Rural Education Series RURAL EDUCATION RURAL EDUCATION SERIES GENERAL Eprtor, MABEL CARNEY RURAL SEDUCA TIONS s23. at sion Shaw Ne oa ieree RURAL SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. . BaRnNes Other books in preparation RURAL EDUCATION A Critical Study of the Objectives and Needs of the Rural Elementary Scho oe OCT 10 1929 KRY OF FRINGES 7; Y My, SS Apt aet “OL ogiGAL SENS ORVILLE GILBERT BRIM, Pu.D. PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, NEW YORK STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY | | Rew Dork | THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1925 | All rights reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Copyrricut, 1923, Bry THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1923. Reprinted January, 1924; January, 1925. TO MY WIFE HELEN WHITTIER BRIM EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION RuRAL education transcends in importance any other phase of American education. Eleven million children, or just half the public school enrollment of the United States, are in one-teacher and hamlet schools. In term, attendance, and curriculum; in teaching, supervision, and high school opportunity; in equipment, organiza- tion, and expenditure; in every known factor of school efficiency and progress, these eleven million children are lamentably handicapped and neglected. For them the per capita expenditure for educational purposes is $24 annually, while for city children the same figure is $40. For them also the annual school term averages thirty- eight days shorter than in cities, which means, in the large, that country children have an actual elementary school period of only six years, whereas urban children under better teachers and better conditions have eight years. But this is not all. Even the meagre terms supported for rural children are but poorly conducted and less well attended. Country children lose 28 per cent of the seven months’ school term provided for them. Urban children lose less, only 21 per cent of the nine months’ term provided in cities. So great is this handicap that illiteracy is twice as bad in rural areas as in urban dis- tricts, and child labor among rural children three times as frequent as among urban children. Because of the vii vill EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION : heavy toll of manual labor upon the young people of the farms, high school advantages for rural youth have been sadly neglected and are estimated to be but one sixth as generous as those provided for urban youth. Even worse is the teaching situation in rural schools. Just half the rural teachers of the United States, or 150,000, have never completed a four-year high school. Ten per cent, or 30,000, have finished only the eighth grade. Only two per cent are normal school graduates, and 15,000, chiefly in negro rural schools, are not more than sixth grade product. Contributing still further to the menace of this situa- tion is the scarcity and inefficiency of rural school su- pervision. Only twelve states provide professionally prepared supervisors for rural schools, while the whole problem is still further complicated in twenty-nine of our forty-eight states through the political election of county superintendents on a basis of partisan politics. Most serious of all these handicaps, however, is the false philosophy of rural elementary education which has unconsciously pervaded our thinking on the rural school problem. Those engaged in this work must have realized for some time that there are two schools of thought in their chosen field. The first of these has been well characterized as that of the ‘“‘radical rural- ites.” Members of this group would, either consciously or unconsciously, vocationalize the rural elementary school, limit it to the contacts and ideals of the imme- diate community, select its teaching content in terms of adult needs, reduce its responsibility for perpetuating the world’s best social inheritance, and so restrict and ‘‘blinder”’ country children as to force them of neces- EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION 1x sity, through ignorance or compulsion, into farming as: a life vocation. Diametrically opposed to these are the advocates of the more liberal school. Members of this group see grave dangers in the practices just described and are working consistently toward a larger opportunity and freedom of life for country children. They believe un- questionably “that the rural child has an equal right with any other child and that any attempt to keep him in the country through limited suggestion or overem- phasis upon rural material is autocratic.’ In the prac- tical applications of this theory they advocate for coun- try children, as for all others, the best possible develop- ment of the standard American school system with its three specific stages of elementary grades, junior high school, and senior high school. These divisions of the public school they would characterize for country chil- dren as well as for city children by their respective func- tions of offering: in the first, a basic background for American citizenship; in the second, exploratory op- portunities for the discovery of individual aptitude and fitness; and in the senior high school, and in it only, a preparation for specific and definite vocations. Much of the whole difficulty revealed by this study may be traced, in fact, to the failure to define these three stages of public democratic education, and particularly to a confusion of the chief functions of the elementary school and the senior high school. Nor are these distinctions merely nominal. Separat- ing the two groups thus defined is a fundamental differ- ence in the philosophy of education which is of profound significance to the future welfare of American life and x EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION world democracy, both urban and rural. So serious is this situation that the time has come for a careful clari- fying of thought, a redefinition of aims and objectives, and a frank checking up of some of our practices in the light of modern development and democratic striving. Toward this end Dr. Brim has made a notable contri- bution — one which will challenge the attention and approval of all real students of rural education and take first rank as a fundamental guide in the thought and philosophy of the rural field. If he has been a little severe upon those quoted (among whom even the editor of this series has not escaped), it has all been done in a spirit of sincerity and service and will, it is hoped, be © accepted in the same spirit. This volume introduces a series, then, which is new in fact and philosophy, as well as in name. The chief underlying purpose of those responsible for the presen- tation of the series is threefold: 1. To focus attention upon the needs of rural schools and assist in the remedy and alleviation of their condi- tions. 4 2. To correct the false philosophy for American edu- cation so frequently revealed in the quotations submitted through Dr. Brim’s study. 3. To aid teachers and supervisors in the concrete application and practice of more democratic principles in better keeping with our national ideals and tradi- tions. The series will include only books bearing rather broadly but specifically upon the problems of rural education. The determining factor in the approval of each volume will be its fitness for meeting some imme- EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION xi diate vital need of the rural education field. Among the early contributions of the series will be a text in rural school management, a discussion of nature study, a book on the rural school curriculum, and a volume on rural school supervision. In conclusion the editor wishes to invite comments and suggestions on this series or any volume in it from those engaged in rural education. Only in this way, through frank discussion and cordial codperation on the many problems of our complicated and varied task, can real progress be made, and educational justice as- sured to the thousands of children involved. MABEL CARNEY. Teachers College Columbia University PREFACE A suRvEY of the proposed objectives for rural ele- mentary education found in educational writings, and a study of tendencies in curriculum revision, in the re- organization of rural schools, and in the preparation of rural teachers, reveal wide differences of opinion. Most of these proposals and tendencies imply that the rural elementary school is responsible (1) for preserving a suf- ficiently large rural population to supply food for the world and sustain a standard rural civilization; (2) for giving country children a definite preparation for the social and vocational demands of rural life; and (3) for solving the many neglected social, religious, recreational, and occupational problems of the adult rural group. These purposes demand that the rural elementary school emphasize rural opportunity, that it give preparation for specific local tasks, and that the problems, needs, and interests of the adult and of the local community should determine the problems and content of the rural elementary curriculum. A minority oppose this position. They see the task of rural elementary education as that of elementary education in general, that is, as the problem of socializ- ing the child in the largest possible sense, and of pro- viding for him the essential conditions of growth! and social service. Their conception of the purpose of ele- mentary education implies that the elementary school 1 Growth is used here with the meaning given it by Dewey in his Democracy and Education. Xili XIV PREFACE should strive to put. children in touch with the many varied interests of men, their forms and conditions of living, their problems and needs, and to develop in these young lives a spirit of sympathy and codperation with the peoples of other groups. This aim would foster in the child many varied interests as a basis of growth, and prepare him to choose intelligently among these in- terests for his particular field of social service. It would make available to him the rich resources of the social heritage so that he may acquire the means of individual growth and social membership; and it would furnish for him the social life and atmosphere essential to the development of these characteristics. It is possible for the rural elementary school to serve somewhat each and all of these various proposed ends without conflicting with individual and social welfare. But when any of the local or limited purposes named above is made the primary objective for the elementary school, or a determining factor in the educational pro- cedure, rural education fails to meet the demands placed upon it. Some of these limited purposes may be legiti- mate ends for the older children often found in the rural elementary school. These are of secondary school age, and preparation for vocational efficiency has a place in secondary education. It has no place, however, in elementary education, and this presence of the adoles- cent boy and girl in the rural elementary school necessi- tates great caution to avoid sacrificing the general education of the elementary child to the more specific, local, and vocational interests of the older group. It is the purpose of this study to evaluate the various proposals enumerated above, to show the danger and PREFACE XV inadequacy of any program that would vocationalize rural elementary education, and to indicate the implica- tions of this question for education. Part One presents, through quotations, the varying suggested purposes, needs, and proposals which have been advanced for rural elementary education. These differences of pur- pose as herein expressed demand a consideration of the fundamental principles of individual development and of social stability and progress. Consequently, Part Two attempts to state the principles of ‘‘the good life” in its individual aspects; that is, to determine the con- ditions in which an individual finds his greatest growth and satisfaction. It also considers the same question in relation to the welfare of society as a whole. Part Three makes an analysis of the rural environment in the light of the demands of ‘‘the good life” in order to de- termine the needs of rural life, especially with reference to the child. Chapters IX to XII in Part Four then show the bearing of the general principles of individual growth and social progress and of these consequent rural needs on the curriculum, method, and organization of the rural school and upon the teacher’s service in the field of community development and occupational life; while Chapter XIII makes a similar application to the problem of rural-teacher preparation. The author takes this opportunity of acknowledging his indebtedness and gratitude to his instructors, friends, and associates among the faculty and graduate students of Teachers College, whose helpful advice and encour- agement have contributed very largely to whatever merit the book may possess. ORVILLE G. Brim. Je ” + ue ak CONTENTS PART ONE: PROPOSED PURPOSES FOR RURAL ELE- MENTARY EDUCATION CHAPTER I. PURPOSES OF THE SCHOOL AS RELATED TO THE CHILDREN I. Retaining Children on in Ren II. Providing Vocational Preparation III. Preparing Country Children for a Satisfying eal Life IV. Preparing Children for General Efficiency by Means of Rural Resources . V. Preparing Children for Geel Efsiney i. Supple menting Rural Resources . CHAPTER II. Purposes oF THE SCHOOL AS anata TO THE SOLUTION OF ADULT AND COMMUNITY PROBLEMS I. Retaining Adults in the Country . , II. Contributing to Adult Vocational Efficiency III. Developing a Broad Rural Citizenship . IV. Serving the Local Community . V. Serving the Child and starry Rather Than the Teel Group CHapTer III. Purposes oF THE Palin, AS Caren TO NON-RURAL SociAL FoRcES AND ORGANIZATIONS . I. Developing a Purely Rural School and Community II. Consolidating Schools and Developing Community Cen- ters in Rural-minded Villages III. Making Rural Institutions and eon a Part of NE Social Whole . ‘ ae Ob fee XVll 50 52 XVill CONTENTS PART TWO: STANDARDS FOR JUDGING THESE PUR- POSES CuHapter IV. Tue Nature or “THe Goop Lirr”’ — INpI- VIDUAL ASPECT I: IT. Nature of the Individual | Practical definition — The raaidaan as yeaned: Br certain writers — The individual as defined in psychol- ogy — End predominant — Ends have a personal ap- peal — The general end of activity — Each “want” an end in itself — Wants conditioned — Immediate value not sufficient — Application to education — Sat- isfaction dependent upon attainment — Summary. Demands made upon the Environment... . Conditions suitable to progress — Mind and ati nality are social products — Socialized environment as a basis for social adjustment — Socialized environment as a basis of continued activity to freely chosen ends — Provision for freedom to select ends — Self-direction es- sential — Growth must continue — Conditions must favor the attainment of ends — Summary. CuHapTeR V. Tue Nature or “THe Goop Lirg’”’ — Soctan ASPECT I. II. (ga The Purpose pa Characters of siiety : Progressiveness — Unfixed and changing values — Coéperation essential — People the source of authority — Status of the individual — Summary. Social Demands upon the Individual sa ee Adjustment — A contribution from each indnidendt Characteristics and Conditions of a Desirable Contri- bution Digi as Res SON OTP eee ee Fitness for task— Chance for self-discovery — Varied service — Common responsibility for drudgery — Initiative and creative thinking — Critical intelli- gence — Continued growth — The development of the individual — Summary of conditions — Relation of in- dividual and social demands. 59 60 76 87 87 95 . 101 CONTENTS. XIX PART THREE: THE EDUCATIONAL POSSIBILITIES AND NEEDS OF THE RURAL ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER VI. AN ANALYSTS OF RURAL LIFE AS RELATED TO GENERAL SoOcIAL PRINCIPLES . I. Rural and Non-rural Relations II. III. Urban attitude toward rural life — Gorerient : ser- vice to farmers — To farm women — To rural children — Attitude of rural leaders on the purpose of country life — Rural attitude toward the city. Rural Standards and Practices Rural social relations — The status of Wake women — The status of rural children — Rural health condi- tions — Education and church standards — Rural men- tal defectiveness — Rural morality — Rural industri- ousness — Rural economy — Summary of rural status — Solution proposed. Rural Contribution and Participation in Progress Contribution in food — In men of note — In social virtues — In man power — Possible causes — Solutions proposed — Summary. CHAPTER VII. Rurat OccupaTIONsS AS RELATED TO ADULT GROWTH AND SOCIAL PROGRESS . I. Possibilities in Agriculture Il. Opportunity for self-direction — nearranity for He development of many interests — Opportunity for self-ex- pression — Provision for continued growth — Provision for real social membership — Fruitfulness for leisure. Lacks in Agriculture Farmer not master of the atntiek — aaee woman restricted also— Farmer’s interest primarily in in- come — Non-vocational interests neglected — Com- ‘ munity and social relations undeveloped — Summary. CuapTerR VIII. Rurawu Lire as RELATED TO THE ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS OF CHILD GROWTH . I. Rural Freedom Evaluated ... . 115 115 127 146 157 157 166 175 175 XX CONTENTS The nature of the individual — The nature of rural freedom — Essential characteristics of desirable free- dom. II. Additional Demands upon the Rural Environment . . 180 Many social contacts — Varied social contacts — Su- perior standards and practices — Many interests and opportunity for self-discovery — Freedom to vary — Access to the social heritage — Leadership and guidance. PART FOUR: PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR RURAL ELEMENTARY EDUCATION CuapterR [X. THE GENERAL PURPOSE AND PROBLEM OF RURAL ELEMENTARY EDUCATION . . owe BEL Social adjustment and progress — The proper purpose ‘of rural elementary education — The influence of en- vironment upon rural elementary education — Educa- tion to serve the real needs of rural children — Problems in rural elementary education — Criticism of the pur- poses proposed for rural elementary education — Con- clusion. CHapTeR X. THe NaATuRE oF DESIRABLE ScHoou Activity 215 Educational method based on life activity — The es- sential conditions of learning — Arguments for this type of activity — The problem for educators — Ad- vantages of the rural school for project teaching — Practical implications of the foregoing theses for the making of curricula— Demands upon rural teachers and supervisors — Requirements in textbooks and equip- ment. CHAPTER XI. APPLICATION OF THESE Basic PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION AND METHOD TO VARIOUS SCHOOL SUBJECTS. . 229 Reading — Arithmetic — Hygiene and sanitation — General primary lessons — History, civics and geogra- phy — Agriculture and homemaking — Music and art. CHAPTER .XII. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND ComMMUNITY RELATIONS OF THE RuRAL SCHOOL ... . 257 I. Rural School Organization sso, fae > =.) sue (oe eerane CONTENTS Xxl Necessity of a larger unit — Fallacy of arguments for open-country consolidation — Bearing upon the church situation — Mistaken tendencies from high sources. II. The Rural Elementary School as Related to the Com- TUT Vem ten a irra Rony mera erat eu t,o by st 2G] Evaluation of suggested service to the community — Relation of the school and community — Extent of the community — Type of local community. III. The Rural Elementary School as Related to Vocational TOOLING rare Beer ere i Can ee cat = QBS CHAPTER XIII. PREPARATION OF THE RURAL ELEMENTARY TEACHER... 271 Problems of the rural elementary teacher — Type of teacher and qualifications needed — Objectives ad- vanced for the preparation of rural teachers — Criti- cism of these objectives — Fundamental objectives — Curricula studies — Organization for the preparation of rural teachers. ESLELOGRA PH Vere ce te a eg rhea gt. Ped Vet!) cette 295 MD Xe MEN Re ee hearers) cee ig seh e “hs)) siois die OOO PP f y 7 ' : : cy eV eas > 2 rly a ay ‘oon ae PARTI PROPOSED PURPOSES FOR RURAL ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Ley Weedon ee) GAT LOIN CHAPTER I PURPOSES OF THE SCHOOL AS RELATED TO THE CHILDREN EVEN a casual reading of rural life literature shows a wide discrepancy of opinion concerning the function, nature, and content of rural elementary education. What do modern writers consider to be the purpose of the school as related to the children, to adults, and to community life? What, in their opinion, should be its relation to other non-rural organizations? What large principles of education are consciously or unconsciously assumed? What social organization do their proposals contemplate? What solutions of the numerous rural problems do they seek? An attempt will be made here to answer these ques- tions by means of quotations from various writers so classified as to emphasize the differences they hold in objectives and purposes. Only such additional state- ments will be made as are necessary to show the relation of the quotations to the point under discussion or to interpret them in the light of the unquoted.context. No effort will be made to characterize any one writer as maintaining any particular point of view exclusively. The question has been discussed so freely, and at times so superficially, that statements implying quite conflict- 3 4 RURAL EDUCATION ing social philosophies and educational purposes are often found in the same book. It would therefore be difficult and useless for present needs to attempt any classifica- tion of writers. The purpose is rather to classify the various theories or points of view expressed, without considering in any specific case whether a complete or final expression of the author’s position is represented. The greatest care has been exercised in confining the choice of quotations to those made with direct reference to the elementary rural school. The words school and rural education appear in certain quotations. If these were interpreted to mean schools of secondary rank or the whole educative process of a democratic govern- ment in a rural society, it would quite invalidate the criticisms and conclusions to be presented. But the setting, which cannot be reproduced here without great difficulty, shows these discussions to refer primarily to the rural elementary school. The quotations are grouped about three aspects of the topic: A. The school as related to the children. B. The school as related to the solution of adult and community problems. C. Theschool as related to non-rural social forces and organizations. I. RETAINING CHILDREN ON THE FARM Even those who have written of the school only in relation to the child show divergent points of view. The first of these to be presented is that which considers the school a primary means of retaining rural youth upon the land, of overcoming the fatal attractiveness of the city, PROPOSED PURPOSES 5 and of bolstering up a rural population which is gradually diminishing in quantity and probably deteriorating in quality. This is to be done by the creation of a situation that will lead the child to choose the country as his place of living and agriculture as his life work. Retention as the School’s Responsibility. — This view of the responsibility of the school finds expression among the early discussions of the rural life problem. The Roosevelt Commission on Country Life sent out the following inquiry among others: ‘‘Are the schools in your neighborhood training boys and girls satisfactorily for life on the farm?”* The response to this suggestive question is summarized by the Commission in the following statement: Criticism of the schools as they now exist was almost universal by the people, because their influence is rather to train youth away from the soil than to train them how to make the soil more productive and life on it more satisfactory.! The responsibility of the school for this type of service is accepted by two recent writers who, in the MO aaa quotations, state it more boldly: We want to keep the boys and girls in the country and make them better farmers and farmers’ wives than are their parents.” The rural school must educate the children in such a way that they will want to remain in the country and will remain in the country because of the opportunity, independence, and pleasure to be derived from the country. * In this and in the following quotations the italics are the author’s. 1 Page, Walter H. — quoted by Foght in The American Rural School, p. 12. 2A quotation from a teacher’s letter, given by Eggleston and Bruére in The Work of the Rural School, p. 14. The work of the teacher from whose letter this was quoted was discussed at length by the authors and endorsed as something superior and worthy of imitation. 3 Driver, Lee L. — N. EH. A. Proceedings, 1919, p. 65. 6 RURAL EDUCATION Retention as an Argument for Reorganization. — This task of retaining children in the country has often — furnished an argument for the reorganization of the rural school. aia 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 an . education equal to that afforded by the town or city for its youth.! It was the desire to render service of this type which caused Mrs. Marie Turner Harvey to shift from the model school on the campus at Kirksville, Missouri, to the district school in the Porter Community itself. In New Schools for Old, by Evelyn Dewey, the situation is thus presented: One of these families living on the state road reluctantly took advantage of the model school wagon (which took the country children to Kirksville) in order to give their children the best education available; and yet saw that by doing so they were surely breaking up . their home and disqualifying their boys for farm life. The mother said that she could see them day by day absorbing town interests, town habits, and town ambitions, until she knew that “every day they went they were getting farther away from the farm.” 2 Meanwhile Mrs. Harvey, in spite of her success in Kirksville, where she was teaching the model school referred to in the above quotation, was not altogether satisfied with her experiment. For, as she came to know her pupils and their parents, she began to realize the injury that the school was doing to one rural district in its attempt to furnish a model for all. ‘‘That is, she, too, saw her older pupils gradually drifting in interest and sentiment away from their homes and farm life.”’ 3 1 Betts and Hall — Better Rural Schools, p. 62. 2 Dewey, Evelyn — New Schools for Old, p. 59. 8 Ibid. — p. 60. PROPOSED PURPOSES Gs Those who hope to ruralize the country child perma- nently see great promise toward this end in the consoli- dation of rural schools. ‘‘The first use to which the centralized rural school is adapted is to halt the exodus from the country,’ writes one,! while another says, after describing the John Swaney school: Here they early learn to know that they are indigenous to the soil; that here they must live and die. Give us many such schools, and the farm youth is in no danger of leaving the farm! 2 Influence of the Idea of Retention upon Curriculum Content. — The desire to retain rural youth upon the soil has led not only to a reorganization of rural schools in order to accomplish the accepted purpose, but for some, it has also furnished the basic principle upon which . the content of the rural curriculum is to be changed. A county superintendent says: The slogans of our country have been for years “Stay on the farm,” and ‘‘The country school of to-day for the country life of to-morrow.” The result in the schools has been farm arithmetic, farm geography, elementary text books in agriculture, and a demand for the enrichment - of the course of study for country children, that country children be taught in terms of their own lives.’ This same purpose has motivated efforts in connection with the more recent service of the rural school. Mac- Dougal says: “An unsolved problem is as to how the recreations of country life may be so associated with its tasks that boys and girls shall regard farm life as a desirable vocation.” * It applies likewise to nature 1 Wilson, Warren H. — The Evolution of the Country Community, p. 163. 2 Foght, H. W. — The American Rural School, p. 327. 3 Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 25. Quotation from E. M. Rapp of Berks County, Pa. 4 MacDougal, John — Rural Life in Canada, p. 137. 8 RURAL EDUCATION study, agriculture, manual training, and domestic science. In discussing the purpose of nature study L. B. Evans, | County Superintendent of Richmond County, Georgia, makes the following statement: We must recognize that we cannot redeem the farming interests of the country until we create a deep and abiding love in the old farm, and a pride in it that makes the boy resolve to live there as his fathers have done before him, and to bring out of the soil a more abundant and profitable harvest. 1 It is evident from the above quotations that, for many of our educational leaders, using the school as a means of making rural children satisfied with the opportunities and responsibilities of life in the open country is thor- oughly legitimate. In some cases this purpose seems to be sought by an intensive narrowing of the curriculum. In others it is to be secured by reorganizing the school, by increasing its efficiency, or by enriching the curriculum with rural content so that there may be sufficient satisfaction to induce children to remain. But in all these cases the objective is primarily to retain the children, and espe- cially the best children, for a future on the farm. II. PROVIDING VOCATIONAL PREPARATION The second purpose which the rural school should serve, according to some, is the preparation of country children for the vocation of agriculture. This aim is closely related to the first purpose and may have been looked upon as a means for its realization. It, too, is implied in the point of view from which the Country 1 Evans,-L. B. — ‘‘The Rural School,” p. 52. Pamphlet, 1906, published by the County Board of Education, Augusta, Ga. PROPOSED PURPOSES 4 Life Commission approached the problem. They asked in the questionnaire: ‘‘Are the schools in your neighbor- hood training boys and girls satisfactorily for life on the farm?’ 1 The answer then was in the negative and it has been followed by many efforts to reform the rural school in that direction. Even Bailey sometimes appears to be of the opinion that such preparation should begin early if results are to be attained. He says: Sympathy with any kind of effort or occupation, and good prepara- tion for engaging in it, are matters of slow and long continued growth. This growth should begin in childhood and should be aided by the home and the school.? Reasons for the Vocational Aim. — This purpose is justified as a specific task of the rural elementary school because of the large proportion of country children who ‘will be likely to accept farming as their life work. It is also justified because of the large percentage of children who must get their vocational training in the elementary school if they are to get it at all. Gillette, speaking from the sociological point of view, says: Communities are differentiated by means of their interest. They may be mining, stock-raising, agricultural, industrial, commercial. . . . The community business or interest determines the kind of vocational training an individual should have. Ninety or ninety-five per cent of the population will either remain in the community they are born and reared in, or will remove to a similar community, one with similar interests. The dominant pursuits of a region may determine what the pupils should be trained for without doing an injustice to any.3 Again, probably less than 40 per cent of the children of the United States advance in education beyond the eighth grade, and about 50 per cent are eliminated from the schools by the beginning of the 1 Report of the Commission on Country Life, p. 51. 2 Bailey, L. H. — The Training of Farmers, p. 137. s Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, p. 328. 10 RURAL EDUCATION seventh grade. This means that education must be useful and practical before all else; that what it to be done for individuals to equip them to carry on their life business competently must be done for them an the elementary schools. It is very evident from the context that Gillette is thinking of education as emphasizing social knowledge, sympathy, and intelligent codperation. It is, neverthe- less, to be of a vocational nature in a field already deter- mined by the environment and to take place in the ele- mentary school. A. P. Bourland, Secretary of the Conference for Education in the South, makes the following statement, in which preparation for a possible future vocation, rather than education for growth and general social membership, is made the paramount task of the rural elementary school. | A body of scientific knowledge is, therefore, the farmer’s starting point. To this must be added a certain skill. When we determine these two things, what the farmer must know and the skill he must have, we will get the elements to be worked into the school. . . . It is estimated that 95 per cent of the farmers’ children follow farming in some form. We take wt for granted that the school will work for this 95 per cent rather than for the 5 per cent that go into other callings.? It is the opinion of R. H. Wilson, State Superintendent of Education for Oklahoma, that ‘“The pupils attending these (one-room) schools are the ones that should receive agricultural instruction, since from their ranks the farms are recruited.”’ 8 The Commission of the N. E. A. on Industrial Educa- tion for the Country Community takes the same position and reports the following: 1 Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, p. 330. 2 Rural Life Bulletin, No. 1, Winthrop College, Rock Hill, S. C., September, TOVA ks. 3 N. EH. A. Proceedings, 1917, p. 132. PROPOSED PURPOSES 11 This committee does not hesitate to say that, in its judgment, the country schools, which train nearly one half of the school population of this country so far as school training goes, should definitely recognize the fact that the major portion of those being trained will continue to live on the farm; and that there should be specific, definite, technical training fitting them for the activities of farm life. Elementary School Held Responsible for Vocational Efficiency. — The responsibility of the school for voca- tional efficiency is given in the following quotations, all of which emphasize training for efficient farming as the function of the rural elementary school. From the point of view of the nation the work of the public school is to get a maximum product in efficient citizenship out of the com- munity to which it is assigned, and the distinguishing mark of efficient citizenship in the rural community vs skill in the production of food? The next two quotations are given at length, because it is necessary to get the mass of data in the mind of the speaker to appreciate the vision he has of rural school work and the reasons for his interpretation of its func- tion. In speaking of research in Agriculture, W. M. Hays, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, says of the common school: When ten times as much technical research has been completed as now, and this new knowledge has been put in teachable form, the demand that it can be carried to ten million youths who are preparing for country life in the United States will be irresistible. And the knowledge will so increase the general and economic efficiency of the country life that the half of the rural children, approximately five million, now induced to attend school, will be increased to six or seven millions. . . . The schools must bend their energies more clearly to training for all the specific vocations . . . it is manifest 1‘*Report of the Commission on Industrial Education for the Country Community,” N. EH. A. Proceedings, 1905. 2 Eggleston and Bruére — The Work of the Rural School, p. 10. 12 RURAL EDUCATION that agricultural knowledge cannot reach the great body of rural pupils except through their local schools.1 Kern sees the work of the rural school measured through the facts quoted from the following statement by Secretary James Wilson in his Report of the Depart- ment of Agriculture for 1904: An occupation that has produced such an unthinkable value as one aggregating nearly $5,000,000,000 within a year may be better measured by some comparisons. All the gold mines of the entire world have not produced since Columbus discovered America a greater value of gold than the farmers of this country have produced in wealth in two years. This year’s (1904) produce is over six times the amount of the capital stock of all national banks; it comes within three fourths of a billion dollars of equaling the value of the manu- facturers of 1900, less the cost of materials used; it is twice the sum of our exports and imports for a year; it is two and a half times the gross earnings from the operation of the railways; it is three and a half times the value of all minerals produced in this country, including coal, iron-ore, gold, silver, and quarried stone. Kern then concludes, ‘The efficiency of the country school must be increased vn order to give the proper training to fit boys and girls to handle this immense business.” 2 Influence of the Vocational Purpose upon Educational Organization. — The conception of the elementary rural school as a rural vocational institution finds expression in various ways. Cubberley, in presenting his ideal state organization, has one department entitled, Hle- mentary-education dinsion, one entitled, Secondary- education division, and another entitled, Rural and Agricultural-education divisions Evidently he saw a 1 Hays, W. M. — ‘‘Education for Country Life,” Circular 84, p.9. Office of Experiment Stations, Washington, D. C. 2 Kern, O. J. — Among Country Schools, p. 215. $Cubberley, E. P.+ State and County Educational Reorganization, pp. 31-2. PROPOSED PURPOSES 13 closer relation between the divisions of rural and agri- cultural education than between rural elementary education and elementary education elsewhere. The Bureau of Education at Washington has issued a bulle- tin! to serve as a basis for legislative programs in the various states, in which the vocational interpretation of rural elementary education is shown through the statement that the emergency in education may be met by a “‘reorganization of rural education to provide rural communities with adequate elementary and secondary schools of agricultural type.’”’ Even in the catalog of Teachers College, Columbia University, the depart- ment of rural education was formerly classified with that of vocational education as if this were the field to which rural education is most closely allied. Origin of Demand for the Vocational Element. — This definite vocational training on the part of rural schools for country children is considered necessary because city schools are thought to be giving such train- ing to their children for the city vocations. The country school, modeled after the city school, was likewise train- ing for the city vocations rather than for the country tasks. Rural leaders have not considered this use of the urban elementary school wrong for the city. It has been thought bad merely for the country. The rural task, then, is to make rural schools serve the rural vocation instead. In discussing the reorganization of the course of study to meet the needs of modern rural life, Katherine M. Cook makes the following statement: What is a rural course of study? What should it include?.. . Its content must be so prepared as to fit country boys and girls for living in 1 Manual of Educational Legislation, Bulletin, 1919, No. 4, p. 7. 14. RURAL EDUCATION the country, at least as successfully as city schools prepare city children for living in the city. The vocational nature, or purpose of such training, is expressed by Wilson, who says of the rural school: Its teaching is suited to prepare men for trade, but not for agri- culture. Instead of making farmers of sons of farmers . . . the country school prepares them for buying and selling, for calculation and store keeping. . . . The most important improvement, however, in the country schools is almost impossible in the one-room school. It is the teaching of the Gospel of the Land.? While in the proposals made as a result of the recent survey of the schools of Uelaware, the following principle for the development of rural schools is given: Schools for rural children should be developed in terms of the rural life which they are leading and which they may normally be expected to continue to lead. Their education should look in the direction of making them more efficient farmers and housekeepers rather than to converting them into clerks, stenographers and trade workers.8 Interpretation of ‘‘Rural Needs.’? — One point needs to be noticed in order to interpret properly the writings concerning the changes in rural education in connection with this revolt against the domination of the city course of study. Much is said about adjusting the rural cur- riculum to rural ‘‘needs.’’ This statement may have two meanings. It may refer to the supplying of ‘“‘needs”’ existing in the rural situation, whose fulfillment is essen- tial to the freest development of the individual in any direction he may choose — that is, to the provision of the essential elements of growth lacking in the rural environment. It is evident that such needs vary for 1N. E. A. Proceedings, 1919, p. 284. 2 Wilson, W. H. — The Evolution of the Country Community, p. 159. 3 **Possible Consolidations of Rural Schools in Delaware,” Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 6. Bulletin, Service Citizens’ League, Wilmington, Del. PROPOSED PURPOSES 15 different individuals and for different locations. It may refer, on the other hand, to supplying what the individual ‘‘needs” to be prepared for this particular task or vocation. In other words, it may mean supply- ing elements essential to a general social membership, or it may mean the provision of elements which fit him for some particular type of life. It is the last meaning which seems to lie in the minds of those who speak of ‘“‘adjusting the school to the needs of rural life.”” This view of the ‘‘needs”’ of the country child is clearly brought out in the following: Is the training given what the community most needs for its own interests and welfare? Does the school serve to fit the pupils into the concrete activities and obligations of later life? Specifically, does the rural school make better farmers, citizens and keepers of homes? Does it not only supply the broad and general foundations of knowl- edge which all must have, but does it help the boy in the problems of agriculture, stock raising, and the mechanical work of the farm? Does it train the girl to understand and care for the farm home, making it comfortable, hygienic and artistic? Does it serve to attract its pupils to farm life, instead of driving them from 1? 3 Mutchler and Craig were distinctly guided by this conception of rural needs when making their Course of Study for Rural Teachers concerning whose service they say: The problem to be solved, and the interests to be encouraged, developed, and ministered unto are different from those in any other phase of elementary education. Rural interests and rural problems are not like the city’s interests and its problems; and educators everywhere, especially in the South, are coming more and more to believe that the course of study adapted to securing the most efficient rural life is radically different from any other course of study.? 1 Betts and Hall — Better Rural Schools, p. 24. U.S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1912, No, 1, pp. 7-8. 16 RURAL EDUCATION It seems evident that ‘‘needs’ as here interpreted refer to the vocational needs of an agricultural people rather than to their ‘‘needs’ for meeting the larger demands of membership in a progressive democracy. Influence of Vocational Purpose upon the Curriculum and the Selection of Teachers. By many the new subjects which were added to the curriculum were seen as a means of developing this vocational efficiency. Betts and Hall are specially given to treating these subjects from this point of view. They say: Supplementing the work in agriculture in the efficient rural school, there must be manual training for the boys and domestic science for the girls arranged with especial reference to the problems of the farm and the farm home. ‘The farmer is constantly called on to exercise his skill as a mechanic in connection with the building and equipment of machinery of the farm. . . . Manual training in the rural school 1s of great economic value to every farm boy. Similarly in the case of domestic science as a preparation for the care of the farm home. . . . In fitting girls to be expert homemakers, the rural school finds one of its greatest opportunities. Foght sees large returns from such a vocational cur- riculum when he says: Give to rural education an increasing agricultural trend, and we shall soon be in a fair way to solve the rural-school problem. .. . Let, then, the rural school of to-day face its pupils toward the township and county high schools with their agricultural instruction, the eventual aim being to prepare them for entrance to the agricultural college or immediately for the practical tasks of the farm’ In some cases these newer subjects are to be the fundamentals of the rural school curriculum. Betts and Hall say that the core of the curriculum shall be — 1 Betts and Hall — Better Rural Schools, p. 30. 2 Ibid. — p. 31. 3’ Foght, H. W. — The American Rural School, p. 206. PROPOSED PURPOSES 17 Nature study as related to the open country, agriculture adapted to the local needs and conditions, manual training of the type most related to the needs of the farm, home economics suited to the con- ditions of the farm home, — these are the basis of the rural-school curriculum. That this vocational conception has influenced the selection of teachers is indicated by McKeever, who Says: The country school is, in its best sense, an industrial school; and only those teachers can do best work therein who have had the per- sonal experience in industrial training and the changed point of view which only the agricultural college can give.? Club Work as a Means of Vocational Efficiency. — This vocational purpose seems to have been in the minds of many in fostering club work. Kern, speaking of the values of such work, says: The boy of the Winnebago County Farmer Boys’ Experiment Club who won the first prize in the corn contest of 1903 had a plot of corn which yielded at the rate of one hundred and twenty-five bushels per acre, while several others had plots that approached closely the hundred bushel mark. These boys will be the farmers of the future and will raise greater crops than their fathers. The financial gains to the country at large will be measured by millions of dollars.* The same point of view appears in the following from Wilkinson in speaking on the better training of country youth. The foremost function of the club movement is to give country boys and girls a better type of training than they are receiving, in many cases, under present conditions. It seems only fair that young people who may be reasonably expected to spend their lives on the farm should be given the kind of education that will enable them to get 1 Betts and Hall — Better Rural Schools, p. 63. 2 McKeever, W. A. — Farm Boys and Girls, p. 125. 3 Kern, O. J. — Among Country Schools, p. 217. 18 RURAL EDUCATION the largest possible returns from their farms, make their home life most satisfying, and discharge the duties of citizenship in the most efficient manner.! It is clear, therefore, that one result of this vocational training (secured from the club work) is to make farm pursuits more profit- able and home life more pleasurable — to the best type of young men and women.? A more specific relation of club work to vocational service is shown by Alleman, who says: We are changing the emphasis in our rural schools by entering into work related to agriculture, such as corn clubs, canning clubs, poultry clubs, hog clubs, and domestic science clubs. It is also one of the fundamental values in the emphasis upon home project work. One of the most promising fields for the development of rural vocational training 1s what is coming to be known as home project study 4 If all the farm boys now in rural schools could be interested in club and home project work, thus getting the information and developing the standards of farming required of members of the present clubs, the resultant increase in agricultural wealth in the nation would be almost beyond computation. The productivity of the soil would be far more than doubled and its natural strength would be much better conserved than under present conditions. And corresponding results are possible in the breeding and raising of stock, in the care and use of improved farm machinery, in the planning and erection of farm buildings, including farm houses, and in all that goes to making farming a profitable and worthy career.® III. PREPARING COUNTRY CHILDREN FOR A SATISFYING RURAL LIFE The third point of view is one which sees the rural school purpose in less limited terms. The general 1 Wilkinson, W. A. — Rural School Management, p. 377. 2 Ibid. — p. 378. 8 U.S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 25, p. 42. 4 Betts and Hall — Better Rural Schools, p. 100. 5 Ibid. — p. 106. PROPOSED PURPOSES 19 tendency of the former group was to think of rural life solely or largely in terms of economic and productive efficiency. To others this is narrow. The fundamental needs of rural people are in the realm of spirit. Art, music, literature, and the qualities of good citizenship demanded of a farmer are included in the objectives of a rural school education. There are many who speak of such aims in general terms emphasizing neither the economic nor giving in detail the other interests to be encouraged. They are, however, not thinking primarily of the former type of efficiency. A. P. Bourland, Secre- tary of the Conference of Education for the South, in his introduction to the report upon an Experimental Rural School at Winthrop College, says: At the outset the effort was to see clearly: first, what the farm wife must do all her life; second, what the farmer must do all his life. Then, regardless of tradition, the resolve was to make a school that would train farm children for their future work in the home, on the farm, and in the social life around them. In describing the community attitude in the Porter Community where Mrs. Harvey conducted her experi- mental school, Evelyn Dewey says: These people wanted a good school for their children, but even more than that, they wanted a good country school. They had pride and ambition in their home and their occupation as well as in their children. They believed that a good school in the country would tend to keep their children at home, would give them the education that is necessary to make a success of farming, and enable them to find for themselves the interests and connections which are necessary for a contented and well-balanced life.? The same general purpose is contained in the quota-~ tions at the top of the following page: 1U.S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1913, No. 42. 2 Dewey, Evelyn — New Schools for Old, p. 67. 20 RURAL EDUCATION The country school had decided to make use of its advantages, to live its own life, and thus to prepare its boys and girls for an efficient and happy life in the open country.! The purpose of the rural school is avowedly to prepare rural folk for useful, contented lives on the land? A Broader Rural Culture Demanded.— A more definite reaction to the conception of rural needs chiefly in terms of vocational efficiency is shown by others. Our agricultural population is suffering as much from the want of a vision-giving breadth of culture as from the want of technical preparation for their life work. . . . A broad measure of academic culture should, therefore, be considered a first essential to all rural teaching success. In speaking of the need of farm children for an educa- tion, Betts and Hall say: They require a preparation that will fit them to understand and carry out all the problems of successful present-day farming. They should also have their interests broadened and their minds developed through a knowledge of the world’s great literature, its science, its history, its art and its music President Sledd of the University of Florida, in dis- cussing the topic of Rural versus Urban Conditions in the Determination of Educational Policy, says: To make a good farmer, however difficult itself, is comparatively a simple matter; but to make a good farmer who shall at the same time be an intelligent, patriotic, and high thinking citizen, and yet content with the life of the farm, is the final task and supreme test of rural education.§ 1Tate, W. K.— New Country Schools; A Survey of Development. Pub- lished by the Youth’s Companion, Boston. 2 Foght, H. W. — The Rural Teacher and His Work, p. 151. 2 Ibid. — p. 9. 4 Betts and Hall — Better Rural Schools, p. 6. ’Sledd, Andrew — Bulletin 212, 1909, Office of Experiment Stations, Washington, D. C, PROPOSED PURPOSES 21 The following extracts emphasize the same need among rural folk: It is now generally conceded that our rural schools be based upon principles broad enough to produce an agricultural citizenship of the highest ideals and filled with a desire to live their lives in the open country, in the intensive cultivation of the soil.! A very important problem of popular education to-day is the better adaptation of the work of rural schools to the needs of rural life. The schools must make the people more intelligent in regard to the life they are to live. Both for culture and practical utility the course of study in these schools should conform more closely to the environment of the child and the future work of the man? Thus while these men demand for the country an all- round development, and an expression for the child’s varied interests, there is a constant tendency to think of him as a future citizen-farmer rather than as an individual and a member of society at large. IV. PREPARING CHILDREN FOR GENERAL EFFICIENCY BY MEANS OF RURAL RESOURCES The fourth purpose of the rural school in relation to the children is still more general. It aims primarily at a preparation equally serviceable for any type of life or activity that the child may choose after leaving the elementary school. It definitely disavows any purpose of making farmers or preparing children for country demands. ‘This is clearly stated by Miss Carney in the following: A great demand is being made to-day by farmers and others con- nected with country life for instruction in agriculture. Such train- ing, it is contended, will hold boys on the farm and make farmers of 1U. 8S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 49, Preface. 2U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1912, No. 1 — Claxton’s ‘‘ Letter of Transmittal,” 22 RURAL EDUCATION them. Personally, I am as much interested in the making of farmers and in holding the right kind of farmers upon the land as anyone. But to this argument I take exception. Let us have farmers who are farmers from choice not from force. As a teacher in country schools, I do not teach agriculture either to make or unmake farmers. I teach it for two simple reasons: first, because it is the basic experi- ence of my young people, the experience through whose terminology they interpret everything else; and second, because it is a great racial heritage of science and information which every child should know, just as he should know history. . . . In short, let us make agriculture and farm life experience the starting point of elementary rural education, not its ultimate goal. This redirection of the country school is a matter of fundamental educational philosophy, not of making farmers or of holding country children upon the land, as is often argued. The latter is desirable to a certain degree, and it is also true that while “it is not desirable to try to make farmers, it seems advisable to stop unmaking them.” But neither the making nor the unmaking of farmers touches the quick of the country school problem educationally.2 The purpose presented here is that of using the rich material in the environment as subject matter worth knowing for every one and as the most profitable means of introducing the rural child into a larger experience. Culter and Stone express this latter reason when they say: If authors of text books and courses of study would recognize more fully the law of apperception and that there is a certain amount of local significance that should enter into every course of study, much could be done for our rural schools. This would, doubtless, require a different text book and a different course of study for the rural schools from that used in city schools.3 But McKeever finds in these rural resources sufficient material for a child’s whole education: 1 Carney, Mabel — Country Life and the Country School, pp. 179-80. 2 Ibid. — p. 239. 3’ Culter and Stone — The Rural School; Its Methods and Management, p. 182. PROPOSED PURPOSES 23 The country districts are slowly waking up to an appreciation of the fact that within their bounds lie, not only all the elements fundamental to the material wealth of the world, but that they also contain in a more or less dormant form all the essential factors of intellectual and spiritual wealth.! Butterfield analyzes the situation and the needs as follows: The reason for introducing agriculture and country life subjects into the average country school is not primarily to educate for agriculture, but to educate by means of agriculture. There comes a time, it is true, when a boy must make his choice, and if he is to be a farmer, he ought to be definitely and thoroughly educated for agriculture. But it would be absolutely mischievous to plan the rural school system on such a basis as to direct all the boys and girls back to the farm and to make it difficult or impossible for them to compete with the city boy or girl in other professions and occupations. Bailey, too, takes the same stand in discussing the reasons for introducing agriculture and country life subjects. He states his position thus: Personally, I have very little care whether a class in agriculture is introduced in any school or not; . . . the real nub of the matter lies much deeper than this. The whole process of the school must change. We must begin with the child’s world and not with the teacher’s world, and we must use the common objects, phenomena and activi- ties as means of education. When these objects, phenomena, and activities are agricultural (as they are in a rural community), then agriculture becomes a means of education, but it 1s not agriculture in the sense of a specialty leading directly to the occupation of farming? The following quotations express the same conception of rural school purpose: In a democracy, the utmost freedom in the choice of an occupation is the fundamental right of every child and must not be abridged. If the public schools of the city sought to make blacksmiths of the sons of a 1 McKeever, W. A. — Farm Boys and Girls, p. 101. 2 Butterfield, K. L. — The Farmer and the New Day, p. 109. 3 Bailey, L. H. — Training of Farmers, p. 150. 24 RURAL EDUCATION blacksmith and to train the sons of bank directors to follow in the footsteps of their fathers, the country would be shaken with protest, because the public school, the most powerful agency left us with which to promote democracy, was being employed to break down democracy and to build up class aristocracy.1 I know it is popular to say just now that the country school and agriculture are inseparably connected and that the welfare of the former depends on the extent to which we are able to introduce the agriculture note as the dominant one in the work of the country school. At the risk of violating this fundamental tenet in the creed of many rural school reformers, and speaking for rural elementary education, I must say that I believe we are radically wrong where we attempt to make any elementary school, whether in city, village, or country, the sponsor for any special trade or occupational education. . . . What the people who live close to the country school most desire and what they have a right to expect is that it shall be a thoroughly common school. . . . From this aim rural elementary education cannot be diverted without serious danger both to the educational welfare of the hundreds of thousands of children who must look to it for their school privileges, and to the welfare of the industry of agriculture itself? V. PREPARING CHILDREN FOR GENERAL EFFICIENCY BY SUPPLEMENTING RURAL RESOURCES The difference between the point of view represented by the preceding and the following quotations is one of method and subject matter rather than of purpose. Here the aim, also, is to educate the child for general social efficiency, for membership in society at large rather than in a particular group. But whereas there is a tendency among the former group to try to give this general education wholly or largely through rural ma- terial broadly selected, others are keenly impressed with the meagerness of the rural environment, and emphasize the importance of making provision for its deficiencies. 1 Waters, J. H. — School and Society, August 9, 1919, p. 153. 2‘*A Rational Program for Rural Education.’’ Education, May, 1917, p. 546. Payson Smith, Commissioner of Education for Massachusetts. PROPOSED PURPOSES 25 To these elementary education must reach out and furnish the child the many desirable stimuli and oppor- tunities his own environment does not supply. This group, believing less in the sufficiency of the rural en- vironment to produce such a general education, empha- size the importance of supplementing it from other sources. This is largely the responsibility of the school. The following quotation, especially the italicized sen- tences, give the fundamental position of this group: Any action of society inspired by the desire “to keep the boy on the farm”’ is, it would seem, ill advised. Society advances toward the ideal democracy of which we dream through a broadening of the range of suggestions which flood the individual. It is the duty of society to afford encouragement to every child to choose an occupation other than that of the father. Any assumption that the child is to follow the parental occupation is unjust. Any artificial limitation of the range of suggestions from which the child must choose the materials out of which he is to form his life is undemocratic. All attempts to rebuild the rural civilization about a rural clergy, or a specialized rural teaching force, by which is meant a clergy and a teaching force for farmers and the children of farmers are just as undemocratic as attempts would be to organize churches and schools for grocers and the children of grocers, through the instrumentality of which it would be hoped to limit the range of suggestions of the people of this occupation to the grocery business. Those who wish to be of true service to the rural population, upon acquiring a vision inclusive enough to see all humanity as one, will think of the men and women, and the boys and girls, upon the nation’s farms primarily as men and women, and boys and girls, rather than as farmers and prospective farmers.! Butterfield views such an idealization of rural life thus: I am frank to say that I am ready to protest against that phi- losophy of rural education which assumes that the rural environment 1 Holmes, R. H. — American Journal of Sociology, May, 1919. 26 RURAL EDUCATION alone, and by itself, is a sufficiently broad environment for the education of the rural child. Still more definitely he emphasizes the necessity of keeping rural folk in touch with world progress and the activities of other groups. Education must bridge the gap between the country and city, it must attempt to weld into one social unit the diverse groups of our present social organization. He says concerning the responsibility of education to country children: The idea of keeping all the farm boys on the farm is the poorest policy we could follow. We cannot afford to arrange our rural education so that the boy is obliged to stay on the farm or go to the city handicapped in his preparation for life. The door from country to city must swing wide. There must be freedom of intercourse between city and country. We must not have a peasantry — a rustic group. In no parts of our country must there be a possibility of farmers being looked down upon or being sharply distinguished from other classes in any way that marks them off as a caste.? The need of a general culture in a democratic society as a basis of common interests through which the various groups can cooperate for social progress is well stated by Bagley. He criticises those who, through education, would increase the group differences by choice of ma- terial in this fundamental elementary education. He Says: It is the insidious notion that what we call general or liberal education is needed only by those who are going into the professions; that workers in the industrial, agricultural, and commercial fields do not need the kind of culture that the general and liberal work of the seventh and eighth grades and high school is supposed to represent — that instruction in history, in geography, in literature, is really vocational education preparing for the “white collar” occupations. 1“*The Rural School as a Community Center.”’ Education, June, 1916, pp. 702-3. _ 2 Butterfield, K. L. — The Farmer and the New Day, p. 51. PROPOSED PURPOSES 27 And so we have the proposals for differentiated courses in history — industrial history for those going into industries, political history for those going into the professions; and we have proposals and even experiments in the teaching of English which would relegate the great masterpieces to white-collar pupils, and feed those destined for other callings on the inspiring contents of poultry bulletins and mail-order catalogs. The position of this last group is that the rural ele- mentary school problem its merely one phase of the problem of elementary education in a modern democracy. Differences exist in the local environment. These are to be used as a basis for determining the approach and the line of procedure in doing for the child what educa- tion in a democracy should do in fitting him for the fullest social membership. These local conditions will play a part in determining what the child needs to have supplied, what he needs to have emphasized, in order that his growth may be best both for himself and for society at large. The standards which determine what he needs are not those of any particular vocation or community but rather the general standards of the social group. Appreciating the limitations of any particular environment, this last group plan to multiply the con- tacts between groups, to increase intercourse and ex- change of thought, and to break down differences due to limitations and group isolation so that individual growth may be less limited, social solidarity strengthened, and social progress increased. 1 Bagley, W. C.—WN. E. A. Proceedings, 1916, pp. 960-1. CHAPTER II PURPOSES OF THE SCHOOL AS RELATED TO THE SOLUTION OF ADULT AND COM- MUNITY PROBLEMS THE second general division in the field of rural school objectives concerns the desirable contributions of the rural elementary school to adult and community life. The tendency of recent years to hold the school responsible for more than its former limited task of teaching a few fundamental tools of learning has raised the question of the limits of this larger field. The unmet needs of the school children were many. In considering them atten- tion was called to other problems in the social] environ- ment closely connected with these new needs of the child. Many conditions were found, especially in the open country, which could be improved by service from some organization. Here, where organized forces and leaders were few, the rural school has been called upon to serve in many new and varied ways. The rural teacher has sometimes been expected not only to teach her pupils, in a professional sense, and conduct improve- ment enterprises of various sorts for the betterment of the school and her own work, but also to develop cooking and sewing clubs for the girls; corn, pig, calf, and poultry clubs for the boys; homemaking clubs for the women; agricultural clubs and marketing associations for the men; and Sunday School for all. By some she has been 28 PROPOSED PURPOSES 29 considered naturally responsible for all things left un- done in the whole social field, and the school has been considered the legitimate social institution to meet any unmet need. By others, however, the work of the teacher is held to possess a more highly specialized character comparable to that of the physician. To them it is a professional task of definite scope. The elementary teacher’s responsibility and that of the institution she represents are limited primarily to the field of elementary education. The other social prob- lems are not denied importance, but they are not con- sidered the particular task of the teacher nor the primary responsibility of the school as a social institution. Let us now consider various conceptions of the school’s relation to this adult and community problem. I. RETAINING ADULTS IN THE COUNTRY One of the purposes to which the efforts of the rural elementary school are to be directed is to that of keep- ing on the farm the efficient and successful adult. It is characteristic of rural migration that those who have been successful as farmers, who are educationally ambi- tious for their children, who crave the comforts of a mod- ern civilization and the social and intellectual satisfac- tions of a larger and more varied group, are usually the ones who move to town. But these are also the men and women who could lead in the improvement of rural- life conditions and their going has robbed rural districts of progressive leadership and permitted country life to become stagnant. Mabel Carney says: Rural migration no longer means only the occasional shifting of a few brilliant sons to the city, asformerly. It now implies the uproot- 30 RURAL EDUCATION ing and withdrawal of whole families whose members, for the most part, represent the highest idealism and ambition of the country community. As a result, leadership has been extracted from rural localities, agriculture has declined, and country life has lost prestige both socially and economically. With this fact in mind, she says that, ‘‘the farm problem, then, in its most fundamental aspects, is the problem of maintaining a standard people upon our farms.” Later, in summing up the advantages of the John Swaney Con- solidated School, a school considered most successful in meeting the demands upon rural education, she states, ‘“‘There is no farm problem and no moving to town here.’’? In his Rural Infe and Education, after discussing at some length the moving to town of the more successful farmers and the consequent evil effect upon the com- munity, Cubberley says: To change this condition is the problem before us. That the schools, managed as they have been mainly by country people, are largely responsible for the condition in which country communities find themselves to-day, there can be little question. The away-from- the-farm influence of rural education in the past and its lack of adaptability to rural needs have been its marked characteristics. That the schools must be the chief agent in turning the current in the other direction, there also can be but little question. The farming industry represents a large element in our civilization, and schools in the country, if they are to be effective rural institutions, must represent the civilization of their time and location? II. CONTRIBUTING TO ADULT VOCATIONAL EFFICIENCY The school may serve the adult problem in still an- other way than by retaining native rural leaders to direct 1 Carney, Mabel — Country Lie and the Country School, p. 2. 2 Ibid. — p. 158. | 8 Cubberley, E. P. — Rural Life and Education, p. 118. PROPOSED PURPOSES 31 this revival. It may improve those who remain by increasing their productive efficiency. There are two types of argument advanced for the necessity of improv- ing the vocational efficiency of the farming population in this way. One approaches it from the standpoint of the farmer himself and demands that such new power be given him in order that he may be able to rebuild rural life in higher and more satisfying terms. The other approaches from a standpoint showing less con- sideration for the farmer’s larger life but much concern for those who depend upon the farmer. In this case he is of interest to society largely because he feeds it. Such is the attitude in the following: Confronted by this danger (the paralysis of the entire economic and social organism), the nation is turning to the rural school because ... the rural school more than any other one instrument to-day controls the food supply of the nation. The former point of view, where the farmer’s interests are concerned, is stated as follows: The course of study must be changed to help solve the farmers’ economic problems, to point the way to a new era of health and sanitation in country communities, to place before the boys and girls new ideals of citizenship.? In the immediate objective for the rural school these writers would agree. It is to increase the vocational efficiency of the adult, primarily along lines of produc- tion. Theschool’s purposes, the measure of its success, the introduction of the newer subjects, and the basis of the school’s appeal for support are put in these terms. 1 Eggleston and Bruére — The Work of the Rural School, p. 3. 2 Waters, J. H. — President Kansas State Agricultural College, in the introduction to Kirkpatrick’s Rural Schools from Within. 32 RURAL EDUCATION An Objective in School Service. — In the following quotation the purpose of the school is seen to be the making of a definite contribution to the farmer’s money income and to the world’s supply of food: The rural school should help the farmer to obtain greater returns from the labor he expends, and at the same time aid him in providing a larger supply of food for the millions who are dependent on the yield of the soil for their daily bread. . . . It is safe to say that they could double the profits from the farms with little additional labor, if they would put into practice as good methods of farming and stock raising as are now known and easily available to all. And the most natural and effective way to put the farmer into possession of the scientific knowledge and skill required is through the rural school. The elementary rural school must do its part if this knowledge is to reach the farmers. High schools are introducing courses in agriculture, and normal schools are opening courses to prepare teachers for this field of work. But by far the greatest factor available for the agricultural education of our boys and girls is the rural school. . . . Jf the great mass of our farmers are to be taught to obtain the largest fruits from their work, and to return the greatest amount from the sovl for the food supply of the world, this instruction must be given in the rural school.? In a discussion on the purpose of elementary agricul- ture and its contribution to the community, the bulletin of the United States Bureau of Education on a Course of Study for Rural Teachers by Mutchler and Craig contains the following: Such work would very materially increase the aggregate returns from the farm. . . . Suppose our rural teachers set for themselves the problem of increasing the corn crop five bushels to the acre, what would be the result? 3 1 Betts and Hall — Better Rural Schools, p. 26. 2 Ibid. — p. 30. 3’ Bureau of Education Bulletin, No. 1, 1912, p. 14. PROPOSED PURPOSES 33 One teacher saw this as his particular problem in the rural school situation in which he found himself. Hewas a young man in charge of ‘‘three rural schools of the traditional cheese-box type.’ The report is made with favorable comment by Eggleston and Bruére as follows: The problem that confronted this young man was precisely the problem which, in one form or another, confronts rural school workers everywhere in the nation to-day. If he was to hold the children on the land he must make rural life economically, socially, and spiritually attractive to them. To make rural life attractive he must increase the general wealth of the community, and in order to increase the com- munity’s general wealth he must train the farmers and their children in modern methods of agriculture and business management, and in the principles of cooperative marketing — through the school. Then while discussing the same problem the teacher says: So far, we of the school have attempted to interest our patrons in the following program: a larger crop of corn, ...alarger hay crop, . the substitution of seed potatoes grown in the mountains of our own state for imported potatoes,. . .more green manure,. . . the introduction of cow peas,. . . more hogs and better hogs, . . . more sheep, . . . securing earlier and more prolific varieties of cotton,.. . starting, or rather arousing, interest in a farmers’ codperative com- pany, .. .the establishment of a thorough, practical county school of cooking, sewing, and economy for the girls. Why should not the girls use the favorite, long-treasured special recipes of their mothers and grandmothers to make for profit wholesome, good, toothsome, appetizing, pure preserves for marketing in town, to poor city people who now have to use canned stuff?? There seems to be no doubt in the minds of the preced- ing writers as to the fitness of such a purpose for the rural elementary school. Influence upon Subject Matter.— The practical needs of the adult have determined the type of agricul- 1 Eggleston and Bruére — The Work of the Rural School, p. 12. 2 Ibid. — p. 14. 34 RURAL EDUCATION ture that has come to prevail in places. Starting with nature study because of its general educational value and its many relations to the child’s experiences, it gives way to a more practical agriculture. As Cubberley states: The next thought was to improve the instruction by modifying and enriching it, and by adjusting it more fully to the needs of country life. This was a fruitful idea. During the late nineties a form of generalized nature study was introduced into many rural schools. An attempt has since been made to transform this into instruction in agriculture. Economic needs have greatly stimulated this move- ment.! Such general values as are aimed at by nature study, however, do not serve the purpose which some have for this new study. G. C. Creelman, President of Ontario Agricultural College, would make it more definitely practical. 3 Agriculture seems to be especially hard, not to introduce, but to get practical results therefrom. It is easy to interest children in plant and animal stories, but it 7s not easy to instruct children so that an im- provement is readily seen in the field crops and the flocks and herds and the home life of the neighborhood.? Influence on Club Work. — Club work for children has often been introduced as a means of interesting adults in the problems of better production. In Illinois, says Foght, Interest in the annual farmers’ institute had been lagging... . At this juncture its president introduced a happy innovation; — he advertised that he would send free to any farmer boy who applied as much of the finest seed corn procurable in the state as a one cent stamp would carry; the boys to exhibit their product at the annual meeting of the farmers’ institute and receive small prizes for the best corn raised.3 1 Cubberley, E. P. — The Improvement of Rural Schools, pp. 4-5. :N. E. A. Proceedings, 1916, p. 949. 8 Foght, H. W. — The American Rural ARE: pp. 221-3. PROPOSED PURPOSES 35 The following writer also takes the view that club work should increase production and he would make it a definite part of the curriculum. In a paper on ‘How the Curriculum May Better Meet Present-day Social Needs,” after two or three pages of discussion dealing with the retarded production of New England Agri- culture, he says: Perhaps you feel that I have gone far afield from the topic assigned for discussion, and that I have launched out on an argument for preparedness in our agriculture uncalled for at this time. If I have done so, it has been with the hope that I might find a proper setting for the presentation of one phase of our rural education which in some cases has been developed as a part of our school curriculum, and in others as a subject almost extraneous to it. I refer to what has been commonly called the Boys’ and Girls’ Club Work. ...I can see more real relief in this movement from such situations as I have previously described than in any other with which I have come in contact.! Adult Vocational Efficiency as a Test of School Re- sults. — The chief results of the service of the school to the community and the nation have been measured by some in these economic terms. Betts and Hall see it as follows: An increase of even five bushels to the acre would have netted the state over ten million dollars additional income from corn crop. And it is one of the opportunities of the rural school to show how to obtain the increased yield... . It is the claim of government statis- ticians that the rural schools of Canada increased the wheat yield in certain regions of that country five bushels per acre in a few years’ time. Sometimes this responsibility of the school for adult vocational efficiency is merely implied, as in the follow- 1 Article by W. D. Hurd, formerly Director of Extension Service, Massa- chusetts Agricultural College, published in Education, May, 1917. 2 Betts and Hall—Better Rural Schools, p. 28. 36 RURAL EDUCATION ing from Bailey, where he is discussing the common schools and farming: The country is well peopled with good farmers, in spite of the fact that the school in the open country has given them no direct aid in their business.! The Report of the Commission on Country Life declares that by its interpretation the public in general is looking to the rural school for agricultural efficiency. It says: The schools are held to be largely responsible for ineffective farm- ing, lack of ideals, and the drift to town. As a Means of Securing Support. — Moreover, leaders in education find in this vocational service to adults through the elementary school a means of justifying the school to the community and a basis of continued or additional support. In the following quotations such a view is presented. From Betts and Hall we have it stated thus: Let the rural school show its value by making an immediate and practical contribution to the welfare and success of its community, and there will be no lack of financial or moral support on the part of its patrons. . . . One Illinois rural district paid the teacher one hundred and ten dollars a month, nine hundred and ninety dollars a year, in 1913 for teaching a one-room school in which the vocational ideal dominates.? Kern has found the following as the solution of rural school support: If educators can show him (the farmer) that a study of highbred corn and soil will bring substantial returns, he is willing to spend more money on the country school and spend it in a better way? 1 Bailey, L. H.— The Training of Farmers, p. 137. 2 Betts and Hall — Better Rural Schools, pp. 106-7. ’ Kern, O. J. — Among Country Schools, p. 205, PROPOSED PURPOSES 37 The same attitude is expressed for the South by C. H. Law, who says: The problems of securing the interests of pupils in the common school branches, of teaching in an effective way farm economy, and of gaining the abiding interest of the school patrons seem to have their solution in the correlation of agriculture with the common school branches by means of boys’ and girls’ clubs. III. DEVELOPING A BROAD RURAL CITIZENSHIP Partly as an action against this conception of the school which sees the whole problem of rural life in terms of production and income, there is a group who think of rural folk as people of varied interests, many of which are higher than economic satisfaction. It is the purpose of this group to make the service of the rural school to the adult include more than the mere increase of income or production. Foght says: Our agricultural population is suffering as much from want of a vision-giving breadth of culture as from the want of technical prepara- tion for their life work. . . . A broad measure of academic culture should, therefore, be considered a first essential to all rural teaching success.” In another connection he states the same position as follows: The new school curriculum is based on what the farmer and his wife ought to know. ‘There is, first of all, the human element to be considered. This includes health and happiness. Then comes the preparation of the members of the family for the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship, and, finally, their right to a preparation that will help them to make a good living from the soil‘ 1 Bulletin, 1913, No. 132, p. 1. Office of Experiment Stations, United States Department of Agriculture. 2 Foght, H. W. — The Rural Teacher and His Work, p. 9. 3 Ibid. — pp. 11-12. 38 RURAL EDUCATION Both aspects are included by Arp, who sees, however, that economic efficiency is merely a means for accom- plishing the larger end of making a “happy” home situation. Hesays: Rural life centers about the country home and in the one great rural industry, agriculture. Therefore, the farmer’s big, vital problem is how to make his country home the happiest and best possible place to dwell in while engaged in his life work, and how to make agriculture profitable, enjoyable, and capable of supporting the right kind of a home. That for this reason agriculture is the logical subject around which to build the rural school curriculum, is self evident. Butterfield, while not here definitely speaking of the school’s task in connection with such work, but rather of the education of rural people, says for those who are emphasizing this side of the rural problem: Instinctively, we all know that the great aid given by education to the farmer consists in helping him to work out his human problem — how to take and keep his place in society — and yet we are short- sighted enough to call the students of these subjects theorists, and we continue to demand educational results merely in terms of bigger crops.” IV. SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY The fourth group of writers dealing with the respon- sibility of the school to the adult includes those who distinctly emphasize its responsibility and service to the local community in building a community spirit, in reorganizing rural life, or in solving local problems. This interpretation of function somewhat overlaps those formerly discussed, and yet it involves certain distinct aspects. The problem is that of community building in all its various phases. The conception of the school as 1 Arp, J. B. — Rural Education and the Consolidated School, p. 82. 2 Butterfield, K. L. — The Farmer and the New Day, p. 120. PROPOSED PURPOSES 39 the distinct servant of the local community has played a large part in the writings of rural educators. The fact that the home and other institutions are doing less than heretofore toward fitting the child for his social respon- sibilities has given rise to the belief that education must accept this added responsibility. Responsibility for All Problems. — This responsibility of the school is not limited, however, to serving children along the broader lines of education compatible with its professional nature. The school, it is claimed, is a social institution. As such, it must serve the society in which it is placed and, in the instance of the rural com- munity, it should consider itself responsible for all com- munity problems. There is no limit to the scope of the service that may justly be demanded of it. As an expression of this large field of responsibility, we have the following: The task of the new school is not limited to the children in the school; it reaches into the farm house and seems to be helpful there — its task is to make all country life scientific and more contented. Mrs. Harvey, in her experimental school in the Porter Community, saw the same problem which Miss Dewey states thus: The main problem to her and her supporters was to develop a school which should function adequately as a vital part of the com- munity. This was a particularly difficult problem, because it in- volved creating not only the school, but almost the community itself.? Service Primarily to Local Needs. — The local nature of such service is another phase of this particular aspect 1 The Consolidated School as a Community Center, article in The Rural School Messenger, State Teachers’ College, Kirksville, Missouri, p. 40. 2 Dewey, Evelyn — New Schools for Old, p. 68. 40 RURAL EDUCATION of the question. The school is not responsible for social problems in general but primarily for the social problems of the local community. Betts states it as follows: 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. J. Y. Joyner, former State Superintendent of Educa- tion for North Carolina, has the same conception in mind when he says: Rural education is primarily for country folks, and therefore should be adapted to the needs of country folks.? Foght takes the same position in this statement: Educational systems are made for man, and not man for educa- tional systems; and what these systems shall embrace must necessarily be governed by the dominant interest of the community? In the following quotation from President Sledd of the University of Florida this idea stands out also. It should be noted here that the use of the term needs, as in the foregoing quotations, refers not to the demands made upon country people in terms of their larger social mem- bership, but primarily to their needs as members of the local community and as farmers. This is shown by his recommendation of agricultural instruction as the © solution to these needs. He says: Educational policy is to be adjusted to local conditions. This means that there is no standard type of education that is applicable to all men everywhere, and that the determining factor in educational policy is the varying needs and conditions of the sections or classes whom it is proposed to educate. p. 53. 1 Betts, G. H. — New Ideals in Rural Schools, p. 17. 2N. E. A. Proceedings, 1916, p. 270. 3’ Foght, H. W. — The American Rural School, p. 205. PROPOSED PURPOSES 41 On the principle of fundamental needs specialized by environment perfect uniformity of school policy would be as impossible as it is undesirable. . . . Every school would teach first what its constituency needed, and thus the school, instead of being an alien something laid upon the community from without, would become a vital expression of the community’s needs, and a natural center of communal life. p. 54. Under this principle a school in a rural community would provide primarily for agricultural instruction. p. 55.1 Differentiation of Child Needs. — Others, instead of permitting these local needs to determine educational policy, recognize that the child’s needs may not be the same. These two demands, however, are to some of equal importance. Such is the conception of Cubberley and Arp, as shown in the following quotations: The conservation of soil fertility; the improvement of farming methods; the preservation of the natural scenery of the community; the dissemination of agricultural and general knowledge; the prepara- tion for the intelligent use of leisure time; the improvement of home life; the conservation of child life, girlhood, and motherhood; the stimulating of social organizations to useful activity; and, in general, the development of a better rural society; — all of these are as much legitimate functions of the redirected school as 1s the teaching to read and write and cipher.? While the city schools can call to their aid many social and civic institutions and agencies to supplement their efforts, such things are entirely lacking or difficult to establish and maintain in the rural districts. Accordingly, this additional work of social redirection and community building becomes the natural and logical function of the rural school just as truly as the instruction of boys and girls in the fundamentals of an elementary education. As Miss Carney sees it, this work has an importance nearly equal to that of the more distinctly educational service to the children. She says: 1 Bulletin 212, 1909, Office of Experiment Stations, Department of Agri- culture. : 2 Cubberley, E. P. — Rural Life and Education, p. 174. 3 Arp, J. B. — Rural Education and the Consolidated School, p. 49. 42 RURAL EDUCATION Expressing this twofold task of the school — that is, its educational and its social responsibility — as one, the complete function of the country school may be summarized in the phrase, the country school as a center for redirected education and community building.! And further: The school is the best and most available center for the upbuild- ing of the country community and may become the most immediate and effective local agency in the solution of the farm problem.? For her, however, such service is a temporary function, to be released when other agencies have been created. This effort ‘‘to introduce various phases of rural improve- ment and to institute immediate progress” is not to involve a sacrifice of the children. It should be clearly understood, however, that the social inter- pretation of the function of the country school made here does not necessarily imply, and should by no means tolerate, a neglect of its educational responsibility. The first duty of every school, as for- merly stated, is to educate’ This Local Purpose Determines the Task of the Teacher. — In the preparation and choice of a teacher, this phase of the work must be considered, while the teacher, in accepting her task, must assume these general social needs as an equally important part of her work. Vogt states his conception thus: The modern ideal in education recognizes no close dividing lines in the educational system, and the school is becoming an instrument of service to the entire community, both old and young, . . . With this principle in mind it becomes obvious that the social obligation of the school teacher is as wide as the community, and his work 1s that of build- ing civilization in every part that is not receiving adequate attention by other agencies.* 1 Carney, Mabel — Country Life and the Country School, p. 134. 2 Ibid. — p. 135. 3 Ibid. — p. 136. « Vogt, P. L. — Introduction to Rural Sociology, p. 268. PROPOSED PURPOSES 43 In his Training of Farmers, Bailey quotes F. A. Cotton, formerly State Superintendent of Indiana, to this effect: The community life with its dominant interest, agriculture, must determine the nature of the work in the school and the mode of procedure. The teachers must be .. . willing . . . to take the solution of the community’s economic, social, and educational problems as their life work.! In the following quotation there is an additional agency introduced, that is, “‘the social philosopher.’ This worker is to serve the adult population in the develop- ment of a proper social life. His purpose, in general, is the same as that of the teacher. But the teacher works upon local community problems of every sort as a means of preparing the children for their rural future and through them of building a better community life, while he is concerned chiefly with the present problems of adults. This relation of the workers is brought out as - follows: Here the rural teacher must work hand in hand with the social philosopher. In many ways their fields of activity coincide and their interests blend. . . . Indeed, their aim is the same — the improvement of all rural conditions and activities whether they be intellectual or social, material or ethical. The main difference lies in the point of attack and methods of procedure. The teacher’s work is from within, with the child in school; the social philosopher proceeds from without and deals mainly with the parent. The former begins at the fountain source — the child mind and child heart —and prepares the children for the new rural life; but without this impulse from without, furnished by reformers in high places, the work of winning over the parents, of convincing them of the need of change, would be both difficult and slow.? 1 Bailey, L. H. — Training of Farmers, p. 165. 2 Foght, H. W. — The American Rural School, p. 10. 44 RURAL EDUCATION V. SERVING THE CHILD AND SOCIETY RATHER THAN THE LOCAL GROUP The preceding quotation serves as a means for intro- ducing the last aspect of this particular question. It suggests the field of the social philosopher, or engineer, who would assume the responsibility of looking after the problems of the community as a whole and particularly of those social and recreational needs which apply primarily to the adults of the community. This would allow the teacher to specialize upon the child problems of the community, the work which has heretofore been considered his specific field. ‘The flaw in the solution offered by Foght is that he does not distinguish between the purpose of one who is working with adults in an accepted vocation and of another who is working with children in the elementary school where preparation for any definite local end is outside the purpose. To him the social philosopher and the teacher have the same function, the one directing the adult and the other the child to a fuller life in the rural environment. Such a position is tenable only when one sees in every rural child a predetermined member of a rural society. But those who see the child as a member of society at large, and the elementary school as an institution set aside to make possible for him his own fullest growth and most satisfactory social membership, object to the child’s being burdened with the social problems of his own chance environment. They would not let these problems interfere with the child’s rightful opportunity — a limitation which must result if the rural elementary school and its leader, the teacher, are used as agents for PROPOSED PURPOSES 45 solving adult community problems. Such problems are not the responsibility of the child, nor of the elemen- tary school and, in the judgment of the following author, they are not even a problem for rural people solely. These problems, like other large social questions, are tasks for the whole of our organized society. ‘To refer these rural needs solely to rural folk shows a failure to appreciate the common interests and responsibilities of society. But to refer them to the rural child, the rural teacher, or the rural school, shows an even greater mis- conception of individual rights and institutional purposes. The following quotation emphasizes this point of view: It is entirely unjust to assume that as the children of the soil enter the inheritance of the nation and the race in things social, with prob- lems of individual adjustment to solve, they must proceed to the solution burdened by the responsibility for occupational progress. Though it may be true, as is often stated, that agricultural conditions in America are upon a lower plane than are those of any other leading nation, it does not at all follow that farmers of to-day, either indi- vidually or in the mass, should be held accountable for such an unsatis- factory condition. It is the height of injustice to encircle the farmers of to-day with a line of artificial isolation and call out to them to proceed with the development of their destiny. The farmer does not have to solve farm problems. Instead he may leave them as farmers are doing by the hundreds of thousands every year. Society as a whole is responsible for conditions as they are. Society through its constant reorganization will include in some way the business of the new agricultural production. We need not fear that fields will long go untilled in a land of such agricultural possibilities. Society desiring the products of the land will pay the price for their produc- tion. An adequate price in terms of real life-values will be paid. We need not concern ourselves with the business of designating the men and women who are to take up the actual work of the new agriculture. The forces of competition will decide this thing for agriculture as they are now deciding it for other activities of our industrial life. There can be no permanent wall of separation between the country with its occupations and the city with its affairs, for we are one 46 RURAL EDUCATION people and we are learning with increasing thoroughness how we may best live together in the give and take of life. Coffman very clearly states the dangers arising from an attempt to overload the child with information con- cerning his own particular environment at the expense of more general acquaintance with the facts and con- ditions of the world at large. Another of the stock arguments for the differentiation of the curriculum in these upper grades is that it should be organized to serve the needs of the community in which the school is located. We have no desire to minimize the importance of this conception. Weare convinced that there should be many more contacts than now exist between the school and the community, that we have not yet become sufficiently sensitive and self-conscious concerning the possibilities of social service through such contacts. The localization of the activities of the school in terms of the dominant industries and activities of the community will vitalize the curriculum and motivate instruction. It will make a direct appeal to the pupils and it will encourage local support for the schools. These results are highly desirable. But attempts to localize the school curriculum may result in a situation inimical to the interests of democracy. The natural conse- quence of localization may mean an accentuation of the differences already existing between the communities. If such be the case, and if the practice be extended indefinitely, then one of the great obligations of the public school will be neglected. If, as is generally admitted, the common school, and in that we would include the seventh and eighth grades, is the agent of universal education, if the status of a nation among the nations of the world can be determined by the attention it is giving to the general education of the masses, tf social solidarity depends upon likemindedness rather than upon unlikeminded- ness, then we must safeguard those things which make for the homo- geneity of our people, and not accentuate unduly community differences Such a localization of the curriculum as is here described seems to be characteristic of all efforts to use the rural 1 Holmes, R. H. — ‘Influences of the Industrial and Social Revolution Upon the Agricultural Industry of America,’’ American Journal of Sociology, May, 1919, pp. 701-2. * Coffman, L. D. — N. HE. A. Proceedings, 1916, p. 955. PROPOSED PURPOSES 4? school as a means of advancing adult economic and community interests. This interpretation of rural school purpose does not deny the importance of such problems. All of these issues have a place in the educative endeavor of a democ- racy, but the ends of adult vocational and community effort are not the same as those for the education of children, and the rural elementary school must not be diverted from its primary task, or have its service to children handicapped by responsibilities not consistent with its fundamental purpose. Only in so far as the solution of these questions functions in the better educa- tion of children, do théy become legitimate fields of activity for the rural elementary school and teacher. CHAPTER III PURPOSES OF THE SCHOOL AS RELATED TO NON-RURAL SOCIAL FORCES AND ORGANI-— ZATIONS EACH writer quoted above has interpreted the relation- ship of the school to other social forces and organizations in terms of the purpose held for rural elementary educa- tion. This question appeared in early rural writings where the authors deplored the evil influences of the “‘citified’’ course of study upon the stability of the farm population. The definite attempt to weave some sort of unity out of the scattered and individualistic social forces of the rural community has raised the issue again, while many other interests have conspired to keep it before the attention of rural workers. In so far as the school is concerned, there seem to have been three dif- ferent answers to this question each of which will be treated in turn. I, DEVELOPING A PURELY RURAL SCHOOL AND COMMU- NITY CENTER The first group to be presented are those who would isolate the school and the rural community from too many contacts with the rest of the social world represented especially by the urban community. These would locate the school in a purely-rural environment, use ruralized material to the fullest extent in the course of 48 PROPOSED PURPOSES 49 study, and make the community sufficiently satisfying to retain the interests of its members within its restricted limits. 3 From the expressions of those who aim to create a completely satisfying social center for rural folk so that contact with the town will not be desired, we have the following: To counteract the allurements of an evening in town by the right kind of recreation, which would give the boys a chance for the necessary sociability and fun, was the hardest problem that these parents had to meet.! This was partly solved by a community band whose success 1s measured as follows: It is so popular that the young people give up Saturday nights to band practice, with scarcely a regret for the trips to town.? In the earlier consideration of the value of the con- solidated school the idea of its harmful influence on rural children came to light. Its deplorable tendencies are thus stated by Hyatt, former State Superintendent of California: But let us hold our horses long enough to inquire as to the real influence of the centralized school upon rural children, its power to create rural ideals, to buzld rural inclinations, rural tendencies. . . . The centralized school is located in the largest town in the neighborhood. The children are transported, yes, from the country to the town! And their minds are transported no less than their bodies! Their most impressionable years are spent away from the country in absorbing the things that will fit them for life in the city, that will probably unfit them for happiness, content, and success in the country 3 1 Dewey, Evelyn — New Schools for Old, p. 126. 2 Ibid. — p. 127. aN. HE. A. Proceedings, 1916, p. 1027. 50 RURAL EDUCATION Foght, in discussing the various kinds of consolidated schools, says: The last type of consolidated school to call for consideration is the purely rural. This is the ideal type. It contemplates the establish- ment of the school right in the heart of the rural community, where the child can dwell in close communion with nature, away from the attractions and allurements of the crty. Joyner, former State Superintendent of Education for North Carolina, in discussing problems of rural education, makes the following remarks which show the trend of his thinking: Rural education is the education of country folks in the country for the country. This definition includes the three things that in my opinion should be the determining factors in rural education: (1) Rural education is primarily for country folks and therefore should be adapted to the needs of country folks. (2) The purpose of rural education is primarily to educate country folks for the country, not for the towns. (8) The best place for the education of country folks for the country as in the country itself, not in the town.? II. CONSOLIDATING SCHOOLS AND DEVELOPING COMMU- NITY CENTERS IN RURAL-MINDED VILLAGES In the next position to be presented on this question the relations of the rural school and the size of the rural community are not quite so sharply restricted. To these writers it seems wiser, more economical, and more natural to use the small villages as centers for consolida- tion. It is further held that if town centers but prop- erly understood their own interests they would ally themselves with rural forces as a means of self-growth and development. So it was partly to reform these 1Foght, H. W.— The American Rural School, p. 324. 2N. EH. A. Proceedings, 1916, p. 270. PROPOSED PURPOSES 51 small villages and to direct their school curricula more effectively to the solution of rural life problems, that this idea of town and country codperation was first con- templated by rural leaders. But in this union of town and country forces, care was to be exercised in the choice of the town. It must be one that would reinforce rural interests. As a transition from this point of view, we have the following: In Randolph County consolidation has centered the new school in some “rural-minded”’ village, thus providing grade and high school instruction. Jn no instance, however, have the ideals of real consolida- tion been approximated. That is, we have yet to build our first complete farm school in the open country, offering there all the advan- tages now being offered city children.! This possibility is more acceptable to Foght, who Says: A third type of consolidated school results from closing rural schools and transporting to a neighboring village. This has its opponents who assert with much force that what is needed is not some additional convenience for sending children to village and city, to educate them away from the country, but educational facilities right out in the rural districts as good as there can be found in the city, which shall train for the farm, and for the farm only.? On the other hand, if the village is so small that it has none except rural interests, there is little reason why consolidation cannot be practiced there as well as in the open country. Kirkpatrick takes a still more positive attitude toward this movement. He sees distinct rural interest in these towns and finds much advantage for the rural group in uniting with the towns in this educational endeavor. It should be noted, however, that it is the purpose in these 1 The Rural School Messenger, Kirksville, Mo., p. 46. 2 Foght, H. W. — The American Rural School, p. 320. 3 Ibid. — p. 320. 52 RURAL EDUCATION varying statements to keep the school quite within the realm of strictly rural interests. Kirkpatrick says: Our rural towns (of 2500 or smaller population) must furnish the basis or the nucleus for the first consolidated schools. . . . It has been argued by some that the rural school should not be connected with the rural town schools because the interests of these are so widely different, but the interests are not widely different. III. MAKING RURAL INSTITUTIONS AND PEOPLE A PART OF THE SOCIAL WHOLE Isolation Socially and Individually Undesirable. — The purpose of this isolation in the rural school and of the attempt to build a wall around the rural community is thus analyzed by Holmes, who says: An extreme though perfectly logical position is held by those who advocate erection outside of towns of rural school buildings for centralized agricultural districts to make it possible to educate the children of farmers out of contact with the children of city dwellers. In these centralized schools attended only by the children of farmers the instruction would beof a nature calculated to inspire the individual child with a desire to remain upon the land. The way would be made easy for him to prepare for the occupation of agriculture, and very naturally, if he were carefully guarded from suggestions that would have a tendency to fill him with ideals of success to be obtained in other callings, he would choose the one that had been constantly held before him, thus following in the footsteps of his father, upon a higher plane technically but a farmer still. The movement to town would be checked.” Such a position is objected to as savoring of autocracy, because it prevents each individual from choosing freely among possible vocations, and of receiving an elementary school preparation which will open any of these doors 1 Kirkpatrick, M. G. — The Rural School from Within, p. 256. 2 Holmes, R. H. — ‘Influence of the Industrial and Social Revolution upon the Agricultural Industry of America.’”’” The American Journal of Sociology, May, 1919, p. 700. PROPOSED PURPOSES 53 wide and prepare him at the same time for active co- operation in the social problems of a democracy. The following method is suggested by Holmes: As opposed to this mechanical method of procedure which advances by drawing circles about different sections of society and dealing with whatever may be found within each circle as if it really had a separate existence, there is also the genetic method of approach which leads one to avoid with hearty distrust anything savoring of circle drawing. One holding the genetic view of society will think of those now upon the nation’s farms as being a body of people not funda- mentally unlike those who inhabit the towns. . . . Farmers, in the mass, are rightly considered a backward people because of the con- stant echoing of the past in the ears of the individual by the old type of family whose function it was to dominate the individual in every phase of his life’s activity. . . . As the farmer families are caught up into more complete social unity with individuals of other occupations this progress (of the urban folk) will also be theirs.2 Isolation Not Consistent with Actual Relations. — Galpin, in his study of rural-urban relations, shows that such a tendency to isolate rural folk, to build a com- munity life among purely rural people, or within a rural atmosphere, is contrary to the actual social relations. The foregoing analysis of the use of the leading institutions of each center by the farm population discloses the fact, however, that these institutions are agencies of social service over a comparatively determinable and fixed area of land surrounding each center; that this social service is precisely the same in character as is rendered to those people — whether artisans, employees, or professional persons — who happen to live within the corporate limits of the city or vil- lage. . . . It is difficult, if not impossible to avoid the conclusion that the trade zone about one of these rather complete agricultural civic centers, forms the boundary of an actual, if not legal, community, within which the apparent entanglement of human life is resolved into a fairly unitary system of inter-relatedness.? 1 Ibid. — p. 701. 2 Galpin, C. J. — Rural Life, pp. 84-7. 54 ‘RURAL EDUCATION The efforts of those who are striving to build a satisfac- tory social, business, and institutional life among purely rural folk he characterizes as follows: Broadly speaking, ruralism proposes a self-sufficing rural sociak system, founded upon the segregation of farmers and farmer groups and farmer institutions. The radical ruralist interprets ‘rural codperation”’ as technical methods of farmers uniting with farmers to do business collectively in competition with urban business; rural schools are schools in the country, for country, by the country; rural churches are farmers’ churches, better churches than at present, better built, the flocks better shepherded, better organized, but still separate and distinct from town or city; rural recreation, in the picture of the radical ruralist, consists of farm sports, reverting to the barn dance, to the type of the husking-bee, the barn-raising, house warming, spelling-match, singing-school, and neighborhood picnic. Carried to its radical conclusion, ruralism would erect a rural society of the members of a single occupation, which would develop its own culture and civilization. Against this tendency he proposes the following: The second school of thinking may be termed rurbanism. As the word rurban is formed by blending rural into urban, so the idea of rurbanism is that, as the rural population of America is an integral part of the nation, so the open country is an element in the clustered town, and the town is a factor of the land, and the civilization, culture, and development of rural people are to be found in con- junction with town and small city, and not apart.? These men then, oppose any solution of the rural problem which would draw a circle around the community and isolate it from contact with all non-rural interests. They object also to building the school in the open country where the children will be limited to a ruralized mental diet and where every suggestion will lead to a future on the farm. As a substitute they propose to break down such barriers and to treat rural folk as a part 1 Galpin, C. J. — Rural Life, p. 62. 2 Ibid. — p. 64. PROPOSED PURPOSES 55 of the social whole, a group whose interests — com- munity, vocational, and individual—can be _ best served by a more complete association with the other groups in society. Conclusion. — We have presented here at some length a wide range of proposals for rural elementary education, It is evident that these are far from con- sistent. They differ not only in the purpose of elemen- tary education but also in many details of the curriculum. They involve different conceptions of the desirable social organization, and imply different ends and methods of individual development. They vary in their scale of relative values and consequently aim to secure dif- ferent results from education. Not all of these con- flicting tendencies can be equally good. In order, then, to criticize and evaluate them a study of underlying principles is essential. Such a study is the purpose of the next two chapters. PART II STANDARDS FOR JUDGING THESE PURPOSES Ath ae M4 CHAPTER IV THE NATURE OF “ THE GOOD LIFE” — INDIVIDUAL ASPECT In the first three chapters of this discussion we have found varying conceptions of the purpose, content, and organization of rural elementary education. These were far from consistent. This inconsistency gave rise to the question of their relative values. To evaluate them it is necessary to study the basic principles of that type of life we call good. What constitutes ‘‘the good life’? What type of individual is contemplated in the good life? What conditions are essential to its realiza- tion? What is the type of social organization implied? What demands are made upon group relations? How is democracy related to the good life? Such questions as these must be considered before we can hope to determine the question of aims in education. The nature of “the good life” will be considered first from the standpoint of the individual, his interests, his manner of growth, and the conditions of his develop- ment. The following chapter will then treat the same question from the social point of view. The writer will not attempt to develop a new philosophy but merely to present the principles which are to be used in evaluating country life and in making certain proposals for rural education and the preparation of rural teachers. 59 60 RURAL EDUCATION I. NATURE OF THE INDIVIDUAL Practical Definition. — What, then, is the good life for the individual? And what does his nature demand? The practical way of characterizing any man is to point out the ends he seeks, the interests he possesses, the things he holds valuable, or his method of response to certain situations. For it is by the ends or values which he strives to realize that amanis known. “If we know,” says Dewey, “‘what any person really finds desirable, what he stakes his happiness upon, we can read his nature. ... A man’s character is revealed by the objects which make him happy, whether anticipated or real- ized.”’! Our very class names refer to these values. To say that a man is a socialist is to imply that he believes in certain principles, takes an interest in certain activities, seeks certain ends, and, where these particular ends are involved, acts in a certain way. Implications of a similar nature are inferred if we describe a man as an egotist, a Christian, a prize fighter, or an artist. And if we were challenged to show that the individual under discussion did hold such values and interests, we should do so by referring to his actions. In other words, we think of his acts as related to his purposes and values, as means are related to ends. These purposes make his conduct meaningful and are its explanation. His actions are in turn evidence that these purposes exist. He is a being seeking certain objectives. The Individual as Defined by Certain Writers. — This progressing character of the individual under the guidance of purposes has been definitely pointed out or 1 Dewey and Tufts — Ethics, pp. 272-3. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 61 assumed by many writers. Thorndike refers to these purposes as ‘“‘wants” and finds in their improvement and satisfaction the rational end of living. Kilpatrick makes “ourposeful activity” basic in his conception of educa- tion. Bagley evidently has the same thing in mind when, in answer to the question, ‘‘What is the criterion of social progress?”’ he says: “The only rational answer to the question is, Achievement. 'That conduct is worthy which promotes achievement; that achievement is worthy which promotes among all men the possibility of further achievement.’’! Paulsen, in a discussion of “the highest good,” says of the individual, ‘‘The type which his life desires to express and to realize hovers _ before him as an ideal. This he strives after, this is the standard by which he measures himself and his activity.’’? “The means I desire only for the sake of the end; in themselves they are totally indifferent; I choose that one among them which will help me to realize my purpose in the quickest manner possible and at the least ex- pense.’’ Dewey says that “the proper meaning of happiness turns out to be the satisfaction, realization, or fulfillment of some purpose and power of the agent.’ He calls the tendency of people to seek desired ends by means of the environment ‘‘growth.’> ‘‘Where there is life, there are already eager and impassioned activities,’ and such activities express the essence of life. ‘‘Life is develop- ment, and developing, growing, is life.” Such growth, 1 Bagley, W. C. — Educational Values, p. 114. 2 Paulsen, Friedrich — System of Ethics, p. 27. 8 Ibid. — pp. 253-4. 4 Dewey and Tufts — Ethics, p. 269. 5 Dewry, John — Democracy and Education, Chapter 4. 62 RURAL EDUCATION however, is not mere random activity but is defined as “the cumulative movement of action toward a later result.”” It involves ‘‘the constant expansion of horizons and the consequent formation of new purposes and new responses.”’? We have, then, as a common element to all these interpretations of the nature and purpose of an individual life the two factors, the end or purpose and the activity which is directed toward its attain- ment. The Individual as Defined in Psychology. — This theory that life is mainly a matter of activity which satisfies, or of activity directed to ends that seem desirable, is expressed in certain interpretations in psychology. Thorndike analyzes the individual into stimulus-response bonds. That is, he regards life as composed of situations that stimulate activity either because they produce an annoying state from which one would escape, or a prospective end or state whose realization will give satisfaction. All activity is thus related to some definite cause.! But this activity, set off by a definite cause, is not of a random nature. Consciously or unconsciously it seems to attain some end. This end may be the mere ac- tivity itself or it may be some objective result. At each step the behavior is checked in terms of the desired end, and the consequent satisfyingness or dissatisfying- ness serves as a guide to further conduct. Responses, then, have not only a definite stimulus but aim to secure a definite result whose attainment measures their success.” 3 1 Thorndike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. I, p. 12. 2 Ibid. — pp. 172-3. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 63 End Predominant. — The predominance of the end in this activity of man is illustrated by that aspect of human behavior which Thorndike calls ‘multiple response.’ Of it he says: The details of very many of the forms of original behavior... involve varied response to an annoying state of affairs until a certain satisfying condition is attained. That is, the situation provokes, not one fixed response, but any one of several responses, the failure on the part of the one first made to produce a satisfying state of affairs being (in connection with the rest of the situation) the stimulus to one of the other responses, so that the animal does many things and does them over and over again until some one of them, or some external event, puts an end to the annoying state of affairs or brings the requisite satisfaction. The term plasticity, if it means anything more than ‘“‘multiple response,’’ refers to the fact that the ability of an individual to use one of these responses in preference to another is not permanently fixed. Not only does the individual possess the power of making varied responses to an unsatisfactory situation but, one response having failed, nature has provided him with easy recourse to others. The individual is prepared by these varied reactions to attain the desired end or state of affairs and the success of the responses which the situation sets up is judged in relation to thisend. He is thus able to persist successfully in seeking what is valuable to him in the midst of a changed environment. For Woodworth the individual consists of ‘‘drive’”’ and ‘“‘mechanism.”’ He says, “Once the point of view of a dynamic psychology is gained, two general problems come into sight, which may be named the problem of ‘mechanism’ and the problem of ‘drive.’ One is the 1 Thorndike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. I, p. 133. 64 RURAL EDUCATION problem of how we do a thing, and the other is the problem of what induces us to do it.’”? He is not sure what these drives may be. They do exist, however. They are ‘‘the motives and springs of action in human life.’ In some cases “the drive is simply an external stimulus and the mechanism simply the whole organism.” In other cases ‘what we mean by ‘motive’ is something internal.”! This motive, or drive, and the response’ it sets up in the mechanism are the two basic elements in human nature. Life is activity to ends that serve as a guide and a check upon behavior. Ends Have a Personal Appeal. — Life is not composed, ’ however, of activity to just any end, but to ends that appeal. These situations which call forth response do so because they arouse in the individual a desire, a con- sciousness of a state of affairs more satisfying than the present. ‘The animal runs because of the tiger and because running in that situation is a satisfier to his neurones. The child fingers the block because it is what it is and because fingering satisfies him.’’? This same personal appeal is found in socialized behavior. One does not follow custom blindly. “It is true,” says Woodworth, ‘‘that beliefs are frequently adopted from other persons without much resistance or examination; but it is not true that the recipient is purely passive, for here again, I believe, we can detect the presence of a social motive. We like to agree with the views ex- pressed by another person, and especially by a group of persons.” ‘There is a sense of comfort and satisfaction 1 Woodworth, R. 8. — Dynamic Psychology, pp. 36-8. 2 Thorndike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. I, p. 136. s Woodworth, R. 8S. — Dynamic Psychology, p. 187. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 65 in this agreement with others, and in this is to be found the explanation of one’s activity. Socialized conduct, like all other behavior, expresses, according to Wood- worth, an activity to ends that have worth to the indi- vidual.! These aspects of individual nature and behavior which have been considered emphasize the fundamental im- portance of something in man’s life that has been called by various names; interests, wants, drives, ends, or purposes. ‘These terms are not entirely synonymous, but they all refer to some objective toward which the varied activities of the individual may be directed. They may vary from the vague desire of the child to escape a state of discontent, or his positive interest in manipulation or noise-making, to the definite, clear-cut objective of the adult. They vary from the satisfaction _ found in exercising some small skill to the pleasure of the philosopher’s search for logical consistency and unity. They may be as passive as rest after labor or the quiet enjoyment of music, or they may involve the activity of a football game or the endurance of weeks of body- killing toil. Whatever these ends may be, behavior, unless it is composed merely of reflex acts or of auto- matic habits, will be directed to the realization of some end which appeals to the individual as having worth, and whose attainment gives satisfaction. Life, as such, 1 This same basic conception of activity to ends that appeal has been used by Thorndike in a criticism of James’s theory of ideo-motor action wherein the individual was regarded somewhat as a slave to the passing idea without reference to his own experience or purposes. (See Hducational Psychology, Vol. I, p. 177.) It ‘“‘serves to correct the false views of the psychology and pedagogy of interest, especially the view that interest is nothing but the attitude of attentiveness and that the educational problem of interest is nothing more than that of getting attention to the right objects.” (bid. — p. 297,) 66 RURAL EDUCATION is not primarily a state of being. It is a state of action, of activity to ends unrealized, an attempt to realize something which adds to the present self. Our first characteristic of “the good life,’ then, must be the opportunity for experiencing such activity to ends that appeal. The General End of Activity. — These ends have been spoken of as many and varied. They are not the same for the child as for the adult, for the boy as for the girl, for one man as for another. They vary with time and with the person. What, then, shall be established in “the good life’ as the general end or aim of growth? Is there a common, central purpose for all in the light of which all things have value? While such general goals have been proposed, the modern tendency is to find the value of any end, the reason for any activity, within the end itself. Paulsen says that the goal at which the will of every living creature aims, “is the normal exercise of the vital functions which constitute its nature.”! ‘And the will of a living being is nothing but a system of im- pulses, the exercise of which constitutes the life of the species.”’?. Dewey says, ‘‘Our ends are our happiness, and not a means to it,’ ? while Thorndike declares in answer to this question, that: ‘‘Reason finds the aim of human life in the improvement and satisfaction of wants. By reducing those to which the nature of things and men deny satisfaction, or by increasing those which can be fulfilled without injuring the fate of others, man makes his wants better. By changing the environment 1 Paulsen, Friedrich — System of Ethics, p. 270. 2 Ibid. — p. 271.4 8’ Dewey and Tufts — Ethics, p. 273. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 67 into a nature more hospitable to the activities he craves, he satisfies them.”’! Each ‘‘Want” an End in Itself. — These wants as described here are considered good in themselves and their satisfaction is declared the real object of living. The same position is taken by Woodworth. In speaking of the source of the values that inhere in things and make one preferable to another he says: What is the selective agency? Now the gist of the whole discussion is that there is no agency exclusively devoted to selection, no factor of selection that is nothing more than that. A tendency toward some consummatory reaction acts as a selective agency, but it is at the same time a tendency toward a definite end. An interest acts as a selective agency, but it is also an interest in some specific thing or class of things. A question acts as a selective agency, but a question has always a specific content. A context acts as a selective agency, but the context means a concrete situation, with characteristics peculiar to itself. Selective agencies are many, each of them being a special tendency or interest. Selectiveness is a property of any tendency or interest and not the property of some one general agency existing alongside of the specific tendencies.? In answer, then, to the question, What is the general end or aim in ‘‘the good life’? these men would say there is none. The compelling force of all activity according to their interpretation, is inherent in the experience, not external to it. In other words, it is not located in some far- removed or arbitrary standard of values in the light of which any particular activity is to be judged as desir- able. The effect of this conception is to broaden the scope of the ‘‘good”’ — to democratize it. Here the idea that all must strive for some ethereal culture and be 1 Thorndike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. I, p. 123. 2 Woodworth, R. 8. — Dynamic Psychology, p. 126. 68 RURAL EDUCATION judged in the light of it gives way to the belief that men may find many kinds of good. There is one good which appeals to the child, another to the youth, and still a third to the adult. For each the present experience is its own excuse for being. There is that which appeals to the specialist in various lines, to the business man, the engineer, the explorer and the lover of nature; and the values that appeal to each of these are as final as those that come to us with more prestige from a longer association with our ideas of “‘culture.’? Man is from this point of view justified in finding his self-expression and his satisfaction where he will, whether that be in the realms of philosophy and art, or in the world of affairs and physical labor. ‘The good life” to him is just this activity. Living, itself, is satisfying if such living is a progression along lines freely chosen. Wants Conditioned. — Do we conclude then that the individual is the sole judge of his activities? That the good of the passing hour is the only and final good? Are there no limitations? Is there no principle of selection? There are limitations most assuredly.. Approved wants must, first, be consistent with the limits set by nature and man; second, they must be in keeping with each one’s in- dividual bent; third, they must lead on to new and better wants; and fourth, through the experiences they entail, they must provide the power essential to the realization of future wants. Each of these elements will be taken up in turn. 1. By Social Standards. The first characteristic of these desirable ‘‘wants”’ is that they shall be consistent with the limits set by nature and by man. The relation of the individual to social demands has received long and THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 69 continued attention. From the initiation rites of savage tribes to our present interpretation of education as ‘‘ad- justment,” “social efficiency,’ or “‘social control,’’ we find serious consideration of this problem of fitting the individual into the limits set by social standards. Such an adjustment is recognized as one element in the con- ception of “the good life’? here presented. For men as men have always lived in the midst of, and by means of, the social life. It is essential to their fullest satisfaction that they find pleasurable activity in seeking and attain- ing those ends which coincide with the welfare of others and the conditions of the natural world. While each end furnishes its own appeal or value, and while an in- dividual alone and in a perfectly hospitable world might choose without impunity any end which attracted him, in actual fact he is limited. Ends do have relative values. And the first condition of ‘‘the good life’ is that the ends desired must be in keeping with the en- vironmental demands. How difficult this adjustment may be, we leave for consideration in the following chapter. 2. By the Individual’s Own Nature. The second condition of ‘‘the good life” is that these ends for which an individual strives shall be in keeping with his own nature. The interpretation of the individual as one who finds the purpose of living in the satisfaction of ‘‘wants” rules out of the problem any arbitrary or external au- thority through which a hierarchy of values might be established. But for any one individual, possible ends do not have equal value. Thorndike’s study of in- dividual differences reveals the variation and specializa- tion in human ability. Human interests vary as much. 70 RURAL EDUCATION So instead of establishing a realm of common, funda- mental values which all should approve and strive for, the type of life desirable from the individual’s point of view is one in which he may cce into contact with the varied possibilities of human experience and be free to choose among them at the direction of his own special interests. Among the interests thus chosen variations in value still exist. Some are major and some are minor; some are transient and some permanent. The fact that ‘our ends are our happiness and not a means to it,” that there is no one selecting agency which gives a predeter- mined unity to life, ‘‘does not however imply, as might appear at first thought, that the personality is a mere collection of tendencies, with no organization and no control. Some tendencies and interests are stronger than others in the individual, and a well-integrated personality is organized about its master motives, these acting as selective agencies.’’! Instead of being merely a store- house for achieved human culture, a living means of perpetuating human attainments in their present form, the individual is one who must reévaluate experience and rebuild it in terms of his nature. Freedom to choose among his varied possibilities, and to vary and recon- struct elements must characterize ‘the good life” for the individual. The bearing of this upon education is stated as follows by Dewey: In its contrast with the ideas both of unfolding of latent powers from within, and of formation from without, whether by physical nature or by cultural products of the past, the ideal of growth results in the conception that education is a constant reorganizing or recon- structing of experience. 1 Woodworth, R. S. — Dynamic Psychology, p. 126. 2 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 89. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 71 For life, to have its fullest meaning, must find its ex- pression in striving for and attaining these personally selected ends, organized in keeping with their relative worth to the one concerned. 3. By their Power to Produce New Interests. But, since the measure of ‘‘the good life’ is found in the abundance of satisfiable wants, the real test of the rela- tive worth of the many possible ends it offers lies in their interest-bearing value. These interests must be realiz- able, they must have a personal appeal, and, in addition, they must be productive of future growth. They must open up new fields, suggest new ends to be attained and provide for the continuation of activity and the possi- bility of satisfaction. The end that does this most completely for any man is, for that man, other things being equal, the end of greatest worth to him. Immediate Value not Sufficient. — With this problem before us the effect of any single experience upon the possibility of a larger, richer future activity becomes all important. Its contribution can no longer be measured in terms of the attainment of immediate ends, however satisfying these may be at the time. What oppor- tunity does the activity reveal? And what new types of interests and wants does it make available? These are the essential questions. That experiences do have such bearing upon the future is thus stated by Thorndike: Ordinarily, then, any situation not only produces full action in certain conduction units, but also predisposes other units further on in the chain toward or against conduction. . . . In listing the readi- nesses and unreadinesses which different situations produce or call into play, psychology can at present make little advance beyond what any shrewd observer can see for himself once he understands 72 RURAL EDUCATION the general principles. If each behavior-series is thought of as an army sending scouts ahead, or as a train whose arrival at one station means the sending of signals on before whereby this switch is opened, that one closed, and the other left dependent upon the size or speed or color of the train .. . enough has been accomplished for our purpose. To discover the exact nature of such readinesses is one of the notable tasks of the science of human behavior.! Such a “leading on” effect, such an opening up of neurone connections, will be largely provided for by the personal choice or acceptance of the end to be attained. This is well given in the following description by Kil- patrick. Situations occur wherein the end to be at- tained has not been chosen for reasons inherent in the problem. The interest may be in something external. The returns therefrom in future interests are somewhat limited as compared with an activity freely chosen. “The steps that in either case actually produced the kite (the purpose under consideration) let us call the primary responses for that case. ... Additional to the primary responses which produced the respective kites, there will be yet other responses that accompany the kite-making, not so much by way of outward doing as of inward thought and feeling. These additional responses may be divided into associate and concomitant responses. By associate responses we refer to those thoughts which are suggested in rather close connection with the primary responses and with the materials used and the ends sought. By the term concomitant reference is made to certain responses yet a little further off from the immedi- ate operation of kite-making, which results ultimately in attitudes and generalizations.” Such a result is to be 1 Thorndike, E. L, —- Educational Psychology, Vol. I, p. 132. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 73 obtained from a whole-hearted choice or acceptance of the end by the one who is held responsible for the activity leading to it, In other words, it is only when the end is freely chosen or accepted that this rich return to in- creased interests can reach the maximum. The unified set of whole-heartedness will render available all the pertinent connected inner resources. A wealth of marginal responses will be ready to come forward at every opportunity. Thoughts will be turned over and over, and each step will be connected in many ways with other experiences. Alluring leads in various allied direc- tions will open before the boy, which only the dominant present purpose could suffice to postpone.! Application to Education. — This belief in the neces- sity of abundant interests, if life is to be rich and satisfy- ing, has profoundly affected our theory of education. The conception of education primarily as heavy-handed social control, confronted with the problem of preserving a social heritage from a naturally destructive generation of youth, and with the task of re-making youth in keep- ing with social values, is being replaced in the minds of many. In its place is coming an interpretation of edu- cation as a large and positive force for enriching life by definitely and consciously encouraging the formation of purposes and wants. Out of the emphasis upon the child’s activity as the fundamental educative force has arisen the belief that ‘“‘activity” itself (and this has always included the attainment of ends) is the true objective of all education. Dewey says, “‘Since in reality there is nothing to which growth is relative save more growth, there is nothing to which education is sub- ordinate save more education.’”’? Life is to be measured 1 Reprint, Teachers College Record, September, 1918, pp. 9-11. 2 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 60. 74 RURAL EDUCATION by the richness of its interests which stimulate the child to purposeful activity. With this conception in mind, Dewey defines education as growth, and says, ‘‘The criterion of the value of school education is the extent in which it creates a desire for continued growth and supplies means for making the desire effective in fact.’’! The same point of view is given more specifically by Kilpatrick, who states the purpose as “activity leading to further activity.”’ Here we find education definitely charged with the responsibility of contributing to the richness of the child’s life by increasing his wants, his purposes, and his purposeful activity. While adjustment to social needs must ever remain one of the important factors in the growth situation, it is a conditioning factor and in and of itself adds noth- ing to the wealth of satisfaction. It does serve to lessen the annoyance to the individual and adds to the tran- quillity of the social order. If the individual and society are seeking a placid existence in a fixed state, then an adjusted condition will contribute to that end. But if we conceive of the individual as one whose reward for living is measured by the richness of satisfactions, by continued activity to the attainment of desired ends, then we must measure our success more by our ability to increase satisfiable wants than by our skill in reducing those which must ultimately prove disappointing. We must seek open-mindedness in all things, many-sided interests and a plasticity which enables one to adjust his wants to the conditions at hand and still find satis- faction in a varying, changing environment. Search for knowledge is not a process of storing up meaningless Dewey, John—Democracy and Education, p. 62. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 75 facts. It is a search for means to desired ends. Any program of social progress, if it would consider ‘‘the good life’ as here interpreted, must provide carefully for the development of the fundamental characteristics upon which depends this expansion of life to larger and larger satisfactions. Satisfaction Dependent upon Attainment. — Indi- vidual satisfaction does not follow directly from the absence of conflict with society or from the possession of abundant and attractive ends. This proper selection and rich increase of wants can of themselves add little to life. They set the goal and determine the direction of effort, but satisfaction, which is the end, is dependent upon their attainment. Education consists not only in providing a desire for continued growth but in supplying the means for making this desire effective. Interest in the mastery of skills, interest in the perfection of habits of learning, interest in the acquisition of essential knowl- edge and in the methods of further research, interest in social codperation — all these and many other interests in the factors of progress must be developed. Without these, other interests must fail of realization. Summary. — The good life is conceived, then, as that in which the individual possessing abundant interests is free to seek the ends that have personal appeal — ends that are consistent not only with the limits of a natural and social world in which he must live, but also with the fundamental interests of his own nature. These are to be organized around his master motives and so selected as to produce an ever-expanding world of ends and activity. This good life must, in addition, provide him with the means of attaining these ends. 76 RURAL EDUCATION II. DEMANDS MADE UPON THE ENVIRONMENT In this discussion of the characteristics of ‘‘the good life’ from its individual aspect, it was impossible to avoid touching somewhat upon the consequent demands that such a life would make upon the environment. It is the purpose here to consider these demands more in detail. In general, under what conditions can such a life be best realized? What conditions are conducive to the proper selection of wants, to the development of many and varied interests and to their continued in- crease? Under what sort of conditions do men learn the economic means of controlling natural and social forces and the mastery of available human resources? What are the conditions necessary to the progressive type of life? Conditions Suitable to Progress. — This progressive achievement of better and more numerous ends and of new and better means of attaining these ends has re- sulted, according to some writers, from numerous social contacts and free access to the social heritage. Giddings says, after his study of the development of human from animal life: If the conclusions hitherto reached in this work are true, it is necessary to believe that association, more extended, more intimate, more varied in its phases than the association practiced by inferior species, was the chief cause of the mental and moral development, and of the anatomical modifications that transformed a sub-human species into man.! In class discussion on the origin of civilization he has further pointed out that the early civilization was an 1 Giddings, Franklin H. — Principles of Sociology, p. 221. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 77 “inland sea’ product and that the present civilization is closely related to the ocean front where association with others is most accessible. And in the conclusion of his Principles of Sociology he thus states the same condition as the basis of future social progress. Instead of these notions (of a self-created individual), a conception of man as essentially and naturally social, as created by his social relationships and existing as man only by virtue of them, will be the starting point of the political theorizing of coming years.! In the study of the growth of a child into the attain- ments of the modern adult and of membership in our complex civilization, Todd comes to the conclusion that mind is a social product: The mind of the new born child is not a fabula rasa as the empiric psychologists were prone to believe. But, in truth, so little is written thereon, the ink so pale, the characters so fragmentary, that the tabula, for any purposes of life, is little better than some torn and faded manuscript unless the characters be brought out, the writing completed. What, in the case of the child’s mind, is this bringer-out or completer of the writing? Speaking popularly it is experience; speaking scientifically it is social heredity. In his study of racial differences, Thorndike supports the statement of Giddings that the civilization of a group and its rate of progress bears a close relation to its oppor- tunity for contacts and access to the pooled contribution of other peoples. Obviously, the habits and knowledge possessed by a race do not measure its present original nature. Its habits and knowledge, its “civilization” or “culture” are in the main due to the original nature of men long dead and have come to it by training. The origination of advances in civilization is a measure of ability, but the abilities that have originated them have probably been confined to a very few men. A race that originated none of them may now possess them all... . 1 Ibid. — pp. 421-2. 2 Todd, A. J. — Theories of Social Progress, p. 31. 78 RURAL EDUCATION The civilized races have not remained isolated and have got most of their civilization from without. Thus the race or individual who can take advantage of the contribution of other men, will achieve the greatest progress. Mind and Originality Are Social Products. — Burgess, from his detailed study of the dependence of origination upon access to the social heritage, upon the nature of the social organization, and upon social stimuli and de- mand, states the following as his conclusion: The concrete process of human association for the twofold achieve- ment of personal and group ends intensifies the socialization and results in important human achievements. This personal participa- tion of the person in the life of the group is the means by which the individual secures for himself the heritage of the past and is fitted for a part in the codperative achievement of further advance. Socializa- tion, then, in this aspect of social environment furnishing the strong- est possible stimuli for action, has a determining influence over the course of invention.? Dewey expresses his conception of the nature of indi- vidual growth as follows: Every individual has grown up, and always must grow up in a social medium. His responses grow intelligent, or gain meaning, simply because he lives and acts in a medium of accepted meanings and values. Through social intercourse, through sharing in the activities embodying beliefs, he gradually acquires a mind of his own. The self achieves mind in the degree in which knowledge of things is incarnate in the life about him; the self is not a separate mind building up knowledge anew on its own account. In these quotations stress is put upon free and abun- dant association, especially the mingling of groups with different ideas so that each may profit from the specific progress of the other. ‘Todd emphasizes the importance 1 Thorndike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. III, p. 2238. 2 Burgess, E. W. — The Function of Socialization in Social Evolution, p. 58. 3’ Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 344. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 79 of a rich social heritage as a means of development for the child. Burgess finds individual growth closely correlated with access to the tools of research and prog- ress, and closely dependent upon an environment in which differences are encouraged and rewarded. Inti- mate association with people in an environment sur- charged with meaningful experience is Dewey’s basic demand for individual development. How do these suggestions, concerning the nature of an environment fruitful for growth, relate to ‘‘the good life’ we would realize? Socialized Environment as a Basis for Social Adjust- ment. — The individual must adjust himself to social values, and learn to select socially approved ends. What bearing has the foregoing upon this problem? We know that in large measure the ends one seeks are products of his environment. The ideals he holds no less than the clothes he wears or the language he speaks reflect the mores of his group. Specialized ends, ends in keeping with the welfare of others, are likewise a matter of experi- ence. We must thoroughly familiarize a man with the interests of others if we would have him respect these interests. We must create an environment in which sympathy and respect for the rights of others find expres- sion. We must provide for him a multitude of varied social contacts so that through the common experiences entailed he may adjust his ends to his enlarged concep- tion of values. It is through such experiences that a permanent, intelligent, and profitable socialized self will be created. The fundamental means of control is not personal but intellectual. It is not “‘moral” in the sense that a person is moved by direct 80 RURAL EDUCATION personal appeal from others, important as is this method at critical junctures. It consists in habits of understanding, which are set up by using objects in correspondence with others, whether by way of codperation and assistance or rivalry and competition. Mind as a concrete thing is precisely the power to understand things in terms of the use made of them; a socialized mind is the power to understand them in terms of the use to which they are turned in joint or shared situations. And mind in this sense is the method of social control. A mind thus evolved in an environment expressing socialized values and practices would tend to find the demands of society natural and reasonable. Such a result is possible in the socialized environment these men favor. Socialized Environment as a Basis of Continued Ac- tivity to Freely Chosen Ends. — The second essential condition of “‘the good life’ is that opportunity must be provided for activity to ends that appeal. The conditions suitable to a rich variety of ends or motives are funda- mentally similar to the conditions that will produce so- cially approved ends. The individual is a social product. The first demand, then, is that he must live in a world where many varied interests are expressed and where he will come into real experiencing contact with many forms of social activity. If these do not exist in his immediate environment, he must be brought into con- tact with them through artificial means. No child in an environment of limited values will create for himself numerous and varied ends toward which to strive. The influence of any environmental agency, physical or social, varies with its avoidability. ... Customs do not make men so infallibly if there is a radical party, however small, which offers an alternative mode of life. ... Social environments, institutions, 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, pp. 39-40. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 81 beliefs and modes of behavior are nearly omnipotent when undis- puted; for to be the first men to revolt means either that one is a mere eccentric and so sure to be a failure, or that one is a genius and so very rare. But once the revolt is started and advertised, it may much more easily attract those whose original nature it fits. This quotation indicates that to insure progress pro- vision must be made for all to come into contact with different conflicting points of view. Means of escape from the limiting mores of a single group must be jeal- ously guarded. Variety must be provided. To limit a rural child to the narrow and unquestioned customs and standards of his local community group is to deny him ends for abundant growth. Such an environment must be replaced by one expressing and offering the rich opportunities of modern civilization. Provision for Freedom to Select Ends. — Among these many varied interests which a rich environment suggests, the individual must be free to select within the limits set by natural and social laws, and even to change any of these in accordance with his own interpretation and interest. The individual is a reconstructing agent, the source of the variations that make social progress possible. No one is yet able to foretell with certainty just what selection of values any individual will make in a situation of many opportunities. Predictions may be made, but they must not be binding or final. It is possible that ninety per cent of a given number of chil- dren may choose the vocation of their parents. But this can be taken as an indication of their real preference only when all other opportunities have been made equally available to them. This principle of vocational 1 Thorndike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. III, p. 309, 82 RURAL EDUCATION choice is applicable to the entire field of interests. What- ever opportunities exist should be made known to all with an accompanying freedom of choice. Education can serve the child best in this respect by revealing to him these many possibilities and by providing for him the greatest possible freedom of choice consistent with social welfare and his own continued growth. Such freedom of choice, such an opportunity for variation, and the encouragement needed for such departures are characteristics of the type of socialized life proposed above. In such an environment there would be not only many ends but freedom to vary, encouragement to depart into new ways of living, and a social approval that would reward each new contribution and individual- ized interpretation of life. Self-direction Essential. — One must be free not only to select his ends but to direct his activity to them. Ends are selected not for contemplation but for attain- ment, and the situation must permit and encourage the use of the resources available to their realization. The demand that ends be realized, together with the fact that satisfaction is found not alone in the attainment of some distant objective but in the mastery of numerous prob- lematic situations along the way — in the overcoming of difficulties, the control of material, the direction of means to ends, or the trying out of new methods — indicates the need for freedom throughout the activity.! Other things being equal, that life will be most productive of satisfaction which provides an environment wherein one is free to take advantage of the numberless problems 1 See Woodworth, R. 8. — Dynamic Psychology, pp. 104 and 201. Thorn- dike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. I, pp. 141-4. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 838 that occur and to direct forces to their realization. This desire to exercise intelligence in relation to the many problems which arise in the midst of one’s daily activity is the substance of the struggle for intellectual freedom. With the educated, it is a recognized necessity. Among the restless masses who find their lives as automati- cally controlled as the machines they operate, it may not be an acutely-felt need, but it must become their privilege if contentment and satisfaction are to be theirs. If men could utilize the numberless opportunities for the exercise of judgment and skill in mastering the problems of industry instead of being limited in their interests solely to a money reward for hours of meaningless toil, some- thing would have been accomplished quite in keeping with the “rational purpose of human life.” Growth Must Continue. — The third condition of the good life is that the satisfaction which comes from at- taining ends must continue throughout life. The wants of the present must be selected not only with reference to their social value and personal appeal, but also with reference to their promise for the future. The environ- ment must favor the selection of those ends and the development of those attitudes which are conducive to continued growth. The selection of ends that are not opposed to social welfare and that have a personal appeal is essential to this purpose — ends that are not narrowly related or transient in their interests, that lead on to new and more appealing wants, and that will arouse the zest of living. Opportunity to exercise initiative, to propose ends, to direct forces, to master obstacles, and to be free to use the environment for the attainment of purposes, are other contributing conditions. ‘To develop through 84 RURAL EDUCATION a rich and varied environment many interests, many lines of activity, and to have stimulating contacts with people of different views, different interests and prob- lems, serve also to promote this continued growth. By mingling with people a variety of interests is stimu- lated,! and the future is consequently not so dependent upon the continued attractiveness of a few interests. The fruit of such an enriched social life is thus stated by Dewey: These more numerous and more varied points of contact denote a greater diversity of stimuli to which an individual has to respond; they consequently put a premium on variation in his action. They secure a liberation of powers which remain suppressed as long as the incita- tions to action are partial, as they must be in a group which in its exclusiveness shuts out many interests.? Such a demand for continued variation tends to culti- vate the plasticity of early life. Intimate contact with numerous and varied points of view encourages open- mindedness and an intellectual hospitality to new in- terests. On the other hand, constant association with a single group and its unquestioned customs tends to limit the scope of interest, to foster permanent adjust- ment to things as they are, and to encourage reverence for the practice of the present and resentment toward any suggestion of change. Conditions Must Favor the Attainment of Ends. — The fourth demand of ‘‘the good life’ is that conditions be favorable to the mastery and use of the resources of civilization. This characteristic of ‘‘the good life” is very inclusive. It implies an environment that will 1‘ Association was a chief cause of variation and of characterization.” Giddings, Franklin H. — Principles of Sociology, p. 203. 2 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 101. THE GOOD LIFE—INDIVIDUAL ASPECT 85 furnish man access to the resources of civilization in the form of libraries and museums, laboratories and ma- chines, theaters, schools, and churches. It must supply him with the so-called fundamentals of learning, includ- ing reading, writing and arithmetic. It must give him the knowledge needed in mastering his world and the power and habit of increasing it. It must supply him with ideals and standards as a guide to development and it must develop those attitudes that are basic to social membership and to a continued and fruitful growth. Burgess’s study of the source of origination shows that individuals profit in their personal attain- ment and in their contribution to progress by having access to the means by which men control affairs. Sci- entific apparatus is necessary to much progress in scien- tific achievement. Codperative efforts in the form of laundries, creameries, and canneries, are efficient means of releasing farm women from the overstrain of labor and of permitting thereby an expression of the spiritual values which they are prepared to contribute. The value of a good education, which makes one master of the materials of the social heritage included in the cur- ricula, has been shown in many ways. Other things being equal, individual growth will be determined for any person by the degree to which he profits from the experiences of others as these are represented in rules for living or in the form of social institutions and machines. Summary. — The general conclusion, then, as to the nature of ‘‘the good life’ from the individual aspect is that it is one characterized by activity to preferred ends. These must be in keeping with natural and social de- mands, they must express the special interests of the 86 RURAL EDUCATION individual, and be organized around his master motives. For the attainment of such a life a thoroughly socialized environment is desirable. This is one wherein the values from which the child is to select, represent a fair consideration of the interests of all men. It is one in which the individual is not only permitted, but encour- aged, to choose the ends that appeal, to seek self-expres- sion, and to act freely in using the resources of his en- vironment to the attainment of these ends. But in this the activity of the present will not thwart future growth. Many and varied interests, and open-mindedness to new ideas, will be encouraged through stimulating social contacts and a wealth of opportunities. A socialized environment implies that the varied resources of civiliza- tion shall be made available for all so that the maximum of individual growth and social contribution may be attained by each. In evaluating any plan for human betterment, we must test its worth in terms of these individual demands. CHAPTER V THE NATURE OF “THE GOOD LIFE” — SOCIAL ASPECT THE preceding chapter considered the nature of “the good life’’ from the individual aspect. The present chapter will consider the same question from the social aspect. This in no wise implies that the topic can be regarded wholly from either point of view. Separate consideration merely serves to emphasize certain aspects and to bring certain elements of the complex situation into relief. In considering the problem from this angle the following questions arise: What is the purpose of the social organization? What relation does it have to individual interests and welfare? What demands does it make upon the individual? What opportunities does it offer? What conditions does it impose? What, in fact, are the characteristics of the good life, socially considered; under what conditions is it best realized; and how are these characteristics and conditions related to the characteristics and demands of the good life presented in the preceding chapter? ! I. THE PURPOSE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIETY In order to determine the characteristics of the desir- able social life, it is necessary first to state the accepted 1The conception of social life and social organization presented here is based upon the principles of democracy as interpreted by Dewey in his Democracy and Education. 87 88 RURAL EDUCATION purpose of social organization. Society is not some super-being whose characteristics and purposes are independent of the people it includes. It is a form of associated living, a codperative attack upon the many problems that individuals face. As such it aims at the solution of human difficulties. Its purpose is to make life more meaningful, more worth while, more satisfying, to those who compose it. ‘‘It signifies a society in which every person shall be occupied in something which makes the lives of others better worth living,” a state in which there is equal responsibility for the demands of the common life and in which all participate in the good on equal terms. Society, accepting as its end the largest service to the individuals of the group, finds need for an appeal to the nature of man to ascertain his interests. The most general answer to this inquiry is in terms of self-directed “activity to preferred ends,” ‘‘growth,” “progress,” or “achievement.” The individual is a vast complex of wants or drives seeking expression and satisfaction and the life of the individual is found in a continued activity directed to the realization of these wants which opens up an ever-expanding, increasingly complex, and more satisfying field of action. With the purpose of society so defined, what, then, are the characteristics of ‘“‘the good life’ from this social aspect? And what form of associated living is most acceptable? Progressiveness. — The first evident characteristic of ‘‘the socially good life” is that it must be a progressive, changing state. Since each individual is a reconstructing agent, building his world in terms of interests yet unde- termined and constantly growing and changing, no static a THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 89 social order whose ideal forms and institutions are per- manently fixed can serve the purpose of a society dedi- cated to this fuller realization of human interests. Out of these individual interests as they are revealed from time to time, will be determined the content, scope, and form of this social life. ‘There seems to be no place for a fixed or static goal toward whose realization forces shall be directed. The purposed end of democracy must be an undefined social order. The interests it shall include, the forms of social relations developed, the detailed ends toward which men may strive, must be subject to constant revision as new interests and new intelligence dictate. The perfect social state is con- ceived as one of progress, a state that is forever changing to other forms and other values, wherein the wants of the individuals composing it are ever more completely realized and more fruitful of further growth. Unfixed and Changing Values. — The end being an unrealized and unpredictable state, no value or set of values is sacred. Some elements, because of their long service and close correlation with the general interests of men in both the past and the present, are given weighty consideration in any suggested change. Others less fundamental are given less attention in a conflict. Custom and conventional forms are often justified sim- ply because they now exist. Opposition to woman suffrage is an illustration of the persistence of a custom which has become so ingrained that it seems to some ordained of God. The economic theory of England, which made the welfare of the nation depend upon its physical output rather than upon its personal and social values, persists to-day in our own industrial circles and 90 RURAL EDUCATION colors most of our thinking. The stigma attached to labor and the false bias formerly given to those limited social values called “cultural” still function to-day and distort our perspective and judgment of relative worth. Among primitive peoples, blind custom; among the Chinese, parental practices; among the Germans, the dictates of the state; to the religious devotee, the sayings of his leader; all are accepted as unquestioned and un- changing forms and values. But modern democracy would criticize all these in the light of the new interests of society. No convention or social belief is allowed to stand just because it does and has existed. It must bear a distinct and vital relation to the progress of the whole to secure a place in the values of to-morrow. It must justify itself in the light of the new interests devel- oped and the new wants revealed in each succeeding social group. Cooperation Essential. — Since “the good life,’”’ so- cially considered, is one of constant readjustment, the method of directing the process becomes important. How shall such a constant readjustment of the many individual values that compose a social group be realized? How shall new values be determined? How shall ways and means be developed and selected? ‘The purpose of society and the nature of the individual both demand that such questions be solved through a systematic and intelligent codperation of all the individuals concerned. Such conclusion is demanded by the following con- siderations: | 1. Individual Interests Are Discovered through Ex- perience. The purpose of the social organization is to enrich the lives of all its members. But there is no THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 91 external standard of good. Good is to be determined rather by the various interests of men, but individual values are unknown and unpredictable. The good social order can be satisfied neither with the arbitrary determi- nation of the individual’s field of growth solely in accord- ance with established social need, nor with a careful yet authoritative analysis of the individual’s nature. No one can fairly determine the individual’s interests and their scope. His wants are so varied, the combi- nation of his interests so complicated, their worth so fundamental to him, that he must be free to determine these things for himself within the limits set by evi- dent social values. These wants can be discovered and intelligently adjusted to social demands best through a free contact with people, access to a rich, suggestive environment, and freedom to participate in the varied activities. 2. Social End Is Determined by Interaction. The same codperative social life is demanded in order to readjust individual values, to re-define social objectives and to develop means to social ends. Just as no man is free to determine the type of life that must be accepted by another, so no man or limited group may determine the type of life that all must choose. These general social problems can be solved only by the participation of all, the presentation of individual interests, the pool- ing of individual values and the massing of individual contributions. Such a composite of opinion considered by all in the light of general social welfare, furnishes the most inclusive expression of human interests. The new ends to be attained, the new means for attain- ing these ends or for a more efficient mastery of old 92 RURAL EDUCATION problems, are products of human intelligence. The more completely we stimulate creative thinking among all individuals, then, the more abundant will be the harvest of suggestions for social progress. 3. Individual Satisfaction Depends upon Participa- tion. This codperative effort of all men in the problems of social progress is especially emphasized by the fact that people are interested not merely in results but in their attainment. All people, from the child to the adult, enjoy being a cause. Satisfaction is found not only in attaining the large objective but in mastering the many problems along the way. It is found further in the overcoming of difficulties, in the control of means, and in the direction of forces. History supports present- day psychology in showing that to have desirable social conditions created for a people is not so satisfying nor so good a guarantee of progress as to secure results through the codperative efforts of all concerned. People the Source of Authority. — ‘The good social life,” then, repudiating the principle of external author- ity, finds a substitute for it in the freedom and responsi- bility of individuals to initiate, direct, and control the group activity. Instead of trusting mainly to the force of organized custom or to the intrenched interests of a self-styled superior class, it charges its members to initiate improvements, to plot the curve of social progress so as to increase the satisfactions of associated living and, at the same time, to increase the capacity of in- dividuals to act as directive guardians of this organiza- tion. For it is out of the new points of view which ap- pear, out of new types of association that evolve from free interaction, out of new theories that arise, out of THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 93 new solutions to common problems, that humanity recasts in a new and more completely satisfying form the objectives and the machinery of the social order. Status of the Individual. — But what is the place of the individual as an individual in this ‘‘good social life’? What deference is shown his wants? What limits are placed upon him? How is he related to his fellows? In the discussion thus far the criterion of value has been attributed successively both to the individual and to the group. And both are in a measure true, for the indi- vidual 1s both an end and a means. Within the limits set by social standards each individual shall be free to seek the ends of his own choosing. For him, and for society in its relation to him, these ends are of supreme worth. Social forces shall aid him in their realization. Society serves itself by furthering his interests. His progress, his mastery of situations, the fulness of his satisfactions, are its goal. But when individuals conflict with each other or with the group, another relationship holds. The presupposition of the former situation, i.e., that one’s activity is socially serviceable, is evidently not true in this case. There is here a conflict of values. And to this society answers that against the welfare of the group no end with limited worth can prevail. An in- dividual is subordinate to the group, a small group to the large, the minority to the majority. In such a conflict of individuals or between an individual and society, ends must be evaluated in terms of the larger common good. In the adjustment of such a conflict between individual and individual, or between an individual and the group, the individual’s rights and development must be safely 94 RURAL EDUCATION guarded. Social forces are so overwhelming, customs so intrenched, the present practices appear to us so good that the individual variation tends to be disapproved upon general principle. In social control suppression or denial of individual freedom is much easier than wise direction to ways that are socially approved yet fruitful for individual growth. Society is not justified in simply prohibiting individual activity. It must by the control it exercises secure a larger, though changed develop- ment of the one concerned. The majority is not justified in demanding that the individual limit himself for the attainment of its own selfish ends. To require any one to endure for social ends a hardship which others shirk is not service but slavery. Summary. — ‘‘The good life’ from the social aspect, then, is one that is characterized by a state of change or progress. Its fundamental purpose is the realization of a social order wherein human wants are more com- pletely satisfied and a more fruitful growth is made possible. The source of worth is found in the interests of men. Since these are being continually revealed by intelligence and opportunity, social values, institutions and forms cannot be permanently established beyond question. Each individual, each group, each generation, must be free to reconstruct in keeping with its own interests. This process of reconstruction is best secured through the codperative effort of all concerned. In this way the interests and demands of all will find expression, and fundamental human values will be discovered. In the good social life each individual is considered as an end. Society aims to enrich his life in terms satisfying to him. But it demands of him that he, in turn, shall THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 95 choose or accept such ends for himself as are consistent with group welfare. In the authority society exercises over the individual, in the adjustment it demands of him, it seeks always a richer, though changed and ever- expanding development for him. II. SOCIAL DEMANDS UPON THE INDIVIDUAL Adjustment. — The first demand of the good social life as shown above is that there shall be a fundamental harmony among the ends sought by the various groups and individuals. How varied these ends may profitably be is not here in question. They must be sufficiently . consistent to encourage a large codperative effort toward acommon end. One of the essential conditions of ‘“‘the good life’’ in its individual aspects was adjustment to the conditions imposed by man and nature. The desirable social life emphasizes this characteristic, for man’s life must not only not run counter to these social demands, but must contribute positively to the common good. The ends he seeks must be fruitful to the lives of others. What effect do these essential social limitations have upon the individual? Is human nature so varied, are its parts so inconsistent, that such an adjustment of the many tendencies must involve a large sacrifice of indi- vidually desired ends? Society is an organized force directed to the service of its members. Its ends are subject to change; its values are relative; its institutions, being means, are flexible and may be readjusted to meet the new demands. There would seem then to be no fundamental conflict between the values of an individual, his purposes and modes of development, and a society which aims to express continually in a more perfect 96 RURAL EDUCATION form the preferred ways of living, especially one that is dedicated to the service of each and all on equal terms. Adjustment not Unnatural. — That a natural or in- nate basis for social harmony exists is the opinion of many thinkers. The types of activity essential to such a form of codperative living are held to have for the in- dividual an instinctive appeal. According to Thorn- dike: The rich satisfaction of the presence of a single companion consists not only in allowing various desirable activities which need a fellow man as their stimulus but also in the mere fact that he is there. Being one of a crowd adds new instinctive exhilaration, irrespective of any particular benefits the situation may be expected to produce.! The following quotations express this view, that the demands of associated living are not foreign to individual nature: Altruistic states of mind are, then, as natural as individualistic states . . . since both were produced in the common process of evolution. Human intercourse and institutions are as surely rooted and grounded in the original nature as man’s struggles with the rest of nature for food and safety. Human altruism is a natural instinctive product.4 Woodworth’ sees this tendency of the individual to accord with the interests of others, to find satisfying expression in and through the life of the group, as an outgrowth of a distinctively social tendency which he calls the “‘social motive.’ He says: We like to agree with the views expressed by another person, and especially by a group of persons. There is a sense of comfort and 1 Thorndike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. I, p. 86. 2 Ellwood, C. A. — Sociology in its Psychological Aspect, p. 121. 3 Thorndike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. I, p. 81. * Pearson, Karl — The Chances of Death, Vol. I, pp. 103-139. THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 97 satisfaction in thus agreeing... . If they (two new acquaintances) find themselves in agreement, they experience a satisfaction that is quite exhilarating. People with the same view gravitate together, and a group of like-thinking persons is eminently satisfactory to its members.! Man is not an individual being seeking always his own personal ends. He has a liking for agreement with his fellows in belief, emotion, purpose, and action. There is an “individual drive toward sociability.” ‘There is an impulse to act together as well as to be together.”’ Possessing the capacity for group activity as he does to an eminent degree, man is thoroughly interested in such activity. He needs no ulterior motive to attract him to it. Such a blending of interests or ends is a very normal human characteristic. It is em- phasized by Cooley in the following: If I come to imagine a person suffering wrong it is not “altruism” that makes me wish to right that wrong, but simple human impulse. He is my life, as really and immediately as anything else. His symbol arouses a sentiment which is no more his than mine.? Concerning this harmony of individual and social ends Dewey remarks that: Any individual has missed his calling, farmer, physician, teacher, student, who does not find that the accomplishment of results of value to others is an accompaniment of a process of experience inherently worth while.’ Speaking of the individual as one seeking ends that have a personal appeal, does not imply that their value is thereby limited to him. Ends may be intensely satis- fying and yet be wholly unselfish in the sense of being primarily serviceable to others. 1 Woodworth, R. S. — Dynamic Psychology, pp. 187-188. 2 Cooley, C. H. — Human Nature and the Social Order, p. 115. ® Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 1438. 98 RURAL EDUCATION Growth a Social Product. — The tendency in modern thinking is not only to hold that the individual’s original tendencies supply these socializing drives, instincts, or capacities, but that in the process of his later develop- ment he is at every stage, in large measure, a social product. We do not need to grub around for some special or recondite “social instinct,” ‘‘altruistic impulse” or “group faculty,” either inherited or injected. The principle lies implicit in man and his development. He cannot become man, a human individual, without at the same time becoming incorporated beyond recall and almost beyond analysis into the mental whole which constitutes society, for the social bond is established and rooted in the development of self- consciousness itself. Unique capacities and individual differences charac- terize him. His ‘major drives” and his combination of interests give him distinctiveness. But these deter- mine the lines of interest, of expression, of growth and not the use to which his ability shall be put. ‘Man as he stands to-day is far more truly the result of com- munion, codperation, common interests than of opposi- tion, warfare, or competition.” ? Social Adjustment Difficult. — This adjustment to social standards may not be foreign to man’s nature, yet as a social task, the problem is complicated. The in- terests to be blended in our modern social planning are so numerous and varied, the groups are so widely sepa- rated physically, conditions are so different and breed so many antagonisms, and it is so hard for men to know and understand each other, that what is a simple matter in in- dividual growth becomes a major task for social effort. 1Todd, A. J. — Theories of Social Progress, pp. 44-6. 2 Ibid. — p. 41. THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 99 Many differences appear between the desires and tendencies of an individual or a group and the values and standards acceptable to society as a whole. These may range from the mild to the bitter or from the minor disturbances and conflicts of one’s daily experience to those of war and criminality. Such differences are due occasionally to the presence of social degeneracy, as when an individual lacks those human characteristics which make it possible for him to live in a world of commonly accepted social values. For such a one the social in- stincts and social motive may be wanting, and for him there is no possible social membership. The major cause will be found, however, in the isolation of the individual or group or nation from the large funda- mental interests of world society. Such a narrowing or limiting of the social perspective must inevitably pro- hibit an appreciation of the values that the social world has come to approve. Under such conditions group and individual characteristics are determined by the sur- rounding environment. If the child of wealthy parents is isolated from the general group, for example, he can- not be expected to react to the interests of others as will one who has grown up in a situation where the interests of others have been given due consideration as a matter of course. These conflicts are due to the limitations of social intercourse either on the part of the individual or the group, and their cure is to be found not in the pro- hibition of all association nor in the denial of the princi- ple, but in a larger and more intimate relationship. Society must, then, provide the conditions under which such a harmony of interest and effort can be secured. What are these conditions? 100 RURAL EDUCATION The basic control resides in the nature of the situations in which the young take part. In social situations the young have to refer their way of acting to what others are doing and make it fitin. This directs their action to a common result, and gives an understanding common to the participants.... This common understanding of the means and ends of action is the essence of social control. In order to harmonize or blend the many varying interests of a complex group society must provide condi- tions that favor the interaction and codperation of peoples through which the desired common understanding is developed. Men must come to know, to understand, to appreciate each other. This theory more fully prac- ticed would overcome the handicaps of our varied and complex social life. Men would grow by normal means into a broader knowledge and sympathy with other groups, and common interests and free interaction would tend to secure codperative effort to ends of com- mon worth. Only in a society where these many social values are a part of his daily experience can an individual come to include them in the ends he seeks. A Contribution from Each Individual. — The second demand of the good social life as here presented is that the individual shall contribute to progress. The work- ing harmony having been provided for as an essential condition of associated living, the next test of social worth is its success in realizing new and better ways of living. But this progress is an achievement depend- ent upon individuals. Therefore society demands that each contribute as largely as possible to general social progress and human welfare. One may be a good social member in a static society merely by living so as to give no trouble or disturb the existing order of things in any 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 47. THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 101 way. A progressive society, however, demands a posi- tive contribution in keeping with ability. III. CHARACTERISTICS AND CONDITIONS OF A DESIR- ABLE CONTRIBUTION Fitness for Task. — Maximum social service is de- pendent upon the proper adjustment of the individual to his task. While all men are not specialists limited by nature to one particular type of work, most are happier and produce more effectively in work for which they are adapted. In general that social life is best which has its members at work upon tasks suited to their unique abilities. The following quotations from Dewey are given at some length because they state this position very clearly. Concerning the individual’s rela- tion to such an arrangement of affairs he says: Sentimentally, it may seem harsh to say that the greatest evil of the present régime is not found in poverty and in the suffering which it entails, but in the fact that so many persons have callings which make no appeal to them, and are pursued simply for the money reward that accrues.! In another place he says: To find out what one is fitted to do and to secure an opportunity to do it is the key to happiness. Nothing is more tragic than failure to discover one’s true business in life, or to find that one has drifted or been forced by circumstances into an uncongenial calling.? And in regard to the social profit from such a free choice of activity he adds: With reference to other members of a community, this adequacy of action signifies, of course, that they are getting the best service the person can render. It is generally believed ... that slave labor 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, pv. 370. 2 Ibid, — p. 360. 102 RURAL EDUCATION was ultimately wasteful even from the purely economic point of view — that there was not sufficient stimulus to direct the energies of slaves, and that there was consequent wastage. Moreover, since slaves were confined to certain prescribed callings, much talent must have remained unavailable to the community, and hence there was a dead loss. Slavery only illustrates on an obvious scale what happens in some degree whenever an individual does not find himself in his work. Chance for Self-discovery. — But the wise choice of vocation is dependent upon conditions favorable to self- discovery. Man must come into contact with the varied means of human expression in order to discover what type of service will be most satisfying to him and most helpful to others. He must, moreover, be free to choose among them. ‘The essence of the demand for freedom,”’ says Dewey, “‘is the need of conditions which will enable an individual to make his own special con- tribution to a group interest.” 2 In such a situation where the various types of self-expression are revealed to him, where he is directed in a study of these various demands and opportunities, and where he is free to choose among them in accordance with his interests and ability, society will not only realize the most efficient service from each one but will be adding to the satisfac- tions of each and minimizing the problem of social control. Varied Service. — While man may serve best in a chosen vocation, it should in no sense limit the measure of his contribution. The complex social values of to-day have grown far beyond the contemplated simplicity of the social order of Plato where each man served in one 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, pp. 360-1. 2 Ibid. — p. 352. THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 103 limited field. Moreover each individual is a veritable mine of possibilities as compared with the single-cyl- indered being of that theoretical society. For every person is a center through which many lines of in- terest pass, each in itself quite specialized in the social order of to-day, and his life and service depend upon his being cognizant of these and responsive to them all. He is a man of business and of leisure activities. He has friends and companions from different walks of life through whom and with whom he must work out the social order in which he is going to live. His con- tributions are as many and as varied as his contacts and must be measured in as many ways. Man should be intelligently effective along many lines. It must be borne in mind that ultimately social efficiency means neither more nor less than capacity to share in a give and take of experience. It covers all that makes one’s own experience more worth while to others, and all that enables one to participate more richly in the worth-while experiences of others. Ability to produce and to enjoy art, capacity for recreation, the significant utilization of leisure, are more important elements in it than elements con- ventionally associated oftentimes with citizenship.! This varied service from each individual depends upon his developing many interests and many abilities. Such a wealth of contribution cannot result unless the individual finds in his environment the stimuli to mani- fold growth. His life should be flooded with rich sugges- tion. Music, art, literature, science, social opportuni- ties, industrial problems, recreational facilities would serve to stimulate in him a wealth of interest, a breath of knowledge, a spirit of participation essential to this larger codperation in social progress. 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 141. 104 RURAL EDUCATION Common Responsibility for Drudgery. — Theoreti- cally each should serve only in those fields where the problems and activities appeal. But actually, in terms of social justice, practice must be different. For there exist, in the highly organized social system of the present, many tasks that fall below the demands of the socialized individual here presented. How far these can be re- duced in a society guided by proper social principles and utilizing the social forces to social ends cannot now be predicted. But where there are essential social tasks of a routine sort they must be borne in common. Real democracy can have no favorites. It does not offer to some the fullness of experience and to others a con- tinual round of meaningless labor. It purposes to make provision for participation in its good by all its members upon equal terms, and to give to all equal responsibility for the necessary hardships, limitations, and drudgery. Service in any field where these limitations exist cannot then be held the special task of any ind.vidual or group. Nor is the transformation of such a state of affairs into conditions where inherent values may be realized the sole responsibility of those who chance to be in them. The cityward migration of the rural population is a case in point. This migratory tendency of farmers is wit- nessed with dire misgivings. What shall we do for food? All manner of suggestions are advanced to stem the tide. But whether rural life can ever be made so satis- fying and attractive that men and women, knowing all the varied types of service, will freely choose it, is not here in question. Permanent or transient as the limita- tions may be, who shall bear them? Whatever is done must be founded upon the principle that each man has THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 105 an equal right to the opportunity for a satisfying life chosen freely and knowingly and an equal share in re- sponsibility for essential limitations and drudgery. Initiative and Creative Thinking. — The efficient and varied service demanded of the individual by the good social life implies more than routine living in accordance with established customs. Progress means change, change in ends, or means of attaining them. New solutions to social problems are dependent upon creative thinking. Man must be free not only to choose his field of service, but within the field he must be free to vary, to propose and attempt new ends. Dewey defines such freedom from the individual point of view as follows: Freedom means essentially the part played by thinking — which is personal — in learning: —it means intellectual initiative, inde- pendence in observation, judicious invention, foresight of con- sequences, and ingenuity of adaptation to them.! The environment must not be too permanently and firmly fixed. Events must not be so organized in auto- matic sequence that change would spell disaster. It must be flexible, adjustable, subject to manipulation and change as new wants and new purposes dictate. It is just this type of environment and opportunity that must be given if mprovements are to be realized. Har- mony is essential, but without variation life would become stagnant. Says Dewey: A society based on custom will utilize individual variations only up to a limit of conformity with usage; uniformity is the chief ideal within each class. A progressive society counts individual variations as precious since it finds in them the means of its own growth. 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 352. 2 Ibid. — p. 357. 106 RURAL EDUCATION Concerning progress in a democracy Todd says: Not big populations but sound, efficient, integrated populations are potentially progressive. By integration we do not mean uniform- ity or dead-levelism; the need is rather for the greatest possible variety. Hence sound social policy will foster favorable social variations (including a goodly dash of heretics) rather than stereo- typed uniformity, and distributed rather than concentrated author- ity. In a sense it is man’s uniqueness that makes him worth while and gives his contribution value. It is this at least that adds to the richness of life and from which new ends appear, new solutions to old difficulties arise, and new ways of combining individual tendencies for the profit of all, are found. A Critical Intelligence. — The growing social order makes large demands upon its people. Social progress gives rise to a problematic situation of a complex type. The insufficiency of present social customs and institu- tions to meet new demands is being continually revealed. These established forms of social life, however, are weighted with the prestige of long service. New con- flicting movements arise giving expression to unrealized wants. Some of these are fairly consistent with past values; some are extremely at odds with anything we have been led to believe is good. Some appear danger- ous, some completely bad. Chance has characterized the origin of many. The “good social life’ demands that intelligence be applied to the initiation and direction of progress. There is no standard outside of men by which we can decide these social questions. In attacking them the past has lessons, but even it is deceiving. The present 1 Todd, A. J. — Theories of Social Progress, pp. 537-8. THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 107 seems good, but it is not necessarily best. Moreover the individual must solve his problems not for the pres- ent alone but in the light of all possible interests of his future. He cannot stop even there, but must include the present and future interests of all men if his contribu- tion is to be socially accepted and good. Only through the intelligent initiative and critical judgment of people is this progress secured. Continued Growth. — If social progress is to continue, if society is to profit largely from its members, continued growth must characterize each individual. The social income in the way of new ideas, enthusiasm for im- provements, keen judgments upon new measures, must not be limited to short-term profits. Open-mindedness, plasticity, creative thinking, an active and progressive spirit, must accompany the individual throughout life if his contribution to social welfare is to reach the maxi- mum. Flexible readjustment of institutions to new values, to better solutions for social questions, is a major social problem. People with intrenched interests, con- servative and ignorant groups, individuals who have dropped to the level of automatic or habitual living, all of whom have lost their plasticity, their “power to enter- tain hospitably a new idea,” constitute a handicap to progress. Continued progress to new and better ways of living can be secured when the conditions essential to growth are carefully provided throughout life. Op- portunity for new interests, to mingle with men of differ- ent opinions, to have varied experiences, to be free to depart from the established ways in search of new solu- tions, all these foster continued growth and continued progress. 108 RURAL EDUCATION The Development of Individual Ability. — The attain- ment of the demands which the good social life makes upon the individual is dependent upon his ability. Social ends, like individual ends, are set up to be attained. Social progress is to be achieved. The many problems _which the individual faces in our complex social life will depend for their solution upon whether or not a man has been prepared to meet his tasks. The society here conceived is more than an adjuster of differences. It aims to serve each one upon equal terms and to realize a maximum contribution from all. Education that alms merely to remove illiteracy, social service that proposes merely to satisfy discontent is not sufficient. The maximum educational opportunity, the maximum provision for individual growth, the maximum oppor- tunity to develop new interests, to have access to the rich social heritage, and to enjoy the varied ex- periences of our complex civilization, always in keeping with social justice, must be a condition of the good social life. Summary of Conditions.— The ‘good social life’ makes certain definite demands upon the individual, and in order to realize these, certain conditions were found essential. This interpretation greatly emphasizes the importance of supplying a suitable environment. Whatever one’s possibilities may be, he does not advance far beyond the status of the world in which he finds himself. Ideals, standards, and ways of acting reflect existing customs. In great measure sympathies and beliefs as well as language and dress show the control of one’s immediate group. The growth of the individual and his social efficiency in its largest implications demand THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 109 an environment in which practices and values are thor- oughly socialized, so that from these he may accept his cues for individual expression. Conditions must make possible social mingling of the many different groups, it must encourage exchange of ideas, a development of sympathy, an appreciation of the contributions and standards of others, and a codperation for common ends. The individual must have access to the many oppor- tunities for self-expression and social service, and be free to choose among them in keeping with his interests. The environment must favor the development of many interests so that the individual may be prepared to respond constructively to the numerous demands of our modern social life and ready to codperate with all groups upon the intricate social problems of the day. Progress demands creative thinking, variation, and critical judg- ment. The environment must offer rich suggestion, access to social resources, and control of the tools of growth. It must furnish the social stimuli, encourage and reward new ideas and new proposals, and provide for responsible participation in the direction of events. In such a situation the individual tends to grow up so- cially minded, to be prepared through the opportunities offered to serve society effectively, continuously, and variously, and to share with others the common respon- sibility of constructing a richer, more inclusive, and more satisfying social life. The Relation of Individual and Social Demands. — The next question has been practically answered in various places. What relation exists between the de- mands and conditions of the good life from the individual aspect and the good life from its social aspect? The 110 RURAL EDUCATION answer is that they are two ways of looking at the same problem. The nature of the life process has been presented as one of continued movement toward desired ends. It finds its meaning and reward in striving for and in at- taining these objectives. Society is conceived as an organization of social forces dedicated to the realization of a richer and more satisfying life for all its members. Since its purposes and values are meant to attain and express the aims and values of the majority of individu- als composing it, and since each individual’s aims and values are largely the product of the social environment and its ideals, customs, and beliefs, there is no funda- mental conflict between the two. Whatever charac- teristics or conditions are essential to the one, may be found vital to the other. Socialization of ends, oppor- tunity and freedom to know and choose the preferred lines of action, opportunity and freedom to set up new ends, to control the forces of the environment to their attainment, to vary, to experiment, to exercise the crea- tive interest, are elements contributing to individual and to social profit. Stimulating social contacts, many and varied associates, broad knowledge and sympathy, many fundamental interests, a flexible and open mind are essential from either the individual or the social point of view. The individual, in addition to the conditions of growth enumerated above, is dependent for his satisfac- tion upon the ability to attain desired ends. He demands access to whatever means of mastery man has developed and opportunity to learn and to use them. And from the social viewpoint is demanded efficiency in social service. Whatever can be added to individual THE GOOD LIFE—SOCIAL ASPECT 111 ability in attaining ends is therefore added equally to the social income. Whether we view life, then, from its personal or its social aspects, growth and progress both demand a highly socialized environment, a situation where social contacts are many, where interaction between groups is free and breeds an open-mindedness, a progressive attitude, a vivid imagination, a variety of interests, a social consciousness, an environment that develops socialized ends, and one where the wealth of human achievement representing the pooled intel- ligence of the ages is made available for all. Here would be found the fullest self-expression, social service, and the most profitable social progress. With this conception of the characteristics, demands, and essential conditions of ‘‘the good life’ in mind, we turn now to an analysis of the rural situation to see wherein this environment provides opportunities and necessary conditions for social progress, and wherein it reveals lacks that must be supplied. The advantages and handicaps thus revealed will be used later as a basis for suggestions concerning the curriculum, method, and organization of the rural elementary school and the preparation of the rural teacher. - . he : zi - > s : PART III THE EDUCATIONAL POSSIBILITIES AND NEEDS OF THE RURAL ENVIRONMENT ‘ t | +1 , 1 Fa ‘ . re “ i ‘ ‘ ‘ / \ \ - af : F i v; ‘ tty CHAPTER VI AN ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE AS RELATED TO GENERAL SOCIAL PRINCIPLES CERTAIN social relations have just been found essential to insure the adjustment and progress characteristic of “the good life.’ In what measure does the present rural situation, in its own group standards and practices, in its relations to other groups, and in its contribution and participation in social progress meet these demands? This is the question for consideration here. I. RURAL AND NON-RURAL RELATIONS The most fundamental demand of democracy is that an individual be treated always as an end and never merely as a means. Within the limits set by social standards, he shall be treated primarily with reference to his own development. Adjustment to social needs must be required. Contributions to social welfare and progress must be demanded. But he must not be required to serve unwillingly where others are not held equally responsible, nor to sacrifice himself unduly that others may selfishly profit. This generous relationship between individuals and between groups is dependent upon an intimate knowledge of each other, upon common interests, free interaction and exchange of ideas, and mutual respect. It does not exist to-day between rural and non-rural folk. 115 116 RURAL EDUCATION Urban Attitude toward Rural Life. — Urban interests in rural life have not always considered rural people as ends. The efforts of towns to improve farming in the surrounding country have been fostered mostly by business interests. Bankers and merchants have bought registered cattle, horses, and pigs and loaned them free of charge to local communities, because they have seen, in so doing, a more prosperous farming group, better stock, better crops, larger banking accounts, greater security for loans, and more trade through increased rural income. Such practice is declared good business and justified upon this ground.! Where an appreciable amount of land in the surrounding country is owned by village folk they are found to hold a more definite rural interest. Questions of school welfare, better housing, good roads, and the like are matters of common concern. Village interest under these conditions is necessitated by the fact that the farms must attract and hold renters. Self- interest in such instances demands that the landowners endeavor to construct a satisfying rural life. The improvement of roads and facilities for com- munication has been greatly furthered by automobile associations. But it is claimed that highways have been established primarily with reference to distant motoring rather than with proper reference to the needs of rural populations.2 Good roads have been fostered also by 1 See ‘‘ The Social Anatomy of an Agricultural Community,” by C. J. Gal- pin, Research Bulletin No. 34, p. 20, Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 2‘*In many letters there is evidence of a feeling that in road building the requirements of the automobilists are considered before the business and social needs of the farm, and that greater interest in developing automobile thoroughfares has resulted in diminishing attention to the improvement of short stretches of side roads serving the actual ferms.’’ ‘‘Social and Labor Needs of Farm Women,”’ Report No. 103, Dept. of Agriculture, p. 66 ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 117 commercial clubs, because, radiating from cities, they encourage a larger rural trade. Rural health becomes a question of urban interest when rural conditions are seen as a source of danger to the city... There arises then a definite attempt on the part of urban residents to safeguard water, standardize the milk and food supply, and inspect farm barns, home conditions, and personal habits. Meanwhile rural health for the sake of farmers themselves and as an issue of larger social welfare remains relatively untouched by urban effort. There is some evidence that rural social needs are not fairly considered by the towns, either. City commercial clubs and village stores advertise widely and attractively to secure the patronage of rural folk and certain progres- sive stores, some commercial clubs, the Y.M.C.A., and the churches offer welcome and conveniences to the rural town-visitor. But notwithstanding these advances urban social life has been developed at the expense of the rural element of the larger community group and has not attempted to serve countrymen in social ways. After a careful study of town and country relationships, Galpin reaches the following conclusion: The problem is one of pleasing the farmer and getting his trade, without building him and his mind, capacities, and wishes into the community fabric.... In the village they (the farmers) are aliens, but aliens with a possible title to be conciliated. The embarrassment is on both sides. The farmer pays so much in trade that he feels that he ought to have consideration; he pays so little directly toward the institutions that the village considers that his rights are not com- pelling.... The farmer, therefore, all unconscious to himself, it is 1 See Publication of the Department of Health of the City of New York, No. 3, Jan., 1918, entitled, ‘‘The Rural Origin of Much of the Typhoid Fever in Large Cities, and the Need of Reorganizing Rural Public Health Admin- istration.” 118 RURAL EDUCATION likely, is supporting a business system which in turn nourishes a social situation in the urban center, whereby he is the constant loser of the benefits of the social power which his trade economy creates... . This seizure of social unearned increment, created by the farmer’s trade economy, but made accessible to the farmer’s family only in meager amounts, is discovered by our analysis to be one of the serious maladjustments which hamper rural society. Government Service to Farmers.— The first and major effort of the federal government in behalf of farmers has been for scientific agriculture and increased production. The generous financial provisions of the Morril and Smith-Lever acts as realized through the establishment of agricultural colleges, experiment sta- tions, and extension work, all indicate the attitude of government forces on this point and the relative signifi- cance attached to the question of larger crop yields. To serve the farmer thus in the realm of his immediate need and in a way he could readily appreciate may have been wise. The time has passed, however, when such limited service is satisfying either to the individual farmer or to society as a whole. Cheap and long time money loans, proper marketing, and the fair sharing of the farmer in the consumer’s dollars — in all these fields of specific service to the farmer himself, little has been done as compared with government activities for increased production. But to attack the rural problem in this way, primarily for the purpose of safeguarding - the national food supply, is inconsistent with the basic assumption of this discussion and consequently incon- sistent with social justice as here conceived. Service to Farm Women. — Government service to farm women has centered largely around questions of food 1 Galpin, C. J. — Rural Life, pp. 93-6. ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 119 conservation and household technique. The following statement, in response to a criticism of the assistance of the Department of Agriculture to rural women, ac- knowledges the limitations of the service rendered: Although the department had issued many bulletins and pub- lications designed to give farm women practical aid in household operations, and to assist them in poultry raising, butter making, gar- dening, and other farm activities commonly discharged by women, Mr. Poe’s suggestion seemed to merit careful investigation.1 But the reply advanced from the same source indicates an utter lack of appreciation for the fundamental justice of the contention supported here as to the larger sphere and service of farm women in a democracy: The Department of Agriculture certainly wishes to render directly to the women of the United States the full aid and service which their important place in agricultural production warrants 2 The results from a questionnaire to rural women con- cerning their own needs prompted by this criticism from Poe, show how incomplete such service has been as judged by rural folk themselves. These replies reveal an earnest desire for a fuller, richer life, the realization of which might be justly undertaken by a government - whose concern was for the people rather than for their output in food products. A few statements of these needs are quoted: Letters from thirty-two states urge that the methods now employed to stimulate interest in better agriculture be adapted to a campaign for better living conditions. 1The Economic Needs of Farm Women,” Report No. 106, Dept. of Agriculture, p. 3. 2‘*The Educational Needs of Farm Women,” Report No. 105, Dept. of Agriculture, p. 6. 3 Ibid. — p. 37. 120 RURAL EDUCATION In general, the appeal is for more mental food. The Government is asked to provide circulating libraries, or to assist in organizing the women so that they can secure them, or to give advice on what to read and how to use the library in the neighboring town — in short, to aid the farm woman by helping her to find pleasure and enjoy- ment apart from her work.! Education is the first thing needed; education of every kind. Not simply agricultural education, although that has its place; not merely the primary training offered by the public schools in arith- metic, reading, grammar, etc. I mean the education that unfastens doors and opens up vistas; the education that includes travel, college, acquaintance with people of culture; the education that makes one forget the drudgery of to-day in the hope of to-morrow.? The greatest benefit that any government could bestow upon the women of rural communities would be to enable them to have a diversity of interest, and put them in touch with the world of thought, progress, and amusement. The lack of variety in country life, the lack of any break in the monotonous round, is an important source of dissatisfaction. This is especially noticeable in letters from the Middle Western and North- western States. Lectures, moving pictures, music — even if this has to be supplied in the form of talking machines — all would be most welcome. The farm woman needs the social phase of life just as much or even more than running water and sink in her kitchen.5 These demands of farm women for a larger life are not sporadic instances or passing fancies. They are sup- ported generally by the observation of rural experts in all parts of the country. Gillette says: There are some indications that country life is more nearly stag- nant and impoverished in social intercourse than in other directions. Stagnation means that, relatively speaking, rural life does not keep 1‘*'The Educational Needs of Farm Women, ’’Report No. 105, Dept. of Agriculture, p. 47. 2 Ibid. — p. 51. 3 ‘*Social Needs of Farm Women,” Report No. 103, Dept. of Agriculture, DoOLG. 4 Ibid. — p. 37. 5 ‘*The Educational Needs of Farm Women,” Report No. 105, Dept. of Agriculture, pp. 53-4. ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 121 pace with corresponding grades of life in the city. Social poverty involves the thought that the country is really backward in view of the demands and ideals of modern life. Deficiencies in intellectual stimulus and outlook, amusement and recreation, associational and institutional agencies, and in education deserve extended considera- tion.! The American Country Life Association has recognized these needs and is facing their solution. Concerning the importance of this type of service Kenyon L. Butterfield says: I believe firmly that the most thoroughgoing method of attaining agricultural prosperity is by setting in motion the great spiritual forces — education, codperation, moral ideals; and consequently that the problems which we are to discuss here — problems of better means of communication in order to banish isolation, fuller develop- ment of democratic means of education, wiser provision for health, sanitation, recreation, convenience, beauty, proper care of dependents, efficient government, and the cherishing of morals and religion, are fundamental problems, fundamental in the fullest sense of the word.? Yet with all this evident social need and while im- measurable funds and efforts have been expended to make farmers more efficient producers the first government expert has but recently been appointed to undertake the solution of the complex questions of rural social life and community organization.’ Service to Rural Children. — Government service to rural youth as fostered by the Department of Agriculture through boys’ and girls’ clubs or junior extension work again reveals this consistent emphasis on production and shows a decided tendency to stress the vocational aspects 1 Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, p. 108. 2 Quoted from Butterfield’s Address as President of the National Country Life Conference. Survey, February 9, 1919, p. 679. _ 8 Galpin, Dr. C. J., Specialist in Farm Life Studies, Office of Farm Manage- ment, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 122 RURAL EDUCATION of education. According to O. H. Benson, formerly government director of this field: The future of American agriculture is largely dependent upon the boys and girls of to-day, and it is the purpose of the corn-club move- ment to assist other forces now at work to interest, instruct, and direct the boys and girls of our village and rural communities in the possibilities of farming as a profitable and dignified profession. Others would make rural children intelligent about local industries and develop skill in their tasks. The object of forming boys’ and girls’ poultry clubs is to give a better knowledge of the value and importance of the poultry industry and the marketing of a first class, uniform product; to teach better methods of caring for the poultry and eggs, and to show the increased revenue to be derived from well bred poultry where proper methods of management are pursued.2 With some increased production becomes a major aim. “The boys’ corn-club work is a definite effort by the United States Department of Agriculture, the state agricultural colleges, and other institutions to promote and encourage increased production of corn at a reason- able cost on small areas and to offer a plan of vocational guidance by requiring club members to master a com- plete corn-crop operation.’? ‘To another economic re- turn becomes the big objective to be considered. He sees the ‘“‘object of such clubs in capitalizing for young people their work on the land. There may be other valuable results of agricultural clubs. They may teach lessons in science, in thrift, in industry. They may help to organize country life and provide a needed 1 Benson, O. H. — Organization and Instruction of Boys’ Corn Club Work. Bureau of Plant Industry, Publication No. 803, p. 1. 2 Lamon, H. A. — “Organization of Boys’ and Girls’ Poultry Clubs,” pp. 1-2, Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 562. * Benson, O. H. — Organization and Instruction of Boys’ Corn Club Work. Bureau of Plant Industry, Publication No. 803, p. 1. ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 123 structure for the social moral growth of the countryside. But all these are by-products of the main purpose which has a direct, economic end in view.! All of these objec- tives are desirable in measure. Each should no doubt be a part of club activities. But to elevate any of them into primary importance and neglect or subordinate the many other opportunities for growth far more fundamental and fruitful to child development is to sacrifice country children to occupational needs or to a limited future. In the general national attitude toward rural educa- tion this same sacrificial view has prevailed. Education has been looked upon as a steadying force, a means of preserving the social order, and of teaching men to adjust themselves to restricting social demands. The eradication of illiteracy, for example, is demanded on the theory that the very life and stability of the nation is imperiled by an illiterate populace. But there is much more to a nation’s responsibilities than this steadying of the national boat. Democracy is respon- sible for sharing its privileges with all on equal terms. It is a force for contributing to individual lives rather than for merely serving as a policing power. But with this great unmet need crying aloud from the rural field, the question of national aid to rural elementary education has long awaited action in Washington, and rural people considered as people of personal worth deserve a far larger and more inclusive service in terms of general educational opportunity than they have yet received. Attitude of Rural Leaders on the Purpose of Country Life. — This tendency to deal with rural people as a 1Cocheron, Agriculture Clubs in California. Circular No. 190, published by the University of California, January, 1918. 124 RURAL EDUCATION means is reflected likewise in the writings of many rural leaders. The quotations given in the first chapter show a strong tendency to put the farmer’s respon- sibilities as a producer of food above his rights as a man. The rural elementary school is regarded as a means of pre-determining the vocation of rural children and the service of the school in farm communities, according to some of these leaders, is to be measured by the con- tribution it makes to the economic efficiency of the farmer. Instead of directing education to the service of the child, it is held responsible for supplying cheap food for urban dwellers. Some see a need for improving rural intelligence, social life, home conveniences and the economic situation, not primarily because rural folk have a right to better conditions, but because farmers are migrating to towns and the food supply of the nation is threatened. In the thinking of these same rural leaders, club work is permitted to place product above child growth and to assume a predominant vocational pur- pose. Others again reflect the farmer’s class conscious- ness in their desire to build a rural civilization in opposi- tion to that of the town. Schools are to be consolidated out in the open country away from the contaminating influence and lure of the city. Rural recreation, rural girls as teachers, a ruralized curriculum, a rural school serving the local community — all these are to charac- terize the new rural order. The uniqueness of farm life is stressed and its independence of the urban group desired and sought. It seems evident from the foregoing that rural interests » and needs are not fairly understood or appreciated by non-rural folk. Cheap food has been secured largely at ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 125 the expense of child labor, long hours, and body-killing toil. Limited conveniences, few joys, and little leisure have been the woman’s lot. The rural folk have had to put up with mediocre doctors, youthful and inefficient teachers, and young, poorly-prepared or worn-out ministers. Patent medicines, shoddy goods, antiquated styles have been pressed upon them. While the con- ception which the urban group holds of them and of their type of life as reflected in literature, at the theater, and in daily conversation shows little appreciation of the fundamental rural virtues or sympathy for the unusual hardships and limitations of the rural environ- ment. Urban people have a tendency to ridicule the farmer’s working clothes, his natural friendliness, his informality, and his backwardness in conversation and social habits, which are all due to very natural conditions and causes. Even the word farmer is commonly used as a term of ridicule. Gillette says: Socially the farmer has not been rated as the equal of city residents. He is backward as a social class as measured by class status or social rating. This has long been recognized in the caricatures of ‘country Rubes” which have appeared in the press and comic papers of the nation. He is represented as uncouth and primitive in his dress, as slow and stolid like the ox, as a gawk, and as generally inferior to city dwellers. He has been caricatured and depicted also in the names which have been applied to him, such as ‘‘ Reuben” or ‘‘ Rube,”’ “‘hayseed,” “‘spinach,” ‘‘clod-hopper.’’! Rural Attitude toward the City. — Social relations are no better if we study the rural attitude toward the city. Isolation has increased what should have been only the normal group differences. Conditions of work and living have influenced standards of dress and social 1 Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, p. 105. 126 RURAL EDUCATION customs to such a degree that the country dweller is made to feel inferior. He knows little of the affairs of city life and is suspicious of change and conservative by nature. Social refinement and the advantages of prog- ress have given urban people a sense of superiority which has fostered an indifference or patronizing interest toward rural affairs. ‘‘Farmers in turn,” says Butterfield, “‘find it difficult not to resent any approacn from urban interests, even those most sincere and sympathetic; to be suspicious of some dark plot to entrap the unwary; to assume that all city residents re- gard country residents as inferior; to be in general unduly class conscious.”’?! This suspicion of urban motives is well illustrated by the rural interpretation of the recent differences over the “Daylight Saving Law.”’ The agri- cultural press thus presents the case to its readers: Opposing the contention of the farmers, that the continued day- light wasting rule meant diminished food production, at a time when the whole world is calling for increased production, were arrayed all the forces of pleasure, the great bulk of city interests and the larger part of the influence of organized labor. It was a farmers’ fight, pure and simple, and never has the appeal of any class of workers for a fair chance and for decent consideration been subjected to such derision, scorn and ridicule as has been poured out upon the tillers of the sotl.... Farmers do not shout a great deal about what they are going to do, they seldom threaten strikes and as a general thing they will be found attending strictly to business on the home fields; but hereafter they are not to be fooled by empty words, nor scared by threats nor silenced by sneers or taunts; and the sooner those who run the government of the United States, as well as the public in general, realize this fact, the better it will be for all concerned.? Neither do rural folk understand or appreciate the interests and practices of city people. They question 1 Butterfield, K. L. — The Farmer and the New Day, pp. 220-21. 2 The Grange Monthly, November, 1919. ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 127 urban standards, both social and moral. Urban night life, the pleasure-seeking tendencies of city folk, and their Sunday practices are matters from which rural children should be jealously guarded. Urban comforts, recreation, sanitary practices, home relations, white- collared occupations, and desk jobs are all subject to question. This attitude is so general as to constitute a class consciousness unfavorable to democratic relations. There is small chance in such a situation that the farmer will assume a tolerant or friendly attitude toward the city resident. In fact close observation commonly shows that rural people consider themselves justified in* taking advantage of urban dwellers whenever possible through a misrepresentation of rural products. The general conclusion here, however, is that there is pressing need for more democratic relations between the urban and rural groups so that each in its efforts for social progress may be prepared to consider the welfare of others as of equal consequence to its own. At present the fulness and freedom of rural interaction with other groups is greatly impaired, and this constitutes one of the basic problems in the educational efforts of a democracy. II. RURAL STANDARDS AND PRACTICES The second demand of a democratic society upon an individual or group is that its practices and standards must be consistent with the welfare of all. This is only another way of stating the first principle. Stated in this way, however, it raises certain aspects of the rural life situation which need emphasis. This implies on the one hand that those who are advantageously placed have 128 RURAL EDUCATION no right to enjoy their privileges without reference to the total need. Neither have they a right to neglect the extraordinary burdens or handicaps of an unfavored group. The advantages and responsibilities of common life should be equally shared. On the other hand, democracy demands of every group, whether strong or weak, favored or disadvantaged, that it attempt to make its standards and practices consistent with the highest common good. The belief of the writer is that rural conditions and practices in general are not in keeping with the best social progress. These conditions it is held further would be improved by an intelligent bor- rowing from other groups, both urban and rural, and by a closer coéperation between town and country. Any- thing that favors an exchange of ideas, a further mingling of peoples, an open-mindedness toward things that are new, a united effort of town and country upon large social questions, will serve to adjust retarded practices to the later social achievements. The purpose here in discussing rural standards and practices. is not primarily to compare them with urban conditions, merely to demonstrate rural inferiority. The aim rather is to show the need for rural improvement, to reveal some of the major problems, and to indicate means for securing more rapid rural progress. Rural Social Relations. — A study of rural life reveals a fundamental democratic spirit within the rural group. Speaking of this spirit, Butterfield says that while social differences do exist, and class distinctions are present, “the great fact about farmers in this connection is that in spite of natural differences and inequalities, there is a certain friendliness, common dealing, and mutual under- ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 129 standing in American farm life that is not duplicated anywhere else. In a typical and prosperous farming region, say of the Middle West, we get as much democ- racy in the social sense as we will ever get anywhere.”’! Again he says: “‘It is doubtful if anywhere in the world there can be found so large a class of people who feel more completely and keenly this fundamental spirit of democracy.” ? Vogt, discussing the same subject but with particular reference to the relation between owner and tenant, declares, ‘‘Class consciousness has not yet become openly marked as between owners and tenants in rural communities.... But so far the distinctions in rural groups are based upon the lack of socialization due to transient residence in the community rather than to any feeling of social superiority on the part of the two groups.’ This is evidenced by the freedom with which men mingle at the common center for the chance exchange of ideas upon topics of current interest, in their exchange of work when group effort 1s neces- sary, and in their willing help to a stricken family or neighbor. It is true that the independence and indi- vidualism of farmers tend to make them apparently in- different to many cases where attention is needed, but when the situation justifies a neighbor’s help in their estimation they are considerate and generous to a sur- passing degree. This freedom of relation between neighbor and neigh- bor is found also between employer and employee. ‘‘We still find preserved (in agricultural life),”’ says Plunkett, 1 Butterfield, K. L. — The Farmer and the New Day, pp. 222-3. 2 Ibid. — p. 218. 3 Vogt, P. L. — Introduction to Rural Sociology, p. 97. 130 RURAL EDUCATION “the kindly personal relation between employer and employed which contributes both to the pleasantness of life and to economic progress and security.”! The large per cent of neighbors’ sons among the earlier labor group has set the standard for this relationship. Even to-day the majority of farm laborers are neighbor boys or men who are looking forward to the vocation of farming. Be- cause of this and the fact that rural labor must be of a high quality,? the ‘hired man” is usually considered a member of thefamily. Heeats with the family, associates with its friends and neighbors, sleeps in the house, and in case of sickness is cared for as a blood relative. Where the married man is granted a house of his own these ties of friendship still exist. This relationship, it is conceded, does not apply to the labor situation of the South, to the grain fields of the West, the transient beet-tenders of foreign extraction, or any of the numerous forms of transient labor-groups, but it is typical of the American family farm as run by the family with some outside help. The Status of Rural Women. — This spirit of democ- racy and respect for individual rights is somewhat lacking, however, in the farmer’s attitude toward his wife and children. A wife is essential in a farm economy where the family is the unit.? But though a necessary factor in successful farming, her needs have been neg- lected. The farmer’s life is constantly enriched by the changing problems of the farm activity and his various 1 Plunkett, H. L. — Rural Life in the United States, p. 137. 2 Warren, G. F. — Farm Management, p. 304: ‘There is no permanent class of tenants or hired men in America. Most of the hired men on farms are the sons of farmers. They are usually young men who are getting a little , money ahead in order that they may become tenants.”’ 8 Warren, G. F. — Farm Management, p. 8. ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE | 131 contacts with neighbors. But his wife’s lot has been one of continuous routine and drudgery in relative isolation. As long as she could possibly manage her extraordinary load, little thought for her relief was advanced. ‘From forty-four states,’ according to the Department of Agriculture in the report formerly quoted, ‘‘came letters in which the writers expressed the belief that the lot of the farm women was made unnecessarily hard, because men on the farm are thoughtless, uninformed, or stub- born about providing measures that will better the con- dition of their wives and daughters.”’ Mechanical improvements have relieved the farmer greatly and changed him from the “hoe farmer’ to the ‘‘machine farmer,”! but little attention, and this tardily, has been given to making possible for the woman the realization of a larger life through reducing her burden and increas- ing her opportunities. Gillette presents the case tersely in the following statement: Letters were sent out to 3,456 farmers in the Northwest, asking them several questions. When we tabulated the replies we got some startling facts. We found that less than three per cent had modern lighting equipment in their homes. Fifty per cent had windmills, while ten and a half per cent had water supply in the house. That is the difference between the farmers’ cows and their wives.? The nature of farm life has made the farmer the source of authority and center of his world. He considered himself essentially bounden to members of his own group by obligations and free from moral obligations to others. The son receives no wages from his father for work on the farm and the 1 Galpin, C. J. — Rural Life, Chap. 11. 2 Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, p. 257. Quoted from an address by P. V. Collins, Wisconsin State Journal, October 27, 1911. 132 RURAL EDUCATION daughter did not dream of pay or of an allowance for her labor in the house. The land farmer conceived of his estate as belonging to his family group and embodied in himself. Therefore he had no wage obligations to son or daughter and he felt himself obliged so to distribute his property as to care for all the members of his household. The husband has thus become the family banker and too often in the economic struggle the wife has received but little consideration because what she does has had no money value. Writers representing forty-six states took the position in their letters that woman’s work on the farm is not recognized as an important factor in farm production and farm profit. ‘Many expressed the belief that although the home and farm are really a part of the same business the man does not feel that his wife as a worker is entitled to a share of the cash secured by the general farm operations.? Economy of time in her work through the use of machinery makes no increased return. The values from her service are in the realm of comforts, education, and art. So she has had to depend for her personal, family, and household needs upon the little income from butter and eggs. * Others complain of the fact that they never handle any ready money, and are allowed no freedom in purchases, and so are blocked from improving the conveniences, sanitation, and aesthetic quality of their homes. Several note the fact of the close connection between the home and the business, and seem to think that the need for money-making or desire for money causes the home end of the farm to be slighted in expenditures. As a result, the woman’s self-respect and her social service and personal growth through leisure time, suf- 1 Wilson, W. H. — The Evolution of the Country Community, p. 21. 2‘*Kconomic Needs of Farm Women,’ Report No. 106, Dept. of Agri- culture, p. 17. 3 Ibid. — p. 7. SSS oer ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 133 ficient energy, and social contacts have all been limited. Furthermore her highest service to her family through the creation of a home environment expressing a refined spiritual and social life has had practically no chance for realization. Status of Rural Children. — The preceding quotation from Wilson gives likewise the economic and social status of farm children. While this statement was made of a period which ended about 1890, in so far as man’s rela- tion to the land is concerned, the social customs then developed still persist. The incorporation of the family as the unit in farm life has shown many far- reaching results, both good and bad. It has made wife and children partners in the fortunes and problems of the farm. Educationally it has had great benefits, though it has proved at the same time unquestionably restrict- ing. Its worst development finds expression in child labor. Because it has not proved glaringly detrimental to health and has occurred at home with parents in scattered instances, child labor on farms has passed unnoticed.1 But recent studies by the Children’s Bureau showing that more than a million country children are engaged in farm activities to their injury, and that the areas of greatest child labor and of illiteracy closely coincide, have attracted much attention.2 The fact that child help has been an unquestioned custom 1 Galpin, C. J. — Rural Life, p. 120; Warren, G. F. — Farm Management, pp. 9-11; Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, p. 127; Vogt, P. L. — Introduction to Rural Sociology, p. 192. 2**Child labor laws do not protect children in agriculture, and while no one would be disposed to dispute the wholesomeness of suitable farm life for children because of the varied occupations and interests it permits, on the other hand, the rural areas where child labor was greatest according to the last census were also those showing the greatest illiteracy.’’—Sizth Annual Report of the Chief, Children’s Bureau, June, 1918. 134 RURAL EDUCATION among farmers for centuries, however, and that it is often the only means of turning the yearly balance from debit to credit, has given it a tenacious grip on rural practice which will be difficult to loosen.! Yet it is clearly apparent that excessive farm labor handicaps the child. As long as the opportunities of life were limited, social and vocational demands simple, and the children most likely to find a future in the rural field where their early farm experience would serve them well, this apprenticeship had less to condemn it. But con- ditions have changed, and the present opportunities and responsibilities of the child make new demands. The need of education and facilities for securing it have greatly increased. Life has become more complex with varied offerings. ‘The continued sacrifice of the child’s opportunity for a general education to his contribution in work is unfair to him and a handicap to society.2 To limit his attention to the narrow vocational problems of the farm, to sacrifice his growth to the service of the 1“‘In the life of the country child the terms ‘at home’ and ‘at work’ are frequently synonymous. Every farm child has a variety of chores to perform around the house and at the barn; this is in addition to the regular field with the crops. In the lowlands it was found that two-thirds of the white and three-quarters of the negro children from 5 to 15 years old, and in the moun- tains nine-tenths of the children, helped in the field, cultivating and har- vesting the crops.’’ See Children’s Bureau Publication, No. 33, U. S. Department of Labor, entitled Rural Children in Selected Counties of North Carolina. 2 Clapper, E. N. — Farm Work and Schools in Kentucky, National Child Labor Committee, Pamphlet 274, pp. 24-29: ‘‘In the case of the white children farm work and housework caused almost as many days of absence as all the other causes combined. . . . Agricultural work is the chief factor in the interference with school attendance and the practice of keeping children away from school to work in the fields is winked at by the authorities.” Clapper, E. N. — Causes of Absence of Rural Schools in Oklahoma, p. 20: “From the totals of all children shown in Table D (table showing progress of children in school work) it appears that the farm workers are most retarded, 51.1% of their number being below normal grade. They are followed by the migrants with 41.1%, and then by the houseworkers with 36.7%. Fewer than a quarter of the other absentees are retarded.” ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 135 adult population, to determine for him by limited sug- gestion and emphasis the choice of vocation, are practices clearly undemocratic. The child must appear in the social setting as an individual whose rights are subor- dinate to those of no one else. Work which is consistent with health and definitely contributory to family wel- fare is a possible boon to the rural child and all others. But it should be as educative as the task permits; and his health, his recreation, his social contacts, his education into social membership, his own broad and continued growth, must not be sacrificed in order to increase his economic return, to serve the family needs, to improve the rural community, or to solve adult vocational problems. Rural Health Conditions. — The general backward- ness of rural standards is seen very noticeably in the field of sanitary practices. Even a casual survey of the provisions for personal cleanliness, care of food, and water supply reveals great need. ‘Of ten thousand houses surveyed (in Indiana) less than two per cent were found to be sanitary under their score system.’’! In a survey of typical counties in West Virginia, Indiana, Mississippi, and Maryland “less than one-half of one per cent of the rural homes had inside toilets. In one county seventy-eight per cent of the homes had no privies of any kind.”? This neglect of sanitary con- ditions and healthful practices has been a great drain upon the physical resources of rural folk. Medical examinations of rural children reveal disease and physical defect greater than those of supposedly less-favored city 1 Vogt, P. L. — Introduction to Rural Sociology, p. 164. t Report of the U. S. Public Health Service, 1915, p. 73. 136 RURAL EDUCATION children. Their comparative status is thus presented by Vogt: A recent investigation made by a committee of the National Education Association included data of the physical condition of school children from twenty-five leading cities of the United States, 1,831 rural districts, representing 294,427 children in Pennsylvania, one county in Idaho, two counties in New Jersey, one county in Virginia, and one township in Massachusetts. The comparative results show that the rural children are at a decided disadvantage in many important respects. The following table shows the com- parative percentages of defects for all the statistics tabulated, which includes all sections of the country mentioned above: Per CENT oF CHILDREN SHOWING DEFECTS Type of Disease City Rural Heart disease reais tee vue Se dea OR ool s Bete .40 14 Moentalidefécts to0/~) 4.0 pay eo Ue ae ae 45 .80 Kr ptions sf: gray, seal ee hes Win Race One en am Ops 1.12 hung disease ni? ae ee ee ke ooh eae .32 1.25 Ansemia ye fais Le Saiee wah Grae ae Ger 1.65 Uneleany 22580 0 Caves eee Nera emer ae aia ale liad Ski discase 4014 OA gee See ade ee Sra anes ees o.3 Gurvaturest a2 7k! i6e 20k pete Oe ane aan eis 3.3 Breathing defects) 163 heat 7 Oe ee eee, 4.2 Kar-defects 233) i. pibol i at eae Sie ttre a emoeenase 4.78 Enlarged plands:s 5 the endurance which keeps urban population from decay. But the true relative merit of the rural population in cities has never been conclusively determined, and it seems scarcely probable that the claims made for the ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 149 superiority of the individuals from the country can be generally sustained. Evidence often quoted upon this point is the propor- tionate number of rural-born in a group of city men who fill positions of responsibility. But a few facts should be noted in this connection. First, when the men who now hold these positions were born, the country population constituted a much higher percentage of the total population than is now the case. Moreover “country” to many of them means a town smaller than. the one wherein they now reside. So interpreted it is not surprising to find that most men of present prominence were born in such a “rural” environment. Second, it is the opinion of students of rural life that the city attracts not only those of the most aggressive and active type but also the indolent, the shiftless and the day laborer; yet the latter are not considered in estimating the total product. They are lost in the masses of the city, and this upper rural group, representing the best rural prod- uct, is compared with an urban group not so highly selected. The results of such a comparison might easily favor the rural group, yet the final conclusion as to the quality of the rural product as a whole could conceivably be quite different. Some evidence upon this question is found in the absence of farmers from positions of leadership in national affairs. Gillette observes that: In the national governmental affairs it would be difficult to mention a member of the farming fraternity in any branch of the government who stands out as a real leader.... In state matters the farmers have a large membership in the legislatures, though their influence is not in proportion to the number of seats they occupy. Too fre- quently they simply register votes under the leadership of members of 150 RURAL EDUCATION other classes. In executive and administrative matters they possess little power. Carver says: Almost no farmer has secured, in recent years, any political recognition. Even Mr. Roosevelt, with all his enthusiasm for rural uplift, consistently preferred the man who talked about farming to the man who did the work of farming. His Rural Life Commission, for example, was an excellent commission, but it was not made up of farmers.? Speaking of a more recent experience, Butterfield finds that: The war also revealed a vacant chair at the nation’s council table ... the chair of the farmer. .. . Groups of farmers have from time to time, and to an increasing extent, been in consultation with respon- sible officials of government and their counsel been made effective. Nevertheless, the working farmers of America as a class have not been represented in any authoritative or adequate way in the groups that have outlined policies, nor in the councils that have determined destinies, either with respect to agriculture itself, nor in those fields of effort in which the farmers as a great class of citizens have a special interest.3 In the most careful studies that have been made on the quality of the human product of rural environment we find that the country is not contributing its full quota of ability. In Ward’s discussion of Odin’s study of the eminent men of France, he says, after a comparison of eminent authors of urban and rural birth: This means that on an average the cities of France have produced nearly thirteen times as many eminent authors for the same number of inhabitants as the rural districts. The average of the former is 1 Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, pp. 106-7. 2 Carver, T. N. — Rural Economics, p. 376. 8 Butterfield, K. L. — The Farmer and the New Day, pp. 15-16. ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 151 seventy-seven and of the latter six for all departments per 100,000 population. ... Fecundity in eminent persons seems, then, to be intimately connected with cities. In speaking of the contribution of the country to the list of eminent women Ward continues: In the rural districts and small towns the proportion of women is much less than half that of (eminent rural) men, and for the converse reason that there are almost no opportunities in these (the rural districts) for women to display their talents.? In Galton’s list of 96 men who had attained distinction in some branch of scientific research only two came from a farm environment. In all cases so far given it is the place of birth which is considered, irrespective of all movements of location during life. ‘The proof would obviously be greatly strengthened, “‘says Ward,” if the place where men did their chief work were taken instead of merely the place of their birth.’’* Cattell, in his “Study of American Men of Science,”’ comes to the following conclusion: Of the 866 men native to the United States, 224 were born in the cities which in 1900 had a population of more than 25,000. These places had in 1860 a population of about 4,500,000 as compared with a rural population of about 27,000,000. The urban population was about one-sixth of the rural population and produced more than a quarter of the scientific men. The urban birth rate was fifty and the rural birth rate was 23.8.4 What the results would have been had the study analyzed the cases into the real rural and urban-born, 1QOdin, Alfred — ‘‘Genése des Grands Hommes,” given by Ward in his Applied Sociology, pp. 187-188. 2 Ward, L. F. — Applied Sociology, p. 195. 3 Ibid. — p. 205. 4 Cattell, J. McKeen, ‘A Statistical Study of American Men of Science,’’ Science N. S., Vol. 24, p. 738. 152 RURAL EDUCATION one cannot say, but it is evident that the proportion of truly rural-born men of science would have been much lower than the rate attributed to them by Cattell.! Possible Causes. — Just what these facts may mean is not certain. The absence of rural folk from positions of influence, may result from an indifference on the part of urban and government groups, from a general ignoring of rural people or from a depreciation of the values and contributions of rural life. It may be due, on the other hand, to the inactivity and indifference of farmers themselves. Or it may be that countrymen are not equal to the task of leadership. They have not, in any case, succeeded in impressing their standards upon society at large nor participated sufficiently in the molding and directing of events. The results indicated by Ward and Cattell may mean an inferior rural group or an inferior rural opportunity. In general, conditions in rural regions are unsatisfactory. Standards are low; opportunities are limited. But whether the major fault lies with the rural or the non-rural group, whether it be due seventy-five per cent to heredity and twenty-five per cent to environment or vice versa, the situation presents an urgent problem for society. We cannot say how much of the result found by Odin, Ward, Carver, and Cattell is due to lower native ability and, even upon the acceptance of his theory, we cannot easily mprove the native stock. What we can do, however, is to improve the environment in which rural folk live so that it will furnish the best possible conditions for growth. 1The word rural throughout the discussions of this volume means open- country. It refers to people living on farms and having rural interests, rural tasks, and rural conventions and opportunities. ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 153 Solutions Proposed: Rural Class Organization. — Solutions for this problem vary. Those who are most bitter toward urban and governmental neglect propose an organization of rural folk to demand their rights from others. Here we have the more militant rural groups, the ‘“‘Ruralist”’ in philosophy and rural organization, and the Non-partisan League in politics. A cry goes out for a highly-integrated, class-conscious organization which will force its way into public affairs and thus secure a hearing at the national council table and a hand in the direction of government. Developing Urban Appreciation. — Carver would find the solution in an education of the non-rural populace toward a proper appreciation of rural life. If this general respect for farm ng could be developed, it would unquestionably do much to strenghten the personnel of the rural group and increase its part in social affairs. He says: So long as men are so constituted as to crave distinction and wide public esteem, so long will they tend to avoid an occupation which seems to furnish no opportunities in that direction. Until our esteem of the farmer ceases to be merely an approval of farming in the abstract, and begins to show itself in the form of an appreciation of the individual farmer and his particular achievement, we shall not accomplish very much in the way of checking the movement of the more ambitious youths toward the city. Such esteem would keep men of leadership in the country and furnish the appreciation and social stimulus necessary to their highest development. The present political organization known as the “farm bloc’ is an indication of the farmer’s belief that this is one way at least of securing consideration. 1Carver, T. N. — Rural Economics, pp. 376-7. 154 RURAL EDUCATION Improving Farmers and Their Contribution. — But there must be a change in the rural situation itself. The farmer habitually thinks of these larger problems as unrelated to himself. His attitude in this may have been caused by the thoughtless indifference toward his social service, but he, nevertheless, is the one who has suffered most by this neglect of his contribution. This lack of appreciation has given him an irritating social skepticism and driven him into a dissatisfying industrial isolation. Having small part in affairs, he has been led to doubt the justice and sanity of public opinion. “Recently,” says Gillette, ‘‘he has been getting a larger view of matters, but it cannot be said that he has come into the possession of an adequate and comprehensive view of his social relatedness so that he is able to make use of it.”! The social consciousness of the farmer must be increased. The farmer should have his proper place in the new democratic society. But'let it be understood that farmers cannot take their rightful place in national or in world councils unless they make the place for themselves. It is far from a mere matter of aggressiveness due to powerful group associations or wordy assertions. They must have something to contribute. The farmers must make clear to themselves what democracy really is, how they can best fit into it, what are their relations to the rest of society, what are their particular rights and their peculiar duties; they must be able to express all these things to themselves and to others.? All three of these suggestions will play a part in the solution of the rural question. Country folk must organize in order to become effective. They must co- operate upon their own problems. A proper appreciation of farming and farmers by others will help. But this 1 Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, p. 104. 2 Butterfield, K. L. — The Farmer and the New Day, p. 29. — ee ANALYSIS OF RURAL LIFE 155 offers only a partial solution. In chapter four, Giddings and Thorndike were quoted as showing that group or racial progress depends upon wide associations and free opportunity to borrow ideas and improvements from others. Burgess shows also that ability to originate is dependent upon access to the social heritage, stimulating social contacts, and encouragement to progress. Thorn- dike further states that: Other things being equal, there is a far greater chance of the birth of a man of great ability in a tribe of a million than in one of a thousand. Since one such man may add to the knowledge and improve the habits of the entire group regardless of its size, civiliza- tion will progress more rapidly in large than in small groups, in a condition of isolation.t Rural people are handicapped by isolation, established customs, limited resources, and a small group. The farmer’s participation and the increase of his contribu- tion will therefore depend, in part, upon a more favorable environment, larger contacts, and a more intimate association with others. Summary. — In studying the rural situation in relation to the demands of associated living there appears a large need for a closer integration of the rural and non-rural groups, and for a clearer understanding by each of the conditions of life under which the other group lives, the tasks it faces, the limitations it endures and the contri- butions it has to make. In the relations of the two, there is needed a greater mutual respect, a more fair consideration of each other’s rights, and an increased sense of responsibility for the common tasks and hard- ships. Progress for both, and especially for the country, 1 Thorndike, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Vol. III, p. 223. 156 RURAL EDUCATION is dependent upon a relationship which is conducive to a free exchange of ideas and to an intelligent borrowing of new and better ways of living and means of attaining ends. From this it is evident that the largest service of the rural elementary school to country people as a whole would be to bring about this wider community of knowl- edge and appreciation and this greater activity in social affairs. The school must socialize rural-urban relations as the basis for rural progress. And to socialize means to integrate, not to differentiate. CHAPTER VII RURAL OCCUPATIONS AS RELATED TO ADULT GROWTH AND SOCIAL PROGRESS RvRat life is determined to an unusual degree by its occupational features. So much of rural experience centers around the daily task and is, in general, so dependent upon the vocational outlook that this phase of the question deserves special consideration in attempt- ing to evaluate the rural situation in relation to the demands and conditions of ‘‘the good life.”” How closely does the agricultural occupation meet demands of individual growth and social progress? And what are the larger needs in this field in adjusting rural occupa- tional life to the accepted standards? I. POSSIBILITIES IN AGRICULTURE Opportunity for Self-direction. — One’s occupational life is but a part of his whole life. As such it must accord with the principles of individual growth and effective social membership. ‘The first demand that any occupa- tion must meet to afforda satisfying life to the individ- ual is the opportunity for self-direction. Dewey speaks of this type of freedom as meaning ‘‘essentially the part played by thinking — which is personal — in learning: —it means intellectual initiative, independence in observation, judicious invention, foresight of conse- 157 158 RURAL EDUCATION quences, and ingenuity of adaptation to them.”! Such freedom is possible to rural people in large measure. This unusual opportunity for the exercise of initiative, for the determination of ends and means, and for the control of available resources is made possible by the nature of rural life and its occupational organization. “The typical American farm is a family farm; one of such a size that the family does most of the farm work, with some hired help. In 1909, only 46% of the farms had any hired labor.”? The average size of the farms in the United States in 1910 was 138 acres. The majority of farm families do the work of the farm, with the aid of a little hired help during harvest. Other farmers hire a man by the year. A very small percentage hire more than two or three men. Even with three men, the farm still has the characteristics of the family farm. The farmer and his sons work with the men.? He is the owner of an independent business whose planning and control are subject to his judgment. Vogt speaks of the farmer as belonging to the eco- nomic group known as the enterprisers, because he is responsible for planning his own business and takes the risk of success or failure.4 He is largely his own master. The work of the day, the week, and the year is his to plan and determine. An occupation of this type demands resourcefulness. It is not a mechanical act with automatic sequence from which any variation will spell disaster. It depends rather for its greatest success upon exercise of judgment at every stage in the process. 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 352. 2 Warren, G. F. — Farm Management, p. 239. 8 Ibid. — p. 240. 4 Vogt, P. L. — Introduction to Rural Sociology, p. 186. RURAL OCCUPATIONS 159 Concerning the social relations of the farmer, Gillette says: | Farming is the freest and most independent of the larger callings of life.... It means that he (the farmer) is less beholden to the immediate actions and attitudes, the beliefs, prejudices, and whims of his fellows in carrying on his work than most other workers.1 This social independence is passing and was in reality more characteristic of the self-sufficing farmer of pioneer days who produced nearly everything needed by himself and his family. As wants multiply and become refined, and production is increasingly specialized, the farmer will become more and more dependent for success upon his willingness and ability to satisfy the demands of others. This absorption of the farmer into the commercial machine necessitates, also, that he become familiar with markets, political and commercial policies, scientific discoveries, and economic movements. The.farmer is bound primarily by the laws of nature, but as time passes he will become more and more entwined by the many sinews of social, industrial, commercial, and political life. These, fortunately, are all subject to study, mastery, and control. They present problems but not arbitrary limitations. He is master of his business and is free to meet its problems and vicissitudes as intelligence directs. If he be a renter instead of an owner, his independence may be considerably restricted, but the detailed procedure of his year’s work, the investment of his time, the marshaling of his forces, the direction of his efforts, are still very largely expressions of his own interest and judgment. The family farm which is the industrial unit in the 1 Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, p. 125. 160 RURAL EDUCATION country, is a family farm in more than size. It is a family business, a work in which all may share and plan. The value of this is emphasized by Carver. The fact that agriculture is still a family industry where the work and the home life are not divorced, and where all members of the family participate in the common toil for the support of the home, gives a natural basis for a type of family life which it is very difficult to maintain in the city. ... The typical farmer’s family requires no artificial methods to bring its various members together on the basis of a common interest.... As a result of this, there are business prob- lems, aside from the perennial one of household expenditures, to be discussed in the family council, — questions of selling as well as of buying, of investing for production as well as buying for consumption. All these things add to the strength of the bonds which hold the rural family together. This situation offers excellent opportunity for family codperation on the family problems of the farm. Theoretically, the woman of the country should have the same freedom in her work that the farmer holds in his. In her household cares, in the problems of home arrangement, in home management and decoration, and in spiritual aspects she should be the mistress of the situation. The environment as well as the house offers opportunities for conceiving plans, exercising judgment and realizing ends. The care of her yard, flowers, garden, poultry and in many cases her coéperative share with her husband in the direction of the farm work, afford rich opportunities for free and varied expression. The many scientific aspects of domestic economy, also, offer unusual opportunity for ingenuity and planning. The farm woman is producer, manufacturer, and consumer. The entire cycle is still wholly within her care in many instances. These various stages separately and col- 1 Carver, T. N. — Rural Economics, p. 21. RURAL OCCUPATIONS 161 lectively challenge her ability to initiate, to think, and to judge, and in each there is a large opportunity for self- direction and creative activity. The community life of the family, wherein all may share in the responsibilities of a common problem and enjoy the freedom resulting from the independence of the family group, is not limited to the family member- ship. The democratic spirit of farm life, discussed in the preceding chapter, together with the nature of rural work, make possible and necessary a large freedom for the labor group. The laborer who does not merit respon- sibility cannot long remain a member of the agricultural labor group. On this Warren says: Farm work is individual work. Each worker has to take respon- sibility. It is not often possible to give such supervision as can be had in a factory, because the number of workers that would be employed under one roof in a factory may be scattered over half a county. Each worker must be a foreman of his own work, and usually the owner must work, because he cannot supervise enough workers to justify him in being idle.! The disappearance of the immigrant farm laborer, and the high quality of present laborers as indicated by their progress from laborer to tenant and farmer, all show how essential it is for a farm workman to be able to carry responsibility, take charge of a situation, and meet successfully the problems that arise.2 This suggests, moreover, that the employee on the farm is not working for a mere money wage. To him its problems are interesting. The work bears upon his future and con- 1 Warren, G. F. — Farm Management, p. 12. 2In 1890 there were 13.1 per cent of the farm laborers foreign born; and in 1900 only 8.5 per cent. Year Book, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1910, p. 191. 162 RURAL EDUCATION sequently has meaning, provokes thinking, and suggests new problems, vitally motivated to him, because of their relation to his personal welfare.! Opportunity for the Development of Many Interests.— In the second place, individual growth and social progress demand the development and continuance of many vital interests. As society is now organized, so much of one’s time and energy must be put into his work that unless the daily task contributes to this breadth of interest and utilizes several abilities, there is danger that the worker will become limited in his interests and social relations. Agriculture is a complex vocation and demands a many- sided development. It demands skill and dexterity along many lines and the application of intelligence to varied problems. It thus makes possible this essential characteristic of growth. ‘‘On any ordinary farm there are a multitude of operations, widely different in their nature, requiring the use of different powers or different kinds of skill. ... The work of the farmer, more than that of any other class, calls for versatility and resource- fulness. He must always be ready to decide what is to be done next when these numerous interruptions occur.’’? Warren discusses the farmer in his four fundamental relations, as business man, as mechanic, as naturalist, and as a skilled laborer. Of the personal traits of suc- cessful farmers he says, ‘““Good common sense, which is another definition for business ability, is the most important trait, but the highest profits are made by those who combine this ability with experience, scientific knowledge of plant and animal production, manual and 1 Warren, G. F. — Farm Management, p. 304. 2 Carver, T. N. — Rural Economics, pp. 17-18. ed OO EE RURAL OCCUPATIONS 163 mechanical skill, and hard work.’! Butterfield men- tions some of the farmer’s problems in more detail, listing land purchase, control of capital, control of labor supply, buying and selling, improvement of soil, improve- ment of crops, improvement of animals, standardization of product, transportation, storage, and investment of profits.2. In organization the farmer is confronted with the farm and its equipment, permanent improvements, bookkeeping and accounts, the use of labor, and many other questions. A more exhaustive analysis of the prob- lems a farmer is called upon to meet would multiply this list many times. The present organization of the agricultural occupation has been criticized, in this age when efficiency is measured in terms of product just because it is so complex. No man can master all its varied tasks. Whatever limitations such a form of occupational life may possess in terms of product, however, it is, because of this very nature, a mine of opportunity for individual growth. The absence of high specialization makes for an all-round development and a many-sided interest essential to growth and social service. Opportunity for Self-expression.—It is a charac- teristic of human nature that all men are not interested in the same thing. In order to be most satisfying one’s occupation must provide an opportunity for specializa- tion of interest and self-expression. All farmers will not be interested primarily in the same aspect of their work. One may find his greatest satisfaction in a breed of chickens, another in his hogs, or cows, or horses. One 1 Warren, G. F. — Farm Management, p. 14. ? Butterfield, K. L.— The Farmer and the New Day. 164 RURAL EDUCATION may prefer the problems of the field, while another has particular interest in the business aspects of his work. The complex and varied nature of farming thus makes it possible for farmers to vary, to express their preferences and to gratify their special interests even while attending satisfactorily to the many tasks of the farm. Provisions for Continued Growth. — Farming not only demands a many-sided development and offers a wide range for the exercise of persona! preferences, but it also provides the next essential characteristic of satis- factory living, that is, conditions suitable to continued growth. In this complex field one may change his object of special interest from time to time. New projects appear, new plans develop, and there is nothing in the nature of the situation to prevent adventure and effort. Moreover, the seasonal character of agriculture and the fact that its tasks vary from day to day and week to week, create unusual novelty and zest, with new demands and new adjustments highly conducive to continued growth. And these problems which the farmer faces daily, whether in the realm of science, business, farm management, or social relations, are problems which continually unfold. They lead on without end to new questions and involve many impli- cations. The problems of production, soil control, plant and animal breeding, destruction of pests, and the like, are based upon and related to the many sciences. Similar scope is involved in such other aspects of the profession as codperation and organization. To one who is able to comprehend his problems in their full significance, farming offers many “accessory values”’ and many ‘‘alluring leads.” In no sense is it a “blind RURAL OCCUPATIONS 165 alley,” but rather an expanding field of unlimited growth. Provision for Real Social Membership. — Society demands that a vocation must be essential to social welfare. On this point agriculture is beyond question. It is in every sense a social service. But a vocation must furnish, in addition, through its inherent activi- ties, a basis for many interests common to the larger group. It must supply the means of a real and vital social membership. The richness of agriculture as an occupation fur- nishes a basis for real social membership to an unusual degree. Through the scientific aspects of his work the farmer has interests in common with science specialists of many types. The labor element of his occupation gives him a basis for appreciating the problems of the labor group. As a business man and capitalist and an . employer of labor the interests of these groups are not foreign to him. And his problems of transportation, tariff, credit, vocational education, distribution of food, and national land policies, all demand an active partici- pation in the fields of legislation, codperative organiza- tion, and marketing. With artists, poets, and musicians, also, the farmer might have much in common since many of the world’s best masterpieces deal with rural themes and country experiences. Could these common interests between farmers and others be but consciously developed, they would do much to break down the antagonism of the rural toward the non-rural group, and to give others an appreciation of the immeasurable possibilities in agriculture. Thus while living physically apart from the complex life of the larger society, the 166 RURAL EDUCATION farmer and his wife are still members of a varied life of their own which duplicates in many ways the complex interests of society as a whole. Through these experi- ences properly interpreted and used, farmers might become real members of the larger group of which they are an integral part. Fruitfulness for Leisure. — A vocation or occupation is, after all, but a part of life. It should not usurp one’s time nor limit his interests to such an extent that he fails to appreciate and profit by other possible activities and social relations. As farming is now conducted, there is reason to believe that it absorbs a man’s time too completely. But when leisure is found, the farmer need not face it empty-handed. His daily experience as a worker should bear fruitful suggestion for other activities. Whether his spare hours be spent in reading, in travel, or in social life, he could carry to them from his work interests and experiences that would make them meaningful and worth while. Moreover, he might return to his work from these excursions into other fields with a larger vision and a bigger conception of his occupation. II. LACKS IN AGRICULTURE In the discussion thus far agriculture has been analyzed from the standpoint of its possibilities without reference to the manner in which farming is actually conducted. How large a conception has the average farmer of his many-sided task? How conscious is he of its opportuni- ties for personal growth? How fully does he conceive his social relations? What portion of his time is given to interests other than vocational? How nearly does RURAL OCCUPATIONS 167 the farm woman realize the many possibilities of her work? How adequately in their occupational activity do rural folk attain that type of life which may be called good? To these questions there is no conclusive answer at present. There are, however, commonly accepted beliefs which will be given here as indicating conditions which present a challenge to any social agency interested in the larger opportunities of men for growth and social service. The Farmer not Master of the Situation. — It has been shown that agriculture as an occupation offers unusual opportunity for the individual to meet problems, master situations, and control forces to desired ends. Yet rural folk are in large measure living in a world of routine activity, subject to the control of external forces. Owing to the lack of scientific knowledge and technical skill, the farmer is frequently a slave to his task. In the organization of his work, in the control of his soils, and in his conflict with natural forces he often works blindly. As a result of working alone with these natural and social forces, which he cannot control, “the real country- man is likely to be a fatalist.... He cannot change the rain, or sunshine or storm or drought.... The result of this is that the man may either develop a complacent and joyful resignation, taking things as they come and making the best of them, or else a species of rebellion that leads to a hopeless and pessimistic outlook on life.... This outlook of helplessness is to be over- come by giving the man the power and courage of science, whereby he may in some degree overcome, control, or mitigate the forces of nature, or at least effectively adjust himself to them; and by securing the 168 RURAL EDUCATION impulse of collected action.” 1 Without this sense of freedom and mastery, man lacks the characteristic human element and becomes but a victim of circum- stance. This same lack of mastery is found in the farmer’s relation o the larger social forces to which he is becom- ing more and more subjected. His understanding of the interests and demands of the people he serves is limited by his lack of contacts and his indifference born of a false belief in his social independence. His knowledge of transportation, marketing problems, eco- nomic movements and political and commercial policies is so meager that he is practically unable to cope with them. Being ignorant of these forces, he believes him- self independent and suffers the consequences. If conscious of them, he may attempt to adjust his work to their demands and direct them to his ends, but, upon the whole, farmers are still coping unsuccessfully with social and economic law. Yet without the mastery of this phase of the farming vocation economic return is decreased and the chance of abundant growth and satisfaction greatly reduced. The Rural Woman Restricted Also. — The actual life of the rural woman is also much restricted. She, too, has large opportunity to be self-directive in that her work offers many problems and lines of activity for the exercise of initiative and the control of means to desired ends. But conditions prevent her from being master of the situation. Like the farmer she, too, suffers all the handicaps of a meager preparation for her responsi- bilities, and because of this she often works in a treadmill 1 Bailey, L. H. — The Training of the Farmer, pp. 71-2. RURAL OCCUPATIONS 169 from day to day with little of the joy of mastery and control. Moreover, we found her world much neglected. Improvement of her work is made secondary to that of the farm. The rural family is supposedly a unit and is spoken of as a codperative concern with husband, wife, and children planning and directing its affairs in joint council. but this is a possibility and not a common practice. The husband is too often business man, banker, source of authority, and determiner of relative values. For the woman this means small participation in the directive planning of the industry and a very limited freedom in the making of the home and other opportunities for self-expresson. The demands of the farm are supreme and require her submission and adjust- ment. She suffers, therefore, not only from the limita- tions due to ignorance and lack of skill in her work, but from this subservience to an external authority. Farmer’s ‘nterest Primarily in Income. — Another outstanding characteristic of the farmer’s activity is its restriction to the task of increased production. This may be the result of necessity and of social and economic maladjustments, but whatever the cause, there is a tendency to rate things too largely at their money value. Evidences of this attitude appear on every hand. The federal government has long made its rural approach through an appeal for increased production. States spend large sums of money upon curing and preventing animal diseases whie human health is neglected. Wo- man’s work has been slighted because of its small money value. The purchase of expensive farm machinery is justified on the basis of larger yields and greater financial returns. While educational writers, quoted in the first 170 RURAL EDUCATION three chapters, said that farmers would gladly support the rural elementary school if it could be shown to in- crease the corn crop, and the preceding discussion has shown (see Chapter VI) that the economy and industri- — ousness practiced by the farmer are largely economy in expenditures, and industriousness in adding to the family income. There is no intention here to belittle the desire for economic independence and efficiency as measured by income. But let the incompleteness of a life limited to — this interest be noted when gauged by the standards of “the good life.” Individual growth and social welfare demand that a man have many interests. Agriculture makes such varied interests possible. As already shown there is a rich return to be had from an appreciation and development of the scientific aspects of farming and its skills, arts and administrative and social problems. Agricultural experimentation, landscape gardening, h6me decoration, the raising of pure bred stock, community development, and professional organization — all these ideals and many others are sources of rare and fruitful expression. Interests, knowledge, and skills of this kind must come to have a large and vital place in the farmer’s life and purposing. He must grasp the significance of the work he does, enjoy its intellectual aspects and follow its leads into the many fields of science, literature and art. These impersonal pleasures add richness to life, develop into many new and varied satisfactions, and are of greater personal value than the mere increase of production and income. Non-vocational Interests Neglected.— But to be interested only in one’s vocation, however fully con- RURAL OCCUPATIONS ‘Fgh ceived, is not enough. “Each individual,” says Dewey, ‘has of necessity a variety of callings, in each of which he should be intelligently effective.’”’ The farmer’s responsibility for other than agricultural problems is very marked. Yet these other interests, so funda- mental to the type of life we have in mind, tend to be neglected. Although farm life is cut off and isolated from the experiences of others, most speakers to the rural group carry messages of rural life only, while the vast storehouse of non-rural social culture remains un- touched. Rural recreation gets little sympathy. The rural home as an educative, spiritualizing center instead of an adjunct to the farm, has failed to receive much attention. Rural sanitation, rural community life, and rural art are not sufficiently considered. Reading clubs and musical organizations find expression in progressive communities, but far more common is the pig, poultry and corn club, which emphasize vocational interests. The idealization of economy and labor, the suspicion with which rural people look upon ‘‘white-collared”’ occupations, their criticism of urban leisure and of the ‘indolence”’ of city women — these, and many other characteristics, show a lack of appreciation for other values and customs not involved in agricultural produc- tion. But for the sake of a larger growth, a richer life, and a more complete social membership, farmers must come to value these other aspects o our modern complex civi- lization and to include them as objectives worth seeking. Speaking of these larger problems Butterfield says: The tendency to neglect or ignore this problem is well illustrated in the remark that one hears so frequently as to be most exasperating and disheartening: ‘‘Show the farmers how to make money and these 172 RURAL EDUCATION other things will take care of themselves.” By ‘“‘these other things,” often mentioned in a half contemptuous way, are meant such matters as the health, the play, the reading, the morals, the religion, the politics of farm people. ‘They are supposed to be minor interests — the real practical, man-sized task is to tell the farmers how they can make a profit, and then it will be time enough to talk about the “frills”? — indeed these lesser difficulties will find their solution in the mere fact that farm people, having more money to spend, will spend it for better churches and schools. We hear this sort of advice not only from some farmers but unfortunately more frequently from official leaders of farmers, even from agricultural college professors. It needs sharply to be challenged. It is barely even a half truth, and is working great damage to the best interests of the American farmer.! Community and Social Relations Undeveloped. — The very nature of rural life puts special responsibility upon the farmer for problems outside his vocation. Carver says: Few people realize how much more dependent the farmer is than anyone else upon his social surroundings. A business man in the city can choose his neighbors without changing his place of business, for the reason that his residence and his place of business are entirely disconnected. ... The farmer must live on his farm and must bring up his children there. ... As a result of this dependence he is com- pelled, more than any other class of men, to take an interest in neighborhood affairs. The safety and well being of his own family depend upon his having good neighbors and good moral and social conditions within his neighborhood.... The farmer, more than anyone else, has reason to take an active interest in the local church, the school, the grange, the library, local sports, and every other agency which may contribute to the social life of the neighborhood. If he allows these things to degenerate, it will profit him little to have come into possession of broad acres, to have grown big crops, and to have built big barns to hold them.? This demand upon the farmer for a definite interest in many activities is reinforced by the fact that rural 1 Butterfield, K. L. — The Farmer and the New Day, pp. 57-8. 2 Carver, T. N. — Rural Economics, pp. 342-3. RURAL OCCUPATIONS 173 life is not highly specialized. In the country each individual is partly responsible for the many aspects of a well-rounded life. Rural living embraces the basic elements of a rich and varied community life. In this it differs widely from the city which is highly specialized and entrusts its community responsibilities to profes- sional leaders. Thus art, music, recreation, libraries, theaters, and the various other interests agitated and supported by special groups in the city must be generally cherished by all the people to succeed in the country. One of the major tasks of society is to integrate its groups. Social stability and progress depend upon integration, and individual growth results from it. As formerly shown (see Chapter VI) agriculture contains the essential bonds of a large relationship between farm- ers and other groups. Wesaw, however, that the farmer prides himself upon his independence, is somewhat indifferent to his social relations, and participates but little in the direction of national affairs. But the satis- factions characteristic of civilization are largely urban products — the products of groups living under urban conditions — and the more rural people grow into ways characteristic of modern progress, the more dependent they become. A belief in rural independence is possible only upon the acceptance of a limited vision of the scope of human life and a narrow conception of man’s social obligations. Through the many social bonds involved in agriculture we must develop a sense of urban interde- pendence, encourage codperation upon common tasks, and increase rural interest and participation in the larger questions of social welfare. 174 RURAL EDUCATION Summary. — While agriculture as a vocation, then, offers a real social membership, opportunity for indi- vidual growth, and a varied social service, the analysis of this chapter shows certain failures to realize these possibilities in actual practice. The forces that serve the farmer must aim, therefore, to make him master of the situation and his wife the directing factor in the home. Breadth of interest must be cultivated so that their opportunities may bear fruit in larger vision, richer growth, and more abundant satisfactions and contribu- tions. A sense of responsibility for the development of a desirable community life and an appreciation of the close relationship between farmer and other peoples must come. From this consciousness of social unity and the mastery that springs from knowledge and co- operation will follow an abundant growth and social service. To attain this end we must interpret the rural problem in terms of fundamental human values. ‘‘Edu- cation must open up to the farmers the ‘kingdoms of knowledge.’ The democratic system must assume that its members want culture, want art, want music, want good literature and that they cannot only appreciate it but can live and thrive on it. ... They must sense the need of an organization of their forces, both for the sake of self-interest and in order that they may contribute their full share to the solution of our world problems. ... The main task in rural education is to keep the rural democracy forever studying, thinking, discussing, growing.” ! 1 Butterfield, K. L. — The Farmer and the New Day, p, 121, CHAPTER VIII RURAL LIFE AS RELATED TO THE ESSEN- TIAL CONDITIONS OF CHILD GROWTH TuE last two chapters have emphasized the social and vocational aspects of rural life and presented certain conclusions. In proceeding now to the study of the rural situation as it relates primarily to the child, these conclusions cannot be discarded. The child is so much a part of rural life that the conditions described above have in large measure been his opportunity or limita- tion as the case may be. Centering our attention upon the child will serve, however, to stress certain factors in the situation and show additional needs and _ short- comings that must be met if he is to find n the country the conditions demanded by ‘‘the good life.” How fully does the rural environment offer the country child the essential conditions of growth, and what are its predominant needs from this point of view? These will be the chief considerations of the present chapter. I. RURAL FREEDOM EVALUATED The Nature of the Individual.— The most funda- mental characteristic of the individual is that of self- directed activity to ends that appeal. This means not only the opportunity to choose one’s ends but also to be free at each step to act as the directing agent and guiding 175 176 RURAL EDUCATION and controlling factor in the situation. Any environ- ment to be satisfactory must provide opportunity for the free and intelligent selection of ends and afford conditions that encourage initiative, purposing, exercise of judgment, and the control of means to their attain- ment. It must also lend itself positively to the realiza- tion of any worthy purposes one may establish. The Nature of Rural Freedom. — Much has been said and written concerning the freedom of rural life. The idea most commonly in mind when rural freedom is mentioned is the freedom from social restraint and from the artificial and conventional demands of the city. It is the freedom the farmer feels to do as he pleases, to be let alone, to follow his own fancy or interest. The man in the country has more space to himself. People live farther apart, see each other less often, and are less subject to observation. The country man feels that he can wear what he pleases, and as he pleases, without sub- jecting himself to criticism. His type of living, his daily customs, his standards of sanitation, the manner of keeping his premises, may be fairly well known by his neighbors, but interference from them is rare. But the freedom of the rural situation includes more than this seeming independence of social bonds. A man in the open country may be largely master of his own world, free to work out his ideas as he sees them, to set up plans, to propose ends, to choose and control means, and to vary the conditions as judgment dictates. In the preceding section this aspect of the farmer’s life was discussed at length. Rural life is so organized as to permit variation without interfering with others. The fact that there are many local units independently RURAL LIFE AND CHILD GROWTH 177 controlled and not highly organized or related, allows for changes without disturbing the social and industrial machinery. The independence of each individual farmer, the responsibility put upon the employed group, and the independence of each home, make it possible for each adult to live largely under the guidance of his own intelligence. This independent nature of each family, the freedom of the parents to work out their own ideals and plans in their local sphere, has large value for the children. In their world of play there is little to hinder them. There is small chance that they will interfere with the interests and rights of others, work injury to the settled order of things, or suffer harm themselves as they follow their fancies. With little restriction they utilize the varied assets of the farmstead and neighborhood in their play. Their close association with their parents makes avail- able in large measure this adult world which they are quite free to enter and explore. Moreover, early in their youth they become participants in the family industry. The nature of the work is such that each may find in it a task suited to his age, challenging his thought and ability. In this family group the child may often be a member of the family council. He may help to discuss issues, decide policies, and determine means. If he does not participate in the decision at this initial stage, he does soon afterward. Rural work is largely individual work. One is given a task and made responsible for it. This task as a rule is one whose procedure cannot be exactly determined. The means to be used are not always fixed. Variation in procedure to meet new circum- 178 RURAL EDUCATION stances and the adjustment of means to ends, are con- stant demands. The countryman works much alone. Resourcefulness, thinking, planning, and responsibility, are characteristics not only permitted, but necessitated, by situations in which the country child finds himself many times a day. It is true that some of the large tasks such as plowing, have a certain routine and same- ness. Nevertheless farm life offers many of the finer forms of skill and in turn gives place to a multitude of tasks, less fixed in their demands. Essential Characteristics of Desirable Freedom. — While all this is true of the rural situation in which the child finds himself, it is not the complete picture nor the whole story. In his chapter on “‘The Individual and the World,’ ! Dewey discusses the origin and implica- tions of a concept of freedom which demanded a separa- tion of the individual and society. Under this premise the individual was thought of as a self-sufficient entity. Knowledge was won wholly through personal and private experience. As a consequence, mind, the source and possession of knowledge, was regarded as wholly indi- vidual. Man was able alone to construct his world, and freedom for him meant to be let alone to achieve knowledge for himself. This individualistic interpreta- tion of freedom has influenced our thinking on the farm problem, causing many to overestimate the value of rural freedom, and country people themselves to mis- judge its relative worth. Such ignorance of the essential characteristics of profitable freedom has prevented a true perspective on the limitations of the rural situation. We do find in the open country, it is true, freedom in 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, Chap. 22. a RURAL LIFE AND CHILD GROWTH 179 space, freedom from social pressure, freedom from highly complicated social and industrial machinery, and free- dom to do one’s own thinking and planning in connection with the daily activity. Here one is more nearly alone in his own little world than anywhere else, and free to create himself and his environment without much interference. But this absence of interference is not the basic ele- ment in freedom. Before one can profit by freedom, he must have conditions that will make it conducive to growth and satisfaction. Mind is a social product. The individual discovers himself, has many varied pur- poses in life, abundant sources of satisfaction, and secures control of the means of their realization only when he lives among people and associates with people in a world that is charged with meaning and opportunity. His (a man’s) responses grow intelligent, or gain meaning, simply because he lives and acts in a medium of accepted meanings and values. Through social intercourse, through sharing in the activities embodying beliefs, he gradually acquires a mind of his own. The conception of mind as a purely isolated possession of the self is at the very antipodes of the truth. The self achieves mind in the degree in _which knowledge of things is incarnate in the life about him; the self is not a separate mind building up knowledge anew on its own account.! In another connection Dewey says: We have already noted the defect of a psychology of learning which places the individual mind naked, as it were, in contact with physical objects, and which believes that knowledge, ideas, and beliefs accrue from their interaction. Only comparatively recently has the pre- dominating influence of association with fellow beings in the formation of mental and moral disposition been perceived. 1 Ibid. — p. 344. 2 Ibid. — p. 40. 180 RURAL EDUCATION Gillette, with specific reference to the rural situation, says, “Freedom in the midst of nature without the stimulus of personal association may not be sufficient to guarantee a normal mental functioning.” ! This same dependence of the individual upon the resources of social life and the acquired social] heritage as a basis for individual initiative and originality is given by Thorndike. The truly initiating mind does not imitate less, but more. It imi- tates more men, in more fields, in a greater variety of conditions... . The truly independent thinker does not make less use of other men’s ideas than the servile thinker, but more. The expert man of science or law or business has a thousand masters while the servile mind has but a few.? II. ADDITIONAL DEMANDS UPON THE RURAL ENVIRONMENT In addition, then, to this mere freedom represented by an absence of interference and by a responsibility for directing the course of events, one must have the stimu- lus of social contacts and an environment rich in the fruits of race experience, including not only books, pictures, utensils, and conveniences, but also those standards and practices which serve as a motive and guide for the individual’s own development. ‘There is bere proposed, in addition to the opportunity for self- direction, the following conditions which any environ- ment must supply to be satisfactory. These include provision for: 1 Gillette, John M. — Mitigating Rural Isolation, pamphlet, p. 14. 2 Thorndike, E. L. — ‘‘ Education for Initiative and Originality,’’ Teachers College Record, Vol. XVII, Nov., 1916. RURAL LIFE AND CHILD GROWTH 181 1. Many stimulating social contacts. 2. Free and intimate association with groups repre- senting different points of view. 3. Superior standards and socialized attitudes and practices. 4. Many possible interests, opportunity for self- discovery, and freedom to select among these interests. 5. Permission and encouragement to vary from es- tablished customs and standards. 6. Ready access to the social heritage and present contributions. 7. Guidance in the problem of social adjustment, in self-discovery, and in the mastery and use of the tools of civilization. A study of the rural situation in the light of these essential conditions shows that its freedom is rather empty. The rural child may be self-directive, the environment may be subject to his use as his ends direct, but the other fundamental factors in a fruitful growth are, in large part, lacking. Many Social Contacts. — Rural life is limited in its opportunities for social contacts. The country child lives in the midst of his family, associating intimately with its members in their many activities. But to a large degree the family sets the boundary of his social life. In his neighborhood contacts he is handicapped by distance and by the lack of occasions for getting to- gether. The demands of farm life upon the country child’s time, the farmer’s idealization of work and indus- triousness, the belief on the part of the father that 182 RURAL EDUCATION recreation is not essential, the lack of appreciation of the child’s interests in gangs, clubs, and camping, all serve to reduce even the meager chances which exist for associ- ating with others outside the immediate family group. _ The child works much by himself six days a week. Hav- ing Saturday afternoon off for baseball or group gather- ings is a rare privilege. Means of recreation and play are yet undeveloped. A few social parties, Sunday school, and trips to ‘‘town’’ measure for many all the social opportunities which rural life offers.! This isolation naturally develops a certain indepen- dence and self-sufficiency. The rural child must enter- tain himself and profits thereby. For this, however, he pays the price in undeveloped social instincts. He is not prepared through much mingling with people to be dynamically interested and to participate freely and easily in the social problems of his community or state. Social ease and graces are foreign to him. Conversation or discussion of public questions is something of a task. In the complex social life of the town he is not master of himself and lacks force. The results of this social isolation are expressed in the names attributed to farmers. All of this is to be regretted. It robs the child of an immediate and permanent source of satisfaction. But this is not the major loss. Social progress is the fruit of a codperative attack upon our numerous modern prob- lems. Individual growth is impossible except in a social setting. This social life, so lacking in the country, is the very heart of human life. Whatever can be done to 1 See Rural Surveys made by the Department of Church and Country Life of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. RURAL LIFE AND CHILD GROWTH 183 make possible for the rural child the social contacts his life demands will be an asset of most fundamental worth. Varied Social Contacts.— An abundant social life among peoples of a single group is not enough. Democ- racy depends for its stability and progress upon a com- mon culture, common interests, and a working harmony among its people. The continued growth of the child depends upon varied interests, the habit of question- ing, open-mindedness, and a continuance of youthful plasticity, while all of these, in turn, are dependent upon living in the midst of a varied and changing world. What does the country offer to the rural child? His social habits are undeveloped by the local social life. He is physically cut off from other groups and from town and urban centers with their different environments and standards from which he might receive the stimulus to question the accepted views of his group, and to defend or strive to change them. This physical isolation from people of other minds and types of life, this immersion in the customs, beliefs, and values of a single occupational group, is greatly increased by the class consciousness and conservatism of rural folk. The world of the adult becomes the authority of the child. He adopts the suspicions and antagonisms of his parents. He suffers criticisms at the hands of city hu- morists and too often comes to accept the belief that for some reason he is not over clever. This non-social atti- tude of town and country described in the first part of this chapter is another disastrous limitation for the child whose isolation is further increased by the tendency of rural leaders to aim at the construction of a unique rural civilization, to build a sufficient and unrelated rural 184 RURAL EDUCATION community life, and to consolidate schools in the open country away from the contact and influence of urban standards. Galpin, in his study of the rural communities of Wis- consin, writes concerning the effect of rural isolation: The detachment from the currents of human life resulting from this distance of a mile or two between neighbors, is not so disastrous on the whole in its depressing mental effects, as in limiting the acquaintance of each home, casual as well as intimate, to a small number of people living under similar conditions, especially that of occupation. The practical effect of this limited acquaintance is to invite the penalties of inbreeding — breeding together the same sort of partial experiences within a narrow domain. It has been noted in a community study that farm homes situated on the main traveled roads between villages or cities are more socialized, having a greater number of connections with the organized currents of ideas, than farm homes on the back roads. Bare familiarity with other types of human life seen passing by the houses at close range apparently inoculates the home with some social adventure. The four-to-eight mile distance of a farm home from its nearest village or smallest city has been a severe check to diverse acquaintance and social connection at the village. The library, high school, and church zones around each village in Walworth County show how fortunate socially the farm home is which happens to be within hearing of the village church and school bells. In discussing the problem of rural social organization, the same thinker adopts the slogan, ‘‘Human contacts, more human contacts, and still more human contacts.” ‘“‘How shall the farm family increase the variety of its personal contacts? How shall be assured to farmers mental touch with persons other than farmers, so that farm experience may be enriched by the other widely varied types of experience? How shall farm 1 Galpin, C. J. — ‘‘The Social Anatomy of an Agricultural Community,” Research Bulletin No. 34, p. 20, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. RURAL LIFE AND CHILD GROWTH 185 women come to close quarters with other types of women? How shall they meet the banker’s wife, as freely at least as the farmer meets the banker? How shall farm children and farm youth naturally come to meet and know other sorts of children and young people?” ! These matters are basic needs of rural folk. They were a dominant note in the needs of farm women as formerly presented. (See Chapter VI, p. 120.) If they are im- portant for the adult who is already a member of a group and whose life centers largely in his work, they are doubly important for the child whose interests and attitudes are but being formed. At this period the child should be growing into race membership. He is, however, adopting the social customs of his associates. Care should be taken, therefore, to provide through his social life this basis of abundant growth and large social service. Such a need for rural people makes certain demands upon the institutions of rural life. ‘“‘We shall have then, from the purely social point of view, the rural school problem; the rural church problem; the rural local government problem; the rural health and recreation problem; the rural art problem; the rural publicity problem; and the like. The solution of each special social problem will be challenged with the test of ‘more contacts.’ ’’? Superior Standards and Practices. — Any individual is the product of his group or age. From it in large measure he secures his ideals, his standards, his interests, and his habits and attitudes. We found in Chapter V that social adjustment is largely a matter of living in a 1 Galpin, C. J. — Rural Life, pp. 57-8. 2 Ibid. — pp. 59-60. 186 RURAL EDUCATION world of accepted socialized values, and of participating in activity that expresses socialized standards and aims. The rural group in which the country child is so com- pletely immersed transfers to him its virtues, its customs, its prejudices, and its beliefs. He profits or is limited by them as the case may be. On the whole these rural standards and practices are retarded. In some respects they are a distinct handicap to the rural child. Rural conservatism, rural independence, rural antagonism and suspicion, low sanitary conditions, limited interests, rural child labor, and the results of woman’s drudgery, all take their toll from child welfare. On the other hand, many advantages of rural living might be stated, of course. The purpose here, however, is not to be inclusive but rather to point out the meaning of certain conditions in terms of child growth and set tasks for educational effort. . The welfare of the child demands that the life from which he takes his models and stand- ards present him the best. Many Interests and Opportunity for Self-discovery. — The life of an individual is expressed in terms of activity toends. His satisfaction and continued growth demand many varied and fruitful interests in keeping with his nature. In answer to this essential requirement it has been shown that rural occupational and community life offer large possibilities. (See Chapter VII.) The organization of rural life is such that the child may come into personal contact with its many varied as- pects. ‘The numerous problems of the farm and those of the home and community life are all intimate ex- periences to him. He is a participating member in these various types of activity. He may profit here RURAL LIFE AND CHILD GROWTH 187 from the complexity of the farm occupation, from the undifferentiated nature of rural community life, and from his close association with adults. He might profit, also, under proper conditions, in his social relations to the larger world because of the many bonds that unite his experiences to others. But the rural child is not realizing these possibilities. He lives in the world of his parents which was found to be greatly limited by a specialization of attention upon production and income and by an ignorance and in- difference of science and the many possibilities of a rich community life. The studies of rural child labor men- tioned in another connection show how much the child is sacrificed to work. Conditions in North Carolina have already been cited (see p. 184) and the following quotations, based upon a detailed field study, state the rural situation in New York State. The study reveals, ‘“‘A picture of helpless childhood under deterio- rating social conditions which are obscured by the very isolation and neglect out of which they are made.”’ ! It “shows a type of social life that, unfortunately, can be matched in many places, and which must be generally understood if all country children are to secure their claim to mental and moral vigor and to education.” ? “The great complaint of the young people in the country neighborhood is ‘nothing to do.’ This gap they try to fill with sex excitement and with riotous mischief that may end in larceny and burglary.’’? 1 Lathrop, Julia C. — Letter of Transmittal; U. S. Department of Labor (Children’s Bureau, Bulletin, No. 32). 2 Ibid. ’Claghorn, Kate Holliday — Juvenile Delinquency in Rural New York, p. 41; U. S. Dept. of Labor (Children’s Bureau, Bulletin No. 32). 188 RURAL EDUCATION Weak heredity is, however, by no means the whole story. The environment, in contrast to the teeming life of streets, is a trouble breeder by its very emptiness. People are not born knowing how to work; neither are they born knowing how to play. This is driven home nowhere more clearly than in those places where mere lack of space is not the factor which ties up the energy of children. The farm with its exaction of long, and often laborious, service draws them into the discipline of work even earlier than does the factory; but it does not teach them how to make use of what precious oppor- tunities they have for sociability. To this need the loneliness of the open country and the ‘‘deadness”’ of the little town again and again make a stupid or negative answer.! Not only are the local opportunities of the rural child ereatly limited, but the rural mental atmosphere and rural social customs compel him through lack of escape. There is no other group to which he can go. He cannot, even though he would, select associates whose interests respond to his own. If a variant from the group, there is small opportunity for him to find himself. What chance has he for self-discovery in case his interests fall without the group? Activity to ends that appeal in relation to one’s individual differences, and organized around one’s master motives is essential to efficient growth and service, but such an opportunity is poorly supplied by rural life. The poverty of the rural environment from this stand- point is more clearly revealed when we study it with respect to the demands of vocational choice. More and more we are coming to see the importance of wise voca- tional selection. The vocational guidance movement expresses our social consciousness in this field. As long as youthful crudeness characterized our industrial activities, peculiar fitness or unfitness was not especially 1 Claghorn, Kate Holliday — Juvenile Delinquency in Rural New York, p. 7; U.S, Dept. of Labor (Children’s Bureau, Bulletin No. 32). z : 4 RURAL LIFE AND CHILD GROWTH 189 regarded nor easily revealed. But now that expert service is required in the various vocations and pro- fessions, as In medicine, teaching, engineering, and the new science of farming, fitness and unfitness become significant factors, and intelligent vocational choice extremely important. As long as social welfare was measured in terms of sufficient production and the absence of large social disturbances, whether a man was fittingly placed in relation to his interests and desires was of small importance. With the new demands for expert service mentioned above, the new conception of the relation of an individual to his work, and the responsibility of society to him and for its own progress, a new appreciation of this step has arisen. In brief, results in interest, creative thinking, contentment, and social stability and progress, are dependent upon the proper choice of a vocation. But notwithstanding the importance of this matter, the rural situation does not provide the conditions essen- tial to vocational choice. Instead of being made familiar with the demands and opportunities of the various voca- tions in which men spend their lives, the rural child is handicapped by a familiarity with a very few, and a dis- torted knowledge of all. As a result of constant contact and several years’ participation in farm activities, he faces this question of vocational choice with certain agri- cultural resources to his credit. This is the only field with which he is at all familiar. Ties of friendship, opportunities for getting a definite foothold, chances of economic backing, habits of thinking, and various other factors, make this the easiest opening. As a result of such a preponderance of influence in one direction ninety 190 RURAL EDUCATION per cent of the farm boys of New York State expressed a desire to remain on thefarm. Gillette says in speaking of the future of rural children that, ‘‘Ninety or ninety- five per cent of the population will either remain in the community they are born and reared in, or will remove to a similar community, one with similar interests.’’ } Such facts as these are used as a basis for determining what shall be done for rural boys. But even though this large percentage does tend in the direction indicated, _ we must not perpetuate the faults of the past into a plan for the future. These figures represent the fruits of limited opportunity. The only basis upon which democracy can build is that of fullest opportunity for the intelligent choosing of one’s vocation. To this familiarity with the rural field is added an ignorance of urban possibilities. Imagination and story supply a concept of city opportunities, and many of the more venturesome go forth to be dispersed among the various callings: Some rise and some fall, but all alike suffer the handicap of ignorance and unfitness for the tasks they undertake. Clearly the rights of the child, the profitableness of his future, and the ultimate welfare of democracy demand a practice quite different. Hdu- cation for the country child must supply the short-comings of his local environment. Farming, as one of many voca- tions, should be presented and fairly and justly ap- praised. It deserves particular attention because of its misrepresentation by the present inefficient, un- scientific, and discontented farmer and by the social stigma attached to it. But other vocations concerning which the rural child knows less must be zealously pre- 1 Gillette, J. M. — Constructive Rural Sociology, p. 328. RURAL LIFE AND CHILD GROWTH 191 sented, also. The child must be given an exact knowl- edge of both rural and city offerings and made capable of free and intelligent vocational choice. The present tendency to vocationalize rural elementary education in favor of agriculture must be replaced by the broadest possible curriculum. These restrictions, as revealed by a study of his vocational opportunities, are true of his life in general. Child growth demands a thorough blending and integrating of urban and country life and a transmission to the country of all that the city, town, or village has that is good. It means a broadening of the world in which the rural child lives until his environ- ment includes in its scope the many worth-while possi- bilities which the present social order can offer. Freedom to Vary. — A further factor closely related to the one above needs noting. Self-discovery and self- expression and progress come best where the force of custom is not too strict. The farmer takes pride in his freedom, but after all, this freedom has very definite limits which are quickly felt by the stranger unaccus- tomed to accept rural practices and standards. In the country, fashions do not trouble a man. He may go without a collar, wear a colored shirt, or appear in over- alls. Within the accepted customs of the group he is free. But let him dress for dinner, play golf, or do any of the thousand things accepted among the more cos- mopolitan urban group! Improvements of the home often invite comment. ‘‘Putting on airs,” ‘gentlemen farmer,” ‘‘too ladylike to soil her hands’’ are comments upon those who break away from the accepted form of life, the unintelligent agricultural practice, or the house- hold drudgeries. A broader point of view on the part 192 RURAL EDUCATION of rural folk, a more generous attitude toward different types of life, an appreciation of the new, and an encour- agement of variation, would all stimulate the child to a freer self-expression. Access to the Social Heritage. — To the demands already made we must add that of access to the social heritage and to the present attainments of the human race and the many contributions and progressive move- ments of current life. Whatever the race has won in its struggles — the problems it has faced, the solutions it has found, the lessons it has learned, and the means that it has developed for the mastery of natural forces and for coordinating the efforts of man, the tools it has invented, and the institutions it has established — all these are the just inheritance of every child and should be made available for his use in his efforts toward growth and social service. But here again the rural field is wanting. Its schools and churches serve the child inadequately; hospitals and health clinics are rare or unknown; and while newspapers, magazines, and books reach him, effective library service is yet unrealized. Theaters, museums of art and history, music, and lec- tures on topics of general culture are made available to him but seldom. The moving picture, which could bring so much of the world beyond to the rural child, is still little more than a hope. Many conveniences for the home and farm, and the tools of modern industry through which the strength of men and women might be conserved for bigger things, are still exceptions. Yet no one will deny that the rural child deserves to benefit from these various aids to individual growth. The present social organization is so highly specialized, i RURAL LIFE AND CHILD GROWTH 193 its problems so refined, and its progressive achieve- ments so varied and scattered that special effort must be made to keep children in touch with modern contribu- tions. Here is a special task for those who would serve the rural child. ‘Habits, ideas, traditions, and ideals have long life in a rural community. Changes come slowly.... The farmer does not easily keep in touch with rapid modern developments, unless the move- ments or methods directly affect him. Physical agencies which improve social conditions, such as electric lights, telephones and pavements, come first to the city.” Conservatism, antagonism, indifference, and isolation all add to the difficulties of keeping in touch with modern problems and movements. And yet social service is dependent upon wise participation in these contributions. Individual advance is furthered by access to the advance of others. For the rural child this constant contact is unusually difficult, but it is none the less essential. Leadership and Guidance. — In the midst of this environment the child needs advice and help. Here is the task of the teacher, the minister, the recreational director, the social leader, and the community nurse or doctor. The child needs leadership. The more favored social groups are profiting from such service. Rural organization, then, faces the task of supplying these guiding agents for its children in order to make the environment contribute more largely to their welfare. The rural needs that have been presented here do not give a complete account of the rural situation. They set forth only the major problems in relation to child growth. These desirable conditions can be supplied in part by a development of local resources. On the whole, however, 194 RURAL EDUCATION their realization is dependent upon a larger organization than the local community. Child growth demands a closer relation between town and country. Both must cooperate in the upbuilding of rural life. The larger opportunities and satisfaction of the town must become the heritage, as they have been the product, of town and country alike. Rural and urban antagonisms must pass. Codperation, friendship, and mutual respect must take their place. Only in this way can the limita- tions of the rural child be removed and his freedom made fruitful. The implications of these principles for edu- cation will now be considered. PA Leb) PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR RURAL ELEMENTARY EDUCATION os air 4 A rea KY os eet id) ; oa “ 4 ee HOY, CHAPTER IX THE GENERAL PURPOSE AND PROBLEM OF RURAL ELEMENTARY EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL organization in its many aspects pro- motes individual growth and thereby advances social progress. To ascertain the nature of educational effort for any particular group two things are necessary: First, to determine what the desirable life for the individual and society is; and second, to determine for any par- ticular situation the “lacks” which the educational agency must supply. Chapters IV and V attempted to answer the first of these questions while Chapters VI, VII, and VIII undertook to meet the second for the rural group. In the light of the principles thus stated and the needs revealed, what, then, must be the nature of the rural elementary school? Before proceeding to detailed suggestions for rural elementary education, the work of the rural school must now be stated in terms of individual growth and social progress and some of the suggested purposes for elementary education found in the first three chapters must be evaluated. Social Adjustment and Progress. — The school is a conservative force. It faces the task of preserving the most precious elements in the human heritage of skills, knowledge and ideals and through these integrating the child and society at large. It must develop in the child the interests and standards consistent with associated living. The child is largely a social product and is 197 198 RURAL EDUCATION fitted to adopt the practices and values of his group. Society to-day, however, is a complex organization encompassing many interests, many varied points of view and many forms of living. Distance and indiffer- ence separate these groups and their ignorance of each other is alarming. Misunderstandings, opposition and bitterness often characterize their social relations. Edu- cation must develop a common language, common stand- ards of conduct, and the other elements of a common culture. But society expects the individual not only to © live consistently with the interests and welfare of others but also to codperate with others intelligently and sym- pathetically in solving the problems involved in securing a better social adjustment, and in progressing to a more satisfying social life. This task of socializing the child will be greatly furthered by providing an environment for him in which these desired socialized ends and attitudes find expression, a situation which encourages the mingling of groups, the exchange of ideas, and a friendly codperation upon problems of common concern. Education is a “freeing of individual capacity in a progressive growth directed to social aims.’’ In addi- tion to socializing the child, the school must further his development. Dewey says, ‘‘The inclination to learn from life itself and to make the conditions of life such that all will learn in the process of living is the finest product of schooling.” ! Again he says, ‘The criterion of the value of school education is the extent in which it creates a desire for continued growth and supplies means for making the desire effective in fact.’”’2 Such 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, p. 60. 2 Ibid. — p. 62. PURPOSE AND PROBLEM 199 continued growth on the part of an individual is depend- ent upon his possession of many varied interests of a quality that will offer large future possibilities which lead him on to their realization. Growth of this type is dependent upon varied and stimulating social contacts. Mingling with peoples from other groups who have different customs, different points of view, and different problems is also conducive to the breadth of interest and the open-minded tolerance basic to continued prog- ress. This dynamic quality of any experience depends upon its appeal to the nature of the individual. An environment offering to the child the many possibilities of our complex social life together with freedom to choose among them as one’s nature dictates is essential to ‘continued effort and satisfaction. But that is not all. The child must possess the ability to make his desires effective in fact. One’s environment must make available to him the resources of our social heritage, the accomplishments of the race whereby it has attained its present control over the forces of nature. The conception of elementary education as concerned solely with the “tools of learning’ is narrowing and repressive. Not only reading, writing, and arithmetic, but science in its many forms, art, music, the lessons of history, an acquaintance with the great characters of the past and the present, the achievements of other lands, the improvements that appear from day to day; all these must be made accessible to the child. The habits, the knowledge, the skills, the economical methods essential to his immediate ends, and his continued growth and efficient social membership must also be acquired. With such a task for education in general what is the 200 RURAL EDUCATION specific problem of the rural elementary school? And what are its peculiar limitations and needs? The Proper Purpose of Rural Elementary Education. — The purpose of rural elementary education is the same as for elementary education anywhere. It is to help rural children live more satisfying and more effective lives. They, in common with all children, need a many-sided interest so selected and developed as to provide for the fullest self-expression, for the continued growth of the. individual, and for a happy and helpful social member- ship. They, in common with all children, need an inti- mate knowledge of the social world of which they are a part and of the various groups with which they must codperate in working for social progress. The ideals and standards of our people, the problems they are confronting, and the achievements they hope to attain, must become real to rural children as to all others. They must have access to the social heritage and master its resources and lessons as these bear upon the life of to-day. They must master the tools by which men have achieved so that they, too, may achieve the ends that appear of worth to them and thus become efficient in social service. The Influence of Environment upon Rural Elementary — Education. — The problem of end or purpose is not the only one to be considered, however. In addition to the query, ‘‘Where are we going?’ we must consider the related question, ‘“From where do we start?’ School — life is a course of experience instituted by society to supplement the experiences furnished by the chance environment.! What this supplementary experience | shall be, depends in part upon the educational influences 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, pp. 22-6. PURPOSE AND PROBLEM 201 of the social environment outside the school. So while rural elementary education has for its purpose that of elementary education anywhere, namely the socialized growth of children, the fact still remains that these are rural children, living in a rural environment, and that we should expect certain differences in the rural elementary curriculum for this reason. But these will be variations in content and procedure and not differences in purpose. In general the rural environment will affect rural elementary education in three ways. In the first place, since the education of any child must be in terms of his experience, the approach to any desirable experience will be different. The teacher must always begin with the experiences of her pupils. She must talk their language if she is really to make their growth into the world they do not know most rapid and effective. Every factor must be brought within the realm of the child’s experi- ence and made to appeal to him as meaningful and vital in his own affairs. Much that has been done in agri- culture, nature study, manual training, club work, rural reading, rural arithmetic and so forth, has served to vitalize the work in this way. But still more needs to be done. The formal study of world geography should be preceded by a study of local or home geography. This lays a foundation for clear thinking about geo- graphical terms, principles and problems. When so or- ganized the geography course for the rural child varies greatly in the beginning, and in lesser amount through- out, from that developed for the city child. To illus- trate further, both the urban and the rural child need to know of each other and to realize their mutual depen- dence. But they reach this understanding from quite 202 RURAL EDUCATION opposite ends and by considering different problems. The country child helps his parents pick apples and care for the chickens. He helps prepare them for market and sees them on their way. By following their course in imagination, he comes at last to the Sunday dinner of the city lad who is in this respect dependent upon the farm boy’s labor. The city child needs to appreciate this same relationship. For him, however, the course would be reversed. Starting from his Sunday dinner he should finally arrive at the source of his supply. — Through a different approach each comes to see a vital social principle. A consideration of this factor in curricu- lum-building would, without doubt, give rise to far greater differences between rural and urban curricula than now exist. The second source of difference in the rural curriculum due to environmental influence is to be found in the educational resources of rural communities. Sheer economy of learning requires that we utilize the educa- tional resources of the local life. This demands an educational diagnosis of the environment. We must know the resources available and evaluate the local life in terms of the ends to be achieved. We know, for in- stance, that the type of life lived on the farm throws responsibility upon the rural child early and often. He is given a task by himself and is expected to see it through. Initiative, application and perseverance are required. His daily work thus gives him a mastery of himself and of things that any city child might well envy. The country child lives, also, in a social group or community where what he does or thinks has some influ- ence. This sense of importance in a social situation is PURPOSE AND PROBLEM 203 essential to a desire for participation in the affairs of social concern. No one will deny that we all need a quickening of interest in the problems of our common life. We know, moreover, that this civic consciousness and the habit of social participation must be started early, and that it can be best developed by dealing with the problems of the local community, because they are real to the child. An analysis of the rural social situ- ation will show that these possibilities for developing a sense of social responsibility exist in rural group life to an unusual degree. School children can take a real part in cleaning up the community; they can influence sanitary conditions and practices; they can have some- thing to do with furnishing a better type of entertain- ment. Rural children can soon be made to feel that what they think counts, to realize that they are an influ- ence, and to become habituated thereby to participating in the discussion and solution of social problems. Education as an end in itself, rather than a means; education as a process of continually reorganizing, re- constructing, and transforming the world about one; education as living here and now, rather than as a prep- aration for future living; always emphasizes the rela- tion of the educational activity to the child’s immediate experiences. The rural child is reared among animal friends, plant life, farm tasks and rural experiences. Education for him should strive always to realize one hundred per cent upon these rural opportunities and to gain from them their full store of growth and satisfac- tion. Moreover, he must enlarge his experience in terms of his immediate world. This world furnishes his first language and his approach to broader interests 204 RURAL EDUCATION and fuller social growth. All this attaches unusual im- portance to the immediate rural environment from an educational point of view. - But while we define education as growth through daily experiences, this definition means living in the largest, fullest sense of the word, and never mere exist- ence under narrow local standards or meager outlook. Such a conception in no wise implies that the educa- tional content is to be composed chiefly of local material . or that the preparation given is to be limited to local interests. To put a child in a backward community, isolated from other forms and ideas of social life, a com- munity with impoverished interests and limited re- sources, and ask him to grow through his experiences is fruitless. To fit him primarily for these local demands is limiting. Country children have been living under these conditions for generations, and the net results are not pleasant to contemplate. The school must use the local resources to the fullest extent; but this it does primarily, because they can be made to serve the child’s general ends. Through proper education he can be stimulated to profit from his daily experiences. To permit this functional conception of education, this emphasis upon its immediate meaning and value, to limit a child to the situation in which he finds himself, however, is short sighted, undemocratic, and socially disastrous. Only when we surround the child with the essential conditions of his fullest development dare we be content to consider the local environment as a satis- — factory field of growth. It is the task of education to create an environment in which a generous growth is possible rather than to limit him to what is already oe PURPOSE AND PROBLEM 205 available. The expansion of interests rather than their restriction must be our aim. Education to Serve the Real Needs of Rural Children. — Therural elementary school should differ consequently from urban schools in still a third respect. It should be developed with specific reference to the ‘‘lacks” or “needs” of rural life in general and to its own community in particular. The elements of modern life that must be brought to the rural child to round out and complete his environment, are peculiar to the rural situation. That which he needs to complete his world is what others have naturally, and, by the same token, what he has as his daily experience must be given to others through the efforts of their educational machinery. A definition and statement of these rural needs has been partly presented in the preceding pages and any attempt at curriculum building must take due account of them. Rural ele- mentary education will differ from urban elementary education, then, both in the content which supplements its environment and in its methods of approach. Its purpose, however, is that of elementary education any- where: to provide the fullest socialized growth for the child, and through this growth to integrate society. This conception of the purpose and task of rural ele- mentary education is finding expression also in England. Mr. G. A. Bellwood, representing the National Farmers’ Union on the Rural Education Conference, in his Notes on Rural Elementary Education, states the requirements of country schools as follows: The necessity of a thorough literacy foundation, the need of providing children with training which shall fit them for urban as well as rural life, and the importance of meeting the requirements of 206 RURAL EDUCATION children of special ability. England believes that ‘‘it is the business of the teacher to be the ‘discerner’ and not the ‘equalizer’ of men.” The teacher must discover a child’s ability and reveal the child to himself. It is essential, therefore, that the rural elementary school should have a broad curriculum and “should give a training which shall fit boys and girls for life in the town, where some shall find their best. self-expression.”” But though none of these rural children migrate to town — “it would still remain highly disputable whether, so far as the elementary school goes, the education of the country child who will spend all his life in the country ought to differ to any considerable extent from the education of the town child. Especially doubtful is the supposition, often taken for granted, that the educa- - tion of the rustic should be less literary and more: ‘practical’ than that of the townsman.”’ The article concludes as follows: To sum up, rural elementary schools must aim at giving the children a good general education. The curriculum must be mainly literary in character and must not differ widely from that of urban schools. Practical agricultural subjects would at that early stage be of very little use to the future farm-laborer as a vocational training, and as a man and a citizen the farm-laborer needs a sound general education as much as any one.... (A ruralized school) will fail to meet even the vocational needs of the majority of the children — those whose future is bound to lie in other than agricultural employ- ment. ... Because of its rural bias it will fail to search out the varied abilities of the new generation and to make the most of the nation’s children by fitting them, one and all, for those walks of life for which they are individually suited.1 Problems in Rural Elementary Education. — Having defined the function and set up these purposes for the rural elementary school let us turn now to its peculiar | problems. Within the school system itself are the well- known limitations of an untrained personnel, a loose and inefficient organization, an untrained and meager super- — visory force, and an equipment totally inadequate. 1 The Athenaeum, October, 1917, pp. 494-8. Published at The Athenaeum Office, London. PURPOSE AND PROBLEM 207 These demand unusual professional skill and resource- fulness. Rural teachers fail, as do most teachers, to make use of the local environment and local experiences as a source of immediate growth and as a means to larger experience. This knowledge and skill must be supplied. The preceding analysis of rural life empha- sizes the fact that the resources fundamental to a gener- ous social education are meager in the rural community whose interests are limited; whose social life, reduced largely to the mingling of people of a single group, is likely to be barren; and whose standards are not keeping pace with the best social practice. Access to other peoples, other ideas, other interests and other ways of living is handicapped by distance. To this natural handicap is added a rural conservatism that moves slowly, an independence maintained with pride, and a self-sufficiency that obstructs codperative effort and the intelligent use of social forces. Especially notable is the existence of an antagonism between rural and urban groups which hinders their exchange of ideas, their codperation upon common problems, and the appreci- ation of their mutual inter-relatedness. The improve- ment of the rural situation by the development of a more social attitude toward other groups, by building for the rural child a richer environment in which to grow, and by bringing to him the wealth of social resources and opportunities not found in country life, constitutes a fundamental problem for rural education. With the acceptance of this statement of educational principles and rural needs, what must be said concerning the proposed purposes for rural elementary education given in Part I of this discussion? 208 RURAL EDUCATION Criticisms of the Purposes Proposed for Rural Ele- mentary Education. — The first of these current purposes was to retain the rural child upon the farm. The second and third, assuming that he would remain a rural member, were more specific, and defined the service the school might render. The second would prepare him for efficiency in production and secure a larger income for him through this increased skill. The third group saw his needs in larger terms and sought for him, through | education, a larger vision, a richer satisfaction, and a happier life in his future career as a farmer. 1. Retention. As exclusive aims none of these can be justified in a democracy. Any attempt to predeter- mine the child’s future is autocratic. Rural life may need men, the world may need food, the open country may be a wonderful place to live. But granting all this, it is the task of elementary education to acquaint the child with life in its wider aspects, with its many oppor- tunities, and its rich variety of interests and forms of human service. Education must seek to prepare him for a larger individual growth and social membership. No man or group of men can justly limit the field of a child’s opportunity. Quotations bearing upon this point of view were given in variety to show the large number of writers who feel justified in imposing this limitation upon him, and in what various ways their purpose expresses itself. Schools were to be consoli- dated out in the open country or in rural-minded villages so that the bonds that tied the child to the rural group might not be broken. Club work was introduced to fasten the child’s affections to the land. His vision was circumscribed, the local opportunities glorified, in the a ae PURPOSE AND PROBLEM 209 hope of keeping him there, schools were reorganized and better facilities provided, not because of the demands of the child’s mental and spiritual life, but because his longings must be appeased to hold him to the farm. Recreation was to be used as a means of making the vocation attractive. Agriculture, manual training, do- mestic science, farm arithmetic, reading in farm bulle- tins, and farm geography became the means of ruralizing the child beyond the seductive call of the town or city. It was expected that, ‘““Here they would early learn to know that they are indigenous to the soil; that here they must live and die.” Therefore ‘‘nature study in its broadest meaning, together with manual training and instruction in the various crafts which will make the farm child satisfied with his lot in life, are the real essentials.’ 2. Vocational Efficiency. Those who have most fully imbibed the urban, economic, and official-governmental conception of the farmer-group see the rural child as a producer only, and his social service mainly in terms of food. Guided by this idea one who desires the school to realize the most efficient citizenship from the com- »munity states that the “distinguishing mark of efficient citizenship in the rural community vs skill in the produc- tion of food.’ This conception of the rural child, as a producing factor in the rural occupation, has stimulated various lines of endeavor. “Agriculture must be taught, because that is to be the occupation of most of the pupils of the rural school, and because the school can greatly increase their efficiency on the farm.” “A thorough course in manual training is highly desir- able and useful,” because ‘‘the modern farm with its 210 RURAL EDUCATION variety of machinery, tools, special type of buildings, drainage systems, concrete construction work, etc., taxes the ingenuity of the farmer.’’ Industrial club work; junior projects; home project study; and vitalized agri- culture, limited almost entirely to rural occupational problems, emphasizing economic return and maximum physical product and fostered by agricultural interests from the adult point of view, are indeed being largely accepted as the solution of the rural school problem. © These are believed to offer a satisfactory educational content for the rural child. Adequate criticism of these proposals would involve a consideration of each of the quotations found in Part I, as these relate to educational and social principles. But this is impracticable. It is evident, however, that many of these writers have misconceived the purpose. of ele- mentary education and the essential characteristics of a life that is good for the child and desirable for a demo- cratic society. They ignore the fundamental task of elementary education which is to make the child a member of society in the fullest sense. ‘They aim, from the first, to make him a member of a group. They emphasize the differences, the qualities wherein his parent group is unlike others, instead of strengthening the bonds that unite him to all peoples. They center his attention upon local problems, instead of creating | interests for him common to the groups with whom he must codperate. They develop occupational ability rather than ability to participate in the problems of social progress; and then complain because he is not given a place in governmental affairs. ‘Society must — advance toward the ideal democracy of which we dream ~ PURPOSE AND PROBLEM 211 through a broadening of the range of suggestion that floods the individual.”’? Yet many would doom the rural _ child, already handicapped in his contact with the world, to a rural diet in his school experience. It is of primary importance to society and to the individual that each be free and intelligently prepared to choose his own field of work. But instead of meeting this fundamental provi- sion these men determine the child’s future upon the accident of birth, and use the institution dedicated to his larger growth as a means of limiting his vision and determining his choice. 3. Broad Rural Citizenship. While the members of the third group, whose larger vision is expressed in the following quotation, avoid the pitfalls of a commercial view of individual and social worth, they still doom the child to his father’s career. In the judgment of this group rural children ‘“‘require a preparation that will fit them to understand and carry out all the problems of successful present-day farming. 'They should also have their interests broadened and their minds developed through a knowledge of the world’s great literature, its sciences, its history, its art, and its music.’”’ The rural child is still regarded as a foreordained member of the farming group and the school’s service to him is measured in terms of the needs of the farming group. There is something attractive in this conception, however, be- cause it possesses an idealism and a vision of a bigger and more satisfying country life. As a philosophy of rural life, and an educational program for adults already deter- mined in their chosen work, it has much to commend it. As an educational program for rural children of a peasant class who are by social law “indigenous to the soil,’’ it 212 RURAL EDUCATION may be acceptable. But in a democracy, as a. basic theory of rural elementary education, it has no place. The fundamental error in this philosophy is that it does not consider the difference between the needs of the rural child and those of the rural adult. The adult’s vocation is chosen, his group responsibilities are accepted; his point of view and field of satisfaction are known. But the child is as yet a member of no class. The elementary school is to give him basic membership in all. To limit him to the narrowed vision of any group, to wish upon him its prejudices, to prepare him exclusively for a rural citizenship, or to load upon him the problems of a de- cadent community, is inconsistent with the most basic of democratic principles. We must distinguish clearly between the problems and needs of a single group and the needs of the child, which include primarily those activities and standards which fit him for real member- ship in world society, and build for him the basis of continued growth. This the third proposal for rural elementary education does not do. 4. Education through a “Ruralized” Curriculum. One of the recent tendencies in education is to teach the child by means of local resources and to approach and interpret the distant through familiar experiences. This tendency is expressed by the fourth group in Part I. These rural leaders felt the foreignness of most of the curriculum material given rural children. Inspired by the pedagogi- cal principle of apperception, and aware of the possibili- ties of varied local experience, they attempted to ruralize the curriculum. When such local material possesses intrinsic worth and is used as an approach to larger ex- periences this practice cannot be criticized. There is a PURPOSE AND PROBLEM 213 tendency on the part of some, however, to become possessed with the idea of ruralization as an end, to be satisfied with the use of local material, local contacts, local interests, local problems in the school curriculum, and the development of local ability as an objective. As formerly shown, rural life, while rich in possibilities, does not furnish a complete educative experience in itself. The life of the child must be still further enriched. He must be flooded with varied suggestions and brought into touch with the many aspects of living. He must become open-minded to new ideas and broadly interested. He must participate actively in the larger problems of national and world welfare. During these early years he must be made to feel his unity with all men, and not be immersed in the limitations, prejudices, and prob- lems of his local life. Of this local life he will naturally and easily learn much anyway. School must bring him what his out-of-school life does not supply. And these are matters of larger scope and things that are other than rural. Conclusion. — It is the conclusion of this study that none of the first four objectives proposed for rural ele- mentary education in its relation to the child as given in the first three chapters is in keeping with the prin- ciples of ‘‘the good life.”” Most of these have been well stated and several represented real advances in progressive thinking at the time they were written, but the rural child has an equal right with every other child. Any attempt to keep him in the country through limited suggestion or overemphasis upon rural material is autocratic. To use the institution dedicated to the realization of his fullest ability as a means of 214 RURAL EDUCATION increasing his material production and his economic resources is reducing his social service and his individual satisfaction to their lowest planes. Even to desire for him a larger life, a richer satisfaction and a broader social membership means little more when his place in that life is predetermined. Such a plan is more charac- teristic of the fixed class system of Europe where the idea seems to have had its origin. Neither is it possible to attain the ends desired through even the wisest exclusive use of the many local experiences and social problems afforded by the rural community. Rural elementary education is merely elementary education in a rural setting. The principles that control its activity and purposes are those of child growth in general and social welfare at large. There is nothing local in its purpose. Its differences will be due to the local approach and to the different needs to be supplied in order that the rural child may realize, through his environment, the growth that is justly his, and in order that society may realize from him the contribution it has a right to expect. To create such an environment for the child and to foster such growth is unquestionably the task for rural elementary education as well as for all other phases of elementary education in a democracy. CHAPTER X THE NATURE OF DESIRABLE SCHOOL ACTIVITY WE have discussed the basic purpose of rural elemen- tary education and its relation to the purposes of elemen- tary education in general. We have pointed out the factors in the rural life situation which justify a difference in the content of the rural elementary curriculum. There arises now the question of the nature of school activity and of the type of procedure which we should aim to secure in the rural schools. Educational Method Based on Life Activity. — In general, schoolroom practice should accord with the fundamental principles of individual activity and growth. The analysis of the characteristics of ‘‘the good life” in its individual aspects (Chapter IV) revealed certain implications for educational method. ‘The fun- damental human characteristic is self-directed activity to ends that appeal. This involves the selection or acceptance of ends, access to the necessary means, freedom to select in terms of their usefulness, and opportunity to exercise judgment, carry responsibility for the procedure, and control the forces to attain the proposed end. We must remember, then, that even within the school child life is composed of activities. Whatever his ends may be they are something he wants. These for the child are very inclusive. They may be the mastery of 215 216 RURAL EDUCATION some skill, the formation of a habit, the making of some toy, the ability to enjoy literature and art, or the solu- tion of some technical or social question. They may be near or distant, large or small, simple or complex. Whatever they are they set the goal, determine values, and become the basis for selecting materials. School work should be organized in relation to ends to be attained, and it is obvious that there should be a real interest in the ends set up for child attainment. This may be interest in the mere activity or in an apprecia- ~ tion of the large relations of the problem. Effort and satisfaction are in proportion to the end’s dynamic appeal. The importance of interest in the activity is emphasized, moreover, by the demand for the develop- ment of new interests. The present must lead on to new and better wants if activity and satisfaction are to accompany life. Since satisfaction is found in the many details of the procedure rather than in the results alone, it is important for the child to share responsibility. He should be free to survey the material at hand, to evaluate it in relation to his end, to devise plans, to determine methods, and to vary procedure as judgment dictates. Herein will be found abundant reward for effort. In such a situation subject-matter and materials are means. They are to be used and not merely learned. Their worth is relative to the purpose involved and they are meaningless unless useful in this connection. Method is nothing more or less than an effective way of employing the material at hand to some desired end. It is never something apart from subject-matter. To treat it so is to deal with a barren abstraction. DESIRABLE SCHOOL ACTIVITY 217 The Essential Conditions of Learning. — Such char- acteristic activity on the part of the child leaves no room for meaningless drill, purposeless repetition, the mere conning of lessons or the doing of tasks. The essential conditions of learning are thus given by Dewey: Under normal conditions, learning is a product and reward of occupation with subject-matter. Children do not set out, consciously, to learn walking or talking. One sets out to give his impulses for communication and for fuller intercourse with others a show. He learns in consequence of his direct activities. The better methods of teaching a child, say, to read, follow the same road. They do not fix his attention upon the fact that he has to learn something and so make his attitude self-conscious and constrained. They engage his activities, and in the process of engagement he learns; the same is true of the more successful the methods in dealing with number or whatever. But when the subject-matter is not used in carrying forward impulses and habits to significant results, it is just something to be learned. The pupil’s attitude to it is just that of having to learn it. Conditions more unfavorable to an alert and concentrated response would be hard to devise. Frontal attacks are even more wasteful in learning than in war. This does not mean, however, that students are to be seduced unaware into preoccupation with lessons. It means that they shall be occupied with them for real reasons or ends, and not just as something to be learned. This is accomplished whenever the pupil perceives the place occupied by the subject-matter in the fulfilling of some experience.! Drill there will be and repetition, but only when their purpose and value are fully appreciated as furthering some desired achievement. If we view the question of education from the stand- point of social needs, we find the same demands. Society is a progressive organization, ever facing new problems that demand solution. Such solutions depend upon the ability of men to sense the need, to make plans, and to collect and use material to satisfactory conclusions. 1 Dewey, John — Democracy and Education, pp. 198-9 218 RURAL EDUCATION Arguments for This Type of Activity. — Socializing the child, developing in his mind an appreciation of his dependence, and larger social relatedness can best be done by showing him how some problem of his own involves, and is involved in the activity of others, rather than by having him merely read about them. The child who would trace the products of his summer’s labor or find the source and history of his food and cloth- ing will be carried far afield and come in contact with many peoples, many activities, and many different con-~ ditions. Distant countries and industries then have meaning. Different customs and forms of social life become more than words. He thus realizes a clearer knowledge and develops an increased sense of sym- pathy and appreciation for these distant facts and peoples, because they have become vitally related to him. There are, of course, certain hindrances to this type of school activity. Our school has developed under the belief that its material should be organized under particular subjects. Each of these represents a more or less isolated phase of human experience. Each presents certain habits to be formed or facts and principles to be learned. So impressed are we by this tradition that those who want to add a new idea to the curriculum of the elementary school usually demand a separate subject for their special hobby instead of considering the pos- sibility of making it an integral part of some present activity. Local geography, local history, nature study, boys’ and girls’ club work, hygiene, community civics, sewing and agriculture are all claiming the right to a special course. ’ DESIRABLE SCHOOL ACTIVITY 219 The Problem for Educators. — Our subject-organiza- tion may remain, but its closed-compartment aspect must give way. The old conception of the nature and function of content is passing. It is the purpose of the school through the curriculum to furnish the child the essential experiences needed to promote his develop- ment. These experiences, to accord with his method of learning, must come in the form of ends to be attained. They will be of such a nature that he will desire their attainment and in their attainment will realize the desired growth. Whether they grow out of his own experience unaided by the teacher or come as a result of teacher-leadership in the present situation is a small matter. The main point is that they become his, appeal to his interest, command his attention, and stimulate his activity to their attainment. Educational leaders are determining educational objectives more and more specifically with reference to their social values. The psychologists are determining the mental changes to be expected and the experiences essential to bring these desired changes, while those working with the cur- riculum find their task in interpreting the changes desired in terms of ends that appeal to the child to be educated, constructing problems or projects that will appeal to him, and in providing for him the essential growth which education is to accomplish. This may be illustrated in the realm of number. We are beginning to determine rather accurately what arithmetical skills are needed in the world of affairs. What problems in addition, in multiplication, what size of fractions, what tables, what sort of problems the child needs to know are all being investigated. The 220 RURAL EDUCATION bonds to be formed in addition, the most economical learning procedure in teaching long and short division, the best method of subtracting, are problems the psy- chologist has partially settled for us. The chief question left for the curriculum-maker here, then, is how to make number work appeal to the child as a real and fun- damental part of his life. In so far, therefore, as we can cast the desired expe- rience into activity directed toward purposes that appeal; in so far as we can relate the essential habits, skills, and attitudes to the attainment of some desired end; in so far as we can make the socially essential knowledge fulfil a recognized function in relation to the individual’s purpose, we have attained a more natural educative experience.! Advantages of the Rural School for Project Teaching. — Certain elements in the rural situation are particularly conducive to this organization of school activity. The first of these is the rather loose organization of the rural school system itself. The ‘project’? method implies a large freedom of adjustment to individual and grade or group interests and to the demands of the particular situation. The smaller rural unit, the greater indepen- dence of each individual, and the fact that a variation in one school is not a cause of interference to another makes more feasible this adjustment to individual and local interest. The use of this method is further facilitated by reason’ 1 The nature of the purposeful activity as a method in the educative process is fully described by W. H. Kilpatrick in his article on the project method in the Teachers College Record for September, 1918, Vol. XIX. The procedure therein presented seems most completely to meet the demands and conditions — of individual growth. DESIRABLE SCHOOL ACTIVITY 221 of the fact that the school life and the out-of-door life can be intimately and effectively related. The giving of school credit for home work, as in the home and club project idea, has found a fertile field of growth in the country. The fact that projects started at school can be carried further at home and thus furnish a laboratory for school theory has made this relationship popular and profitable. Home gardens, home projects in domestic science, art, landscape and home beautification; in household administration, and manual training; projects in various materials as wool, leather, and cement; crop and animal studies involving science, management and business; all these have been used with abundant results. The only criticism to be offered is that they have been misconceived in purpose. They have been too largely commercialized or too narrowly vocationalized. Such projects are excellent as a method. They are fully worth while in themselves as an educative experience, but they must lead out into larger realms of knowledge and appreciation to be in keeping with the needs of the child. . The variety of problems presented to the child through rural experience, and the fact that he is in intimate experiencing contact with these many types of rural activity, make his out-of-school life especially fruitful. The fundamental relation of all these local problems to the larger social problems gives an unusual line of approach through them to the interests and activities of other men and a broader world outlook. This method is made more feasible because of the fact that the child’s out-of-school experience centers largely around definite play, chores, or work. Although 222 RURAL EDUCATION limited in its range, his life is anything but idle or empty of opportunity for self-directed activity. Household cares, the morning and evening duties, caring for animals, and the larger tasks of the farm come to him as definite, specific assignments or things to do. Such purposes are the organizing element in his daily life. To their accom- plishment his efforts are directed. Being thus accus- tomed to seeing activity as means to ends, he is well prepared to profit by the use of the project idea. . One of the most valuable characteristics of rural life lies ‘In the fact that the environment is not so definitely fixed as to preclude initiative and change. The nature of rural life is such that there is of necessity a large amount of individual responsibility, a large demand for the exercise of judgment, and opportunity to initiate, to vary, and to direct and control means to ends. Itis a situation wherein the constantly changing problems demand resourcefulness. The rural child in his world is accustomed to the very procedure the ‘‘project”’ method contemplates. His out-of-school world is subject in large measure to his own direction and can be used by him in working out the purposes originating in his school life. Practical Implications of the Foregoing Theses for the © Making of Curricula. — The construction and applica- — tion of a curriculum involving the foregoing principles ~ cannot be secured at once. The task is too inclusive, the conception too different from our present formal — course for this. The customs of our institutions and the ~ habits of the teachers trained by them are too fixed and rooted to hope for a transformation either sudden or sweeping. But the conception gives something to work | a — DESIRABLE SCHOOL ACTIVITY 223 toward and several valuable contributions have already been made. A few of the problems that arise in such a process of curriculum-making may now be pointed out. 1. State-Wide Courses of Study Ineffective. In the first place, under this conception, there can never be a state-wide course of study. Certain standard results will be established, as marking acceptable degrees of attainment in the fundamental subjects. There will, no doubt, be certain common elements as in arithmetic, reading, and world geography which all children will need to master. But in the mastery of these when they are mastered in the process of purposeful activity, the same facts may be considered, the same skills may be acquired, and the same knowledge attained, even though the organization of the material and the nature of the particular procedure and experience may be quite different. On the other hand, there will be much that is dif- ferent. Conditions are so varied, local resources, experiences, problems and needs are so diverse, especially _ between country and city, that a course of study made specifically for the one must be a misfit in many respects for the other. This will be clear from even a cursory study of rural and urban needs in hygiene and sanitation, community civics, or recreation. 2. The Curriculum not Static. In the second place, the curriculum is not a static thing to be built for a five or ten year period. In its major objectives it is as constant as the purposes of society. In many of its phases, as, reading, writing, language, spelling, it is fairly stable. But some of its aspects change frequently. If history and geography are regarded as means of giving 224 RURAL EDUCATION insight into present-day problems and skill in meeting these problems, for example, then that part of their content worth considering by any group will depend upon the problems faced by the group. The social heritage is valuable. It is a vast storehouse of expe- rience. It is not, however, to be mastered entirely. It is a storehouse to which we go in case of need. ‘The particular path or approach leading to it will likely change with different classes and from year to year. We are dealing with living beings, not with pieces of wax to — be molded, nor near-vacuums to be filled. So we must obey the law of intelligent living and constantly adjust the course of study to the changing situations and needs of those to be instructed. This situation may be illustrated by reference to the practice of medicine. There was a period in the history of medicine when the same cure was prescribed for many diseases. The patent medicine put up in some central office by a combination of medicinal elements, each having some value in specific situations and prescribed as a cure for a long list of varied ailments, is still a relic of this type of healing. But modern scientific medicine has passed far beyond this practice. It has at its com- © mand multiple resources for restoring and preserving — health. It does not, however, attempt to make any one ~ person take them all. All are good. All are available. The doctor, however, diagnoses each individual case and ~ applies from his varied store just that which is needed to — produce the desired physical change. Just so in the present instance. While we have made much progress in education, we are still too near the ‘patent medicine” stage in curriculum-making. Not content with having DESIRABLE SCHOOL ACTIVITY 225 a vast store of human experience upon which to draw as needs demand, we wish to administer the total dose as a protective against a mental need that might arise. What we must do is to see that our vast store of human expe- rience is readily available, then study the particular individual or community need, and administer education scientifically. A state-wide “dose” is impossible. A “dose” this year may not meet the difficulties for next year. The cure must suit the disease in medicine. The curriculum must suit the need in education. 3. Must not Be Autocratically Prescribed. As a consequence of this a third fact is apparent. A pre- scribed curriculum cannot be constructed in some central office by a single individual or even by a group of indi- viduals removed from the scenes of application. Little, if any, of the present curriculum content has been selected or arranged with specific reference to the needs and problems of individuals or suited to the demands of particular communities. Instead of this a general course of study has been prescribed, suited to no particular place or group, in the apparent belief that what is suited to no one in particular must be suited to all. 4. Manner of Construction. It would be more con- sistent with scientific curriculum building to start the work as aseries of local problems. Each teacher, as each doctor, should be expected to study the experiences, resources and needs of her pupils and community. This educational diagnosis should then determine the task of the teacher and, in part, her procedure. Through this practice certain habits, skills, knowledge, and attitudes will be found necessary. Problems and projects will arise. Means and methods of solving these problems 226 RURAL EDUCATION will be found. The course of study for any community, the mental and social “dose,” would thus become an application of general social resources to the particular needs of the group concerned. In this way each teacher would help to build her own course of study. The products of such experiments in various schools where the curriculum had been constructed in terms of particular needs, might then be analyzed and from these could be evolved a common content based not upon what ancient customs, or textbook writers, ignorant of actual — needs or educational leaders removed from the actual point of application, might decree. It would be a selec- tion of that which had been found useful, interesting, and worth while in a hundred or thousand specific situations. Having been found useful here, the chances are that it would meet a felt need in other situations. By this procedure we would thus finally discover the educational needs that are fairly constant and the social resources most useful to man. We would also discover the difficulties involved and appreciate more fully the necessity for treating each child or community somewhat as an individual case needing diagnosis and special prescription. Demands upon Rural Teachers and Supervisors. — © Such results cannot be attained easily. They will be the — work of experts, enthusiastic teachers, and years of experimental study. But they are worth trying and are | now being tried with promising results. The teacher ; who would contribute to this development must have a — clear grasp of social ends, an insight into community : needs, a command of social resources, and a skill in ~ directing interest and effort so that the essential expe-— ,. 4 DESIRABLE SCHOOL ACTIVITY 227 riences will follow. Where the teacher is not so expert, it is possible, while not cutting entirely loose from the old form of school activity, to attempt certain phases of school subjects upon this basis. Often a teacher is particularly enthusiastic about some special aspect of school work. In this she is likely to have better infor- mation and more insight and ability. Here she might study the community needs and attempt the essential ends by organizing activity around the problems of the children. Having learned the trick and sensed the free- dom and vitality of this type of teaching, she is then eager and capable of attempting it in other fields. To carry this out, however, greater responsibility must be given the teacher. Greater freedom must be given her to work in terms of social ends and the facts and resources at hand. Supervision must be expert and abundant in order that the limitations of the teacher and the bias of the particular situation may not keep her from attaining desired educational results. Requirements in Textbooks and Equipment. — Two other factors, textbooks and equipment, need special attention if our new curriculum is to be realized. In a school of this type the teacher’s ability to suggest vital problems, to stimulate, organize and direct activity, and to provide resources, is at a premium. ‘Theoretically, all that is needed is a vital problem, an interested student, a directing teacher, and abundant resources of information. The time may come when we can dispense with textbooks. But the task is too big, at present, for all except the most expert. It is far beyond those who are teaching our rural schools. The rural teacher needs help. This can be given toa great degree by proper texts. 228 RURAL EDUCATION But in place of the formal encyclopedic type of text, which is practically stuffed with highly organized, abbreviated bits of world knowledge and social principles, we need books containing a series of fundamental prob- lems carefully selected and graded as to age, attractively stated, and followed by suggestions as to method and procedure. Subordinate questions, detailed information, specific references, and any other material that will promote desirable school activity and facilitate eco- nomical progress in achieving ends and developing ability to master similar problems should also be included. In attaining such a program of education, the equip- ment of the school becomes a vital factor. The barren country school of to-day with its formal classroom and _ conventional seats must be replaced by a working labo- ratory where problems will arise naturally in the midst of experience and can be satisfactorily solved. The library, the conference room, and the workshop become the center of educational activities; in such an environ- ment, suggestive problems, partially planned procedures, a directing teacher, skillful supervision and _ helpful resources in the form of books and equipment are all necessary 1n providing a working setting for this type of learning. CHAPTER XI APPLICATION OF THESE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION AND METHOD TO VARIOUS SCHOOL SUBJECTS THE principles and implications of this study must find their application to the specific studies of the cur- riculum, if their effectiveness is to be realized. As a result of several factors in the discussion, one might be justified in advising that we discard our present organiza- tion of school work under separate studies and rebuild the curriculum anew in more functional terms. The attempts of such an outline of school work are full of promise in real educational activity and results.! But while granting the correctness of the principle and the possibilities of its practice, it seems best, for the present at least, in view of the complexity of the rural teaching situation, and the restricted preparation of the average rural teacher, to strive for an improvement of school work under its present organization into various subjects. The influence of old names may offer a serious handicap, it is true, to the introduction of new materials and new procedure. But even so, more progress is likely to come in this way than from the chaos that will almost certainly result in any attempt at total reorganization. The separate subjects can be considered merely as 1 Bonser, F. G. — The Elementary School Curriculum, and Meriam, J. L. — Child Life and the Curriculum. 229 230 ~RURAL EDUCATION convenient centers of organization within the total social heritage. They are guides for the teacher. The child should arrive at them instead of starting with them as fixed and separate types of experience. In considering the separate subjects the major factors of the preceding discussion must be borne in mind. There is, first, the factor of educational objectives. These, we have assumed, are the same for all children in the elementary school wherever found. ‘They need to be determined in greater detail for education as a whole and, for the present, until some other organization becomes feasible, they should be specified carefully for each particular subject. This study has not been detailed and has aimed only to point out some of the major objec- tives which elementary education must aim to secure. © The second factor is that of the conditions of the person to be educated and the environment in which he lives. Educational diagnoses of a far more detailed and scientific sort must be made before the social resources’ can be economically and effectively applied to particular individuals or communities for the purpose of attaining the specific social objectives involved. The diagnosis of rural conditions, resources and needs given in Chapters VI, VII, and VIII, merely suggests some of the items which must be taken into consideration. It offers illustrative suggestions of the work that must be done rather than conclusive evidence of the exact educational problems of the rural school. The third factor is that of child nature. Whatever is done in any particular subject must accord with the nature of child growth. So intimately are subject- matter and method related that if you change your —e APPLICATION OF BASIC PRINCIPLES ~— 231 method, you change the actual content and results as well. The facts on the printed page of a text in history will be the same whatever the method or school proce- dure. But the pupil’s experience, the real content of the page for him, will not be independent of method. Con- sequently attention to the manner in which the material is experienced is as important as the problem of the needs to be met or of the content to be supplied. And this procedure will most nearly meet the demands of child activity when it is organized as projects. Reading. — What suggestions for rural reading follow from the foregoing discussion? How important is reading for rural folk? What type of reading should be done? What suggestions follow for the teaching of reading in the rural elementary school? Reading offers two major contributions. It is a source of information and a means of recreation and enjoyment. If we think of the need for information on the many tasks of farming, the questions of scientific conquest, the events of the day or current civic issues, we find that the rural inhabitant must rely largely upon reading. If we think of the vast social heritage of racial ideals, ambitions, dreams, failures and achievements, which are to us all both a stimulus and a goal, reading is the key that unlocks them. If we think of the knowl- edge that is basic to social intelligence, sympathy and cooperation, we realize that it must be secured mainly from printed sources. The pure enjoyment available in our novels, short stories, poetry and drama is likewise dependent upon reading resources and reading ability. Much there is in rural life to give direct, rather than secondhand, experience. There are many sources of 232 RURAL EDUCATION enjoyment other than reading. But the fullest growth and richest satisfaction can be achieved only by being in constant contact with the scattered activities and past experiences of the world to-day, and these for the countryman must come chiefly through reading. One feature of rural life bears with special influence upon the importance of reading. This is the leisure time of both children and adults during the winter months of cold and inclement weather. The next quotation, evidently guided by a similar conception of the rural teacher’s work, gives her special needs in more detail. This course for rural school teachers should comprehend a first- hand knowledge of country-life conditions, ...sanitation, water supply, the planning and reconstructing of houses, the laying-out of grounds, and labor-saving in the home. It should consider ways and means of taking social situations where they are and elevating them to where they should be. It should train the teacher in the organiza- tion and conduct of meetings, in making and carrying out literary programs, in utilizing music and the motion pictures in the school and home. The machinery of county organizations should be handled and political and civic problems given prominence. There should be courses dealing with farm mathematics and accounting, rural 1 Monahan, A. C. — Training Courses for Rural Teachers. U.S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1913, No..2, p. 9. 2 McKeever, W. A. — Farm Boys and Girls, p. 125. * Mutchler and Craig — Course of Study for the Preparation of Rural School Teachers. U.S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1912, pp. 8-9. 280 RURAL EDUCATION mechanics, the fundamentals of domestic and agricultural chemistry, applied biology, problems of lighting, heating, ... The class of students should be drawn largely from the country.! This focusing of attention upon the local interests, community and vocational needs and local differences in type of mind, social customs, and sources of satisfac- tion, has emphasized the necessity of ruralizing the country teacher’s preparation. From this point of view the newer subjects of agriculture, manual training, and household arts, which to some are the core of the rural- school curriculum, naturally recelve emphasis and at- tention. Rural sociology and rural economics which prepare the teacher to understand and serve the com- munity interests are also emphasized. This preparation for local problems is to be secured, if necessary, at a sacrifice to her more general or “academic” training. The specific subjects are to be ruralized. Farm readers, farm arithmetic, rural literature and rural art, rural recre- ation, rural sanitation, local geography and history are all included in the training provided for the rural teacher. Criticism of These Objectives. — In the light of our analysis of the rural-life situation and the rural teacher’s task, some of these proposals for the preparation of the rural teaching force are obviously shortsighted and narrow. ‘They are expressions of a false conception of the rural elementary school. The rural elementary school teacher is not responsible for “inducing the rural child to stay on the farm,”’ nor for so directing his growth that he will not “desert the farm for the man-made glitter of the city.”’ It is not her task so to teach agri- culture that it will increase the corn crop five bushels 1 Chamberlain, A. H. — N. E. A. Proceedings, 1914, p. 328. PREPARATION OF THE RURAL TEACHER 281 per acre, or ‘‘to instruct them in agriculture so that an improvement is readily seen in the field crops, and flocks and herds, and the home life and the neighborhood.”’ Neither is she to be master of all the many occupational, social, and community problems of the adult. The interests of country life do not determine what should be emphasized in the country school and they do not deter- mine what should be emphasized most in the preparation of the rural teacher. Her task is to make possible for a group of children the fullness of growth which is their birthright and to use local resources, improve local limitations, remove local handicaps, and supply social and child ‘‘needs’”’ in the local situation so that this social heritage may be theirs. Instead of serving the local community merely in its limited economic interests she is serving society as a whole. She is responsible for socializing the children and the adults of the local group, broadening their interests, increasing their opportuni- ties for satisfaction, developing a common culture, and furthering the social interaction and codperation essen- tial to the stability and progress of a democracy. In all this she needs a knowledge of rural conditions and prob- lems, sympathy with rural life, and skill in adjusting herself to the rural type of mind. But the rural-born teacher has much of this. What she needs is a larger knowledge of social life and of its problems and purposes as a basis for evaluating the local situation. To seek this local knowledge at a sacrifice of other essential teaching powers is wrong. Fundamental Objectives. — Professional Knowledge and Skill. In addition to this acquaintance with local conditions the rural teacher needs professional 282 RURAL EDUCATION preparation and skill. The fact that she has to work practically alone without supervision, with meager teaching equipment, and under the extra burden of many grades, makes it important that she have unusual professional skill. On the whole there will be slight differentiation in this aspect of the teacher’s work. Rural children are true to type and behave in keeping with the laws of human nature. These fundamental principles and most of their applications will apply with — equal force to any teacher’s task. Since, however, teaching is an art involving a wise application of these laws to particular situations, as well as a knowledge of general workings, the professional preparation of the rural teacher must fit her to meet specific situations. The training of the rural teacher will vary somewhat therefore from that of other teachers. Wise application of the principles of psychology and of classroom manage- ment to the rural situation must be carefully sought. There is, however, no justification for differentiating courses in education in any large measure unless the de- tatls and devices peculiar to rural education are considered the essentials of the course. Observation and practice teaching should be experienced partly in the graded city school and partly in the strictly rural school. From the former the prospective teacher gains a knowledge of how principles may be applied in a given situation and. in the rural schools she finds different conditions demand- ing other applications. Graded schools possess certain advantages and improvements which make advanced practices possible. These will give her suggestions. To limit her preparation largely to rural experience is to limit her professional knowledge and vision. PREPARATION OF THE RURAL TEACHER 283 Resources and Vision. The second problem for the rural teacher is that of becoming acquainted with the characteristics and conditions of ‘‘the good life.” She needs to know the great wealth of our accumulated social experience by means of which the child is to find | himself, to become attuned to modern social living, and to acquire the power to attain his ends and make his contribution to society. Here is the great need of the rural child and also the great need of the rural teacher. Instead of over-emphasizing the technique of local adjustment, we must face the task of giving prospective teachers this broader outlook, this knowledge of world affairs, this acquaintance with other peoples, other con- ditions, other standards, and other interests. Charged with such a preparation the teacher would be prepared to see these larger possibilities in rural life, to discover the larger rural needs, and to furnish all the vision and stimuli and social progress possible. Foght, who senses this need of rural folk, says that ‘‘a broad measure of academic culture should, therefore, be considered a first essential to all rural teaching success.”’! Miss Carney states that ‘‘a broader outlook is the greatest need of the country teacher’’;? and Coffman concludes that, “The ideally trained country school teacher is she who brings to her pupils both breadth of contact with larger interests, and the sympathetic understanding which comes from intensive study of concrete problems of country life.’’* 1Foght, H. W. — The Rural Teacher and His Work, p. 9. 2 Carney, Mabel — Country Life and the Country School, p. 258. 3’ Coffman, L. D.— Teacher Training Departments in Minnesota High Schools, p. 78. Published by the General Education Board, 61 Broadway, New York. 284 RURAL EDUCATION Curricula Studies.—In order to insure a_ proper preparation both in the ability for local adjustment and in socialized aims and values, the prospective rural teacher must see the regular school studies in a new light. They have been looked upon too long as ends. They must now be seen as means. They have been abstract. They must now be related to life. They need te be psychologized; and it happens that this means in part, in this particular situation, that they need to be rural- ized. Educators, realizing that school studies and ex- periences were rather barren in their relation to life, sent out a command to change them. Impressed with the domination of the city, rural educational leaders blamed the barrenness of the curriculum upon the fact that it was made to suit urban conditions. This idea, at best only partially true, has been productive of many un- desirable results. Spurred on by this belief that the city was foisting its curriculum upon the country, rural leaders began to “ruralize’”’ the school subjects. This has led to the narrow, economic, occupational, and community purposes expressed in Part I. The truth of the matter is that the old curriculum prepares explicitly neither for urban nor for rural needs; it has obvious weaknesses for social needs at large. In many ways, it is arelic of the past. The real task for town and country alike has been and still is to relate the curriculum to the child’s experiences and needs and to the changed demands of life. The rural curriculum should have been reformed in keeping with large human values and the principles of growth, and not in relation to the needs and interests of a particular adult group. A part, but only a part, of PREPARATION OF THE RURAL TEACHER 285 this reformation would have been to relate it more closely to community interests and problems. The far greater part of the task is to make it serve actually as a means for socializing the child, for acquainting him with the larger world, for making its resources available to him, and for fitting him to grow abundantly and serve effectively in it. These rural subjects, then, need to be socialized in the largest meaning of the term rather than simply to be ruralized. They need to be profes- stonalized (and this includes all the ruralizing that is wise in elementary education) in order that the teacher may see them in relation to her task. Early reading will concern itself with local interests. Arithmetic will deal much, but not entirely, with local problems. Geog- raphy, history, sanitation, language will have a local setting. But the teacher’s fundamental task is to see these subjects as means of child growth and as means of leading him out from his local situation into interests that are vastly wider than those of rural life. The newer subjects in the rural school, as agriculture, nature study, manual training, and domestic art, require special attention in the preparation of the rural teacher, because they have not been so much a part of her own school experience. ‘They are less well organized as sub- jects also, and more difficult to handle and to introduce into our present school situation. Yet their substance is a vital and fundamental part of the child’s daily life. They have been neglected both as a medium through which to make real to the child the meaning and value of the tools of living and as a source of problems and experiences worth while in themselves. They have been shown in Chapter XI, however, to be particularly 286 RURAL EDUCATION important as a means of approach to the enlarged ex- perience that the school should give to the child. To attain these better results such subjects must be studied in their larger setting. Agriculture is one of the world’s occupations. Domestic economy is a problem that touches every phase of social life. Manual training is a phase of industrial arts and as such should be merely a part of the study of the world of industries. For children limited courses for immediate efficiency in these fields lose nearly all the values that the subjects contain and care must be exercised to see that they are not voca- tionalized, commercialized, or used as a means either of ruralizing the teachers and in turn, the pupils, or merely of solving local problems and satisfying adult demands. An equally broad interpretation must be given to the subjects of sociology and economics. Rural sociology and rural economics present the facts of rural life condi- tions. These conditions need to be known. They are a factor in rural school progress. In this local form, however, they represent but particular expressions of larger social and economic laws. Any study of local conditions and needs should be merely an aspect of a much larger study making particular applications of fundamental principles and insuring an insight into the problems of society as a whole. Only in this way will the teacher sense the unity of present social groups and be prepared to attack the local problem intelligently and effectively. But beyond and basic to this, the teacher should know the contributions of history, science, literature, music, and art to the larger and more comprehensive life of man. In view of the limited interests among rural PREPARATION OF THE RURAL TEACHER 287 people and the dearth of rural resources it is especially important that the country teacher of rural birth and rearing have every opportunity to profit from the rich resources of these subjects. Their contribution to the growth of the child in interests, in new standards, in larger vision, and in a deeper, broader knowledge is vital. The rural elementary teacher above all other elementary teachers must master this heritage because of her de- pendence upon her own resources. Instead of limiting the curriculum for the preparation of rural teachers to the interests and conscious needs of the rural group, then, we must enlarge it and thus prepare teachers capable of meeting the deficiencies of rural life from the standpoint of child growth and social demands. The interests they do not have; the activities they know little about; the living conditions, problems, and interests of other groups; the progress of other peoples — these are the things to be provided through training. Since our purpose is a generous growth and an enlarged social consciousness for the child and the group, any attempt to pervert the training of rural teachers so as to limit the service they may render is undemocratic, unfair to the child, and unjust to society. Organization for the Preparation of Rural Teachers. — What type of organization can best accomplish the desired preparation of rural teachers? The answers here have varied, partly because of expediency and partly because of a difference in the educational theory. It has been found wise, because of the differences involved, to differentiate kindergarten, primary, intermediate, and grammar grades as specific phases of normal school work. The differences that exist between these special fields 288 RURAL EDUCATION and rural school teachers are greater than the differences between any two of them. A distinct rural school curriculum or department of the normal school is there- fore needed. Some such differentiation in the organiza- tion of teacher-training for the rural situation is now quite common and its value is generally admitted. What should be the specific nature of this differentiation? 1. In Special Schools. At the present time large numbers of rural teachers are prepared in local high schools, and the recent development of professional departments in these schools is noteworthy. In Wis- consin there are county training schools especially instituted to prepare rural teachers in a rural environ- ment. Cubberley advocates these in his proposed re- organization where he says: Under ...the county unit for educational organization and administration, as is outlined in Chapter XIII, the organization of such agricultural and normal-training high schools would become a marked feature of the school system of every agricultural county of any size in area and population.! Concerning the high school training classes he says that they ‘‘supply a temporary rather than a permanent need, and that the line of evolution of the future will involve both the development of combined county nor- mal-training and agricultural high schools.” ? Whatever may be the other reasons for thus seeking a rural environment and atmosphere in which to prepare teachers for rural schools, there appears to be a strong desire to keep them from getting too far from present rural life. To some rural leaders the whole task would 1 Cubberley, E. P. — Rural Life and Education, p. 294. 2 Ibid. — p. 294. PREPARATION OF THE RURAL TEACHER 289 seem solved if they could but indoctrinate the teacher sufficiently with the rural spirit. One writer states this attitude as follows: Our plan for better rural schools includes a demand for better- prepared teachers, educated in rural environments, in sympathy with country life, and with some hope of permanency in their calling... . What the open country needs most of all is a place in which to train our own people for the “leadership” which we must have. It is imperative that we have normal and agricultural schools which will receive the rural students of mature age directly from the rural school and train them for this rural school and community work and leader- ship But these rural teachers are already well informed concerning rural and village life. What they need further is opportunity to acquire a broader knowledge and culture as a perspective for interpreting the rural situation with which they are familiar. There may be some reason for subjecting students-in-training of urban birth to this rural atmosphere which is so earnestly sought for the rural teacher. But there is no justifica- tion for dooming country children to rural-born teachers who have been limited at every step of their preparation to no more than rural experience. Although this movement for the special training of rural teachers in a rural en- vironment finds some justification from the argument of expediency, therefore, it should not be used as a univer- sal practice. The establishment of permanent separate normal schools for rural teachers only would also be socially destructive and harmful to the rural group. This policy might serve to return a larger number of teachers to the rural schools by limiting their vision and opportunity, but it would result in a type of inbreeding 1 Campbell, W. H. — N. H. A. Proceedings, 1917, pp. 601-2. 290 RURAL EDUCATION that would widen the present professional chasm be- tween rural and urban teachers, and still further restrict the opportunities of rural children. 2. In Regular Normal Schools. Where rural educa- tion has gained a foothold within existing normal schools, two types of organization are found. First, there is the organization which emphasizes differences and, in order to develop group loyalty and rural enthusi- asm, attempts a rather independent group life. Special courses in literature, manual training, science, art, music, school management, and methods are instituted. The rural field is kept in view at every turn and everything is given a local application. The group favoring this policy see but little in common between the preparation of rural teachers and the preparation of teachers for other schools. They emphasize superficial differences more than basic resemblances. On the other hand, there are those who realize that rural teaching has vastly more elements in common with other fields of teaching than it has elements of difference. Burnham would develop the work for rural teachers in normal schools as follows: The work of a department of rural education, and where special courses are given in other departments, is to grow the new work into the organic, central life of the normal school and not to develop a side-show. The saner the work of differentiation, the less con- spicuous and the more influential the rural group tends to become, both within and without the normal school.... For safeguarding institutional unity and the higher loyalty of school over department it will certainly be well to obliterate to a large degree differentiation in literary, social, and religious activities, and to make only plainly justifiable differences in classes.1 1 Burnham, Ernest — Rural-Teacher Preparation in State Normal Schools. U. 8. Bureau of Education, Bulletin 1918, No. 27, p. 39. 4 PREPARATION OF THE RURAL TEACHER 291 Rural life is thought of by Burnham and other mem- bers of this group as merely one aspect of a complex whole, not as something unique and different. The rural teacher is made to feel that she is a part of the teaching profession. Her problems are problems com- mon to other teachers. She has the task of making the local application just as all teachers have. The unity of the teaching profession, the unity of the task of educa- tion, the similarity of child needs, the comm6n purposes in education whether for child or adult, are stressed by this second group. The conception of the individual and social “needs” of rural life, the work of the rural elementary school, and the task of the teacher presented in this study indicate that her preparation can be accomplished best in a standard normal school with a rural department not too sharply differentiated. Here she will meet and know people from different walks of life. Here she can associate professionally with those who are going into other fields of teaching. Here she will have opportunity to choose another field if rural teaching is found in compatible with her interests and activities, and to be- come familiar both with the vast resources of modern civilization and its many lines of growth and satisfac- tion. Here she can be prepared to give the best of pro- fessional service in terms of teaching, to create interests, to stimulate activity, and to develop in the rural child and adult a larger social knowledge and a dynamic and fruitful social membership. In addition to the foregoing it may be stated further that the service of the teacher to rural adults demands this broader training and experience to counteract exist- 292 RURAL EDUCATION ing rural isolation and class consciousness. Rural and urban dwellers are already separated too much by their evident differences in manner and customs and the teacher must be one to bring about the spirit of co- operation and mutual respect which is so sorely needed between country and town. She must interpret the one to the other and thereby further social integration and progress. She must be the carrier of her standards, new ideals, and new interests. These, however, can be ~ secured only by contact during the period of the teacher’s preparation. It will certainly not help the situation greatly to take students of rural birth, give them a rural training in a rural setting, and then send them back to lead farmers along the paths of their present restricted interests. Prepare such prospective teachers rather, by an experience with many groups, with varied interests, and by a large acquaintance with modern social problems and tendencies, then let them return and help rural folk into a larger social membership where they will develop more vital interests, newer standards and _ broader appreciations. The teacher’s leadership will then be profitable to the rural group and to society as a whole. The professional status of the rural teacher will also be improved by this more general association. Rural] education itself will benefit. There is already a strong tendency toward class-consciousness among the rural- teacher group. They reflect the attitude of the farmer among urban people. All this is most unfortunate. We must see all teaching work as one. Rural children are normal children. The large aims of rural education are identical with the large aims of urban education. The unity of educational effort must be built up in the minds PREPARATION OF THE RURAL TEACHER 293 of all teachers by a common attack upon the problems of education. Normal schools cannot afford to further the class differentiation between town and country by allowing it to appear in the teaching ranks. Above all, such an opportunity and training as is furnished by first class normal schools and teachers’ colleges is the right and need of the rural child. With a sympathy, understanding, and loyalty resulting from rural birth or experience, with a professional preparation second to none, and with that superior command of the social heritage which the rural field demands, this new type of rural teacher will be prepared to provide most fully for the growth of the rural child and to realize for him a broader and more vital social membership and a more abundant social service. BIBLIOGRAPHY ALLEMAN, L. J.—Important Features in Rural School Improvement. United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 25. Arp, J. B.—Rural Education and the Consolidated School. World Book Company, Yonkers, New York, 1918. Bacirey, W. C.—Educational Values. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1911. Baitey, L. H.—The Training of Farmers. The Century Company, New York, 1909. Batpwin, J. M.—The Individual and Society. Gorham Press, Bos- ton, 1911. Benson, O. H.—Organization and Instruction of Boys Corn Club Work. Bureau of Plant Industry, Publication No. 803. Betts, G. H.—New Ideals in Rural Schools. Houghton Mifflin Com- pany, Boston, 1913. Berts, G. H. and Hatu, O. E.—Better Rural Schools. Bobbs-Mer- rill Company, Indianapolis, 1914. Bonssr, F. G.—The Elementary School Curriculum. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1920. Burcsss, E. W.—The Function of Socialization in Social Evolution. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1916. BuRNHAM, Ernest—Rural Teacher Preparation in State Normal Schools. United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1918, No. 27. BUTTERFIELD, Kenyon L.—Presidential Address. National County Life Conference. Survey, February 9, 1919. BUTTERFIELD, Kenyon L.—Chapters in Rural Progress. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. BUTTERFIELD, KENYON L.—The Country Church and the Rural Prob- lem. University of Chicago Press, 1911. BUTTERFIELD, Kenyon L.—The Farmer and the New Day. The Mac- millan Company, New York, 1919. CampBELL, W. H.—The Rural People and Rural Education. National Education Association Proceedings, 1917. Carney, Maspet—Country Life and the Country School. Row, Peter- son and Company, Chicago, 1912. Carver, T. N.—Principles of Rural Economics. Ginn and Company, Boston, 1911. 295 296 BIBLIOGRAPHY CaTTELL, JAMES McKren—A Statistical Study of American Men of Science. Science, New Series, Vol. 24. CHAMBERLAIN, A. H.—Vital Issues in the Study of Rural Life Condi- tions. National Education Association Proceedings, 1914. CLAGHORN, Kate Houurpay—Jwenile Delinquency in Rural New York. United States Department of Labor. Children’s Bureau, Publication No. 32. Cropper, Epwarp N.—Rural Child Welfare. The Macmillan Com- pany, 1922. CiLopreR, Epwarp N.—Farm Work and Schools in Kentucky. Pam- phlet 274, National Child Labor Committee, 105 East 22d Street, New York City. ; Crow, F. R.—Principles of Sociology with Educational Applications. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1920. Cooter, C. H.—Human Nature and the Social Order. Charles Scrib- ner’s Sons, New York, 1902. CUBBERLEY, E. P.—State and County Educational Reorganization. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1914. CuBBERLEY, E. P.—The Improvement of Rural Schools. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1912. CuBBERLEY, E. P.—Rural Life and Education. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1914. Drewry, Evetyn—New Schools for Old. E. P. Dutton and Com- pany, New York, 1919. Dewey, JoHn—Democracy and Education. The Macmillan Com- pany, New York, 1916. Dewey, Joun and Turts, J. H.—Hthics. Henry Holt and Com- pany, New York, 1908. EGcGLeston, J. D. and Brubre, R. W.—The Work of the Rural School. Harper Brothers, New York, 1918. Exiwoop, C. A.—Sociology in its Psychological Aspects. D. Apple- ton and Company, New York, 1912. Focut, Harotp W.—The Efficiency and Preparation of Rural School Teachers. United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 49. Focut, Harotp W.—The American Rural School. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1910. Focut, Harotp W.—The Rural Teacher and His Work. The Mac- millan Company, 1920. Ga.pin, C. J.—Rural Life. The Century Company, New York, 1918. GILLETTE, Joun M.—Constructive Rural Sociology. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1915. BIBLIOGRAPHY 297 Grove, Ernest R.—Rural Problems of To-day. Association Press, 124 East 28th Street, New York City, 1918. Hoimes, R. H.—Influence of the Industrial and Social Evolution upon the Agricultural Industry of America. American Journal of So- ciology, May, 1919. Hosic, J. F.—The Elementary Course in English. University of Chicago Press, 1919. Kern, O. J.—Among Country Schools. Ginn and Company, Boston, 1906. Kinpatrick, W. H.—The Project Method. Teachers College, Colum- bia University, New York, 1918. Kine, Irnvine—The Social Aspects of Education. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1912. Krrxpatrick, M. G.—The Rural School from Within. J. B. Lippin- cott Company, Philadelphia, 1917. MacCuintock, P. L.—Literature in the Elementary School. Uni- versity of Chicago Press, 1920. MacDovuaat, Jonn—Rural Life in Canada. The Westminster Com- pany, Toronto, Ontario, 1913. MacGarr, K. L.—A Study of the Rural Community. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1921. McKeever, W. A.—Farm Boys and Girls. The Macmillan Com- pany, New York, 1912. Manual of Educational Legislation. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 4. Monauan, A. C.—Educational Advantages of Consolidation. United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 30. Monanan, A. C.—Status of Rural Education in United States. Bu- reau of Education Bulletin, 1913, No. 8. Monanan, A. C.—T raining Course for Rural Teachers. United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1913, No. 2. MoutcHier and Craic—Course of Study for the Preparation of Rural School Teachers. United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1912, No. 1. PAULSEN, FrrepRiIckK—A System of Ethics. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1899. PuiunKert, Horace—The Rural Life Problem of the United States. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1910. Report No. 103—The Social and Labor Needs of Farm Women. De- partment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Report No. 105—Hducational Needs of Farm Women. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 298 BIBLIOGRAPHY Report No. 105—Economic Needs of Farm Women. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Report of the Commission on Country Life. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1910. SuzzaLo, HENRY—The Teaching of Primary Arithmetic. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1912. Tate, W. K.—The New Country School. Published by the Youth’s Companion, Boston, Mass., 1913. The Grange Monthly. November, 1919. Published at Springfield, Mass. THORNDIKE, EK. L.—Education for Initiative and Originality. Teach- ers College Record, Vol. XVII, November, 1916. THORNDIKE, E. L.—Kducational Psychology. Bureau of Publications, — Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, 1914. Topp, A. J— Theories of Social Progress. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1918. Voet, Paut L.—Introduction to Rural Sociology. D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1917. Warp, Lester F.—Applied Sociology. Ginn and Company, Boston, 1906. WakREN, G. F.—Farm Management. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1913. WILson, WARREN H.—The Evolution of the Country Commumty. The Pilgrim Press, Boston, 1912. WoopwortH, R. S.—Dynamic Pyschology. Columbia University Press, New York, 1918. Woorter, T. J.—Teaching in Rural Schools. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1917. INDEX Activity, as an end, 73-5; as a’ | Child, needs of, 41; and function basic principle in school work, 215, 219-20; opportunities for in rural school, 220-2 Adjustment, of individual, 79, 95; not: unnatural, 96; difficult, 98; as school responsibility, 197 Agriculture, social value of, 146; social status of, 147, 149, 150; possibilities in, 157 ff., 162 ff., 164 ff., 166 ff.; lacks in, 166-74; in rural elementary school, 251 ff.; 285-6. Aim. See Education, purpose of Arithmetic, evaluation of content in school, 237-42; and socializ- ing child, 289-42 Arp, J. B., 38, 41 Art, need for in rural life, 254-5; opportunities for, 255-6 Bagley, W. C., 27, 61 Bailey, L. H., 9, 23, 36, 43, 168 Benson, O. H., 122 Betts, G. H., 6, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, - 26, 35, 36, 40 Bobbitt, F., 243 Bonser, F. G., 229 Bourland, A. P., 10, 19 Bruére,; R: W.., 5, 11, 31, 33 Burgess, E. W., 78 Burnham, Ernest, 290 Butterfield, K. L., 23, 36, 38, 121, 126, 129, 144, 146, 150, 154, 163, 172, 174 Carney, Mabel, 22, 30, 42, 283 Carver, T,N.;' 143; 147, 150, 153, 160, 162, 172 Cattell, J. McKeen, 151 Chamberlain, A. H., 280 of school, 44; and government service, 121; status of in rural life, 133; opportunities for in rural life, 177, 202 ff.; essential conditions of growth, 181; limi- tation of rural child, 181-93; importance in education, 205, 210, 214, 230-1 Citizenship, as» an objective of education, 37, 211 Civics, value of to rural child, 250-1 Claghorn,' Kate H., 187 Clapper, E.'N., 134 Clubs, agricultural, 17-18, 34, 122; opportunities for, 221 Coffman, L. D., 46, 283 Community, local, 38, 48; organiza- tion of, 50-5; importance of in rural life, 172; scope of, 264-5; nature of local, 265-8 Community, School and, 38, 48; evaluation of proposals, 261-3; desirable relationship, 263-4 Conservatism, 193 Consolidation, 50 Cook, Katherine M., 13 Cooley, C. H., 97 Coéperation and social progress, 90 Creative thinking, 105 Creelman, G. C., 34 Cubberley, E. P., 12, 30, 34, 41, 260 Culter, H. M., 22 Curriculum, 7-8, 16-17, 33; in zela- tion to environment, 201; rural- wed, 212; selection of, 216; organization of, 218-20, 229, 245-8; construction of, 222-6; for preparation of rural teachers, 284-9 299 300 Democracy among rural folk, 129, 161-2; in home, 131-5 Dewey, Evelyn, 6, 19, 39, 49 Dewey, John, 60, 61, 66, 70, 74, 78, 80, 84, 87, 97, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105, 158, 178, 179, 198, 200, 217 Driver, Lee L., 5 Drudgery, common responsibility for, 104 Education, purpose of elementary, 4, 5, 8, 18, 21, 24, 29, 30, 38, 44, 48, 190, 200, 205; in general, 73, 197-200; status of in rural life, 137; purpose of evaluated, 208-14; nature of, 198-99, 203; as growth, 203-5; and environ- ment, 200; problems of rural elementary, 206, 208-214 Eggleston, J. D. See Bruére Ellwood, C. A., 96 Environment, influence on indi- vidual, 79-81; demands upon, 76 ff.; limitation of rural, 180; influence upon rural education, 200 ff. Equipment, importance of, 227 Evans, L. B., 8 Farmer, authority in family life, 131; as family banker, 132; social status, 147, 149, 150; education of, 154; in relation to his work, 167; scope of interests, 169 ff. Foght, H. W., 7, 16, 17, 20, 34, 37, 40, 48, 50, 51, 275, 283 Freedom, of individual to select ends, 81, 163; for self-direction, 82, 157; to vary, 105; evaluation of in rural life, 176ff., 191; characteristics of desirable free- dom, 178-80 Galpin, C. H., 53, 54, 116, 118, 121, 131, 133, 143, 184, 185, 264 INDEX Geography, value of to rural child, 249-50 Giddings, F. H., 76, 77, 84 Gillette, J. M., 9, 121, 125, 131, 140, 141, 150, 154, 159, 180, 190 Government, national, in relation to farmers, 118; to women, 118-21; to children, 121-3 Growth, conditions of, 76-85; must continue, 83, 107; possibilities in agriculture, 159 ff., 162 ff., 164; for children, 181-94 Hall, O. E. See Betts Hays, W. M., 11, 12 Health, rural, 117; status of, 135, 243-4; progress in, 137 History, value of to rural child, 248-9 Holmes, R. H., 25, 46, 52 Home making, in rural elementary schools, 251 Hosie, J. F., 235 Hurd, W. D., 35 Hyatt, E., 49, 275 Hygiene, nature of in rural schools, 242-5 Independence, of rural folk in plan- ning, 158; social, 159 Individual, nature of, 60 ff., 96-7, 175; conditions of growth, 76 ff., 90; freedom to select ends, 81; as a product of society, 78-81, 98, 179-80, 192; status of in society, 88, 90, 93; demands of society upon, 95-101; conditions of cortributions to society, 101-8; relation to social demands, 109- 111; as an end, 93, 105, 123 Integration, social, 173; through social contacts, 183, 185; through school work, 218 Interests, conditioned by, 68-73, 81; how determined, 90; varied, 102-3, 162-3, 186; of farmer, 169-72 INDEX Isolation, and group progress, 78, 155; and health, 137, 244; and child development, 182; and importance of reading, 232 Joyner, J. Y., 40, 50, 278 Kern, O. J., 12, 17, 36 Kilpatrick, W. H., 72, 220 Kirkpatrick, M. G., 52 Lacks, in farm life, 166-74 Lamon, H. A., 122 Lathrop, Julia, 187 Law, C., 37 Leadership, rural folk fail in, 149, 150; developing, 153, 154; needs of, 193 Learning, conditions of, 217 Leisure, provision for in agriculture, 166; and reading in rural life, 232 MacClintock, P. L., 235 MacDougal, John, 7 / McKeever, W. A., 17, 28, 275, 279 Mental defect in rural life, 138 Method, nature of educational, 215 ff.; arguments for, 218; op- portunity for project in rural schools, 220, 245-8 Monahan, A. P., 138, 279 Monroe, W. A., 239, 241 Morality, rural, 139 Music, need for in rural life, 254—5 Needs, rural, 14-16; of local com- munity, 39; of child, 41, 205; child vs. adult, 212; rural social needs, 117 Objectives, need of specific, 219-20; in hygiene, 243; in preparation of rural teachers, 278-84 Occupation, conditions essential for growth, 157 Organization, school, 6, 50, 257 ff.; of state system, 12, 260; of com- 301 munity, 50, 52; independent of city, 143; uniting town and country, 148, 258; complexity of social, 198; of school work, 215 ff., 220-2, 245-8, 254; of teacher training, 287-93 Page, Walter H., 5 Paulsen, Friedrick, 61, 66 Plunkett, H. L., 130 Progress, conditions suitable for in- dividual, 76; as a characteristic of society, 88-9; and cooperation, 90; conditions of social progress, 90-2, 105-9; school and, 197 Purposes, significance of individual, 60 ff., 66-7; nature of, 63-4; conditioned by, 68-75; attain- ment of, 84; relation to school work, 216-20 Rapp, E. M., 7 Reading, importance of in rural life, 231-3; selection of in rural life, 233-5; and school work, 235-7 Recreation, 182 Resources, using rural, 21, 202 ff., 212, 285-6; limitations of, 24-7 Retention of youth in country, 5 ff.; adults, 29 ff., 208 Rural folk, characteristics of, 125-7, 139-41, 158-62, 167-74, 181-4; standards and practices, 127-42, 186; social relations, 128, 130; industriousness, 140; economy, 140; attitude toward urban life, 125; as contributions to social welfare, 146 ff.; relative superi- ority of, 148-152 Rural leaders and rural: problems, 123-4; child labor, 133 Rural life, organization of com- munity, 50, 52; independent of city, 148, 153; uniting town and country, 143; educational ad- vantages of, 148-52, 220-1; free- 302 dom of, 176; limitations of for child growth, 181-93 - Ruralist, 143, 153 - School, function of, 4, 5, 8, 18, 21, 24, 29, 30, 37, 38, 44, 48; ad- vantages of rural, 220 School and PM SE See Com- munity School, STi atan of. See eee ization Self-discovery, 81, 101, 102, 186; self-direction, 82, 92, 157; sclf- expression, 81, 163 Sledd, Andrew, 20, 40 Slosson, E. E., 253 Smith, Payson, 24 Social adjustment. ment Social contacts and growth, 76, 78, 179-80; basis for rural and national! welfare, 145, 155; numerous, 181; varied, 183 Social life, limited in country, 182-5, 187 Social membership, opportunities for in agriculture, 165; in rural community life, 202; through arithmetic, 239-42; art, 256 Social relations, urban and rural, 115-118, 125-7, 155; among rural folk, 128, 161-2, 172; de- veloping, 159; within the family, 130-5, 159-61; ignored by farmer, 168 Society, and individual (see Indi- vidual); purpose of, 88; char- acteristics of, 88 Stone, Julia M. See Culter Subject matter, nature of, 216 Subjects, school, and child growth, 218-20; as a guide to teacher, 229-31; grouping of in primary grades, 245-8; and preparation of rural teachers, 284-7 | Suzzalo, H. ‘Tate, 1 W. K See Adyjust- individual as a, r hae = ie INDEX a had culty mm Supervisors, ' and nena hit con- struction, 226-7 ¢ , 240 20 Teachers, sélection. of, 16-17: task of, 42, 271-4, 275-7, and curricu- lum construction, 226; nature of preparation, 271-4: proposed standards for preparation -and selection of, 274-80, 281-4; eval- uation of objectives, 280-1 Textbooks, requirements of, :227 Thorndike, E. L., 62, 63, 64, 67, 72, 78, 81, 96, 155, 180 | Todd, A. J., 77, 98, 106, 145 Urban attitude toward rural life, ' 116-18, 146-7; need for improv- ing, 153 Values, nature of individual, 63-73, 92, 96-7; nature of social, 88-91; source of social value, 92 Variation, 105-6, freedom to vary, 191 Vocation, Orehiraiion for in ele- mentary school, 8, 209, 268, 270; significance of choice, 188; op- portunity for choice, 189; adult efficiency in, 30ff. See Agricul- ture Vogt, Paul L., 42, 129, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 158 Ward, L. F., 151 Warren, G. T., 130, 158, 161, 162, 163 Waters, J. H., 24, 31 Wilkinson, W. A., 18 Wilson, R. H., 10, 14 Wilson, Warren H., 7, 182, 139, 259 Women, government service to, 118-21; status of in rural life, 130, 160-1, 169 Woodworth, R. S., 64, 67, 70, 82, 97 ~ A ‘THe ous 1 ay re We ate PU } Hes a i e ° > a=) Ss —— wn = a = oO © = Be a nt =) — Tc av 6 = = ce Ww) co fea) ~ Oo wy) — faa) otal Speer Libr Theological Seminary Princeton 64 000 z Waa if} | i | Hi ail til aT