Pass ! -5bl Book £t GojjyrightN COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. r. 7' 13 F3* THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL •The' -s9 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO ATLANTA ■ SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL ITS CHARACTERISTICS, ITS FUTURE AND ITS PROBLEMS BY HAROLD WALDSTEIN FOGHT, A.M. PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, MIDLAND COLLEGE Nefo got* THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1910 All rights reserved V Copyright, 1910, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1910. Norton otr Jtoss J. 8. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., IT .8. A. ©01. A 26 17 02 Co THE THOUSANDS OF CONSCIENTIOUS HARD-WORKING TEACHERS WHO ARE CONSECRATING THEIR LIVES TO LABOR IN RURAL COMMUNITIES THE HOME OF THE NORMAL AMERICAN LIFE DEVOTING THEIR BEST ENERGIES TO PREPARE OUR TWELVE MILLION COUNTRY BOYS AND GIRLS FOR USEFUL CITIZENSHIP THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR PREFACE This book is intended for rural school teachers, superin- tendents, and schoolboard members ; for teachers' reading circles, normal school training classes, and all the public at large who are interested in the profound movement to make our American rural life richer and its labor more effective by means of schools adapted to the changing needs of rural society and the demands of modern life. So far as the public school is concerned the term move- ment is here used advisedly. It is not used in the destruc- tive sense. It does not seek out a new base for school conduct, nor does it run counter to established laws of life and growth. On the contrary, it is constructive in its use. It aims at fundamental harmony by facing the rural school away from the many artificial interests which have hampered the usefulness of this institution in the past. Indeed, the new movement strives to place the school where the school inherently belongs — in the midst of natural interests where it can prepare the youth for sane, wholesome lives on the farm — the only normal American life of our day. Vlll PREFACE Broadly speaking, no other subject is now engaging so much public attention as is the movement to organize rural life. With his usual clearness of vision, President Roosevelt sizes it up in these words: " With the single exception of the conservation of our natural resources, which underlies the problem of our rural life, there is no other material question of greater importance now before the American people." Our National Executive some time ago appointed a commission of experts on rural life to investigate and report its needs, with recommendations for improvement. This commission has just made a voluminous report which sets living and achieving in rural communities in their right relation to our national life. While sensible and suggestive rather than drastic and revolutionary, the report is so thoroughgoing in its questionings that we may indeed look to see " the benefits of organization, of cooperation, of quick travel, of swift communication, all the machinery to prevent waste of time and effort," which are even now part and parcel of urban life, applied to the entire length and breadth of rural life. The social philosophers have outlined for us our task. They have indicated needed reforms and suggested rem- edies. They may even induce government to furnish the material means of reform. But it is the rural teachers, after all, who must bear the brunt of the change. The real reform must begin with the hearts and minds and hands of the rural youth. To make them receptive to the con- PREFACE IX templated changes, to fit them to make use of the material means placed at their disposal, to inspire them with a genuine love for the soil and all that goes with it — these, and many similar problems, are, and must largely remain, the teachers' work. It is the author's conviction that teachers should be more conversant with rural school history and know more about the educational problems now looking toward solution. If they were generally familiar with the educational activ- ities and impulses manifesting themselves in other rural communities, teachers could cooperate to better advantage and accomplish better results. The same is true of all others whose interests lie in the schools. If superin- tendents had a stronger grasp on the many perplexing problems come from supervision of schools; if school boards realized as they should the surpassing importance of their duties in the administration of school affairs; if the general laity could but half know the dire conse- quences of parsimony and closefistedness in school support, — if all these were so, many of the stumbling blocks in the way of rapid improvement would be cleared away. This book was penned in the hope that earnest teachers and school officers might find in it some help in solving the questions set forth above. It is not a treatise on school methods nor yet on school management. It partakes more of the nature of an educational history, setting forth what has already been accomplished, indicating what is X PREFACE yet to be done. It points out shortcomings in prevailing systems and suggests, wherever possible, remedies which can be applied profitably. The author realizes that he is not the pioneer in this field. Others have been here before him. He has made free use of the experience and conclusions of all such, adding his own mite when and where he could. The book shall not have been in vain if he succeed in some small measure in shedding light on this greatest of twen- tieth-century problems. H. W. F. Atchison, Kansas, July, 1909. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE Introduction: The Problem Stated i Pathetic story of the rural school — All rural schools not bad ; all rural teachers not inefficient — Causes of these conditions — Disintegration of rural population — Changes in industrial life — The city a positive menace to country life — "The city and country express the equation of life" — The United States pre- eminently agricultural — The twentieth-century problem — The ideal twentieth- century school — The complete country life — Rural schools must be better organized and have better admin- istration — More money must be spent to provide and maintain the schools — Instruction must become professional — Super- vision must be more efficient — A twentieth-century school plant demanded — School exteriors — School interiors — Practical courses of study — Consolidation of schools a panacea for existing ills. CHAPTER II Organization and Administration 24 General statement — School district organization — Objec- tions to the district unit — Great spread of the district system — Change from district to township system of organization — Township organization — Respects in which the township system is superior to the district system — County organization — Nec- essary reforms in the county system — The community system — The board of education; its function — Work of the board depends upon the size of geographical unit — Difficulty in pro- curing " good " board members — Board members might be trained — What an active board can accomplish. Xll ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS CHAPTER III PAGE Rural School Maintenance 39 Rural school maintenance ; general statement — Colonial support of public schools — Creation of a permanent school fund — Permanent school funds inadequate — The state a logical taxing unit — State taxation not on the increase — County^ and township taxation — Conclusion drawn. CHAPTER IV Rural School Supervision 50 General statement ; the business side — City supervision vs. rural supervision — Origin of school boards and school superin- tendents — The question of supervision unit — Township and district superintendents in New England — In Massachusetts — In Connecticut — Frank O. Jones on the Connecticut and Massa- chusetts systems — In other New England states — The county superintendency — County supervision as it often is — Proposed remedies — What some states are accomplishing for better county supervision — The superintendent must be removed from party politics — How elected in New Jersey and Pennsylvania — Ringing words from North Carolina — The Minnesota Edu- cational Association's plan — The Kansas plan of 1908 — Present conditions ; a lack of qualifications of superintendents — A sum- mary of what is being done for rural supervision. CHAPTER V The Rural School Teacher — his Training .... 69 The perplexing teaching problem — " Born " teachers and " made " teachers — The high calling of the teacher — Academic training — Professional training — Rural teachers must make the school an expression of life on the farm — Aids to teachers already in rural schools — Summer schools — Teachers' institutes — The Nebraska Junior Normal — State Superintendent J. B. Aswell on institutes and summer schools — Teachers' meetings — Reading circles — State normal schools and rural teachers — The N. E. A. Normal School Report, page 29 — Rural model schools in state normals — Agriculture in state normals — A ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS Xlll PAGE summary of what the state normals are doing for agricultural teaching — County training schools in Wisconsin — State Super- intendent C. P. Cary on the Wisconsin training school — County normal training classes in Michigan — Training classes in New York high schools — Other states which maintain high school training classes. CHAPTER VI Salaries and Tenure of Rural Teachers 92 General statement — Compensation of European and Ameri- can teachers compared — Conclusion drawn — Reasons for better salaries in Europe — Salaries of teachers and other work- ers in various parts of the country — How the rural teachers make ends meet — Education bill vs. drink and smoke bill — Low rural taxation — Superintendent O. J. Kern on rural school maintenance — The law of salary regulation — The threatened "feminization" of the schools — Teaching must become a pro- fession — The teacher's social recognition; what it depends on — Enlighten the public — Enact minimum salary laws — A long tenure for rural teachers. CHAPTER VII Rural School Buildings: Architecture and Sanitation . 116 Spiritualization of rural life — The rural schoolhouse of song and story — State law to prescribe rules for site — Arrangement of floor space — Library, rest room, and cloak rooms — Basement ; its uses — Proper heating and ventilation — Construction of the ventilating stove — Correct lighting — Blackboards and chalk rails — New sanitary appliances — Outhouses made decent — The pressure tank and sanitary plumbing — Schoolhouse con- struction must combine utility with adornment. CHAPTER VIII Indoor Furnishing and Art 134 The old school vs. the new — The rural school must again become the rallying point of country interests — Superintendent L. B. Evans on the importance of aesthetic environment — XIV ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS PAGE Walls and woodwork — Furniture — Necessary equipment — Superintendent O. J. Kern on throwing away good coin of the realm — Choice of pictures ; things to be considered — Every picture selected should have educative value — Plaster casts — The School Improvement League of Maine — What can the individual teacher do ? — What the plucky teacher can accom- plish — Art programmes and basket suppers — Programmes of similar nature — What the county superintendent can do for art in rural schools. CHAPTER IX Nature Study and School Grounds 154 Our school work too formal and bookish — Nature study defined — How nature study is valuable to the rural child — Economic — Esthetic — Social and Ethical — Religious — Edu- cational — Syllabus of nature study — Ideal school grounds — Preparing the soil — Planning and Platting — Walks and drives — Playgrounds — Planting — Hedges — Trees — Shrubbery — Vines — Flowers — Birds and bird houses — Toads and toad hatcheries — A campaign of education — Arbor Day an appro- priate time for planting — President Roosevelt's letter to the American school children — Books dealing with nature study and school grounds. CHAPTER X School Gardens 179 Early school gardens — The German states — Austria — Sweden — France — Russia — Other European countries — The British Empire — Purposes of European school gardens — Euro- pean emigrant farmers in competition with native farmers — History of school gardens in the United States — Practical value of city school gardening — Rural school gardens — Two diffi- culties which must be met — Training teachers in elementary agriculture — Steps preparatory to making the garden — Bowes- ville, Ontario, school gardens — Experimental plots and indi- vidual plots — School gardens during vacation — How to arrange the garden — Books dealing with school gardens. ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS XV CHAPTER XI PAGE Elementary Agriculture and Industrial Clubs . . . 205 Agriculture the dominant interest in the rural community — Objections to agricultural trend not insuperable — Elementary agriculture in European schools — France — Belgium and Hol- land — Denmark — Other countries — The British Empire — The United States — Rapid spread of movement North and South — Interest of the agricultural colleges in the movement — What may reasonably be expected of the one-room school — Some objections answered — What is actually accomplished in the one-room school — Example of Susie Miller — District No. 29, Pawnee county, Nebraska — Working aids; books, bul- letins, etc. — Origin of boys' and girls' industrial clubs — Influence of such organizations upon education — General plan of boys' corn clubs illustrated in the Hamilton county, Indiana, club — Object — Meetings — " Corn boys" in scoring contests — " Corn boy " vs. farmer — Good seed corn — Excursions to Purdue University — Teaching the fathers scientific farming — Statewide boys' and girls' associations in Nebraska — State Superintendent E. C. Bishop on object of the associations — Annual industrial contest for Minnesota boys and girls — This chapter addressed to teachers of one-room schools — Books dealing with elementary agriculture and industrial clubs. CHAPTER XII Manual Training in One-room Schools 236 Manual training defined — Its early history — Manual train- ing in the United States — Growth of manual training ideas — Philosophy of manual training — Aims of manual training in rural communities — Combination of art and manual training — N. E. A. Committee on industrial education — The one-room school and manual training — The great mistake of waiting for consolidation — Case of District No. 4, Monroe township, Howard county, Indiana — Results from such informal work — How to begin — How to win; a case to the point — In con- clusion — A selected list of books, etc., dealing with manual training. XVI ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS CHAPTER XIII PAGE The Library and Rural Communities 254 General statement ; intimate relation of school to reading — The true teacher sees education in its entirety — Text-books mere compendiums of facts and general notions — What the library will do for the child — Early history of the library — " School libraries " — Library advantages at the disposal of the city child — The library and the rural child — Rural school libraries — What some states are accomplishing — States work- ing under conditional library laws — States having no library provisions — Library Day in West Virginia — The Winnebago county twentieth-century forward library movement — First Young People's Reading Circle — The place of the traveling library — Objects — To furnish good literature — To strengthen small libraries — Rapid spread of the traveling library — Progress by states, gleaned from reports of 1907 — Rural teach- ers should understand library economy — A summary — First one hundred books for the children's library. CHAPTER XIV Hygiene and Physical Education 282 Modern conception of education emphasizes care of human body — Twofold emphasis on modern ^physical education — De- fectives and low standards of work — Boston school nurses — Relation of general intelligence to physical education — The teacher's responsibility for his pupils' physical and mental health — The teacher's place in the struggle against disease — How disease germs are transmitted — Drinking cups, pencils, books, etc. — Rural teachers their own medical inspectors — The four agencies of physical education — Function of play — Gymnastics — Gymnastics in every rural school — Gymnastics in European rural schools — Physical education and morals. CHAPTER XV Consolidation of Schools 302 General statement — Aim of our free schools : " Equal rights to all " — What consolidation contemplates — Great waste in ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS XV11 PAGE the small school — Early history of consolidation — Passing of the "little red schoolhouse" — Consolidation in Massachusetts — Elsewhere in New England — The progressive Middle West — The South — The West — Partial consolidation — Complete consolidation — The Wea Consolidated School — Village type of consolidation — Burns Consolidated School — The purely rural type — John Swaney Consolidated School — High school work in the John Swaney School — Consolidation : advantages and objections — A closing word — A selected reference list of books, etc., on consolidation. Appendix 335 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Beach Glen School, Clay County, Kansas 20 > A One-room Schoolhouse of the Modern Type 20 • A Well-kept Rural School in Illinois 34 Schoolhouse built in Fillmore County, Minnesota, in 1858 . . 34 Schoolhouse in Clark County, Ohio ....... 34 Old Schoolhouse at Holden, Logan County, West Virginia . . 34 Schoolhouse in Northeastern Ohio ....... 34 A Dilapidated Schoolhouse in Eastern Kansas .... -34 Model Rural School on the Campus of the Missouri State Normal School, Kirksville 51 Interior of Country Training School, Western Illinois State Normal School, at Macomb ......... 79 Mode of Conveying Normal School Students to the above Training School 79 Manual Training at the Dunn County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy, Menomonie, Wisconsin . . . Ill u Sewing at the Dunn County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy . . . . . . . . . . .111 Exterior of Rural Schoolroom, showing Fresh Air Intake of Stove . 125 Interior of Rural Schoolroom, illustrating the " Smith System " of Heating and Ventilation . . . . . . . .125 Model Country Schoolroom shown at a Recent Illinois State Fair . 143 School District 25, Turner County, South Dakota .... 143 Children at Work in the Garden of the Sheridan School, Denver . 163 Irrigated Rural School Garden at Gilpin, Colorado . . . .163 This Remarkable Picture illustrates School Garden Work at the Macdonald Consolidated School, Guelph, Canada . . 193 The Same Garden at Harvest Time, in September . . . . 193 xix XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE An Average Corn Exhibit at the Annual Contest of the Hamilton County, Indiana, Boys' Corn Club ...... 224 Sectional View of Pawnee County, Nebraska, Corn Growing and Cooking Contest, 1908 ........ 224 Girls at Work in Domestic Economy Rooms, Macdonald Consoli- dated School, Guelph, Canada . 241 Boys in Manual Training Department, Macdonald Consolidated School, Guelph, Canada , 24.1 Manual Training in a Small Rural School, Edgar County, Illinois . 241^ One of the Dover Township Schools, Union County, Ohio . . 275 v- Headquarters at Topeka, from which many hundred traveling libra- ries are annually sent to every County in Kansas . . . 275 ' Exhibit made by the Illinois State Board of Health, at the Illinois State Fair, 1909 288 Illustration showing a large mass of adenoids growing in the naso- pharyngeal cavity of the throat 291 Pneumonia Germs from a Public School Drinking Cup . . . 291 Microphotograph of Decaying Human Cells on a Drinking Cup . 291 Gymnastics at the Dunn County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy, Menomonie, Wisconsin ...... 297 Consolidated School at North Madison, Madison Township, Lake County, Ohio 324 The John Swaney School, District 532, McNabb, Illinois . . . 324 TWENTIETH-CENTURY NEEDS OF AMERICAN COUNTRY LIFE As discovered by the Country Life Commission and summarized by President Roosevelt in a special message to Congress in 1909 : — " First, effective cooperation among farmers, to put them on a level with the organized interests with which they do business. " Second, a new kind of schools in the country, which shall teach the children as much outdoors as indoors and perhaps more, so that they will prepare for country life, and not, as at present, mainly for life in town. " Third, better means of communication, including good roads and a parcels post, which the country people are everywhere, and rightly, unanimous in demanding. " To these may well be added better sanitation ; for easily preventable diseases hold several million country people in the slavery of continuous ill health." THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL CHAPTER I Introduction: The Problem Stated It is conceded by students of education generally that the great desideratum of the times is a proper solution of the rural school problem. Secondary and higher education within our country have attained a satisfactory degree of excellence and efficiency. Modern unification and stand- ardization have wrought marvelous things for the internal development of such institutions. Public liberality and private philanthropy have succeeded in making the schools an expression of the great material prosperity, and forward and upward movement so peculiar to our present-day Amer- ican civilization. The universities, denominational col- leges, and professional schools are definitely established and have acquired an educational momentum sufficient for all purposes. Graded schools, in city and village alike, have reached a stage of development or evolution so satisfac- tory that their future is practically assured. Pathetic Story of the Rural School. — While the public attention has been centered on work and plans for the im- 2 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL provement of city schools, a great factor for or against the public weal has been sadly neglected. This is the rural school. All well-informed persons agree that conditions in the rural schools are not to-day what they should be for the proper training of the twelve million boys and girls growing up in rural communities. One half of our entire school population attend the rural schools, which are still in the formative stage. And at least 95 per cent of these children never get beyond the district school. The country youth is entitled to just as thorough a prepa- ration for thoughtful and intelligent membership in the body politic as is the city youth. The state, if it is wise, will not discriminate in favor of the one as against the other; but it will adjust its bounties in a manner equitable to the needs of both. Heretofore, the rural schools have received very little attention from organized educational authority. What- ever has been accomplished may be credited to local initiative; whatever has been neglected may be traced to general apathy and indifference. As a result, in some sec- tions of our broad land, there has long existed a state of affairs bordering dangerously close on educational coma. It is not putting facts in too strong a light to say that vast numbers of our rural boys and girls are annually turned out by the schools systematically dwarfed through more or less purposeless courses of study, leaving them poorly prepared for the life struggle. introduction: the problem stated 3 All Rural Schools not Bad ; all Rural Teachers not In- efficient. — Of course, all district schools are not bad and all rural teachers are not inefficient. We have, indeed, many excellent schools in farming communities. Many capable, painstaking teachers are spending their lives there, giving the best there is in them for the children of the farm. Yet the fact remains that a majority of rural schools are badly equipped for school purposes, and a ma- jority of teachers are lacking in both academic and pro- fessional training. It is conceded, too, that a great many men of eminence, scholars, statesmen, and professional men got their early training, and in many instances all their training, in the old-fashioned district school. But this can hardly be taken as proof of the general efficiency of such schools. Many things conspire to prove that these men had the native ability and talent to succeed not so much on account of the district schools as in spite of them. Cause of these Conditions. — These unsatisfactory edu- cational conditions must not be charged as a reflection on the character or public spirit of our farm population, as they are largely the result of unavoidable circumstances. The early settlers on the Atlantic seaboard had their battle with the wilderness. Then the period of intense struggle before and after the Revolutionary War kept the impov- erished people in no condition to solve effectively the edu- cational problem staring them in the face. Ever since the first hardy pioneers crossed the Alleghenies on their west- 4 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL ward march, like conditions have prevailed. On prairie and plain every energy has been centered on redeeming the soil to the cause of civilization. Under such stress of economic and social effort the rural school has been sorely neglected. But now, with the opening of the new century, the great westward migration is nearing the end, and we are to all practical purposes a settled people. Under such circumstances we might soon, with reason, look for a fixity of conditions in rural communities, such as is found in urban centers. But, unfortunately, other factors of far- reaching consequences upset our expectations, the chief being, perhaps, the startling disintegration of rural popu- lation and influx to the larger cities. Disintegration of Rural Population. — Man is by nature gregarious. He only follows natural instincts when he seeks the large centers of population where he can enjoy a keener social existence. In primitive times agricultural tribes reared walled towns for defense against predatory tribes. These became the cradles of industrial, commer- cial, and political life. The city and city state have from the beginning played an important role in history, though it was not before the opening of the last century that the growth of urban life at the expense of rural com- munities became in any way marked. For a half century the cityward movement has been on the rapid increase. This is to-day a universal condition. European countries are all experiencing an unexampled introduction: the problem stated 5 growth of cities. In the United States the problem is even more serious. The affixed table illustrates graphic- ally the startling urban tendencies in our country: — Year Total Urban Population Number of Per cent of Population of Cities of 8000 Places Urban Total 1790 3,929,214 T 3 I >472 6 3-4 1850 23,191,876 2,897,586 85 12.5 1870 38,558,371 8,071,875 226 20.9 1880 50,155,783 i^,3^,5°7 286 22.6 1890 62,622,250 18,272,503 447 29.2 1900 75,468,039 24,992,199 545 33-1 A glance at these figures shows that the urban population has increased in a little over a century from 3.4 per cent to 33.1 per cent. Unofficial figures for 1908 indicate a further increase to about 38 per cent. The government reports take into consideration only cities with a population of 8000 and upward. If all incorporated cities were counted, the total per cent of urban growth would be materially increased. Changes in Industrial Life. — Such phenomenal growth of cities has been coincident everywhere with growth in manufacturing industries. These latter have produced modern, labor-saving machinery for the farm, and have consequently reduced the demand for farm hands. Fac- tory-made wares and cheap transportation have sounded the death-knell of many local industries which in the olden time flourished at every cross-road. Rural crafts- 6 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL men were formerly in great demand in making and re- pairing farm instruments, in cabinet making, in fact, in upbuilding the entire farm place. Their occupation is now gone, and they have flocked to the cities. Worst of all, untold numbers of farm youth, without whom the rural communities will languish, are drawn thither by the glamour of city life and its many flattering opportunities for advancement. Finally, in direct ratio as the rural population decreases the size of farms increases. The tendency is in the di- rection of increasingly extensive machine farming rather than toward the intensive small farming which many have long hoped to see realized, and which must be realized before the rural problem is finally settled. Figures show that for the twenty years from 1880 to 1900 the average size of farms for the whole country increased almost 10 per cent. The City a Positive Menace to Country Life. — Just how far this depletion of the rural population shall go, no one can say. But this is certain, the present tendency is toward yet larger farming units, and every indication points toward a still further decrease in population. City life is terribly devitalizing. In its artificial, hot-house atmos- phere the human organism literally starves and early deteriorates. Into this life, then, our best country boys and girls are thrown annually by hundreds of thousands — their manifest destiny to reenforce the ebbing vitality introduction: the problem stated 7 of city life. The infusion of the sturdy country stock into the city assures a continuation of city prosperity and progress. But at what an awful cost! American Medi- cine, an excellent authority in this field, speaks editorially thus: " City life is very deadly to the young, a fact known to anthropologists for a long time, and we are now in a fair way to explain the phenomenon. For hundreds of years country families have flocked to the towns, to die out in a few generations, so that cities are said to be the consumers of rural populations. A man raised in the coun- try seems to stand the unknown strain, but his children sometimes perish long before he does. Every physician knows of these disappearing families where the country- bred parents survive all their city-bred children." " The City and Country express the Equation of Life." — After such forceful statements it is in place to empha- size here that " the city and country express the equation of life, a weakness in one member means the ruin of both. Each must supplement, but not destroy, the other, and both must be preserved." Whatever may be said about the devitalizing effects of city life upon the individual from the farm, this truth remains, that the welfare of the one is closely bound up with that of the other. The farm produces the raw material and demands the manufactured product in return; the city supplies a market for the farm output and expects a market for its own finished product. We have here the ancient fable of the Body and the Members 8 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL retold. As well might we expect the " body " to remain well nourished and healthy after the " members " had struck work and refused to supply the stomach with food, as to expect the body politic to thrive and wax strong while its members, the city and country, failed to work in har- mony. There is every reason to believe that the city- ward tide will soon abate. A state of equipoise between city life and rural life must be reached in a not distant future. Several factors are quietly at work to relieve the situation. The city will never resound with a cry of " back to the country," that is certain; those who are in the city now will remain there. But, as we shall see below, both nature and man are doing what they can to organize rural life as a perfect member in our equation of national life. The United States preeminently Agricultural. — Presi- dent Roosevelt believes that the most pressing question of a material nature now before the American people is the conservation of our natural resources. We have cer- tainly been prodigal of the vast stores of natural wealth placed at our disposal. We have been wasteful. The proud forests exist no more; gas and oil fields are becom- ing drained; coal and other mineral deposits are generally exploited. We have misused the sacred right of eminent domain, and public utilities have gone to the most per- sistent and crafty jobber. Now we stand face to face with changing conditions. The natural competencies which introduction: the problem stated 9 the forefathers got for the taking, the sons of the later day must earn through the sweat of their brow. The future will not be chary; but she will expect labor, and intelligent labor at that, by all who would succeed. Profits are sure to become smaller, and competition keener. Gradually, it would seem, the demands for industrial labor will de- cline. Then the cityward migration will lessen and per- haps cease altogether. Then the agriculturist will come to his own. The United States is preeminently an agricultural na- tion. While the choicest parts of the public domain have long been settled, and even semi-arid Indian reservations are going fast, there is room here for hundreds of millions yet unborn. Dry farming and irrigation will increase manifold the tillable areas in the West. Systematic drain- age will do as much for the South. Twentieth-century agriculture must become scientific and intensive — smaller farming units and better farming, the aim. The Rural School Problem not wholly Educational. — The rural school problem in our country is not wholly an educational problem in the general meaning of that term. It has to deal with a great many subjects besides ordinary schoolroom practice, school administration, and supervi- sion. Issues of an economic and sociological nature arise, which seek solution in part in the school, in part from without. The problem is thus more than educational. The new movement in the schools must not be looked IO THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL upon as an end in itself, but as a means to the end of organ- izing rural life. 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. One can hardly conceive of improving the intellectual and ethi- cal without improving the material and social, and vice versa. Indeed, their aim is the same — the improvement of all rural conditions and activities, whether they be in- tellectual or social, material or ethical. The main dif- ference 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 foun- tain source — the child mind and child heart — and pre- pares the children for the new rural life; but without this impulse from without, furnished by the 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. President Roosevelt's Commission on Rural Life. — President Roosevelt's commission on rural life has en- deavored to arrive at an exact understanding of American rural life and public opinion in regard to this life. Once we know conditions as they really exist, it will be less difficult to indicate remedies than now. The field of investigation, as outlined by the commission, is very com- prehensive and reaches into every corner of rural endeavor, introduction: the PROBLEM STATED II touching the strictly educational issues with the rest. The subjects considered are these: — Home-making. — The choice and preparation of food; wells and water and waste; house construction; conveniences and appliances ; help. Education. — Rural schools; agricultural and household sub- jects; preparation of teachers for country life; farmers' institutes; colleges; extension work. Buying and Selling. — Cooperation in dairying, in poultry, in rais- ing fruit, marketing, etc.; middlemen, buying associations. Communication. — Roads; trolley lines ; telephones; postal service. Organizations. — Farmers' clubs; granges; experiment clubs; farmers' unions, etc.; women's organizations. Land. — Tenancy; form of rental. Farm Labor. — Supply; housing; wages; board. Finance. — Savings banks; rural credit societies; insurance. Public Health. — Regulation; water supplies; the prevention of disease. Social Life. — Public gatherings; festival days; literary clubs; reading clubs; church, schoolhouse, and other social centers. The commission held meetings in thirty different states and received thousands upon thousands of answers to its formal questions about conditions in rural communities. Besides this it gathered a vast amount of information by letters and special reports. All this was embodied in its report to the president. Report of the Commission on Country Life ; the Three Great Needs. — The investigation reveals, according to Commissioner Walter H. Page, " that the level of well- being in the country in general is higher than it ever was 12 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL before; that our country population is increasing its wealth and the productiveness of its life — in fact, that the condi- tion of our rural population is better than any equally large rural population could ever show before; and this is true." But it reveals many serious problems also which must be worked out before modern rural life can become truly efficient. The three which people everywhere em- phasized and clamored for are set forth by President Roosevelt in his special message to Congress, quoted elsewhere in these pages. Stated in general terms they are : (i) effective cooperation, (2) a new kind of schools, and (3) a better means of communication. To these is added (4) better sanitation. Farmers feel keenly the need of cooperation in buying and selling, of eliminating certain non-essential middlemen, of forming their own local commercial exchanges — in a word, they feel the need of as thorough an organization as that which now belongs to the city interests with which they do business. People in rural communities everywhere emphasize the necessity of making the schools an exponent of rural life, and not, as at present, chiefly for city life. " Criti- cism of the schools as they now exist," says Mr. Page, " 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. There is, in fact, a universal unrest in edu- introduction: the problem stated 13 cational subjects, an unrest so profound and general as to point to the necessity of fundamental changes." The demand for good roads comes from almost every community in every section of the country. This means of better communication carries with it a desire for the exten- sion of rural free delivery and the introduction of a parcels post. Finally, the commission finds that rural communities show a marked ignorance on the subject of health and sanitation. Altogether too little attention is paid to this subject. Typhoid fever and similar diseases now hold in continual thraldom numberless rural people — diseases, all of them, which under effective organization might easily be prevented. Even if not holding out the promise of any great imme- diate results, the commission has begun a remarkable work. For to have promulgated the successful experience of cer- tain sections to the country at large is sure to bear impor- tant fruit. In this way modern organization will spread throughout the great agricultural communities. Means will be found to make home and social life there satis- factory; greater returns will come from the soil than under present conditions; then at length a love for the God-given acres must follow. Now, to limit ourselves to the school side of the problem: — The Twentieth -century Problem. — The great task of 14 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL twentieth-century education is, then, to instill in the country boys and country girls this very love for the coun- try and all that pertains to country life; to fit them, through thoroughly practical courses of study, to receive and pre- serve their wonderful heritage. " The tremendous ad- vantage of a rational course of work in country schools," says Francis W. Parker, " is that it would make a strong, binding union of the home and the school, the farm meth- ods and the school methods. It would bring the farm into the school, and project the school into the farm. It would give parent and teacher one motive, in the carry- ing out of which both could heartily join. The parent would appreciate and judge fairly the work of the school, the teacher would honor, dignify, and elevate the work of the farm." The Ideal Twentieth -century School. — Fortunately, our rural schools are making distinct progress in the direction of rational courses and the teaching of essentials. But the work of reform is merely begun. The old-fashioned, blind teaching is, alas! very prevalent. The subject- matter taught is still borrowed from the city curriculum. It is foreign to the country child's world — the farm. In the country the soil must ever remain the real factor. Nature study in its broadest meaning together with manual training and instruction in the various crafts which shall make the farm child satisfied with his lot in life are the real essentials. The school of to-morrow will teach the introduction: the problem stated 15 farm child how to live, and how to do things. The teacher of to-morrow must be able to take the child in its own little world, and lead it along the pathway of life, directing its native adaptabilities, sentiments, and powers; he must develop in the child breast a sympathy with its environ- ment, and in the child's mind an understanding of nature and nature's intent. The twentieth-century teacher must teach the child to love nature for nature's own sake — and not to judge it by a mere commercial or money stand- ard. The teacher must lead the child to see in the old farmstead with its God-given acres the most precious heritage that can come to mortal man. He must teach the child that the farm is his treasure, then there will his heart be also. The Complete Country Life. — Country life must cease to be a mere complement of city life; it must be made complete in itself. It is not enough for the new awakening to conserve that which is best in the country life as we now have it. No! let it carry to the country all that is best and most ennobling in present-day city life. Remove the causes for the cityward exodus by making the country life attractive. Provide against its present social starva- tion. Introduce music and art into the schools, and thence into the farm homes. Encourage school libraries and home reading, as well as lecture courses of a practical sort. In short, let everything that is really worth the while in our best city systems be provided for the rural school. 1 6 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Requirements of the Twentieth Century. — It has al- ready been intimated that our country schools are making distinct progress in the direction of rational courses and the teaching of essentials. But this must not be con- strued to mean that conditions, as they now exist, are ideal or even satisfactory. Indeed, it is true, as shown in a later chapter, that some sections of the country are making remarkable progress in the direction of needed reform and are to be congratulated upon what has already been accomplished; though it is just as true that other sections have been sadly indifferent to their opportunities and have done but little to remedy existing school evils. Even where the real conditions approach the nearest to ideal there is much still to be done. So it would be folly to claim that conditions are, or ever have been, satisfactory. But the movement for better rural schools, and more prac- tical schools, is upon us, north, south, east, and west; nor will it subside before the reform is complete. To this end the times demand: (i) more thorough school organ- ization and administration; (2) greatly increased school support; (3) professional supervision and instruction; (4) modern school plant; (5) practical course of study; (6) centralization and consolidation of schools. Rural Schools must be better organized and have better Administration. — The first phase of the subject to demand attention is school organization and administration. The size of the unit of organization plays an important r6le in Beach Glen School, Clay County, Kansas. A typical rural school, better kept than the average. A one-room schoolhouse of the modern type. This building, which is fitted with every up-to-date appliance, should soon supplant the old box-car type. introduction: the problem stated 17 school affairs. The success or failure of school adminis- tration and supervision as well as of school support de- pends very largely upon it. Paradoxical as it may seem, wherever the unit of organization is very small the schools suffer, and where it is very large the same holds true. It appears therefore that the extremes must be avoided. Upon the whole, there is more danger from units too small than too large. The small local district unit which has long been in use in Eastern states, and which later was adopted in the Middle West and the West has proved gen- erally unsatisfactory for purposes of organization. Many of the evils from which rural schools suffer are traceable to the small district. As we shall see in a later chapter, local partisanship and jealousy, and often close-fistedness and indifference in school affairs, make the district an inadequate basis for administering school affairs. The local school board is too often hampered in its work by obligations to friends and neighbors who elect them and retain them in office. Such a unit cannot possibly afford to pay for professional supervision. But, most important of all, the last word in tax matters should never be left with so small a unit, since two or three influential men are generally able to dictate the policy of the district, and make this narrow or broad in proportion as they themselves are narrow-minded or broad-minded. The county unit which prevails in the South has some bad features and many good ones. Upon the whole, the township unit is, 1 8 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL at any rate for the East and Middle West, the most prac- tical and satisfactory basis of organization, and should be encouraged by all who are interested in the best business basis in rural education. More Money must be spent to provide and maintain Schools. — The chief essential in school affairs is unques- tionably ample funds with which to provide and maintain the schools. Right now we are spending $33.01 on the city child's education for every $13.17 on the rural child's. This is for school maintenance alone and has nothing to do with permanent school investment. In this field the cities, with their much smaller total valuation, invest vastly larger sums of money in school buildings and equip- ment than rural communities. This is not giving the farm boys and girls a fair chance. The farmers must be- come awake to their great responsibility in these matters. They must spend much more money for professional teaching, for modern buildings, for equipment, for books, tools, etc. Otherwise, rural schools can never reach the standards demanded by the changing twentieth-century life. Let every advocate of better rural conditions do what he can to convince farmers that increased taxation for school support will be a gilt-edge investment. Instruction must become Professional. — Another ex- tremely important factor in rural school success or failure is the teacher himself. This naturally involves: (1) better preparation, (2) longer tenure of office, and (3) better sala- introduction: the problem stated 19 ries. In many instances our teachers' qualifications are al- together too meager. Too many teachers do not grasp the real significance of the teaching problem. Some are too poorly grounded in the fundamentals, or they lack skill to present the subject-matter. Most unfortunate of all is it that many young men and women who dabble in teach- ing do not expect or intend to become professional teachers at all; to them teaching is only a makeshift, a stepping stone to something better. Under such conditions teach- ing is not and never can hope to be a profession. The great need is for professionally trained rural school- teachers — teachers trained to grapple with problems as they now exist. The teachers who are first to realize this fact will be the first to reap the reward. This will come in the shape of materially increased salaries — salaries com- mensurate with the time and money expended in prepara- tion for the work — and in tenures of office limited only by the good behavior clause or by the teachers' personal choice. Supervision must be more Efficient. — A more satis- factory system of supervision in the rural schools is insep- arably linked with this better instruction. As here under- stood, we do not mean this function as exerted by the teacher in the class room, but as belonging to such general overseers of schools as township, district, and county superintendents. In the East the geographical unit gen- erally used in school supervision is the town (township). Very often the township has proved too small for the main- 20 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL tenance of expert supervisors. To remedy this, laws have been enacted under which two or more townships may join and organize township districts, thus enabling them to give rural supervision equal to the best offered in the city systems. Such consolidation for greater efficiency should be encouraged. It might be applied, with great profit, to many states in the Middle West now under township organization for governmental purposes. In sections where the county unit of supervision prevails difficulties are more numerous and harder to surmount. The aver- age county superintendent is an official whose time is given to drawing warrants, to issuing circular letters, compiling statistics, and performing other clerical duties belonging to his office. Incidentally he " calls " upon his teachers once or twice a year, though such visits can scarcely be dignified as supervision. Several remedies are proposed, either of which will be sure to make the superintendent's work more effective. A Twentieth -century School Plant Demanded. — The " little red schoolhouse " of Eastern localities, so familiar through song and story, and the unsightly box-car struc- tures dignified in the West by the name of schoolhouse, will soon live in memory alone. They are beginning to give way to modern, sanitary buildings, in every way adapted to twentieth-century teaching. But the reform in school architecture will hardly be complete before it becomes incumbent on local boards, by law, to use only introduction: the problem STATED 21 such plans as are approved by the state superintendent of public instruction and the secretary of the state board of health, or some other specified committee competent to adjudge these matters. School Exteriors. — All the necessary apparatus for doing good work must be supplied. The grounds must be made an appropriate setting for the dignified " temple of learning." Let the grounds be made as attractive as the professional teacher's art can possibly make them. Let curving walks and rustic seats, grass and shrubbery, vines and flowers, shed over structure and grounds an atmosphere of homelikeness. Let the school garden at the rear of the grounds be a place where the theoretical and the practical in school work shall meet. All in all, let grounds and building be the center of attraction to the whole countryside. School Interiors. — The school interior must be in har- mony with the general exterior. An aesthetic atmosphere should sit lightly upon the room. Tinted or papered walls, appropriate color effects, touches of the artistic here and there, neatly framed copies of the masters, plaster casts, shelves full of choice books, plants, and perhaps an aquarium, — all these should shed a glow of comfort and homelikeness over the room or give it a genuine scholastic stamp. With such a school plant rural children will find the irksome in school life disappear, and there will be less dragging of the heavy feet to school. 22 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Course of Study must be Practical. — Hitherto, the course of study pursued in the country has come from the outside — from the city. It has trained the child away from the farm and not towards it. The new methods must begin right in the child's own world and develop right out of his own experience. The subject-matter taught must be an expression of the needs of the country community and must render country life more significant. Experience teaching is what is needed. Industrial work and nature study will take their place as coordinate with the study of books. Training in handwork, and a study of plants and soils and animal life will come to be of almost incalculable value to country life. The policy shall be not so much to give systematic instruction in practical agriculture, as to lead up to it by awakening in the child's breast a love for the wonders in nature. Then it may be expected that the state agricultural school will continue the work here begun, and in time return the young man to the farm — an enthu- siastic, scientific farmer. Consolidation of Schools a Panacea for Existing Ills. — Consolidation is offered as a remedy for the ills existing in districts most affected by disintegration of population. The ideal plan contemplates the discontinuance of weak schools and the consolidation of a number of districts sufficiently large to maintain a graded school. Where conditions are satisfactory this means the establishment of graded schools in every respect equal to village and city introduction: the problem stated 23 schools, right in the heart of rural communities. In ad- dition to what the urban child gets, consolidation offers opportunities for study under the benign influence of field and grove in the very bosom of mother nature. With these schools at his own doors, the farm child need no longer seek urban centers in quest of learning. We shall now take up in detail the various phases of our subject. But, first, let us consider the main currents of educational history in our country, at least so far as they pertain to the rural schools. CHAPTER II Organization and Administration General Statement. — The history of rural school organ- ization and administration in our country is full of interest to students of education. It tells the story of " system sprung from chaos," of order and progress come out of confusion and stagnation. The first schools knew no higher authority than the will of the community which maintained them. Any policy of an administrative or supervisory nature was necessarily shaped by local opinion and governed by local needs. This meant, in practice, as many standards of school management as there were schools; or, more properly speaking, it meant no standards at all. " If the people as a whole are to be educated," says Professor Dexter, " definite standards of excellence must be demanded of all schools, and such can only be maintained through the appointment of responsible officials vested with authority to make demands, and competent to direct the schools in the process of making them." All the several states have sought such uniform stand- ards through - statute enactment, and all have realized them to a more or less satisfactory extent. Conditions in many 24 ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 25 states are still far from ideal. It has been in great measure a matter of experimentation, of groping about in the un- known, in our efforts to provide the best system for the different sections of the country. The various units of organization with which we are concerned in the rural schools are the following: (i) school district organization, (2) township organization, (3) county organization, (4) community system. School District Organization. — The school district is the smallest and most democratic of these units of con- trol. It developed in New England after the scattering of the population, due to the cessation of early Indian hostilities. New communities sprang up on the edge of the wilderness, too distant from the parental centers of population to make use of the old town schools. Conse- quently, they organized their own educational unit and established their own schools. All who lived within easy reach of the centrally located school and were banded together for its support constituted the school district. This organization was at first wholly voluntary; it ante- dated all legal enactments pertaining to schools, and came about solely because it was the only possible thing to do under the circumstances. It answered the needs of our colonial schools well enough, and had the district been founded for the purpose of school supply merely, or to regulate attendance, there would certainly have been no objection to its formation. Unfortunately, the organizers, 26 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL jealous of what they deemed their inherent rights, made it also the center of school support — i.e. the unit of taxa- tion. In Massachusetts the Act of 1647 had declared the town the basis of school organization; but the district plan worked so well that it received full legal sanction in 1789. From this time until well into our own day it has been a controlling power in school matters in the state. Objections to the District Unit. — The Massachusetts Act of 1789 was, to quote Horace Mann, " the most un- fortunate law on the subject of common schools ever enacted in the state." The great educator was quick to discern what we have long experienced; namely, that the school district is too small to be intrusted with final legis- lation in matters of importance. Especially is this true where the taxing power is concerned — a power which was vested in the district by the Massachusetts Act of 1801. Local jealousy, parsimony, and individual indif- ference contribute much to make the district unsatisfactory in actual practice. " In many cases," says Professor Dexter, " the sentiment among the limited number of voters within a single district is the opposite of generous toward the schools or the district too poor to do much; and although the acts of 1789 and 1801, and similar laws, passed in the neighboring states a little later, gave to New England the ' little red schoolhouse ' in great numbers, they were frequently not very red for want of paint, nor was the teaching within their walls of a very high order. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 27 Yet it cannot be denied that much good came from them." Great Spread of the District System. — The district system spread at an early date to every part of New Eng- land, and was later adopted by nearly all the states west- ward, where it sprang up either as a matter of pure imi- tation or because conditions prevailed similar to those which had earlier called forth the system in Massachu- setts. Let this be as it may, if we except the Southern states where county organization is in vogue, the district soon established itself as the unit of school organization and administration throughout the country, and as such continues in a great majority of the states to-day. Change from District to Township System of Organiza- tion. — Massachusetts, which was the first to legalize the district unit, was likewise the first to abolish it. This happened in 1882. New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania very soon followed suit and likewise changed to the township system. More than twenty other states have laws permitting town- ship organization for school purposes, although they have as yet not exercised this permission to any marked extent. The change to the township in the old Atlantic states is easy to explain. The rapid disintegration of the popula- tion in many rural communities and the great influx to the cities left many of the small school districts impover- ished and all but bereft of population. This left no alter- 28 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL native except to organize into larger units — units strong enough to provide good schools and a more equable system of maintenance. These demands the township system has satisfied. The larger unit is getting a strong hold on the Middle West also, generally, for the same reasons that apply eastward. The newer Western states, which do not yet and perhaps never may feel the effects of the city- ward migration, will be slower to make the change. Township Organization. — The township organization is less democratic than the district organization, but it " has the advantage of forcing the wealthier portions of the township to contribute to the support of the schools in the poorer communities, thus bringing about a more uniform standard of excellence." Care should be taken here not to confuse township or- ganization for school purposes and township system of local government. The latter pertains to local affairs generally, the former to school matters only. Township organization for school purposes is in fact only a merger of districts lying usually within the political township, and administered by a central board, elected at the annual town meeting. Such boards are called, variously, school committees, as in Massachusetts ; boards of education, as in Ohio; and boards of directors, as in Iowa. This sys- tem naturally enough tends to give rise to consolidation of schools and township high schools, although several states in which it has reached a normal development ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 20. utilize the township system chiefly for the better admin- istration of the several school districts within the town- ship. Thus in Iowa, for example, the congressional township is divided into a number of subdistricts, each with its own school plant and subdirector. These sub- directors constitute the township board and administer the school affairs for the entire township. They fix the rate of taxation, elect teachers and fix their salaries, de- cide on the length of the school year, and perform many kindred duties of an administrative nature. Respects in which the Township System is Superior to the District System. — The many advantages of the township system over the district system are so admirably set forth in the Report of the Subcommittee on School Maintenance in the Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools (Proceedings N.E.A. 1897) ^ iat I venture to quote them in detail : — 1. If the schools of a township are under a single board elected from the township at large, schoolhouses will far more likely be built where they are needed than under the other system. 2. Equality of school provision will be much more fully secured in respect to schoolhouses and grounds, length of school terms, and the ability and character of teachers. 3. The tendency will not be to multiply schools unduly, but to restrict their number, bringing together more scholars, and thus making better classification, grading, and teaching possible, and increasing the interest and enthusiasm of the pupils. 4. Better supervision can be secured. The county superintend- ent can deal more effectively and easily with one board in a town- 30 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL ship than with six, ten, or twelve; while township and township-union supervision will be greatly promoted. 5. Simplicity and economy of administration will be facilitated, and the sense of official responsibility be enhanced. 6. The tendency will be to employ teachers for longer terms, and thereby to restrict, in a considerable degree, the evils that flow from frequent changes. 7. The strifes and contentions between districts that are now not infrequent will be prevented. 8. Transfers of pupils from school to school will be made more easy. 9. The reason last to be mentioned is perhaps the strongest of all. The relations of the township-unit system to school consolida- tion have already been suggested. The township system does not necessitate such consolidation, although it is likely to work that way; but consolidation is almost wholly dependent upon that sys- tem; schools will not be consolidated in great numbers if a plurality of district school boards have to do the work. As mentioned above, some eight states have made legal provision for township organization. The states which have permissive legislation on the subject are: Connecti- cut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. County Organization. — The states which have adopted the township unit for school purposes are the states which make use of the township unit for general purposes. A few of the Central states and most of the Western are organized under the district form, with here and there a ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 3 1 leaning towards the township unit. In the South, how- ever, conditions are materially different. Here, a widely scattered population, large agricultural areas, and a dearth of village life, from the first called for a unit of gov- ernment organization radically different from the small, compact township used in the North. Thus the larger English county became established. From Virginia it spread over the entire South-Atlantic group, including Texas and Missouri, and from the frontier of the latter state went forth to Oregon, California, and Utah. Where- ever the county system was adopted for general govern- ment purposes it has become the unit of school administra- tion as well. It would seem, everything else being equal, that the county ought to make an ideal unit for school purposes, especially in the South with its many sparsely populated districts. The Subcommittee of Rural Schools, in its report, is very sanguine " that this mode of organization has a great future before it in the United States." And to prove this assertion it points to the very satisfactory operation of the system in Richmond county, Georgia, which includes the large city of Augusta. We read : — The county is the unit area of organization, and the rural parts and the urban parts of the county district, as far as practicable, are treated just alike. A board of education, composed of repre- sentatives elected by the people of the county for the term of three years, one third retiring each year, manages all the schools. The school tax is levied at a uniform rate upon all the property of the 32 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL county, without revision by any other authority and without any limit as to rate or amount. The county and state funds are distrib- uted to the schools according to the number of children to be edu- cated. There is no district tax. The same qualifications are re- quired for country and for city teachers. The teachers are treated as nearly alike as the conditions admit, and they are paid about the same salaries. The schools are in session the same length of time in a year, nine calendar months. The country schoolhouses, on the average, are situated four miles apart, and no child is out of walking distance of a school open nine months in the year, and taught by a good teacher. One superintendent has charge of all the schools. Augusta has nine tenths of the taxable property of the county; but only three fourths of the school population. In other words, the rural parts of the county pay one tenth of the school tax and receive the benefit of one fourth of it. For the most part, these are excellent provisions. The county would seem to be the natural area unit for popular schools under the county system of local government. Necessary Reforms in the County System. — It is of peculiar interest to know that the states which have not subdivided the county for what is termed convenience in school administration report less difficulties than where subdivisions are made. Georgia, quoted above, and Maryland are examples of states which do not subdivide their counties. Each of which is for school purposes virtually one large school district. This places the com- plete management of the schools, including taxation, in the hands of a strong county board, and results in very equable administration. Alabama has until recently made use of the township as a taxing unit, and West Virginia has employed the so-called " magisterial district " for the same ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 33 purpose. This has resulted in serious discrimination against the sparsely populated sections where but slight material development has taken place. The former state has made a decided change for the better in abandon- ing the old system. Superintendent Miller of the latter state recommends strongly a change, making the county the unit of distribution. With the inauguration in the Southern states generally of some such just and equable system of school administration as is practiced in counties of the type of Richmond county, Georgia, there is every reason to believe that this unit will prove highly satis- factory. The Community System. — Before leaving the units of organization we must dwell briefly upon one additional system, the community system of Texas. This " imprac- tical and inhibitive system," as State Superintendent R. B. Cousins very properly denominates it, is fortunately con- fined to the one state, and here greatly on the decline. The Community System. — Under this "system" any teacher, or other person interested, may direct a petition to the county super- intendent or county judge, place on it the names of the children that are to attend the school, procure the signature of parents and guard- ians of said children, and present this petition to the county judge or superintendent who credits the school with the state and county pro rata, and appoints three citizens to act as trustees for one year. At the end of the term the school dissolves into its original elements; as a school each is a mere experiment, which must be repeated from year to year, never advancing beyond the experimental stage. D 34 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL At one time practically all the schools of the state were organized under this primitive system. But one by one the two hundred and fifty odd counties of the Lone Star state have transferred themselves to the district system, so that at the time of this writing barely a dozen counties remain on the community basis. A recent annual report of the state superintendent contains figures proving con- clusively that the community schools employ the poorest teachers; that their average daily attendance is very much lower than that for the whole state; that they are, besides, very expensive to maintain, costing the state annually a large sum in excess of their share of taxes. It thus ap- pears that this system has outlived its usefulness, and its passing will be cause for few regrets. The Board of Education: its Function. — The admin- istration of our rural schools is left in the hands of a board of control, usually designated by the name of " school board " or " board of education." This body has retained the administrative powers of the old New England school committee (see chapter on Supervision), although the latter's supervisory powers have been delegated to paid supervisors or superintendents. The function of the school board is clearly to provide the ways and means whereby to carry out the work of education. Board members are the representatives of the public, and their manifest duty is to carry out the will of this public in edu- cational matters. In no sense of the word, however, can tMVwW ]W^ ™ Schoolhouse built in Fillmore County, Minnesota, in 1858, and until re- cently used for school purposes. A well-kept rural school in Illinois. Old schoolhouse at Holden, Logan County, West Virginia, just re- placed with a splendid modern building. Schoolhouse in Clark County, Ohio, recently abandoned for a consoli- dated school. Schoolhouse in northeastern Ohio, re- cently abandoned for a consolidated • A dilapidated schoolhouse in eastern school. Kansas. A variety of one-room schools. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 35 they be considered as educators. If board members under- take to dictate methods of instruction or how the school ought to be managed, they unquestionably encroach upon the rights of the legally appointed teacher and the superin- tendent whose chief work lies in this part of the educational field. In view of the generally prevailing misconception of a school board's powers and duties, this matter cannot be emphasized too strongly. Board members should under- stand that their chief business is to provide the means of education — i.e. to secure building and equipment, engage teachers, and enforce attendance of children of school age. They may go so far as to undertake the role of helpful mentor to the teacher, but here their authority ends. An officious board member has not the right to inflict himself upon the teacher in educational matters. This may have been quite proper in the day of the old school committee, but that was before it voluntarily surrendered all rights of supervision. The rural teacher should under- stand these matters, and, if necessary, insist upon his rights. Work of the Board depends upon the Size of Geograph- ical Unit. — The foregoing discussion concerning the size of unit of organization and administration has made it suffi- ciently clear to the reader that the organization and work of the board must depend upon the size and organization of the geographical unit. Where the district unit is in 36 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL vogue a small board, usually three men, — director, clerk, and treasurer, — administer school affairs. Under town- ship organization the board is generally larger, elected at large from over the township; or it may be composed, as in Iowa, of as many subdirectors as there are subdistricts (schoolhouse districts) in the township. Under county organization the number ranges from three upward. Sometimes they are elected by commissioner districts, sometimes from the county at large. Difficulty in procuring " Good " Board Members. — A great menace of the rural school is found in the general weakness of its boards. Very few country-bred persons have had adequate educational advantages to appreciate the needs of the schools. Those who are capable of filling this important office are usually too busy with other in- terests — or they do not consider the work worth their while. This results frequently in a board-organization of honest, well-meaning but ignorant and, therefore, ineffi- cient men, whose work is, now and then, further weakened by the addition of some aggressive, self-opinionated in- dividual with an ax to grind. Thrifty farmers who see the ideal rural school a reflection of the kind of school that they attended a generation ago are not likely to make good board members. They will be too apt to point back to the time-magnified virtues of the school of the olden time. Men whose education has taken them to college or the agricultural school have generally a broader view of life, ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 37 and are the logical candidates for the office. But alto- gether too frequently such men cannot be induced to ac- cept what is considered a thankless job. Board Members might be Trained. — Our rural schools are suffering through the incompetence of school boards. If the best men cannot be induced to do their duty by the state, we should at least assist those who are willing to serve to do their best. We train teachers, then why not train board members, also ? Some states are already awake to the great possibilities of such enterprise. To illustrate : /enact laws which shall provide good pay as inducement to attend meetings of such members at the regular teachers' associations and the annual teachers' institutes, when they may be addressed by specialists on school administration and by other practical school men. Indeed, they may themselves take active part in the programme. This may be counted on to give the schools a progressive administra- tive force where we now have much of apathy and incom- petence. What an Active Board can Accomplish. — The school board represents the educational interests of its constitu- ents : (1) in the community, (2) in the school, and (3) with the superintendent. The members of the board should carry out the wishes of the annual school meeting which they represent; but their work does not end here. It is their manifest duty to further stimulate school progress among the very electors ;S THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL who (mi them In office. They should plan for and secure Increased revenues with which i<> provide the best planl ami Instruction, [n other words, i h*-\ should bealezi to make their school the best possible. The members should, moreover) encourage the teacher by removing obstacles lv> progress, and pupils l>v frequenl visits and display of Interest, Above everything rise should they lend the superintendent every assistance to mold proper educa tional thoughl in the community, and then heed his advice in all matters relating to selection of teachers and equip ment; in plans For buildings, grounds, etcj In the general organisation ol school work, and in shaping the general school policy of their community! CHAI'TKK III Rural School Maintenance The first essentia] in the solution ' ■ |894 [895 .'./'. 1877 1 7* r .'.-/•; [896 1 ■// 1878 "•/ [896 [897 9.63 • ;'■ [897 (898 2 67 [879 [880 [899 j y/ t88o (881 I899 t900 g 84 .. 188a 1 V' t900 1901 9 94 188a 1883 ; SO [9OI 1883 1884 190a I9O3 [884 1885 [ '/, [993 [904 \86 ' W [904 [905 ', •;; 1886 1887 ' '/■/ 1905 tood 1887 (888 j 07 1906 1907 1888 18S9 a '•/ tain the schools. That the publii is awake to the hn portance oi school improvements \a well illustrated in 4 68 7.746 41,826,052 214,964,618 I 900-1 901 . 39,872,278 143.378,507 44,272,042 227,522,827 1901-1902 . 39,962,863 i5 I ,443. 681 46,855,755 238,262,299 1 902-1 903 a 46,289,074 157,110,108 48,058,443 25 I »457» 62 5 1903-1904 a 59.453. 26 9 167,824,753 55,938,205 273,216,227 1904-1905 a 66,416,168 177,462,981 57,737,5" 291,616,660 1 905-1 906 a 60,608,352 186,483,664 60,673,843 307,765,659 1 906-1 907 a 65,817,870 196,980,919 67,882,012 330,780,809 Colonial Support of Public Schools. — In early colonial times school maintenance was wholly of a local character. Very frequently schools were established by private be- quest, or district and town taxes were levied, or tuition fees charged. Then, too, fines, penalties, and forfeitures imposed in certain courts, excise fees, poll taxes, taxes on the sale of spirituous liquors, and the income from public fish weirs all went for school support. As all these sources were inadequate, the colonists conceived the plan to set 1 This table is compiled from the U.S. School Commissioner's report for 1007. Years marked a are subject to correction. 42 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL apart public lands for these purposes, a plan which is indeed almost as old as our history. In 1616 the London Company granted 10,000 acres in Virginia for the establish- ment of an Indian school. This was followed up in several colonies with local grants. In 1733 Connecticut set apart a considerable area " to the perpetual use of schools." Fifty-three years later Massachusetts reserved a " school lot " of 320 acres in all townships of public lands " for the support of common schools in such townships." Creation of a Permanent School Fund. — Other states established permanent school funds either through ap- portionment and sale of land or through direct state appro- priation. New York established a permanent fund in 1801, Virginia in 1810, South Carolina in 1811, Maine in 1821, and North Carolina in 1825. The central govern- ment initiated its liberal policy of land grants when, under the Ordinance of 1787, it ordered "that one section (the sixteenth) of each township in the Northwest Territory should be designated as school land, and that the proceeds of its sale should go to the support of public schools." States added subsequent to 1848 have received the thirty- sixth section in addition to the sixteenth. Up to 1900 nearly 86,000,000 acres had been devoted to this purpose. In addition to these grants surplus funds in the national treasury to the amount of $42,000,000 were, in 1836, dis- tributed among the thirty-seven states then organized, the funds thus received being generally devoted to the sup- RURAL SCHOOL MAINTENANCE 43 port of education. The states have all made material additions to the permanent school fund (Appendix A). So that in 1906- 1907 it reached a grand total of $218,- 973,736 with an annual income of $16,579,551. Permanent School Funds Inadequate. — But while this is a generous sum, it is, relatively speaking, inadequate for the ends intended. It is but a drop in our ocean of school maintenance. By way of illustration, it would require a permanent fund of almost $1,000,000,000 to defray the expenses, at the present rate of outlay, of New York State alone, to say nothing about the country at large. The early friends of this form of endowment did not even dream of the vast proportions which have been reached in recent years by our public school system — proportions which have in a way defeated the very purpose of these men. It is important at this point to understand that while the permanent funds have served a very useful purpose, es- pecially in the early stages of our educational endeavor, and should be carefully husbanded and administered, they must necessarily play a constantly diminishing part in popular education. An examination of Table 3 will show that the public school revenue is drawn from four sources — permanent funds, state taxes, local taxes, and other sources (bequests, fines, etc.). It appears further as a patent fact that while the income from the permanent school fund has little more than doubled in sixteen years, direct taxes — espe- 44 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL cially local taxes — have increased manifold in the same space of time. On the percentage basis the permanent school fund represented .054 per cent of the total income in 1890, and only .048 per cent in 1907. It is evident from this that the great source of revenue in our country is, and must continue to be, taxation — state and local. Table 3. — Public School Income, by Years 1875 1880 1885 1890 Permanent funds . . . State taxes . Local taxes . All other sources . . $ 7,744,764 26,345,323 97,222,426 11,882,292 Total . . . $ 88,648,950 $ 83,940,239 $113,521,895 $143,194,803 1897 1902 1906 1907 Permanent funds . . . State taxes . Local taxes . All other sources . . $ 9,047,097 33,941,657 IS ^ 1 ?,? 08 18,652,90s $ 10,522,343 3 8 ,330,589 170,779,586 29,742,141 $ 11,641,059 47,942,509 223,49 I >405 39,03 I »°3 I $ 16,579,551 46,281,501 230,424,554 50,317,132 Total . . . $19,1959,370 $249,374,659 $322,106,004 $343,602,738 " Manifestly such areas or units of taxation should be created, or continued if already in existence," says the Sub- committee on School Maintenance, " as will fully develop RURAL SCHOOL MAINTENANCE 45 the sound American principle, that the whole wealth of the state shall be made available for educating all the youth of the state. This is both right and necessary, for it must be remembered that in the United States education is a civil or state function, to be supported like other similar func- tions." Such logical taxing areas are: (i) the state, (2) the county, (3) the township, (4) the district. The State a Logical Taxing Unit. — Of all systems of taxation the state is manifestly the most democratic and equable. Schools are certainly established for the good of the whole state. Ignorance or inefficiency in the local com- munity reflects on the entire commonwealth, and eventually levies a heavy burden on it for the maintenance of penal and similar institutions. There are tens of thousands of schools scattered over our country to-day that are carried on with the greatest difficulty. They are so small and poor that the burden of local taxes is almost unendurable; and, with all this, terms are short and the teaching poor. It is unjust that one district should tax itself three or four times as much as some more fortunately situated district in order to do its share of the work which primarily belongs to the state. It is unjust to the child and destructive to all civil endeavor to get along with these short terms and such indifferent instruction. By way of illustration, take the two New Hampshire towns of Ellsworth and Dublin. According to the school returns made July 15, 1906, the former had an equalized valuation per pupil of $1358, while 46 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL the latter had $19,433. The former levied five mills for school purposes and realized only $9.54 per pupil, the latter levied only two and one half mills, but on the greater val- uation realized the handsome sum of $48.81 per pupil. This plainly shows that Dublin can raise fully ten times as many " sinews of war " for school maintenance, at an equal rate of taxation, as can Ellsworth. And the result ? Dublin pays an average salary of $42.40 for a term of thirty-six weeks, and Ellsworth, at the double tax rate, pays an average salary of only $18 for a term of twenty weeks ! State Taxation not on the Increase. — It is a fact to be deplored that our lawmakers do not take kindly to state taxation for school purposes. A glance at Table 4 reveals the truth that in the younger Western states and the South Atlantic states alone is this form of taxation on the in- crease. With the former the principle was incorporated in the fundamental law from the very beginning and shows very satisfactory results. To inaugurate uniform and equable systems of state taxation in the older states seems difficult at this late date. These states have so long de- pended upon their several local units that they rather resent the change; and especially are the cities and larger towns which have a large school valuation and school systems already in a high state of development, reluctant to make any such change. Several North Central states make no state levy at all, RURAL SCHOOL MAINTENANCE 47 although state superintendents have repeatedly petitioned their legislatures to make such provision. Kansas, for in- stance, levies neither a state nor a county tax and depends solely on local taxation and the income from the perma- nent fund. Repeated attempts have been made to place a state and county tax law on the statute books, but up to the present time they have ended in failure. Table 4." — State and Local Taxes on the Percentage Basis 1894-95 1905-6 1906-7 Divisions State Taxes Local Taxes State Taxes Local Taxes State Taxes Local Taxes North Atlantic States . . South Atlantic States . . South Central States . . North Central States . . Western States .... 19.4 38.I 48.4 9.9 23.0 68.2 3i-7 75-4 61.3 12.17 39.OI 35-78 6.88 28.70 71.67 53-91 42.22 76.57 61.77 II.82 41.OI 38.03 3-84 26.43 76.41 51.89 32.02 69.09 55-2.3 United States 27.76 57-58 14.69 69.64 13-47 67.06 It should be understood, finally, that where wealth abounds and is fairly well distributed, as, for instance, in uniformly developed agricultural states, there is not the same necessity for a state system of taxation as where the state presents the extremes of wealth and poverty, of con- centrated population and scattered population. County and Township Taxation. — A further inspection of Table 4 reveals that 67.06 per cent of the school reve- nues of the country comes from local taxes, 13,47 per cent from state taxes, and 19.47 per cent from all other sources. 4§ THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Unfortunately the Bureau of Education offers no statistics showing just how the 67.06 per cent is apportioned among county, town, and district. An examination of many state reports shows conclusively, however, that there is a gradual shifting from the small and undesirable district unit to the larger town and county. Table 5, taken from the 1905 report of the Connecticut Board of Education, illustrates this tendency. Table 5. — Illustrating Decline of District Taxation District Per Town Per State Per Year Tax Cent Tax Cent Tax Cent 189S 655,177.02 26.6 1,195,138.88 48.6 255.883.50 10.4 1896 708,509.63 28.3 1,259,660.70 5°-3 261,664.50 10.4 1897 701,634.08 25.6 1,474,566.19 53-8 290,818.67 10.6 1898 769,686.94 27.0 1,384,614.12 4S.6 291,848.84 10.2 1899 853.437-25 27.9 1,661,934.00 54-4 313,140.46 10.2 1900 828,015.78 27.S 1,489,243.42 50.1 315,360.23 10.6 1901 93°>3 27-98 29.7 1,631,727.67 52.2 326,576.98 10.4 1902 659,248.06 19.1 2,104,120.34 61. 1 348,448.79 IO.I I903 664,075.81 19.2 2,077,105.9s 60.8 363,35i-53 10.5 1904 641,854.42 17.0 2,252,557.98 59-7 399,131.35 10.5 Conclusion Drawn. — It will now suffice to say that cir- cumstances alone must determine this matter of taxation. In states where the county system of government prevails this should naturally become the unit of taxation; in states where the township is the political unit of govern- ment this should likewise become the unit for school reve- nue. These remarks apply in a similar manner to coun- RURAL SCHOOL MAINTENANCE 49 ties where the mixed system of government prevails. It is very essential to realize that the idea of taxation should be consistent with the general social and political habits of the community. In no case does it seem wise to depend on any one form of taxation to the exclusion of others. Experience favors a combination of all. We have found that state taxation is both just and wise. Local taxation, more than any other agency, keeps alive and fosters local interest in school affairs, and withal develops a great meas- ure of local independence and self-reliance. What our rural schools demand, then, is (i) a persistent and rational scaling up of all the several sources of revenue till a true equilibrium shall appear in state and local taxation; and (2) a liberal increase of taxation all along the line. This alone can elevate the rural school to the level of the city school — financially. CHAPTER IV Rural School Supervision General Statement : the Business Side. — The time has arrived when incidental and slipshod supervision in our rural schools must cease. True educational interests demand this. Skilled supervision is undeniably essential for the future efficiency of school education. Indeed, all successful industrial and business enterprises of the present time are based and operated on the principle of expert supervision. Trained specialists have systematized our giant industries and business enterprises till the minimum of cost has resulted in the maximum of remuneration. Shall we not do as well by our schools? Surely the only sensible way is to apply the same business principles to the management of our schools that we do to our private affairs ! City Supervision vs. Rural Supervision. — Our city schools are well organized, well disciplined, and well instructed, because we have professional city superin- tendents. These are generally college men who, having served their apprenticeship as instructors or principals in less important schools, were advanced to the superin- 5° RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 5 1 tendency because of real worth and thorough qualifications. Professional prestige and reasonable remuneration have enlisted, and been sufficient to continue, our best educa- tional talent in this field. But, meanwhile, what of our rural schools? What of the schools in which a majority of American children must receive their education ? The answer: They have been neglected most shamefully in many sections of the country and left to a haphazard supervision that is usually underpaid and often both un- skilled and inefficient. And is it at all surprising that the rural school superintendency does not attract and retain our best educational talent? Assuredly not. The office, which in reality is the most important public holding in the gift of a community, is seldom recognized as such by the general public, a fact going far to divest it of the pro- fessional dignity which is its due. As a matter of fact the office is all too often dragged to the level of party politics and made to depend upon political favor instead of in- dividual worth. When to this we add the slight oppor- tunity for professional promotion in the superintendency and a salary often so inadequate as to be beggarly, we shall have little reason to be surprised that our best teachers prefer employment elsewhere. What, then, can be done or, rather, what is being done, to remedy these defects in our system? We shall see. Origin of School Boards and School Superintendents. — Rural school supervision, such as it is, is the result of long 52 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL growth. The Massachusetts Act of 1789 charged the min- isters of the Gospel and selectmen of the several towns or districts with the supervision of schools. This " school committee " was charged with the election of teachers, the visitation and inspection of schools, the enforcement of discipline, and many other duties. Similar committees came into existence in other states. They were from the leading men of the community who took commendable pride in seeing that the master earned his salary " and kept his pupils in paths of righteousness and godliness." Their tasks were both of an administrative and a supervisory nature. In time, as population increased, these duties became multiplied and complex, requiring more time than an unsalaried committee would care to give the work. The natural result was division of labor and specialization. The administrative functions have been retained by the school committee which to-day finds expression in the dis- trict, town, and county board of education, or just plain school board, while the supervisory functions have been delegated to a supervisor or superintendent, whose unit of supervision corresponds with the administrative unit of the board. The Question of Supervision Unit. — The first of the several phases of this question to enter into our discussion may well be the unit of supervision. Thirty-nine states, mainly west and south, leave the general supervision in the hands of elective or appointive RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 53 officials — county superintendents or, as in Louisiana, parish superintendents and, in Michigan and New York, respectively, county and district commissioners of educa- tion. The New England states generally choose union district or town (township) superintendents. Several states provide both county and township superintendents — a very thoroughgoing system. Again others of the county unit class have permissive legislation on the elec- tion of township superintendents. A careful investigation of the subject will show that the unit of supervision which suits one section of the country is not necessarily the best unit for every other section. Says the Committee on Rural Schools : — The simplicity and effectiveness of supervision are promoted when the units of political organization and of school administration are identical. This condition has its limitations, however, in the amount of territory to be covered and in the density of population, which is a varying quantity. The main point is to bring every rural school of the country as far as possible under the watchful care of a competent supervising officer. Responsibility is a strong stimulant. It is one of the weak points in our present system that too often the rural school-teacher is responsible to no one. Township and District Superintendents in New England. — The enactment of the Massachusetts Supervision Law, in 1888, marks the beginning of great things in New England rural school organization, methods of instruction and discipline. Heretofore school supervision was hardly worth the name. The work of the early committee had 54 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL been limited to incidental visitation once or twice a year. Even when later the law required them to elect one of their own number to act as supervisor of common schools, at a stated sum per diem, no marked improvement was noticed. The reason is not far to seek : such supervisors were usually men of affairs whose vital interests centered in some other occupation, who gave the work of school supervision only such time as they could spare from their regular business. They lacked professional training and schoolroom experience. Moreover, the remuneration was too meager to be an inducement to their best efforts. Manifestly, the solution lay in larger supervisory dis- tricts. Towns could be brought together for the purpose of supervision in numbers sufficiently large to warrant the engagement of a professional superintendent, who should devote his entire time to work in such a union district. His salary could then be paid on a pro rata basis by the several towns comprising the district. This was the plan realized under the Massachusetts Act of 1888. In Massachusetts. — This act has brought practically the entire rural population of the state under professional supervision. The results have been almost phenomenal. As early as 1896 the State Board of Education wrote: — Wherever this policy has been fairly tried, whether in the large cities or in the small towns, the recognition of its importance as a prime factor in the improvement of the public schools is nearly or quite universal. Practically, the question may be said to have passed the RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 55 debatable stage. The chief benefits resulting from the employment of trained and skillful superintendents are these : more regular and increased attendance, greater economy in the expenditure of money, and greater interest in the schools on the part of the pupils, parents, and the community in general. In Connecticut. — We shall not take the time to discuss the details of the Massachusetts Act, but may instead consider some of the interesting provisions of another law of great importance; namely, the Connecticut Act of 1903. While in principle the two are much alike, Connecticut has profited by the experiences of her neighbor and im- proved upon the earlier act. The leading provisions may be summed up as follows : — Section I. The larger towns may — through their school com- mittee — elect a superintendent of schools, fix his salary, and prescribe his duties. Several towns are acting successfully under this clause. Section II. Two or more towns which together employ not less than twenty-five nor more than fifty teachers may unite to form a supervision district. A joint school committee may then be appointed, which shall be a joint committee on behalf of the several towns con- stituting the supervision district. This committee shall then employ a superintendent, fix and apportion his salary, and manage the affairs of the district. Four districts of two towns each have been organized under this clause. Section III. Wherever a superintendent has been employed ac- cording to the provisions of Section II, the state shall pay one half of such superintendent's salary, provided that it shall not pay to ex- ceed $800 in one year to any one district. Section IV. The superintendent must have had at least five years' successful experience as teacher or superintendent or hold a cer- tificate of approval by the state board of education. 56 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Section V. The state is authorized to appoint agents who shall be superintendents in towns having ten or less teachers. In such case the town pays one fourth of such superintendent's salary and the state the remaining three fourths. Eight towns have applied for agents under this clause, and appointments have been made. Frank 0. Jones on the Connecticut and Massachusetts Systems. — Mr. Frank O. Jones, state agent for the towns of Prospect and North Canaan, in his report to the secre- tary of the Connecticut State Board of Education, makes a very instructive comparison of this law with the Massa- chusetts law, which is here reproduced in part. He says : — The outlook for supervision in Connecticut is especially good when comparison is made between its supervision law and that of Massa- chusetts, under which supervision has been extraordinarily successful. The Massachusetts law was enacted in 1888. Connecticut, there- fore, was enabled to profit by the experience of her neighbor and to improve upon the earlier law. In the Massachusetts law no quali- fications on the part of the superintendent were required, either of education or of experience. In Connecticut the superintendent must have had at least five years' successful experience as a teacher or superintendent, or must hold a certificate of approval by the state board of education. Both laws permit two or more towns to unite for the purpose of employing a superintendent for the district. The state of Massachusetts, however, pays to the district one half of such superintendent's salary up to $750, while Connecticut reimburses the district for one half of such salary up to $800. The Connecticut law has a section, which has no counterpart in the Massachusetts law, enabling a town employing not more than ten teachers to apply to the state board of education to appoint a superintendent, the town paying one fourth and the state three fourths of his salary. The num- RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 57 ber of schools being limited to ten, a superintendent of considerable experience may be able to take charge of the schools of such a town in addition to his work in a larger place, thus giving the small country towns the unusual advantage of having supervision of equal efficiency with that of the larger towns. In Other New England States. — The other New Eng- land states have permissive legislation on the subject of union district supervision. Maine and New Hampshire have made remarkable progress in scholastic lines since the enactment of the law; Rhode Island has given it some attention; Vermont, the last state in the group to adopt the system, has just placed a very effective law upon its statute books. Ohio and several other states westward have a few union districts or township districts in the experimental stage. Such districts are unquestionably the most satis- factory supervision units in states under township organ- ization, and may, no doubt, prove satisfactory in states under the mixed county-township system as well. The County Superintendency. — The states which main- tain county superintendents exemplify various stages of evolution in county supervision. Some few have devel- oped the system in a very satisfactory way and attain good results; but a majority of states under county organiza- tion cannot boast such results. County supervision, as now generally practiced, does not discharge the important duties of close, intelligent, helpful supervision. Some of the older states southward have been very neglectful 58 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL of school supervision. There are states in our Union in which, until recently, rural school supervision existed in name only. Arkansas, for example, has been satisfied for years to get along with such incidental supervision as her " county examiners " — men similar to the old New England district supervisors, with whom school inspection was a side issue rather than vocation — cared to give. Fortunately for the future of her schools the state is even now passing from the antiquated examiner system to that of county superintendent. Several of the younger states suffer under similar difficulties. Such a one is Nevada. Here a state legislature, in evident harmony with economy but with utter disregard for the prosperity of the rural schools, passed an act in 1885 abolishing the county superintendency and making district attorneys ex officio county superintendents of schools — an act which was denounced by the state superintendent as " vicious, ret- rograde legislation and a standing reproach to the state." County Supervision as it often Is. — The most perplex- ing thing in the matter of county supervision is the gener- ally large unit. The county, indeed, is as much too large for such purposes as the township is too small. The statement as here made is general and has its exceptions; for there are to be found many counties which certainly are neither too large nor have they too many teachers for one able superintendent to manage. But, averaging RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 59 things up, we find it is just as unreasonable to expect satisfactory results from county supervision as now gen- erally practiced as it was under the old town regime. Teachers who have taught in rural schools, and who are therefore conversant with the facts in the case, agree that the county superintendent, even when qualified and pro- gressive, is unable by reason of circumstances to give them effective assistance in supervision. His perfunctory " calls " once or twice during the school year can hardly be dignified with the name supervision. Such visits too often take the nature of an inquisition to both teacher and pupils, and his departure is welcomed with a sigh of relief. No one in particular is responsible for this condi- tion of affairs. The superintendent is, and remains, a stranger to the average rural child and to many rural teachers. He comes out from the county seat occasionally to criticise, they say, and to show his authority as the duly elected head of the county schools ! But, as has been said, the average superintendent is an official whose tirre is given to drawing warrants, issuing circular letters, compiling statistics, and performing other clerical duties incident to his office. To many superin- tendents the office work appears the most important. Through it they come in touch with the political world which placed them in office, and the commissioners who vote them their pay. The monthly teachers' meeting and the annual teachers' institute are their chief source of 6o THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL contact with their teachers and completes the circle of their annual routine. It is agreed that the county unit is too large; but, then, what can be done about it ? The younger states with their large counties and sparse population and the poorest among the older states, we fear, are destined to struggle along in much the same way that they are now doing for years to come. But this need not be the case with the large number of wealthy, well-populated states under county supervision. Whenever a business man realizes that his business enterprise has grown to such dimensions that he can no longer do the work alone without seriously crippling his business, he immediately casts about for assistance. This is business in the business world. Why should it not be the same in the educational world ? Proposed Remedies. — The really encouraging feature of the whole situation is that educators are fully alive to the seriousness of the situation. Several remedies are proposed. One plan is to furnish the superintendent with competent office help, which would enable him to spend all his time in the field, to visit the schools, visit the patrons, hold township and county school meetings, and organize parents' meetings. In short, it would give him time to lead, to originate, to promote things educational. Another plan is to subdivide the county into two or more supervision districts, as they may be needed; each to be supervised by RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 6l a practical teacher appointed by the county superintend- ent, who shall invariably be held responsible for the con- duct of his appointive deputies. Both plans are certainly feasible and should be given serious trial. What Some States are accomplishing for Better County Supervision. — A number of Wisconsin counties provide clerical assistants for their superintendents. Minnesota advocates the appointment of an assistant county superin- tendent in every county of one hundred and fifty or more districts. The Kansas Educational Commission hopes for the enactment of a law to provide superintendents who have seventy-five or more teachers with clerical help, at least during their busy season. New Jersey appropriates $600 per annum for every township that employs a su- perintendent or, as there called, supervising principal. Oregon furnishes all necessary office help; the same is true of California. North Dakota insists that the super- intendent should have sufficient assistance so that he and his deputies would each have the supervision of not more than fifty schools. From the above and an abundance of like testimony from other states we can get some conception of the head- way making for more satisfactory county supervision. A second phase of this question is the election of the superintendent. The Superintendent must be removed from Party Poli- tics. — It is conceded that rural supervision cannot be put 62 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL on a true professional basis before the election of the superintendent is removed from party politics. The elimi- nation of partisanship is the only guarantee we have that qualifications and real fitness of the candidate would be given just consideration. Now, where the office is political, many of our best teachers deem it unprofessional to enter the contest for office, and the mere political vote-getter walks off with the office. Fortunately this evil is limited mainly to the Western and Southern states, and even here a strong sentiment is at work to correct it. Where township or township- district supervision prevails the superintendent is chosen by the town school committee or joint town district committee. Such election is strictly non-partisan. Even county super- intendents are not always left to popular election. In some states they are chosen by county boards of education; in others by the state board of education; and in still others by the state superintendent. How elected in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. — New Jersey is an example of a state in which the state board of education elects all county superintendents. The latter are looked upon as state officers, and provisions are ac- cordingly made for the payment of their salaries by the state, which is generous in its support of public schools, paying both teachers and superintendents living salaries. County superintendents receive $2000 per annum from the state and an allowance of $350 from the county for RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 63 traveling expenses. In Pennsylvania the school boards of each county meet in mass convention and elect a county superintendent for a three-year term. The method has proved very satisfactory. It removed the office from party politics; placed it directly in the hands of the school officers themselves; and gives them withal an opportunity to come into closer relationship with each other. North Carolina may well serve as another example of a state pursuing a liberal policy in the election of county superintendent. Here he is chosen by the county board of education, without regard to politics. The state super- intendent of public instruction in his interpretation of this section of the revised statutes finds occasion to make use of these ringing words: — Ringing Words from North Carolina. — The board has no more important duty than this, of electing a county superintendent. I beg to urge the observance of the following in the selection of a county superintendent: — (1) Without fear, without prejudice, political or sectarian, having before your eyes only the welfare of the children and the success of the public schools, select the most competent man to be had for the money, choosing him from your county if such a man is to be found there, and if not to be found in the county, seeking him wherever he can be found, as the law permits. (2) If your present county super- intendent possesses the necessary qualifications for a successful ad- ministration of his delicate, difficult, and important duties, as I trust he may, reelect him and give him a chance to show what is in him and to make a greater success of his work, by paying him, if possible, a sufficient salary, under Section 2782, to justify him in giving all his time and thought to the work of supervision, and to justify you 64 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL in requiring him to do this. (3) Take advantage of the law and pay your superintendent as large a salary as your school fund will justify, but be sure that you get more man and more time for more money. Minnesota Plan of Electing Superintendents. — Minne- sota is still another of the many progressive states striving to attain a professional basis in county supervision. Here the office of county superintendent is still political, though it is only a question of time when it shall be removed from party politics. A recent legislative committee of the Minnesota Educational Association recommends the fol- lowing excellent plan as a substitute for the prevailing mode of electing superintendents : — The creation of a county board of education, to be elected at the annual school meeting; such board to be non-partisan; one member of such board to be elected from each county commissioner's district; the term of office to be four years. At the first election odd-numbered districts to elect for two years. Such board to meet four times a year. The members of such board to be paid actual traveling expenses and per diem compensation. Such board to elect the county superintend- ent of schools. The county superintendent to be elected for two years, and to be ex-officio member of the board. County superin- tendents to be paid a minimum salary of $15 per district; provided, however, that in counties of 150 districts or over an assistant super- intendent shall be engaged; provided, also, that county superintend- ents shall receive as traveling expenses a sum not to exceed $3 per district for actual expenses incurred in visiting schools. That ex- county superintendents and present incumbents shall be eligible to office; qualification for office to be the holding of a first-grade certifi- cate or its equivalent. RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 65 Such a plan, as here outlined, presents many advan- tages : — 1. It leaves the election of superintendent in the hands of a non-partisan board. 2. It increases the interest in and importance of the annual school meetings. 3. It provides a living salary, and, in large counties, an assistant superintendent. 4. It prescribes some reasonable qualifications for the office. The Kansas Plan of 1908. — The Kansas Educational Commission offers the following plan for removing the superintendency from party politics, which was reported to the State Teachers' Association held in December, 1908, and adopted by it: — First, the candidates for county superintendent shall be the two legally qualified persons receiving the highest number of votes for such nomination cast by the legal school meetings next preceding the biennial general election; second, the names of two said persons shall be printed in the independent column on the general election ballot; provided that nothing in this provision shall prevent the name of any other candidate from appearing in the independent column in the manner already prescribed by law. The merits of the Kansas plan are in great part similar to those of the Minnesota plan : — 1. The removal of the office from party politics. 2. Women, who in this state may vote in school elec- tions, will have a voice in choosing the candidates for the office. 3. The nominations will be made by the voters suffi- 66 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL ciently interested in school affairs to attend the annual meetings. 4. The annual meetings will be better attended than heretofore, because of this increased responsibility and duty, and will redound to the benefit of the schools. The last, and in some respects the most important, phase of the subject to engross our time is the superintendent's qualifications. Present Conditions : a Lack of Qualifications. — The old New England town superintendents were clergymen, farmers, merchants, doctors, — anything and everything except trained superintendents. The political county superintendents were, and are yet, largely chosen from the ranks of men more apt in manipulating votes at the pri- maries or party conventions than in the pursuits of the teaching profession. Such things should cease to be. The time has come to insist upon a certain degree of quali- fication, fixed by law, for the performance of the impor- tant office of school superintendent. He should at least know as much about the details of school routine as the teachers under his control. But it is a lamentable truth that many of the men who to-day supervise the training of children in rural schools know vastly less about teaching than do their own teachers. Academic and Professional Qualifications of Superin- tendents. — What, then, is a professional school super- intendent? We answer: a well-educated, well-trained teacher, who, partly through study and partly through RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 67 experience, has succeeded in his life-work — viz. in direct- ing teachers and school interests. He should approximate the following academic and professional qualifications which may reasonably be expected : — ■ a. A minimum of a full high school course, or its equiva- lent. This will give him a technical knowledge of all subjects taught in the rural schools, and will furnish, besides, in the subjects studied but not required in the rural schools, a reserve force and breadth of vision which will make him a stronger supervisor for having mastered them. b. A thorough knowledge of the professional subjects which lie at the root of the theory and art of teaching, i.e. psychology and child study, philosophy of education, history of education, methods of teaching, school manage- ment, school law and economics, and practice teaching. c. A teaching experience of at least twenty-one months within the five years immediately preceding his appoint- ment. d. Satisfactory testimonials or other evidence setting forth : (1) his success in conducting recitations, (2) ability as disciplinarian, (3) skill as supervisor (if already tried) , (4) power of organization and administration, and (5) gen- eral business tact. e. A professional certificate granted as a result of a searching examination in academic and professional sub- jects, together with other requirements set forth above. Such legal requirements will protect our schools against the machinations of the politician. They may not keep him from becoming superintendent, perhaps, but they certainly will oblige him to become qualified first. A Summary of what is being done for Rural Supervision. — Lack of space forbids that we should pursue this inter- 68 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL esting subject any farther. Considerable progress has been made along certain lines which will eventually place rural school supervision on a professional plane. The unit of supervision is already satisfactorily adjusted in many states, and many others expect to reach a speedy solution of the problem. Educators everywhere are pretty gen- erally agreed that the superintendency must be removed from party politics. The East generally leaves the choice of superintendent in the hands of a non-partisan board, local or state. Even the West and South, where the office is political, are planning for a change. And, best of all, the entire Union of states seems to stand united in its de- mands for a higher standard of qualifications for the office of superintendent. When these things are con- summated, and not before, will our country boys and girls be brought under a system of supervision as inspiring and wholesome as that now enjoyed by their city cousins. CHAPTER V The Rural School Teacher — his Training The Perplexing Teaching Problem. — Preceding chapters have dealt with the importance of proper organization and administration in rural schools, of the urgent demand for greater liberality in financial support, and the necessity for professional supervision. But the problem of all the problems which await our solution in these same schools is the teaching problem. It would avail but little were all other conditions satisfactory, if the teacher, on whom, after all, the great responsibility of education rests, does not measure up to the required standard. The old saying that " as the teacher, so is the school" is as true to-day as it was a hundred years ago. If we would have our rural schools measure up with the city schools, we must provide as good teachers for the rural districts as may now be found in the cities. And this can only be accom- plished after surmounting many vexing difficulties. Do not misunderstand this statement. All rural teachers are not poor teachers, nor are all rural schools bad. Far from it! Our country districts have thousands of con- scientious, hard-working teachers who have fought their 6 9 70 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL way, through many difficulties, to the professional plane. These are generally progressive and take advantage of every means for self-improvement placed at their disposal. All honor is due them for much really good work already accomplished. For their protection and the welfare of all rural schools the difficulties in the way of satisfactory work must be removed. Of these we have already considered : — i. Poor unit organization and indifferent administra- tion. 2. Insufficient school support. 3. Insufficient supervision. To these we now add : — 4. Indifferent professional preparation of teacher. 5. Low salary. 6. Unsatisfactory tenure of office. 7. Short terms and irregular attendance. 8. Low educational ideals and lack of appreciation of importance of teachers' work. These questions will be discussed in turn, beginning with the teacher's professional preparation. " Born " Teachers and " Made " Teachers. — Some people will never get tired of telling us that " teachers are born, not made," and not altogether without reason, for some innate qualities are essential for the making of, at any rate, the best teachers. That all teachers are not " born " is obvious. The main trouble is that the " born " THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 71 teachers are not born fast enough to supply the ever in- creasing demand. This leaves us the alternative either to " make " teachers or to get along with " makeshift " teachers. We do both. Hundreds of permanent training schools throughout the country are at work " to make " teachers and aid " born " teachers. Unfortunately, how- ever, many so-called teachers of the present day can neither be said to have been " born " or to have been " made." They are neither natural teachers nor professionally trained teachers — they are mere makeshifts, who neither pursue their work for the love of it nor because they are especially equipped, but simply because they must do something. These hangers-on, using teaching as a stepping stone to something better, are the individuals forever throwing ob- stacles in the way of teaching's becoming a real profession. The High Calling of the Teacher. — No one should enter lightly upon the work of teaching, as this is assuredly the most glorious of callings, and also one of the most exacting. Let every one consider well the great oppor- tunities and responsibilities involved in teaching children, in molding their lives, in preparing them for their great heritage. The Pestalozzis and Froebels of history have invariably entered upon the work with prayerful hearts, in full realization of their own unworthiness. Let none of us do less. No young person should venture to teach who is not satisfied of his own fitness for the calling. Certain natural qualifications are essential in the make-up 72 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL of every successful teacher. Here, too, must be added a reasonable degree of academic and professional training. Thus equipped, young men and young women may face the future with fair reason to believe that success will crown their efforts. Our theme is the professional training of rural teachers; but, first, let us enumerate some of the qualifications that every teacher must have to be a worthy teacher: — Natural qualifications : — He must have, — i. A sound body and good health. 2. Good common sense. 3. Natural aptitude and insight into things educational. 4. A social and agreeable nature. 5. Patience, sympathy, and love for children. He must be — 1. Tactful and logical. 2. Genuine, whole-souled, and manly. 3. Frank and unsuspicious. 4. Firm and self-reliant. 5. Altruistic. The mere possession of these natural qualities, while very essential, is not in itself sufficient to make the teacher. There must be added an acquired training : (1) academic and (2) professional. Academic Training. — In general, no person should be permitted to teach school who has not completed a high school course or its equivalent. The high school graduate THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 73 may have pursued many subjects which he will never be called upon to teach in rural schools; but such subjects are certain to furnish him with a valuable reserve store of energy to draw upon as occasion may direct. A teacher so equipped is reasonably safe from the pitfalls and ruts ever threatening his co-worker whose educational horizon is narrower and less distinct. No teacher can get too thorough an academic training. "Thorough mastery of the academic knowledge of sub- jects," says Dr. Levi Seeley, " is absolutely essential, and no methods or school room devices or superficial tactics can take its place. More teachers fail from ignorance of the subject matter than from any other cause." Professional Training. — But if teaching is to be es- tablished on a professional basis, a specific knowledge of the science and art of teaching is indispensable. What person would for a moment think of becoming a surgeon and try his skill upon the human anatomy without first pursuing a course of study in some reputable school of medicine, albeit a college-bred man? We answer: no one. No more, it seems to me, should a teacher, untrained professionally, be permitted to learn his art in the school- room, through experimentation on human minds and souls. Every teacher, indeed, from the ungraded rural school to the college, should know something about the professional subjects — psychology and child study, philosophy of education, history of education, methods 74 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL of teaching, school management, school economics, and school law. Rural Teachers must make the School an Expression of Life on the Farm. — The degree of proficiency required in these subjects will naturally depend upon the kind of school for which the teacher is preparing. It is evident that if all this agitation concerning redirecting and revital- izing the rural schools shall ever produce concrete results, we must have teachers equipped to make the rural school a natural expression of life in the average rural community. Such teachers are not yet very plentiful. As a matter of fact, we are not suffering so much from a dearth of teachers with a good academic preparation, as we are from a lack of teachers professionally trained to take hold of the new trend of education in rural communities. A majority of rural teachers have a fair knowledge of subjects, gained usually in city schools and in city environments. This is an unfortunate circumstance. For it is difficult for young teachers whose very lives are centered, or have been cen- tered, on the city to enter into the spirit of the new rural life. The few teachers who are reared on the farm are no better situated, for they are usually defective both in academic and professional training. Many of the normal schools, while beginning to grasp the significance of the farm movement, have not, up to the present time, made any pro- visions worth mention for training rural teachers; or they are already taxed to their full capacity to supply the de- THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 75 mands for better-paid city teachers. Evidently, it will be necessary to make a radical extension in the normal schools to meet the needs of the rural teacher or to establish alto- gether new training schools for this purpose. It may become necessary to do both. Aids to Teachers already in Rural Schools. — For the present, at least, the task of redirecting and revitalizing the rural schools will fall mostly to teachers who are now engaged in the schools. They have had no particular training in the new education, and must, consequently, get this training as best they can from the various agencies at their disposal. The most important are: (i) summer schools, (2) teachers' institutes, (3) teachers' meetings, (4) read- ing circles, and other work of similar nature. While such agencies cannot be expected to take the place of regular school education they may be sufficient to put the practical teacher in touch with the new problems and fire him with a zeal and desire for better things. Summer Schools. — Since rural teachers as a rule have long summer vacations, the summer school naturally is one of the most valuable aids within their reach. The number of summer schools catering to the needs of teachers is rapidly increasing. Many leading universities and colleges offer vacation courses in theory and practice; but of greatest interest to rural teachers are the short-term courses very generally offered in normal schools. Several 76 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL have added excellent model schools, where rural teachers may be imbued with the spirit of how modern rural life must be lived. Nature study, garden culture, elementary agriculture, art, and even manual training are taught in a direct and practical way. Annually many a teacher enters the professional ranks by way of the summer schools. Teachers' Institutes. — The first teachers' institute, so far as has been recorded, was held in Hartford, Con- necticut, in 1839, by the great schoolman Henry Barnard. Twenty-six young men attended a six weeks' session. J. S. Denman, superintendent of schools for Tompkins County, New York, held a teachers' meeting in 1840 which was the first time the name " institute " was used. Horace Mann seized upon the idea and made it popular in Massachusetts and elsewhere. In our day very many states provide by law for the holding of such institutes in one form or another. They vary in length of time from a few days to a number of weeks; the longer ones being, strictly speaking, summer schools under the control of state departments of education. Teachers' institutes are dominated by the teaching spirit, as most of those in at- tendance are themselves teachers. This contact with able instructors and co-workers from the rural districts does the teacher a world of good. Opportunities are offered for study both of an academic and a professional nature; here, too, he may become acquainted with the latest movements in rural school education. THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 77 Nebraska Junior Normal Schools. — A type of vaca- tion school which partakes alike of the peculiarities of the regular normal school and the teachers' institute is the so- called Nebraska Junior Normal School. It is a successful attempt to bring the normal school right to the doors of the rural population. Eight such schools have been estab- lished at strategic points throughout the state, where they reach many teachers and would-be teachers, living outside the sphere of influence of the regular state normal schools located at Peru and Kearney. In a measure, too, they become feeders for the latter. The annual term of in- struction is " not less than six nor more than eight weeks.' The average size of the teaching corps is nine members. The work is comprehensive and includes a strong course in agriculture. A special feature of the junior normal is the model rural school which, under the law, is main- tained for a specified time in charge of an experienced practice teacher. State Superintendent J. B. Aswell on Institutes and Summer Schools. — Other states are following various plans in summer school and institute work. And every- where is it fraught with importance for rural school prog- ress. State Superintendent J. B. Aswell, of Louisiana, who has had remarkable success in his teachers' institutes and summer schools has this to say of their educational value: — Much of the educational enthusiasm now stirring the people of Louisiana is traceable to the stimulus given through the in- 78 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL stitutes and summer schools. Earnest efforts for better teachers, higher salaries, longer terms, and new schoolhouses were organized in these meetings of the teachers. This spirit was carried to the people of the various communities, and the educational sentiment was crystallized into money which made possible the needed improve- ments. Teachers' Meetings. — The rural teacher who wishes to keep abreast of the profession must be faithful in at- tendance at all county and local educational meetings. The wise teacher will go even farther than this and spend some of his hard-earned money in trips to the annual state and state district meetings. It is money well invested and results in better teaching, and to the teacher, in better professional ranking. The county and local meetings may be made a source of enthusiasm and inspiration to the teacher. New meth- ods are considered, local difficulties are discussed, and pro- fessional spirit is aroused or permanently strengthened. No teacher can continue as a truly successful teacher who neglects to keep up his professional reading. It is just as unreasonable for a teacher to expect this as it would be for a physician or a lawyer to hope to keep abreast of his profession without following carefully the latest periodi- cal output in his respective profession. Let every rural teacher, therefore, read several teachers' journals of state and national repute. Reading Circles. — Then there is the teachers' reading circle. And for many rural teachers this is the only pro- Interior of Country Training School, Western Illinois State Normal School, at Macomb. Mode of conveying normal school students to the above training schooi, which lies one and one-half miles west of the normal school. THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 79 fessional reading available of a practical nature. Thor- oughly organized and rightly managed, it is the source of a world of good. The circle is usually under the control of the state superintendent and a board of managers who arrange the annual course of study and have general over- sight of the work. Local circles are managed by the county superintendent, who becomes, in a great measure, respon- sible for the success or failure of the work. There must be definite system in the readings. The meetings must be regular, the reviews emphatic, the aim in view absolute. Such are a few of the agencies placed at the disposition of rural teachers. Let us now revert to the main question — the training of new rural teachers. This necessitates a brief discussion of the following types of institutions: (1) state normal schools, (2) county training schools, (3) high schools offering normal courses. State Normal Schools and Rural Teachers. — How to provide trained teachers for the rural districts is a question of much moment. The state normal schools should in theory, at least, furnish trained teachers for all schools. Practically, however, they have been unable to do so. The demand for trained teachers in the city and village schools has been such as to give lucrative positions to all normal-trained teachers. The normal schools have con- sumed their energies in this line of work and have had little time to consider rural needs. Indeed, their very courses of study are fashioned to this end. 80 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOI The N.E.A. Normal School Report, Page 29. — But if a majority of the normal schools as now constituted have not been of any great material help to rural teachers, the reason can be found in the demand for city teachers. The normals have only adapted their courses to prevailing demands. Now that the educational ideals are beginning to change, we may expect the normal schools to be prompt in their response. The N.E.A. Committee on Normal Schools comments on the adaptability of these schools in the following language: — The changes that have come to the possibilities and needs have always found the normal school ready to adapt itself to the new con- ditions. The normal school has been so near the public thought all this time that it is more nearly to-day an actual exponent of public sentiment than any other public institution of equivalent magnitude. It is specially sensitive to public demand, and sincerely endeavors to do for the people what is assumed to be essential to prepare teachers for the public schools. Right now, with public sentiment in favor of rural uplift and industrial education in these communities, it is inter- esting to see how readily the normal schools take to the changed or changing conditions. There is a marked desire to be of use, to be of real value to the masses of our nation; to help in doing the most to make all members of our great commonwealth worthy, efficient citizens. Rural Model Schools in State Normals. — As a matter of fact, in normal schools, especially in the Middle West and in the younger states, the demand for rural trained THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 8l 9 1 BASEMENT PRESSURE TANK AND FORCE PUMP Im,: ■ Air • I base FOR mk FLUES ■ • FlG. i. — Foundation plan of model rural school at the State Normal School, Kirksville, Missouri. Outside measurement 36 by 28 feet. Pressure tank and force pump supplies all water for toilets, etc. f* "PoJ^o \ GIRL'S I X Toilet Ol /boys Toilet REAR FURNACE Ground Glass J Tor Flowers' Smoke Fire Place Ventilator Cupboaro School Room rr-tWT-? fRONT Fig. 2. — Floor plan of Kirksville model rural school. Indoor toilets can be added to any rural school, having a good water supply, at an extra cost of $350. G 82 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL teachers is already in a fair way to be met. Model rural schools have been established in conjunction with the state normal schools at Terre Haute, Indiana, Macomb, Illi- nois, Kirksville, Missouri, Hays City, Kansas, and many A-Ooor to Ols Ha.11 BOoor to Boys Hau CDoorto Main Hall O-MAfujflLTRAirmsc C-WashBO'-'l L-Lauatory M-FloorQraj: VNC-Wa'cOuCC rP-FoRccPuMP H-f^fATfRHtATfR N-Soil Pipe CG-Concrhe P'SlPHW S- Sti-w SH- Stairway SF-SnonfFiut HB-VNork Bencm SB- Stone or Bricx VF -Ventilating Flue, Fig. 3. — Section of Kirksville model rural school. other states. At Kirksville the model school building was " designed and constructed to show that a rural school in any part of Missouri can, for the investment of about $350 in addition to the ordinary cost of a good building, have all the conveniences and comforts that can be secured in any city building in the state " (see chapter on Rural School THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 8$ Architecture). It was designed as a model rural school and not as a mere practice school. Children are success- fully transported by covered wagon to and from this school to-day. Students of the normal who expect to teach in country districts learn here through daily observation " the best things which a school board and a good teacher with the best facilities can do in and for a rural school." The model schools at Terre Haute and Macomb are both located in the country and under the most ideal en- vironment. Most competent critic teachers are employed, under whose supervision rural teachers receive the rural school inspiration before ever having put foot on the thresh- old of a real country school. The establishment of model rural schools as adjuncts to all state normal schools, es- pecially in agricultural states, would do a great deal to hasten the day of rural school emancipation. Agriculture in the State Normals. — Courses in agri- culture, which were formerly mere adjuncts to natural science teaching, are now offered in many normal schools. In Georgia, for example, no one can graduate from the state normal school who does not complete the prescribed work in agriculture. In Nebraska conditions seem just as promising. The Nebraska State Board of Education has this to say about teaching agriculture in the state normal schools: — We are teaching it. Not just nature study dubbed agriculture, but really the elements of agriculture with a definite object and 84 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL specific aim in view. Thus we are meeting the imperative demand from the rural communities for teachers trained along these lines. We will send forth teachers that will be able to bring this great sub- ject very close to the people who need it most. It was a little senti- mental at first, but it has grown marvelously, until we are beginning to realize in our state the practical value of this kind of teaching. We are not for one moment aping the great agricultural college con- nected with our splendid state university, but our course of instruction in the normal school is practical and will prepare the teacher in the work of agriculture as it will be taught in the public schools of our state. A Summary of what the State Normals are doing for Agriculture Teaching. — Professor E. E. Balcomb, of Weathersford, Oklahoma, read an instructive paper before the N.E.A. at Los Angeles, in 1907, entitled: " What has been done by Normal Schools and Agricultural Colleges for Popular Education in Agriculture." The paper embodies the results of a careful investigation into the present status of these schools and sheds new light on the remarkable progress made in the preparation of teach- ers of agriculture. It reads in part : — Of the ninety-one state normal schools from which information was received, seventy-five believe in instruction in agriculture, and are either giving it in some form or desire to do so. Of the sixteen not so expressing themselves, nine give good reasons, four give no reasons at all, and only three express themselves as questioning the course or being opposed to it. A summary of Mr. Balcomb's paper shows that sixty-, one state normal schools are actually offering the courses, THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 85 or have made plans to begin next year. Seven of the schools are giving a little agriculture in connection with science courses, nature study, and school gardens, but are preparing for more definite work. Eight others are doing considerable work in connection with school gardens and are planning to extend the work. The remaining forty- six are teaching the elements of agriculture in a more defi- nite way. The work of all is interesting and inspiring. Yet, after all that has been said above about the rural school movement in normal schools, we must not be- come oversanguine as to any great assistance from that quarter. Their chief work will continue to be to furnish our cities and villages with superintendents, principals, and teachers of every grade. Let the rural districts look nearer home for their supply. Let them establish schools especially and solely designed to train rural teachers; or, where this is not yet feasible, add training classes and normal classes to county and other high schools. This, we believe, is the true solution of the problem. County Training Schools in Wisconsin. — Wisconsin is not only the pioneer in this field, but the state has without doubt developed the best training schools for rural teachers now to be found in our country. Sixteen of these institu- tions have been organized and applications are on file from several counties anxious to do likewise. Their one aim is to give " special instruction in the common school branches, and in the management of rural schools, to per- 86 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL sons preparing for rural school work." Here is the vital point — to take the teaching material from the rural dis- tricts to which the teaching product is again returned. The course of study is two years, and is as comprehensive as present rural conditions will permit. The course which is given below is one of the uniform county courses and will give some idea of the subject- matter taught : — First Year First Quarter: Third Quarter: Algebra Algebra Agriculture English History Grammar Primary Constructive Primary Reading and Work Orthoepy Expressive Reading Second Quarter: Fourth Quarter: Algebra Arithmetic Political Geography United States History Composition Spelling and Penmanship Expressive Reading Literary Reading Second Year of the Two-year Course, or the One-year Course for those prepared to take it First Quarter: Third Quarter: Arithmetic United States History Drawing Composition Reading and Orthoepy Literature Physical Geography Psychology Psychology and Pedagogy Practice Teaching THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 87 Second Quarter: Fourth Quarter: Arithmetic United States History Grammar Constitutions Literature School Management and Methods Spelling Practice Teaching State Superintendent C. P. Cary on the Wisconsin Training School. — The influence of the Wisconsin Train- ing School on rural life is most admirably expressed by State Superintendent C. P. Cary, who says : — The county training schools are special institutions designed to meet a special and hitherto unmet need. The teachers in the country schools, prior to the establishment of the county training schools, were not receiving training directly designed to prepare them for their chosen work. They gained their knowledge of the rural schools by painful and often costly experience. They became teachers at the expense of their pupils and of the taxpayers who employed them. As a natural result the efficiency of the district schools was on the decline. It was high time that the lawmakers and educators of the state directed their attention to the relief of this highly important branch of the educational service of the state. The establishment of the county training schools has done much toward the placing of the rural schools in a healthy growing condition. In counties where the county training schools have been established, new interest has been aroused in all matters pertaining to rural school education. The very fact that taxpayers and members of the county board have had to provide means for carrying on this work has called their attention directly to the importance of securing the best possible instruction for the children in rural communities. The "little red schoolhouse" is again coming into prominence, and is once more a place about which the interest of the people of the districts center. 88 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL County Normal Training Classes in Michigan. — Mich- igan has adopted a system of county normal training classes which promises much for better rural schools. The law provides that such classes may be organized as adjuncts to already existing schools. A special teacher, competent to instruct in the professional subjects, is placed in charge of the work. He receives assistance from the other teachers of the school where the class is organized. All expense in maintaining the class is borne by the state. Up to the year 1906-1907 thirty-two train- ing classes had been organized, with a present attendance of 500. Moreover, nearly 700 graduates have already gone forth to spread the gospel of the new education. "I consider the establishment of the county training class one of the greatest steps educationally that has been taken in Michigan in recent years," says State Superin- tendent Patrick H. Kelley. " Trained teachers are go- ing into schools that heretofore could not get them, and the improvement of the teaching force of the state is one of the most vital matters in connection with our educa- tional system." We now come to the more general discussion of normal training in high schools. Training Classes in New York High Schools. — The very earliest professional training of teachers in our country was done in New York State under the legislative enactment of 1834. It provided for the establishment of THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 89 eight academies where common school teachers could be trained. The schools designated in the act received $500 for books and equipment, and, besides, an annual appropriation of $400 for maintenance. In these acade- mies we find the origin of teachers' training classes, which are likely to continue for some time the chief source of supply for trained rural teachers. These private academies became public high schools, preserving their early granted normal privileges. At the present there are 113 such training classes, one for each school commissioner district. They are under the absolute jurisdiction of the state department of education, and form separate and distinct departments in the high school where they are maintained. To get and retain a training school the local board of edu- cation must fulfill certain specific requirements in regard to qualifications of special instructor offered, and salary to be paid him; practicability of training department placed at disposal of class; opportunities provided the class for observation and practice teaching, etc. Aside from thorough drill in the academic subjects, the training classes have ample opportunity to observe expert teaching in the grades and partake in practice teaching under expert critics. Students who pass their final ex- aminations receive convertible three-year certificates to teach. At present nearly 1200 trained teachers annually graduate from the New York training classes and enter upon rural school work. As a result incompetent teachers 90 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL are being driven out, educational standards and ideals are raised, and the new teachers are beginning to receive a compensation commensurate with their preparation and worth. Other States which maintain High School Training Classes. — Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, and Vermont are other states giving normal training in high schools a legal status. The first two states have but recently organized training classes on lines similar to the New York plan explained above, and have now in the schools many hundred young people preparing for rural teaching. Both states have adopted excellent courses of study con- taining a liberal amount of instruction in the professional subjects, including observation work, and, in Nebraska, the elements of agriculture. Kansas also grants an an- nual aid to its accredited high schools of a sum not to exceed $500. Minnesota and Vermont have offered normal instruction in high schools for some years; but unfortunately the instruction has usually been subordi- nated to the other high school courses, and treated as a side issue. As could be expected, the results have not been very gratifying. Such other states as may in the future plan to give normal training in high schools should invariably adopt the plan of separate and distinct normal departments in every respect coordinate with the other high school departments, and responsible to the state superintendent and his inspectors. THE RURAL SCHOOL TEACHER — HIS TRAINING 91 There is strong feeling in educational circles against a normal invasion of secondary schools. This is not without foundation. And yet we must have these teachers for the rural districts. The 11,200,756 boys and girls there have rights, too. Then, last but not least, it is already proved that the teachers trained under the high school acts go on and get more training after they have spent some years successfully as rural teachers. It will ulti- mately cause more of our young people to attend normal schools, colleges, and universities than any other known expedient. This much for the training of rural school teachers; now the matter of adequate compensation. CHAPTER VI Salaries and Tenure of Rural Teachers General Statement. — All thinking persons will agree that the permanence of democratic institutions depends solely upon public school education. The greatness of any nation is measured in the light of the thoroughness and vitality of its educational institutions, which can neither be greater nor better than the teachers who are the potent factors in fashioning and promoting these institutions. Any nation which undervalues the importance of the teach- ing profession and fails to give it adequate support and social recognition undermines its own national vitality. The greatest and most progressive nations in the world have the best school organizations, and they recognize the teaching fraternity by placing the teachers above pecuniary want and by granting them superior social recognition in the community. In face of such statements as the above, Americans who love their country have every reason to feel profoundly moved. We may be optimistic enough to believe that the time shall never come, as some prophets of ill omen have ventured, that our public school will be nothing but "a 92 SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 93 weak, inefficient make-believe, where senseless ' isms ' and shoddy work will predominate"; but, at the same time we are not so blind as not to see that, in many re- spects, school conditions with us are not on a parity with existing conditions in leading European countries. It is particularly true that the American people has failed to give its educators the adequate pecuniary support and social recognition commensurate with their services. To consider the salary question: — Compensation of European and American Teachers Com- pared. — As a first step, let us compare European and American teachers. The following table gives the average annual salaries paid male and female teachers in four leading countries according to the latest available figures: — England and Wales (elementary only) $570 per annum Germany (elementary only) .... 388 per annum Austria (elementary only) .... 372 per annum Holland (elementary only) .... 368 per annum To make the table a just basis for comparison we must keep in mind : — (1) The greater purchasing power of the European equiv- alent of American money; (2) The enjoyment in Europe generally of free house and grounds, fuel, light, etc.; (3) The granting of certain perquisites where the teacher acts as church chorister, etc.; (4) The European system of teachers' pensions; (5) The tenure of office during life or good behavior; (6) Finally, the teachers' prominent social standing. 94 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Now, in comparison, consider the following table, which gives the average monthly salaries paid elementary and secondary teachers in the United States. The figures are from the report of United States Com- missioner of Education Elmer E. Brown, for 1906: — Table i Men Women All 2 3 4 $56.31 $43-8o $50.04 North Atlantic Division . . . South Atlantic Division . . . South Central Division . . . North Central Division . Western Division 64-95 44-35 46.35 57-99 72.30 44.11 33-54 38.10 44-17 57-o9 61.69 36.26 4I-50 49.08 59.18 Conclusion Drawn. — The average salary for all in the United States is $50.04 per month. This when multiplied by 7.5 months (our school year for 1906- 1907 was, to be exact, 150.6 days) gives a salary for the nation of just $375.30. When we consider that these figures include the salaries of superintendents, principals, and other teachers in 9560 high schools, public and private, bearing in mind as we do so that his salary is all the compensation he gets, — barring the sentimental, — the conclusion drawn is that the American teacher is paid very much less than teachers elsewhere in the civilized world. SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 95 Now study Table 2 : — Table 2 Country United States England and Wales Scotland . . . Italy Ireland .... France .... Finland . . . Norway ... Russia .... Switzerland . . Sweden .... Denmark . . . Austria .... Hungary . . Germany ... Teachers in 1906 Men Women 09,179 356,884 26,200 66,300 4,000 7,000 18,600 31,800 6,000 7,000 56,370 49,400 1,500 1,170 3,852 2,234 38,700 22,400 6,400 3,600 4,922 2,649 4,500 20,000 51,500 20,000 26.-365 5,938 24,027 22,513 Per Cent Women 76.4 71-5 63.6 63.0 53-8 46.7 44.0 38.0 36.0 36.0 35-o 28.0 28.0 18.4 15-4 The table conveys the startling intelligence that the United States employs a very much larger per cent of women teachers than do European countries. More than three fourths of all our teachers are women. Reasons for Better Salaries in Europe. — Now we are ready to seek the cause, to ask the reason why European countries pay better salaries and why they retain a much larger percentage of men in the teaching profession than we are able to do. In Europe teaching is as much a pro- fession as is law or medicine or theology. Every teacher g6 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL is a professional teacher. No one may teach who has not completed a strict training course and passed a searching examination. The state has trained him, and it now puts him in a position to make a comfortable living for himself and his family. Every hamlet and city feels keenly that education is absolutely essential to success in life. After Napoleon had left Prussia prostrate at Jena its school- masters put the state on its feet again and in time pushed it to leadership in the empire. Since the disastrous war with Prussia and Austria, in 1864, little Denmark has more than regained in population and wealth what was lost in that disaster, chiefly through its schoolmasters, who have been indefatigable in the educational campaigns which have placed the kingdom in the forefront of nations intel- lectually and industrially. It is little wonder that teachers have a superior social ranking in such countries. Scholar- ship is respected and reverenced alike by high and low; all classes look up to the teaching fraternity because of its importance to the State. To recapitulate: Teaching is a profession in leading countries of Europe; none may teach there who is not pro- fessionally prepared. Teaching is for significant reasons held in high esteem. Teachers accordingly receive salaries commensurate with time and expense of preparation and dignity of position. Salaries of Teachers and Other Workers Compared. — The comparative salary argument is not the highest argu- SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 97 ment which may be used for increasing teachers' salaries; but it does answer the purpose we have in mind — viz. to emphasize in glaring reality how poorly teachers are paid in comparison with public workers generally. We have already seen that the latest report of the Commis- sioner of Education places the average annual salary for all teachers in our public schools at $375.30. Reports for thirty cities in every part of the country place the average annual salary for ordinary street laborers at $512.45, which is $137.15 more than the average for all teachers in the United States. Table 3 Av. Wages St. Laborers MOLDERS' Min. Wage Elem. Teacher Min. Salary Cincinnati Cleveland Minneapolis New Haven New Orleans Peoria Philadelphia Pittsburg Racine St. Louis St. Paul $603.00 493-50 480.00 555-oo 534-oo 481.00 480.00 5°3-oo 525-00 450.00 450.00 450.00 697.50 $825.00 960.00 900.00 864.00 825.00 900.00 900.00 870.00 900.00 855.00 864.00 864.00 1050.00 $552.00 400.00 475.00 450.00 300.00 3i5-oo 350.00 470.00 350.00 325.00 400.00 400.00 55 -°° $528.87 $901.70 $429-13 9 8 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Table 3 illustrates this point further. It compares the annual earnings of street laborers and laborers in job- bing and machine foundries with elementary teachers in fifteen cities of the United States. The comparison speaks for itself. Table 4 Section Black- smiths Carpen- ters 1 Fore- men Paint- ers Machin- ists • Men T'ch'rs New England . . $67.17 $58.33 $82.53 $73-66 $58.50 $49.83 $57-75 Middle States . . 65.00 56-33 97-50 52.00 60.66 45-50 50.10 Southern States 71-5° 56-33 91.00 58.50 45-5o 49-32 Central States . . 71-5° 56-33 91.00 58.5o 45-5o 49-32 Pacific States . . 80.16 78.00 60.66 62.36 Average . . . $69.76 $55-75 $90.27 $62.83 $63.26 $48.62 $48.77 The above table, taken from the Ninth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Dakota, is based on figures from the 1900 U. S. Census Report and deals with the subject by sections of the country. The table on the opposite page is reproduced, by per- mission, from the Third Annual Report of the Education Department of New York State. It compares in a graphic way the average annual compensation of male assistants in secondary schools outside the cities and organized wage workers throughout the state. : Foremen in machine shops. 1 All other occupations, including those in which women are engaged. SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 99 A teacher has to spend much time and money in prepara- tion for his work, and yet in the largest and one of the most progressive states in the country brewery employees actually earn a better living than he. The same is the case universally, it seems. Table 5 1 HUNDREDS 5 1Q Dollars MEN ASSISTANTS 716.95 BREWERY EMPLOYEES 722.28 COOPERS 725.04 PAINTERS & DECORATORS 750.38 R. R. TRAINMEN 784.40 ELECTRICAL WORKERS 799.50 IRON MOULDERS 844.74 BOILERMAKERS 847.12 COMPOSITORS 882.20 R. R. FIREMEN 892.52 CARPENTERS & JOINERS 901.62 STONECUTTERS 917.44 PAPER HANGERS 921.00 LETTER CARRIERS 923.78 ROOFERS & SHEET METALWORKERS 948.64 Salaries paid Rural Teachers in Various Parts of the Country. — Let us now turn our attention more partic- IOO THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL ularly to salaries paid in rural schools. So little attention has been paid to this feature of school maintenance that figures are hard to get and are more or less unreliable. Despite this we have ventured to compile Table 6, which will give the reader some idea of the subject. The states are picked at random, two from each of the five geographical divisions of the United States. The length of school year and monthly and annual salaries are given. It appears from the table that the extreme East makes the poorest showing, which is explainable in the rapid disin- tegration of rural population in those parts and in the rapid growth of cities. This leaves many depleted and impover- ished districts with scarcely a handful of pupils. Nothing but starvation salaries can be paid in such communities. The salvation of these small schools assuredly lies in con- solidation. The Western division shows up to best advan- tage; but it should be remembered, too, that living expenses are somewhat higher in the West. Of course the aver- ages for the United States as set forth in the table are not final, since only ten states are considered; but the figures are not far from correct and will answer our purpose well enough. We pay rural teachers throughout the United States on an average less than $300 per annum! Think of it! we expect these underpaid men and women whose best ener- gies are consumed with the bread and butter problem, whose freshness and vitality early become blighted at the SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS IOI prospect of the barren future opening out before them — we expect them to give, to impart, all the best that they have in them to our school children ! We certainly expect much, and as a recompense, as a salarium, we give — $296.93! Fortunately, it may be said in justice to thou- sands of patient, conscientious rural teachers that the average school board receives much more than it pays for. Table 6 Division State Average Number of School Months Average Monthly Salary Average Yearly Salary North Atlantic . South Atlantic . South Central North Central . Western . . . United States Maine .... Vermont Maryland . . . North Carolina . Louisiana . . . Texas .... Minnesota . Indiana .... Colorado . . California . 6.25 7-4 9-3 4-3 7.0 5-° 7.0 7-i 6-5 8-5 6.84 $24.00 26.00 35.6o 30.24 42.89 50-54 43-63 48.46 53-52 72-35 $42.72 $150.01 192.40 33 I -°8 130.03 300.23 . 253-i6 305-41 344.08 347.88 614.98 $296.93 How the Rural Teacher makes Ends Meet. — It is often a puzzle to know just how these teachers can make ends meet. Take the New England teacher, for example, she who receives the princely salary of $196.65 per annum, a sum which is considerably less than that paid her sister drudge at the cotton mills. She must make a respectable 102 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL showing, be public-spirited and open-handed, and dress well. How does she do it? In Kansas women teachers in the rural schools get an average of $40 per month for a school term of six and one half months, which gives them an annual income of $260. Miss A. is one of these teachers. She has kept accurate account of income and outlay. This annual budget, as she is pleased to call it, appears below, with her permission. Her school, however, is considerably above the average for the state and nation. Others fare much worse than she. Miss A. is one of the really good teachers in Atchison county, Kansas. She teaches in what is termed a good district. The fol- lowing is an honest account of her finances and time for the school year 1907-1908: — Income (8 months at $40) $320.00 Cost of Board and Lodging $ 96.00 Dress 68.45 Institute Expenses (4 weeks) i5-8o Reading Circle Books 2.12 School Journals 2.80 Car fare — Teachers' Meetings 7.25 Other "Self -improvements" (books and 3 theater tickets) 5-75 Necessary Incidentals u-43 $209.60 209.60 Balance $110.40 SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 103 Total Vacation Christmas Holidays 2 weeks Attended Institute during June . 4 weeks Rested after Strain of 8 months . 2 weeks Did the Winter's Sewing .... 2 weeks 16 weeks 10 weeks 10 weeks Clerked in Department Store 6 weeks Drew from Savings for Summer Living Expenses, $21.45 Bal. at end of School Year $88.95 There are those who allege that we cannot as a nation afford to pay larger salaries than we do at present. Look at these figures, they represent some of our actual annual expenditures : — Alcoholic Beverages $1,610,000,000 National Government Appropriations for 1908 . . 1,000,000,000 Beer 853,000,000 Tobacco 800,000,000 National Education 310,000,000 Army and Navy, Running Expenses 200,000,000 Pensions to Old Soldiers 142,000,000 Wine 106,000,000 Or arrange three of these more graphically thus: — PUBLIC EDUCATION. TOBACCO INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 310,000,000 800,000,000 1,610,000,000 . iV 104 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Education Bill vs. Drink and Smoke Bill. — As a nation we are rich beyond the wildest dreams of a Midas. Con- servative statistics place our national wealth (1906) at $100,000,000,000, — a figure too large for human com- prehension, — with an income of $24,000,000,000. Of this vast sum we actually drink up annually $1,610,000,000, or about $1 in every 1 5 produced. In the same way we burn up in tobacco, including cigarettes, $800,000,000, or $1 in every 30 produced. But we spend during the same period only $310,000,000 for national education, or $1 in every 78 produced. The per capita expenditure for the items is: — Intoxicating Liquors $19.10 Tobacco 9.49 Public Education 3.67 In face of these figures we all know that we can easily spend more for national education. If we were wise, we would invest our annual expense column and spend for education the $19.10 per capita which we now drink up. Then in a short while our national surplus would mount up into billions upon billions of dollars. The nation gets back a hundred fold, yes, many hundred fold, the amount invested in education, — and in teachers' salaries, — and it gets it back not alone in wealth, but in that which is much better, and which cannot be reckoned in terms of dollars and cents, viz. culture and morality, wisdom and happiness. SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 105 Low Rural Taxation. — Now, how about rural expen- diture? Are the rural child and the rural teacher getting a square deal ? Do rates of taxation as levied in the coun- try compare favorably with the rates for villages and cities ? The answer comes: The rural districts where teachers are paid the poorest levy much lower rates upon a much greater taxable wealth than do villages and cities. Let us illustrate this by a series of diagrams. The first one gives the total rural and city school enrollment of children : — Rural 11,200,757 (67-3 per cent) City 5,441,214(32.7 percent) The second diagram gives the total annual expenditure for school purposes in the two classes of schools : — Rural $140,242, 7Q5 (45.6 per cent) City 167,522,864 (54.4 per cent) Next we have the total amount invested for school pur- poses : — Rural $254,134,181 (32.4 per cent) City 528,993,959 (67.6 per cent) Finally, most striking of all, the amount annually ex- pended for the education of each child, rural and city: — Rural $12.52 City 30.78 Superintendent 0. J. Kern, on Rural School Mainte- nance. — The World's Work recently sent the following 106 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL inquiry to a number of distinguished educators: " What new subject or new method or new direction of effort or new tendency in educational work is of most value and significance and now needs most emphasis and encourage- ment? " Many striking replies were printed in the issue of July, 1908; one of the most suggestive is the following from the pen of O. J. Kern, superintendent of schools, Winnebago county, Illinois, and withal one of the most ardent advocates of the New Education in our country. He says : — The fundamental consideration is that the farmer must spend more money on the education of his children and must spend it in a better way to meet the changing conditions of country life. This proposition is the sine qua non in the consideration of any advance in the country school interest over the United States. It is the duty of educational leaders to demonstrate to farmers that a new educational ideal must obtain and that the increase of expenditure will pay. Superintendent Kern speaks truly. The twentieth century must make large demands of the farmers. The district school cannot continue its haphazard teaching. It must hereafter teach the farmer boys and girls both to do things and to wish to do things. This kind of teaching takes capable teachers, and to get them and to keep them in the rural districts takes better salaries and greatly increased taxation. The Law of Salary Regulation. — The law of salary regulation, which is of overshadowing importance to SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 107 teachers and the public alike, and which should be under- stood therefore by all, may be stated thus: (1) If the earning capacity of teachers is not greater than the meager salaries they get, then the nation's life is endangered. The education of the American of to-morrow is too important, too sacred a task to intrust to persons who cannot earn more than an ordinary scullion or a slaughter house employee. (2) If the earning capacity of teachers is greater than the salaries they get, the teachers of great earn- ing capacity will gradually shift to callings where the pay is commensurate with their earning capacity. This shift- ing will continue until it reaches an equilibrium in poor teachers and poor salaries. In this case, too, is the nation's welfare endangered. In any event, the only salvation lies in increased salaries. No doubt there are many teachers in the calling who do not earn more than they get. On the other hand, hundreds of thousands of teachers have been earning vastly more than they have been getting. Many of the best teachers — especially men — are leaving the profession for more remunerative work, often driven to take this step against their own wishes by sheer want. Unless a halt is called the ranks will become so depleted and the quality of teach- ers will deteriorate to such an extent that the public school may become a byword and a reproach. The Threatened " Feminization" of the Schools. — Men teachers are entering other callings in such numbers as io8 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL to threaten the profession with feminization. The story of the male exodus is clearly apparent in Table 7. Table 7. — Number and Sex of Teachers — Percentage of Male Teachers State or Territory Whole Number of Dif- ferent Teachers Employed Percentage of Men Teachers Men Women Total 1870- 71 1879- 80 1889- 90 1899- 1900 1905- 6 1 % 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 United States 109179 356884 466,063 41.0 42.8 34-5 29.9 23.6 North Atlantic Divi- sion .... South Atlantic Divi- sion .... North Central Divi- sion .... South Central Divi- sion .... Western Division . 16599 17396 27008 42016 6160 100055 36505 41612 153303 25409 I 16654 53901 68620 I953I9 31569 26.2 63.8 67-5 43-2 45-° 28.8 62.5 67.2 41.7 40.3 20.0 49.1 57-5 32.4 3" 18.4 40.7 47-4 28.3 24.7 14.2 32.2 39-3 21.5 19-5 Of the whole number of teachers employed 356,884 are women, and only 109,179, or just 23.6 per cent, are men. In 1879, 42.8 per cent were men; in 1889, 34.5 per cent; in 1899, 29.9 per cent; and in 1905, 23.67 per cent. This state of affairs is almost serious enough to be classed as a national calamity. No one wishes to undervalue the immense influence of women teachers in the educational field. At the same time nascent manhood requires the in- fluence of and contact with masculine teachers. Professor SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 109 Miinsterberg, of Harvard, can see nothing but disaster come from our peculiar dilemma. The influence of women teachers on the male youth, he believes, is such as to feminize him in a startling degree. He says in part : — The immediate outcome of that feminine mental type is woman's tact, aesthetic feeling, her instinctive insight, her enthusiasm, her sympathy, her natural wisdom and morality; but on the other side, also, her lack of clearness and logical consistency, her tendency to hasty generalization, her mixing of principles, her undervaluation of the abstract and of the absent, her lack of deliberation, her readiness to follow her emotions. Even these defects can beautify the private life, can make our social surroundings attractive, and soften and complete the strenuous, earnest, and consistent public activity of the man; but they do not give the power to meet these public duties without man's harder logic. If the whole national civilization should receive the feminine stamp, it would become powerless, and without decisive influence on the world's progress. At the outset we showed that the reason why Europe has better schools and pays teachers better than we do in the United States lies (i) in higher professional require- ments, and (2) in stronger popular appreciation of the teacher's services and calling. The reason why we do so poorly by our teachers is evidently our failure to appre- ciate these salient points. Teaching must become a Profession. — Teaching must become a profession in the United States the same as law, medicine, and theology. Perhaps it may be considered such already, in theory. There certainly is a science of IIO THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL teaching, since educational principles have long been formulated and classified. Teaching has created its own pedagogical literature. Likewise, provision has been made for its study as a science and an art. The lines are being drawn closer all the time. Teachers, like other pro- fessions, are organizing into associations for the pur- pose of protecting their interests and advancing their profession. But if we are willing to consider teaching a profession theoretically, in actual practice it can scarcely be dignified with the name. We have some professional teachers, it is true, though, unfortunately, the vast majority are to all practical purposes untrained. Here is the mischief. Lawyers and physicians hedge themselves about with restrictions and laws which in effect exclude quackery and make-believe from their respective fields. Teachers have not been insistent enough in demanding higher stand- ards of preparation; and certain it is that teaching will not become a profession in practice until it ceases to be a temporary makeshift and stepping-stone to something better. The standards must be raised. The individual teacher must get a stronger grasp on the professional sub- jects; he must study education in its historical setting and in relation to present social conditions. He must, in short, put himself abreast of the times; he must himself have, and be ready to give others, the broader knowledge es- sential in a democracy such as ours. SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS III Some states, we are rejoiced to know, have already taken advanced ground in the matter of professional re- quirements of their teachers. Thus, in one state in the Middle West no one may teach in the public schools — city or rural — who has not had at least twenty weeks' profes- sional training. In another state in the same section of the country the requirement is one year (thirty-six weeks) of professional work. The results have been very grati- fying. The indifferent, unprogressive teachers have already dropped by the wayside and given place to pro- fessional successors. At first this caused a shortage of teachers; but the short supply and brisk demand have resulted in largely increased salaries and in new vitality being infused into school affairs in these states. Let other states do as well by their teachers, and let them do it speedily. The Teacher's Social Recognition — on what it Depends. — It may seem almost trite to suggest a certain relation- ship between low salaries and inferior social recognition. And yet it is undeniable that with the average American money is a measure of success. It isn't that he cares for the money itself so much, but rather what it stands for. Judged by this criterion, the teacher's career needs the backing of largely increased salaries to give it a touch of respecta- bility and social recognition. In a people so material- istic as the American, it is really questionable if scholarship for its own sake will attain the attitude of reverence with 112 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL which it is endowed in Europe, at any rate, for a long time to come. Meanwhile scholarship will continue to be measured by its market value — and what this shall be will depend greatly upon the teachers themselves. Enlighten the Public. — The public is not altogether to blame for present conditions. The teachers themselves have hardly realized the shameful injustice worked the school children in a social system which will tolerate the expenditure of over two billion dollars annually for intox- icants and tobacco, while it gives all public education only three hundred million. The plain duty of the teacher is to inform himself of the facts, and then in no uncertain manner launch an " educational campaign " to enlighten his patrons and give them no peace till they realize the situation and act. No apologies are necessary, for the cause is the best in the world. The public needs such enlightenment; but let them once get awake to the real- ization of school needs and reforms will be sure to follow. Indeed, the many school improvements brought about in certain quarters lately have all resulted from persistent, organized agitation by determined teachers. Occasionally one finds sections of the country where people are so lamentably unthinking and parsimonious in school expenditure that nothing short of law can make them open their pocketbooks. The state is vitally in- terested in the education of all its subjects. If, therefore, in a given community local pride or local intelligence is SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 113 dead, it becomes the plain duty of the state to take the initiative and compel the unthinking community to do their duty by obliging them to pay a certain minimum salary prescribed by law. Enact Minimum Salary Laws. — Six states, to our knowl- edge, have lately placed such laws upon their statute books. The results have been all that the most optimistic could ask. Wherever the law is in operation the verdict is better salaries, better teachers. Indiana reports an increase of 36.2 per cent in salaries in three years since the law went into operation. The minimum salary law passed by Mary- land in 1904 has had the effect to increase the salaries of 1500 teachers, ranging from 5 per cent to 30 per cent, and in the opinion of the state superintendent " has had a most salutary effect." In North Dakota the state legislature enacted a $45 minimum salary law in 1904, which " has done much to bring up the scale of wages." The state superintendent even urges that the rate be raised to $50 for second grade teachers. Ohio has increased her salaries from a monthly average of $35 to a minimum of $40. This means an annual increase in salary for elementary teachers of more than $1,000,000. Pennsylvania has not been able to go so far as Ohio. Her minimum is placed at $135 for a minimum of seven months. " The minimum salary law," says State Superintendent Shaeffer, " has increased salaries over the entire state." West Virginia, where salaries used to be proverbially low, has established a 114 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL minimum scale of $35, $30, and $25 for first, second, and third grade certificates respectively. Encouraged by such reports as these, teachers' organi- zations in many states have begun systematic campaigns for better salaries. The immediate outlook for generally increased salaries is bright indeed. Before closing the chapter we must say a word about the teacher's tenure of office. By this we do not mean the number of years spent in the service as a teacher — for we are agreed that the professional teacher makes teaching his life work — but we mean the length of time spent as teacher in the same community. The discussion relates to rural teachers only. A Long Tenure for Rural Teachers. — It is a palpable fact that rural teachers seldom teach in the same district more than one or two terms. They are peripatetic by nature, almost; and like the journeyman carpenter they can never rest, but must ever so often pick up their kit and move on to new fields. Thinking people will see that if rural teachers are to exert a real influence in the com- munity where they teach and become a blessing to the farm child and the farm home, this pernicious practice must end. The tenure must become longer. When a district gets a good teacher it must pay that teacher living wages, and it should, if at all possible, enter upon a contract of two or SALARIES AND TENURE OF RURAL TEACHERS 115 more years' duration. The ideal system would be for the teacher to make teaching in a given community his life work. Then he could become a power for good, and establish himself as the legitimate leader and director of educational and social interests for the whole country- side. Our country districts have no such inspirational heads now and are much the worse because of it. In Germany and Denmark, by way of illustration, rural teachers often spend a lifetime in a single school. Several generations grow up under their instruction and go forth from the roof tree of their school to bless these school- masters and to teach their children in turn to revere them. They are paid enough to make a fair living and to be free from the many economic cares which are so prevalent in the profession on this side of the Atlantic. It is important for the ultimate solution of the rural school problem that its friends work with might and main to the end that rural school tenures be greatly lengthened. CHAPTER VII Rural School Buildings: Sanitation and Archi- tecture Spiritualization of Rural Life. — A new atmosphere of material and spiritual thrift is gradually settling upon our rural communities. Pioneer life with all its attendant hardships and trials has come and gone. The early period of settlement has been succeeded by a period of develop- ment and growth. Life in many rural communities is indeed becoming " spiritualized." This manifests itself in untold ways. Better and more commodious houses, great towering barns, well-kept lawns and close-trimmed hedgerows, flowers, shrubs and trees — all bespeak the growing love for the beautiful. But in this march for better things, in this reaching out after the aesthetic and ennobling in life, the rural school has not kept abreast of the times. Unless it undergoes great changes in the near future it will surely cease to be an im- portant agency in rural progress. So long as the settlers lived in log cabins and read at night by the light of a pine knot or dwelt on prairie and plain in houses built of sod and clay, and used the accumulation from the buffalo haunts for fuel, log houses and sod shanties did very well indeed for school purposes. They were in full harmony 116 RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 117 with the environment. But now it is otherwise. Now our farm homes are copying the comforts and conveniences of their city neighbors, except in school matters only. The Rural Schoolhouse of Song and Story. — In city and village school architecture has kept pace with the march of city life. Modern schoolhouses may be seen in every hamlet, while many cities boast veritable palaces for school purposes. In rural districts architecture is yet in its early stages. Well-equipped, modern buildings are be- ginning to appear in some sections of the country, we are rejoiced to know. But, everything considered, such evi- dences of progress are the exception rather than the rule. Communities comprising wealthy farmsteads which are supplied with everything that a twentieth-century civiliza- tion can offer in the way of convenience and luxury are yet largely content to get along with what they have — the " little red schoolhouse " of New England or the proverbial, rectangular box with entrance at one end and tumble-down chimney at the other, so familiar in the West. Time has dragged in rural districts since Whittier sang his immortal In School Days : — Still sits the schoolhouse by the road, A ragged beggar sunning; Around it still the sumachs grow, And blackberry vines are running. Alas ! it is with us yet, forlorn and unkempt. Weeds and brambles still thrive and twine in wild confusion outside, 1 1 8 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL except where many pattering feet have worn the ground to dust! Is it not sad that communities which use excellent busi- ness sense in other matters refuse to see that the school buildings where the young are initiated into all that is good and beautiful and most worth living for in life must be in harmony with these teachings and not devoid of the very attributes which the teacher strives to make part of the child's life? Need any one be surprised that the poet sings of " feet that creep slow to school " when he con- templates the ugly, uninviting structure, wind-swept and forlorn, set in some fence corner, exposed to summer sun and winter blast, where the child must needs spend many hours and days and weeks for many years of his life? Verily, it is not surprising that many children have so little regard for the district school ! State Law to prescribe Rules for Construction of Sani- tary Schoolhouses. — Perhaps the most important event in the district's history is the planning and building of the new schoolhouse. Many boards and school com- mittees do not seem to realize the significance of this, so that quite commonly one finds even recent structures built without regard for the essential elements of light- ing, heating, and sanitation. Financial limitations may sometimes be an excuse, though usually it is due to a lack of knowledge of the essentials in schoolhouse con- struction. RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS II9 A case in point came to the writer's notice a short time ago. A schoolhouse was struck by lightning and burned to the ground — a good riddance indeed, as it was an old eyesore. The board immediately drew plans and specifi- cations for a new building, filing them at the house of one of the members, where the bids were received. Investiga- tion showed that the new building was to be erected on lines identical with the old. Not a single improvement of any sort was called for except that the new house was to be painted drab with white trimmings instead of all white as before! And this in a wealthy community whose taxpayers would have been glad to pay for a modern build- ing. It was clearly a case of ignorance on the part of the board. Every state should pass laws to put an end to such mal- administration. Let them be to the effect that hereafter no school district shall be allowed to erect any new school building or remodel an old building without first submit- ting complete plans and specifications to some competent authority (say, state board of health together with an able architect appointed by the state superintendent) for ap- proval. Some state boards of education have shown praise- worthy zeal in furnishing, in pamphlet form, a series of sug- gestive plans and specifications, varying in cost from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, which embody all the latest improvements in school architecture. Placed in the hands of county superintendents and other super- 120 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL visors, such plans will do a world of good and lend new im- petus to modern school construction. Choice of Site. — The first step is to choose a site. The essential thing to keep in mind is that the best to be found is none too good. The location should be as central as the contour of the country will permit, though it would be unwise to sacrifice other requisites, such as soil, sightli- ness, and the like, to the single item of central location. In any case the location should be sightly. The outlook should, if possible, be the most beautiful in the district, well removed from the disturbing influences of railroad tracks, mines, and manufacturing plants. A low site and poor drainage is not to be considered for a moment. Indeed, an avoidable cause of much sickness among school children is damp basements and foundations occasioned by just such sites. Neither should some bleak, wind-swept hill crest be selected. The ideal site would be a location high enough to command a good view and give it suitable drainage, and yet lying reasonably well sheltered. Trees as a background to the north and west would afford a suitable protection and at the same time give an excellent setting for the schoolhouse. The site should be porous and dry, and free from all putrefying substances. Then, finally, every school ground should have an inexhaustible supply of pure water, which, we shall see, must from now on play a part in rural school sanitation ever increasing in importance. RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 121 ECMG/t PL A/1 rv> I eaddc tt *T/iy\Sg*< AECMrrnco *■ caowc e Design No. 1. Fig. 4. — Design and floor plan of a good inexpensive building used in North Carolina. Arrangement of Floor Space. — The site being chosen, we may turn all our attention to the plan of construction. And here let us once more repeat, that no building committee can afford to dispense with the services of a competent architect. The interior ar- rangement is of paramount importance and must be the first to receive our consider- ation. The problem is how to get the greatest utility out fo rfl P r ■ 1 T" ■ 1 T zr ~T ■ r •30*\3DL ROD/-* PLAT1 /*1° 1 > A&C>MTfcCT3«. tAfai^ltCRS &Ai_eia>v /"i o. Plan No. 1. 122 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Design No. 2— C. AKC^MTCCT06 0~t<31^iEEt5S (_ Plan No. 2-C. Fig. 5. — Design and floor plan showing how No. 4 above may be converted into a two-room structure. RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 1 23 of the smallest space, without destroying the architec- tural beauty and harmony of the exterior. Take the main room of the one-room rural school building. The size will depend somewhat upon the number of pupils for which it is intended. It should provide at least 15 square feet of floor space for each pupil, and should not measure to exceed 32 feet in depth by 26 feet in breadth. Some authorities hold that no room should measure to exceed 30 feet the longest way by 28 feet in breadth, as they deem these measurements most satisfactory from the standpoints of hearing and seeing. Library, Rest Room, and Cloak Rooms. — A model school cannot get along without a small library and read- ing room; and, to make it complete, should have a rest room for the teacher. The library may be fitted with a bay window, which may be utilized for plant culture, for the keeping of a school aquarium, etc. These rooms need not be large and may be added at no great extra outlay. The old way of hanging wraps in the open halls is un- sightly and unsanitary. Separate cloak rooms should be provided for the boys and girls. It is an excellent plan, wherever feasible to furnish separate, numbered lockers for this purpose, and one heated and well-ventilated locker to be used in common by all the children for drying damp wraps. The halls must be wide to provide against un- necessary crowding and should be located in such relation 124 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL to the schoolroom that the teacher can readily have over- sight of them. Ceilings everywhere should be at least 13 feet high ; the schoolroom proper should be high enough 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 n 1 1.1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I Ci^>j , -r ffoos* 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2J-> 33 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8e>ys- Aatfcsr m 1 Fig. 6. — Floor plan of rural school in California. Recitation room can, if desired, be used as a library. to allow each pupil a minimum of 250 cubic feet of air space. Basement: its Uses. — A high basement should extend under the entire building. It should have ample glazing, be light and dry, and be cemented throughout, both floors aq y IWIHIHIf'f" ::: :'M RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 125 and walls. In case of heating by furnace a portion of the space must be walled up for furnace and fuel room. A part of the remaining space should be fitted with work- bench, etc., for shop purposes. Where the pressure tank system is used to supply lavatories and toilets with water, this tank must also be placed in the basement. Such a basement properly arranged can add immensely to the utility of the school building. Proper Heating and Ventilation. — Considerable at- tention has been paid of late years to proper heating and ventilation. Public and private edifices are now quite generally constructed along hygienic lines, wherein careful consideration is given to pure, fresh, and well-heated air. Every school building nowadays should make provision for an adequate system for purifying the air, and heating the room with fresh air at an even temperature. This cannot be accomplished without calling artificial means to our assistance. The only way to ventilate is to induce fresh air somehow to enter and to induce the vitiated air to leave the room. The method of window ventilation is very good at recess or other intermissions, but is positively dangerous while the children are in their seats, and should be reduced to a minimum of practice. There are only two satisfactory systems of ventilation, the expensive fan system for forcing air currents through the room by means of mechanical device, and the older gravity system. The former is too elaborate to be practic- 126 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL able for rural schools; so we must limit our attention to the latter. The principle on which the gravity system works is very simple; but, strange as it may seem, is yet frequently misunderstood. Many school boards are still erecting large buildings with huge, unheated ventilator shafts which are expected to carry off vitiated air against the gravity pressure on the cold-air column in the flue ! Either the foul air must be carried into the basement and there purified — or, what is more practical, carried off through heated ventilator shafts. Hot-air furnaces have been installed in some rural schools, particularly in the Northwestern states. This system is excellent, first, because it does away with a heat- ing apparatus in the schoolroom altogether, since the fur- nace must be placed in the basement. Then it supplies the room with a constant current of warm, fresh air which is supplied to the heater through a fresh-air conduit from the outside and takes up the foul air through return regis- ters in the floor. However, for the average schoolhouse a jacket ventilat- ing stove will answer the purpose very well. Such stoves have been on the market for a number of years and may be set up ready for use at an outlay of from $35 to $45. This is a great improvement on the old-fashioned stove, which, as all must know, is the greatest vitiating agent in the room in that it uses up enormous quantities of oxygen in the process of combustion, and has none of the RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 1 27 appliances for successful ventilation. Let it be abolished from the modern school. Construction of the Ventilating Stove. — The ventilating stove as set up ready for use appears a great deal like a small hot-air furnace. It comprises a cast-iron stove, inclosed in a heavy sheet-iron jacket which fits the floor tightly and has a circle of holes at the top through which the heated air escapes into the room. The jacket com- municates at the floor with a fresh-air conduit, extend- ing underneath the floor to the outside of the basement wall, the opening being protected with a coarse screen. The working principle is simple. Fire in the stove heats the cast-iron surface, which communicates its heat to the air between it and the outer jacket. The heated air rises and passes into the room; and this naturally causes an influx of fresh air through the conduit, which in turn be- comes heated, rises, and passes into the room. All this heated air rises towards the ceiling, expanding outward as it goes, and then it slowly settles towards the floor near the walls. A return current is created here by the stove draft, which helps to remove the vitiated air from the room. An excellent way to supplement the insufficient stove draught is by a conduit leading to the heated chimney. Of this Dr. Shaw gives a good description in his School Hygiene. He says : — In the opposite side of the room from the stove a tin or galva- nized-iron ventilating duct should be constructed, oblong in shape, 128 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL having its cross-section dimensions 12 x 6 inches. The open end of this duct should be within one foot of the floor. The flue should extend to the ceiling and run along the ceiling to the chimney. There should not be any curved angle in this duct but a curved bend where the upright section unites with that which runs along the ceil- ing. The ventilating duct should discharge into a large chimney flue, at least 14 x 20 inches of cross-section area. In the middle of this flue there should run a sheet-iron pipe of sufficient capacity to deliver the smoke and gases from the stove. The heat radiated from this pipe when there is a brisk fire in the stove will cause a strong draught in the flue and draw the air out of the schoolroom through the ventilating duct. In districts where the school boards are reluctant about discarding the old stove for a new ventilating stove it is a good plan to improvise such an one by fitting a strong sheet- iron jacket and a fresh-air conduit to the old stove. (See Appendix B). Importance of Correct Lighting. — Correct lighting is the most important feature in all school building construction. Many forms of ailments to which the present generation is heir and a great many other con- stitutional derangements can be traced directly to poor lighting. The glass surface should be massed on one side of the room only, and the seats arranged in such a manner that the light will come from the left and over the shoulder. The window sills should be set high enough to be above the level of the eyes of the largest pupils when seated. The frames should reach to within a few inches of the ceiling and be square, as the best light is obtained RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 1 29 from the upper part of the window. The total amount of glass surface should be about one fifth of the floor space of the room. If for any reason sufficient light cannot be furnished from the side, windows may be placed at the rear of the room. This, however, works a hardship on the teacher who is obliged to face the window much of the time, and should, if possible, be avoided. Window curtains and opaque shades — preferably of light green color — should be used to mellow down the glaring light. The shades should be made double and be placed at the middle of the window so as to roll up and down. Blackboards and Chalk Rails. — Blackboards should occupy all available wall space except on the lighted side. Pupils should never be obliged to stare at blackboards set between or at the sides of windows, as the direct light rays from out of doors have a tendency to make them squint-eyed and otherwise injure the eyesight. Slate is the most satisfactory writing surface in use, and is more economical in the long run than artificial boards, though the initial expense is more. The liquid slating commonly used has many objectionable features. Unless the plas- tered wall is exceptionally well finished, the board will be rough, it will wear out and become full of unsightly holes and cracks, or it will present a shiny surface, extremely hard on the eyes. If the district does not care to go to the expense of pro- 130 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL curing slate, the Hyloplate and similar composition boards will answer almost as well. These have the advantage of coming in better lengths and being easy to apply. Then, too, the color — a soothing green — is highly recom- mended for its hygienic properties. Blackboards as used in rural schools should be 30 inches from the floor and about 4 feet high. This will be ample to take care of the smallest as well as the largest pupils. The boards should be supplied with chalk rails 2 J inches wide, to catch the dust and hold crayon and erasers. New Sanitary Appliances. — There is no reason why rural schools should not have as sanitary toilets as are now found in well-equipped city schools. Perhaps no one question in school construction has presented so many troublesome phases as this. But that time should be past. Wherever it is possible to get a good supply of water from well or spring (and schoolhouses should never be located where the water supply is scanty), good indoor closets and lavatories may be constructed at a total outlay of about $350 (see plans of Kirksville, Mo.; school elsewhere in this book). Think what this will mean in rearing the gen- eration now in school ! in sparing them from contact with much of the indecency and viciousness occasioned by loathsome outbuildings! We cannot emphasize too strongly that the average rural school closet is a shame and a disgrace and should not be tolerated. Usually it is RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 131 unsightly and unscreened, a veritable abomination to beings of fine sensibilities. Common decency and good morals demand a thorough reform in this breeding place in first steps in crime. Outhouses made Decent. — The following sugges- tions may not be amiss for districts which by force of circumstances must continue to use the outdoor closets indefinitely: Place the outbuildings at the rear of the schoolyard, and as far apart as possible. Build substan- tially and large. Place strong latticework screens on two sides of the building — on the front and inner side — to protect the privacy of entrance and exit. Plant hardy perennial vines against the lattice and train them so as to cover the entire structure. Mass a heavy growth of evergreens or shrubbery on a line halfway between the two outhouses, to separate the boys' half yard from the girls', thus affording all needed privacy. Keep the inside of the closets scrupulously clean. Cover the walls with a coat of sand paint to prevent marking and scribbling. In a corner of the room place a box containing a mixture of earth and quicklime, to be used from time to time to cover and dry up the excreta in the vault. Provide the buildings with windows, set high, and ventilating flues which should extend several feet into the vault. Make the doors strong and fit them with catch and lock. Build the vault of masonry, constructing it in such a I32 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL way that the accumulations may be removed without trouble. Let the key remain in the teacher's possession, who shall daily lock and unlock the doors, inspecting the build- ings as he does so. Now, to revert to sanitary indoor toilets. These ac- cessories of a twentieth-century civilization have been used a good many years in large places which have water pressure and sewerage. But the remotest rural school may now have as satisfactory a system of its own by using artificial pressure. The Pressure Tank and Sanitary Plumbing. — Place a pneumatic pressure tank in the basement of the school- house or in the ground near the well, and connect with the inside plumbing. The water may be pumped into the tank — using hand or wind power — with a force pump so ingeniously arranged that it pumps the water and applies the air pressure at one and the same time. The tank should measure about 200 gallons to a 30-pupil school, grading up and down according to requirement. Such sys- tems are used in private dwellings and schoolhouses, and give the best of service. The sewage is passed through a set of underground tanks and pipes and fully oxidized. Plans may be furnished by any up-to-date plumber. Such a sewerage system may be constructed at a very little cost and is infinitely more satis- factory than open drains and cesspools. The plant com- RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 1 33 plete, including toilets, lavatories, piping, tank with pump, and septic sewer have repeatedly been built for $350. Schoolhouse Construction must combine Utility with Adornment. — So far we have dealt with interior arrange- ment, with the hygienic appliances demanded in this progressive age. A word only is necessary concerning schoolhouse exteriors. Utility must ever be the prime end to be sought; but utility attained without robbing the exterior of architectural harmony and beauty. The schoolhouse should be the most practically arranged, yet the most attractive structure in the community. It should bear the stamp of educational purpose on its exterior, and be an educational inspiration to the entire countryside. It must not be overly ornate, yet not too strikingly simple. Let it combine the practical with the graceful and ornate in such proportions as to present impressions of enduring service and simple beauty. CHAPTER VIII Indoor Furnishing and Art The Old School vs. the New. — The old-time rural school with its large attendance and strong teacher had its faults, no doubt ; though it was unquestionably the rallying point of all the common interests of the community. At the schoolhouse the countryside gathered for the lyceum or debating club ; here they held their old-fashioned spelling- matches and singing-schools, and on Sundays went to " meeting," yet there was no aesthetic uplift of consequence to be gained from the place of holding these gatherings, at any rate from our modern point of view; for the school building was invariably crude and poorly constructed, the furniture was rough and home-made, the walls mud- plastered and bare. But these things harmonized with the pioneer life of the time; nobody expected anything better. In our day, alas! the rural school has lost many of its old-time attractions. It is no longer a large school. Local ambitions and increasing rural population have conspired to multiply small districts till every farmer has a school- house near his own front yard. Then the cityward flow of rural population began. Little by little the many small schools grew smaller and of less vitality. The good teacher also turned his face to the city; the ambitious pupil had to 134 INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 135 follow him or go untaught in the higher branches. If this moving to the city for higher education is to continue, the whole rural community as well as the school will be- come devitalized. The country child is manifestly entitled to as thorough an education or as practical an education as the city child, and he is entitled to get it right in the country without going to the city for it. The ultimate solution of the whole matter lies in centralization and consolidation of schools. The time will be that a majority of country children can attend well-built, well-equipped graded schools in their own wholesome country environment. But this cannot be realized for a long time to come. Some places, indeed, may never realize it at all, because of unfortunate geo- graphical location, poverty, and the like. The Rural School must again become the Rallying Point of Country Interests. — Meanwhile, something must be done for the great army of boys and girls mentally and morally starving in rural districts, amidst the most unfor- tunate surroundings. The schoolhouse must once more become the rallying point of the community. We may never again see it the large school that it once was; but it can in a larger sense than of yore become the inspirational center from which shall flow influences, uplifting, blessing, and bettering all who may feel their touch. We have already discussed the new architectural re- quirements in Chapter VII. The beauty, grace, and 136 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL dignity of the modern building must be such that people will point to it as our schoolhouse and emulate its archi- tecture in the construction and arrangement of their own homes. The grounds must be made attractive with plots of velvety grass, with trees, shrubs, and flowers. The whole should present an appropriate setting for the dignified structure placed in its midst. The interior must be in har- mony with the exterior. It must be homelike, bright, cheerful, attractive. The walls should be tinted some soft shade, blending well with the woodwork and black- boards ; pictures should adorn the walls and lend an artis- tic touch to the room; flowering plants should fill the ample bay window to add a sense of love for nature; while books and statuettes and plaster casts may be depended on to add a real scholastic touch to the atmosphere. Such surroundings exert a marvelous influence over the children. They arouse in their hearts a love for the beauti- ful which will last as long as life lasts. The children who come from homes where culture and refinement are un- known will enter a new life in the school, a life which they will soon learn to love and crave. The children from homes abounding in modern comforts and conveniences will find the new school atmosphere homelike and con- genial. All classes will be satisfied and will come to look upon the district school and its work as the noblest and best in human endeavor. INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 137 The dirty, smoke-begrimed schoolhouse, with its cracked and broken plaster, warped floor, rusty stove, and dirt- stained windows, can no longer have a place in modern country life, if we wish to reestablish it as the rallying point in rural life, a place where we shall hope to save the coun- try boy and girl for the farm and farm life. Superintendent L. B. Evans on the Importance of Esthetic Environment. — Let Superintendent Lawton B. Evans, of Georgia, emphasize this vital point. He says in the Report of the Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools : — If children are daily surrounded by those influences that elevate them, that make them clean and well ordered, that make them love flowers, and pictures, and proper decorations, they at last reach that degree of culture where nothing else will please them. When they grow up and have homes of their own, they must have them clean, neat, bright with pictures, and fringed with shade trees and flowers; for they have been brought up to be happy in no other environment. The true test of our civilization and culture is the kind of home we are content to live in, and the influences of our schools should help to form a disposition for those things that make home life happy and healthy. If the farmer's boy can be taught to love books when he is at school, he will have a library in his home when he becomes a man; if the farmer's girl can be taught decoration at school, she will want pictures and flowers and embroidery when she becomes a woman. Let us now consider the schoolhouse interior in detail, after which we shall discuss how the fitting and furnishing may best be procured. 138 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Walls and Woodwork. — The walls should be float- finished. A coarse-grained surface is less liable to crack than hard finish, and looks better when tinted. The color will depend upon the lighting of the room. A north expo- sure demands warm, soft tints in red, as cream, salmon, and terra-cotta, and in orange and yellow. A south ex- posure, on the contrary, takes colors which will absorb the sunlight and give a cooling effect. Shades in gray and green are the best. The ceilings should be tinted a lighter color than the walls. A picture molding should extend around the room about two feet below the ceiling. A drop ceiling of ivory-white carried down to this molding, with walls of olive-green, make a remarkably fine combina- tion for a south exposure. If wall paper is used, it is well to avoid all florid designs ; the plain ingrains are the most satisfactory. The woodwork should be plain and free from dust- catching ornaments. It is an excellent idea to finish it in the natural grain if the wood is of good quality and matched for grain. Otherwise a paint harmonizing with the wall tints is to be preferred. Furniture. — The pupils' desks should face the main entrance, most of the light coming from the left. Single desks are preferable, both for disciplinary and hygienic reasons. Adjustable seats and desks are desirable, though a trifle more expensive than the others. Both the desk and seat may be adjusted to the pupils' needs with remark- INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 139 able nicety. Non-adjustable desks must be graded accord- ing to the size of the pupils. The usual way is to arrange the seating by placing the largest seats in the rear of the room and then grading down to the smallest at the front. Some teachers now prefer to place the largest seats in a row next to the wall farthest from the windows and grading the rows down to the windows. This has the advantage that the teacher may keep the unruly big boy as well as the small one under immediate surveillance. Necessary Equipment. — The teacher's desk should be a plain, well set-up piece of furniture, with drawers for record books, etc. The library should be a cozy room. Matting on the floor would add much to the appearance. The book shelves should have glass doors and may be built right in the wall ; or be movable, if added after the construction of the building. The room should further have a polished reading table, at least one-half dozen straight-back chairs, a settee, and a couple of easy chairs — the latter for the use of visitors. The schoolroom and the library ought each to have an unabridged dictionary with stationary stand built against the wall. The further equipment should include a case of standard geographical maps, a set of physiological charts, reading and number charts, a globe and such other necessary apparatus as may be expressly recommended by the superintendent of schools. We underscore the word "necessary" above because ex- I40 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL perience has taught that the school directors who show the most niggardly spirit in the expenditure of school money for such apparatus as is really needed are often the first to be caught in the toils by wily agents with expensive paraphernalia for sale — paraphernalia both useless and unnecessary in the rural schools. Superintendent O. J. Kern on " Throwing away Good Coin of the Realm." — Superintendent O. J. Kern speaks right to the point in his admirable book Among Country Schools, in which he says : — Instead of spending $35 or $50 of the school funds for a won- derful chart portraying the whole scheme in the education of man from the cradle to the grave, why not use the same amount of money for paint? The chart stands neglected because the teacher cannot use it in the average school. A planetarium advertised for $35, to "clearly illustrate and practically solve the difficult prob- lems relating to celestial sphere, ecliptic, equinoxes, apogee and declination, retrograde motion of the planets, etc.," may be a neces- sary piece of apparatus in the hands of a teacher who knows how to use it; but country schools are needing shades for the windows, a hardwood floor, paint for the walls, a towel rack, a water tank, a jacket around the stove and many other things, more than planeta- riums and geometrical blocks. And yet the school officers are throwing away good coin of the realm in such purchases of appa- ratus beyond the use of the average country school. Rather use the money to purchase lumber, paint, blackboards, and soap. The progressive Illinois educator does not mean that schools may get along without working apparatus. Far from it! He begins the campaign at the beginning by INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 141 demanding water and soap and paint. Later he purposes to get as many of the teacher's necessary " tools " as the district can afford. Unfortunate the school whose board members are un- reasonably chary in expending school money for needed equipment! Let the teacher insist and persist; let the superintendent back him up. Between them they can, in the end, create a favorable sentiment in the community, and win the point. Some people may say desks and shelves and dictionaries are very good; but settees and easy-chairs in school! — this is going too far! No doubt, many have such thoughts. But, mind, the time is not far distant when even easy-chairs will be conceded a place in the well-appointed schoolhouse! Choice of Pictures : Things to be Considered. — With the walls and woodwork finished off and the furniture pro- vided, we are ready to consider the wall decorations. The teacher must use the greatest discrimination in the choice of pictures. Good taste and artistic skill employed in this important task will later be reflected in correct stand- ards of life acquired in the school. To begin with, the walls should not be covered with picture cards and odds and ends. This gives the room a stuffy effect, and is out of place except in a cozy-corner or den at home. Loud- colored chromos, gaudy advertisements, and illuminated calendars of doubtful merit should be avoided. To permit such ornamentation is to train the children in the hap- 142 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL hazard, which is bound to bear fruit in gaudy, semibar- baric home decorations. The schoolroom should be cheery, but at the same time " restful in its color, decora- tions, and atmosphere." The number, size, and shape of the pictures will depend upon the size and arrangement of the schoolroom. In a room of, say, 28 feet by 30 feet, five or six good-sized pic- tures would be enough. By good size is meant large enough to be easily studied from the farthest corner of the room. The pictures should approximate 18 inches by 24 inches, unframed. It is a good idea to use plain hard- wood frames; black or brown are very attractive. Sus- pend the pictures from the molding to avoid driving nails into the wall. It is also essential to consider light and space in hanging pictures. For example, pictures of indistinct details will show off to best advantage in strong light, say, on the wall opposite the windows, where these are massed on one side. Hang horizontal pictures wherever the wall space is long and low, as, for instance, above the blackboards. For the same reason vertical pictures will look best in the narrow space at the sides of the windows or between them. The pictures for the library can be considerably smaller, and their hanging be governed by shape of wall space, arrange- ments of furniture, etc. Every Picture selected should have Educative Value. — Every picture should be selected ior real educative value. INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 1 43 This may take the form of study of nature and animal life, as in Bonheur's Horse Fair, Adan's Summer Even- ing, or Douglas's Vikings; historical interest, as in Bick- nell's Battle of Lexington, Boughton's Pilgrim Exiles, or Brozik's Columbus at the Court of Isabella; study of great men, as in Duplcssis' Benjamin Franklin, Stuart's George Washington, or Trumbull's Alexander Hamilton; and genuine artistic worth, as in Hoffman's Head of Christ, Millet's The Angelus, or Raphael's Sistine Madonna. We are fortunate to live at an age when copies of the great masters are easy to procure. Reproductions in prints, carbons, photogravures, and color prints from the originals in paintings, sculpture, and architecture are offered for sale at very reasonable prices by firms which make a specialty of supplying the needs of schools in these lines. Plaster Casts. — Plaster casts add much to the attrac- tiveness and scholastic atmosphere of the room. At least one good-sized cast should be found in every rural school ; they are inexpensive, and the range of subjects is large, including busts of great men, American and foreign, and reproductions of the world's best sculpture. Never select a perfectly white cast; ivory and cream colors are better, as they are less liable to soil and show dust. Soiled casts, by the way, are readily renovated by giving them a coat of gold or bronze paint. It is hoped that the following groups of casts and pictures 144 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL may be suggestive and aid the rural teacher in making a selection for the school. Any one group should be sufficient for the average rural school. First Group. Cast: Washington. Pictures : The Boy Christ, Hoffman ; Summer Evening, Adan; Battle of Lexington, Bicknell; Deer in the Forest, Bonheur; Cicero's Oration against Catiline, Maccari. Second Group. Cast: Samuel Adams. Pictures: Sistine Madonna, Raphael; The Gleaners, Millet; Monarch of the Glen, Landseer; Washington crossing the Delaware, Leutze; Taking a Pilot, Seeley. Third Group. Cast: Webster. Pictures: Primary School in Brittany, Geoffroy; An Old Monarch, Bonheur; Battle of Bunker Hill, Trum- bull; Planting Potatoes, Millet; Pied Piper of Hamelin, Kaulbach. Fourth Group. Cast: Lincoln. Pictures: Signing Declaration of Independence, Trum- bull; Kabyle, Schreyer; Princes in the Tower, Millais; Meadow Pool, Pearce; Holy Family, Murillo. The following pictures are very suggestive subjects for the library and reading room: — Washington at Dorchester Heights, Stuart; Sir Galahad, Watts; Benjamin Franklin, Duplessis; Photogravures of Longfellow, Emerson, and Mann; The Parthenon, Athens; The Sphinx, Egypt; Shakespere's House, Eng- land; Stratford-on-Avon, England; The Reader, Hunt; Sir Walter Scott, Leslie; Victor Hugo, Bonnat. INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 1 45 Reliable dealers in photogravures, prints, engravings, etchings, casts, etc.: — Pictures: The Perry Picture Co., A. W. Elson and Co., The Prang Educational Co., and Horace K. Turner Co. — all of Boston, Mass. Casts: P. P. Caproni and Co., and Curtis and Cameron, both of Boston; and Berlin Photographic Co., New York City. Now, how can we secure the desired schoolroom deco- rations ? School directors may not care to spend district money for this purpose and, indeed, can hardly be ex- pected to do so ; therefore, we must resort to other means. Let us first see what other sections of our country are ac- complishing in school decoration. The School Improvement League of Maine. — This league was organized in 1898 and has a membership ap- proximating 60,000 enthusiastic teachers, pupils, and patrons scattered throughout the state. The underlying motive of the organization " is the awakening of a con- trolling interest in the school on the part of its pupils and patrons." What remarkable success it has met with can best be seen from the state superintendent's report, which reads: — The statement that the School Improvement League has done more for the betterment of the schools than any other agency during the past quarter of a century has been proven by so many instances that its correctness cannot longer be questioned. It has rendered its greatest service by calling attention to present conditions, the necessity for changes and convincing the people 146 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL concerned that the work must be done by those living in the com- munity in which the school is located. Concentrating the atten- tion of the entire population of any section upon its school interests always results, not only in better schools, but also in showing the people that they must decide what shall be done and be responsible for its performance. This necessitates the devising of plans, the choice of possibilities, taste in selecting, and judgment in using. These efforts, in turn, result in intellectual training, moral nurture, and aesthetic culture. In its few years of existence the league has improved the conditions of almost every school in the state by exert- ing an influence resulting in renovated and beautified interiors, better physical surroundings, and well-supplied rural school libraries. But, " even better than that," to quote further from the league report, " in an increasing sense of responsibility the pupils are manifesting in matters of prime importance to them, and in a stronger interest in the local school." Other states, following the example set by Maine, are accomplishing praiseworthy results. Tens of thousands of dollars are expended annually now for rural school decorations. Only a few years back the movement was practically unknown; now cities and villages everywhere are doing much for art in the school, through local improve- ment associations, by conducting lyceum courses, and in other ways accumulating funds. What can the Individual Teacher Do. — Now the ques- tion arises, what shall the individual rural school teacher INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 1 47 do to provide such decorations for her school? The answer will depend upon several things — upon whether she will have to work alone or in conjunction with other teachers of the county under the leadership of the super- intendent. If she has to depend solely on herself, she must make use of every ounce of natural ingenuity to win out; if the superintendent places himself at the head of the art campaign, her work will be greatly simplified. This is what one Kansas teacher has accomplished, single-handed and unaided by her superintendent. And what she has done others can do, or at least try to do. Miss D. entered upon her duties as teacher of a certain small district in Atchison county, in September, 1906. She found the building in a fair state of repair, and scrupulously clean ! This latter feature, which was as remarkable as it is unusual in rural schools, was readily traced to the wife of one of the directors, whose Dutch habits of love for soap and water forbade her to permit "teacher" to look upon a dirty schoolroom. The woodwork was painted a dingy gray, with walls calcimined a startling navy-blue! Group- ings of picture cards, gaudy display cards illustrative of farm machinery and the benefits of stock-food, together with calendars almost without number, were sprinkled in a ludicrous fashion over this background. Amidst such grotesque surroundings the art campaign began. What the Plucky Teacher can Accomplish. — The first step was to get the walls retinted. The board yielded to 148 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL the teacher's whim, as they no doubt considered it, after much persuasion on her part, and agreed to repaint the room. As a result, work began the very next Friday evening, and when the children returned to school Monday morning, there was the room beautiful and fresh with its walls a pearly gray and the woodwork a deeper shade of the same color. This much was accomplished the first week at an outlay of $13.50, and the way was opened to better things. Some may say she did not accomplish much; we could all have done as well. This is very true, we all could do as well if we only would! How many of us have really the temerity to insist on what we deem essential for best school work? How many of us inconvenience ourselves and really go out of our way to change present school evils? This much is certain, the teacher who has such initiative is the teacher to have; she will be sure of early preferment and rise in the educational world. Art Programmes and Basket Suppers. — Miss D., as a next step, provided at her own expense small desk copies of the Perry pictures and devoted the daily opening exercises to talks on art, in this way seeking to create a love for the beautiful. It is well to state here that our teacher was no more of an artist than is the or- dinary rural teacher; but she had a love for these things and was thoroughly versed in them, through reading such excellent books as Coffin's How to Study Pictures, Emery's How to Enjoy Pictures, etc. Soon she launched before her INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 149 pupils a plan for securing pictures for the bare walls, a plan which was enthusiastically received by all. It was agreed to concentrate all efforts on two pictures by way of begin- ning — Bonheur's Horse Fair and Millet's Angelus. A Bonheur-Millet programme was arranged for the evening of the third Friday in November. Printed invitations and programmes were sent to every patron and resident in the district. Moreover, a committee, headed by Miss D., waited on the housewives of the community, soliciting them to furnish a basket supper for two, the proceeds from which were to be used for school decorations. When the time set arrived the following programme was rendered to a crowded house : — Song by the School " O Come, Come Away " Brief talk: " Our Aim " Teacher " Life and Works of Rosa Bonheur " A girl " History of the ' Horse Fair ' " A boy Quartet — selected " The Hardscrabbles '* " Life and Works of Jean Francois Millet " A boy " History of the ' Angelus '" A girl Vocal Solo: " The Vesper Bells " Young woman from the county seat Brief talk on " Schoolhouse Decoration " County Superintendent Auction of Baskets Supper Statement of Finances Song: "Good Night" The School The supper netted $37.40. Free-will offerings increased the total to $43.40. After paying the expense of printing 150 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL the programmes and invitations, there remained $41.90 to be expended for decorations. Here is a list of the pur- chases, including size and price: — Bonheur's Horse Fair, Color Print, 18 x 22 $ 5.00 Bust of George Washington, Half Size 5.00 Abraham Lincoln, Brown Print, 18 x 22 4.00 Millet's Angelus, Brown Print, 22 x 32 7.00 Boughton's Pilgrims Going to Church, Color Print, 18 x 22 ] 5.00 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Brown Print, 18 x 32 . . 5.00 Frames for the above pictures 11.50 $41-5° It is hard to overestimate the value of this one pro- gramme and social evening to the " Hardscrabble Dis- trict " — in lasting results. The school atmosphere became suddenly changed. Clean walls, painted in restful tints, greeted the happy children; all day long the pictures on the wall spoke in no uncertain terms, looking down upon them from their frames, blessing and inspiring. The love for the beautiful in life thus implanted in the child breast will bear a bountiful harvest in its time. Children and parents alike are blessed in such a teacher. Programmes of Similar Nature. — The school year affords numerous occasions for holding similar programmes. The teacher might plan a Harvest Home Social, decorating the room in seasonable products of the soil, as corn and cane. The best fruits from the school garden would add much to the appearance of the room as well as to the importance of INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 151 the occasion. After the programme a basket supper should follow. Thanksgiving Day affords opportunity to plan something elaborate. Then in many rural districts the Christmas holidays are unexcelled for enterprises of this kind. Of course it would mean that the teacher must forego some of her home pleasures ; but think what it would mean to the community of toilers whose missionary that teacher is ! It would be time well invested and certain to bear its reward. What the County Superintendent can do for Art in Rural Schools. — The county superintendent can generally do more than any other person to plan a concerted move- ment to supply the schools with decorations. An excellent plan would be for him to organize all the schools of the county into groups, making, say, the township the unit of grouping. Then let the superintendent make arrange- ments with one of the many art firms having traveling exhibits for the loan of pictures. These should be ex- hibited for one or two days, at the largest and most centrally situated schoolhouse or hall in each township. Every teacher in the township, without exception, must have a part in the enterprise. The success or failure of the exhibit lies wholly in the energy and enthusiasm displayed by all the teachers. Let them vie with each other to see who can get the largest number of patrons and children to attend. The time might readily be planned in such a way as to avoid undue crowding at any one time. In I52 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL the country one can readily charge twenty-five cents ad- mission for adults, with reasonable reduction on family tickets, and fifteen cents for children. The superintendent ought to make himself personally responsible for the success of the exhibits by making the township rounds and giving, perhaps, an address on school decorations and their importance to education. By thus lending himself to the cause he could do more good and assure himself of a larger acquaintanceship among the public than in any other way. The net proceeds from admissions and sales of pictures should be divided equally among the participating schools, and be expended for pictures and casts. The Horace K. Turner Company, Art Publishers and Importers of Boston ; The Prang Educational Company of Chicago; The J. C. Witter Company, Fifth Ave., New York; and The Soule Art Company of Boston, are some of the many reliable firms which send out loan exhibits for educational purposes. It can thus be seen that to supply our rural schools with art decorations is not an impossibility. A little enter- prise, some persistent work, and a reasonable measure of grit will do wonders. Teachers may wage the campaign unaided or in conjunction with other teachers and the superintendent. Wherever the plans have been tried, results have abundantly justified the labor necessary for success. Let teachers, superintendents, and friends of education INDOOR FURNISHINGS AND ART 1 53 in our country districts everywhere lend a hand in the campaign. Let all do something to satisfy the rural child's craving for the beautiful and the uplifting in life which is the common inheritance of all mankind. Let us do it by making their schoolhouses attractive and homelike. CHAPTER IX Nature Study; School Grounds Now that we have set the school building to rights it is time to consider the value of a corresponding outdoor environment — of school grounds and school gardens which shall make an appropriate setting for the dignified modern structure. We have already alluded to this subject when- ever it became necessary to do so on account of its close relation to indoor art and similar branches of aesthetics. It remains now to point out more in detail how beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees, how school gardens, lawns, and groves may be made instruments in saving the farm child from the allurements of city life and make him con- tented with life on the farm. Our School Work too Formal and Bookish. — All our school work has been too formal and bookish. We have all along relied too much on text-books to the neglect of real living nature. Happily we are beginning to realize the importance of the love and study of nature, and are coming to see that from it have sprung love of art, science, and religion. Paradoxical as it may sound, the farm child has lived in the very heart of nature and yet remained a 154 NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS 1 55 stranger there. In the struggle to subdue forest and plain his father and grandfather before him had scant time for anything but to wring a living from the soil. Naturally enough he inherits certain " practical " traits which make him prone to judge nature by the commercial standard rather than to love it for its own sake. To change these misconceptions the new teacher must be able to take the child in its own little world and lead it along the pathway of life, directing its native adaptabilities, sentiments, and powers, and there develop in the child breast a sympathy with its environment and in the child mind an understand- ing of nature and nature's ways — then, once awakened to the surpassing beauties of rural environments, the American boy and girl will no longer be in danger of de- serting the farm for the man-made glitter of the city. Nature Study Defined. — We may find a solution for many of our present difficulties in school work in what is gener- ally called nature study. This is not so much an attempt to add another subject to an already overcrowded cur- riculum. It is rather a new direction given to old subjects — a leaven infused into old forms — than anything else. It applies in great measure to the entire course of study, since it is possible to encourage the child to close and careful observation of nature through a properly directed lesson in English composition as readily almost as through lessons in geography and elementary science. Most satisfactory, perhaps, is the definition of Dr. Clifton F. 156 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Hodge in his well-known book, Nature Study and Life He formulates it, as " learning those things in nature that are best worth knowing, to the end of doing those things that make life most worth living." In rural com- munities those things are manifestly best worth knowing which tend to make people there content with their lot; aye, more ! which help them to realize that rural life is for Americans the normal life — the best life attainable in this greatest of agricultural nations! How Nature Study is Valuable to the Rural Child. — The values of nature study to the rural child are many and far-reaching. Writers offer various methods of classi- fication. While some make use of two divisions only, — aesthetic and scientific, — others go farther and give as many as five or more. For convenience we may classify these values as (1) economic, (2) aesthetic, (3) social — ethical, (4) religious, (5) educational. Economic. — The economic is counted the first, though certainly not the highest, nature-study value. With in- crease in population farming must become intensive and scientific. In the past we have been wasteful and prodigal of our great resources; but we are learning new lessons in economy every day. Increasing cost of farm lands demands greater returns from the soil. To accomplish this we must study nature and learn from it how to provide against needless waste and insure increased pro- ductiveness. NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS I 57 We must begin at the beginning and study from the bottom up. As a nation Americans are not intimate with nature. Our school children have been . kept busy at tasks little calculated to make them familiar with the common goods in nature or with its evil things. Children should know the value of pure air and pure water, the influence of sheltering forests and shade trees, the importance to life on the farm of beneficent birds, insects, and batrachian animals. They should, on the other hand, be familiar with the pests constantly menacing life everywhere, such as destructive insects, birds, and other animals, noxious weeds and multiform vegetable disease. It appeals strongly to a farming community to have their children accomplish real, tangible results. The effect is to draw ever closer the ties which bind the school- house and farm home through kindred interests. Out of such beginnings higher motives will eventually develop. At all events, the study of real nature opens possibilities for the farm child hitherto unknown. It is a grand thing to learn in school and on excursions with the teacher into the woods and over the hills the thousand and one things which make life worth living. The farmer will take a renewed interest in the school that can teach his children things of practical value for the farm. There are things for him to learn, too. It is doubtful whether the average farmer realizes the harm done by the unsightly weeds, fungus growths, and the like, to be seen about the premises; 158 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL or the value of birds and toads and beneficent insects in saving the orchard and field from ravage and devastation. Some day his children will come home from the new rural school — the modern complement of farm life — and teach him. Esthetic. — All mankind love the beautiful. It appeals to their sense of the perfect. The human mind receives an uplift in the harmony and symmetry coming through the unification of diverse elements, manifesting itself in out- ward contentment and happiness. As soon as a people has subdued primitive nature with which it has had to contend and has wrung from it a sustenance, it seeks to surround itself with the beautiful in nature, thereby satisfying an instinctive craving to get above the sordid in life. The pages of history furnish us untold illustration. The rock-ribbed tombs of Egypt bear silent witness to this love of the beautiful in a nation living 5000 years ago. Late excavations at Nippur tell the story of marvelous gardens and parks which 6000 years ago gladdened the hearts of the Euphrates dwellers. Nebuchadnezzar con- structed the marvelous Hanging Gardens of Babylon to console his queen pining for the wild beauties of her native Median hills. ^Esthetic culture, with us, will teach the country folk to love their native woods and prairies; it will make them content to dwell there and long for them when away. To attain this end it is not enough to talk about the NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS 1 59 wonders of nature or its sublime influence; we must study and dig and plant. At home and at school the small still voice of nature should be permitted to commune with us through beautiful flowers and waving grasses, sheltering shrubs and spreading trees. A forlorn, wind-swept school ground is more than we can realize the first cause to weary the boy and girl of country schools and country life. Teach them the surpassing beauty of rural environment on the school grounds and in the school gardens — ■ teach them to dig and plant; as teacher, dig and plant side by side with them. Then the very Earth shall preach her sermons in their ears and make them strong in their love to dwell close to nature's heart. Social and Ethical. — Properly directed, nature study may do much to teach children to respect the rights of others. The sooner a child learns that there are social and moral obligations which he is in duty bound to re- spect, the better it will be for that child. Every boy and girl is full of energy. The surplus will find a vent some- how, and be put to use, good or evil, as directed. If they are early led to love nature, they will learn to protect it. Such children will never vandalize nature by destroying planted trees or other useful flora. Birds and insects will be safe from their molestation; the insectivorous toads will no longer fear their clods and sticks. When grown up, they will wage relentless war against the many disease- breeding pests found in the fence corners, along the public l6o THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL highway, or in the barn-yard, at the present time so little known and less heeded. Growth in respect for social and ethical law is sadly needed in our country, but communion with nature and nature's God may do much to ameliorate existing conditions. Religious. — To love nature is to love nature's God. No human being can continue in adoration of living, teeming nature without feeling in his breast a growing adoration and love for Him who created all the wonders of earth, giving them to man to keep and hold dominion over. The race in its infancy sought the Creator through worship of natural phenomena. Even yet " To him who in the love of nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language ; — " The teacher's manifest opportunity is to take advantage of the " still voice" of nature to reach the inner recesses of the child soul to instil there a love for well-doing in looking after the happiness of God's created things, thereby attaining the child's happiness and for himself the Crown of Life. Educational. — Finally, nature study has per se edu- cational value of utmost importance. The naturalistic tendency in education has been the slow growth of cen- turies. Rousseau, as its first advocate, held " that the educational material should be the facts and phenomena of nature, that it should consist chiefly in an inquiry into NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS l6l nature's laws, and should be through an intimate, fear- less, and constant association with nature rather than man." Pestalozzi saw clearly that " nature develops all the forces of humanity by exercising them." "The ex- ercise of man's faculties and talents, to be profitable, must follow the course laid down by nature for the education of humanity." The first fruits of the new century have been to realize much that was advocated by the early educational seers. The disproportion between the formal and the practical in teaching is still very great and pre- sumably will remain so for a long time to come. But beginnings are made in many schools which will eventually end in a satisfactory equilibrium being struck. Just what topics should be included in the nature-study course in rural schools and what left out will be deter- mined by the essential and fundamental things in rural life. They will center largely about the useful and practi- cal in the local environment — in a study of the trees and flowers on the school grounds or out by the roadside, of the robin and the wren building on the grounds in trees and bird houses, — these and similar topics may be studied with profit. Nature study will find concrete expression in planning, platting, and keeping school grounds, and in school-garden culture, and will eventually lead to studies in elementary agriculture. Syllabus of Nature Study prepared by Committee of Industrial Education in Rural Communities. — It is not 1 62 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL the province of this book to present a complete working syllabus for nature-study classes; though, doubtless, rural teachers would be glad to have a brief outline of a suggestive nature on which to base their work. Nothing better has been published recently in this line than the outline printed in the appendix of the book. It is taken from the report of the Committee of Five, N.E.A., on Industrial Education in Schools for Rural Communities. The scheme covers the first five years in school, and is to be followed in years 6, 7, and 8 with a course in elementary agriculture. It will be clearly understood that this is not a complete working scheme, but, in the words of the committee, merely " an outline or framework which will serve to define nature-study work, and to suggest the kinds of subjects that may be profitably under- taken." With a realization of the rural school's enlarged mission naturally follows a demand for greatly enlarged grounds. The school is no longer a place for the mere assigning and hearing of lessons — it needs an outdoor laboratory where children and teacher may labor side by side. A couple of acres may answer the purpose, but three or even four would be much better. The location must be sightly and well drained. It should, indeed, be the very best site to be secured in the community (see Chapter VII). About two thirds of the entire tract may be used for the main grounds, and what is left for the school garden. NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS 163 Ideal School Grounds. — Such ideal grounds should present a vision pleasing to the eye — the schoolhouse set in the midst of a carpet of velvety green, broken here and there by flower beds, bright with beauty and color — beds of scarlet and yellow cannas, old-fashioned geraniums, and, in the fence corners, many-colored hollyhocks; winding walks and rustic seats; climbing vines on lattice and wall, and rustic baskets pendent from post and tripod; groups of evergreens and shade trees; at the rear separate playgrounds for the boys and girls; outbuildings — where these have to be outdoors — set well back in opposite corners near the school garden which occupies the extreme rear, and screened with vines and shrubs; all this, finally, inclosed with fence or living hedge. Preparing the Soil. — The first step is to establish the proper grade ; this done, the soil must be prepared. The schoolhouse should be set back at least one hundred feet from the front entrance to the grounds. In case the site is nearly on a dead level it is imperative that the foundation should be built high and the soil graded up to it, to give the proper drainage. The school garden would give best results if level or nearly so. The playground, especially if it contains a baseball diamond, must be entirely level. The ground where the building stands would be ideal if sloping gently forward and to the two sides. For satis- factory results it is necessary to plow the entire tract before planting. If virgin prairie, it must be " broke " and 164 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL "back-set" before the next step can be taken. It is essential, too, that the soil should be well prepared. Let it be graded and well harrowed, and then, by way of putting on the finishing touches, carefully raked. Planning and Platting. — Now we are ready to plan and plat the ground. Some school officers may leave this im- portant work altogether in the hands of the teacher and the children; but others will want a hand in for them- selves. If our farmers could realize the transcendent im- portance of the planting, the entire countryside would turn out and help! A carefully scaled plat should now be laid off on paper. It must be exact in detail and indicate by name or number the variety of trees and shrubs to be planted, and just where to plant, how to curve the walks, etc. This will assure system and harmony when the work is at length completed. Walks and Drives. — Gracefully curving paths and drives are preferable to the stiff and lifeless straightway style. Otherwise, how they shall run, their width, etc., must be governed by the location of the schoolhouse, the size and shape of the grounds, and similar circum- stances. If the grounds are very large, a winding drive may run to the building, whence it may continue to the rear of the grounds to the horse sheds, if such are used. Another way is to construct two drives, — both short, — one running to the side entrance of the building, making NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS 1 65 a graceful curve around the flag-staff, running back out by the same track it entered; the other being a single approach to the fuel house and horse sheds. The drives should hardly be less than six feet wide. The main walk leading to the front entrance should be five feet wide; those leading to the well and outbuildings may be as narrow as three feet. All walks and drives should be graveled or covered with cinders. If stones are plentiful it would be well to add a coping or edging of rough stones. This would increase the picturesqueness of the grounds and at the same time protect the edges of the lawn. Playgrounds. — If it is at all possible, three separate playgrounds should be provided. One for the older boys, where they may enjoy the sports so dear to the boyish heart — baseball, jumping, wrestling, and playing " catch." A turning pole and a couple of heavy climbing ropes would add materially to the boys' pleasure, not to mention their gain in muscular agility and straightened backs. The older girls might have their playground at one side of the house, insomuch as it will partake much of the nature of a lawn, inclosed by shrubs and trees. The~smaller children do best if left to themselves. Their playground should lie between those of the larger boys and girls. Distinct rows of shrubs and trees should separate the playgrounds from each other. Planting. — Great care must be used in planting trees and shrubs. Unless the teacher or some one of the school 1 66 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL officers is experienced in this work, it would be well to get a skilled horticulturist to do the first planting, when so much is at stake. Later the teacher should take charge of the work ; his assistants should be chosen from the older boys and girls; the entire school should be permitted to give such assistance as they are able; and, whatever else they may do or not do, they should keep their eyes and ears open. While lack of space precludes a lengthy dis- cussion of the actual planting process, we venture to give the following brief cultural directions, taken from L. C. Corbett's " The School Garden " (Farmers' Bulletin, No. 218) : — The beauty of a shade tree depends upon its normal and symmet- rical growth. In order to insure this, before planting cut off the ends of all broken or mutilated roots; remove all side branches, save upon evergreens, so that a straight whip-like stalk alone re- mains. Dig holes at least 2 feet in diameter and 1 foot deep in good soil, and make them 4 feet across in poor soil. The sides of holes should be perpendicular and the bottom flat. Break up soil in the bottom of the hole to the depth of the length of a spade blade. Place 2 or 3 inches of fine top soil, free from sods or other decomposing organic matter, in the bottom of the hole. On top of this place the roots of the tree, spread them as evenly as possible over the bottom of the hole, and cover with 2 or 3 inches of fine top soil as before. Tramp firmly with the feet and fill the hole with good earth, leaving the surface loose and a little higher than the surface of the surrounding soil. When the work of planting is complete, the tree should stand about 2 inches deeper than it stood in the nursery. In order to insure symmetry of growth, trees must be allowed un- NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS 1 67 restricted area for development. At least 40 feet should be allowed between trees intended to occupy the ground permanently. Quick- growing nurse or temporary trees may be planted between the long- lived ones to produce immediate results, but these should be removed as soon as they interfere with the development of the permanent plantations. Trees. — The best results in tree planting are usually secured by planting only such trees as are native to the particular section, since they are already inured to the cli- mate, soil, and other conditions. Several varieties of elm, the hard and soft maples, ash, basswood, and box elder may be planted to good advantage. A few exotics might be sprinkled over the grounds for the sake of variety and ornament. The cut-leaf birch is very fine, as are also horse chestnuts and Norway maples. A few evergreens must not be left out. They are well beloved by all for their distinctive forms and many other characteristics. Certain varieties grow very large and are rather coarse in their foliage; these must not be planted too close to the building. The Norway spruce, the white pine, and the blue spruce are the best varieties for this purpose; they are noted for their beautiful form and deep green color, even in midwinter. Hedges. — The grounds must be inclosed from the first by a substantial fence, supplied with all necessary turnstyles, and swinging gates for teams. In time a living hedge should supplant it. Nothing is more beautiful to the eye than well-kept school grounds surrounded by a 1 68 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL well-trimmed hedge of evergreens or deciduous growth. If the former is desired, arborvitae, dwarf hemlock, and California privet are all excellent. The Citrus trifoliata is especially well adapted to the Southern states. For hedges of deciduous growth the most common species are the European thorn apple, the buckthorn, and the osage orange. Shrubbery. — A great many good shrubs grow wild in the woods and by the roadside. When properly massed, they add materially to the beauty and utility of the grounds. Single specimens are beautiful in themselves, but their utility lies mainly in screening unsightly places, such as outdoor closets, filling fence corners with a mass of beauty, which are otherwise prone to become catch-alls for all kinds of trash. Massed against a high foundation, they relieve^ the hard angular lines between the building and the ground and give a most pleasing effect. Two or more bold group- ings on the large front lawn would add surprisingly to its pictorial effect. The larger growing and coarser shrubs should constitute the body of the group, and be edged about with smaller specimens cultivated for their flowers or striking foliage. Some horticulturists have preferred to plant an irregular mass of trees and shrubs on the sides of the grounds away from the public highway, instead of the hedge fence. In the system of planting suggested in these pages such an arrangement would do nicely for one of the two sides opposite the road, — assuming that the NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS 1 69 grounds lie at the intersection of two roads, — as it would give it the appearance of the broken edge of our native woods; but where there is a school garden to the rear of the main grounds a dense growth of trees and shrubs be- tween these would be injurious both to the light and soil of the garden. So here, then, a single hedge fence will have to suffice. (See Appendix.) Vines. — The chief use of vines on school premises should be to screen and cover unsightly outbuildings and sheds. Pillar decorations on the lawn are also attractive. If the school structure is frame, it is not advisable to cover it with a growth of vines as they are very hard on paint and weatherboarding. But a brick or stone building should by all means have its bare walls covered over with a softening mantle of ivy or woodbine. None but the most hardy vines should be used. Among the best of these are the rapid-growing Virginia creeper; the Actinidia poly- gama and the Akebia quinata, two excellent twiners recently introduced from Japan; and, finally, the many well-known varieties of clematis, honeysuckles, woodbine, ivy, and wistaria. Flowers. — It is almost trite to say anything further on flowers. They are essential and give the crowning touch of beauty to the grounds. Endless varieties may be pro- cured at the greenhouse, the florist's, or from the home gardens of the community. For early spring bedding such bulbous plants as tulips, hyacinths, and crocuses are 170 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL unequaled. If desirable, the same beds may be used later in the season for hardy annuals grown from seeds scattered among the blooming bulbs. A bed of cannas and cala- diums will add somewhat of a semitropical touch. Vio- lets and pansies thrive best when planted on the cool, shady side of the house. Finally, best of all are the hardy perennials — peonies, roses, lilies, and irises. Before we close the discussion of grounds beautiful a word must be said in behalf of the small feathered guardians which spend such busy lives in an en- deavor to destroy the insect pests preying on tree and flower, and of the Fig. 6. — Such bird-boxes as the above are simple and every boy with some native ability can make them. harmless toad which does its work so well, silently hopping about destroying millions of insects and their larvae. Birds and Bird Houses. — Children should be early taught that these animals are not only harmless, but that they are their friends; that without them insect pests would soon make fruit growing and agriculture a practical im- possibility. They must learn to love their bird friends and protect them against their foes. Destroying eggs and young birds should be held up as a crime against nature. NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS 171 Severe punishment ought to follow every infraction of the school rules governing the subject. Moreover, the teacher can in so many ways encourage the children to provide nesting places for the birds by trimming down crotches in the trees, arranging dense shrubberies, and by building bird houses out of boards and boxes. It is really surprising how quick birds are to discern these small acts of kindness. Build a few bird houses in suitable places about the grounds, and in a few days wrens and bluebirds, chickadees and nuthatches will seek to become our tenants. Birds are cleanly and crave their daily bath — a large wooden bowl fastened at the end of a pole a few feet from the ground can be made to answer the double purpose of drinking fount and bathing pool. Crumbs from the dinner baskets will be very welcome, scattered near the bathing pool. A beautiful custom throughout northern Europe — and worthy of emulation among American school children — is to fasten sheaves of grain from poles on outbuildings or trees to feed the birds during winter or other seasons when there is a dearth of food. Toads and Toad Aquaria. — It is estimated that the com- mon toad is worth $19.88 each season alone for destroying cutworms (Kirkland's estimate, " The Common Toad," Bulletin No. 46, Hatch Experiment Station, Amherst, Mas- sachusetts). Under such circumstances it is not surpris- ing to hear that many large gardeners and horticulturists, 172 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL especially in Europe, raise their own supply of toads by means of artificial aquaria. Toads can be raised suc- cessfully on the average school grounds, and the children will be made the better and wiser for it. There is no dan- ger of an overproduction, as the toads' enemies are many; besides, " its natural food supply, consisting wholly of insects, worms, slugs, and the like, would inevitably set a natural limit to its increase." The following interesting description of such aquaria is quoted from Hodge's Nature Study and Life and may be tried with profit in all rural schools: — Encourage as many children as possible to provide little pools in their gardens, stock them well with water lilies, pickerel weed, cat- tails, iris, and other of our interesting aquatic plants and put in as many toads' eggs or tadpoles as the pool will support. For this pur- pose a water-tight box or tub may be set in the ground, or a more natural pool may be made by arranging large flat stones around a hole in the ground and plastering up the cracks between them with water-lime cement. The top of any such receptacle should be two or three inches below the surface, and the earth well packed around the edges to prevent rains from splashing out its occupants. If natural food be not abundant, its place may be supplied by bits of dog biscuit, fresh meat, fish, or even bread, but care should be taken to put in no more than is eaten clean or to remove uneaten pieces before they foul the water. In this way, without appreciable expense, any child can raise toads by thousands, until many of our most injurious insect pests become curiosities. The two great obstacles most likely to be encountered in a movement to improve the school grounds are : (1) public NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS J 73 indifference and (2) untrained teachers. The latter obstacle will be obviated as soon as the rural teacher gets the agricultural training discussed elsewhere; meanwhile the solution of our difficulties may be sought in a cam- paign of education. A Campaign of Education. — The county superintendent or, in the East, the town or town district supervisor is the PUB L-IC ROAD -^ ft It & $ Fig. 7. — Plat of school grounds prepared by United States Department of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin, No. 218, gives complete planting direc- tions. Send for it. It is free. proper official to take hold of the matter. In the sections of the country where the movement has met with greatest success they have been at its head. As a first step the superintendent should make it a point to see that all his 174 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL teachers and officers of the district boards are supplied with the many excellent bulletins on school-ground im- provement issued by the United States Department of Agriculture. The department will be glad to send the bul- letins to such addresses as the superintendent may supply. The list found at the end of this chapter contains some very good titles. The following are especially good and should be placed in the hands of every teacher and school officer: "Tree Planting on Rural School Grounds" (Farmers' Bulletin, No. 134) ; " The School Garden " (Farmers' Bul- letin, No. 218); "Annual Flowering Plants" (Farmers' Bulletin, No. 195) ; " The Lawn " (Farmers' Bulletin, No. 248) ; and " Beautifying the Home Grounds " (Farmers' Bulletin, No. 185). The agitation once begun must be continued through circular letters, at the monthly meetings of teachers and school officers, and at special local meetings called by the superintendent to interest and organize the parents of the district. Only when the district adopts a policy of sys- tematic planting as a result of such meetings may the end sought after be attained. Let a special day be set aside for the first planting when the first steps shall be taken to carry out a carefully arranged plan. Arbor Day an Appropriate Time for Planting. — Arbor Day is an appropriate time to begin. Let it be made a gala day for the entire district, to be cele- brated with speech and song and tree planting. It should NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS 175 be celebrated thoughtfully; for it is high time that the children should know that the prodigal abuse of our District 120 School. Groutids "Wl/^r_,»l © © © ®® @® © © © @ ^© ■•t? © o§ Fig. 8. — Planting plan of Shirley School, Cherry Valley Township, Winne- bago County, 111. Six trees were planted the first year; others will be set out gradually until the plan is completed. From O. J. Kern's Annual Report. PLANTING PLAN 1 Elm 8 Spirea Van Houttei 1? Bush Honeysuckle 2 Sugar Maple 9 Snowball 16 Cranberry Tree 3 Linden 10 Japanese Barberry 17 Red Branched Dogwood 4 Catalpa 11 Mock Orange 18 Common Elder 5 Ash 12 Dwarf Mock Orange 19 Woodbine 6 Sycamore 13 Weigela 20 Bitter Sweet 7 Hackberry 14 Forsythia 2 1 Woodbine or B itter Sweet at each fence post national forests has left our country well-nigh denuded of its one-time splendid timber wealth, and that knowing, 176 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL they will early learn to do better than their fathers in the matter of conserving our forests by planting at home, on the school grounds, on the national forest reserve. President Roosevelt's letter to the American school children is to the point : — To the School Children of the United States : Arbor Day (which means simply "Tree Day") is now observed in every state in our Union — and mainly in the schools. At various times from January to December, but chiefly in this month of April, you give a day or part of a day to special exercises and perhaps to actual tree planting, in recognition of the importance of trees to us as a nation, and of what they yield in adornment, comfort, and use- ful products to the communities in which you live. It is well that you should celebrate your Arbor Day thoughtfully, for within your lifetime the nation's need of trees will become serious. We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted. For the nation, as for the man or woman and the boy or girl, the road to success is the right use of what we have and the improvement of present opportunity. If you neglect to prepare yourselves now for the duties and responsibilities which will fall upon you later, if you do not learn the things which you will need to know when your school days are over, you will suffer the consequences. So any nation which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal, whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life. A people without children would face a hopeless future; a country NATURE STUDY; SCHOOL GROUNDS 1 77 without trees is almost as hopeless; forests which are so used that they cannot renew themselves will soon vanish, and with them all their benefits. A true forest is not merely a storehouse full of wood, but, as it were, a factory of wood, and at the same time a reservoir of water. When you help to preserve our forests or to plant new ones, you are acting the part of good citizens. The value of forestry de- serves, therefore, to be taught in the schools, which aim to make good citizens of you. If your Arbor Day exercises help you to realize what benefits each one of you receives from the forests, and how by your assistance these benefits may continue, they will serve a good end. Theodore Roosevelt. The White House, April 15, 1907. A SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS DEALING WITH NATURE STUDY AND SCHOOL GROUNDS 1. Bailey, L. H. Nature Study Idea. Third edition, revised. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1909. pp. 255. 2. Coon, Charles L. Geography, Nature Study, and Agriculture in the Elementary Schools. State Superintendent Public Instruction, Raleigh, N.C., 1905. pp. 32. 3. Corbett, L. C. The School Garden. Farmers' Bulletin, No. 218, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1905. pp. 40. 4. Annual Flowering Plants. Farmers' Bulletin, No. 195, Depart- ment of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1904. pp. 48. 5. The Lawn. Farmers' Bulletin, No. 248, Department of Agri- culture, Washington, D.C., 1906. pp. 20. 6. Hall, William L. Tree Planting on Rural School Grounds. Farmers' Bulletin, No. 134, Department of Agriculture, Wash- ington, D.C., 1907. pp. 32. 7. Hampton Nature Study Leaflets (especially No. 15), Hampton Press, Hampton, Va. 178 THE 'AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL 8. Hodge, C. G. Nature Study and Life. Ginn and Co., Boston, 1902. pp. 514. 9. Jewell, J. R. Agricultural Education, including Nature Study and School Gardens. Bulletin, No! 2, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., 1907. pp. 148. 10. Lockhead, William. Outlines of Nature Studies. Bulletin, No. 142, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph. pp. 48. 11. Stevens, F. L. A Course of Nature Study for the Teacher. State Superintendent Public Instruction, Raleigh, N.C., 1905. PP- 32. 12. Wetham, CD. and W. CD. Studies in Nature and Country Life. Cambridge, England, 1903. pp. 125. CHAPTER X School Gardens Early School Gardens. — It is wrong to suppose that the school garden is a recent innovation. Several na- tions of antiquity maintained such gardens in which the sons of noblemen were taught first steps in horticulture. The Greeks held them in high esteem by reason of the aesthetic influence that they asserted. The immortal Plato taught his disciples in the famous Academic Garden near Athens; while Plato the broad-browed, in imitation of the master, taught the eager listeners under the shady oaks of the Lyceum Garden. Christian teachers of the Middle Ages gave garden culture a practical turn. In their monastery gardens they taught the ignorant peas- ants and their children practical horticulture and agri- culture, so that they might once again settle down to the arts of peace and till the war-trampled fields of Europe. All the great educators from Comenius to Froebel have emphasized the importance of nature study and school gardens. Thus Comenius held that " a garden should be connected with every school, so that children at times can leisurely gaze on trees, flowers, and herbs, and be taught 179 l8o THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL to enjoy them." It is no wonder that this man's native country, Moravia, should demand by law that every school in the land maintain a garden ! Froebel, who rejoiced in the teaching that "God's spirit lives in nature, bearing, shielding, unfolding," sought to impress upon his patrons that " children — of school age — should have gardens to cultivate. ... If the boy cannot have a garden of his own, at least a few plants in box or pots should be his." The work of these innovators has borne a remarkable fruit, and to-day in consequence thousands of flourishing school gardens are in operation all over Europe. The German States. — The German states have offered horticulture in their curriculum in some form for many years. In 1814 Schleswig-Holstein (then members of the Danish kingdom) paved the way by requiring rural schools to give instruction in fruit culture and vegetable growing. The village schools of Prussia introduced school gardens in 181 9, and other states followed the example in the course of time. It is worthy of emphasis that in Germany, as, indeed, in most European countries, the school garden movement began in the rural districts and not in the cities as with us in the United States. About 1840 the larger German cities began to manifest an interest in school gardens. Berlin now maintains large gardens just outside the city limits, in which every child who ap- plies may have a small plat of its own. Wagon loads of flowers, twigs, and leaves from these gardens are daily SCHOOL GARDENS l8l furnished the nature-study classes throughout the capital. Other cities maintain similar gardens and large botanical gardens where the children may study a varied flora under expert horticulturists. Austria. — Austria and Sweden should have credit for being the first to establish the garden movement on a national basis. The Austrian imperial school law of 1869 prescribes that "where practicable a garden and a place for agricultural experiment shall be established in every rural school." At the present time there are 20,000 school gardens in Austria-Hungary. It is said that in the large province of Styria every school has a well-kept garden. Thanks to the indefatigable efforts of Dr. Erasmus Schwab, Vienna can boast school gardens excelled by none in the whole world. Hungary has made gardening and elementary agriculture obligatory in all schools from the sixth to the fifteenth year. Sweden. — In Sweden the royal promulgation of Octo- ber 15, 1869, required that at " every school a garden of from seventy to eighty square rods must be laid out." As a result, in 1894 there were 4670 flourishing school gardens in the kingdom; but, lately, sloyd and other forms of manual training have usurped this attention which was formerly bestowed upon garden culture, resulting in a considerable falling off in the number of gardens. France. — The French government began the move- ment right by first training teachers to " carry to the ele- 182 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL mentary schools an exact knowledge of the soil, the means of improving it, the best methods of cultivation, the man- agement of a farm garden," etc. This was in 1880. Now more than one hundred normal schools are preparing teachers to go into the rural districts to demonstrate the economic value of elementary agriculture. In the neigh- borhood of 45,000 French rural schools are at the present time equipped with school gardens; although some of these are not used for school demonstration, but were established solely to supplement the teacher's income. Russia. — Russian school gardens originated imme- diately after Alexander II had emancipated his forty-six million serfs in 1861. Public gardens were established wherein the ignorant freedmen were taught to raise vege- tables, to care for fruit trees, silkworms^ and bees. After 1887 itinerant gardeners were sent out by the Crown, who instructed rural teachers in agriculture and organized many school gardens. In 1905 the school gardens num- bered 8400, of which a considerable number were supplied with silkworm hatcheries and apiaries. Other European Countries. — Switzerland makes garden culture obligatory for graduation from all normal schools. The government pursues successfully a plan of subsidizing gardens in connection with the elementary school, and offers prizes to both pupils and teachers for practical themes on garden culture. As a result, horticulture in the republic has received a remarkable impetus. Bohemia SCHOOL GARDENS 183 H \- A. ToopSmwK oN a (\ wvxwwwvxwww Size about one quarter acre (grounds did not admit of usual size), surrounded by hedge of privet. A,B,C,D, seedlings of fruit trees. L, berries, stone fruits, bor- ders of mint. N, borders of cherries, gooseberries, sage. ORCHARD Potatoes planted between trees. 5, borders of raspberries. U, plum trees. N, nuts, mountain ash box- thorn. A,P, apple and pear trees. O, beehives. Fig. ■A plan of Russian school grounds of the elementary schools, exhibi- tion grounds at Nizhni- Novgorod, 1896. has fully 5000 school gardens, and her marvelous fruit crop is generally ascribed to expert school instruction. Belgium makes horticulture compulsory; the law requires every school in the kingdom to maintain a garden of at least 184 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL thirty-nine and one half square rods. The government here, too, grants annual appropriations for the support of school gardens and offers prizes for excellence in horti- cultural study. Vegetable gardening has been reduced to a scientific system in this most densely populated of countries, which is scarcely equaled elsewhere — thanks to perfection in school gardening. The British Empire. — England alone of prominent European nations has been slow to take advantage of the garden movement. It is fair to state, however, that marked progress has been shown since the adoption, in 1904, of a new course of study for all elementary schools, — a course in which nature study holds first place, — and grants are made to all schools maintaining school gardens. But strange as it appears under the circumstances, the British have been quick enough to see the value of school gardening in their colonial systems. Thus Jamaica, Ceylon, Natal, Tasmania, and the several states constitut- ing the commonwealth of Australia have school gardens in some form or other, not to mention Canada, which can boast the most complete system of school gardens in the Western Hemisphere. It may now be time to ask why we take space to enter into this somewhat lengthy portrayal of European school gardens. What is the purpose? What does it prove? In the first place it demonstrates that school gardening is nothing new, as thoughtful educators of all ages have SCHOOL GARDENS I 85 realized its value. Then it makes clear that school gar- dening is not a fad seized upon by any one class of educators and horticultural enthusiasts, but is rather in- ternational in its scope and is made use of — and very successfully, too — in many and varied ways. Purposes of European School Gardens. — Sweden or- ganized a system of school gardens at a time when Swedish agriculture was sadly in need of governmental inspiration, teaching the peasantry scientific methods in horticulture and elementary agriculture. Prussia and Bohemia made the gardens extremely utilitarian, striving to promote a better knowledge of pomology. The same is true of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands; the practical ends sought were to teach more profitable methods in the culture of vegetables, flowers, and fruit. Austria and, of late, Denmark and England, have laid emphasis on the purely educational value, the training of heart and hand, making the utilitarian of secondary impor- tance. Hereto should be added that some countries, par- ticularly France, Germany, and Denmark, have made use of school gardens as a special means to augment the teacher's income. European Emigrant Farmers in Competition with Native Farmers. — The European peasants who come to our shores by hundreds of thousands have been trained from childhood in these schools. Their thrift and ability to surmount difficulties which have nonplussed and discour- 1 86 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL aged the native American farmer go far to prove the value of early training in school gardening. The European farmer invariably outstrips the native because he has an almost innate (in-bred) gift for farming right. He knows how and when to fertilize the soil; how and when fall plowing should be done; how to look after the details and little things. It is indisputable that farmers from Germany, Denmark, Holland, Bohemia, and France have converted into thriving, well-built, and well-stocked farms, lands upon which the average American could not have subsisted. They are even now beginning to reclaim the deserted New England farmsteads, and will once more make them blossom as the rose. Nor should this success be attributed — as it so often is — to a lower scale of living on the part of the foreign-born farmer. The real secret of their success is thrift and knowledge of the essentials of scientific farming. Americans should take the lesson to heart, for in this respect Europeans can yet teach us important educational facts. History of School Gardens in the United States. — Mean- while, what are we accomplishing for the school garden in the United States? With us the school garden is not yet an integral part of the educational system, although some progress is being made through individual initiative. The cities were the first to take an interest in the work. The first school garden was established, in 1891, at the George Putnam School, Roxbury, Massachusetts, by Henry Lin- SCHOOL GARDENS 187 coin Clapp, its master. " From 1891 to 1900 only wild flowers were cultivated here, but by the latter date Medford, Framingham, Hyannis, and other Massachusetts towns had made such a success of vegetable gardening in connec- tion with school work that the Putnam School put in a kitchen garden with 84 beds." Philanthropic organizations of different kinds have been back of this educational movement in the cities. In 1 901 the Twentieth Century Club of Boston established a school garden at the English High School of that city; and the following year] the Massachusetts Civic League provided 350 small gardens for school children throughout the state. The Civic Improvement League of St. Louis, The Chicago Committee on Vacation Schools, The Home Gardening Association of Cleveland, and many organiza- tions of a similar nature have accomplished much for school gardening and park construction in their respective cities. Probably some fifty of the larger cities in the United States are equipped with school gardens; among these may be mentioned Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, Washington, Worcester, Cleveland, New York City, Brookline (Mas- sachusetts), Yonkers, Philadelphia, and Hampton (Vir- ginia). Very few school gardens receive direct financial support from the local boards of education or may be considered as a part of the local educational system. Philadelphia, Cleveland, Rochester, and East Orange (New Jersey), are marked exceptions, as the board of education IOO THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL in each of these cities has made school gardening a part of the educational system. Practical Value of City School Gardening. — The follow- ing paragraph is from the pen of Superintendent O. J. Kern. It points out the value of school gardening in the city system and gives pertinent reasons why such schools are comparatively easier to maintain here than in rural districts : — It would seem that the school garden in cities should, of course, be a very rational means of supplementing the study of books, to say nothing of its aesthetic value in beautifying grounds. Also, many of the conditions there make it much easier to have successful school gardens. The school year is longer, and there are trained teachers with better salaries, teachers who have a high apprecia- tion of beauty and the value of nature study from nature. This sympathetic attitude is the result of their normal training, where, in a course covering two or three years, they are told how, in the most effective manner and with a minimum of "economic waste," they are to cultivate the child's "every incipient power." The city child does not come in contact with nature as does the country child; hence it is much easier to interest him. Also, there is a much more enlightened public sentiment in the cities, with their public libraries and art galleries. Public-spirited men and women give time and money to encourage the return to nature. Perhaps there is a greater need of this in the artificial life of cities. The school garden is not likely to suffer during dry summer vacations, for there are the janitor and the hydrant. And it is not surprising that such cities as Boston, Yonkers, Cleveland, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and others should achieve such great results when there are salaried expert supervisors who direct the work even in vacation time. And this work is of the highest educative value. Instead of cities building larger jails SCHOOL GARDENS 1 89 and pointing with pride to such structures as the solution of the bad- boy problem, let more money be spent in farm schools, where the boy can get away from the slum back to the brown earth. Garden work is better than "bummin'." This is good, — garden work is better than " bummin'." What is more, there is an abundance of proof on record to demonstrate its practical value in strictly school work. James Ralph Jewell emphasizes this point in his excellent publication on " Agricultural Education," Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 2, 1907), which he further sub- stantiates with abundant quotations. He says in part : — In the first place, in practically every school heard from directly they have given an interest to some scholars, probably to those of a predominantly motor type, to whom in the past the lessons in the books had meant little. A wholesome interest once aroused, the school work was more easily done. Were there no other advantage in this subject, it would be justified by this result in a country where we have few special schools for those a little slow or backward in their studies. But this is not all. Professor J. D. Hemenway, of Hartford, Connecticut, says: "It has been found that school garden- ing tends to inspire one to do better work in other branches. In Day- ton, Ohio, where school gardens have been conducted for six or seven years, boys taking gardening make 30 per cent more rapid progress in their studies than those without gardens." The increased effi- ciency in other school work has been noted in Philadelphia, Cleve- land, Hampton, and the Rice School in Boston. In the announce- ment of the department of children's gardens of the American Civic Association is the statement by Mr. Dick J. Crosby, of the office of Experiment Station, of Washington, that "experience has shown that devoting four or five hours a week, or even two hours a day, to nature study and gardening, if properly conducted, enables the I90 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL pupils to accomplish more in the remaining time than they formerly accomplished in the whole time spent in school." Even more to the point is the testimony of Mr. George lies in discussing the successful operation of school gardens in Canada. He writes : — Uniform examinations for entrance to high schools are held throughout Ontario in July. In 1906 in Carleton county from schools without gardens 49 per cent of the candidates were success- ful; from five Macdonald schools, where all candidates had been school gardeners for three consecutive years, 71 per cent were ad- mitted, mostly with high standing. As in all such education it was shown that when part of a school day is given to toil with the hands, at the bench, and out of doors, the book work at the desk takes on a fresh meaning, and inspires a new zest. Social-ethical Value of City School Gardening. — Garden culture has worked quite a miracle in the lives of children living in the slum quarters of our cities. The influence of trees and flowers in a social-ethical way is very remarkable. There is an old saying that in White- chapel — London's most vicious, squalid quarter — flowers cannot live and trees will not thrive. Or, to re- verse the statement: crime cannot thrive where sweet na- ture smiles. So in our cities school gardens have been a potent influence at work for civic righteousness. As the school garden invades the slums vice and squalor recede before it. On this point we have the testimony of Direc- tor Martin of the Philadelphia Bureau of Health, who writes: — SCHOOL GARDENS 191 In the slums of Philadelphia I have found that in the houses where there are flowers — a result of our school gardens — there is neat cleanliness, although all around is squalor. And in regard to increased respect for property rights, to quote Mr. Jewell once more : — In Philadelphia the residents of Weccanoe Square themselves hooted at the idea of property rights being respected, yet only one hoe was stolen. There was no other loss during the season, and the police records show that crime diminished materially in the neigh- borhood. "The children of the vicinity were taken off the streets, even the big boys, at that formative period of 12 to 16, when so many begin to go to the bad." The children began to ask for books on gardening; this led to the formation of quite a little circulating library by the teachers, and not a book or magazine disappeared. Lack of space forbids further details on the value of city school gardens. But enough has already been said to determine its great importance as an educational agency in the city system. The rest of this chapter must now be devoted to school gardens in rural districts. Rural School Gardens. — It was mentioned elsewhere in this chapter that in Europe school gardens originated in connection with rural schools, chiefly for the practical end of making the peasants better farmers. Somehow, with us, the school garden has come to be the natural adjunct of the city school. There is a feeling that city children need the outdoor exercise and contact with nature which gar- dening affords much more than do country children; and 192 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL that the latter will learn gardening and the rudiments of agriculture at home, anyway, as well or better than they can be taught in school. This is all very well, but is it borne out by fact? Does the average farm child learn enough to keep up with the procession in this country of increasing land values? Farm lands are getting too valuable for cheap farming. Can the average farmer teach his boy the best there is? Let the answer come from communities which practice school gardening. Concrete illustration proves beyond a shadow of doubt that " where a boy has learned at school to mix his agriculture with brains " he is able as a man to raise more farm produce, acre for acre, than his father ever did before him. Mr. Jewell exclaims very pertinently : — How many a farmer boy, who will practice farming all his life, goes through his life in the school and at home without knowing how the roots of corn spread out, or how to cultivate the corn properly to insure the largest yield, except as he follows what he sees others do and without knowing a hundred things of the kind which science is waiting for him to learn and utilize ? How many country boys have been given anything to think of as they hoe potatoes except that their city cousins are not blistering their hands so? Canada could furnish many illustrations of what school gardens are actually accomplishing for the farmer. For instance, in 1903, after three years of work in seed selection and careful cultivation in plots of ground at home and in school, " the yield of wheat thus sown and reaped was 28 per cent heavier than that of three years before from \ii *€ It 1 • * •« j !.. I f^-*» • This remarkable picture illustrates school garden work at the Macdonald Consolidated School, Guelph, Canada, E. A. Howes, Principal. The time is June. s&m&mbSS&z The same garden at harvest time, in September. SCHOOL GARDENS 193 unselected seed; in oats the increase was 27 per cent, area for area." ^^mm^^m^m^mm^^m^^^^^^m Fig. 10. — Plan of Macdonald consolidated school grounds and gardens, Bowesville, Ontario, Canada. The province of Nova Scotia heads the list with 103 school gardens in 1905. Other Eastern provinces estab- lished 25 gardens, 5 in each province, with the coming of the (194) Fig. ii. — Irrigated school garden at Gilpin, Colorado. SCHOOL GARDENS I 95 Macdonald movement. Even the Northwest territories have established flourishing gardens in many communities. In the United States some very excellent gardens are main- tained as adjuncts of the same class of schools, although Superintendent Kern, of Winnebago county, Illinois, Superintendent Miller, of Keokuk county, Iowa, and many other enthusiastic workers whose aim is to better the conditions of the country child have demonstrated con- clusively that very successful school gardens may also be maintained in connection with the small one-room school. The United States Department of Agriculture places the number of gardens in operation in our country (1906) at 75,000. The Middle West, notably Illinois, Iowa, Min- nesota, and Wisconsin, have the largest number of rural gardens. Many other states, among them Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, have comprehensive systems of school gardens. Even Colorado, in the heart of the Rockies, supports hundreds of successful gardens. Two Difficulties which must be Met. — Two difficul- ties must be met before school gardening can become an integral part of our educational system. They are: (1) general popular appreciation of their real value, and (2) trained teachers able to face and surmount any obsta- cles thrown in the way of their successful establishment. Popular appreciation is already on the increase. Many state normal schools and state agricultural colleges have lent willing hands and are doing much through bulletins 196 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL and otherwise to call the farmers' attention to the impor- tance of the school garden in the rural school system. Farmers' institutes in several states have placed their official indorsement upon the movement. Farmer boys' corn clubs and similar organizations (see Chapter XI) are all doing much to rouse public interest. Training Teachers in Elementary Agriculture. — The secret of much of the immediate success and solidity at- tained by the school garden movement in Canada is easily explained. Its originators began in the right way by first training their teachers for the work to be accomplished. A number of provincial normal schools and Macdonald in- stitutes are engaged in training teachers for the increasing number of schools making provision for nature study and school-garden experiments. The Macdonald Institute, associated with the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, has the finest equipment in the world for garden experi- ments and nature study. The school offers elective courses in these subjects free to all teachers. Four provincial governments have granted scholarships to this school, which have already enabled 200 teachers to take instruc- tion in the elective subjects. In the United States we are not so fortunately situated, since our millionaires have not yet come forward in imitation of Sir William Macdonald. In spite of this we are making a good beginning. Teachers who are already in the service have ample aids at their disposal for self- SCHOOL GARDENS 197 instruction, if they choose to take advantage of them; and future teachers should have no difficulty to find a suitable institution where to receive their training. Several types of institutions which offer such training have been dis- cussed in the chapter on " The Rural Teacher : His Train- ing " and need not be repeated here. Dean L. H. Bailey classifies these institutions (Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 1, 1908) under seven heads as follows: (i) state nor- mal schools; (2) local normal schools; (3) high schools and training classes; (4) separate agricultural schools; (5) special detached foundations for industrial work; (6) education departments of colleges and universities and teachers' colleges; and (7) agricultural colleges. Steps Preparatory to making the Garden. — Unless the teacher has taken instruction in the actual management of school gardens his success or failure will depend alto- gether on his own ingenuity in self-preparation. The first step would most likely be to read some good book or books on school gardens — dealing with their value, how to make them, course of instruction, etc. Then let him send to the Bureau of Education for a free list of bul- letins on the subject, gleaning from them such suggestive materials as they may contain. It is an excellent idea to get into touch, through correspondence usually, with philanthropic organizations engaged in furthering this movement throughout our country; they would give valu- able suggestions and might even furnish seeds and other I98 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL material help. State horticultural societies, state normal schools, and state agricultural colleges willingly send their bulletins, manuals, and courses of study. These will all be of value. Better still are excursions to school gardens already in operation; here the teacher may see with his own eyes what he has hitherto known in theory only. He should finally study the plan of some well-known school- garden system and adapt it to his own needs. H. D. Hemenway has published a book on " How to make School Gardens " (see suggestive list at end of chapter) , which con- tains an outline plan of the Oakdale School, of Dedham, Massachusetts. R. H. Cowley, Inspector of Schools, has written instructively on the Macdonald School Gardens in the Queen's Quarterly for 1905. These school gardens are too complex for the ordinary one-room school, but are so full of hints which can be made use of that all teachers should read the articles. We quote below such portions of Cowley's outline plan of the school gardens and grounds of the Bowesville Consolidated School, of Bowesville, Ontario, as are deemed of especial value to beginners in school gardening: — Bowesville, Ontario, School Gardens : General Plans. — While the plan of laying out the gardens varies according to soil, surface, and location, the outline of the Bowesville garden on page 193 suggests the general features that have been kept in view. These include a belt of ornamental native trees and shrubs surrounding the grounds; two walks, each about one hundred yards long, be- tween rows of trees ; a playground of about half an acre for the girls. SCHOOL GARDENS I99 bordered with some light and graceful shade, such as cut-leaf birch; a small orchard, in which are grown a few varieties of the fruit trees most profitable to THREE FOOT WALK.. the district; a forest plot, in which the most important Ca- nadian trees will be grown from seed and by transplant- ing; a plot for cul- tivating the wild herbs, vines, and shrubs of the dis- trict; space for in- dividual plots and special experimen- tal plots; and at- tractive approach to the school, includ- ing open lawn, large flowering plants, foliage, rockery, or- namental shrubs, etc. Dr. Robert- son, the director of the Mac- donald move- merit, lays great FlG , stress on " spe- J $ O O fc. O CORN -COR. NT. .. BEANS. .-BEANS- • MELONS- -POTATOES ...PEAS --PEAS --- -BEETS-- BEETS-. -CUCUMBERS- .. ...LETTUCE - -LETTUCE .. ... .RADISHES — . ...RADISHES.-- - -FLOWERS...- ^ N9 2 N93 ■ Planting plan of an individual school garden. cial experimental plots " wherein experiments of a highly instructive character are carried on, covering many simple 200 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL lessons in what he pleases to call the tripod of good farm- ing: " (i) sowing selected seed on prepared soil; (2) pro- tecting crops against insects and fungous diseases; (3) a rotation of crops adapted to the soil and to the markets." In his report Mr. Cowley continues: — Experimental Plots and Individual Plots. — The special experi- mental plots are, as a rule, larger than the individual plots. They are used for such purposes as the study of rotation of crops, values of fertilizers, effects of spraying, selection of seeds, merits of soils, productiveness and quality of different varieties of crops, and many other similar subjects. At one school a special study was made of corn, clover, tomatoes, and cabbage; at another beans, peas, beets, and potatoes occupied the experimental plots; at still an- other some extra attention was given to plots of pumpkins, squash, cabbage, and cauliflower. At all the gardens special plots will be devoted to small fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, goose- berries, currants. The experimental plots vary in area from two hundred to two thousand square feet, but where the quantity of ground is restricted, the experiments may be successfully carried out on plots of much smaller average size. A last quotation from Mr. Cowley's report sheds new light on the perplexing question of what to do with the school gardens during the summer vacation : — The School Garden during Vacation. — There is no insur- mountable difficulty or very serious problem in keeping the school garden decent during the long summer vacation. Even if the garden were to deteriorate from neglect during holidays, the fact would be of altogether minor consequence against school gardens, since a well-ordered pupil rather than a well-ordered garden is the supreme end of it all. If the pupils do not provide for their plots SCHOOL GARDENS 201 during vacation, by all means let the weeds grow. The worst possible mistake in such a case would be to pay a janitor or some other person to take care of the plots for indifferent and unmindful pupils. At some school gardens in Carleton county last summer some pupils returned after vacation to weed-choked plots in which their flowers and vegetables compared very unfavorably with those of their more diligent companions. Their silent observation of this fact and their strenuous efforts to redeem their plots impressed upon them a lesson of moral and material value. How to arrange the Garden. — The accompanying out- line represents the author's personal ideas of a practical school garden and grounds. It is a garden connected with such a ground as described in the previous chapter. The garden occupies the rear one third of the entire area used for school purposes and is inclosed by living hedge or strong fence. To obviate any objection that may be raised to a hedge fence — which is known to draw much nourishment from the soil adjacent to it — fruit trees and such bush growths as raspberries and blackberries occupy the ground next to the hedge. The garden is furnished with a turnstile entrance from the school grounds and with a large gate on the side next to the road to admit the plow team, if such is used. The size of the garden will depend upon the number of pupils, the size of the school ground area, and other local conditions. If the grounds are ample and the attendance small, the orchard and experimental plots may be propor- tionately increased. The outline plan contemplates an <7>c A ct >•<£ -A fy^rvineMUt Plot.! * / i 3 V s 6 7 « ? /« // 1*. /3 />» /.r /4 /? /r it tv -1/ Al »J IV tr i.1 O £?<; Erysipelas. r* Consumption. Pneumonia. Fig. 19. — Microscopic appearance of some dreaded disease germs. (After Krohn.) how the most common contagious diseases of children spread : — Chicken Pox. — Indefinite; probably by the breath, drinking cups, and similar means. Measles. — By excretions from the nose; by the breath; by clothing. Whooping Cough. — By the breath; by expectorations from the throat and lungs. Scarlet Fever. — By contact with cast-off particles of skin from the patient; carried by clothing or by any article containing the ADENOIDS RIGHT" TONS1L The above illustration shows a large mass of adenoids growing in the nasopharyn- geal cavity of the throat. Pneumonia germs from a public school drinking cup, magnified iooo diam- eters. Microphotograph of decaying hu- man cells on a drinking cup. The diameter of the circular spot on the glass was one-fif- teenth of an inch. HYGIENE AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION 29I poison; germ persistent a long time; can be destroyed only by fire or disinfection. La Grippe. — By a germ conveyed by travel, baggage, and in clothing; contagious; latest authorities isolate cases as rigidly as smallpox, because of serious results; in some cases even causes insanity. Diphtheria. — By the breath; by excretions from the throat and nose; germ persistent; similar to scarlet fever germ. Poor drainage, bad sewerage, and a wet cellar under the house are often contributory causes of diphtheria. Drinking Cups, Pencils, Books, etc. — Before leaving the subject of disease by germs the author cannot refrain from emphasizing more particularly the well-known danger from the promiscuous use of drinking cups, lead pencils, books, and the like by children in school. The well- equipped city school plant has solved the problem of the drinking cup by installing sanitary drinking foun- tains of running water, but not so the average village or rural school. Here, the only solution lies in using indi- vidual cups. The promiscuous use of lead pencils entails a similar danger. Children are prone to put pencils into the mouth, thereby making possible the spread of conta- gion. All much-handled books and paraphernalia be- longing to the district should be thoroughly disinfected at least once or twice a year. A simple apparatus for this purpose can be devised by almost any one with a mechanical bent of mind. In order to bring this serious matter home to every teacher, we cannot do better than to quote at length from 292 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL an article in the Technical World (Chicago, August, 1908), contributed by Professor Alvin Davison, of Lafayette Col- lege. The article, which bears the startling heading " Death in School Drinking Cups," reads in part: — It is an established fact that a considerable number of well persons harbor in their mouths the germs of grippe, pneumonia, diphtheria, and tonsilitis. Examination of 4250 persons by the Massachusetts Association of the Boards of Health showed that over one hundred of them carried in their mouths virulent diphtheria germs. Pennington in 1907 found virulent diphtheria bacilli in nearly 5 per cent of a large number of apparently healthy school children in Philadelphia. In Minnesota true diphtheria germs were found in the mouths of seventy persons in every thousand examined. The average results of a large number of investigations demonstrate that nearly 1 per cent of well persons carry in their mouths true diphtheria germs. In Boston 60 per cent of all cases of common catarrh examined showed the presence of grippe bacilli. Considerable evidence is at hand showing that the germs of sore throat, pneumonia, and bronchitis are present in many people who mingle with the well and drink from the public cups. Professor Davison goes on to tell of his own investiga- tion in a striking fashion thus : — During the past six months I have investigated by means of direct microscopic examination, by cultures, and by guinea-pig injections the deposits present on various public drinking vessels. Cup No. 1, which had been in use nine days in a school, was a clear thin glass. It was broken into a number of pieces and properly stained for examination with a microscope magnifying 1000 diameters. The human cells scraped from the lips of the drinkers were so numerous on the upper third of the glass that the head of a pin could not be placed anywhere without touching several of these bits of skin. HYGIENE AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION 293 The saliva by running down on the inside of the glass had carried cells and bacteria to the bottom. Here, however, they were less than one third as abundant as at the brim. By counting the cells present on fifty different areas on the glass as seen under the microscope, it was estimated that the cup con- tained over 20,000 human cells or bits of dead skin. As many as 150 germs were seen clinging to a single cell, and very few cells showed less than 10 germs. Between the cells were thousands of germs left there by the smears of saliva deposited by the drinkers. Not less than 100,000 bacteria were present on every square inch of the glass. Most of these were of the harmless kind abundant in the mouth, but some were apparently the germs of decay feeding upon the bits of the human body adhering to the cup. In order to determine how much material each drinker is likely to leave on the cup, I requested ten boys to apply the upper lip to pieces of clean, flat glass in the same way as they touched the cup in drinking. These glass slips thus soiled were properly stained for microscopic examination, which showed an average of about 100 cells and 75,000 bacteria to each slip. And of greatest significance: Professor Davison's examination showed that very many of these germs were those of consumption, pneumonia, diphtheria, etc. Rural Teachers their Own Medical Inspectors. — What is said above concerns all teachers alike. The rural teacher should be as well versed in school hygiene and children's diseases as city teachers. It is true that in the country schools are smaller, the air is purer, children are more robust and less exposed to devitalizing influences than in the city. At the same time the rural teacher does not have a physician ready at his elbow in case of emergency. He 294 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL must on this account be his own medical inspector. Every rural teacher should know enough about children's diseases to discover by their outward signs the common contagious, and, acting upon this knowledge, place the patient under a physician's care. He should be able to detect the minor eradicable defects in pupils under his care, as, for example, enlarged tonsils, adenoids, and incorrect vision. Then he should feel strong enough in his duty to insist that all such ailments be given immediate attention. Some people hold the false notion that children on the farm are largely exempt from the ills to which city folks are heir. Quite the contrary is true. Careful investiga- tion has disclosed that the rural population as a whole displays a startling degree of ignorance on subjects of health and sanitation. As President Roosevelt puts it in his special message on country life, " easily preventable diseases hold several million country people in the slavery of continuous ill health." Typhoid fever, malaria, ague, and pneumonia crave many victims annually. Improper drainage, impure water, and poor ventilation are some of the causes conspiring to heap these afflictions on our farm population. With a good teacher to look after the chil- dren's health in school and to train them in more sanitary habits, and to consult with and advise the parents, better conditions will be forthcoming. The Four Agencies of Physical Education. — Physical education in our schools manifests itself through the agen- HYGIENE AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION 295 cies of manual training, play, gymnastics, and athletics. These we may now consider so far as they relate to the rural schools. Manual training, as we have seen in another chapter, can be made an important factor in the intellectual, moral, and physical education of the farm boy and girl. It coordinates head, heart, and hand; it fosters mental, moral, and phys- ical habits of accuracy; it makes for dexterity and removal of awkwardness. In the school garden, in the experimen- tal patch, in all digging and spading and planting, it is instrumental in strengthening backs and straightening limbs. In all this outdoor work manual training makes the body a readier and stronger servant of the mind, and in so doing adds a hitherto unknown dignity to labor. Function of Play. — Play has an important place in school work. It protects the pupil from the enslavement of labor. It keeps his individuality strong and vigorous. It keeps his physical self in health and safe from too much or too continuous work. It is indeed true that " all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Human offspring simply cannot get along without play. Most animals play, and play instinctively. They do not need to be taught. And to interfere in their play is to interfere with some law of their natural development. There are times when children play because they have more stored-up vitality than they have use for. At other times they play in order to relax after strenuous effort and re-create exhausted en- 296 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL ergy. At all times play is a sort of preparation for the activities to be entered upon later in life. " Thus," says Professor Home, " youthful play is nature's way of prepa- ration for later serious living. The kitten's ball is the old cat's mouse. . . . The girl's doll and the boy's soldier and horses are premonitory." During the first seven or eight years of life certain so-called " neuro-muscular com- binations " in the child system must be developed. To this end play is essential. Rural children are blessed with ample school grounds and an abundance of pure air. In these respects they are much more fortunate than city children whose playgrounds are generally cramped and far removed from the invigorat- ing ozone of the open country. Every rural teacher should encourage the children to engage in harmless games in this wholesome outdoor environment. He should frown down all indoor moping and insist that every child take some exercise in the open air. Lastly, the teacher should be as much as possible a participant in the children's sports, both for the reason that the teacher stands as much in need of the recreation and fresh air as do his pupils and because of the influence of his personality on the children's moral conduct. Gymnastics. — Gymnastics is a man-made system of physical exercise. It lacks much of the spontaneity of play, requiring a certain measure of mental strain and will assertion. As such it is not engaged in with the natural HYGIENE AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION 297 abandon which marks games and sports; but it is superior to these in physical development, because every part of the body receives attention. Gymnastics is designed to keep men from becoming warped and distorted by their occupations in life and to train and develop in them all the groups and combinations of body muscles which such ordinary activities as work, play, games, etc., cannot reach and accordingly leave unquickened. The aim is to approximate physically perfect men and women. The ancients, with the one exception of Athens, were strangers to our ideals. They trained the youth merely for the games and war. Among modern nations the Germans have produced Father Jahn and Spiess and their successors. Jahn was the first to emphasize the importance of propor- tional training of all physical powers of the human body and to see that with the renewal of hitherto latent or decay- ing powers comes a new-born exhilaration, a new motif, which in the strong, self-respecting man takes shape in such varied activities as patriotic ardor, civil morality, etc. We must employ in our schools some system of move- ments which shall straighten and strengthen stooped shoulders and curved spines, crooked legs and knees, and otherwise counteract and remedy the evils occasioned by the use of school desks. The difficulty is to discover a practical method of exercise which shall allow of sufficient individual variation for all purposes. No two children are constituted or developed alike physically; therefore, exer- 298 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL cise by class is not the best method to pursue. Some children are most deficient in arms, others in shoulders, others again in legs, and so on to the end of the list. Each should have some individual attention. This the well- equipped high school and grammar school gymnasium in our cities with their trained physical directors can supply. Smaller places and rural communities must get along with less scientific methods; but nowhere need we get along without gymnastics in some form or other. Gymnastics in Every Rural School. — Do rural children need gymnastics? Our answer is that all children, no matter where they live, should have the benefit of such exercises. Farm children have the advantage of pure air, large playgrounds, and healthful walks along country lanes. But their physical development does not come one whit nearer the approximate of human perfection than in the cities. Country children are inclined to be ungainly and awkward, very often unshapely, bespeaking strength without the essential requisites of harmony and beauty. The shuffling footsteps, the ungainly bearing, so common in rural schoolchildren is proof of disproportionate physical development. Some youngsters, literally speaking, run altogether to hands and feet at the expense of other parts of their natural mechanism. Now what can we do to remedy these conditions ? Gymnastics in European Rural Schools. — The author has personally inspected the systems in vogue in many HYGIENE AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION 299 Danish and Swedish rural schools. The introduction of similar methods in our country would, no doubt, have a very salutary effect. The gymnastic exercises in these schools are divided into informal work with simple apparatus, aiming at individual perfection, and calis- thenics for the whole school, seeking class precision, symmetry of body, grace of movement, etc. To begin with, the boys' side of the playground is equipped with a well-built rack containing a half-dozen or more sets of horizontal bars. Back of this rises a frame of heavy timbers at least twenty feet high, from which hang two-inch ropes, four or more in number, and several smooth, rounded poles, all intended for climbing; at one end of the frame is suspended a set of ropes and rings, the nearest approach on the grounds to an apparatus for acrobatics. These simple instru- ments, when judiciously used, add amazingly to the de- velopment and strength of trunk and limbs. The girls' side of the grounds has its high and low swings, intended to combine play with exhilarating exercise. It is also provided with " chinning poles " — a sort of high horizontal bars — for strengthening hands, arms, and thorax. The apparatus are used under the direction of the teacher who gives formal lessons several times a week. For practice purposes, however, they may be used freely at all times. It is interesting to see how eager both boys and girls are to become proficient in their use. 300 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL But the above is all incidental to the daily drills in calis- thenics, which are invariably held outdoors whenever the weather permits. The boys and girls assemble in separate groups and go through a series of exercises bringing into activity every important muscle in the body. The manual eliminates such exercises as might in any way be construed as immodest where the two sexes are concerned. The drill may be given with or without bells, clubs, and wands. It has the advantage of combining system with an abun- dance of pure air. When the weather is inclement the drill is given indoors, for some fifteen minutes at a time, both in the forenoon and the afternoon. Under such cir- cumstances instruments are never used. Similar drills can be used in every rural school. One or two states have gone so far as to prescribe a specific course of exercises and have placed the same in the hands of their teachers. School boards can generally be induced to con- struct the simple apparatus necessary. If not, the teacher and pupils can readily hit upon some way out of the difficulty. Athletics does not play enough of a role in the rural school to need discussion in these pages. Physical Education and Morals. — One word more before we close this chapter. Waste in school should not always be charged to physical unfitness of the pupil. Very often it may be accounted for by what we shall term his moral unfitness. A boy or girl whose mind is full of HYGIENE AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION 301 morbid thoughts cannot pay much attention to study. One of the most difficult problems in school management is encountered in our efforts to prevent the perversion of natural instincts through immoral suggestion. One or two vicious pupils can contaminate a whole school. The period of adolescence is very impressionable. At no other time is the pupil so receptive to moral or mental filth as this. Teachers who watch closely the physical condition of their pupils are apt to cope with such difficulties. Noth- ing is so effective in keeping mind and body pure as inter- esting games and plenty of wholesome physical exercise. The secret of a teacher's success in this domain must be measured in his ability to keep the pupils out of mischief by engaging all in wholesome exercise; in his vigilance and ability to detect every symptom of child depravity, and in his uncompromising severity in dealing with every case infringing upon the laws of morality. CHAPTER XV Consolidation of Schools General Statement. — We have purposely left the dis- cussion of consolidation or centralization for the conclud- ing chapter of the book. It has been alluded to time and again in the foregoing pages as the solution of many of our most vexing rural school problems. And, indeed, it has been difficult to write the book without making a good part of it an argument for consolidation. It has been the aim throughout to emphasize the new educational trend in its entirety, laying a special stress on the necessity to make the most of the new education in the one-room school while waiting for consolidation to come. But the leading thought running through the entire discussion has been that ultimate solution must be sought in consolidation. What, then, is meant by consolidation? What does it contemplate? We answer: It is a plan to reconstruct the rural schools on a new foundation which will reestab- lish the ancient principle of " equal rights to all." It con- templates the abandonment of the many small schools scattered throughout our country communities and the maintenance, instead, at points centrally located, of a few strong, well-graded schools. 302 CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 303 Aim of our Free Schools: "Equal Rights to All." — Let it be kept well in mind that the free school system as established by our forefathers had for its purpose to extend equal opportunities to all members of the commonwealth. With this in view they established schools alike in village and outlying farm district. The latter were virtually as good as the village schools, for they were large and taught by schoolmasters, college-bred and trained. The system of free schools stands intact; but conditions have so changed with time that it no longer subserves its original purpose. In order to reestablish this educational equality it becomes necessary to give the twelve million boys and girls living in the rural communities just as thorough a preparation in school for their life work as we are now offering city children. Consolidation of rural schools is the practical remedy, and wherever given a fair trial it has proved conclusively that just as good, just as thorough- going schools may be made to flourish in the beneficent rural environment as in the city. What Consolidation Contemplates. — What consolida- tion really contemplates may be made clear by the follow- ing illustration: Let us take, say, a congressional township in a reasonably well-peopled section. We find it sub- divided possibly into nine school districts, with school- houses two miles apart, each of the well-known box-car type, dilapidated and unsightly; the lighting is faulty; scientific ventilation is unknown; modern sanitation is 304 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL out of the question. Here a young, underpaid woman " keeps " school for a short term of months each year, endeavoring her very best to teach the whole curriculum from the A B C's to the high school subjects, some twenty to forty classes each day. Attendance is spasmodic; in- terest poorly sustained. The work can scarcely be called graded; teachers change with each term; and with every such change the children are " put back " to do over again work of which no record has been kept. In this way the poor youngsters " mark time " until they either grow too old to continue in school or they drop out from sheer lack of interest. And right here, parenthetically speaking, let it be understood that such conditions as here described — and they are very common — are inexcusable in this twentieth century, consolidation or no consolidation. We have emphasized elsewhere in this book that the small school cannot afford to wait for the coming of consolida- tion as the cure for all its ills; the school must do its own level best to meet present demands while waiting. To revert: consolidation will change all this. The nine one-room schools will be discontinued, and instead a modern school will rise, near the center of the township, which will afford every opportunity for practical prepara- tion for happy life on the farm. The school will be hygienic, and have modern equipment and better teachers. The course of study will be graded, recitation periods longer, interest well sustained, years in school longer. CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 305 Pupils living at a distance will be conveyed to school in suitable vehicles, avoiding exposure to inclement weather. Finally, consolidated schools can offer ample opportunities for thorough work in nature study, school gardening, and elementary agriculture, as well as manual training and domestic economy. Great Waste in the Small School. — The bane of the present system is its great waste. Of first importance and consequence is the mental waste and scattering of effort resulting from many teachers endeavoring to do for many small classes what a few teachers could do for a few large classes. Again, it can be shown conclusively that the many small schools are actually more expensive to maintain than the graded consolidated school. Dr. J. W. Robertson, the well-known leader of the Macdonald movement in Canada, made this statement in an address before a large number of farmers : — Suppose you start to a creamery with 100 pounds of milk, and 45 pounds leak out on the way, could you make your business pay? And still, of every 100 children in the elementary schools, 45 of them fall out by the way — in other words, the average attendance is but 55 per cent of the school children. The consolidated schools in the five eastern provinces, with their gardens, manual training, and domestic economy, now bring 97 of every 100 children to school every day and with no additional expense to you. Dr. Robertson speaks truly. Here in the United States we have allowed such unwarranted leakage to go unheeded 306 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL entirely too long. It is high time to stop it. This con- solidation will do. Early History of Consolidation. — Consolidation has occupied the attention of educators in the East for a good many years. The notion held by some that this is a fad being foisted upon a long-suffering public by overzealous theorists is altogether without foundation. Consolidation was introduced in New England in the early '70's because it was the rural schools' only salvation. Other states westward have wisely followed New England's example, thereby solving a very serious problem. Three quarters of a century ago Horace Mann declared the Massachusetts Act of 1789 " the most unfortunate law on common school legislation ever enacted in the state." This law, it will be recalled, made the small district the unit of school admin- istration instead of the town (township) as hitherto. While he was secretary of the Massachusetts State Board the great educator was unceasing in his efforts to reestablish the town as the unit of control, although final success did not come until after his day. We read of Superintendent Horace Eaton, of Vermont, urging the abandonment of the weak schools as early as 1846. Some ten years later Superintendent Caleb Mills, of Indiana, seeing the great danger of multiplying small districts, " urged that the districts in the township be limited to four." Massachusetts passed a law authorizing consolidation in 1865, and four years later gave added efficiency to this CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 307 step by enacting another law providing for the conveyance of children at public expense. The first successful experi- ment in the state was in the town (township) of Concord, the twelve schools of which were united in one strong cen- tral school in the course of the years 1870-1880. Since then consolidation has become operative to a greater or less extent in thirty-two states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisi- ana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mis- souri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, South Caro- lina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. To this list we may add Hawaii, the five provinces of the Dominion of Canada under the Macdonald movement, and parts of the Australian commonwealth. Passing of the "Little Red Schoolhouse." — New Eng- land began to abandon the small weak schools earlier than other sections, because it was the first to feel the disastrous results of disintegration of rural population and the exodus to the cities. The " little red schoolhouse " of song and story has been yielding for a long time now to the onward march of change; it has been growing ever smaller and weaker, more weather-beaten and less red than ever. Alas, for the sentiment which has so long hallowed the little old New England school! It played an important part in our early history in molding the life of the nation. 3 o8 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL But sentiment must yield before economic necessity; with a sigh of regret, therefore, we behold the " little red schoolhouse " passing into the realm of sweet memory. Consolidation in Massachusetts. — The first stage of Massachusetts' consolidation was marked by a slow but sound growth — while public opinion could be enlightened and a sentiment for a higher standard of education created. Yet, once well under way, it has had a cumulative growth, which now practically embraces the whole state. The strength and extent of the movement can readily be de- termined from the following table of expenditures for free conveyance, taken from a recent report of the State Board of Education : — Year Amount Expended Year Amount Expended 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 $ 22,118.38 24,145.12 30,648.68 38,726.07 50,590.41 63,617.68 76,608.29 91,136.11 I05.3I7-I3 1897 1898 1899 1900 1 901 1902 1903 1904 I905 $123,032.41 127,409.22 141,753.84 15^773-47 165,596.91 178,297.64 194,967.35 213,220.93 236,415-40 Elsewhere in New England. — The example set by Massachusetts was soon followed by all the rest of New England. Connecticut began consolidation in a small way in 1889. Four years later the towns of the state CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 309 were authorized by law to spend money for conveyance of pupils. All the towns which have adopted the town unit for school purposes (see Chapter III) find centraliz- ation and conveyance of children a satisfactory solution of the school problem. The last year reported by the State Board of Education (1903-1904) gives these data: number of schools closed during the year, 114; number of pupils conveyed, 1272; expenses, $21,739.83. New Hampshire, which truly sits in nature's fastnesses, has not permitted topographical difficulties to discourage the work of centralization and conveyance of children to strong schools. The work is making steady progress. These are some of the results : economy ; better teachers ; better supervision; greater regularity of attendance and greater punctuality; better educational spirit in and out of the school ; better roads, literary organization, and local enterprises. In Maine 653 weak schools were abandoned between 1890 and 1905. Vermont conveys 8000 children at an expense of $36,000 per term. Rhode Island is steadily uniting the small schools and building substantial struc- tures at centrally located places. The Progressive Middle West. — Consolidation is having a remarkable growth in many states in the Middle West. In some it is caused by a change in industrial conditions, occasioning the abandonment of the farm for the city; in the youngest states where the cityward migration is not 3IO THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL yet very apparent the cause is traceable to the undue multiplication of schools where they were not needed un- til small sickly schools could be found at almost every ambitious turnpike; in all the states it is having an en- couraging growth because the country population begins to realize that in this way only can their children get an education suited to the age in which they live. Ohio may be considered in many respects the model from which the other states drew their inspiration. Here consolidation originated in 1892. Ashtabula county, where it began, now boasts twenty-one thoroughly con- solidated schools. A glance at the consolidation maps of Ohio on pages 316 and 317 illustrates how the reform has spread and is yet spreading outward, embracing Trumbull, Lake, Geauga, Portage, Summit, Medina, Lorain, and many other counties. The number of con- solidated schools increased from 58 in 1904 to 157 in 1907, an increase of nearly a hundred in three years. In Indiana consolidation has been hastened by some very sound legislation. The law of 1901 permitted trustees to close schools having an average daily attendance of less than 12 pupils. Six years later it became obligatory to abandon all schools with an average daily attendance of 12 or less, and permits the abandonment of schools with an attendance of 15 or less. The result: for thebiennium ending 1907, growth in consolidated schools from 280 to 418; schools abandoned in 1904, 1906, and 1908, respec- CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 3II tively, 679, 830, and 13 14; pupils transported during the same years, 5356, 9424, and 16,034. Michigan reports much progress in uniting weak schools. Ten counties have tried consolidation and transportation of children with excellent results. The Wisconsin State Department of Education is urging consolidation in all small districts. A number of central- ized schools are already doing good work. Says State Superintendent C. P. Cary: "There is no question but what consolidation is the remedy for many of the unfavor- able conditions now surrounding the rural schools." Illinois has drawn its inspiration from Ohio. Thanks to the unceasing efforts of Superintendent O. J. Kern and a few others of kindred enthusiasm, the work is going forward at a gratifying pace. The first consolidated school was dedicated in Seward township, Winnebago county, Kern's own county, January 30, 1904. Johnson county, in southern Illinois, and Kane county, in north- ern Illinois, followed Winnebago county's example in helping to start the movement. County superin- tendents and state schools are vying with each other to see which can do the most for the movement. How well the work is being done may be appreciated from the report on the John Swaney Consolidated School later in this chapter. In 1906 Iowa disorganized 76 schools to form 30 con- solidated schools. Minnesota is transporting children in 312 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL many counties. North Dakota has consolidated schools in satisfactory operation in 9 or 10 counties. Nebraska is making some progress. Kansas established its first such school in 1898 in Green Garden township, Ellsworth county. Up to 1907, 27 consolidated schools had been formed in 20 counties; besides which 130 school districts had discontinued their schools and transported their chil- dren to other schools. Even the new state of Oklahoma is planning for great things in consolidation. The South. — It is gratifying to see how the Southern states take to consolidation. When one considers the many difficulties that this section has to contend with, — difficulties practically unknown in the North, or at least experienced in a less marked degree, such as separate schools for the two races, a very scattered and, com- paratively speaking, impoverished rural population, — this progress speaks volumes for the educators who are helping to shape the New South. South of the Mason- Dixon line Maryland is carrying on an active cam- paign for consolidation, the sole aim being " to give the children better teaching and better school facilities." Baltimore county among others has six consolidated schools, transportation being in five by wagon and one by railroad. In Virginia the number of consolidated schools is on the increase, being 130 in 1906 and 162 in 1907. State Superintendent J. Y. Joyner, of North Carolina, CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 313 declares that consolidation is rapidly driving the old log schoolhouse out of his state. He writes: — In 1906 there were 950 white and 165 colored schools having more than one teacher. This was an increase during the year of 99 white and 49 colored schools having more than one teacher. The increase of schools employing more than one teacher has also increased the number of rural schools giving some instruction in high school branches. In 1906 there were 968 white and 90 colored schools which gave some such instruction, being an increase during the year of 36 white and 32 colored schools attempting some high school instruction. South Carolina and Georgia are making progress. The former proves by actual figures that the system is cheaper to the taxpayers; that it raises the teachers' salaries; betters enrollment and daily attendance; lengthens the school year; and enriches the course of study. The latter finds progress rather slow, but has in spite of this attained good results. Florida, too, must be reckoned with. Its record is consolidated schools in 17 out of 44 counties, and other counties ready and favorable to consolidation. Louisiana has made marked advance in this respect under State Superintendent James B. Aswell's able ad- ministration. Parish after parish has united its wards (our districts), " building up larger schools and diminish- ing the cost of their maintenance." The West. — The Western states have not yet made any appreciable progress in consolidation of schools. The reason 314 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL is not far to seek: a newly settled people — in many places, indeed, still in the process of settling; small com- munities, isolated one from another by stretch of waste plain or mountain ridge; a general want of good roads; and upon the whole a general newness and instability in population, which makes consolidation in some meas- ure impracticable. Utah reports central schools in steadily increasing numbers. Consolidation is practiced in many counties here, but on a rather small scale. Wyoming employs consolidation in a very few districts; but so far as the work has been carried it is reported successful. Oregon, on the far-away Pacific, is " meeting with very much encouragement." From the foregoing somewhat rambling report readers will appreciate that the movement to consolidate rural schools is becoming national in significance. That it is no longer an experiment, even the most conservative must acknowledge. If it has not always proved successful, it is not because the principle of consolidation in itself is wrong, but because it was not properly applied or local conditions were not given proper consideration. Now let us consider a few particular cases of successful consolidation. In this connection it is well to emphasize four types of consolidation: (1) partial, (2) complete, (3) centered in village, (4) purely rural. CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 315 Partial Consolidation. — By partial consolidation is meant the grouping of two, three, or more schools at strategic points in the township, without aiming at ultimate centrali- zation of all the schools in the township at the geographi- cal center. This form of consolidation is practiced where the size or shape of the township or its natural contour 2© Special Districts (go Sub-DistnctScrio»U. 2® Special Districts, 4 oflistariiei School! 2HCcntrali«d Schools 2 aSub-Dutrict Schools Fig. 20. — Map illustrating growth of consolidation in Madison township, Lake county, Ohio. (See text.) makes transportation of all pupils to one center impracti- cable. An excellent illustration is Madison township, Lake county, Ohio, where partial consolidation began in 1892. The accompanying maps tell the story in a graphic way. The township which borders on Lake Erie is seven miles on the west side, nine on the east, and five miles wide. The distance by wagon from the extremes of the township to Madison village is seven miles, which is too far for satisfactory transportation of pupils. As a consequence centralization here has been at three or 316 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL four centers. The first map shows the special districts of Madison village and Unionville, together with eighteen r" Dt r.»NCI I HENRY!- WOOA t "NOUSKY , . «,E_ _"j. LWM -X-.-S' "£ '■ * £ T.V," L ,* -, !• i *— - f ',■ r - v I - ! *: : "I I L„ • • HURON O r .'» •!# ■ PORTAGE.*-' paulo.ngT r I " NEC * J ■-»-/ MEtf,NA*> MMlT | Jmahoning' i futnam | hancockJ ( j._, >• x -r---- '-> ^r J" .. •♦ I "T _.,.-■! r <-' ! ! isHLANi • J— a r" J '" ,!KWt«!r ' JwYANOOTCRAWFORCj l N J WAYNE j STARK < COIUMIIANA- !' ALLEN I ! JBICNLANd J. f J " t " X "| ' \ ! -HARDIN*"'---' - L T" ""' ' r J *"{.- *T- | ,-> I J "-'---u... > r J | i [ T I CARROLL '• '--C — — — rl - • iucas .iumm! mT0 " *. /''"To'ttaw >. >i ' JashtAbul*; L T«»ua»Ut-*Aj I CUYAHOGA *,* A . »«| a * *; MERCER AUGLAIZE , JJICHLANl}. .-HARDIN \-- ; "J Marion ' [ r'*- 1 ! «bOLMES i .._ _j '(MORROW ■ LOGAN ,' ["SHELBY [ j UNION | oelavv " a ; e "! 1 J CHA KNOX flJEFFER-l — : son i Coshocton ; I GUERNSEY J , uiami. ^ -_-.-' .- ;■■ JMUSKINGUM' p __> ! ! CLARK *' ;F , ' A, " -H- • /MAQISOK- J J 1 I. N06LE . M0NR0E J MONT- I T— h».J ] FAIRFIELD'-. PERRY ', ' '-, MONROE • iGOMERYl ! — .... • • J -, _ . i GREEN J[ [PICKAWAY, 1 J'L. < "ORGAN, j.j -... 1 . .y" .H-i 1 ! FAYETTE ! •—J-- ■ *"T"i I f h ^,-j "PW'«» f -J t— /-WASHINGTON, SUTLER ,' WARREN |CL "' T0N «L _/■ L -J" ! ! J~ M WARREN •;— / " „„„ J"-' . ! ATHENS k AJ J. v- T /- ■ * h B> _ !]...,_ 1 l i l tuAHLiNn r " 1 - -I ! I I hlOULANO !LAwrence". /Centralized schools marled. _• Half of subcriatrict schools I suspended r * 'One or two school s suspend- ed ■ Fig. 2i. — This map tells the first chapter of Ohio consolidation and b for 1905 -1906. Centralized 32 Half of subdistricts suspended 25 One or two schools transferred to another .... 35 Total 92 small subdistricts. This was before consolidation was attempted. The second map illustrates the first stages of CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 317 consolidation between 1892 and 1906, during which period ten of the subdistricts were abandoned. Finally, the »»k*l«T"r---' ' M< ,Jv»YAI10OTC*Awr0««J r au" 1 . >iCMiANd «VS4 AW8 " ,rt rL... J UA,,l<> "U.0J-— 41 H ° tU " ! 5 Jam I ,, ■< ■! ""1... .J" {■ knox r-— — rr^cAtA-* -. j 0( I ^ •„,.., [ JimON ;-;T ■ CO.MOCTO..; .'HAMISOK IfMILI iOOUMV l_ t .•win iwA.R,„: e, -" ,To '' # L..J r « - L-j~- i ! ,/^ i ■S_J .,-■■ l« el V ' NT0N j V^ ,. HAUIITON I HIQHLAND •T JjACK»0»lf 'Centralized «choot« marked. _• If of »ubdi»trict Kjhootf •impended -- — • >Ote or two Khools suspend- til s Fig. 22. — The second chapter of the same story, covering 1906-1907. Centralized 38 Half of subdistricts suspended 22 One or two schools transferred to another .... 97 Total 157 third map gives the schools as they were in 1907: two special districts, two good centralized schools, and only 318 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL two subdistricts without the advantages of consolida- tion. Complete Consolidation. — Partial consolidation is very commonly practiced; but it is less satisfactory than the so-called complete consolidation unless, of course, a large enough number of subdistricts unite to establish schools offering thorough high school courses at these several centers. Complete consolidation, as indicated in the name, contemplates the centralization of every small school within the township at its geographical center. This insures the establishment of a high school depart- ment, offering just such studies as are adapted to farm needs. This type of consolidation is common and is on the rapid increase. It is well exemplified in Wea town- ship, Tippecanoe county, Indiana. The central school here is not so large as many others that could be men- tioned, but conditions are otherwise so near to being ideal that it will answer our purpose of illustration nicely. The report is from the pen of Township Trustee Fairfax Kirkpatrick, who writes: — The Wea Consolidated School, Tippecanoe County, Indiana. — This township is wholly rural, there being no villages or towns within its borders. It is six miles square, and most of the land is a part of the famed Wea Plains. The farms are large, making a small school population. Seven years ago this township maintained eleven district schools. Many of these were very small, the total enrollment in five of them being 60. About twelve years ago a two-room brick building was built in the center of the township, and one room CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 319 was used to maintain a high school. So weak was this high school, unsupported by the grades, that it was a question whether it could survive. At one time it was wholly abandoned the greater part of a term. In 1903 the trustee, P. M. Tompson, abandoned school districts 5 and 9. District 9 was within three quarters of a mile of the two-room building, so no conveyance was needed. The pupils of District 5 were conveyed to the high school building, which now had two teachers. Other district schools were soon closed, and the two-room building was filled to overflowing. In 1904 an addition of two rooms was made to the building. In all, seven district schools have been abandoned and the pupils conveyed to the central school which now supports four teachers. At first the senti- ment was strongly opposed to centralization, but now about nine tenths of the patrons are pleased. The township now has three rural district schools, one of which will probably always be maintained. The other two may sometime be conveyed to the central school. There are now six wagons, most of them the best that can be had, running to the graded school. The results in this township show conclusively that the more complete the centralization, and the more wagons there are to the central school, the better the satisfaction. When there were but two or three wagons the routes were longer, and there was more doubling on the track. Now the wagons go more directly to the school and the majority of the pupils ride a much shorter distance. Each wagon is heated by a stove and is made comfortable. Each driver is paid $2 a day and furnishes his own hack. One hundred are transported. The central school has a large well-shaded ground. The building is heated by a furnace and is modern. For the benefit of the high school pupils who drive to school, the township has built a barn large enough for ten horses and buggies. The central school has a library of more than five hundred books. The school is organizing its work so that in a short time it will be as well organized as the best city school. One teacher who can do high grade music work is employed, and this teacher does all the music work of the school. 320 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL A little further care in selecting teachers will give the school a teacher in drawing and penmanship, or a teacher of agriculture. The great- est drawback to the advanced organization of the school is the scarc- ity of teachers who can do this special work. Village Type of Consolidation. — A third type of con- solidated school results from closing rural schools and transporting to a neighboring village. This has its op- ponents 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. Moreover, the larger villages are not inclined to adapt their course of study to suit country needs; nor could this be expected. Then the average American village offers temptations to the un- sophisticated country youth, which is pretty sure to leave him the worse morally for having come to "town." In some places where centralization has taken place in large villages attempts have been made to study agriculture and other subjects essential to the farm, and not without success. Still, in a majority of these villages the course continues to smack of the city. 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. A large number of strong schools are situated in such villages in every state where consolidation is practiced. CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 321 Burns Consolidated School, Marion County, Kansas. — Possibly the most successful consolidated school in Kansas is the Burns school, centered in Burns, Marion • j • 1 |* N04*~ i I J 1 1 1 ul H \x r -<_ 1 1 -« ' I hV i r 1 _. 1 Ul # _ f Naa r {. no.2.e r ! H 1 1 is 1 si DOMES' SCK 141 SCHOOL 001 —~*i iRCCTIOMOf START/MO O ■ K.OUTCS FBOVTTS Fig. 23. — Plan of the Burns consolidated district, giving central school, abandoned schools, and transportation routes. Each square represents a section of 640 acres. county, a village of some 450 people. The spirit, sym- pathies, and life of the place are purely rural. It may therefore be considered almost as safe though not so ideal a place for the school as the country proper. Moreover, 32 2 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL it is well to consider the added opportunities which such a school extends to the weak, isolated village. Assistant State Superintendent C. C. Starr, who made a careful study of the Burns district in 1908, reports on his findings in part as follows : — The Burns school was consolidated in 1904. The district was originally formed out of five separate school districts. In 1906 an additional district made application for admission to the consolidated district, and it was admitted, so that now the consolidated district consists of what were originally six separate school districts, and the area comprised is forty-three square miles or considerably more than a congressional township. While the last district that joined the consolidated district is farther from the central school than is ordinarily advised for such districts, that district estimated that the advantages of the consolidated school would be superior to the disadvantages of the long distance to school. Experience has demonstrated the truth of this. Another district, lying outside, is sending seven pupils and paying their tuition. Before consolidation the Burns district employed two teachers and did not have a high school. The next year they had five teachers, and now six teachers are employed. The school occupies a modern six-room building. A four-year high school course is maintained which admits to the University of Kansas. Two high school teachers are employed, one of whom was added in 1907. While the population of Burns is about the same as the popula- tion of the remainder of the consolidated districts, a majority of the pupils attending the high school are from the country. The pupils in the upper grades (who recall their experience as pupils in the smaller rural schools) unanimously preferred the consolidated school. The reasons the pupils gave for their preference are as follows: their school now has better teachers, there are more pupils to CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 323 associate with, the larger classes are more interesting, they make more progress, understand their lessons better, and the teachers have time to give the proper amount of attention to each subject. It is more agreeable to ride the long distance to school than to walk to the country schools. Upon inquiry from the pupils who attend from the country as to what their chances would have been of attending high school if the consolidated school had not been formed, a very large majority stated that the chances are that they would not have had the opportunity to secure a high school education. A few stated that they thought they would have been able to attend a high school, as their parents told them that they had intended to try to send them away to a high school. At the close of school I selected the wagon that goes to the most remote portion of the district, with a view of sharing the experience of the pupils while being transported. The distance to the end of the trip was ten and one half miles — a distance much greater than is ordinarily recommended for transportation. The time to make the trip was one hour and thirty minutes. The pupils stated that they liked to ride and did not get tired. Some said that they got a little cold sometimes — a suggestion that the wagons should be heated in the coldest weather. Neither drivers nor pupils expressed any dissatisfaction with the mode of transportation, and the people from the country with whom I conversed expressed themselves as being entirely satisfied with their system of transportation. After extensive inquiry, no person could be found in the district who would be willing to go back to the old system of separate small schools. There is a general belief that the schools are far better than under the old plan, and that the community, through consoli- dation, has taken a long step forward educationally. The Purely Rural Type. — The last type of consoli- dated school to call for consideration is the purely rural. This is the ideal type. It contemplates the establishment 324 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL 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 city. In such an environment establish the farm child's school. Build it good and large; equip it with all the working tools necessary to the greatest measure of successful work. Add broad acres for beautiful grounds and garden and experimental areas. And surely the rural school problem will then be in a fair way to solution. An excellent example of the purely rural type is the John Swaney Consolidated School, in Putnam county, Illinois. This school was studied by the N. E. A. Committee on Industrial Education in Schools for Rural Communities and the results embodied in their report to the Cleveland Convention, 1908. It was selected for this purpose by the committee " as affording the best illustration of public sentiment, private liberality, and wise organization com- bined, that the committee was able to find in any con- solidated district in the United States." Superintendent O. J. Kern visited the school and reported it for the com- mittee of which he is a member. He says in part : — The John Swaney Consolidated Country School is located in Magnolia township, Putnam county, Illinois, beside a country road, two miles from the small village of McNabb. The building stands near the north side of a beautiful campus consisting of twenty- four acres of timber pasture. This campus was donated by Mr. John Swaney, who is a farmer of moderate circumstances, a man who believes in better things for country children. His was a worthy Consolidated school at North Madison, Madison Township, Lake County, Ohio. Eight conveyances filled with children may be seen lined up in the" foreground. (Courtesy of A. B. Graham, College of Agriculture, Colum- bus, Ohio.) 3**1 E&R& fi' GQQ ODD The John Swaney School, District 532, McNabb, Illinois. Irwin A. Mad- den, Principal. CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 325 deed in behalf of a worthy cause and should prove a suggestion and an inspiration to public-spirited farmers in other communities. The consolidated school is an illustration of the fundamental fact that if the country people want better schools in the country for country children, they must spend more money for education and spend it in a belter way. There is no other way. It is comparatively easy for a speaker before a farmers' institute meeting to gain the intellectual assent of the average farmer in the community to the above monetary proposition. But to go to the farmers on the morning after, and get their financial consent to vote bonds for a better equipment and make an increased tax levy for a better teach- ing force, is quite a different matter. And yet this actually is what must be done, and what has been done in Magnolia township. SOME FINANCIAL DATA Unit of Organization. — • The consolidated district^ comprises three ordinary country school districts that were consolidated by due process under the Illinois school law. John Swaney Consolidated School, Putnam County, Illinois. — Land Area and Valuation. — The consolidated district comprises fourteen sections of land, and the assessed valuation under the Illinois revenue law is one hundred seventy-nine ($179) dollars. By the Illinois revenue law the assessed valuation is supposed to represent one fifth of the fair cash value. It is upon the assessed valuation that all taxes are levied. The selling price of improved farms which comprise three fourths of the district is $150 per acre. The selling price of timber land which comprises the remaining one fourth is $75 per acre. School Levy. — The school levy for the school year of 1907-1908 was $2900 for the building fund to pay bonds issued for the erection of the new building, and $3900 for general education purposes: securing better teachers, janitor service, etc. Twenty pupils are paying tuition at present, bringing in an annual revenue of $375. 326 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL Practically all the money raised for school purposes in Illinois is raised by local taxation. THE BUILDING AND EQUIPMENT The school is housed in a $12,000 two and a half story brick building, containing four recitation rooms, two laboratories, large auditorium, two library and office rooms, a boys' manual training room, a girls' playroom, furnace room, and cloak room. All are lighted with gasoline gas generated by a plant, the reservoir of which is stored outside of the building. The laboratories are also furnished with gas from this plant. The building is heated with steam and furnished with running water supplied by an air pressure system. The building and equipment cost $16,000. Donations. — There are people living in this consolidated dis- trict and community who are unselfish enough and who have suffi- cient faith in the consolidation of schools to aid the movement by material gifts. As a consequence the beautiful campus of twenty- four acres was donated by Mr. John Swaney. County Superin- tendent G. W. Hunt gave a set of manual training tools. Besides these, the John Kay estate, W. G. Griffith, F. E. Smith, John Wilson, Perry Mills, W. L. Mills, and Louis Priebe gave neat sums of money. In all about $2000, besides the grounds, were donated to the school. Wagons and Cost. — Two teams are employed in bringing the children from two of the old districts. The wagons cost $175 each and are owned by the district. Distance, round trip for one wagon, is nine miles, and nine and one half miles for the other. Drivers of the wagons are farmer boys living in the community who are in the high school room. The horses are put in the school barn located on the campus. Each team costs $40 per month for twenty-two round trips, thus making an outlay of $1.82 per day for each wagon. As each wagon carries twenty children, the cost per pupil daily is nine cents, about the cost of two street car fares in the city. Grounds. — No finer environment, perhaps, can be found for a CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 327 country school. The grounds, twenty-four acres in extent, are dotted with groups of the native forest trees. It is the purpose of the district to beautify the grounds still further according to a plan prepared by the Horticultural Department of the Illinois College of Agriculture. The Teachers' Home. — Four or five farmers, at their own expense, fitted up one of the abandoned schoolhouses for a teachers' home, thus solving the problem of a boarding place for the teachers. The cost to the farmers was $500. The teachers pay $9 a month rent and hire an elderly woman for housekeeper. The teachers club to- gether for the living expenses of the home. Janitor's Home. — An old tenant building located on the school grounds was fitted up for a janitor's home. The janitor has charge of the grounds, school building, and stables. He receives a salary of $30 a month and pays $5 per month for his home. In this sylvan retreat, fitted with everything essential for school work, the boys and girls of Magnolia township learn to know nature and to love it. 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 ! High School Work in the John Swaney School. — For a lack of space we cannot give the details of all the work in the Swaney School. This much, however: the pupils below the high school are taught by normal graduates of careful training and experience, who receive a salary each of $60 per month for nine months. The principal is a normal graduate, who has had additional training in the Illinois College of Agriculture. He receives $100 per month. His assistant has had special preparation in 328 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL domestic science, and receives $60 per month. (We dwell with much satisfaction on these statements; for here we have found one country community that demands trained teachers and is ready to pay a fair remuner- ation.) The high school course of study is planned for country boys and girls. While the culture studies are not neglected, farm interests are emphasized in the study of agriculture, manual training, and domestic science. Here follows the complete course of study : FIRST YEAR First Semester Second Semester English I. English I. Algebra. Algebra. Physiology. Physical Geography. Agronomy I or Latin. Horticulture or Latin. Household Science or Manual Household Science or Manual Training. Training. SECOND YEAR English II. English II. Algebra, 10 weeks. Geometry. Geometry, 10 weeks. Botany. Zoology. Ancient History, 10 weeks. Ancient History. Animal Husbandry or Household Science, 10 weeks. Drawing. Music. CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 3 2 9 THIRD YEAR English III. Chemistry. Agronomy II or Latin or House- hold Science. English History. English III. Chemistry. Animal Husbandry or Latin or Household Science. English History. FOURTH YEAR English IV. Physics. Household Science or Agronomy III. American History. English IV. Physics. Bookkeeping, 10 weeks. Arithmetic, 20 weeks. Civics. Excellent courses are offered in household science, manual training, and agriculture. The latter deals with the theory of agriculture, soil physics, soil fertility, animal husbandry, and horticulture. In order that the state may learn the needs and methods of im- provement of its different large soil areas, experiment stations are established in these areas; in all there are now twenty-three. One of these stations is now being installed adjoining the campus on the east. This station contains a plot of ground consisting of six acres and is divided into four series with five breeding plats in each series. This is to be conducted by the state, but the school will have the privilege of observing the work of the station, and will have access to the records of results. 330 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL A plan of the ground is given here : — EXPERIMENT STATION SERIES I 12 3 4 5 12 3 4 5 SERIES III 12 3 4 5 SERIES IV 12 3 4 5 Series I will be planted to corn; Series II to oats and clover; Series III to oats; Series IV to cowpeas, in 1907. Plats 2 and 4 have been fertilized with rock phosphate. The others were not. Consolidation : Advantages and Objections. — We have now dwelt at some length on four consolidated schools, representing as many states. Enough has been told to give the reader an idea of their organization and effective- ness of their working plans. At this point writers on con- CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 33 1 solidation usually take time to summarize the advantages of the system and to state the objections urged against it. It is scarcely necessary to take up any further space in these pages with an enumeration of the manifold ad- vantages due to consolidation. The reader has gathered enough from the discussion above to realize that these advantages are very many and weighty. For additional summaries he may make a study of the excellent books and pamphlets on the subjects enumerated at the close of the chapter. The objections, also, may be passed over lightly. Some of these are of a sentimental nature and must yield to economic necessity. Others which at one time seemed valid enough have been proved fallacious by the experi- ence of years of successful consolidation. The objection most frequently urged is that the cost under the new plan is greater. We have ample figures to prove that consolidation may be carried on at just as small an outlay as under the old system. Under complete consolida- tion the gross cost is undeniably greater; but when we consider the added effectiveness of the new schools in the matter of increase and regularity of attendance, general economy, and ultimate educational effectiveness, the net individual cost is far less than under the passing regime. A Closing Word. — This offers an opportunity to speak a closing word. The plea throughout the book has been for a return to that equality of opportunity on which our common school system was built. This equality no longer 332 THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL exists except in theory. The farm youth has not had a square deal. And the fundamental cause of it all is that our rural population does not spend enough money on the education of their boys and girls, nor does it spend this money to the best advantage. To-day the farmer spends $13.17 for the education of his children every time the city dweller spends $33.01 ! Can further argument be necessary ? And much of what is invested in rural educa- tion is spent to poor advantage in feeble, poorly instructed schools which could just as well be abandoned or con- solidated. Let every one who reads these pages become a self- appointed herald to proclaim the new rural school educa- tion; to go into every countryside and preach the new doctrine ; to do everything in his power to create sentiment favoring better schools and better teaching. Then shall come a bright dawn for the youth of the farm ! A SELECTED REFERENCE LIST OF BOOKS, PAM- PHLETS, AND SPECIAL ARTICLES ON CONSOLIDA- TION 1. Aswell, James B. The Consolidation of School Districts. Issued by the state of Louisiana, Department of Educa- tion, Baton Rouge, 1906. pp. 77. 2. Consolidation and Transportation. Issued by the state of New Hampshire, Department of Education, Concord, pp. 12. 3. Cotton, Fassett A. Twenty-third Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Indianapolis. Espe- cially chapter on Consolidation. CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS 333 4. Davenport, E. Consolidation of our Schools. University of Illinois, Urbana, 1904. 5. Fairchild, E. T. Consolidation of Rural Schools. Topeka, 1908. pp. 48. 6. Fletcher, G. F. The Consolidation of Schools and the Con- veyance of Children. Issued by the Massachusetts Board of Education, Boston, pp. 25. 7. Fowler, William K. Consolidation of Districts, the Central- ization of Rural Schools, and the Transportation of Pupils at Public Expense. Issued by the Department of Public In- struction, Lincoln, 1903. 8. Graham, A. B. Centralized Schools in Ohio. The Agricul- tural College Bulletin, No. 6, Columbus, 1907. pp. 24. 9. Kelley, Patrick H. Consolidation of School Districts. Is- sued by the Michigan Department of Education, Lans- ing, 1906. pp. 23. 10. Kern, O. J. Among Country Schools. Ginn and Co., Chicago, 1906. Price $1.25. Especially chapter on Con- solidation. 11. Annual Report, Winnebago County Schools, Rockford, 1908. pp. 96. 12. Longsdorf, H. H. The Consolidation of Country Schools. Published by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Harrisburg, 1901. pp. 89. 13. Proceedings of the National Education Association for the following years: 1901, pp. 804-811; 1902, pp. 224-231 and 793-798; 1903, PP- 9^-936 ; 1904, PP- 3*3~3 l6 ; ^06, pp. 337, 338> i9°7, PP- 2 77-279; ^oS, PP- 420-431 and 1054- 1060. 14. Report of the Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools. Pub- lished by the University of Chicago, 1905. 15. Tenth Annual Report of the Illinois Farmers' Institute, Spring- field, 1905. Especially pp. 208-213. APPENDIX A Appendix A. — Permanent School Funds 1 Permanent Com- Total Value of State or Territory mon School Funds, State Permanent Funds and Productive and Local Lands United States $218,973,736 North Atlantic Division 23^56,319 South Atlantic Division South Central Division North Central Division 4,661,103 52,071,271 112,900,359 25,984,684 North Atlantic Division: 445.7 16 59.470 New Hampshire (i 904-1 905) . . $ 59,470 1,120,218 1,120,218 Massachusetts (1905-1906) . . . 4,980,111 Rhode Island (1904-1905) . . 257,414 Connecticut (1905-1906) .... 3,060,097 New York (1 905-1 906) .... 8,996,863 8,996,863 New Jersey (1904-1905) .... 4,436,43 Pennsylvania South Atlantic Division: 350,000 350,000 Maryland Virginia 2,025,736 2,025,736 1,000,000 1,000,000 North Carolina (1903-1904) . . . 200,000 200,000 South Carolina Florida (1905-1906) 1,085,367 'This table, which is compiled from the U. S. School Commissioner's report for 1907, does not take into account unproductive school lands. 335 336 APPENDIX A Appendix A — Continued State or Territory Permanent Com- mon School Funds, State and Local Total Value of Permanent Funds and Productive Lands South Central Division: Kentucky (1901-1902) . . Tennessee (1 905-1 906) Alabama (1902-1903) . . Mississippi (1902-1903) Louisiana Texas (1904-1905) . . . Arkansas Oklahoma Indian Territory North Central Division: Ohio (1901-1902) . . . Indiana Illinois (1905-1906) . . . Michigan (1 904-1 905) . . Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa Missouri North Dakota . . . . South Dakota (1 905-1 906) Nebraska Kansas (1904-1905) . . Western Division: Montana (1905-1906) . . Wyoming Colorado New Mexico Arizona Utah Nevada Idaho Washington Oregon California 2,3*5,627 2,512,000 2,i3S.3i3 3,466,667 39,421,018 1,135,279 2,315,627 io,845»348 17,656,923 5,228,333 6,214,623 19,000,000 4,778,369 I3»348,348 14,000,000 4,850,014 6,949,444 7,553,33° 1,120,439 i9i,973 i,433>°59 24,791 i,9 I 3, 8 5° 3,065,167 1,197,012 6,492,000 5,232,343 S»3 I 4,oSo 49,921,01c 6,214,623 19,000,000 22,000,000 30,850,014 18,949,444 7,803,330 4,120,439 2,691,973' 26,015,462 883,117 2,185,907 16,146,980 5,232,343 APPENDIX B 337 APPENDIX B Mr. S. J. Race, of Redwood Falls, Minnesota, some years ago wrote an admirable article on Rural School Heating and Ventilation in the American School Board Journal, which describes how to transform an ordinary heater into a ventilating stove so well that I take the liberty to quote him at length. He says: — Mr. S. J. Race on Rural School Heating and Ventilation. — There is no reason why the small rural school cannot be provided with an adequate system of warming and ventilation. The physical welfare of pupil and teacher demands it. Health is wealth. The cost should not exceed $50. This allows for rebuilding the chimney from the foundation. I would recommend a single flue 12 x 16 inches. This will give a chimney with an outside measurement of 16x24 inches. We have tried double-flue chimneys, with two flues, each 8 x 12 and 12x12 inches, respectively. They work well, but a single flue is somewhat better. The flue is warmer, and hence the outward and upward movement of the foul air is better. The iron register, 12X16 inches, for opening measurement, should go into the chimney within 4 inches from the floor (do not put any in the chimney near the ceiling). Place the stove in a corner, the one most out of the way. Do not put it in the center of the room where it would be in the way. Cut a hole in the floor, 10 x 14 inches, over which place an iron register. Connect this opening with a box 10 x 10 inches wide and long enough to reach from the register in the floor to the outside of the foundation. Cover the end of the box with a coarse wire screen to keep out any animals. The box may be of wood or of galvanized iron. Wood, I believe, is preferable. Surround the stove with a circular galvanized-iron jacket 6 feet high and from 34 to 40 inches 338 APPENDIX C in diameter. The stove will determine the diameter of the jacket. Measure the diagonal base of the stove to determine the diameter of the jacket. Cut a door 2% feet by 4 feet in the jacket for removing the ashes and feeding the fire. Have the jacket strongly made. See to it that the door in the jacket is properly arranged so that the ashes may be easily removed. I am often asked by school trustees whether if the stove were placed in the middle of the room, will not the heat be more uniformly distributed ? I do not see how it can be. By this plan all the heat in the stove is forced by the flow of pure air from the outside through the fresh-air box, directly to within a few feet from the ceiling. The only escape for it is through the foul-air register in the chimney near the floor. The escape is by pressure. In a recent test of six school- houses the greatest variation found was 3 degrees, when measured. APPENDIX C I. EARTH AND SKY There are four leading categories in this group: (1) the weather; (2) the natural events of the year; (3) the conformation of the sur- rounding country; (4) survey of a brook or other strong natural feature of the region. 1. The Weather. — First year: The child should observe and tell what the weather is, and should begin to learn to be weather-wise and to know the "signs" of the weather. Second year: Clouds, sunshine, and shadow, both indoors and outdoors; sundial. Third year: Wind; making and flying kites; weather vanes; chimney hoods ; effect of wind on shape of trees; begin weather record, perhaps as blackboard exercise. Fourth year: Temperature; begin ther- mometer readings; continue record, perhaps in notebook. Fifth year: Barometer; weather maps, signals, and forecasts. 2. Events of the Year. — First year: Note the change of seasons; position of the sun at different seasons; holidays. Second year: APPENDIX C 339 Begin seasonal observations, chiefly on date of appearing of frogs migrations of birds, etc. Third year: The calendar; continue ob- servations, chiefly on trees, fruit trees, etc. ; begin a record, perhaps on blackboard. Fourth year: Continue observations, taking up the farming industries if in the country; times of plowing, tilling, sowing, harvesting, wood hauling, fence building, etc.; making a diary of work in the community. 3. Scenery, or Conformation of Region. — Second year: General observations as to contour of country, perhaps as seen from school- room windows. Third year: More detailed observations, classify- ing into swamps, hills, flats, woodlands, river-beds, orchards, grazing lands, etc. Fourth year: Describe the scenery in oral and written work; how the scenery can be improved. Fifth year: Observations on a particular area, one farm, the school yard, the main road, etc. ; make charts and drawings. 4. Survey. —Third year: Begin a regular "survey" of a brook or other prominent natural feature of the region; it is better if the feature is near the schoolhouse; the first work will be chiefly ex- ploration. Fourth year: Continue survey; begin to take definite measurements of the brook, width, depth, length, tributaries, pools, etc. Fifth year: Continue; describe the brook; make charts; deter- mine the drainage basin and how the brook affects its region. II. ANIMALS The purposes of the animal work are chiefly three: (1) to deter- mine the animal population of the region; (2) to discover how the animals are related to their environment (ecology); (3) to study particular animals or groups of animals. 1. Population. — First year: How many kinds of mammals, birds, insects, etc., does the child know? Let the child be kept on the lookout; train his observation; always include the farm animals within the scope of the observation. Second year: Carry the obser- vation further, with birds. Third year: Further with mammals. 34° APPENDIX C Fourth year: Further with fish, frogs, salamanders, etc.; aquarium. Fifth year: Insects; terrarium. 2. Relations. — Second year: Where do the different birds live? What do they eat? nesting habits; classify as to habitats. Third year: Same with mammals. Fourth year: Same with fish, etc. Fifth year: Same with insects. 3. Particular Animals. — First year: Canary; cat. Second year: Robin; chicken; rabbit; dog; woolly bear; goldfish. Third year: Pigeon or dove ; house or English sparrow; frog; turtle; cow; tent caterpillar or cabbage butterfly. Fourth year: Bluebird; blackbird; crow; toad; squirrel and chipmunk; horse and mule; mouse; cricket. Fifth year: Poultry; salamanders; fish; water insects; moths and butterflies; sheep and goats ; pigs; woodpeckers, thrushes, warblers, sparrows, and other bird groups. III. PLANTS ' The purposes of plant work are similar to those of animal work: (1) to determine the plant population of the region; (2) plant rela- tion (ecology) ; (3) particular plants and parts of plants. 1. Population. — First year: Plant population, as for animals. Second year: Observations with garden flowers and vegetables. Third year: Wild flowers; preservation of the wild flowers. Fourth year: Continue with bushes. Fifth year: Continue with trees. 2. Relations. — Second year: As with animals; habitats, etc., particularly with garden plants; distribution of seeds will be an incident in this and succeeding years. Third year: Continue, with wild flowers and weeds. Fourth year: Same with bushes. Fifth year: Same with trees; plant population of hills, swamps, open fields, etc. 3. Particular Plants and Parts of Plants. — Second year: Leaves; roots; flowers; seeds; fruits; some common vegetable or grain; strawberry. Third year: Hepatica, trillium, spring beauty, arbutus, or other early spring flowers; pussy willow; dandelion; sod and grass; morning glory; ferns; sweet pea; daisy; asters; goldenrod. APPENDIX C 34I Fourth year: Lilac; rose; elder; willows; snowball; sumac; hawthorn; blackberries; raspberries; currants and gooseberries; Virginia creeper; grapevine. Fifth year: Evergreens; elms; maples; oaks; ashes; hickories and other nut trees; fruit trees. The committee has prepared a number of complete lessons to illustrate "why and how the work may be taken up." One of these we have taken the liberty to reproduce below. The pamphlet, which deals with all the different phases of industrial education in rural communities, is of great value to rural teachers, who should not fail to send for a copy. Get it from the secretary of the N.E.A. It costs only ten cents. THIRD GRADE: A RAIN STORM Purpose of the Lesson. — (1) To put the pupil in the right attitude toward weather. (2) To interest the pupil in the changes to be seen in the out-of-doors after a storm; to lay foundations for geog- raphy lessons. The Lesson. — Although discussion of a rain storm may take place profitably in the first and second grades, the best time for continued observation will be the third year in school. Then the pupils are ready to do some independent observing, and they can seek certain definite results of the storm. The spring shower comes up suddenly; the room darkens and the children cannot see to work. This is the time to have them feel the part that the rain storm takes in their lives. It will be restful to lay all books aside, to clear the desks, and study the shower. Can the rain be heard on the roof? How cheery it sounds! With closed eyes you know that the drops are coming down thick and fast. Let us go to the windows. It is interesting to watch the water dash against the panes and roll down; to see it falling on the trees and flowers; to think what it means to the fields. How fast the streams flow in the gutters and ruts in the road! Why? How muddy the rills and rivulets are! Why? Where are the birds? What a good time robin is having out there in the rain! Do you suppose the 342 APPENDIX D squirrel dislikes the rain? Do the wild animals run for cover? Are the cows and horses in the fields in a hurry to seek shelter from the storm ? The nature of the rain itself should be noted: drops large or small? Very numerous or relatively few on the pane? Does the rain fall straight down or does it come slanting ? Does it strike hard ? Does it seem to come from a great height, or are the clouds low? Let the first few drops strike on a clean piece of glass, then dry the glass. Is the glass soiled? Why? Catch some of the last drops in the same way. It frequently happens that the spring showers are heavy and brief. They cease before the close of school. The wise teacher will go out with the children to see the results of the storm. If her class is large, she can limit the observations to one or two definite things ; as, for instance, the flowing of the water, making tiny valleys and carrying the waste material; but if there is time, she may take this opportunity for teaching some of the land and water forms, for after a shower these are present in miniature and are best taught afield. If the class is large, preparation for this lesson can be made by means of sand and clay maps, and then the children may be told what kinds of things to seek before leaving the schoolhouse. Young people enjoy a particular quest. Who will be the first to find an island, a peninsula, a lake, a mountain, a valley, a delta, a mountain range ? Then will come the question, How are these land and water forms made? APPENDIX D The list of shrubs appended below are taken from Hunn and Bailey's Practical Garden Book and may be suggestive. They are especially well adapted to Northern conditions: — Barberries. Box. Burning Bush or Euonymus. APPENDIX D 343 Bush Honeysuckles. Bush Willows. Caryopteris, blooming in August and September. Cotoneasters. Desmodiums or Lespedezas, blooming in fall. Dwarf Sumac. Rhus copallina. Elders. Native species are excellent. Exochorda, with profuse white bloom in spring. Flowering Almond. Flowering Crabs. Flowering Currants. Forsythias or Golden Bells. Fringe Tree or Chionanthus. Hawthorns. Hydrangeas. Indian Currant. Symphoricarpos vulgaris. Japanese Quince. Kerria or Corchorus. Lilacs. Mock Orange or Philadelphus. New Jersey Tea or Ceanothus. Osiers or Dogwoods. Privet. Rose Acacia. Roses. Smoke Tree. Snowballs. The Japanese is preferable. Snowberry. Symphoricarpos racemosus. Spireas of many kinds. Viburnums of many kinds. Weigelas. White Alder. Clethra alnifolia. Witch Hazel. Blooms on the eve of winter. Xanthoceras sorbifolia. 344 APPENDIX F APPENDIX E No doubt teachers will be interested in the following brief outline of school garden work from the report of the committee on Industrial Education in Schools for Rural Communities. It is intended for the one-room school : — The purposes of school garden work may be thrown into three general divisions: (i) to make garden and acquire skill with tools (handicraft); (2) to learn how plants grow and behave under culti- vation; (3) to discover what transpired in the garden. 1. Handicraft. — First year: Simplest garden operations, as raking, sowing seeds, watering, shading, etc. Subsequent years: The garden work will naturally continue itself, and new problems will come into the horizon of the pupil as soon as he is ready for them. Such questions as staking, tying, thinning, transplanting, planting a bush or tree, distinguishing weeds, kinds of soil, and fertilizing will come up as the work proceeds. In all years window gardens and plant boxes may be a regular part of the school garden work. 2. How Plants Grow. — Second year: Germination; seed leaves. Third year: Seed testing; layers; bulbs. Fourth year: Identifi- cation of kinds of seeds ; cuttings. Fifth year: How different kinds of plants grow and behave ; grafting ; pruning. 3. Record. — Third and subsequent years: A garden record may be begun, at first probably as a blackboard exercise. Each garden worker in fourth year should have a note-book. APPENDIX F Jere M. Pound, State School Commissioner of Georgia, on the Future of Agricultural Education in his State. — Jere M. Pound, State School Commissioner of Georgia, APPENDIX F 345 looks for great things from the inauguration of the new thoroughgoing system of agricultural education in his state. In a recent (1907) report to the General Assembly touching the new agricultural high schools, he said in part: — The future of these schools and their fate depends upon your wisdom. We have classical schools, technological schools, normal schools, — schools of medicine, schools of law, schools of science; but these constitute the only recognition we have ever given in. an educational way to a business in which three fourths or four fifths of our children will engage and upon which we all, without excep- tion, must depend. Of course, ignorant men may farm; they may support themselves in this way; they may even appear to make money. But they can do these things only at the expense of the soil. We are now easily in sight of a period when the prevention of soil erosion and waste will become a most vital problem, which shall appeal for solution to every intelligent citizen. Already, as is shown by the census just completed, many school districts of counties in middle Georgia are losing large percentages of their population, for reasons which we need not go far to find. Thoughtless and wasteful methods of cultivation have worn out much of the soil of what was once the choicest part of the state and have left the red hills sterile and gashed and scarred. There is yet fresh land elsewhere. Hence the exodus. But ignorance will soon waste and exhaust that likewise. Then we shall be face to face with the greatest problem that our people must face — the problem of replenishing by artificial means a worn-out land whose forests have vanished in a generation or two through heed- less, wasteful, wanton, almost criminal destruction. To dwell upon these things is not pessimism. It is simple prudence. Our own children now in school will live through harder and more artificial conditions than we shall witness. It is, therefore, our bounden 346 APPENDIX G and manifest duty to prepare them for their future, and particularly to prepare that portion of them who through manual toil and labor must make the food supplies for all the rest, so that they may per- form their task with a minimum of discomfort and a maximum of profit and pleasure. ... To such schools [the new high schools] I look for the redemption in great part of our common schools from their aimless wanderings toward unseen ends. Indeed, I regard the effort to inaugurate a thorough system of agricultural education as the kindest and best thing that has been done for the common schools since their inception. I sincerely trust, therefore, that you may find some way to support these institutions liberally, that they may help in the development of the common schools and in the ed- ucation of our great rural population. APPENDIX G The Committee on Industrial Education in Schools for Rural Communities recommended the following general plan for years six, seven, and eight : — FIRST HALF YEAR : THE AFFAIRS OF AGRICULTURE The place that the farm occupies as part of the community life. What the farmer's business is; what he does: what he sells; how he spends his year. What is the nature or kind of agriculture of the particular region. What outside help the farmer has: good roads; telephones, rural free delivery; experiment stations, colleges; markets. Gather rough statistics from the farmers of the neighborhood. Write up the farms of the district as to history, size of buildings, etc. SECOND HALF YEAR: THE SOIL Here may be introduced many experiments as to the physical conditions and texture of the soil. Soils of the neighborhood must be gathered and classified. APPENDIX H 347 Let the pupil classify the soils on his own farm and make a chart as to the soil distribution. General ways in which the soil is improved as to plowing, tilling, rolling, cover-cropping, fertilizing, and the like. SECOND YEAR: FARMING SCHEMES AND CROPS The general layout of the farm : rotation schemes and mapping. Farm crops: the crops or their products themselves to be studied, sometimes in the schoolroom. Ears of corn, for example, may be studied and "judged" as a part of the school exercises. The same may be done with potatoes, grains, and fruits. The crops to be studied as they are grown in the community ; let each child report on the crops and the cropping schemes of his own farm. THIRD YEAR: ANIMALS What animals are a part of the farm enterprise, and why. What relation these animals bear to rotation of crops or other farming schemes. Relation they bear to the fertility of the land. Relative importance of different kinds of animals, and why they are raised. Some general studies of the different breeds of animals and also "points" of specific animals and something of the judging of animals. Some observations may be made on feeding and the like. A good text-book treating in a simple way the soil and the plant life of the farm may be used with profit to supplement the actual study of the things themselves. Supplementary reading matter, treating country-life subjects, may well be used in connection with this work. APPENDIX H The following are some of the problems made use of by Mr. Lyon. As they are full of suggestions to the teacher, they are herewith repeated : — 348 APPENDIX H Air: Test for moisture. Test for carbonic acid gas (limewater, etc.). Tests for ammonia (in schoolroom and in cow stables). Seeds: Germination. (Find per cent, etc.) Manner of growth (monocotyledons, dicotyledons). Plants: Water taken from soil. (Use scales.) Transpiration. (Collect H 2 0.) Examination of nodules on leguminous plants. Effect of nodules on luxuriance of growth. Soils: Search for water-table — different places and times. Test with litmus paper. Effect of lime or ashes on clay soil. Effect of lime on clear and on muddy water. Correct acidity with lime or ashes. (Result observed in growth of clover.) Capillarity under different conditions. Milk: Babcock test. Drill in making measurements, reading bottles, computations. Test acid with acidometer. Acid test. Correct measurements, computations of acid. Milk at different ages. Under different conditions of cleanliness and temperature. Bottle and cork tight; keep warm; observe odor; use different samples to compare. Water: Test for organic matter. Bottle with a little sugar; keep warm; observe color, etc. Use potassium permanganate. APPENDIX I 349 Osmosis: Using egg. Using bladder. Fungicides: Formaldehyde for oats smut. Hot-water oats smut. Bordeaux for potato blight. (Use ferrocyanide test.) Computations in each case. Chemical Action: Caustic soda solution plus muriatic acid. Evaporate; find the salt. (Can teach chemical formula of this even at 10 or 12 years.) Commercial Fertilizers: Handling and mixing — nitrate of soda, muriate of potash, and dissolved rock. (Computations.) Cows: Dairy type. (Examine form, milk veins, hide, etc.) Beef type. Weather Map: Receive daily maps and determine location of storm center. Physical Experiments of various kinds taken from books on physics. Make suction pump with lamp chimney, etc. Garden: A grass plot has been substituted for the school garden, where farm grasses, fertilizers, and seedlings may be studied. APPENDIX I ART WORK In almost all rural localities the following lines of work may be introduced with slight tool equipment: — Primary : Clay molding, with local clay. Paper cutting, design, representation, free hand. 35° APPENDIX I Brush drawing, objective and subjective. Charcoal and chalk painting. Color study. Design cutting. Paper picture work. Grammar Grades : Subjective expression with geometric motif. Clay molding, objective, subjective, and illustrative. Brush drawing, line drawing. Free-hand drawing. Sketching. Charcoal tone study, picture making. Pencil painting. Design. MECHANISM Primary : Simple wood construction, with prepared stock and nails, local material. Paper cutting, folding, pasting. Paper construction. Pasteboard construction. Spool knitting, braiding, weaving with twine and string that the children have collected. Textile art work, primary. Constructional needlework, primary, with material that is furnished by the child. Grammar Grades: Three-sixteenth stock whittling. Fret sawing. Clay carving, wirework, grass, husk, straw, willow, or other fiber basketry. Design. Knife carving. Heavy whittling. Bench Sloyd. APPENDIX J 351 Domestic art, ornamental and constructional. Gardening, primary agriculture. Perhaps at first at home of the child, on small plot. Cooking, primary domestic science. The above is designated to be correlative on all possible subjects of the schools. It is not the design that all the course work mentioned be given at one time. The work is selected by the district teacher with ref- erence to possibilities. As many phases of work as possible should be given the child during the elementary school period, for by this means the hand receives a broader, more sensitive training. APPENDIX J SIMPLE RULES BY WHICH TO RECOGNIZE SYMP- TOMS OF SOME COMMON DISEASES Diphtheria. — It is an easy matter to ascertain whether or not the throat is inflamed, because a child suffering from this cause will generally complain that the throat is sore. While this sign may sometimes fail, yet it is generally true that a child with a sore throat, accompanied by a foul breath, is a possible victim of diphtheria, if the throat shows patches on the tonsils or in the back of the mouth. Diphtheria, however, may exist without this condition, and it is, therefore, necessary, in case of suspected sore throat, especially if the disease has appeared elsewhere in the community, to isolate the case until a physician has passed upon it. The diphtheric sore throat is generally inflamed to a dark red. Scarlet Fever. — The early manifestations of scarlet fever are usually associated with throat symptoms, headache, and fever. The throat is bright red. The tongue is mostly clean and of a strawberry hue, although this symptom does not always appear in the early stages. One of the earliest manifestations is the flushing of the face and the appearance of red spots on the neck, arms, and body. 352 APPENDIX J When a child who has suffered from the disease returns to school, it should not be admitted if its skin is still scaling, as it is a generally recognized fact that the scales carry disease. Measles. — This is generally preceded by fever, followed by the appearance of a dark red rash and by sore throat and eyes. The symptoms are not usually so pronounced as in scarlet fever, but the case is, as a rule, to be diagnosed by the rash. Tonsilitis. — This disease is generally accompanied by lassitude, high fever, and enlarged tonsils. While children suffering from tonsilitis often remain in school during the entire progress of the disease, yet its spread in a school can often be prevented by immediate detection and isolation. Other common and important contagious diseases are: whoop- ing cough, mumps, smallpox, itch. Mumps may generally be recognized by a swelling above the angle of the jaw and below the lower point of the ear, which, upon pressure, is extremely painful. The sufferer should be sent home at once. Whooping Cough. — Patients should be at once isolated from the school, and, as in other cases of contagious disease,the other members of the family not affected by it should be kept at home as long as it exists. The disease manifests itself in a series of short, spasmodic coughs, followed by a long inhalation and a whoop. Smallpox is hard to recognize in its early stages, but may generally be detected by patches on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. It also invades the mouth and throat. Vaccination should always be insisted upon for schools in communities visited by small- pox. Itch can ordinarily be detected by the teacher. It occurs on the arms and hands, especially between the fingers, and the excessive itching causes the child affected to scratch the sores, and so keep them open. The child should be sent from the school, and should be attended by a physician until well. In no case should articles handled by the patient be used by the other members of the family. INDEX Agriculture, courses in, in state normal schools, 85-86; training teachers in elementary, 196-197; the dominant interest in the rural community, 205- 206; objections to educational trend toward, 206; elementary, in Euro- pean schools, 206-210; spread of study of, in Canada and the United States, 210-212; interest of agricul- tural colleges in study of, in schools, 212-213; what may be accomplished in study of, in one-room school, 214- 217; books and other literature on, 219, 234-235. See School gardens. Agricultural Association, Nebraska Boys', 220-231. Agricultural education, future of, in Georgia, as reported by Jere M. Pound, 344-346. Arbor Day, an appropriate celebration of, 174-177- Architecture of school buildings, 121- 133- Arkansas, supervision of schools in, 58. Art, specimens of, in schoolrooms, 141- 145; combination of, with manual training, 243-245; suggested lines of work in, for rural localities, 349- 35i- Art programmes for schools, 148-151. Aswell, James B., quoted, 77-78; con- solidation of Louisiana schools under, 3i3- Augusta, Ga., successful operation of county system of school organization in, 31-32. Australia, school gardens in, 184; progress in agricultural studies in, 210; consolidation of schools in, 307. Austria, school gardens in, 181; schools for study of agriculture in, 209. B Backward children in schools, 283-284; special schools for, 286. Bailey, L. H., quoted on training for teachers in agriculture, 217. Balcomb, E. E., paper by, quoted, 84; quoted on study of agriculture in schools, 212-213. Barnard, Henry, first teachers' institute held by, 76. Basements of schoolhouses, 124-125. Basket suppers as a means of procur- ing funds, 148-15 1. Belgium, horticulture study compul- sory in, 183; courses in agriculture in schools of, 207-208; manual training in, 238. Birds and bird houses on school premises, 1 70-171. Bishop, E. C, paper by, quoted, 218- 219; work of, in Nebraska, 229; on the object of organizations of boys and girls in Nebraska, 231-232. Blackboards, location and material of, 120-130. Board of education, function of the, 34 _ 35; organization and work of, dependent on size of geographical unit, 35-36; difficulty in procuring good members for, 36-37; possibili- ties in the way of work to be accom- plished by, 37-38; origins and his- tory of the, 51-52. Bohemia, school gardens in, 182-183. Books, on agriculture, 219; on manual training, 252-253; list of, for the children's library, 277-281; disin- fection of school books, 291 ; on con- 2A 353 354 INDEX solidated schools, 332-333. See Libraries. Boston school nurses, 284-285. Bowesville, Ont., school gardens, 198- 199. Burns Consolidated School, Marion County, Kansas, 321-323. California, county system of school organization in, 31. Calisthenics in European schools, 300. Canada, school gardens in, 184, 190, 192- 193; training of teachers in school gardening in, 196; elementary agri- cultural studies in, 210; consolida- tion of schools in, 307. Cary, C. P., quoted on Wisconsin Training School, 87; quoted on con- solidation of schools, 311. Chalk rails for blackboards, 130. Cities, movement of population to, 4-5; a menace to country life, 6-7; proper equation of country and, 7-8; school supervision in, vs. rural super- vision, 50-51; school gardening in, 190-191; importance of manual training to children in, 205. Cloak rooms in schoolhouses, 123. Clubs, agricultural, 220-221; boys' and girls' industrial, 221-222; boys' corn clubs, 224-229; boys' and girls' associations in Nebraska, 229-232; books on industrial, 234-235. Colonial support of public schools, 41- 42. Colorado, school gardens and study of agriculture in, 216. Commission on rural life, 10. Community system of school organiza- tion, 33-34- Connecticut, provisions of School Supervision Act of 1903 in, 55-56; consolidation of schools in, 308-309. Consolidation of schools, remedy for existing ills in rural communities found in, 22-23; mistake of waiting for, for rural school improvement, 247-248; aim of, 303-305; early history of, 306-307; progress in, 307; in Massachusetts, 308; else- where in New England, 308-309; in the Middle West, 309-312; in the South, 312-313; in Utah, Wyoming, and Oregon, 314; system of partial, 315-318; complete, 318; village type of, 320; illustrated by the Burns Consolidated School, Kansas, 321-323; the purely rural type of, 323-324; the John Swaney Con- solidated School an example of purely rural type, 324-329; advantages and objections, 330-331; literature on, 332-333- Corbett, L. C, The School Garden by, quoted, 166-167. Corn clubs, origin of, 221-222; general plan of boys', 224-229; in Nebraska, 229-232. Cotton, Fasset A., State Superintend- ent, report by, quoted, 224-225. County normal training classes in Michigan, 88. County superintendents, 53. County supervision of schools. See Supervision. County system of school organization, 30-32; satisfaction given by, after certain necessary reforms, 32-33; matter of taxation under, 47-48. County training schools in Wisconsin, 85-87. Cousins, Superintendent R. B., 33. Cowley, R. H., quoted, 198-199, 200- 201. Crosby, Dick J., on influence of indus- trial clubs on farming, 223. D Davison, Alvin, article by, quoted, 292- 293- Defectives in public schools, 283-284; special provision for, 286. Denman, J. S., early teachers' meeting held by, 76. Denmark, elementary agriculture in schools of, 208-209. Desks, location and kind of, in school- rooms, 138-139; teachers', 139. Dexter, Professor, quoted, 26-27. INDEX 355 Diseases, marked ignorance of, in rural communities, 13; recognition of, by teachers, 288; necessity of study of, 289; simple rules by which to recog- nize symptoms of common, 35^352. Disinfection of school books and para- phernalia, 291. District superintendents, 53. District system. See School district unit of organization. Domestic Science Association, Ne- braska Girls', 229-231. Drinking cups, dangers of, 290, 291-293. Dublin, N. H., school statistics of, 45- 46. E Eastmond, Albert H., quoted on co- ordination of art and manual train- ing, 243-245. Eliot, Charles W., quoted, 254. Ellsworth, N. H., school statistics of, 45-46. England, nature study and school gardening in, 184; backwardness of, in introduction of agricultural studies in schools, 209; manual training in, 238. Europe, conditions surrounding teachers in, as compared with America, 93-96; tenure of office of teachers in, 115; school gardens in, 180-185; elementary agriculture in schools of, 206-210; manual training in, 236-238; gymnastics in rural schools of, 298-300. Evans, Lawton B., on the importance of aesthetic environment, 137. Excursions, educational, 224, 228. Expenditure on schools in United States, per capita, 39-41. Farming, success in, attributable in many cases to school gardens, 185- 186. Feminization of the schools, 107-109. Fitch, Laura, a superintendent who is an advocate of elementary agriculture for schools, 221. Floor space in schoolhouses, i2r-i23. Florida, consolidated schools in, 313. Flowers about schools, 169-170. Fortner, Ord, success of, in teaching manual training in one-room school, 248-249. France, school gardens in, 1 81-182; elementary agriculture in schools of, 207; manual training in, 238. Furniture of schoolrooms, 138-139. Gardens. See School gardens. Georgia, courses in agriculture in normal schools of, 83; consolidation of schools in, 313; future of agri- cultural education in, 344-346. Germany, school gardens in, 1 80-1 81; elementary agriculture in schools of, 209; manual training in, 238; at- tention paid to physical inspection in, 286. Graham, A. B., quoted on traveling libraries in Ohio, 272-273. Grounds of schoolhouses, 133, 136- *37> !63 ff.; literature on decora- tion of, 174, 177-178. Gymnastics, function of, in schools, 295, 296-298; in rural schools, 298- 300. H Hall, G. Stanley, quoted on manual training, 240. Halls in schoolhouses, 123-124. Harvest Home Social suggested for procuring funds, 150-15 1. Harvey, L. D., quoted, 242. Health of pupils, teachers' responsi- bility for, 287-288. See Physical education. Heating of schoolhouses, 125-127, 337- 338. Hedges for inclosing school grounds, 167-168. Hemenway, H. D., How to make School Gardens by, 198. High-school training classes, 88-90. Hodge, Dr. Clifton F., Nature Study and Life by, quoted, 156, 172. 35 6 INDEX Holland, study of agriculture in schools of, 208; manual training in, 238. Home, Professor, on the true function of play, 296. Hygiene in schools, 282 ff. lies, George, on school gardens in Canada, 190. Illinois, consolidation of schools in, Incomes of teachers, and adjustment of, to expenses, 92-103. Indiana, minimum salary law in, 113; traveling libraries in, 275-276; con- solidation of schools in, 310. Industrial clubs for boys and girls, 221- 222; selected list of books dealing with, 234-235. Industrial education, N.E.A. commit- tee on, in rural communities, 245- 246; plan of studies for schools in rural communities, 346-347. Iowa, school libraries in, 263-264; con- solidated schools in, 311. Jacket-ventilating stoves, 126-127. Jamaica, school gardens in, 184. Japan, schools in, for teaching of agri- culture, 209; enforcement of laws of hygiene in army of, 287. Jewell, J. R., Agricultural Education by;* quoted, 189-190, 191, 192, 210. John Swaney Consolidated School, the, 324-327; high school work in the, 327-329. Jones, Frank O., on Connecticut and Massachusetts systems of school supervision, 56-57. Joyner, J. Y., on consolidation of schools in North Carolina, 312-313. K Kansas, superintendents in, 61, 65-66; high-school training classes in, 90; matter of school libraries in, 263; consolidated schools in, 312. Kelley, Patrick H., State Superin- tendent, quoted, 88. Kern, O. J., State Superintendent, quoted on rural school mainte- nance, 106; on waste of money by school officers, 140; on value of school gardening in city school system, 188-189; inauguration of Twentieth-century Forward Library Movement by, 268-269; report by, on the John Swaney Consolidated School, 324-327. Kirkpatrick, Fairfax, report by, on the Wea Consolidated School, 318- 320. Kirksville, Mo., State Normal rural model school, 81, 82. Krohn, William O., summary by, of methods of spreading diseases, 290- 291. L Land grants in aid of schools, 42-43. Lavatories in schoolhouses, 130-131. Laws for construction of sanitary schoolhouses, 1 18-120. Libraries, in schoolhouses, 123; fur- nishings of, 139; advantages of, in rural communities, 254-257, 261; early history of school, 257-258; traveling, 260, 271-276; condi- tional laws concerning, in some states, 265-266. Library Day in West Virginia, 267-268. Lighting of schoolrooms, 128-129. Literature, on school-ground decora- tion, 174; on agriculture, 219; on elementary agriculture and indus- trial clubs, 234-235; on manual training, 252-253; list of books for the children's library, 277-281; on consolidated schools, 232-233. Louisiana, consolidated schools in, 313. Lyon, H. H., success of, in interesting pupils in agricultural studies, 217. M Macomb, 111., State Normal model rural school, 82, 83. Maine, union district supervision in, 57; INDEX 357 School Improvement League of, 145- 146; consolidation of schools in, 309. Mann, Horace, quoted, 26; teachers' institutes popularized by, in Massa- chusetts, 76. Manual training, vital interest of, for city children, 205; defined, 236; early history of, in Europe and America, 36-238; growth of ideas concerning, 239-240; philosophy of, 240-241; aims of, in rural commu- nities, 241-243; combination of art and, 243-245; extract from N.E.A. report on, 245-246; the one-room school and, 246-252; advice on how to begin, 250-251; literature on, 252- 253; importance of, as a factor in physical education, 295. Martin, O. B., on school libraries in South Carolina, 266. Maryland, minimum salary law in, 113; conditional library laws in, 265-266. Massachusetts, district unit of school organization in, 26; abolition of district unit in (1882), 27; township and district supervision of schools in, 53~55! consolidation of schools in, 306-307, 308. Massachusetts Supervision Law of 1888, 53-54- Michigan, county normal training classes in, 88; consolidation of schools in, 311. Miller, Susie, letter by, on agricultural study, 217-218. Miller, Thomas C, quoted on Library Day in West Virginia, 267-268. Minnesota, assistant county superin- tendents advocated in, 61; position of superintendent in, 64; high school training classes in, 90; annual in- dustrial contest for boys and girls in, 232-233; school libraries in, 264; consolidated schools in, 311-312. Missouri, county system of school organization in, 31; school libraries in, 264. Model rural schools, 80-83. Model school buildings, 120-133. Miinsterberg, Hugo, on influence of women teachers on male youth, 109. N Nature study in schools, 154 ff.; economic, aesthetic, social and ethi- cal, religious, and educational value of, to the rural child, 156-161; syl- labus of, 161-162; list of books dealing with, 177-178; outline of course in, 338-342. See School gardens. Nebraska, teaching of agriculture in normal schools of, 83-84; high school training classes in, 90; boys' and girls' associations in, 229-232; school library law in, 263; traveling libraries in, 276. Nebraska Junior Normal Schools, 77. Nevada, school supervision by district attorneys in, 58. New Hampshire, change from dis- trict to township system of school organization in, 27; union district supervision in, 57; consolidation of schools in, 309. New Jersey, superintendents in, 61; election of county superintendents in, 62. New York City, statistics of defective school children in, 283-284. New York State, training classes in high schools of, 88-90; school libra- ries in, 265; traveling libraries in, 274. Normal schools. See State normal schools. Normal training classes in Michigan, 88. North Carolina, selection of county superintendents in, 63; operation of conditional library laws in, 265-266. North Dakota, superintendents' as- sistants in, 61; minimum salary law in, 113; consolidated schools in, 312. Nurses for schools in Boston, 284-286. Ohio, union district school supervision in, 57; minimum salary law in, 113; traveling libraries in, 272-273; con- solidation of schools in, 310. 358 INDEX Oregon, county system of school organization in, 31. Outhouses for rural school buildings, 131-132, 163. Page, Walter H., commissioner on rural life, quoted, n-12. Parker, Francis W., on rational courses of work in rural schools, 14. Pencils, danger in promiscuous use of, 2Q1. Pennsylvania, election of county super- intendents in, 63; minimum salary law in, 113. Permanent school funds, creation of, 42-43; inadequacy of, 43-45; table of statistics of, 335-336. Physical education in schools, 282 ff.; relation of general intelligence to, 286-287; manifested in schools through the agencies of manual training, play, gymnastics, and ath- letics, 294-295. Pictures, choice of, for schools, 141-143; list of suitable, 144-145. Plainfield, N.J., Groszman School for atypical children at, 286. Planning and platting school grounds, 164. Planting of trees and shrubs in school grounds, 165 ff.; Arbor Day an appropriate time for, 174-177. Plaster casts in schoolrooms, 143-145. Play, function of, in school work, 295- 296. Playgrounds for schools, 163, 165; equipment of, for gymnastic train- ing, 299. Politics and school superintendents, 61-68. Pound, Jere M., State School Commis- sioner, on future of agricultural edu- cation in Georgia, 344-346. Providence, Fresh Air School at, 286. R Race, S. J., on rural school heating and ventilation, 337-338. Reading circles, benefits from rightly managed, 78-79, 269-270. Reading courses, ever widening rdle played by, in systematic education, 254- Rest rooms for teachers, 123. Rhode Island, union district school supervision in, 57; consolidation of schools in, 309. Robertson, J. W., quoted on consoli- dation of schools, 305. Roosevelt, Theodore, Congressional message on needs of American country life, xviii; cited, 8; com- mission on rural life appointed by, 10; letter to American school children on Arbor Day, 176-177. Rural schools, present conditions in, 1-4; problem of, economic and so- ciological as well as educational, 9-10; primary duty of, to educate country boys and girls to a love and appre- ciation of country things, 13-14; the ideal twentieth-century, 14-15; ne- cessity of better organization and administration, 16-20, 24 ff.; pro- vision of funds for maintenance of, 39-49; matter of supervision of, 50-68; the teaching problem, 69-91; maintenance of, by ncreased taxa- tion, 106; buildings and equipment, 116-133; indoor furnishing of, 134- 153; nature study in, 154-162; grounds of, 163-177; benefits of school gardens for, 191-195; study of elementary agriculture in, 205 ff.; industrial clubs in, 221-233; manual training in, 236-251; libraries in, 258-269 (see Libraries); teachers in, their own medical inspectors, 293- 294; gymnastics in, 298-300; con- solidation of, 302-332. Rural teachers. See Teachers of rural schools. Russia, school gardens in, 182; manual training in, 238. St. Louis, first manual training school at, 238. INDEX 359 Salaries of teachers, 92 ff.; of European and American teachers contrasted, 93~96; law of regulation of, 106-107; effect of prevailing low average, to drive men to other callings, 107-108; enactment of minimum salary laws urged, 113. Sanitary appliances for schoolhouses, 130 ff. School board. See Board of education. School buildings, 116 ff.; choice of site, 120, 162-163; indoor arrange- ments, 121-125; heating and ven- tilation, 125-128, 337-338; light- ing, blackboards, and sanitary ap- pliances, 128-133; exterior of, 133, 162-167; indoor furnishings and out in, 138 ff. School district, unit of organization, 25; objections to, 26-27; great spread of, at an early date, 27; re- spects in which township system is superior to, 29-30; question of tax- ation under, 47-48. School funds. See Permanent school funds. School gardens, origins of, 179-180; in European countries, 180-185; advantages of, shown by immigrants from Europe, 185-186; history of, in United States, 186-188; prac- tical value of, in city schools, 188- 190; advantages of, for rural schools, 191-195; steps preparatory to mak- ing, 197-201; arrangement of, 201- 203; selected list of books on, 203- 204; outline of work from report of committee on Industrial Education in Schools for Rural Communities, 344- School grounds, 133, 136-137, 163 ff.; books dealing with, 174, 177-178. School Improvement League of Maine, 145-146. School libraries and public libraries, 258-261. Sculpture, specimens of, in school- rooms, 143-145. Seeley, Dr. Leir, quoted, 73. Sewerage system for rural schools, 132- 133- Shaeffer, State Superintendent in Penn- sylvania, quoted, 113. Shafer, Harry M., quoted, 287. Shaw, Dr., School Hygiene by, quoted, 127-128. Shrubbery for school grounds, 16^, 168-169, 342-343- Site of schoolhouses, 120, 162-163. Sloyd schools, origin of, in Sweden, 237- Social recognition of teachers, 111-112. South Carolina, operation of condi- tional library laws in, 265-266; con- solidated schools in, 313. Starr, C. C, report by, on Burns con- solidated district, 322-323. State laws for construction of sanitary schoolhouses, 1 18-120. State normal schools, 79; readiness of, to adapt themselves to new condi- tions, 80; rural model schools in, 80- 83; agriculture in, 83-85. Stoves, jacket ventilating, 126-127. Summer schools, advantage of, to rural school teachers, 75-76; Ne- braska Junior Normal Schools, 77. Superintendent, function of board of education and work of the, 35; ori- gin of the, 51-52; county, parish, and union district or township, 52- 53; conditions prevailing under county system, 58-60; necessity of removing from party politics, 61-62; election and compensation of, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 62-63; appointment of, in North Carolina, 63; plan of election in Minnesota, 64; Kansas plan, 65-66; academic and professional qualifica- tions essential for, 66-67; oppor- tunity of, for promoting aesthetic side of schools, 151-153; campaign of education in improvement of school grounds to be conducted by, 173-174- Supervision, of rural schools, 50; city vs. rural, 50-51; history of, 51-52; the unit of, 52-53; Massachusetts and Connecticut acts pertaining to, 53-57; success of union district sys- tem in New England and Ohio, 53- 3 6 ° INDEX 57; progress under county system, 57-58; in Arkansas and Nevada, 58; conditions under county system, 58- 60; politics in, 61-62; general con- dition of, for rural schools, 67-68. Sweden, school gardens in, 181; de- velopment of systematic manual training (Sloyd schools) in, 237. Switzerland, school gardens in, 182; schools in, for study of agriculture, 209; manual training in, 238. Syllabus of nature study prepared by committee of N.E.A., 161-162. Taxation, chief support of schools found in, 44-45; the state the log- ical taxing unit, 45-46; state sys- tem of, for schools not increasing, 46-47 ; table showing state and local, on percentage basis, 47; county and township, 47-48; decline of dis- trict, 48; rational scaling up of, and increase in, needed, 48-49; low rural rate of, 105. Teachers of rural schools; 699 ff.; "born" and "made," 70-71; natural qualifications necessary, 71-72; aca- demic training, 72-73; professional training, 73; must come prepared to make the school an expression of life on the farm, 74-75; aids to, in summer schools, teachers' institutes, teachers' meetings, etc., 75; instruc- tion in agriculture for, 83-84; Wis- consin county training schools for, 85-87; training classes for, in Michigan and in New York high schools, 88-90; salaries of, 92 ff.; law of salary regulation as applied to, 106-107; statistics of men and of women, 108; long tenure of office advocated for, 114-115; opening for individual efforts in school decora- tions and improvement of aesthetic environment, 1 46-151; training of, in elementary agriculture, 196-197; training of, in library economy, 276- 277; responsibility of, for pupils' physical and mental health, 287- 288; rural teachers their own medical inspectors, 293-294. Teachers' institutes, 76. Teachers' journals, benefits from, 78. Teachers' meetings, necessity of teach- ers' attendance at, 78. Tenure of office of teachers, 114-115. Terre Haute, Ind., State Normal model rural school, 82, 83. Texas, county system of school or- ganization in, 31; community sys- tem of school organization in, 33-34. Toads and toad aquaria on school grounds, 171-173. Toilet rooms in schoolhouses, 130-13 1. Township superintendents, 53. Township system of school organiza- tion, 27-29; to be distinguished from township system of local gov- ernment, 28; respects in which su- perior to district system, 29-30; taxation under the, 47-48. Training classes, county normal, in Michigan, 88; in New York high schools, 88-90; in Nebraska, Kan- sas, Minnesota, Vermont, and other states, 90. Training schools in Wisconsin, 85-87. Traveling libraries, 260, 271-276. Trees in school grounds, 167. Twentieth-century Forward Library Movement, 268-269. / U Union district supervision of schools, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, 53~57; in other states, 57. Units of school organization, 25-34. Utah, county system of school organiza- tion in, 31. V Vacation schools. See Summer schools, Teachers' institutes, and Teachers' meetings. Ventilation of schoolhouses, 125-128, 337-338. Vermont, union district school super- INDEX 361 vision in, 57; high school training classes in, 90; consolidation of schools in, 309. Victoria, N.S.W., nature study and teaching of agriculture in, 210. Village type of consolidated school, 320. Vines, use of, on school premises, 169. Virginia, county system of school organization in, 31; consolidated schools in, 312. W Walls of schoolrooms, 138. Waste in the small school, 305. Wea Consolidated School, the, 318-320. West Virginia, minimum salary scale in, 113-114; lack of library provi- sions in, 266-267; observance of Library Day in, 267-268. Williams, Dr. Linsly R., on defectives and low standards of school work, 284. Wisconsin, superintendents in, 61; county training schools in, 85-87; school libraries in, 263-264; con- solidation of schools in, 311. Wolford, Lulu, successful teacher of elementary agriculture, 219; quoted on industrial training in one-room school, 249. Women, percentage of, as teachers, 108; question of effect of, as teach- ers of male youth, 108-109. Woodward, Dr. Calvin A., founder of St. Louis manual training school, 238. Woodwork of schoolrooms, 138. Young People's Reading Circles, his- tory and value of, 269-270. A LIST OF BOOKS FOR TEACHERS ARNOLD, Felix. A Text-book of School and Class Management, Theory and Practice. Cloth l2tno xxii + 40Q pages Index $i.2j net Attention and Interest. Cloth viii '+ 272 pages Index l2tno $1.00 net BAGLEY, William Chandler. Classroom Management : Its Principles and Technique. 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