it with facility, both as + to its spelling and its composition. Finally, he should know something of the + structure, or grammar, of the language.</p> + <p>This requirement suggests the content of the curriculum as to English. The child + must be given opportunity to use the language orally; he must be led to talk. But + this implies that he must have something to say, and be interested in saying it. + Formal "language lessons," divorced from all the child's interests and activities, + will not meet the purpose. Facility in speech grows out of enthusiasm in speaking. + Every recitation is a lesson in English, and should be used for this purpose; nor + should the aim be correctness only, but ease and fluency as well.</p> + <p>The child must also learn to read; not alone<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> to pronounce the printed words of a + page, but to grasp the thought and feeling, and express them in oral reading. This + presupposes a mastery of the mechanics of reading, the letters, words, and marks + employed. The only way to learn to read is by reading. This is true whether we refer + to learning the mechanics of reading, to learning the apprehension and expression of + thought, or to learning the art of appreciating and enjoying good literature.</p> + <p>Yet, trite and self-evident as this truism is, it is constantly violated in + teaching reading in the rural school. For the course in reading usually consists of a + series of five readers, expected to cover seven or eight years of study. These + readers contain less than one hundred pages of reading matter to the year, or but + little more than half a page a day for the time the child should be in school. The + result is that the same reader is read over and over, to no purpose. With a rich + literature available for each of the eight years of the elementary school, + comparatively few of the rural schools have supplied either supplementary readers or + other reading books for the use of the children.</p> + <p>The result is that most rural school children learn to read but stumblingly, and + seldom attain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> + sufficient skill and taste in reading so that it becomes a pleasure. Such a situation + as this indicates the same lack of wisdom that would be shown in employing willing + and skillful workmen to garner a rich harvest, and then sending them into the fields + with wholly insufficient and inadequate tools. The rural school must not only teach + the child the mechanics of reading, but lead him to read and love good books. This + can be done only <i>by supplying the books and giving the child an opportunity to + read them</i>.</p> + <p>Comparatively few people like to write. The pathway of expression finds its way + out more easily through the tongue than through the hand. Yet it is highly necessary + that every one should in this day be able to write. Nor does this mean merely the + ability to form letters into words and put them down with a pen so that they are + legible. This is a fundamental requisite, but the mastery of penmanship, spelling, + and punctuation is, however, only a beginning. One must be able to formulate his + thoughts easily, to construct his sentences correctly, and to make his writing + effective; he must learn the art of composition.</p> + <p>Here again the principle already stated applies. The way to learn to write is by + writing;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> not + just by the dreary treadmill of practicing upon formal "compositions," but by having + something to write that one cares to express. The written language lessons should, + therefore, always grow out of the real interests and activities of the child in the + home, the school, or on the farm, and should include the art of letter-writing, + argumentation and exposition, as well as narration and description.</p> + <p>The subject of formal grammar has little or no place in the grades of the + elementary school. The grammatical relations of the language are complicated and + beyond the power of the child at an early age. Nor does the study of such relations + result in efficiency in the use of language, as is commonly supposed. Children are + compelled in many schools to waste weary years in the study of logical relations they + are too young to comprehend, when they should be reading, speaking, and writing their + mother tongue under the stimulus and guidance of a teacher who is himself a worthy + and enthusiastic model in the use of speech. Only the simpler grammatical forms and + relations should be taught in the grades, and these should have immediate application + to oral and written speech.</p> + <p><i>Arithmetic</i>. Arithmetic has for more than two<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> hundred years formed an important part + of the elementary school curriculum. It has been taught with the double object of + affording mental discipline for the child, and of putting him into possession of an + important tool of practical knowledge. It is safe to say that a large proportion of + the patrons of the rural schools of the present look upon arithmetic as the most + important subject taught in the school after the simple mechanics of reading. Ability + to "cipher" has been thought of as constituting a large and important part of the + educational equipment of the practical man.</p> + <p>Without doubt, number is an essential part of the education of the child. Yet + there is nothing in the mere art of numbering things as we meet them in daily + experience that should make arithmetic require so large a proportion of time as it + has been receiving. The child is usually started in number in the first grade, and + continues it the full eight years of the elementary course, finally devoting three or + more years of the high school course to its continued study. Thus, nearly one fourth + of the entire school time of the pupil is demanded by the various phases of the + number concept.</p> + <p>The only ground upon which the expenditure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" + id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> of this large proportion of time upon number can be + defended is that of <i>discipline</i>. And modern psychology and experimental + pedagogy have shown the folly and waste of setting up empty discipline as an + educational aim. Education time is too short, and the amount of rich and valuable + material waiting to be mastered too great, to devote golden years to a relatively + barren grind.</p> + <p>It is probable that at least half the time at present devoted to arithmetic in the + elementary school could be given to other subjects with no loss to the child's + ability in number, and with great gain to his education as a whole. Not that the + child knows number any too well now. He does not. In fact, few children finishing the + elementary school possess any considerable degree of ability in arithmetic. They can + work rather hard problems, if they have a textbook, and the answers by which to test + their results. But give them a practical problem from the home, the farm, or the + shop, and the chances are two to one that they cannot secure a correct result. This + is not the fault of the child, but the fault of the kind of arithmetic he has been + given, and the way it has been taught. We have taught him the solution of various + difficult, analytical problems not in the least typical of the concrete<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> problems to be met + daily outside of school; but we have not taught him to add, subtract, multiply, and + divide with rapidity and accuracy. We have required him to solve problems containing + fractions with large and irreducible denominators such as are never met in the + business world, but he cannot readily and with certainty handle numbers expressed in + halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, and eighths. He has been compelled to sacrifice + practical business efficiency in number to an attempt to train his powers of logical + analysis.</p> + <p>The arithmetic of the district school should be greatly simplified and reduced in + quantity. Its quality should be greatly improved both as to accuracy and speed in the + fundamental operations and in the various concrete types of problems to be met in the + home, on the farm, and in the shop. There need be no fear that the mental training + will be less efficient with this type of arithmetic. For mental development comes + only where there is mastery, and there is no mastery of the arithmetic as it is + taught in the rural school to-day.</p> + <p><i>History and civics</i>. Every American child should know the history and mode + of government of his country. This is true first of all because this knowledge is + necessary to intelligent partici<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" + id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>pation in the affairs of a republic; but it is also + necessary to the right development of the individual that he shall realize something + of the heroism and sacrifice required to produce the civilization which he enjoys. + Every person needs to extend his thought and appreciation until it is large enough to + include other peoples and times than his own. For only in this way can he come to + feel kinship with the race at large, and thus save himself from provincialism and + narrowness.</p> + <p>This is equivalent to saying that the curriculum should afford ample opportunity + for the study of history. Nor should the history given the child deal chiefly with + the military and political activities of the nation. Many text books have been little + more than an account of wars and politics. These are not the aspects of national life + that most interest and concern the child, especially at the age when he is in the + elementary school. He should at this time be told about the <i>people</i> of his + country,—their home life, their industries, their schools and churches, their + bravery, their hardships, adventures, and achievements. He must come to know + something of the great men and women of his Nation and State, the writers, inventors, + explorers, scientists,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg + 73]</a></span> artists, and musicians, as well as the soldiers and statesmen.</p> + <p>Not only does this require that the child shall have suitable textbooks in + history, but that he shall also have an adequate library of interesting histories, + biographies, and historical fiction adapted to his age and interests. For it is not + enough that the child shall learn the elementary facts of history while he is in the + elementary school; more important still is it that he shall develop a real interest + in history, and form the taste for reading historical matter.</p> + <p>The course in history must, therefore, contain such matter as the child will love + to read; for only then will it leave the desire to read. It must so put a premium + upon patriotism, loyalty to country, and high-grade citizenship that the child shall + feel the impulse to emulate the noble men and women who have contributed to our + happiness and welfare. The study of history, even in the elementary school, should + eventuate in loyal, efficient citizenship.</p> + <p>The civics taught in the elementary school should be very practical and concrete. + The age has not yet come for a study of the federal or state constitution. It is + rather the <i>functional</i> aspect of government that should be presented at<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> this time—the + points of contact of school district, township, county, state and federal government + with the individual. How the school is supported and controlled; how the bridges are + built and roads repaired; the work of township and county affairs; the powers and + duties of boards of health; the right of franchise and the use of the ballot; the + work of the postal system; the making and enforcing of laws,—these and similar + topics suggest what the child should come to know from the study of civics. The great + problem here is to influence conduct in the direction of upright citizenship, and to + give such a knowledge of the machinery, especially of local government, as will lead + to efficient participation in its activities.</p> + <p><i>Geography and nature study</i>. The rural school has a great advantage over the + city school in the teaching of geography and nature study. For the country child is + closer to the earth and its products than the city child. The broad expanse of nature + is always before him; life in its multiple forms constantly appeals to his eye and + ear. He watches the seeds planted, and sees the crops cultivated and harvested. He + has a very concrete sense of the earth as the home of man, and possesses a basis of + practical knowledge for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg + 75]</a></span> understanding the resources and products of his own and other + countries.</p> + <p>Geography should, therefore, be one of the most vital and useful branches in the + rural school. It is to begin wherever the life of the child touches nature in his + immediate environment, and proceed from this on out to other parts of his home land, + and finally to all lands.</p> + <p>But the geography taught must not be of the old catechism type, which resulted in + children committing to memory the definitions of geographical terms instead of + studying the real objects ready at hand. It must not concern itself with the pupil's + learning the names and locations of dozens of places and geographical forms of no + particular importance, instead of coming into immediate touch with natural + environment and with the earth in the larger sense as it bears upon his own life. The + author has expressed this idea in another place as follows:—</p> + <p>"The content of geography is, therefore, synonymous with the content of the + experience of the child as related to his own interests and activities, in so far as + they grow out of the earth as his home. Towns and cities begin with the ones nearest + at hand. The concept of rivers has its rise in the one that flows past the child's + home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> Valleys, + mountains, capes, and bays are but modifications of those that lie within the circle + of personal experience. Generalizations must come to be made, but they must rest upon + concrete and particular instances if they are to constitute a reality to the + learner.</p> + <p>"What kind of people live in a country, what they work at, what they eat, and how + they live in their homes and their schools, what weather they have, and what they + wear, how they travel and speak and read,—these are more vital questions to the + child than the names and locations of unimportant streams, towns, capes, and bays. + For they are the things that touch his own experience, and hence appeal to his + interest. Only as geography is given this social background, and concerns itself with + the earth as related to social activities, can it fulfill its function in the + elementary school."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a + href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + <p><i>Hygiene and health</i>. Since health is at the basis of all success and + happiness, nothing can be more important in the education of the child than the + subject of practical hygiene. It has been the custom in our schools until recently, + however, to give the child a difficult and uninteresting text book dealing with + physiology and anatomy, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg + 77]</a></span> containing almost nothing on hygiene and the laws of health.</p> + <p>Not only should the course in physiology emphasize the laws of hygiene, but this + hygiene should in part have particular bearing on right living under the conditions + imposed by the farm. Food, its variety, adaptability, and preparation; clothing for + the different seasons; work, recreation, and play; care of the eyes and teeth; + bathing; the ventilation of the home, and especially of sleeping-rooms; the effects + of tobacco and cigarettes in checking growth and reducing efficiency; the more simple + and obvious facts bearing on the relation of bacteria to the growth, preparation, and + spoiling of foods; the means to be taken to prevent bacterial contagion of + diseases,—these are some of the practical matters that every child should know + as a result of his study of physiology and hygiene.</p> + <p>But we must go one step further still. It is not enough to teach these things as + matters of abstract theory or truth. Plenty of people know better hygiene than they + are practicing. The subject must be presented so concretely and effectively and be + supported by such incentives that it will actually lead to better habits of + living—that it will <i>result in higher physical efficiency</i>.<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + <p><i>Agriculture</i>. Agriculture is of course preeminently a subject for the rural + school. Not only is it of immediate and direct practical importance, but it is coming + to be looked upon as so useful a cultural study that it is being introduced into many + city schools.</p> + <p>It has been objected that agriculture as a science cannot be taught in the + elementary school because of the lack of age and development of the pupils. This is + true, but neither can any other subject be taught to children of this age as a + complete science. It is possible, however, to give children in the rural elementary + school much useful information concerning agriculture. Perhaps better still, it is + possible to develop a scientific attitude and interest that will lead to further + study of the subject in the high school or agricultural college, and that will in the + mean-time serve to attach the boys and girls to the farm.</p> + <p>The rural school pupils can be made familiar with the best modes of planting and + cultivating the various crops, and with the diseases and insect enemies which + threaten them; the selection of seed; the rotation of crops, and many other practical + things applying directly to their home life. School gardens of vegetables and + flowers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> + constitute another center of interest and information, and serve to unite the school + and the home.</p> + <p>Similarly the animal life of the farm can be studied, and a knowledge gained of + the best varieties of farm stock, their breeding and care. Insects and bird life can + be observed, and their part in the growth or destruction of crops understood. All + this is not only practicable, but necessary as part of the rural school curriculum. + Anything less than this amount of practical agriculture leaves the rural school in + some degree short of fulfilling its function.</p> + <p><i>Domestic science and manual training</i>. In general what is true of + agriculture is true of domestic science and manual training. They can be presented in + the elementary school only in the most concrete and applied form. But they can be + successfully presented in this form, and must be if the rural school child is to have + an equal opportunity with the town and city child. The girls can be taught the art of + sewing, cooking, and serving, if only the necessary equipment and instruction are + available. They are ready to learn, the subject-matter is adapted to their age and + understanding, and nothing could be more vital to their interests and welfare.<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + <p>Likewise the boys can be taught the use of tools, the value and finishing of + different kinds of woods, and can develop no little skill with their hands, while + they are at the same time receiving mental development and the cultivation of + practical interests from this line of work. It is not in the least a question of the + readiness of the boys to take up and profit by this subject, but is only a matter of + equipment and teaching.</p> + <p><i>Music and art</i>. Nor should the finer aspects of culture be left out of the + education of the country child. He will learn music as readily as the city child, and + love it not less. Indeed, he needs it even more as a part of his schooling, since the + opportunities to hear and enjoy music are always at hand in the city, and nearly + always lacking in the country. The child should be taught to sing and at least to + understand and appreciate music of worthy type.</p> + <p>The same principle will apply to art. The great masterpieces of painting and + sculpture have as much of beauty and inspiration in them as the great masterpieces of + literature. Yet most rural children complete their schooling hardly having seen in + the schoolroom a worthy copy of a great picture, and much less have they been taught + the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> + significance of great works of art or been led to appreciate and love them.</p> + <p><i>Physical training</i>. It has been argued by many that the rural child has + enough exercise and hence does not need physical training. But this position entirely + misconceives the purpose of physical training. One may have plenty of exercise, even + too much exercise, without securing a well-balanced physical development. Indeed, + certain forms of farm work done by children are often so severe a tax on their + strength that a corrective exercise is necessary in order to save stooped forms, + curved spines, and hollow chests. Furthermore, the farm child, lacking the + opportunities of the city child for gaining social ease and control, needs the + development that comes from physical training to give poise, ease of bearing, and + grace of movement.</p> + <p>Nor must the athletic phase of physical training be overlooked. While it is + undoubtedly true that athletics have come to occupy too large a part of the time and + absorb too great a proportion of the interest in many schools, yet this is no reason + for omitting avocational training wholly from the rural school. Children require the + training and development that come from games and play quite as much as they need + that coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> + from work. The school owes a duty to the avocational side of life as well as to the + vocational.</p> + <p>The curriculum here proposed is so much broader and richer than that now offered + in the rural district school that it will appear to many to be visionary and + impossible. That it is impossible for the old type of rural school will be readily + admitted. But it is entirely practicable and possible in the reorganized consolidated + school, and is being successfully presented, in its general aspects, at least, in + many of these schools. It is only such an education as every rural child is entitled + to, and is no more than the urban child is already receiving in the better class of + town and city elementary schools. If the rural school cannot give the farm child an + elementary education approximating the one out-lined, it has no claim on his loyalty + or time; and he should in justice to himself be taken where he can receive a worthy + education, even if he is thereby lost to the farm.</p> + <p>But the rural boy and girl need not only a good elementary education, but a high + school education as well. Let us next consider the rural high school curriculum.</p> + <h4><i>The rural high school curriculum</i></h4> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> + <p>This section is presented in the full knowledge that comparatively few localities + have as yet established the rural high school. It now forms, however, an integral + part of the consolidated rural school in not a few places, and is abundantly + justifying the expenditure made upon it. In other localities the tendency is growing + to send the rural child to the town high school, or even for the family to move to + town to secure high schooling for the children. In still other cases, and we are + obliged to admit that these yet constitute the rule rather than the exception, the + farm boy or girl has no opportunity for a high school education.</p> + <p>If we succeed in working out the so-called rural problem of our country, in + maintaining a high standard of agricultural population and rural life, the rural high + school must be an important factor in our problem. For the children of our farms need + and must have an education reaching beyond that of the elementary school. And this + schooling must prepare them to find the most satisfactory and successful type of life + on the farm, instead of drawing them away from the farm.<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + <p>It goes without saying that the rural high school should be an agricultural high + school. This does not mean that it shall devote itself exclusively to teaching + agriculture; but rather that, while it offers a broad range of culture and + information, it shall emphasize those phases of subject-matter that will best fit + into the interests and activities of farm life, instead of those phases that tend to + lead toward the city or the market-place. Its four years of work must be fully equal + to that of the best town or city high schools, but must in some degree be different + work. It must result in <i>efficiency</i>, and efficiency here must relate itself to + agricultural life and pursuits.</p> + <p>A detailed discussion of the rural high school curriculum will not be required. + The principles already suggested as applying to the elementary school will govern + here as well. The studies must cultivate breadth of view and a wide range of + interests, and must at the same time bear upon the immediate life and experience of + the pupils. The lines of study begun in the elementary school will be continued, with + the purpose of securing deeper insight, more detailed knowledge, and greater + independence of judgment and action.</p> + <p>English should form an important part of the<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> curriculum, with the double aim of + securing facility in the use of the mother tongue and of developing a love for its + literature. The rural high school graduate should be able to write English correctly + as to spelling, punctuation, and grammar; he should be able to express himself + effectively, either in writing, conversation, or the more formal speech of the + rostrum. Above all, he should be an enthusiastic and discriminating reader, with a + catholicity of taste and interest that will lead him beyond the agricultural journal + and newspaper, important as these are, to the works of fiction, material and social + science, travel and biography, current magazines and journals, and whatever else + belongs to the intellectual life of an intelligent, educated man of affairs.</p> + <p>This is asking more than is being accomplished at present by the course in English + in the town high school, but not more than is easily within the range of possibility. + The average high school graduate of to-day cannot always spell and punctuate + correctly, and commonly cannot write well even an ordinary business letter; nor, it + must be feared, has his study of literature had a very great influence in developing + him into a good reader of worthy books.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" + id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + <p>But all this can be remedied by vitalizing the teaching of the mother tongue; by + lessening the proportion of time and emphasis placed upon critical analysis and + technical literary criticism, and increasing that given to the drill and practice + that alone can make sure of the fundamentals of spelling, punctuation, and the common + forms of composition emphasized by all; and by the sympathetic, enthusiastic teaching + of good literature adapted to the age and interests of the pupils from the standpoint + of synthetic appreciation and enjoyment, rather than from the standpoint of + mechanical analysis.</p> + <p>The rural high school course in social science should be broad and thorough. The + course in history should not give an undue proportion of time to ancient and medieval + history, nor to war and politics. Emphasis should be placed on the social, + industrial, and economic phases of human development in modern times and in our own + country.</p> + <p>Political economy should form an important branch. Especially should it deal with + the problems of production, distribution, and consumption as they relate to + agriculture. Matters of finance, taxation, and investment, while resting on general + principles, should be applied to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" + id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> problems of the farm. Nor should the economic basis + of support and expenditure in the home be overlooked.</p> + <p>The course in civics should not only present the general theory of government, but + should apply concretely to the civic relations and duties of a rural population. + Especially should it appeal to the civic conscience and sense of responsibility which + we need among our rural people to make the country an antidote to the political + corruption of the city.</p> + <p>Material science should constitute an important section of the rural high school + curriculum. Not only does its study afford one of the best means of mental + development, but the subject-matter of science has a very direct bearing on the life + and industries of the farm. To achieve the best results, however, the science taught + must be presented from the concrete and applied point of view rather than from the + abstract and general. This does not mean that a hodge-podge of unrelated facts shall + be taught in the place of science; indeed, such a method would defeat the whole + purpose of the course. It means, however, that the general laws and principles of + science shall be carried out to their practical bearing on the problems of the home + and the farm, and not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg + 88]</a></span> be left just as general laws or abstract principles unapplied.</p> + <p>The botany and zoölogy of the rural high school will, of course, have a + strong agricultural trend. It will sacrifice the old logical classifications and + study of generic types of animals and plants for the more interesting and useful + study of the fauna and flora of the locality. The various farm crops, their weed + enemies, the helpful and harmful insects and birds, the animal life of the barnyard, + horticulture and floriculture, and the elements of bacteriology, will constitute + important elements in the course.</p> + <p>The course in physics will develop the general principles of the subject, and will + then apply these principles to the machinery of the farm, to the heating, lighting, + and ventilation of houses, to the drainage of soil, the plumbing of buildings, and a + hundred other practical problems bearing on the life of the farm. Chemistry will be + taught as related to the home, foods, soils, and crops. A concrete geology will lead + to a better understanding of soils, building materials, and drainage. Physiology and + hygiene will seek as their aim longer life and higher personal efficiency.</p> + <p>The course in agriculture, whether presented separately or in conjunction with + botany and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> + zoölogy, must be comprehensive and thorough. Not only should it give a complete + and practical knowledge of the selection of seed; the planting, cultivating, and + harvesting of crops; the improvement and conservation of the soil; the breeding and + care of stock, etc., but it must serve to create and develop a scientific attitude + toward farming. The farmer should come to look upon his work as offering the largest + opportunities for the employment of technical knowledge, judgment, and skill. That + such an attitude will yield large returns in success is attested by many farmers + to-day who are applying scientific methods to their work.</p> + <p>Manual training and domestic science should receive especial emphasis in the rural + high school. Both subjects have undoubted educational value in themselves, and their + practical value and importance to those looking forward to farm life can hardly be + over-estimated. And in these as in other subjects, the course offered will need to be + modified from that of the city school in order to meet the requirements of the + particular problems to which the knowledge and training secured are to be + applied.</p> + <p>Mathematics should form a part of the rural high school curriculum, but the + traditional courses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg + 90]</a></span> in algebra and geometry do not meet the need. The ideal course would + probably be a skillful combination of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry occupying + the time of one or two years, and applied directly to the problems of mechanics, + measurements, surveying, engineering, and building on the farm. Such an idea is not + new, and textbooks are now under way providing material for such a course.</p> + <p>In addition, there should be a thorough course in practical business arithmetic. + By this is not meant the abstract, analytical matter so often taught as high school + arithmetic, but concrete and applied commercial and industrial arithmetic, with + particular reference to farm problems. In connection with this subject should be + given a course in household accounts, and book-keeping, including commercial forms + and commercial law.</p> + <p>It is doubtful whether foreign language has any place in the rural high school. If + offered at all, it should be only in high schools strong enough to offer parallel + courses for election, and should never displace the subjects lying closer to the + interests and needs of the students.</p> + <p>The study of music and art begun in the elementary school should be continued in + the high<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> + school, and a love for the beautiful cultivated not only by the matter taught, but + also by the æsthetic qualities of the school buildings and grounds and their + decoration. On the practical sides these subjects will reach out to the beautifying + of the farm homes and the life they shelter.</p> + <p>When a well-taught curriculum of some such scope of elementary and high school + work as that suggested is as freely available to the farm child as his school is + available to the city child, will the country boys and girls have a fair chance for + education. And when this comes about, the greatest single obstacle to keeping our + young people on the farm will have been removed.</p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span + class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Social Principles of Education</i>, p. 264.</p> + </div> + </div> + <h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> + <h3>THE TEACHING OF THE RURAL SCHOOL</h3> + <h4><i>The importance of teaching</i></h4> + <p>Teaching is the fundamental purpose for which the school is run. Taxes are levied + and collected, buildings erected and equipped, and curriculum organized solely that + teaching may go on. Children are clothed and fed and sent to school instead of being + put at work in order that they may be taught. The school is classified into grades, + programs are arranged, and regulations are enforced only to make teaching possible. + Normal schools are established, teachers are trained, and certificates required in + order that teaching may be more efficient.</p> + <p>The teacher confronts a great task. On the one hand are the children, ignorant, + immature, and undeveloped. In them lie ready to be called forth all the powers and + capacities that will characterize their fully ripened manhood and womanhood. Given + the right stimulus and direction, these powers will grow into splendid strength and + ca<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>pacity; + lacking this stimulus and guidance, the powers are left crippled and incomplete.</p> + <p>On the other hand is the subject-matter of education, the heritage of culture + which has been accumulating through the ages. In the slow process of human + experience, running through countless generations, men have made their discoveries in + the fields of mathematics and science; they have lived great events and achievements + which have become history; they have developed the social institutions which we call + the State, the church, the home, and the school; they have organized great industries + and carried on complex vocations; they have crystallized their ideals, their hopes, + and their aspirations in literature; and have with brush and chisel expressed in art + their concepts of truth and beauty. The best of all this human experience we have + collected in what we call a curriculum, and placed it before the child for him to + master, as the generations before him have mastered it in their common lives. For + only in this way can the child come into full possession of his powers, and set them + at work in a fruitful way in accomplishing his own life-purpose.</p> + <p>It is the function of the teacher, therefore, to stand as an intermediary, as an + interpreter, be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg + 94]</a></span>tween the child and this great mass of subject-matter that lies ready + for him to learn. The race has lived its thousands or millions of years; the + individual lives but a few score. What former generations took centuries to work out + the child can spend only a few months or a few years upon. Hence he must waste no + time and opportunity; he must make no false step in his learning, for he cannot in + his short life retrieve his mistakes. It is the work of the teacher, through + instruction and guidance, that is, through teaching, to save the child time in his + learning and development, and to make sure that he does not lose his opportunity. And + this is a great responsibility.</p> + <p>Thus the teacher confronts a problem that has two great factors, the <i>child</i> + and the <i>subject-matter</i>. He must have a knowledge of both these factors if his + work is to be effective; for he cannot teach matter that he does not know, and + neither can he teach a person whose nature he does not understand. But in addition to + a knowledge of these factors, the teacher must also master a technique of + instruction, he must train himself in the art of teaching.</p> + <p><i>The teacher must know the child</i>. It has been a rather common impression + that if one knows a certain field of subject-matter, he will surely be<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> able to teach it to + others. But nothing could be further from the truth than such an assumption. Indeed, + it is proverbial that the great specialists are the most wretched teachers of their + subjects. The nature of the child's mental powers, the order of their unfoldment, the + evolution of his interests, the incentives that appeal to him, the danger points in + both his intellectual and his moral development,—these and many other things + about child nature the intelligent teacher must clearly understand.</p> + <p>And the teacher of the younger children needs this knowledge even more than the + teacher of older ones. For the earlier years of the child's schooling are the most + important years. It is at this time that he lays the foundation for all later + learning, that he forms his habits of study and his attitude toward education, and + that his life is given the bent for all its later development. Nothing can be more + irrational, therefore, than to put the most untrained and inexperienced teachers in + charge of the younger children. The fallacious notion that "anyone can teach little + children" has borne tragic fruit in the stagnation and mediocrity of many lives whose + powers were capable of great achievements.</p> + <p><i>The teacher must know the subject-matter</i>. The<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> blind cannot successfully lead the + blind. One whose grasp of a subject extends only to the simplest rudiments cannot + teach these rudiments. He who has never himself explored a field can hardly guide + others through that field; at least, progress through the field will be at the cost + of great waste of time and failure to grasp the significance or beauty of what the + field contains.</p> + <p>Expressed more concretely, it is impossible to transplant arithmetic, or + geography, or history, or anything else that one would teach, immediately from the + textbook into the mind of the child. The subject must first come to be very fully and + completely a true possession of the teacher. The successful teacher must also know + vastly more of a subject than he is required to teach. For only then has he freedom; + only then has he outlook and perspective; only then can he teach the <i>subject</i>, + and not some particular textbook; only then can he inspire others to effort and + achievement through his own mastery and interest. Enthusiasm is <i>caught</i> and not + taught.</p> + <p><i>The teacher must know the technique of instruction</i>. For teaching is an art, + based upon scientific principles and requiring practice to secure skill. One of the + greatest tasks of the teacher is to <i>psychologize</i> the subject-matter for his + pupils,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg + 97]</a></span>—that is, so to select, organize, and present it that the child's + mind naturally and easily grasps and appropriates it. Teaching, when it has become an + art, which is to say, when the teacher has become an artist, is one of the most + highly skilled vocations. It is as much more difficult than medicine as the human + mind is more baffling than the human body; it is as much more difficult than + preaching as the child is harder to comprehend and guide than the adult; it is as + much more difficult than the law as life is more complex than logic.</p> + <p>Yet, while we require the highest type of preparation for medicine, the ministry, + or the law, we require but little for teaching. We pay enormous salaries to trained + experts to apply the principles of scientific management to our industries or our + business, but we have been satisfied with inexpert service for the teaching of our + children. We are making fortunes out of the stoppage of waste in our factories, but + allowing enormous waste to continue in our schools. <i>If we were to put into + practice in teaching the thoroughly demonstrated and accepted scientific principles + of education as we know them, we could beyond doubt double the educational results + attained by our children</i>.</p> + <h4><i>Teaching in the rural school</i></h4> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> + <p>The criticisms just made on our standards of teaching will apply in some degree to + all our schools from the kindergarten to the university; but they apply more strongly + to the rural schools than to any other class. For the rural schools are the + training-ground for young, inexperienced, and relatively unprepared teachers. Except + for the comparatively small proportion of the town or city teachers who are normal + school or college trained, nearly all have served an apprenticeship in the rural + schools. Thus the rural school, besides its other handicaps, is called upon to train + teachers for the more favored urban schools.</p> + <p>Careful statistical studies<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a + href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> have shown that many rural teachers, + both men and women, have had no training beyond that of the elementary school. And + not infrequently this training has taken place in the rural school of the type in + which they themselves take up teaching. The average schooling of the men teaching in + the rural schools of the entire country is less than two years above the elementary + school, and of women, slightly more than two years. This is to say that our rural + schools are taught by those who have had only about half of a high school course.</p> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + <p>It is evident, therefore, that the rural teacher cannot meet the requirement urged + above in the way of preparation. He does not know his subject-matter. Not only has he + not gone far enough in his education to have a substantial foundation, breadth of + view, and mental perspective, but he frequently lacks in the simplest rudiments of + the immediate subject-matter which he is supposed to teach. The examination papers + written by applicants for certificates to begin rural school teaching often betray a + woful ignorance of the most fundamental knowledge. Inability to spell, punctuate, or + effectively use the English language is common. The most elementary scientific truths + are frequently unknown. A connected view of our nation's history and knowledge of + current events are not always possessed. The great world of literature is too often a + closed book. And not seldom the simple relations of arithmetical number are beyond + the grasp of the applicant. In short, our rural schools, as they average, require no + adequate preparation of the teacher, and do not represent as much education in their + teaching force as that needed by the intelligent farmer, merchant, or tradesman.<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + <p>The rural teacher does not know the child. But little more than children + themselves, and with little chance for observation or for experience in life, it + would be strange if they did. They have had no opportunity for professional study, + and psychology and the science of education are unknown to them. The attempts made to + remedy this fatal weakness by the desultory reading of a volume or two in a voluntary + reading-circle course do not serve the purpose. The teacher needs a thorough course + of instruction in general and applied psychology, under the tutelage of an + enthusiastic expert who not only knows his subject, but also understands the problems + of the teacher.</p> + <p>The rural teacher does not know the technique of the schoolroom. The organizing of + a school, the proper classification of pupils, the assignment of studies, the + arrangement of a program of studies and recitation, the applications of suitable + regulations and rules for the running of the school, are all matters requiring expert + knowledge and skill. Yet the rural teacher has to undertake them without instruction + in their principles and without supervisory guidance or help. No wonder that the + rural school is poorly organized and managed. It presents problems of administration + more puz<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg + 101]</a></span>zling than the town school, and yet here is where we put out our + novices, boys and girls not yet out of their "teens"—young people who + themselves have no concept of the problems of the school, no knowledge of its complex + machinery, and no experience to serve as a guide in confronting their work. No + industrial enterprise could exist under such irrational conditions; and neither could + the schools, except that mental waste and bankruptcy are harder to measure than + economic.</p> + <p>Nor does the rural teacher know the technique of instruction any better than that + of organization and management. The skillful conducting of a recitation is at least + as severe a test upon mental resourcefulness and skill as making a speech, preaching + a sermon, or conducting a lawsuit. For not only must the subject-matter be organized + for immature minds unused to the formal processes of learning, but the effects of + instruction upon the child's mind must constantly be watched by the teacher and + interpreted with reference to further instruction. This skill cannot be attained + empirically, by the cut-and-dried method, except at a frightful cost to the children. + It is as if we were to turn a set of intelligent but untrained men loose in the + community with their scalpels and their medicine cases to learn to be<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> surgeons and + doctors by experimenting upon their fellows.</p> + <p>As would naturally be expected, therefore, the teaching in the average rural + school is a dreary round of inefficiency. Handicapped to begin with by classes too + small to be interesting, the rural teacher is mechanically hearing the recitations of + some twenty-five to thirty of these classes per day. Lacking at the beginning the + breadth of education that would make teaching easy, he finds it impossible to prepare + for so many different exercises daily. The result is that the recitations are dull, + spiritless, uninteresting. The lessons are poorly prepared by the pupils, poorly + recited, and hence very imperfectly mastered. The more advanced work cannot stand on + such a foundation of sand, and so, discouraged, the child soon drops out of + school.</p> + <p>When it is also remembered that the tenure of service of the teacher is very short + in the rural schools, the problem becomes all the more grave. The average term of + service in the rural schools is probably not above two years, and in many States + considerably below this amount. This requires that half of the rural teachers each + year shall be beginners. It will be impossible, of course, as long as teaching is + done so largely by girls, who nat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" + id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>urally will, and should, soon quit teaching for + marriage, to secure a long period of service in the vocation. Yet the rural school + is, as we have seen, also constantly losing its trained teachers to the town and + city, and hence breaking in more than its share of novices.</p> + <p>Added to the disadvantage inevitably coming from the brief period of service in + teaching is a similar one growing out of a faulty method of administration. In a + large majority of our rural schools the contract is made for but one term of not more + than three months. This leaves the teacher free to accept another school at the end + of the term, and not infrequently a school will have two or even three different + teachers within the same year. There is a great source of waste at this point, owing + to a change of methods, repetition of work, and the necessity of starting a new + system of school machinery. Industrial concerns would hardly find it profitable to + change superintendents and foremen several times a year. We do this in our schools + only because we have not yet learned that it pays to apply rational business methods + to education.</p> + <p>Nothing that has been said in criticism of rural teaching ought to be construed as + a reflection on the rural teachers personally. The fact that<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> they can succeed as well as they do + under conditions that are so adverse is the best warrant for their intelligence and + devotion. It is not their fault that they begin teaching with inadequate knowledge of + subject-matter, with ignorance of the nature of childhood, and without skill in the + technique of the schoolroom. The system, and not the individual, is at fault. The + public demands a pitifully low standard of efficiency in rural teaching, and the + excellence of the product offered is not likely greatly to surpass what society asks + and is ready to pay for.</p> + <p>Once again we must turn to the consolidated school as the solution of our + difficulty. The isolated district school will not be able to demand and secure a + worthy grade of preparation for teaching. The educational standards will not rise + high enough under this system to create a public demand for skilled teachers. Nor can + such salaries be paid as will encourage thorough and extensive study and preparation + for teaching. And, finally, the professional incentives are not sufficiently strong + in such schools to create a true craft spirit toward teaching.</p> + <p>While it is impossible to measure the improved results in teaching coming from the + consolidated school in the same objective way that we can<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> measure increased attendance, yet + there is no doubt that one of the strongest arguments for the consolidated school is + its more skillful and inspiring teaching. The increased salaries, the possibility of + professional association with other teachers, the improved equipment, the better + supervision, and above all, the spirit of progress and enthusiasm in the school + itself, all serve to transform teaching from a treadmill routine into a joyful + opportunity for inspiration and service.</p> + <h4><i>The training of rural teachers</i></h4> + <p>The training of the rural teacher has never been given the same consideration as + that of town or city teachers. It is true that normal schools are available to all + alike, and that in a few States the rural schools secure a considerable number of + teachers who have had some normal training. But this is the exception rather than the + rule. In the Middle Western States, for example, where there is a rich agricultural + population, whole counties can be found in which no rural teacher has ever had any + special training for his work. Professional requirements have been on a par with the + meager salaries paid, and other incentives have not been strong enough to insure + adequate preparation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg + 106]</a></span></p> + <p>State normal schools have, therefore, been of comparatively little assistance in + fitting teachers for the rural school. First of all the rural school teacher + ordinarily does not go to the normal school, for it is not demanded of him. Again, if + perchance a prospective rural teacher should attend a normal school, a town or city + grade position is usually waiting for him when he graduates. For, in spite of the + growth of our normal schools, they are as yet far from being able to supply all the + teachers required for the urban grade positions, to say nothing about the rural + schools. The colleges and universities are, of course, still further removed from the + rural school, since the high schools stand ready to employ those of their graduates + who enter upon teaching.</p> + <p>In some States, as for example, Wisconsin, county normal schools have been + established with the special aim of preparing teachers for the rural schools. While + this movement has helped, it does not promise to secure wide acceptance as a method + of dealing with the problem. Greater possibilities undoubtedly exist in the + comparatively recent movement toward combining normal training with the regular high + school course. Provision for such courses now exists in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, + Texas, Minnesota,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg + 107]</a></span> Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and a number of other States.</p> + <p>Combining normal training with high school education has first of all the + advantage of bringing such training <i>to</i> prospective teachers, instead of + requiring the teachers to leave home and incur additional expense in seeking their + training. From the standpoint of the public it has the merit of economy, in that it + utilizes buildings, equipment, and organization already in existence instead of + requiring new.</p> + <p>But whatever may be the method employed, the rural teachers should receive better + preparation for their work than they now have. This means, <i>first</i>, that the + State must make adequate provision for the teacher to receive his training at a + minimum of expense and trouble; and <i>second</i>, that the standard of requirement + must be such that the teacher will be obliged to secure adequate preparation before + being admitted to the school. Even with the present status of our rural schools it is + not too much to require that every teacher shall have had <i>at least a four-year + high school education</i>, and that <i>a reasonable amount of normal training</i> be + had either in conjunction with the high school course, or subsequent to its + completion. Indiana, for example, has found this<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> requirement entirely feasible, and + a great influence in bettering the tone of the rural school.</p> + <p>Wherever the rural teacher secures his training, however, one condition must + obtain: this preparation must familiarize him with the spirit and needs of the + agricultural community, and imbue him with enthusiasm for service in this field. It + is not infrequently the case that town high school graduates, themselves never having + lived in the country, possess neither the sympathy nor the understanding necessary to + enable them to offer a high grade of service in the rural school. Not a few of them + feel above the work of such a position, and look with contempt or pity upon the life + of the farm. The successful rural teacher must be able to identify himself very + completely with the interests and activities of the community; nor can this be done + in any half-hearted, sentimental, or professional manner. It must be a spontaneous + and natural response arising from a true interest in the people, a knowledge of their + lives, and a sincere desire for their welfare. Any preparation that does not result + in this spirit, and train in the ability to realize it in action, does not fit for + the rural school.</p> + <h4><i>Salaries of rural teachers</i></h4> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> + <p>The salaries paid teachers in general in different types of schools are one + measure, though not a perfect one, of their efficiency. Salary is not a perfect + measure of efficiency, (1) because economic ability to pay is a modifying influence. + When the early New England teacher was receiving ten or twelve dollars a month and + "boarding round," he was probably getting all that the community could afford to pay + him, although he was often a college student, and not infrequently a well-trained + graduate. The salaries paid in the various occupations are not (2) based upon any + definite standards of the value of service. For example, the <i>chef</i> in a hotel + may receive more than the superintendent of schools, and the football coach more than + the college president; yet we would hardly want to conclude that the services of the + cook and the athlete are worth more to society than the services of educators. And + within the vocation of teaching itself there is (3) no fixed standard for judging + teaching efficiency. Nevertheless, in general, teaching efficiency is in considerable + degree measured by differences in salaries paid in different localities and in the + various levels of school work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" + id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + <p>Based on the standard of salary as a measure, the teaching efficiency of rural + teachers is, as we should expect from starting nearly all of our beginners here, + considerably below that in towns or cities. A study by Coffman<a name="FNanchor_6_6" + id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> of more than + five thousand widely distributed teachers as to age, sex, salary, etc., shows that + the average man in the rural school receives an annual salary of $390; in town + schools, of $613; and in city schools, of $919. The average woman in the rural school + receives an annual salary of $366; in town schools, of $492; and in city schools, of + $591. Men in towns, therefore, receive one and one half times as much as men in the + country, and in cities, two and one half times as much as in the country. Women in + towns receive a little more than one and one third times as much as women in the + country, and in the cities almost one and two thirds times as much as women in the + country.</p> + <p>The actual amount of salary paid rural teachers is perhaps more instructive than + the comparative amounts. The income of the rural teacher is barely a living wage, and + not even that if the teacher has no parental home, or a gainful occupation during + vacation times. Out of an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg + 111]</a></span> amount of less than four hundred dollars a year the teacher is + expected to pay for a certificate, a few school journals and professional books, and + attend teachers institutes or conventions, besides supporting himself as a teacher + ought to live. It does not need argument to show that this meager salary forces a + standard of living too low for efficiency. It would, therefore, be unfair to ask for + efficiency with the present standard of salaries.</p> + <p>Nor is it to be overlooked that efficiency and salaries must mount upward + together. It would be as unjust to ask for higher salaries without increasing the + grade of efficiency as to ask for efficiency on the present salary basis. It is + probable that the eighteen- or nineteen-year-old boys and girls starting in to teach + the rural school, with but little preparation above the elementary grades, are + receiving all they are worth, at least as compared with what they could earn in other + lines. The great point of difficulty is that they are not worth enough. The community + cannot afford to buy the kind of educational service they are qualified to offer; it + would be a vastly better investment for the public to buy higher teaching efficiency + at larger salaries.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg + 112]</a></span></p> + <p>No statistics are available to show the exact percentage of increase in rural + teachers' salaries during recent years, but this increase has been considerable; and + the tendency is still upward. In this as in other features of the rural school + problem, however, it will be impossible to meet reasonable demands without forsaking + the rural district system for a more centralized system of consolidated schools. To + pay adequate salaries to the number of teachers now required for the thousands of + small rural schools would be too heavy a drain on our economic resources. Under the + consolidated system a considerably smaller number of teachers is required, and these + can receive higher salaries without greatly increasing the amount expended for + teaching. In this as in other phases of our educational problems, what is needed is + rational business method, and a willingness to devote a fair proportion of our wealth + to the education of the young.</p> + <h4><i>Supervision of rural teaching</i></h4> + <p>Our rural school teaching has never had efficient supervision. The very nature of + rural school organization has rendered expert supervision impossible, no matter how + able the supervising officer might be. With slight modifications, the<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> office of + <i>county superintendent</i> is, throughout the country, typical of the attempt to + provide supervision for the rural school. While such a system may have afforded all + that could be expected in the pioneer days, its inadequacy to meet present-day + demands is almost too patent to require discussion.</p> + <p>First of all, it is physically impossible for a county superintendent to visit and + supervise one hundred and fifty teachers at work in as many different schools + scattered over four or five hundred square miles of territory. If he were to devote + all his time to visiting country schools, he would have only one day to each school + per year. When it is remembered that the county superintendent must also attend to an + office that has a large amount of correspondence and clerical work, that he is + usually commissioned with authority to oversee the building of all schoolhouses in + his county, that he must act as judge in hearing appeals in school disputes, that he + must conduct all teachers' examinations and in many instances grade the papers, and, + finally, that country roads are often impassable, it is seen that his time for + supervision is greatly curtailed. As a matter of fact some rural schools receive no + visit from the county superintendent for several years at a time.<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + <p>A still further obstacle comes from the fact of the frequent changes of teachers + among rural schools. A teacher visited by the county superintendent in a certain + school this term, and advised as to how best to meet its problems, is likely to be in + a different school next term, and required to meet an entirely new set of + problems.</p> + <p>This is all very different from the problem of supervision met by the town or city + superintendent. For the town or city district is of small area, and the schools few + and close together. If the number of teachers is large, the superintendent is + assisted by principals of different schools, and by deputies. The teaching force is + better prepared, and hence requires less close supervision. School standards are + higher, and the coöperation of patrons more easily secured. The course of study + is better organized, the schools better graded and equipped, and all other conditions + more favorable to efficient supervision. It would not, therefore, be just to compare + the results of supervision in the country districts with those in urban schools + without making full allowance for these fundamental differences.</p> + <p>The county superintendent is in many States discriminated against in salary as + compared with other county officers, and, as a rule, no provision<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> is made to + compensate for traveling expenses incurred in visiting schools. This, in effect, + places a financial penalty on the work of supervision, as the superintendent can + remain in his office with considerably less expense to himself than when he is out + among the schools. In some instances, however, an allowance is made for traveling + expenses in addition to the regular salary, thus encouraging the visiting of schools, + or at least removing the handicap existing under the older system. An attempt has + also been made in some States to relieve the county superintendent of the greater + part of the clerical work of his office by employing for him at county expense a + clerk for this purpose. These two provisions have proved of great help to the + supervisory function of the county superintendent's work, but the task yet looms up + in impossible magnitude.</p> + <p>The county superintendency is throughout the country almost universally a + political office. In some States, as, for example, in Indiana, it is appointive by a + non-partisan board. But, in general, the candidate of the prevailing party, or the + one who is the best "mixer," secures the office regardless of qualifications. Sharing + the fortunes of other political offices, the county superintendency frequently has + applied to it the unwritten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg + 116]</a></span> party rule of "two terms and out," thus crippling the efficiency of + the office by frequent changes of administration and uncertainty of tenure.</p> + <p>No fixed educational or professional standard of preparation for the county + superintendency exists in the different States. If some reasonably high standard were + required, it would do much to lessen the mischievous effects of making it a political + office. In a large proportion of cases the county superintendent is only required to + hold a middle-class certificate, and has enjoyed no better educational facilities + than dozens of the teachers he is to supervise. The author has conducted teachers' + institutes in the Middle West for county superintendents who had never attended an + institute or taught a term of school. The salary and professional opportunities of + the office are not sufficiently attractive to draw men from the better school + positions; hence the great majority of county superintendents come from the village + principalships, the grades of town schools, or even from the rural schools.</p> + <p>A marked tendency of recent years has been to elect women as county + superintendents. In Iowa, for example, half of the present county superintendents are + women, and the proportion is increasing. In not a few instances women have<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> made exceptional + records as county superintendents, and, as a whole, are loyally devoted to their + work. They suffer one disadvantage in this office, however, which is hard to + overcome: they find it impossible, without undue exposure, to travel about the county + during the cold and stormy weather of winter or when the roads are soaked with the + spring rains. Whether they will be able to effect the desired coördination + between the rural school and the agricultural interests of the community is a + question yet to be settled.</p> + <p>In spite of the limitations of the office of county superintendent, however, it + must not be thought that this office has played an unimportant part in our + educational development. It has exerted a marked influence in the upbuilding of our + schools, and accomplished this under the most unfavorable and discouraging + circumstances. Among its occupants have been some of the most able and efficient men + and women engaged in our school system. But the time has come in our educational + advancement when the rural schools should have better supervision than they are now + getting or can get under the present system.</p> + <p>The first step in improving the supervision, as in improving so many other + features of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg + 118]</a></span> rural schools, is the reorganization of the system through + consolidation, and the consequent reduction in the number of schools to be + supervised. The next step is to remove the supervising office as far as possible from + "practical" politics by making it appointive by a non-partisan county board, who will + be at liberty to go anywhere for a superintendent, who will be glad to pay a good + salary, and who will seek to retain a superintendent in office as long as he is + rendering acceptable service to the county. The third step is to raise the standard + of fitness for the office so that the incumbent may be a true intellectual leader + among the teachers and people of his county. Nor can this preparation be of the + scholastic type alone, but must be of such character as to adapt its possessor to the + spirit and ideals of an agricultural people.</p> + <p>A wholly efficient system of supervision of rural teaching, then, would be + possible only in a system of consolidated schools, each under the immediate direction + of a principal, himself thoroughly educated and especially qualified to carry on the + work of a school adapted to rural needs. Over these schools would be the supervision + of the county superintendent, who will stand in the same relation to the principals + as that of the city<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg + 119]</a></span> superintendent to his ward or high school principals. The county + superintendent will serve to unify and correlate the work of the different + consolidated schools, and to relate all to the life and work of the farm.</p> + <p>If it is said that systems of superintendence for rural schools could be devised + more effective than the county superintendency, this may be granted as a matter of + theory; but as a practical working program, there is no doubt that the office of + county superintendent is a permanent part of our rural school system, unless the + system itself is very radically changed. All the States, except the New England + group, Ohio, and Nevada, now have the office of county superintendent. It is likely, + therefore, that the plan of district superintendence permissive under the laws of + certain States will hardly secure wide acceptance. The county as the unit of school + administration is growing in favor, and will probably ultimately come to characterize + the rural school system. The most natural step lying next ahead would, therefore, + seem to be to make the conditions surrounding the office of county superintendent as + favorable as possible, and then give the superintendent a sufficient number of + deputies to make the supervision effective. These<span class='pagenum'><a + name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> deputies should be selected, of + course, with reference to their fitness for supervising particular lines of teaching, + such as primary, home economics, agriculture, etc. A beginning has already been made + in the latter line by the employment in some counties, with the aid of the Federal + Government, of an agricultural expert who not only instructs the farmers in their + fields, but also correlates his work with the rural schools. This principle is + capable of almost indefinite extension in our school system.</p> + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span + class="label">[5]</span></a> See Coffman, <i>The Social Composition of the + Teaching Force</i>.</p> + </div> + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span + class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>The Social Composition of the Teaching + Population</i>.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h2><a name="OUTLINE" id="OUTLINE"></a>OUTLINE</h2> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> + <h3>I. THE RURAL SCHOOL AND ITS PROBLEM</h3> + <ul> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <p><b>The General Problem of the Rural School</b></p> + <ol> + <li>The general problem of the rural school identical with that of all + schools<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></span></li> + <li>The newer concept measures education by efficiency<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_2">2</a></span></li> + <li>This efficiency involves (1) knowledge,(2) attitude, (3) technique, or + skill<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></span></li> + <li>The purpose of the school is to make sure of these factors of + efficiency<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + + <p><b>The Special Problem of the Rural School</b></p> + <ol> + <li>Each type of school has its special problem<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_5">5</a></span></li> + <li>The rural school problem originates in the nature of the rural + community<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></span></li> + <li>Characteristics of the rural community<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_6">6</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Its industrial homogeneity<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_6">6</a></span></li> + <li>Its social homogeneity<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_7">7</a></span></li> + <li>Fundamental intelligence of the rural population<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_8">8</a></span></li> + <li>Economic status and standards of living<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_10">10</a></span></li> + <li>Rural isolation and its social effects<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_10">10</a></span></li> + <li>Rural life and physical efficiency<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_11">11</a></span></li> + <li>Lack of recreations and amusement<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_12">12</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>Recent tendencies toward progress in agricultural pursuits<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></span></li> + <li>The loss of rural population to the cities<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_13">13</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + </li> + <li> + <b>The Adjustment of the Rural School to its Problem</b><br /> + <br /> + <ol> + <li>Failure in adjustment of the rural school to its problem<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></span></li> + <li>The rudimentary education received by rural children<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_17">17</a></span></li> + <li>Failure of the rural school to participate in recent educational + progress<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></span></li> + <li>The rural school inadequate in its scope<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_19">19</a></span></li> + <li>Need of better organization in the rural school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_20">20</a></span></li> + <li>Inadequacy of rural school buildings and equipment<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_21">21</a></span></li> + <li>The financial support of the rural school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_22">22</a></span></li> + <li>Summary and suggestions<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_23">23</a></span></li> + </ol> </li> + </ul> + + <ul> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <br /> + <h3>II. THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE RURAL SCHOOL</h3> + <p><b>The Rural School and the Community</b></p> + <ol> + <li>The fundamental relations of school and community<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_25">25</a></span></li> + <li>Low community standards of education<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_25">25</a></span></li> + <li>The rural community's need of a social center<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_26">26</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Its social isolation a serious drawback<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_27">27</a></span></li> + <li>Grave moral dangers arising from social isolation<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></span></li> + <li>Rural environment more dangerous to youth than city environment<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></span></li> + <li>Effects of monotony on adults<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_30">30</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>The rural school as a social center<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_30">30</a></span></li> + <li>The ideal rural school building and equipment<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_32">32</a></span></li> + <li>Social activities centering in the school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_33">33</a></span></li> + <li>Reorganization needed to make the rural school effective as a social + and<br /> + intellectual center<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + + <p><b>The Consolidation of Rural Schools</b></p> + <ol> + <li>Consolidation the first step toward rural school efficiency<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></span></li> + <li>Irrationality of present district system<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_36">36</a></span></li> + <li>Obstacles in the way of consolidation<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_37">37</a></span></li> + <li>The present movement toward consolidation<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_38">38</a></span></li> + <li>Effects of consolidation<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_40">40</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>On attendance<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></span></li> + <li>On expense<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></span></li> + <li>On efficiency<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>The one-room school yet needed as a part of the rural system<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + <p><b>Financial Support of the Rural School</b></p> + <ol> + <li>Lack of adequate financial support of rural schools<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_43">43</a></span></li> + <li>Difference in city and rural basis for taxation<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_44">44</a></span></li> + <li>Low school tax characteristic of rural communities<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_45">45</a></span></li> + <li>State aid for rural schools<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_46">46</a></span></li> + <li>Safeguards required where the principle of state aid is supplied<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></span></li> + <li>Summary and conclusion<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_48">48</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + <p><b>The Rural School and its Pupils</b></p> + <ol> + <li>The spirit of the pupils as a test of the school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_50">50</a></span></li> + <li>The negative attitude of rural pupils toward their school<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></span></li> + <li>Causes of this defection to be sought in the school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_51">51</a></span></li> + <li>The problem of poor rural school attendance<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_52">52</a></span></li> + <li>The consolidated school as a cure for indifferent attitude and poor + attendance<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + </ul> + + <ul> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <br /> + <h3>III. THE CURRICULUM OF THE RURAL SCHOOL</h3> + <p><b>The Scope of the Rural School Curriculum</b></p> + <ol> + <li>The modern demand for a broader education<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_57">57</a></span></li> + <li>The meagerness of the rural school curriculum<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_58">58</a></span></li> + <li>The rural child requires full elementary and high school course<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></span></li> + <li>Disadvantages of sending rural child to town school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_60">60</a></span></li> + <li>Necessary reorganization in rural school offering broadened curriculum<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></span></li> + <li>General nature of the new curriculum<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_62">62</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + + <p><b>The Rural Elementary School Curriculum</b></p> + <ol> + <li>Relation of the curriculum to social standards and ideals<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></span></li> + <li>The mother tongue<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Necessity for its mastery<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_65">65</a></span></li> + <li>Learning the mechanics of the language<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_66">66</a></span></li> + <li>Developing the art of expression, oral and written<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></span></li> + <li>Creation of love for reading<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_67">67</a></span></li> + <li>Formal grammar out of place in the elementary school <span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>Number<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>The prominent place occupied by arithmetic<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_69">69</a></span></li> + <li>Importance of development of the number concept<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_69">69</a></span></li> + <li>An undue proportion of time devoted to arithmetic<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></span></li> + <li>Desirable changes in the teaching of arithmetic<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_71">71</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>History and civics<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_71">71</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>The right and duty of every person to know the history and + government<br /> + of his country<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></span></li> + <li>History not to deal chiefly with war and politics, but to emphasize + the<br /> + social and industrial side<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_72">72</a></span></li> + <li>The library of historical books<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_73">73</a></span></li> + <li>Functional versus analytical civics<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_73">73</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>Geography and nature study<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_74">74</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Advantage of the rural school in this field<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_74">74</a></span></li> + <li>The social basis of geography<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_75">75</a></span></li> + <li>Application of geography and nature study to the farm<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>Hygiene and health<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_76">76</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Criticism of older concept of physiology for the elementary school<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></span></li> + <li>Content of practical course in hygiene<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_77">77</a></span></li> + <li>Application of hygiene to the child's health and growth<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>Agriculture<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Adaptability to the rural elementary school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_78">78</a></span></li> + <li>Content of the elementary course in agriculture<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_79">79</a></span></li> + <li>Relation to farm life<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_79">79</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>Domestic science and manual training<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_79">79</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Place in elementary rural school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_80">80</a></span></li> + <li>What can be taught<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_80">80</a></span></li> + <li>Its practical application<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_80">80</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>Music and art<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Necessity in a well-balanced curriculum<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_81">81</a></span></li> + <li>Appreciation rather than criticism the aim<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_81">81</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>Physical training<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Need of physical training of rural children<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_82">82</a></span></li> + <li>Rural school athletics<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_82">82</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + </ol> + <br /> + + <p><b>The Rural High School Curriculum</b></p> + <ol> + <li>Rural high schools not yet common<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_83">83</a></span></li> + <li>The functions of the rural high school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_84">84</a></span></li> + <li>English in the rural high school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_84">84</a></span></li> + <li style="list-style: none"> + <ol type="a"> + <li>Its aim<span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></span></li> + <li>Points of difference from present high school course<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li>Social science to have an applied trend<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_86">86</a></span></li> + <li>The material sciences as related to the problems of the farm<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></span></li> + <li>Manual training and domestic science<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_89">89</a></span></li> + <li>A modified course in high school mathematics<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_89">89</a></span></li> + <li>Foreign language not to occupy an important place<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_90">90</a></span></li> + <li>The high school course to include music and art<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_90">90</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + <h3>IV. THE TEACHING OF THE RURAL SCHOOL</h3> + <p><b>The Importance of Teaching</b></p> + <ol> + <li>Teaching the fundamental purpose of the school<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_92">92</a></span></li> + <li>The child and the subject-matter<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_92">92</a></span></li> + <li>The teacher as an intermediary between child and subject-matter<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></span></li> + <li>Hence the teacher must know the nature of the child<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_94">94</a></span></li> + <li>The teacher must know the subject-matter of education<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></span></li> + <li>Failure to measure up to this requirement<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_97">97</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + </li> + <li> + <b>Teaching in the Rural School</b><br /> + <br /> + <ol> + <li>The degree of training of rural teachers in the subject-matter<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></span></li> + <li>Present lack of professional training<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_100">100</a></span></li> + <li>The effects of inexperience<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_101">101</a></span></li> + <li>Short tenure of service in rural schools<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_102">102</a></span></li> + <li>Level of teaching efficiency low<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_103">103</a></span></li> + <li>Improvement through consolidated schools<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_104">104</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + + <p><b>The Training of Rural Teachers</b></p> + <ol> + <li>Inexperienced and untrained teachers begin in the rural schools<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></span></li> + <li>Normal schools supply few teachers to rural schools<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_106">106</a></span></li> + <li>A reasonable demand for training of rural teachers<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_107">107</a></span></li> + <li>Rural teacher training in normal high schools<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_107">107</a></span></li> + <li>The rural teacher's training must be adapted to spirit of rural school<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + + <p><b>Salaries of Rural Teachers</b></p> + <ol> + <li>Salary as a measure of efficiency<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_109">109</a></span></li> + <li>Salaries of rural teachers compared with town and city teachers<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></span></li> + <li>Necessity of increased salaries<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_111">111</a></span></li> + <li>Increase in salary and in efficiency must go together<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></span></li> + <li>Salaries in consolidated schools<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_112">112</a></span></li> + </ol> + <br /> + <p><b>Supervision of Rural Teaching</b></p> + <ol> + <li>Impossibility of giving district schools efficient supervision<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></span></li> + <li>Obstacle in number of schools and frequent change of teachers<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></span></li> + <li>Comparison of work of county superintendent with city superintendent<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></span></li> + <li>Political handicaps on county superintendent<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_115">115</a></span></li> + <li>The necessity of better educational standards and better salary for the + county superintendent<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_116">116</a></span></li> + <li>Women as county superintendents<span class="ralign"><a + href="#Page_116">116</a></span></li> + <li>Efficient supervision possible only under a consolidated system<span + class="ralign"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></span></li> + </ol> + </li> + </ul> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h3>RIVERSIDE EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS</h3> + <h4><i>GENERAL EDUCATIONAL THEORY</i></h4> + <ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Dewey's</span> MORAL PRINCIPLES IN EDUCATION<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Eliot's</span> EDUCATION FOR EFFICIENCY<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Eliot's</span> TENDENCY TO THE CONCRETE AND PRACTICAL IN + MODERN<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">EDUCATION</span><span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Emerson's</span> EDUCATION<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Fiske's</span> THE MEANING OF INFANCY<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Hyde's</span> THE TEACHER'S PHILOSOPHY<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Palmer's</span> THE IDEAL TEACHER<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Prosser's</span> THE TEACHER AND OLD AGE<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Terman's</span> THE TEACHER'S HEALTH<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Thorndike's</span> INDIVIDUALITY<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + </ul> + <h4><i>ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS</i></h4> + <ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Betts's</span> NEW IDEALS IN RURAL SCHOOLS<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Bloomfield's</span> VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE OF YOUTH<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Cabot's</span> VOLUNTEER HELP TO THE SCHOOLS<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Cole's</span> INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN ELEMENTARY + SCHOOLS<span class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Cubberley's</span> CHANGING CONCEPTIONS OF EDUCATION<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Cubberley's</span> THE IMPROVEMENT OF RURAL SCHOOLS<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Lewis's</span> DEMOCRACY'S HIGH SCHOOL<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Perry's</span> STATUS OF THE TEACHER<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Snedden's</span> THE PROBLEM OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Trowbridge's</span> THE HOME SCHOOL<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Weeks's</span> THE PEOPLE'S SCHOOL<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + </ul> + <h4><i>METHODS OF TEACHING</i></h4> + <ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Bailey's</span> ART EDUCATION<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Betts's</span> THE RECITATION<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Campagnac's</span> THE TEACHING OF COMPOSITION<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Cooley's</span> LANGUAGE TEACHING IN THE GRADES<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Dewey's</span> INTEREST AND EFFORT IN EDUCATION<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Earhart's</span> TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Evans's</span> TEACHING OF HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Fairchild's</span> THE TEACHING OF POETRY IN THE HIGH + SCHOOL<br /> + <br /> + </li> + <li><span class="smcap">Haliburton and Smith's</span> TEACHING POETRY IN THE + GRADES<span class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Hartwell's</span> THE TEACHING OF HISTORY<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Haynes's</span> ECONOMICS IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Kilpatrick's</span> THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM EXAMINED<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Palmer's</span> ETHICAL AND MORAL INSTRUCTION IN THE + SCHOOLS<span class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Palmer's</span> SELF-CULTIVATION IN ENGLISH<span + class="ralign">.35</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Suzzallo's</span> THE TEACHING OF PRIMARY ARITHMETIC<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Suzzallo's</span> THE TEACHING OF SPELLING<span + class="ralign">.60</span></li> + </ul> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h3>RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS IN EDUCATION</h3> + <center> + Edited by Ellwood P. Cubberley, Head of the<br /> + Department of Education, Leland Stanford, Jr., University. + </center> + <hr style='width: 25%;' /> + <blockquote> + <p>The editor and the publishers have most carefully planned this series to meet + the needs of students of education in colleges and universities, in normal schools, + and in teachers' training courses in high schools. The books will also be equally + well adapted to teachers' reading circles and to the wide-awake, professionally + ambitious superintendent and teacher. Each book presented in the series will embody + the results of the latest research, and will be at the same time both + scientifically accurate, and simple, clear, and interesting in style.</p> + <p>The Riverside Textbooks in Education will eventually contain books on the + following subjects:—</p> + <p>1. History of Education.—2. Public Education in America.—3. Theory + of Education.—4. Principles of Teaching.—5. School and Class + Management.—6. School Hygiene.—7. School Administration.—8. + Secondary Education.—9. Educational Psychology.—10. Educational + Sociology.—11. The Curriculum.—12. Special Methods.</p> + </blockquote> + <h4>Now Ready</h4> + <div style="margin-left: 4em;"> + <p><b>*RURAL LIFE AND EDUCATION.</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Ellwood P. + Cubberley</span>. $1.50 <i>net</i>. Postpaid. Illustrated.</span><br /> + + <p><b>*THE HYGIENE OF THE SCHOOL CHILD.</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Lewis M. Terman</span>, + Associate Professor of Education, Leland</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Stanford Junior University. $1.65 <i>net</i>. + Postpaid. Illustrated.</span><br /> + + <p><b>*THE EVOLUTION OF THE EDUCATIONAL IDEAL.</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Mabel Irene + Emerson</span>, First Assistant in Charge, George Bancroft</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">School, Boston. $1.00 <i>net</i>. + Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>*HEALTH WORK IN THE SCHOOLS.</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Ernest B. Hoag</span>, + Medical Director, Long Beach City Schools,</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">California, and <span class="smcap">LEWIS M. + TERMAN</span>. Illustrated. $1.60 <i>net</i>.</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Postpaid.</span><br /> + </div> + <br /> + <center> + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + </center> + <center> + BOSTON<span style="margin-left: 2em;">NEW YORK</span><span + style="margin-left: 2em;">CHICAGO</span> + </center> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h3>The HOUGHTON MIFFLIN PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY</h3> + <h4>For Teachers and Students of Education</h4> + <hr style='width: 25%;' /> + <h5><i>THEORY AND PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION</i></h5> + <div style="margin-left: 4em;"> + <p><b>AMERICAN EDUCATION</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Andrew S. Draper</span>, + Commissioner of Education of the State of New</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">York. With an Introduction by <span + class="smcap">Nicholas Murray Butler</span>, President of</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Columbia University. $2.00, <i>net</i>. + Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>GROWTH AND EDUCATION</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">John M. Tyler</span>, + Professor of Biology in Amherst College. $1.50,</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>net</i>. Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">M. Vincent O'Shea</span>, + Professor of Education in the University of</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Wisconsin. $2.00, <i>net</i>. + Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>THE PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">William C. + Ruediger</span>, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Educational</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Psychology in the Teachers College of the George + Washington</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">University. $1.25, <i>net</i>. + Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE MAKING</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Edwin A. + Kirkpatrick</span>, Teacher of Psychology, Child Study and</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">School Laws, State Normal School, Fitchburg, + Mass. $1.25, <i>net</i>.</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>A THEORY OF MOTIVES, IDEALS, AND VALUES IN EDUCATION</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">William E. + Chancellor</span>, Superintendent of Schools, Norwalk, Conn.</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">$1.75, <i>net</i>. Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>EDUCATION AND THE LARGER LIFE</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">C. Hanford + Henderson</span>. $1.30, <i>net</i>. Postage 13 cents.</span><br /> + + <p><b>HOW TO STUDY AND TEACHING HOW TO STUDY</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Frank McMurry</span>, + Professor of Elementary Education in Teachers</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">College, Columbia University. $1.25, <i>net</i>. + Postpaid.</span><br /> + </div> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <h3>The HOUGHTON MIFFLIN PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY</h3> + <h4>For Teachers and Students of Education</h4> + <hr style='width: 25%;' /> + <div style="margin-left: 4em;"> + <p><b>BEGINNINGS IN INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Paul H. Hanus</span>, + Professor of the History and Art of Teaching in</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Harvard University. $1.00, <i>net</i>. + Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <h5><i>PRACTICAL ASPECTS AND PROBLEMS</i></h5> + <p><b>ETHICS FOR CHILDREN</b>. A Guide for Teachers and Parents</p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Ella Lyman Cabot</span>, + Member of the Massachusetts Board of</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Education. $1.25, <i>net</i>. + Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>CHARACTER BUILDING IN SCHOOL</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Jane Brownlee</span>, + formerly Principal of Lagrange School, Toledo,</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Ohio. 16mo. $1.00, <i>net</i>. + Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>HOW TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Sara Cone Bryant</span>. + $1.00, <i>net</i>. Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>TALKS ON TEACHING LITERATURE</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Arlo Bates</span>, + Professor of English Literature in the Massachusetts</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Institute of Technology. Professor Bates is also + the author of</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Talks on the Study of Literature," "Talks on + Writing English,"</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">etc. $1.30, <i>net</i>. Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>LITERATURE AND LIFE IN SCHOOL</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">J. Rose Colby</span>, + Professor of Literature in the Illinois State</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Normal University. $1.25, <i>net</i>. + Postpaid.</span><br /> + + <p><b>THE KINDERGARTEN</b></p> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">By <span class="smcap">Susan Blow, Patty + Hill</span>, and <span class="smcap">Elizabeth Harrison</span>, assisted + by</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">other members of the Committee of Nineteen of the + International</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Kindergarten Union. With a Preface by <span + class="smcap">Lucy Wheelock</span> and an</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Introduction by <span class="smcap">Annie + Laws</span>, Chairman of the Committee. 16mo. $1.25</span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>net</i>. 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