[• ts !; ij;;,;-.:iM:hi Class Book GopyiiglitN''. COFi'KIGKT DEPOSm RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS IN EDUCATION EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY DIVISION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION UNDER THE EDITORIAL DIRECTION OF ALEXANDER INGLIS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION HARVARD UNIVERSITY :^ "1. - -^, pi,:^^ M ■i4 1'..-:- * i(::)lh^^i: "'.. \ a B P-i oi J O 00 C "* w 60 63 o a -o H r. o J O fg \^- •^- |Mii|j|iiiiii|j|iniii|||iiiii||||tiHi||i|iiii||||||iMi|M||iiiii|||i |||ii'e^n:yx-J>- n^ ~™";J 6 "^ 1 eiwx^ ^)r«/^ Plan for a Toilet where Ruxnixq Water is not available 72 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS certain chemical processes have been discovered which make possible interior toilets, even when water pressure is not to be had. Such a system may be installed, as shown in the illustration, and the toilet room located in a com- partment next to the children's coat rooms indicated in several of the building plans. The process for the com- bination of chemicals requires a water-tight receptacle of the proper size, which must either be made of metal or of concrete. It is necessary to place this tank so that a man- hole will extend above the ground, outside of the building wall, to be used in removing the contents and providing the means for cleaning when this is necessary. The chemical contents usually need removing twice each year, depend- ing upon the extent to which the vault is used and the size of the tank. Before installing such a system the Trustees should get advice from their county superintend- ent, or from some one authorized by him. It is very advantageous to have a water-pressure system, and in these days of mechanical skill even a small rural com- munity may have this advantage. A small plant is not very expensive and can be installed in the basement, since it oc- cupies but small space. The entire apparatus needed con- sists of a force pump for the well, a small gasoline engine, a pressure tank, and an air pump. It can be set up by any good plumber, and can safely be operated without mechani- cal skill. There are several companies that make a business of installing such plants at a reasonable cost, — one of the best known among them being the Kewanee. Here again good advice should be sought before undertaking to pur- chase such a plant. With the installation of a water-pres- sure system, several other improvements are made possible. Drinking fountains and lavatories may be installed in the cloak rooms by increasing the size of the compartments. Flush water-closets may be used by providing sewer drain- THE SCHOOL PLANT 73 age. The water may be piped to the other buildings on the premises. A concrete swimming-tank may also be built in connection with the gymnasium, or perhaps outside. In either case, however, good drainage is necessary, and the sys- tem must be carefully guarded to keep it sanitary. If the tank is built outside, the sun's rays will provide sufficient heat during the warm weather; while if it is installed inside, en artificial means of heating must be provided. Water on the premises serves, moreover, as a fire protec- tion, and offers an opportunity for irrigation purposes. The lawn, flowers, and shrubs need water during some seasons of the year, and by its use desirable plants may be propa- gated to advantage. Work necessary in this connection will gladly be done by the children under the wise guidance of the teacher, and the school plant will offer added opportu- nities for the application of knowledge. A complete school plant as described -^dll mean a consid- erable outlay of expense, but it will at the same time repre- sent an institution worthy of community pride. It will offer a center for social activities and a place for community wor- ship. It may be used for grange meetings or for other farm gatherings. It will make possible the night school for adults, which is coming to be one of the best means of individual development resulting in community inspiration. It should be remembered, too, that every child of the community must enter the school at the age of six years and spend the larger portion of his "waking day" in this institution for at least eight years. Impressions gained during this time will be greatly influenced by the school home and its sur- roundings. The child's life will be shaped as well as his faculties sharpened during the days, weeks, and months which he spends there. Then as the home should be made beautiful for the purpose of influencing the family aright, so the school should be made a place which wiU be loved and 74 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS revered in after years by the children, grown to manhood and womanhood, who have become useful citizens of a com- monwealth. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. Is 3'our school plant a place where you would enjoy spending six hours each day? 2. How can the interest of children be secured to the extent that they will feel a personal responsibility for the care of the community buildings? 3. To what do you attribute the lack of interest in rural school property which is so in evidence almost everywhere? 4. Do you believe that your children are physically comfortable during the six hours they spend in the schoolroom, considering things as they now exist? 5. Is your community progressive enough to desire the very best for their children, if the whole matter should be talked over in a fair and frank way? CHAPTER VIII FURNITURE AND APPARATUS The school should represent a homehke atmosphere, or it should come as near to this as is possible when the neces- sity for organization is considered. Perhaps it might be more definite to say that it should represent as many of the homelike comforts as possible, so that the atmosphere of the one will not be entirely foreign to the other. In order to do this it may be necessary to add to school furnishings and to change somewhat the accustomed plan. It is a httle diffi- cult to break away from well-established customs, but the progressive district will always readily respond to new things when the same can be shown to be advantageous. In the old-time school little furniture was provided. The benches were crude and often without any back rest. Pu- pils large and small sat on seats of equal height, the smaller ones being compelled to dangle their feet because they could not reach the floor. The discomfort of this is not fully real- ized until one tries it as an experiment; but when the serious effect is once known, no school officer or teacher will permit such a condition to exist. The interior of the early school- room presented bare walls. The small blackboard at the front was made by mixing in the paint charcoal and pumice. The shiny surface reflected the cross-light that came into the room from both sides. The stove in the center of the room was a great inconvenience, and caused those near it to suf- fer from heat while those in the farthest corners were handi- capped by being too cold. For some years the school premises continued to repre- sent an improvised place where the children were expected 76 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS to meet for learning. The compelling force was anything but interest or personal pride. The common expression was, "sending the children to school." It was not expected that the child's own personal desires should "induce him to go," nor that he should find in the plan of organization personal attraction or comfort. As the school has developed through the years these very things have been counted of first im- portance. It is intended now that school shall be main- tained in a manner to attract the interest of the children; to cause a desire "to go" to school without "being sent"; to provide a "school home" atmosphere in order that the tran- sition from one to the other will not be too great. Good liv- ing conditions are necessary because the child spends a large portion of his time in his foster home, the school. He no longer goes there to learn to read and write and cipher, but goes to be taught in terms of life's needs. School furnishings are herewith included under two heads : First, that which is essential to comfort and necessary to good work; second, that which is desirable and advanta- geous to school activities. At the top of the first list we may place good window blinds. The best material for durability is duck or canvas cloth. Light brown or drab colors are preferable. Venetian blinds hung on hinges and fitted with adjustment rods give great satisfaction. These are much more expensive than duck blinds, and because of this cannot be recommended for general use. Some rays of light should pass through even when the curtain is drawn, and duck ma- terial permits the softer rays to enter the room, causing no glare. All window blinds should be adjustable, in order to secure the best lighting effect. On dark days they may be lowered from the top, so that the largest amount of light rays will enter the room. During bright weather, adjust- ment may be made to shut out a certain portion of the light. It should always be remembered that the high light is the FURNITURE AND APPARx\TUS 77 best light, because the rays fall at an angle of forty-five de- grees and can extend into the room only twice as far as the tops of the windows are from the floor line. Refracted or reflected light rays are very harmful to the eyes; therefore special consideration should be given to the lighting propo- sition, and every means necessary to prevent eye injury provided. While it is essential to include blackboards in the general building scheme, they are usually listed under school fur- nishings. Real slate makes the best boards, and the dura- bility of this composition makes it cheapest in the end. The size needed depends upon the enrollment of the school, but it is an advantage to have all of the wall space at the front, and on the side opposite the windows, used for this pur- pose. If patent composition board is used it will be neces- sary to recoat it with hquid slating each year. A width of three and one half to four feet admits of the best adjustment for children of all sizes. It should therefore be placed low dovm on the wall space, so as to meet the need of the primary children as well as those of the upper grammar grades. Pupils' desks should represent comfort as well as utility. Different sizes should be selected for the mixed school, but it is an advantage to have some adjustable seats in each room, provided of course that the adjustment is used inteUi- gently. I mention this particularly because adjustable seats are often provided for schoolrooms, but the adjustment re- mains stationary year after year, resulting in no advantage. In some schoolrooms adjustments are so poorly made that bad effects are at once apparent. One side of the desk may be lower than the other, or the height of the seat and the top of the desk may be out of proportion. The seat portion ought to be lowered so that the child may place his feet prop- erly on the floor, and the desk should then be adjusted to give the right height for general use. The spacing on the 78 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS floor should be arranged to give the best bodily comfort. The child should not be compelled to strain his back muscles leaning forward in using the desk, thus forcing the organs of his body out of their natural position. The best patent seat becomes ve^ rigid when fastened to the floor and can- not be expected to give real bodily comfort. Because of this it is a great advantage to provide some easy armchairs and rocking-chairs for each room. These may be used alter- nately by the children during study periods, and will pro- vide a means of change and rest. They may be placed in the room so that their use will cause no disorder, yet add much to the wholesome comfort of the school. There should be a roomy desk and an easy swivel-chair provided for the teacher. The chair may not be used much in school time, but it will provide ease and comfort for the teacher during intermission periods. The desk should be large, so that everyday material may be stored away in an orderly manner and brought out for use when needed. A bookcase of sufficient size is necessary to the proper care of the school librar^^ It should have closed compartments fitted with doors adjusted for easy access. A large wall clock is an aid in regulating the daily duties, and prevents many unnecessary questions. Two essential things found in all modern well-equipped buildings are a furnace and a bubble fountain. If there be no furnace, each room should be provided with a modern heating and ventilating plant. There are a number of pat- ent systems that have given satisfaction when properly in- stalled. The main point at issue will be to select a tested plant and then see that it is so arranged and installed that it will insure good service. A fountain or some other sani- tary means of providing drinking water is necessary to the health of the children. They ought to be given every en- couragement to drink often and abundantly. Water used FURNITURE AND APPARATUS 79 should be tested occasionally; this can best be done by send- ing a sample to the State Chemist or the State Agricul- tural College for analysis. Various articles may be mentioned as "desirable furni- ture." An organ or piano may be considered first because this encourages music in the school. The piano is now really more appropriate than the organ because it is so commonly found in the home. There are always some children among the group who have musical talent, and an instrument of this kind can be made very practical. It can be used to advantage for evening entertainments and for district gath- erings. In this way it renders a large service to the en- tire community. The victrola is extensively used for music appreciation, and with well-selected records it may be made an educational asset as well as a means for wholesome en- tertainment. Well-selected pictures hung properly in the schoolroom add to its attractiveness and provide a nucleus for art study. Special consideration is given to this in another chapter. It is not unusual for a child to become ill in school. The very young child often becomes drowsy during the long afternoon because of habits formed at home. Under such circumstances a couch is very usable. A well-selected leather t^q^e is best suited to the schoolroom. It ought to be provided with a pillow and a blanket, and be placed in the room in such a way as to add a homelike atmosphere. Scrim curtains at the windows will serve to subdue the light, and at the same time add to the attractiveness within. Nothing is more cheery than the open fireplace, and in com- munities where v\^ood is plentiful, or where natural gas is abundant, it really becomes an inexpensive luxury. It is an advantage in ventilating the room, and contributes generally to the betterment of health by removing the carbon dioxide from the floor line. A reading-table placed before the open 80 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS fireplace, to be used by pupils during leisure moments, pro- -sddes another item of home atmosphere. Many schools now provide complete furnishings for a kitchenette to be used for preparing a hot lunch for the noon meal. When the school has a domestic science department this is unnecessary, because one department can serve for both. Such an equipment is an advantage during com- munity social gatherings when an evening lunch is served. Its special value is pointed out in the chapter dealing with this problem. Other furnishings may be found desirable which have not been hsted, but the object sought has been to suggest some material which will help to make a "school home" of the kind desired by some of our most progressive districts. In the new order of things it may be made an essential part of our educational plan, and the new school- room may take on the appearance of a well-arranged hving- room adapted to a larger group of children. School apparatus may be listed under the same two head- ings; namely, the essential and the desirable. The first group should be selected with the greatest care because its use will increase classroom efficiency. A good supply of black- board erasers with a good device for keeping them clean will prove most helpful. Free textbooks are commonly provided by the district, and when properly handled in the school are both economical and advantageous. Every means should be used to keep them clean and in good condition. Book-covers and book-markers will be an aid in this. A sys- tematic accounting should be kept of all adopted texts, and the teacher should be made custodian when the school is in session. Good maps make history and geography more real, and every schoolroom should be provided with a full cabinet set, which has been approved for accuracy. A good quality of material should be selected, for constant use in the school- room necessitates considerable wear and tear. Mounting FURNITURE AND APPARATUS 81 the rolls in a cabinet keeps them free from dust and pre- serves the coloring. A globe shows all geographical loca- tions- more accurately and more scientifically than maps, and may also be used to illustrate the earth's movements. The most expensive types are not necessary, but clear type and good coloring are essential to good results. A small call bell will be needed, provided the building is not equipped with the larger type. Window sticks, blackboard pointers, and the like can be made in the manual training shop, and thus serve as an incentive to make the shop-work problems include all schoolroom necessities. In the "desirable list" we must include a well-equipped home-economics kitchen, and a manual training shop with adequate tools for good service. The cook-stove will be the most expensive part of the home-economics equipment. Utensils needed should be chosen after consulting the teacher or other well-informed authority. State educational departments will always give assistance by recommending materials which are standard and necessary. The amount of equipment will depend upon the size of the classes. A standard sewing-machine can be used to advantage, and with this a good cabinet and a cutting-table are necessary. The entire cost of equipping such a department for both sewing and cookery need not be very large, and equipment will prove very helpful in carrying into effect the new plan of redirected education. In the workshop for boys, the tools should be of good quality and well sorted. The quantity, however, need not be large for the average rural school. Tool-cases should be built so that every tool can be kept ii place when not in use. It is necessary to have an adequate number of work benches and a simple tool-grinder. In se- lecting the equipment, guidance may be had from the teacher or from one of the state institutions where such a department is maintained. 82 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS Some simple apparatus for making tests in agriculture may be procured at small cost, and will serve to make this subject more interesting. All experiments may be per- formed in the manual training room, where a small cabinet may be placed for preserving materials and for keeping the apparatus in order. A small amount of scientific apparatus will be needed for the purpose of testing sojne of the laws of physics and for making some discoveries in biology. Since the world in which we live is a great scientific laboratory, some means, even in the elementary school, should be pro- vided for the study of science. Playground apparatus may be made to serve a good pur- pose if placed advantageously on the school grounds and its use supervised by the teacher. Swings, teeter-boards, and curved slides are best adapted to the smaller children. The larger ones enjoy the giant stride, the merry-go-round, and jumping standards. All of this material is easily made and is inexpensive. As an illustration, the giant stride may be made by placing a large-sized wagon wheel upon a pole which has been firmly set in the ground and extends ten feet in the air. Four chains should be fastened to the wheel, at equal distances, and allowed to hang down to within five feet of the ground. A looped cotton rope provided at the end with a snap completes the apparatus. The loop end should extend down to within two feet of the ground. When not assigned for use this rope attachment should be un- snapped and kept in the care of the teacher. A merry-go- round represents an even more simple construction. Two pieces of two by four dimension material may be spiked to- gether, in the form of a cross, and placed on top of a post thirty inches tall which has been firmly set in the ground. An inch iron pin at the top of the post should extend through a hole made in the center of the cross sweeps. Durability and strength will be added by placing a metal plate above FURNITURE AND APPARATUS 83 and below the sweeps for the iron pin to pass through. Other devices mentioned are of simple construction and may be made by any schoolboy who has a mechanical turn of mind. Patterns and directions for making of playground apparatus may be had from most state institutions. The pupils of the school may be organized into groups and al- lowed to choose their own censors and direct their own games. In so far as they are able to do this satisfactorily they de- velop independence, individuality, and leadership, — all of which are very important characteristics. Some one has said that "cleanliness is next to godliness," and this applies to good housekeeping in the schoolroom the same as in the home. To do this well it is necessary to have good cleaning material and disinfectants. Some States reg- ulate this through the State Board of Health, but when no such provision is made the School Board should see to it that proper attention is given to the matter. There are a num- ber of materials used to prevent dust, but each one requires care and judgment in its use. A bristle brush with long flexible bristles makes a better sweeper than the ordinary broom. It is best adapted for working under and about the desks, and makes a very practical tool. A disinfectant should be used at least twice during the year at times when the school has been adjourned for vacation. Materials used should have the approval of the county health officer, or other reliable authority. During a time when contagious diseases are prevalent, the disinfectant should be used fre- quently. If there is no local health officer, the county phy- sician will alw^ays give directions as to how to use preven- tives and how best to preserve good health conditions. Soap and water are always necessary after play, and so some adequate arrangement should be made for cleansing the hands and face. If a pressure water-system has been in- stalled it is easy to provide lavatory equipment. If this has 84 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS not been done, some other means for washing will be neces- sary. The overflow water saved from the drinking tank may well be utilized for this purpose. A metal-lined trough equipped with drainage will serve as a good place in which to set wash basins. If there is a well on the school premises a similar outside arrangement may be made for use during pleasant weather. As a last word School Boards are urged to purchase all of their material from local reliable firms, and to look askance upon the ordinary agent who simply has something to sell. Standard lists of school supplies are often approved by the County Superintendent of Schools, and may be had for the asking. It is always well to seek the advice and the counsel of this office when materials are needed, for by so doing many mistakes may be avoided. Feel free also to call upon your State School Superintendent also for assistance and advice, for every public school in the State is under the gen- eral supervision of that office and is therefore entitled to request its help whenever needed. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. What permanent loss can come to your children because of poor equipment in the schoolroom? 2. What do you consider essential to form good working equipment, and to provide a wholesome environment? 3. How can a community be made so attractive to young people that they are entirely satisfied with their social surroundings? 4. Do you consider community pride advantageous in creating commu- nity leadership? 5. Does your school have a reputation which is definitely known and recognized outside of your own district? CHAPTER IX SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS The present age has developed more of a general aesthetic taste than has been developed throughout past time. We may not have produced as many great artists, but a keen sense of appreciation is found among all our people. Art in our schools, art in our homes, and the beautiful and the lovely everywhere in nature have made silent impressions upon the individual lives of our citizens, with the result that they are now applying great artistic truths in all the works of their own creation. Never has the world known such opportunities for the study of art and for the appreciation of the really artistic as are presented to us just now. Our buildings everywhere are coming to be designed by skilled architects, and the structures become real works of art. The plans represent carefully worked-out proportions, hav- ing a complete symmetrical arrangement. The interiors are well planned, representing harmony in the proper pro- portions throughout. Furniture is chosen not only with reference to ease and comfort, but also with such good taste that the whole setting presents a harmonious effect. These things were first noticed in the cities, but we now find many rural communities as much given to aesthetic enjoyment as the urban populations. The new type of the rural school home is very striking, and, when representing an artistic atmosphere, it stands as a real demonstration of neighbor- hood ideals. All of this has gradually come out of the repeated obser- vation that the normal child is able to reach a broader, higher development and to become a better and happier individual 86 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS amid beautiful home surroundings. It follows that children who have the opportunity to come into such an environ- ment during the greater part of the day will develop that natural poise, careful judgment, and self-confidence that are necessary to their educational advancement, and become fitted as men and women proper to represent a strong nation and a great people. The school, as well as the home, must recognize this as a great necessity, and so make these in- dividual truths a living reality through school and home decoration. It has been said that small village and country places have not made rapid progress in this particular direction because such progress entails an expenditure not always available. But this can no longer be urged as a handicap, for much has been done and is being done with just the available materials at hand, when directed by one interested in artistic devel- opment. In the school there is one great need, — the en- thusiastic influence of the teacher to bring out the spon- taneous interest and assistance of the children. The law of order is universal and impelling. This is the first step into the realm of beauty and harmony. Every good teacher in- sists upon neatness and order in the arrangement of school materials, and thus early begins development of a perma- nent aesthetic taste. If it becomes necessary to begin the work without funds, the teacher must open her eyes and take an inventory of the possibilities. She has all nature to draw from, and what a splendid opportunity is presented through it to teach the child simple effective decorations in color, representing suita- ble harmony and arrangement ! It is quite important in the beginning to teach the difference between decorations for special occasions, and those that may remain in the school- room permanently. Decorations in profusion arouse the emotions, and cause a greater or less excitement in the minds SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS 87 of the children. To continue this excitement, though pleas- ant at first, will ultimately lead to distraction and confusion, and has at last a tendency to pall on the mind. Because of this, such a plan must be used only for special occasions. Our everyday decorative plan should therefore be much more simple than that used for special-day occasions, and the room should present a cheery, happy appearance, having an atmosphere of quietude and a soothing effect upon the children. One large bunch of autumn foliage sprays, cut different lengths, arranged loosely so that they fall into natural posi- tions and set against a plain backgroimd, so that the light from the side may play over it and bring out the warm glow of color and gradation of tint, makes infinitely better im- pressions than bunches scattered here and there throughout the room. The former setting admits of a change in plan and arrangement that will bring new delight and pleasure to those in the room, and hence may be recommended as entirely fitting. Plants placed between the children and the light appear only in silhouette, and hence fail to awaken the proper artistic appreciation. It is well, therefore, to study the background and its effect upon the decoration, to the same degree that you study the materials to be used in your foreground. A screen makes a very good background, and is often used in our large rooms to assist in the general effect. A waste-paper basket makes a very good holder in which foliage will keep for a month or two; and it may be noticed that the colors will seem gradually to blend into the harmony of the room. It should be remembered that the greatest beauty can be brought out only through proper arrange- ment. In all schoolroom decorations the teacher and the pupil should work together. They should select and reject their materials until their color scheme and harmony are perfect, 88 HANDBOOK FOE RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS and should study the setting until the best decorative im- pressions are produced. Children are easily interested, and the work becomes realistic to them when they have a part in the plan of arrangement. This affords a means of de- velopment which is not found in the same degree in any other school motive. The influence is greater because the children have acquired their knowledge by working out the plan and the interest is correspondingly keener because of the part which they have had in it. Blackboard decoration should be Hmited. These boards are provided primarily for use during daily lessons and are very necessary to the promotion of good work. They should, however, be kept properly, and all materials placed thereon which are to be left for any time should represent care and neatness. Monthly calendars may be made by using toned wrapping paper, or building paper, with the assistance of colored crayons, and are really more artistic and more effec- tive than those drawn upon the blackboard. Other neces- sary helps may be made in a similar way, all of which should represent a simple yet artistic design. Much of the crepe paper is too gaudy and too distracting in color and composi- tion for the proper artistic effect in a good schoolroom. If a border is to be used it should represent subdued colors with proper tone effect. Borders of any kind arranged above the blackboards interfere with pictures hung on the wall. Both should not be used, because it is improper to hang pictures over a border, and to place them above it makes them entirely too high for proper effect. Posters, programs, notices, and like materials may be made by the children, and, whenever worthy, should be placed upon the wall space or in the comer of the room in such a manner as to give a wholesome effect. A well-planned, correctly lettered program should be provided for every schoolroom, and should be placed in such a manner as not to SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS 89 interfere in any way with the pictures or with the real deco- rations of the room. It may be placed at the rear of the room, because it is not meant for special decorative j^urposes, and ought not to divert the minds of the children during their regular study hours. All work honored in this way should represent the very best efforts of the children, thereby making it creditable to the school as well. All of this work should be trimmed before it is mounted, and should be ar- ranged to make a pleasing exhibit. If the schoolroom is large enough, a library and small reading-room may be set apart in one corner. A good book- case should be provided, and the children should be en- couraged to make the necessary book-ends and blotter pads. The necessary space may be set off by curtains of neat design, which have been stenciled by the pupils under the direction of the teacher. This will give a splendid opportu- nity to teach border, neatness, proportion, color, harmony, and good taste. A home-made rug will add very much to the attractiveness of the setting, and the children will find it all a very pleasing enjoyment and a means of educational advancement. If a district is able to provide some funds for decorative purposes, good pictures, artistic vases, and well-chosen pottery should be provided. It is very much better to choose one good picture, well framed, than to choose a num- ber of the poorer type. We must keep in mind the fact that the children must enjoy the picture through the story it represents, rather than through the picture itself. Pictures, then, should be chosen which are not too difficult to under- stand, and which represent an intimate sympathy with child-life rather than those which represent w^ell-known paintings. We can now secure reproductions of almost all the masterpieces in art at very reasonable prices. And be- cause of this, the greatest care should be exercised in clioos- 90 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS ing a picture which will appeal to the children. Whenever any picture is chosen for the schoolroom, the teacher should at once procure the brief story of its life setting, and should familiarize the children with this so that they may under- stand the motive of the great artist who produced it. Large pictures are very much better for wall decorations than small ones, because the lines are very much more distinct and may be easily recognized at a distance. There are many pictures which are equally good for school- room decoration, but it is well, before choosing, to become familiar with the subject, through some such authority as Mrs. L. L. Wilson's Stories on Masterpieces in Arty before making a final selection. Schreyer is an artist that children easily understand in subject-matter, and his works are splendid in composition, with excellent settings arranged in light and dark colors. Lerolle's Shepherd Scenes are excellent, and the children love the stories connected with them. Schreyer 's Arab Scouts represents a typical Arabian scene. The cavalcade, in gay Arabian dress, the splendid action of the horses, appeal to the imagination of the child and stir his appreciation for picturesqueness, for splendidness, and for the adventurous and spectacular. The Arabian chief on his horse is the center of interest, both as to the subject-matter and to composition. The splendid spirited animal, with his light, high step, and his beautiful, shining, dappled coat, stands out in bold relief against a dark background. The other figures add to the energy and action of the whole com- position, though they are less prominent in tone as they appear only in the distance. The robed Arab at the left bal- ances the mass of light made by the great horse of the chief. Notice the horizontal division of space — about one third sky and two thirds ground — which adds material interest to the composition by allowing more light, thereby giving more character to the scenery which appears in the back- SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS 91 ground. Add to this little picture study the motives which caused the artists to give expression in this form, and Vv'e have in our picture real personality expressed in art. Tlie picture given may not be one most desirable for the school, but the plan is offered simply as a type-study to be considered in connection with any picture chosen. Before any picture is placed the wall space should be studied with reference to size and proper lighting effect, then suit the picture to the wall space in such a way that it will not look overcrowded nor lost in the vastness of its surround- ings. Whenever possible, pictures should be hung at about the eye level, because this gives to us the proper vision. If they are placed above the blackboard, the bottom should be at least four inches above the moulding and they should be tilted sufficiently to be viewed at right angles from the cen- ter of the room. Suspend all pictures from the moulding by means of two hooks, using a wire on each side, thus avoiding improper alignment. If the teacher is uncertain about the setting she should try it out from different angles, placing the picture in differ- ent parts of the room to gain the necessary information. Both teacher and pupils will gain much information from studying pictures on the walls of different art galleries or in art windows of the city, and such a plan ought to be en- couraged as a means of knowing at first hand the symmetry and the harmony which are found in art. Do not spoil a good picture by poor framing. The width of the frame, the color and design, should all harmonize with the work of art. Generally speaking, no mat, but greater width of frame is to be desired. Prints in sepia as well as the ordinary carbons should be framed in the plainer woods, while colored prints adapt themselves better to a gilt-finished frame with a decorated moulding. These prints, however, represent a harmonious design when they are framed with 92 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS mouldings having a color tone harmonizing with the tones in the picture or repeating them. It is always well to have framing done by an artist who understands this work in all of its phases. Since the earliest time vases have been used for decorative purposes, and when well chosen and artistically placed they still hold an interesting place in this particular field. In this creative work man has always put into constructive form the ideals of his mind, and the beauty in it lies in its symmetry, its harmony in coloring, and in its shape. It may be said that this particular kind of art appeals less to chil- dren than that of picture study and design. The same may be said of pottery, though it is used in a plainer way to represent the creative genius. It would be well perhaps to provide only a small amount of each for the Ordinary school- room, but both can be used to an advantage in many prac- tical ways, and ought to have a place because of this special quality. What has been said of beautifying the schoolroom applies also to the beautifying of the homes of the neighborhood; greater artistic taste tends also to establish a more aesthetic ideal, and altogether has a wonderful influence over the eth- ical nature. The beautiful and the good go hand in hand, though specific cases have been cited to the contrary. It is admitted without question that there are exceptions to all rules, but time has given us ample proof that goodness and greatness in man are linked closely with the beautiful por- trayed in his life. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. What are some of the best means of making the child love his home, love his school, love his country? 2. Can we teach about the good and the beautiful to an advantage xmless our surroundings portray these characteristics? SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS 93 S. France lays great stress in its public schools on color and design — What effect has this had on the textile fabrics produced by that country? 4. Is it possible that color effects in the home and in the school may have some effect upon the dispositions of those who see them daily? 5. Why does a beaut if id landscape painting appear more attractive to the average individual than the real landscape itself as it is endowed by nature's coloring? CHAPTER X SELECTING THE TEACHER The most important element necessary to school success is the teacher. She represents the human dynamo that con- verts the energy of the school into a working power. Her personality becomes the pervading element which silently shapes the plastic minds of those who look to her each day for direction. Truly has it been said, "As the teacher is, so is the school." As she thinks, as she acts, as she works — so will the school follow in her footsteps. Especially is this true in the elementary school, because children are more susceptible to influences and stronger in their power of imi- tation than are older people. The teacher's work in the schoolroom not only directs the lives of the children, but it becomes a strong factor in shap- ing the destiny of the Nation, because as the children think, act, and feel, so also must these things react in the men and women a little older grown. The importance of this period, then, cannot be overestimated. The school as a destiny- making machine-shop must not be underrated, and the teacher as a pattern-maker becomes the master mechanic. No business firm would choose a novice to direct its techni- cal work and become responsible for a high-grade product. The same applies to the school with greater significance, be- cause human lives represent the product being shaped and fashioned by this educational factory. It has been urged, and rightly, that education is never-ending; that it draws from every conceivable source which affects life directly or indirectly; but, after all, the manner in which these things affect the individual depends upon his attitude of mind. SELECTING THE TEACHER 95 which attitude is fashioned during his early years. If credit is to be given to the school for its part in shaping our civilization, it must be held responsible for a high grade of workmanship. To do this the trained teacher becomes a necessity. There is an old adage that "teachers are born and not made"; but modern investigation has established the fact that without the process of making, the teacher must re- main in the unskilled class. She may be bom with adap- tation for such work, but with no quickening process her adaptable characteristics may remain latent potentialities which have not been converted into usable power. We can- not deny the fact that a small number have attained success without having had the advantages of a professional school. Such prove the exception rather than the rule, and, had the advantage of special training been given them, a greater measure of success would surely have resulted. But should this ancient belief be true, the number of public-school teach- ers now required make it an unsafe practice to follow. Five hundred thousand are required to direct the work in the elementary schools, and this number is being materially increased each year. Such a body of skilled workers can be had only by providing a proper means for technical prepa- ration. This was clearly conceived a number of years ago when the Normal School was organized as a special educational agency for training teachers in the art of schoolroom management by using the practice school to establish well-defined prin- ciples of teaching. The worth of these institutions is best evidenced by the fact that they have been multiplied in number by most of the States, and that they have been given larger and larger support each year. Moreover, although the number of teachers prepared in these schools has increased many fold, the demand continues to be greater 96 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS than the supply. The importance of this work has been so fully established that some four hundred colleges and uni- versities have organized departments of education to supple- ment the work done by the normal schools and by teachers' colleges. Speaking recently before a large audience, Commissioner P. P. Claxton, of the National Bureau of Education, made the following statement : The work of the Normal School for professionally trained teach- ers is so important, so valuable, so necessary, that we should estab- lish a sufficient number of State Normal Schools to provide every rural school with a professionally trained teacher, even if we have to take the necessary money to do this from the state common school fund. In the end this would give a better policy of business economy than our present short-sighted policy, which is expensive and which sorely neglects our rural school in the matter of properly trained teachers. This is evident by the fact that there are over one hundred and fifty thousand juvenile teachers teaching in the rural schools of our country at this time, with less than high school education and with no professional trainiag. In commending our rural school improvement, Dr. J. L. McBrien, of the National Bureau of Education, said: The only way to have good rural schools is to have better rural teachers. The only way to have better teachers is to require all who aspire to teach to make due preparation. Colonel Parker, who has been recognized as a great "teacher of teachers," expressed his feelings in the matter as follows: "What priceless legacy can we leave to the millions yet to be than to make it possible for our spiritual descendants to be so educated and so trained that they will, under God, effectually work out the destiny of this mighty continent, and through it the destiny of all humanity. Because of the new demands made upon the school, sev- eral of the States have recently taken advanced steps by passing laws requiring all teachers to have some professional SELECTING THE TEACHER 97 training. Usually provisions are made to increase the re- quirement gradually, so that in time a high standard of effi- ciency will be reached. Very few normal schools have reached the limit of their capacity, and many more teachers could be handled each year by the institutions already estab- lished. The great need, therefore, is a general recognition of the important position which the school holds, made man- ifest through a demand by the people that only specially qualified and highly skilled teachers be given charge of this important work. School directors have a right to look to the normal schools of their State to train teachers in a manner to satisfy all rea- sonable expectations. They have a right to depend upon these institutions to furnish an honest estimate of the ability and the personal characteristics of the teacher who makes application for a position. They have a right to expect a reasonable measure of success from this specially prepared teacher, provided of course that she is given the support of the Board and the cooperation of the patrons of the district. There are certain personal qualities which the teacher ought to possess, among which should be mentioned a per- fect and healthy body, a pleasing voice, and a happy dis- position. She should be painstaking and orderly in her habits; honest and truthful, patient and tactful. Her char- acter must be above reproach. She must possess a love for children. The teacher becomes a strong personal factor in the child's education, and the lessons are individualized through her influence. If she is strong and forceful in character, the lessons will take on the spirit of her individ- uality. If she is courteous in manner, the school is sure to take on an atmosphere of courtesy. These qualities in the teacher beget interest in the hardest task, and add a charm to the facts on the printed page. They create greater desire for knowledge and inspire the pupils to greater effort. 98 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS The man of Galilee was addressed by the secretary of the Jewish Sanhedrin as the "Great Teacher." The "Book" emphasized His work as a Teacher, rather than as a Preacher. We find many references such as the following: "And He taught the multitude"; "He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath Day and taught the people"; "And He taught his disciples, saying, — " Through His work we have exemplified the gi-eat desire to administer to others; we discern the per- sistent effort which He exercised in presenting His lessons of truth, and we feel the joy of the unrequited love which He bore for all mankind. His teachings suggested pedagogical principles which are worthy of emulation by the teacher of to-day. The work which He wrought as a teacher two thou- sand years ago stands as an everlasting monument to the training of mind and heart, for every individual of the pres- ent time has been directly or indirectly influenced by the lessons He taught. His work is not offered by way of com- parison, but rather as a means of inspiration for the im- provement of this work which we have in charge. There is, however, a relationship between the two, because the achieve- ment in each instance involves a larger and a more complete life. If the teacher possesses vision, she will bring to the en- tire school a greater appreciation of their own community. She will instill in the minds of her pupils a high regard for those who have made wise provisions for school advantages. She will imbue them with a greater love for their country, and give them a better understanding and a greater appre- ciation of government. She will impress them with a high regard for good and noble citizenship. She will point out to them the value of friendship, and the joy that may come through human association. These things may be made in- cidental to regular assigned lessons, but they can never be accidental when the good teacher is in charge. SELECTING THE TE.VCHER 99 The dress and taste of the teacher has not been mentioned, but it cannot be altogether overlooked. Neatness and cleanliness adds to personality as well as to attractiveness. The teacher's taste should be wholesome and should never represent the extreme. She should keep in the foreground the old adage, "Example is greater than precept." Her social customs ought to be worthy of imitation. A goodly address, an obliging manner, and a courteous attitude, all add to her charm at school as well as at a social gathering. Words of advice given by such a teacher will be strikingly more forceful than those of one who simply says, "Don't do as I do, but do as I tell you to do." No child should ever be compelled to say of his teacher under his breath, "How can I hear what you say, when what you are is ringing in my ears?" Every experienced School Board member knows how nec- essary it is to investigate thoroughly the merit of a teacher before giving her employment. She should never be selected for personal qualities alone, nor should she be chosen be- cause of the legal papers she holds. The School Board must see to it that she possesses both the qualities and the quali- fications most to be desired. But little dependence can be placed on letters of recommendation which an applicant carries around. Often the teacher with the largest number of letters is the one not to be employed. Certainly a candi- date carrying such letters as the following ought not to be given serious consideration: Walkerville School District Hudson County To 2vhom it may concern: This is to say that the bearer, Mary Alpaugh, taught in our district last year for a term of six months. She possesses a good education, has taught in a number of places, is a young woman of high Clu^istian character, has an attractive personal manner, and 100 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS tries hard to please. The trustees of this district wish her success in any work she may in the future undertake. For the Board, John Boardman, Clerk. A teacher carrying such a recommendation might have been dismissed for incompetency as a teacher, and every- thing said in the letter still be true. The letter tells nothing that a school board wants to know. A safe plan to follow is to consult with the County Superintendent, and to secure personal letters, written directly to the Board, from those who know of the applicant's training and success and are qualified to judge of her worth and who are willing to give an honest judgment of the applicant's adaptation and abil- ity. When in need of a teacher it is an advantage to write to the President or Appointment Secretary of one of the state normal schools, and ask them to recommend instruc- tors who possess such qualifications as are needed in any given school. All such schools make it their business to answer such requests. It is the duty of every School Board to employ every available means to secure a desirable teacher before applying *to a teachers' agency for candi- dates. The skilled teacher should never be compelled to seek employment through a bureau of this kind, because it does not afford the best means of furnishing first-hand in- formation to those charged with the selecting of a teacher. When there is a complete standardization of teachers and a better organization for the administration of our educational plan, relying upon teachers* agencies will be unnecessary. But till then it may have to be resorted to when an emer- gency arises. On receiving visits from teachers desiring a position School Board members should be careful not to make individual promises. No member should promise a teacher to vote for her. The place to decide such matters is in School Board i SELECTING THE TEACHER 101 meeting, and after all of the evidence has been examined and the different applicants discussed and their papers and credentials compared. All of the individual qualities which have been mentioned as desirable in teachers are not likely to be found in one single individual; it will therefore be necessary to exercise good judgment in determining just how fully the standard may be reached. In this connection, too, school officers must recognize the necessity of paying a larger salary to the highly skilled teacher. The education of such a teacher has been more costly than that of those less highly trained, and a longer time has been spent in securing it; consequently, in fairness to her, these things must be taken into account. Everywhere in the industrial field this principle is recog- nized, and the wage scale of the skilled mechanic is increased proportionally to his ability. This has not been practiced in our schools, largely because school officers have not been able to measure in advance the worth of the teacher they employ. This they must be able to do in the future, else some other official means will be employed by the public to insure less frequent mistakes. The salary paid must govern school officers in the quality of service which they have a right to expect; on the other hand, the teacher's ability to serve must govern her in the compensation which she has a right to demand. A fixed salary basis, therefore, does not allow the necessary flexibility, and cannot be followed to advantage, because the amount paid to a good teacher sets the standard for the one who is employed later, but who is less efficient, and vice versa. ^Vhen a teacher has been selected by the school, every effort should be made to produce conditions in the district which will increase her chances for succeeding. If no "teach- erage" exists she should be provided with the best possi- ble boarding place, given a good quiet room with means for 102 HANDBOOK FOR BimAL SCHOOL OFFICERS heating it, and she should receive the strongest cooperation in her plan of work. Without this, success is minimized; with it, a large measure of success is assured. It should be remembered that no individual ever succeeds alone; and this is doubly true of the teacher who is called upon to sat- isfy all families of the neighborhood whose children she teaches each day. Every commendation of the home results in better work in the school. Every appreciation of ap- proval makes easier the daily tasks. Every agency within the district can become a positive force for increasing the school efficiency; and the value of all this turns back to those who have helped to create it. The responsibilities, then, of school officers and of patrons do not cease when the teacher has been employed; but, if the choice has been a wise one, it w^ill be easier to ally the influence of the neighborhood in helping to make the school the pride of the community. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. What are the special points of advantage which may be gained from a personal interview with a teacher who is an applicant for your school? 2. In investigating a teacher for her real worth and adaptation, do you believe ordinary recommendations reliable? — Would you get more reliable information by asking for personal letters from those who are qualified to judge of the teacher's work at first hand? 3. What special characteristics in teachers are most important when school trustees are weighing the worth of candidates to be selected? — Would it not be well for trustees to make a list of a number of qualities which they would expect in a teacher suited to direct a school properly? 4. What plan has your community for working with the school in the interest of better school advantages for your children? 5. To what extent will it add to a teacher's value if she has a good board- ing place, with pleasant surroundings? 6. Should teachers be paid according to their personal worth and the service they are able to render to the community, or should they be paid in accordance with a set salary schedule? — How can this be made to apply to teachers who have already served the comm unity well for a school year? How to new teachers? CHAPTER XI SPECIAL OFFICIAL DUTIES The School Trustees usually accept the work of this office as a matter of duty. They do it because they are interested in education, and are willing to do their part in advancing the community welfare. To serve well involves an en- croachment upon their time which may involve a considera- ble personal loss. In order to obviate this to the largest possible degree it is necessary to have the very best organ- ization and the best plan for dispatching business, use the minimum amount of time, and yet secure the maximum amount of efficiency. Strictly business principles should therefore be the guiding influences in all official acts, and a working basis should be agreed upon as a guide for each member. In order to be certain that no lawful requirements be overlooked, it is well to work out a school calendar based upon the official board duties set forth in the School Code. It should take every item in turn as it is specified, and with the calendar date in regular order. To illustrate this the following suggestion is made : YEARLY SCHOOL CALENDAR 1919 July 1. Opening of School Year. July 10. Regular Quarterly Meeting of the Board. July 15. Clerk's Report to County Superintendent. July 17. Letting contract for improvement of school premises. Bids open. July 20. Contract for yearly supply of fuel. Bids open. Aug. 1. Approved budget presented to County Auditor. Aug. 20. Transport ai ion contracts for the year. Bids open. Contract for janitor service. Bids open. Sept. 13. Inspection of school premises for opening of school. 104 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 1919 Sept. 15. Opening of school. Sept. 26. Visiting Day for first month. Oct. 10. Monthly Meeting for dramng teacher*s warrant, paying monthly bills and janitor service. Oct. 31. Visiting Day for second month. Nov. 7. Monthly Meeting for drawing teacher's warrant, paying monthly bills and janitor service. Nov. 27. Thanksgiving Holiday, Dec. 5. Monthly Meeting for drawing teacher's salary, paying monthly bills and janitor service. Dec. 24. Holiday Vacation begins Wednesday evening. 1920. Jan. 5. Holiday Session closes Monday morning. Jan. 16. Monthly Meeting for paying teacher's salary, monthly bills, and janitor service. Feb. 7. Comity Trustees Meeting called by County Superintendent. Feb. 12. Special School Program — Lincoln's Birthday. Feb. 13. Special Visiting Day. Feb. 13. Monthly Meeting for paying teacher's salary, monthly bills, and janitor service. Feb. 14. Valentine Program, 8.00 p.m. Feb. 22. Patriotic Program, Washington's Birthday. Feb. 24. Posting School Election Notices. March 6. School Election. March 12. Monthly Meeting, drawing teacher's warrant, paying monthly bills, and janitor service. March 26. Easter Program, Friday afternoon. April 3. Special Meeting for making of Annual School Budget. April 9. Regular Monthly Meeting for drawing teacher's warrant, paying monthly bills, janitor service. May 1. Taking School Census. May 7. Monthly Meeting for drawing teacher's warrant, paying monthly bills, janitor service. May 15. Special meeting for approval of Clerk's School Census Report. Saturday evening. May 28. School Closing Exercise — Friday morning 10.00 a.m. Community Day Dinner at Schoolhouse — Noon. Public Meeting for drawing teacher's warrant, paying all unpaid bills, janitor service. — 1.00 o'clock. Picnic — 2.00 o'clock. Inspection of building and premises — 4.00 o'clock. June 1. Report of special tax to County Superintendent and County Auditor. June 30. Close of School Year. SPECIAL OFFICIAL DUTIES 105 The above calendar can be varied to suit the requirements of any State, any county, or any school district. Of course, the definite lawful dates would not change from year to year, but the calendar could be made flexible in arranging for spe- cial programs and for special patriotic duties. Such a cal- endar will be found most valuable in preventing the Board from overlooking any important duties, because each mem- ber may have a copy of it for his own personal use. It is important that reports be made at the proper time and in accordance with the law. Full instructions can always be had from the County Superintendent if it is not clearly specified in the School Code. All bills should be audited and paid promptly. This necessitates the regular monthly meeting of the Board, though this can be done at evening time and quickly disposed of if there is a definite under- standing and a regular plan for the discharge of all business. It is always a good policy in spending public money in any large amount to provide means for use of bids and contracts. In many States this is required by law, but even when this is not required it offers a safeguard to oflBcers and provides greatest assurance for the wise expenditure of public money. This should apply to buildings, improvements, annual sup- ply of fuel, books and apparatus, and any other expenditure of money amounting to fifty dollars or more. At the time when the Board of Trustees complete their regular organization, they should proceed at once to make rules and regulations governing their official acts having to do with the use of the schoolhouse for other purposes than the regular school work. They should provide for a definite plan of admitting children from other school districts, and the general transportation of pupils when this is necessary. They should agree upon a plan for making the necessary legal notices required by law. If there is a plan w^hereby the local district must share with the other districts in main- 106 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS taining a high school, definite plans should be worked out and agreed upon both in finances and in government. All reports required by law should be made out by the Clerk and officially examined and approved by all the Trustees at an authorized meeting. All state, county, and district funds should be kept in regular order, and should be paid out in accordance with law. The books should be audited at regular intervals by the entire Board of Trustees. It is important that the Trustees meet with the teacher at the opening of school, and give her assurance of their co- operation and the unanimous support of the Board of Trus- tees. At this time definite directions should be given to the teacher concerning supplies and material, and how she should proceed in case of need to procure the necessities for additional school materials and service. She should be given charge of the janitor work, and assured that the Board of Trustees approve of cleanliness and the very best sani- tary conditions in the interest of good health. A monthly meeting should be announced to be held at the close of each month for the purpose of auditing promptly all bills and drawing warrants for monthly salaries. It should be remem- bered that the teacher may have made her financial plans with the understanding that her monthly warrant will be drawn regularly, and that it would be very disconcerting as well as disappointing to her if the Board should fail in this. No debt, however small, should be overlooked in the audit- ing of the monthly accounts. It will be found much easier as well as much more satisfactory to be prompt with all pay- ments, and the district that does this will soon gain a repu- tation for its businesslike methods. It is important for every district to keep on a good financial basis, and to be able to pay cash for all of its current expenses. There is a limit of indebtedness provided by the laws of most States, and this must be adliered to in providing for extensive improve- SPECIAL OFFICLVL DUTIES 107 ments which would necessitate bond issue or special current indebtedness. The Constitution of the United States and the Constitu- tion of the several States provide that the right of petition shall not be abridged. This is a means which the people have of expressing their wishes and desires, and is necessary in a democratic form of government. School Trustees should, therefore, be willing to give consideration to any pe- tition, presented to them by the patrons of the district or by the pupils of the school, setting forth their recommenda- tions or requests. All States make special provisions for the care of de- fective youth, and it usually falls upon the school district officers to see to it that the provisions of law are made effec- tive. If there are any unfortunate children of this character in the district it is important that the matter be taken up by the County Superintendent, in order that some provision be made for their proper care and education through the means which the State has provided. The names of such children should appear on the Clerk's annual report, with proper notations and explanations, as provided for in the School Code. There are special forms furnished to the dis- tricts for the making of all reports, and any Clerk can secure a supply by writing to the County Superintendent if these are not found in the regular supply envelopes which are usually sent out at the opening of the school year. The lawful contract should be made and signed in tripli- cate on the day of the opening of the school, if it has not been arranged before, and one copy retained by each of the contracting parties and the third forwarded to the County Superintendent of Schools. It is important that the teacher keep the daily register properly, because upon the accuracy of this depends the amount of school revenue which comes to the district in many States. The Directors must see that 108 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS this is properly kept, and that the teacher makes all reports required by law to the County Superintendent of Schools. These reports must be accurate, and often must be approved by the Board of Trustees before they can be accepted by the county officer. It is important to see that the teacher's certificate is registered in the county, because the same must be valid or the district jeopardizes its revenues. Specimen copies of all the forms used in connection with school work is usually found at the back of the School Code. These are usually numbered in accordance with the number forms on the regular sheet, and can be ordered from the County Superintendent when needed. Many of these forms are used only occasionally, and may not be found in the sup- ply envelope which the County Superintendent usually sends to the Clerk at the opening of the school year. Each Trus- tee should be supplied with a School Code and should be familiar with its requirements. In most States these are furnished without cost to School Trustees, and may be had through the County Superintendent's Office. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. What plan of auditing is best adapted to your district which may serve to protect the school officers and the district's interests? 2. What advantage is there in providing a working basis for the gen- eral government of all official acts? 3. What weakness may be found in the constitutional provision giving the people the right to petition? 4. What personal qualities and characteristics should one have to qual- ify him for the office of School Trustee? 5. How can a school calendar be made to serve as a labor-saving de- vice for school officers? CHAPTER XII THE DAILY PROGRAM The daily program is as essential to a good school as a sched- ule of trains is to a railway system. Each must be carefully organized and run according to the schedule. Many adap- tations to circumstances are necessary, and changes must be made. The daily program is a means to an end. Its pur- pose is to systematize the work of each school day in such a way as to bring about the best results, and enable the teacher and pupils to do the most work with the least expenditure of energy in the time given. It is not a virtue to make a pupil work hard when the same result may be obtained by an easy method. This is an age in which expediency and speed are necessary. Pupils should do their work thoroughly, but as quickly as possible. The shortest solution of an arithmetic problem is the best way. It has been almost a custom for rural teachers to follow the daily program used by their predecessors the year be- fore. This is a questionable method to follow, for two rea- sons : First, the teacher finds that she can run the school by that program and never tries to make a better one. Second, the program may be wholly unsuited to the groups of chil- dren in the school. The personnel of the school may have changed entirely. The removal of a single family, especially if it be one in which there are a large number of children of school age, modifies the needs and conditions of the school. New subjects may be introduced, such as agriculture, do- mestic science, domestic art, and manual training. An evaluation and comparison of the different subjects in the course of study will result in giving less time to some than 110 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS was formerly given, and more time to others whose impor- tance is newly recognized. It does not require so much time to teach arithmetic since it is no longer practical to teach partial payments, and, of several methods of computing interest, the shortest approved method is sufficient. A successful daily program can be made out only by the teacher who is working with the children at the time the program is to be used. She may get suggestions from her predecessors, or from books, but all this she must modify to fit her pupils' needs. If she is not capable of doing this, she is not to be entrusted with the shaping of the lives in her charge. There follows in this chapter a list of factors which should be considered in making out a daily program. They will vary in importance in different schools according to needs and conditions. The pupil's personal interest is the most important factor in any school, but it is often wholly neglected. There should be careful study of the individual pupil by the teacher. She should learn his personal needs by studying him as he is in other environments than the school; especially should she acquaint herself with his home life. What are his ambi- tions? What are the prospects of help from the parents to develop his aptitudes? What ideals are set up for him to follow? These are questions which every teacher should try to answer in order to give the greatest service to each pupil in her school. The writer once experienced the great- est difficulty with a pupil, who, though apparently normal in other respects, failed to articulate the easiest words. The home was visited and the mother found to have a hare-lip. Knowing this, the teacher not only had greater sympathy for the pupil, but made special arrangements to help him. Another pupil, considered dull because he had read in the same grade for two years, was doing wonderful things in a mechanical way outside of school. The work offered to him THE DAILY PROGRAM 111 at school had failed to interest him. If some construction work had been provided which would have required the application of principles and content of other subjects, he would have become interested in those subjects. A motive for studying any subject may be found if we know the pu- pil's immediate interest. We may best classify a pupil after learning all we can about his heredity, environment, and natural interests. He should then work in the grade which will help him most according to his individual needs. It will be a class in which he finds work to interest him, work which he may do with a normal expenditure of energy and without repeating what he has failed to do before. If a child is a poor reader, it will not improve his reading to read again the books he has already read, or heard other classes read. He should have new, but not more advanced subject-matter. The simplest way to avoid repetition is to supply supplementary readers. Every rural school should have supplementary books, es- pecially in reading, geography, and history, and these should always be good, interesting books. Classification by grades is too often an arbitrary or diplo- matic move on the part of the departing teacher. Hoping to leave a good impression, she promotes all the pupils in the school. This is a most discouraging state of affairs for the new teacher to face. It is much better for her, after finding out by fair tests that a boy cannot do the work of the grade to which he has been passed, to talk the matter over with his parents. She should not say very much about grades, but give the boy work he can do and be interested in. The real proof of the pupil's work is his ability to do it. In schools which are maintained for approximately nine months, the length of the year will not enter to any extent as a factor into the problem of the daily program. In schools of seven months or less, some subjects will have to be omitted 112 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS altogether or the length of the recitation reduced to an ab- surd minimum. School ordinarily opens at nine o'clock and closes at four, with fifteen minutes out in the morning and afternoon, and one hour for the noon intermission. This leaves five and one haK hours for school work. Pupils in the first three grades should spend not more than three and one half hours in actual work. A large portion of this time should be given to hand-work and such other school activi- ties as do not necessitate the pupil's sitting in his seat — for example, the dramatization of stories. This is of special importance in rural schools when the younger children may not recite often, nor more than for a few minutes. And, be- cause proper seats are not provided for them, it should be allowed them to go home earlier than four o'clock, and to have longer recess periods than fifteen minutes. When, be- cause of distance, bad roads, or other reasons, the younger children have to wait for the dismissal of elder brothers and sisters they should play out of doors, or use building-blocks on the floor in a corner where they will not disturb the other pupils, or lay out farms on the sand table, or illustrate the reading lesson by drawing pictures on the blackboard. This time should be spent in free, spontaneous play, in which the children may give expression to their own ideas. The number of pupils in every district will vary with the work at certain seasons, with illness, and with the removal of famihes. The daily program should be immediately ad- justed accordingly. No teacher should plan so many classes a day that it would be impossible to have them recite. The program as decided upon should be carried out. The recess period should occur at the proper time, no classes should be omitted, and school should close promptly. The hardest work may be done during the morning, and the most difficult subjects should be placed on the morning THE DAILY PROGRAM 113 program. It is not possible to do this for each grade, but it may be accompHshed for the school as a whole by having the younger pupils, who can make little preparation for their lessons, recite immediately after the session opens. The older pupils, who are physically able to spend more time in the preparation of their lessons, should recite the latter part of the first and the third sessions of the day. Those subjects which require less application and more drill should come at the close of the second and the fourth sessions. Older pupils learn to arrange, in part, their own study hours. A word of caution is necessary, because pupils who have a long time in which to prepare their lessons often get into sluggish and slovenly habits of study. Teachers are unwit- tingly the cause of this when they assign lessons without proper motivation and direction. The relative importance of the subjects of the course of study should be considered, and time allotted to teaching these subjects should be according to their importance. For example, more time should be spent in teaching reading than spelling, and the upper grades should spend a larger percent- age of their time on arithmetic than the primary grades. It is difficult to state the exact nmnber of recitations which a teacher should have on her program. She may lit- erally hear thirty classes, but she cannot possibly conduct that many recitations. When a program has twenty reci- tations the average length of each is sixteen minutes. If the number is increased to twenty-five, the average length of each is reduced to thirteen minutes. Some subjects, such as history and geography in the upper grades, take a much longer period than either thirteen or sixteen minutes if they are to be taught at all as they should be. Some classes in spelling can recite in five minutes. The need of longer periods than the average is much greater than the need of more classes which may recite in shorter periods. 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Q cc & Hi CM 020 o 'i. o.a ^.S i4 1— 1 1— 1 o 5 "3 no 02 'ft r^ =" ° ''I m m ® •a bi O o S3 S 03^ H o 03 I ft P5 5 2® S ? s'2 020 "3 CQ 1— I f « M u:] p< §^a 2 02 S -< !2i O ^ 1 ® S 02 0.2 Xfl 02 1 O W 9 oj-O r c5 s 0) CQ s £ S " t-H m »-H o ^ r5 P S2 02 - 5 o|2 Q PohS 1^ W O2o ^& £^ ^i q^ a°2 ^ 52 1—1 ftp ^_^ .S'3 ■* V x> 02 ^ f-i •-H o -a S'f3 H M M s . QQ CQ o ?5 M 00 g ^"^ 2 005 •«: P4 S £-3 h- ( 02 Q 05S^ -<^ 9=2 "-H - - ;► ^ 5o CQ 1— I CQ l-H Q * * * o o o f 1.1 — t-O CO uo t^ i.O (B o o re Q s o o -^ o; CO CO B c-i ""^^ '"' 1-J C-i c^' ci c^ cocoeoco •*■ j3 a C3 eS ft go a> C S « 0^ J3 S "3 a) s c i .4J 4) 0) Is -1^ 00 aj 1 Hi « -o ja h s c Q 00 <0 .u SI TI c« . •0 2 be ft if ._ OJ c i: *^ -o S^ii CQ-g » .. a 03 S H V a H ki c CQ = ^ cJ * S 116 H/VNDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS greatest problems the rural teacher has, then, is to reduce the number of classes so as to have all the pupils recite in all the subjects they are required to take, and at the same time have the recitation period of sufficient length to teach the subject well. A copy of a daily program which, was worked out in a Michigan one-room rural school accompanies this chapter. There were twenty-six pupils in eight grades. There were twenty -five recitations, which varied in length from ten to twenty minutes. In schools of fewer pupils the number should be less. This may be accomplished in several ways: First, classes may be combined. In the school for which this program was made, there were two pupils in the sixth grade, one further advanced and capable of doing harder work than the other. The added incentive of reading with the seventh and the eighth grade, together with his own ability in reading, enabled him to read with those grades with profit. The other pupil gladly read with the fifth grade, who were having new and interesting material within their power to read. Doing away with the sixth grade read- ing class lengthened the time of each of the other classes. Similar combination of classes, except arithmetic, may be made in most other cases. It is seldom profitable for a pupil to remain in a class by himself. The enthusiasm of numbers is often overlooked in rural schools. Whenever it is possible to teach cooperation by practice it should be done. SpelHng classes may be always combined. The spelHng and phonic work may be combined in the first three grades. Second, the number of recitations may be reduced by al- ternating subjects or different grades in the same subject. Classes in grammar and physiology in the same grade may recite on alternate days; or Monday, Wednesday, and Fri- day may be given to grammar, and Tuesday and Thursday to physiology. Fifth and sixth grade geography may recite . THE DAILY PROGRAM 117 on alternate days with seventh and eighth in the same sub- ject. Instead of having both classes recite every day for a fifteen minute period, each recites for thirty minutes every other day. Lessons in agriculture should occasionally be substituted for reading and grammar, for they furnish a splendid subject for oral discussion. Friday afternoon, from the last recess period to the closing of school, may be given to instruction of domestic art, domestic science, and manual training; ad- ditional help may be given as needed at the noon intermis- sion. Domestic science may be taught in connection with serving the hot noon lunch, the instruction being given at the time suggested above. Instruction in hand work for the primary grade should be given at the arithmetic period. Music and drawing and nature study should be taught at the time of the morning exercises. Story-telling, read- ing aloud, current events, discussion of problems of interest to all the school should also form a part of the morning exercise. The teacher should direct and prepare for such seat work as may be educational. This is also a very important part of the daily program, as every successful rural teacher knows. As stated at the beginning of this chapter, the daily pro- gram is a very essential feature in the rural schools. It is not easy to work out a program. The discussion given here may not be all used by any one teacher, but it is hoped it will prove suggestive. SUGGESTR^ QUESTIONS 1. Wliat advantage is it to pupils in school if the teacher arranges a very definite program of classes for each day's session, and then posts this in a conspicuous place where all may consult it? 2. Is it an advantage or a disadvantage to a child to place him in a class which is in advance of his abilit}'? Can you suggest any plan for 118 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS classifying pupils in school so scientifically that each will be given the greatest opportunity for study and advancement? 3. Would it be fair to criticize a school without first having investigated its work personally, thus having first-hand knowledge of the plans and methods followed? 4. Do trustees and patrons ever or often ask the teacher to explain the new ways of doing things in school, either personally or in an open forum meeting? 5. In judging school organization and classroom instruction, enumerate all of the points which ought to be considered in a well-directed plan. CHAPTER XIII THE HOME AND THE SCHOOL IN COOPERATION The home and the school must work in closest cooperation in order that the largest and best development be secured during the preparatory years of the child's life. Home mak- ing is fundamental in the prime necessities which govern our progress. The principle which rules the home must eventually be the governing influence which rules our Na- tion. The school is the most important supplement to the home because it assumes the responsibility of the child's well-being for a considerable portion of the time during the formative period of his life. It must share with the home all the responsibilities of good home making, and must assume complete parental control and guidance of all the child's ac- tivities during the time school is in session. These two in- stitutions, therefore, which are largely responsible for the shaping of the child's life and for making him ready for the duties of citizenship, should work together in closest unison. In order that the transition be not too great between the parental home and the school home it is necessary to provide as many as possible of the comforts of the one for the other. The environment of each one too should be similar, in that pleasure as well as comfort should be fundamental in the general plan. It is the desire of all parents that their chil- dren remember their home with delight, and it is equally de- sirable that the school be so organized that it will make last- ing impressions for good upon the minds of all of its pupils. The home is made beautiful by its plan, its arrangement, its furnishings, — all of which must be reflected in the family ties which are most sacred as a home influence. The school 120 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS home, then, which moulds and shapes the child's life to the same degree must be arranged and furnished properly, and the governing principle must be characterized by a spirit akin to parental control. But we must go further in our plan of cooperation by inaugurating a closer personal asso- ciation. The teacher must know the parents of the children whom she teaches. She must know each home and have an understanding of its personal characteristics. She must see the children in their home surroundings in order to de- termine how to supplement the home training to the best advantage in the case of each child under her charge. On the other hand, all parents should know the teacher per- sonally in order to place more confidence in her as a director of their children. The children must be governed by this dual authority existing in the home and in the school, and a thorough understanding is necessary in order to avoid the misunderstandings which so frequently arise. In order to. know the teacher well, the parent must see her in the school- room performing the daily duties of the work under her su- pervision. This will require frequent visits, and can best be carried out by making a schedule plan so that one or more mothers visit the school every week in the year. It should be understood, of course, that the teachers' visits to the homes, and the parents' visits to the school, should be for the sole purpose of closer cooperation, and should never be done for the purpose of criticizing. Good fellowship always comes through common interests and honest intent. So the home and the school should both profit by this wholesome acquaintanceship and mutual desire to assist each other. ■ Among the qualifications required of the teacher, none is more necessary nor more in demand than social leadership. This characteristic has various names — some call it initia- tive; some, enthusiasm; some, community or civic interest; some, power to mix; some, good fellowship, or the power to HOME AND SCHOOL IN COOPERATION 121 touch humanity. And we say of such a teacher, she had the abihty to harmonize discordant elements of a community, or she senses the pulse of her district, or she is just popular and attractive, a jolly companion, and everybody likes her. More and more we are recognizing the fact that education is not altogether a matter of book learning, but it is primarily the ability to Hve with people, and that knowledge is not an end, but a contributing force. Thus it is required of a teacher to teach this art — the ability to live with one's fellows. One hardly knows how such a view of education evolved from so opposite a viewpoint. It has developed very slowly and is a recent idea. The scholastic age made knowledge equivalent to conduct, and this view led to retirement from the world, as monks or hermits did, in order to secure a happy future Ufe for one's self. But gradually the centuries have evolved a new educational theory, that man's soul is saved only by losing all idea of self through participation in the affairs of the world. This idea has taken root, as it were, in the composite public mind as an evolution, till in some way it has become embodied in all our institutions, in our very laws, and in our ways of thinking. Our churches, our hospitals and asylums, our Chambers of Commerce, our charitable organizations, labor organizations, clubs, and at last our schools are organized with the idea of complete brotherhood and fuller participation in community affairs. Such has been the growth of the Parent-Teacher Move- ment. As an organization it started away back in 1897, when Mrs. Theodore W. Birney and Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst called a meeting of mothers to discuss Child- Welfare. Out of this first meeting was organized the Mothers' Congress. So rapidly did the movement grow that the members drew up a permanent constitution, calling themselves the Na- tional Congress of Mothers. There have been eighteen 122 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS annual conferences since that time, held every other year at Washington, D.C. Starting at first as a Mothers* Movement, it soon broad- ened its scope so that fathers as well as mothers might have the opportunity of cooperating with all others interested in Child- Welfare. The Association recognized fathers and mothers as sharing equally the burdens and the responsi- bilities of child-rearing. Thirty-seven States have branch associations of the Mothers' Congress with their corps of able managers. Thousands of progressive cities, villages, and rural schools have branch organizations affiliated with the state associations, and thus indirectly with the National Congress of Mothers. The keynote of the entire work is cooperation. The objects of the Congress are many in detail, but the one gen- eral purpose is embodied in the phrase Child-Welfare. De- tailed aims and purposes are as follows : To raise the standards of home life; to develop wiser, better trained parenthood. To give young people, ignorant of the proper care and training of children, opportunities to learn this, that they may better perform the duties of parenthood. To bring into closer relations the home and school, that parent and teacher may cooperate intelligently in the education of the child. To surround the childhood of the whole world with that loving wise care in the impressionable years of life, which will develop good citizens, instead of law-breakers and criminals. To carry the mother-love and mother-thought into all that con- cerns or touches childhood in Home, School, Church, or State. To interest men and women to cooperate in the work for purer, truer homes, in the belief that to accomplish the best results, men and women must work together. To secure such legislation as will insure that children of tender years may not be tried in ordinary courts, but that each town shall establish juvenile courts and special officers, whose business it shall be to look out for that care which will rescue the child from evil ways instead of confirming him in them. HOME AND SCHOOL IN COOPERATION 123 To rouse the whole community to a sense of its duty and respon- sibility to the blameless, dependent, and neglected children, be- cause there is no philanthropy which will so speedily reduce our taxes, reduce our prison expenses, reduce the expense of institu- tions for correction and reform. The work of the Congress is civic work in its broadest and highest sense, and every man or woman who is interested in the aims of the Congress is cordially invited to become a member and aid in the organized effort for a higher, nobler national life which can be attained only through the individual homes. A magazine is published by the National Congress which outlines the state and national child-welfare views, suggests ways of organizing local associations, plans programs, and in many helpful ways deals with the problems of parenthood and the school. Not only is the United States thus organized, but many foreign countries are vitally interested. The last Interna- tional Congress of Mothers had representatives from Great Britain, China, Japan, Persia, Cuba, Bulgaria, and other nations. Great Britain is very progressive in this line. We find, too, that every progressive community throughout our land has some society or club definitely devoted to commu- nity needs, and whatever its name may be, whether social settlement, civic center, or community meeting, all are striving for the same ends. The great value in affiliation with a National Organization is in an extended breadth of view and the united effort of thousands of people for a com- mon good to childhood. That community which is content to have its school and home life distinct, with no coopera- tion between parents and teachers, cannot take high rank in its efforts for social progress. The Parent-Teacher Association is primarily the depart- ment in which teachers may work to best advantage. This organization may be brought about by a wide-awake teacher or by the citizens of a community. It comes into being only 124 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS when the needs of a locality demand it. Conditions are not right. There are factions in the district, perhaps, or a lack of harmony between teacher, parents, and pupils; or there is a need of improvement in buildings, or school grounds, or home conditions and ideals; in sanitation, ventilation, heat- ing plant; the teacher's housing; or, as too frequently occurs, in the moral conditions of the young people. No teacher or parent alone can right these conditions. It is only through cooperation of the teacher and the parents — all of them if it can be brought about — that wrong conditions may be righted. Often a strong teacher sees the need first. Some- times her Board is eager to make all the necessary improve- ments; sometimes, however, economy plays too large a part in hampering the welfare of the children or the best efforts of the teacher. Perhaps the teacher is right; perhaps the Board and community are right; but, at any rate, no prog- ress ever came from division of sentiment. To talk the matter over, gi^'ing arguments for and against, in a sensible, reasonable way, is the only way to bring about harmony of purpose. A monthly meeting in the schoolhouse — the common possession of all the people — brings all together for the best interests of the children. Here there is no rich nor poor, no snob, no intellectual class, no illiterate; for every father and mother is experimenting on human life, as is the teacher; and sometimes, nay, often, it is the son of the so-called common people, who has had the best training for life, that becomes the future leader of a new generation. There is no leveler so great as that of educa- tion, and the richest and wisest father sometimes stands abashed before his poor and illiterate neighbor whose son has become a blessing. Where there is no local paper — as in rural districts — public opinion is difficult to secure without some medium of exchange. These monthly meetings con- stitute a public forum, and may become the educator of all HOME AND SCHOOL IN COOPERATION 125 the people in the same way that the Grange Meetings have educated the farmer. The National Congress recommends a simple method of organizing such an association of parents and teachers. The simpler the organization the better, for it does not meet to study parliamentary law, but the child; and it will make less difference to him whether a motion is out of order than the fact that his seat is so adjusted that his body will have a fair chance to develop. So, too, the conditions on the playground, medical inspection, how to prevent sore throats and colds, suitable and nourishing foods for school lunches, high stand- ards of morals among the children, and the moral standards of the community are all topics of great significance wdiich a Parent-Teacher Meeting may profitably discuss. Additional topics, suggestive of what a Parent-Teacher Meeting may profitably discuss, are : 1. School curriculum 2. School and home discipline 3. Home credits 4. School libraries and home reading 5. Equipment for the school, such as paper towels, common drinking cup, warm lunch apparatus, pictures, heating plant, school desks, lighting facilities, etc. 6. Medical, dental, and eye inspection 7. Study of sex hygiene 8. Supervision of playgrounds and play apparatus 9. Planting of shrubbery, trees, etc., on school grounds 10. School gardens or farms 11. Manual training and domestic science 12. School contests 13. School dress 14. Amusements for young people and their supervision 15. School and home clubs IG. Causes of colds, sore throats, weak eyes, etc. 17. Earning capacity of the child 18. The value of play 19. Good music 126 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS Another phase of school and home cooperation can be carried out by making the schoolhouse a center for the social and intellectual activities of the community about it. As the one rural institution which is supported by all and equally open to all, and representing no church, lodge, polit- ical party, organization, or social group, it stands for the common welfare of all, and about it as a center all should unite. Its labors are directed only toward the education and improvement of the children of all of the people, and this is a great unifying idea. To this end the school trustees and teacher should encourage the use of the school building as a meeting place for all forms of community organizations, and make of the schoolhouse a center for the advancement of the community welfare. Public meetings, evening lec- tures, meetings of the Grange, spelling matches, entertain- ments, exhibits, plays, musical performances, — these are some of the forms of community activity which the trustees of the school should permit to be held in the building, so that it may become what it ought to be, — the great center for the social and intellectual life of the community whose children attend it. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. What are five of the best reasons you can give for the home and the school working in the closest cooperation? 2. What suggestions have you for making the transition less marked, for the child six years of age, when he goes from his home to the school for the first time? 3. What advantage is there in personal visitation exchanged between the home and the school? 4. What additional points can you add to the detailed aims and purposes set forth in the Child- Welfare movement, having to do with the creat- ing of better opportunities for children? 5. What plan do you suggest for Americanizing the foreign immigrant who comes to our country seeking permanent citizenship? CHAPTER XIV RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION During recent years mucli study has been given to country- life problems, and in connection with this the rural school has received much comment. Public attention thus focused upon a particular unit of our school system has brought to light many important issues which will serve to improve con- ditions now out of harmony. These rural centers which at one time formed the basis of the public-school system seem to have been somewhat neglected during recent years, while the village and city systems have been evolving out of the midst of new conditions and new influences. Indeed many have come to think of education as centered in our urban communities, and feel that only in such communities can the best school work be provided. As cities have grown and prospered they have provided for elaborate systems of edu- cation, for good buildings, for splendid equipment, and above all they have provided for an adequate system of supervision. By consulting former chapters it may be seen that the ad- ministration of our entire school system is in good hands; that the administration officers are faithful and considerate in their part of the work. It must be admitted, however, that the supervision of the rural schools has been neglected to a large degree. This has not been done intentionally, but rather because of conditions which seemed to work against its proper promotion. It is easy to supervise a city unit be- cause of its compactness, but to secure adequate supervision for the country schools, which are more or less isolated, has proved to be a more difficult problem. Some in discussing the problem of supervision have even 128 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS advocated the idea that the rural schools need no supervi- sion. Their statements were to the effect that the teacher employed ought to be able to handle her work properly with- out assistance and without suggestion. Further statements have been made that it is simply a waste of money to under- take to organize country places by organizing educational units of the proper size. Arguments of such nature, however, seem not to be well founded when we consider the fact that in the cities about one tenth of the school revenue is paid for supervision pur- poses. We must admit at once that the city system has prospered under its well-organized plan. All agree that su- per\dsion is one of its most important elements, and the law will not permit a city system to be organized without making proper provision for this most important part of its direction. Even though teachers be employed who possess special train- ing and who have proved their adaptability through years of experience, special supervisors are provided to insure that the best instruction be given and that the children be di- rected in using their time to the best possible advantage. As great progress has been made under a carefully super- vised system in the city, it would be quite logical to suppose that our rural systems could be improved by the same watch- ful direction. If money is provided through public revenue for the better direction of city schools, there ought to be a means whereby the financial help can be given to the rural communities. Surely the child life on the farm is no less im- portant in its development than that of the city cousin. Surely the citizenship of our country includes all the chil- dren, wherever they may live, and our educational heritage must extend even into the most remote places. And to make possible a great citizenship we must offer to all child life the very best opportunities for mental, physical, and moral growth in our public schools. RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 129 It has been found through experience that the school dis- trict is too small a unit to provide good supervision, and also that this can be administered best in units not too large in size. Supervision of instruction by the School Board is no longer possible, as its members cannot be expected to pos- sess the pedagogical knowledge necessary. Any well-trained teacher must necessarily know more about the details of instruction than any School Trustee can be expected to know. What is needed is a traveling supervisor who can give per- sonal attention to classroom organization and the work of instruction, and by personal visitation inspect the class- room work of a number of teachers. The teacher must have the cooperation and encouragement of the supervisor, for many difficult problems can be solved better through the counsel of both acting together. The children, too, will feel a greater interest in their work if they know it is being in- spected regularly by a competent supervisor representing some larger authority than the district, and that through this means a standardizing influence is being applied as a measure to all work being accomplished. Even the patrons will be able to create a greater unity in the schoolroom work, and will feel the strength of a well-organized plan working in and through all of the functions connected with the school. As this directing influence has been found very essential to the promotion of all industrial organizations, it will just as surely prove valuable in securing the very best things in our educational work. It will require some added expense, to be sure, but the small outlay required will be very little com- pared with the added efficiency which it will give. Per- sonally I believe that the rural school as now organized can be doubled in its effectiveness in serving the community and in its academic efficiency through this means of better su- pervision, and I believe that the one great need in our educational advancement is to give this part of our edu- 130 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS cational system the necessary assistance in this particular hne. The County Superintendent of Schools, or the County School Commissioner, who has had charge of this work in the different States, has been very earnest in considering the gen- eral welfare of our rural schools, but it is entirely impossible for this officer, who has numerous clerical and administra- tive duties, also to supervise a large number of widely scat- tered schools. In most instances the counties are so large that it is impossible for the county officer, with his other duties to attend to, to make more than one trip during the year to each school under his direction. Under such circum- stances the visitation can only be a very meager inspection of the school, which can in no way be considered supervision for this all-important work. What is needed is frequent professional supervision of a new kind. Things which seem to be most worth while in education have behind them a great living personality, and no institu- tion is able to prosper without human sympathy and united personal interest. It may be said, however, that personal interest is limited, and can come in contact, in the strongest way, only with conditions near at hand. Impressions that we receive each day concerning things nearest and dearest to us become of greatest personal interest. Lessons in the schoolroom are made personal through the teacher's devo- tion to her work, and can be made doubly interesting by reinforcing this personal interest through the supervisor who watches the development from all of the different angles connected with the pupil's welfare. A community, though it may be intensely interested in national affairs, should be interested most in its own local problems and local welfare. It ought to know its own needs better than those who view it from a distance. It surely has problems to be solved that can not be seen by those who RUR.VL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 131 are looking on from afar. It must then develop a local pride and a local interest in its school affairs in order to make possible the best things for its children. In order to provide adequate supervision, one of two plans should be followed. One plan is to provide special supervi- sors, as of primary work, music, agriculture, etc., and have these visit and direct their work in all the schools of the county. The other is to divide each county into two or more supervisory units, each representing from twelve to twenty- five districts, according to conditions and circumstances. The divisions should be made in such a manner as to offer the very best road facilities and topographical conditions for getting over the territory most easily. Under the latter plan, the supervisor acts much as a principal of an elemen- tary school in a city. He should be required to live in the supervised territory, and should become a real part of the community life represented. He should be provided with the very best means of transportation in order to make pos- sible quick and effective service. He should be provided with telephone service, with lines extending to each one of the separate units or school districts. He should meet the people of each neighborhood personally and find out their needs, and should arrange to give every assistance in carry- ing into effect their plans for improvement. He should be a ready counselor under all circumstances, should be broad in his ideals, careful in his decisions, yet firm in doing his duty. With our better roads and with our better transportation facilities a live supervisor can adequately supervise from fifteen to thirty schools, and be able to give the needed as- sistance to the teachers and the communities in raising the standards of their work. Local organizations ought to be formed, and a general community interest aroused in all the work to be undertaken. Special entertainments should be provided for the different sections of the supervisory unit. 132 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS and a greater interest aroused for social improvement. Each school district should be stimulated by the supervisor to greater activity, and be given a better understanding of its local possibilities. I hope I may be pardoned for saying again that just this stimulated interest has built up a wonderful school system in the city, and it will likewise materially increase the effi- ciency of our rural communities. I am inclined to predict that, with the renewed interest in farming and with the progressive farmer of to-day, the interurban localities are no longer to be deprived of the best things in education. When a better understanding of the problem is reached and a knowledge of the needs is known, rural supervision will be immediately inaugurated throughout the country. The Grange, as well as other farmers' organizations, are investigating the merits and the needs of a supervisory plan, and should it receive their indorsement and their support it will then surely take shape through legislative enactment. It is a question in education worthy of most serious consider- ation, because it will materially advance our educational growth when the entire system measures up to its highest point of efficiency. We can claim only partial success for our work until this neglected portion is given just consid- eration in the way of adequate supervision. Great improvement has been made in our school buildings, even in the most remote places. Heat, light, ventilation, and sanitation have been carefully considered in connection with each new building erected. Our rural schools are bet- ter supplied with furniture than ever before. More atten- tion has been given to the beautifying of school buildings and school grounds, all of which have resulted in a great change for the better. The next important step forward is to improve the instruction provided by inaugurating an adequate system of rural school supervision. RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 133 If we plan anew the direction of all of our rural schools, and place specially trained supervisors over units of proper size, a great stimulus will be given to do better work. The little brown schooihouse by the roadside will serve a greater purpose in education than it has done before, and boys and girls who grow up on the farm will come into possession of their own just portion of the educational heritage which has been so wisely planned and so carefully fostered through the years. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. What business enterprises do you know that are conducted on a large scale but which are not provided with adequate supervision? 2. How are large business concerns stimulated to greater activity, and encouraged to undertake problems of a difficult character? 3. Can a farmer succeed in cultivating a very large tract of land, where a large capital investment is necessary, and at the same time allow each of his hired men to work according to his own choosing and without supervision or direction? 4. If close supervision is desired in the country schools, about what is the maximum size of the unit of territory, in your county, that can be directed to advantage by one supervisor? 5. Point out the advantages of providing for county-unit supervision, where each rural school would be under traveling supervisors of pri- mary work, agriculture, music, etc. 6. What plan can you suggest for the improvement of rural school organization as it now exists? 7. If we are dissatisfied with conditions as they exist, is it better to find fault and criticize, or is it better to study carefully and point out in a constructive manner the way to betterment? CHAPTER XV CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS Individual teaching had its beginning at the mother's knee. This home instruction was afterward supplemented by the church pastor. Private tutors were sometimes employed, but teaching of this character was limited to the children of those having sufficient means. The next step was a sub- scription school. This was a little more advanced in char- acter, and provided a way for a considerable number of children to have some schooling at a small expense. The general plan followed, however, was without organization, and consequently was lacking in the very principle necessary for real success. But from these small beginnings it was easy to foresee the necessity for a universal plan, so that all children might receive the benefit of at least an elementary schooling. The public school, therefore, is the outgrowth of universal needs which was conceived by our forefathers in connection with "government by the people.'* At first the groups of children who attended school were small because the plan included only children within a restricted age limit, — ranging from eight to tw^elve years old. It was thought that children younger than eight should be at home under their mother's direction, and that children over twelve ought to be at home helping with the work which was necessary for the family to do in order to earn a living. There was no call for an elaborate plant nor for expensive furniture, for a sim- ple arrangement served the need to the very best advantage at that time. A small building was erected in each neighbor- CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 135 hood, within walking distance of all the homes composing the single district. School was kept for only a short period of time during the year, and at a time when the children were freest from necessary responsibilities at home. The worth of this elementary training was so universally appreciated that from it has grown our elaborate well-organ- ized school system. The founders of public-school education probably never realized that they were laying the foundation for one of the greatest plans for promoting national intelli- gence and stimulating national progress that has ever been realized by the civilized world. Truly, they were "building better than they knew." Our schoolroom education to-day includes many things that were not thought of at first. Even elementary educa- tion is several fold more important than it was conceived to be in the first plan. One year after another was added to the requirement, and step by step this steady advancement went forward, making provisions for the academy, the high school, the college, the university. And the wonder of it all is that all these institutions are included in our free public- school system. Standards of teaching as well as standards of equipment have constantly advanced, and we find to-day the people of the whole country contributing willingly to the necessary revenue required to carry forw^ard the plan. While conservative expenditures were urged at first, now we spend thousands unhesitatingly, knowing full well that our money properly spent in this way will assist in making a great nation of united peoples. Many parents, too, believe that putting their money into the very blood and tissue of their own children will in the end prove to be a greater treas- ure than money stored up or invested in the ordinary things of life. At any rate the public-school system has come to be universally accepted as an institution worthy of the best consideration, and the support given it proves its value more 136 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS conclusively than any number of words or phrases about it could possibly do. The prime question now is, how shall we make this public institution serve to the best advantage. When we speak of this service we mean to include the needs of "all the children of all the people." As the early plan has grown and devel- oped into something better and something greater than was at first anticipated, so also must we continue to change our plans as the years pass by, and as newer and better things arise to take the place of those which are obsolete. We should never change a course for the sake of having some- thing different, but each change should be so thoroughly considered that when it is established it will prove to be a real improvement. Any neighborhood studying a question with an honest purpose in mind will reap great benefits from its deliberations, even though the proposition is finally re- jected. Any neighborhood that is closed to the study of new things must needs be unprogressive and is likely to fall into habits of retrogression. How necessary, therefore, is it that we approach new propositions with open minds and with a sincere determination to make an honest analysis before rendering a decision. Such a principle has actuated every line of work, every improvement, every forward step, every better plan that the world has ever made. Since the public schools in some States have accomplished more than in others, since greater results have been shown in some communities than in others, it is of prime importance that we study these conditions thoroughly and determine what there is lacking in the one that is possessed by the other. We find at once in such a study that there are some specific principles underlying all growth in our schools, but that the means in one is often quite different from that used in the others. One of the first and most important facts that we come in contact with in our study is that the well- CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 137 organized and well-supervised system of schools has accom- plished more in the same length of time than one less care- fully directed. In the larger centers, therefore, we find better opportunities for this wholesome organization. The one-room school of the country, which formed the very corner stone of our early plan, is now universally conceded to be the very hardest school to manage, to supervise, and to improve. This is not because it cannot be made better, but rather be- cause it lacks that type of supervision that gives close atten- tion to a study of its needs. The people of the country are not unprogressive, but the fact that they are scattered about makes it more difficult for them to get together for individual study of propositions which affect their own welfare. They have often closed their eyes to progressive measures simply because it seemed the easiest way to settle the matter. Time is always a necessary element in accomplishing anything worth while, and this is often given by country folk in such full measure to other things that there is none left for prop- ositions which seem to them unnecessary. Because of this attitude there are many communities that have not im- proved their opportunities to make of the public school the largest possible factor in education. They have paid dearly for all that they have received, and in some instances have been willing to accept educational services for their children which are entirely below standard. In striking contrast to this the ever-growing tendency is clearly appar- ent in communities where the school moves ever forward in unison with the progressive improvements noted every- where on the farm. There is no single principle which can be set forth as a means of curing all of our educational difficulties. Neither is there any single plan of improvement that will be found equally adaptable to all neighborhoods. So in presenting consolidation as a means of rural school betterment, it is not 138 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS urged as a proposition to be universally accepted. It has many advantages, however, and will be found adaptable to many communities that are now handicapped by the limits of the small school. I say "limits of the small school," be- cause the single teacher is limited in her schoolroom to the amount which one individual can do and to the small num- ber of different educational problems which one individual can solve. No teacher can do everything equally well; so it is evident that an association of teachers in a single school building can offer a greater specialization of instruction and variety of work, and under better conditions, than any one teacher would be able to offer. Under good organization each teacher is placed where she can accomplish the greatest amount of good in the allotted time, and each pupil is placed where his adaptation will insure the greatest accomplish- ment for the effort expended. Cooperation then in both work and effort can be realized in larger measure in a system of schools than in a single room where many grades of work are represented. In the one-room school all recitations must necessarily be short. This was well shown in the daily school program given in Chapter XII. There are so many classes and so many types of work during a single day that it is very dijE- cult to do all things well and slight nothing, even though the teacher in charge be earnest, faithful, and painstaking. Be- cause of this serious handicap, it is wise to change such con- ditions whenever it can be done. There are many places where the whole difficulty lies in the minds of the people rather than in the impracticability of the plan. An honest study of the working plan, and the results obtained in the many consolidated schools now organized in our most pro- gressive States, will reveal many interesting facts, and hence this is urged as worthy of first consideration by all small districts. Compiled data and printed matter may be had CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 139 from State and County School Superintendents. Abun- dance of material is available, and much of it of a very convincing type. Whenever the plan of consolidating a number of small schools to form a larger union school is brought up for con- sideration, there should be a very careful survey made of the physical conditions of the territory. Climatic condi- tions must be thought of, because this is an inevitable situa- tion which cannot well be changed. The condition of roads and means of transportation during the school year is an important item, because pupils can walk to school only within limited distances, and if -the territory is to be ex- tended beyond this limit a means must be provided for transporting the pupils. The time arrangement which at once enters into the scheme must not be overlooked. Chil- dren who must come the farthest cannot be expected to leave home too early in the morning, nor to arrive at home too late in the afternoon. The kind of vehicle to be used and the reliability of the driver must also come in for con- sideration, because these things are vital in making the plan a worthy one. The cost of inaintaining a school under con- solidation is not likely to be less expensive, though there is every evidence that greater returns may be had for money expended in this way than is possible under the old ungraded system. Better things are not usually purchased with less money. All of these difficulties, though, are easily handled if guided by expert advice. Though almost every State in the Union has worked out some plan by which its rural schools may be consolidated, and though it is considered a distinct forward movement for the betterment of rural and village education, it has been but very slightly appreciated by the people whom it most affects. This can be accounted for only by the fact that the plan has not been carefully studied by rural and village people, 140 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS and that in many instances it probably has been viewed with prejudice. We must look deeper than tradition in jus- tifying that which is old; we must be willing to be convinced when the preponderance of evidence is against us, no matter what our personal likes or dislikes may be. If conditions are not right when a careful study is made of the neighborhood conditions, it is best to bide the time until this can be changed. But no progressive school district can ever afford to make a decision without evidence, nor can it refuse to listen to evidence offered in connection with the better development of the neighborhood. Since our principles of government are democratic in char- acter, it is well to apply these same principles when deciding local affairs. The people may well be called upon to decide an important plan of this kind by the use of the franchise, but their decision can be correct only after they have studied the question fairly together. Any decision is worthless, of course, if not based upon facts and upon independent under- standing. So it would be unfortunate for any district to make a decision, either individually or collectively, without first having a clear-cut notion of the case based upon the best possible evidence available. Of course, our different States have directed the plan to be followed by the laws which they have enacted for governing consolidation, but the right of petition cannot be abridged because this is guaranteed by the National Constitution and must be up- held, by every State Constitution. Therefore the voice of all the people ought to be heard when they are universally concerned in the final decision to be made. The plan of procedure ought to be determined by first ascertaining what provisions are made by law for instituting and governing consolidation in the State, and the plan should be presented for careful study to all of the people concerned. Then in the open forum every question should Types of Modern Consolidated Schools These three buildings contain four, six, and eight rooms, reading from the top down- ward. Such schools can be made community- center schools of large usefulness. CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 141 be presented, both for and against the proposed plan, and placed side by side in the regular order. The weight of the one against the other ought to be honestly applied, and the value of the weight should be set forth in clear-cut princi- ples. The ultimate aim of the decision reached should have the best educational welfare of the children of the commu- nity as the prime object, because this translated into good citizenship means a nation established upon the best that mankind has to offer. The consolidation movement began in Massachusetts, in 1869, but the first State west of the Alleghanies to use the idea was Ohio, where the consolidation of schools first began in 1892. Since that date marked progress has been made not only in Ohio, but in many of the Central and Western States as well. Perhaps the most important consolidations have been accomplished in Indiana, working under the township system, and in Utah, working under the county- unit plan. In some of the northern counties in Indiana, where the land is relatively levels almost all the schools in the county have been consolidated, and in their place there exists to-day only a much smaller number of central- ized schools of the best class. In such Southern States as Georgia and Florida, as well as in such Western States as Idaho and Washington, good progress, has also been made. The map on the following page, showing the extent to which consolidation had taken place in one Indiana county, illustrates the plan very well. This shows that eleven con- solidated districts had been formed at the time the map was made, some quite small and others fairly large, and in these all the one-teacher schools had been closed and the children from these were transported daily to and from the central schools. The children in such are gathered up in wagons each morning, carried three or four or five or six miles to the central school, and returned to their homes each evening. LS6CND ONE ROOM DISTRICT SCMOOL CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL eOUNDARr OF CONSOUDATED DISTRICT... STEAM ROAO. CLECTRIC ROAD roriH ..a Map Showing School Consolidation in one Indiana County Area of county, 399 square miles. The fine lines are section lines, from which it may be seen that the area of some townships is 30 and of others 25 or 36 square miles. At the time this map was made, rural-school consolidation had extended over 47.6 per cent of the area of the county. At that time, too, 67 wagons and several interurban car lines transported daily about 1300 school-children to and from school. After belonging to a consolidated school for one year, one district in Salem Township withdrew, and reopened its district school. After one year's retrial of the old plan, the patrons, convinced that the consolidated school was better, abandoned the district school permanently, sold the schoolhouses, and returned to the consolidated school. CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 143 This county still showed fifty-one one-room schools in existence, and it is probable that, either by uniting with neighboring unions or the formation of additional union schools, the remaining fifty-one schools could be closed and all the children of the county, outside of the central city, could be taught in some fifteen or sixteen consolidated schools, and taught better than could be done in the one- room schools. Where a county is relatively level, the popu- lation not too sparse, and where roads will permit of trans- portation, the consolidation of schools idea has much to commend it. In larger consolidated schools a type of edu- cation better suited to the needs and wants of country chil- dren can be provided. It is in such consolidated schools, too, that the community centers, mentioned in Chapter XIII, can best be developed. Such schools, provided with an assembly hall and rooms for instruction in agriculture, man- ual training, and domestic science, and often with partial high-school advantages attached, become landmarks for the country round about and matters of much community pride. The pictures showing three means for transporting pupils to and from school illustrate the three main plans in use. At first horses and wagons were used almost exclusively. Later the trolley car was employed, where routes would per- mit, to supplement the wagons. With the coming of good roads the school automobile bus is rapidly coming into use, superseding horses and wagons, and materially lengthening the distance to which children can be transported, and hence increasing the size of the consolidated district that is pos- sible. About six miles is the limit of horse and wagon trans- portation; in California the school automobiles are carrying children twenty miles. Instead of the child walking to a small school near by, the consolidation movement changes the process and carries the child, often some distance, to a 144 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS large and a good school, and often to one where he can obtain partial high-school advantages as well and a general educa- tion every bit as good as the city boy or girl to-day enjoys. The wagon or automobile takes him from his home each morning, lands him safely and dry at the school, eliminates tardiness and much absence, and takes him back to his home each evening. The advantages and disadvantages of the consolidation idea may be summarized, as follows. The advantages are: 1. Both the enrollment and the attendance for the consolidated area are increased. The gain in attendance for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades is particularly marked. The pro- vision of high-school advantages brings in older pupils, now absent from the district schools. 2. Tardiness and absences are reduced to a minimum. The driver of the wagon or bus becomes the school-attendance officer. 3. Pupils arrive dry and warm each day; there is no wet clothing to be dried, and colds and other troubles due to exposure are materially reduced. 4. The pupils are under the care of a responsible person to and fro, and quarreling, smoking, profanity, vulgarity, and im- proper language and conduct are prevented. In some com- munities such protection to girls is very desirable. 5. Better grading and classification of pupils is made possible, larger classes stimulate rivalry, and new interest and enthu- siasm are introduced into the school work. 6. The number of grades which each teacher has to teach is re- duced, with a consequent lengthening of the recitation pe- riods. Each child receives more and better attention. 7. The special school subjects — music, agriculture, manual training, household arts — can be provided for in a way hardly possible in the one-room school. 8. Better school buildings and sites are provided, and better teaching equipment secured. This is made possible by reason of the larger taxing area, and more taxpayers to help pay for these advantages. . 9. Longer school terms are provided, better teachers can be Wagons used in Springfield Township, Clark County, Ohio ~ ■^N ,1 '^ ^' .^ ,--^'^ ~^ - /P r|.,|'/||||ig|| 1 in i^ ISBEE33 1111 11— ^w^* saiaM^tet^^ ' ermanent improvement and advaneement of the community, of the State and Nation, and of humanity at large. The legitimate aim of manual training in all fields is to train the individual to see things in their proper relations, to know that which is worth knowing, and to do practical and useful things. Closely and inseparably linked with manual training is vocational guidance and vocational education. Every teacher whenever possible should render vocational guidance, but no other teacher has the opportimity, in this respect, which the manual-training teacher has, since nine out of every ten pupils whom he teaches — and he should teach all — must earn a living by use of the hands, or in other words, by an industrial occupation. What the indi- vidual does in manual training is by far the safest guide as to what vocation his abilities will best fit him for. This training gives a broad outlook upon the field of in- dustries, and lays the foundation upon which may be de- veloped skill in the various trades and industrial callings. Even the one child in ten in om* public schools who doi^s not become a tradesman or an industrial worker of any sort is greatly helped by this work, for without it he can never at- tain complete development and can never be so well bal- anced as with it. If he is to become a banker, the better judgment which has been developed by his training in ob- servation, and his careful study of the relation of things, will make him a better financier. Likewise, if he is to become a lawyer, his mind will respond more quickly, he will act with more confidence and precision, and he will have a keener insight into the aft'airs of men for this training. If he is to become a merchant, the knowledge gained of materials will be directly useful to him. and he will have a more definite kuowloilge of the process of manufacture and of the finished product which he uses in his business. And so we might go MANUAL TRAININCx AND HOME ECONOMICS 1C3 on and show advantages gained for the work of the various professions and callings. Abstractly, manual training develops the ability to ob- serve, to reason; emphasizes habits of industry, neatness, ac- curacy, and order; tends to create self-confidence; brings the mind, the eye, and the hand into more j)erfect coordination; teaches the dignity of labor, and the appreciation of beauty and design in construction; and altogether makes the indi- vidual who receives its advantages a more efficient citizen, because that which teaches the dignity of labor, accuracy, beauty, and strength tends to produce a truthful, honest, and industrious individual. When education in the rural communities realizes its pos- sibilities, our boys and girls who are now leaving the farm and flocking to the already overcrowded cities will engage in scientific farming, stock raising, and fruit growing, and op- portunities for success nowhere else to be equalled will be realized. That education is most valuable which is most practical. That is, the things which are taught must be those which the child can make use of at the present time, especially in the lower grades. The real interest which a child has in education is embodied in that part which he may make serve his immediate purpose. Manual training is not a distinct and independent subject; it is rather the fundamental, vital, and vitalizing part of all or most subjects. To discuss manual training in even its most important relations with other subjects would be the work of an entire volume; hence this discussion of the sub- ject treats it as more or less isolated and apart from its rela- tion to other subjects. In this connection it is suflBcient to say that from one third to one half the entire time of the school day should be given to the manual side of the various subjects, and that all experimental and laboratory work is manual training. 164 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS That manual training is vitalizing is shown by the results obtained in many schools, in all parts of the country. In sortie of these schools only the pupils who were backward, deficient, or indifferent were given the distinctly manual- training work. In most cases, improvement in interest was shown, and in many cases improvement in health was shown. In schools where the comparisons were made, the backward, the dull, or the indifferent child was able, in many cases, after one or two years in a manual training-school, to pass a better test in the regular subjects of the school curriculum than the fair or brighter pupils who remained in the regular schools. And of course, besides having a better knowledge of the subjects of the regular school, the formerly backward, dull, or indifferent student had a vast amount of useful train- ing and knowledge which the other pupils lacked almost en- tirely. The dormant powers of the individual are awakened and stimulated by his contact with real things. The final test of all education is whether it produces in the individual the power to do. If it does, it is good; if it does not, it is of little value. The keynote of all manual training is useful- ness. The key to "what to teach'* is found in the interests of the community. When we say that all manual training must be useful, we should be careful that we understand what we mean by use- ful, for herein have many erred. Some form of work in manual training should start with the earliest grades, and should continue throughout the grades. At first very little should be attempted. Toward the end of grade work, the proportion should be about half and half. The things made are useful if they satisfy a need which the child feels, or if they help him to express his individuality, — himself. They may be utterly useless from the viewpoint of the adult. School gardens furnish a fertile field for manual training. Problems in paper folding and cutting, cardboard o o o z 'Si a z < H U Z S o o Q w w H MANUAL TRAINING AND HOME ECONOMICS 165 construction work, booklet making, coping saw work in thin woods, raffia, reed and textile work or their substitutes in local materials, are the sources of the earlier manual training in the grades. Fundamental to this work and coordinated with it throughout should be the work in drawing. Many of these problems involve training in color and design; so the artistic should go hand in hand with the practical in all of the work undertaken. This again illustrates the possi- bilities of tying together all school work into a single educa- tive process. Up to the fifth or sixth grade the work for girls and boys may be the same, or practically the same, varying only with the teacher's opportunities. Beginning with the sixth grade the work for the two sexes should take somewhat different form — the boys' work involving manual training in its more complete, organized form, and the girls giving their attention to the work of home economics. In both cases the problems of work should be planned and formulated in close connection with the needs of the community. They should not only look forward to the present needs, but should seek to formulate means of improvement in the community and should stimulate new interest for general betterment. In manual training for the boys the outlined course should provide for the use of such materials as wood, cold metal, leather, and concrete. The problems in wood should in- volve the construction of useful articles about the home on the ranch. The problems in cold metal should be largely repair work — making use of tin, sheet iron, brass and cop- per, and of the heavier materials. The problems in leather should involve the repairing of shoes and harness. The problems in concrete should consist of the study of the composition and proportion of substances for different mixtures, a study of the effect of different methods of treat- 166 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS ing the materials, and finally the general plan of moulding these mixtures into useful articles. In all wood problems, articles should involve the different kinds of joints, using the simplest first, and should involve the use of the com- mon tools — each one in its turn with careful explanation given by the teacher concerning its name and its particular use. In the beginning the boys may make birdhouses, chicken feeders, wash benches, blackening boxes, etc. Later the work may be made more difficult, and include hog feeders, water troughs, whipple-trees, three-horse even- ers, etc. Excellent water troughs, lawn seats, and orna- ments can be made from concrete, using reinforcing. In sheet metal the first articles should be very simple, such as an automatic match box, biscuit cutter funnel, measuring cup, and the like. Every boy should be encouraged to provide himself with a set of good tools, beginning with the simpler pieces first and building toward a complete set which will best serve his purpose on the farm. All should be taught how to care for tools, and to keep them in a systematic and orderly way. They should learn that to be valuable a tool must be kept in good condition. It is necessary to work from drawings or from blue-prints just as soon as the work becomes sufficiently complicated to require a working plan. The work for the girls should, at this differentiated period, involve problems in the specific field of home economics. The time should be about equally divided between cookery and sewing. In sewing the economy of clothing should be taught. The beginning work would involve the different stages and the necessary hand-work connected with good home-making. Wool and cotton fabrics should be studied, both from the standpoint of warmth and composition. Raw material should be used as samples, in order to show how fibrous materials lend themselves to the mechanical process MANUAL TRAINING AND HOME ECONOMICS li67 of weaving. It is' important for girls to know how to mend their clothing properly and to keep their wardrobe in a good wholesome condition. In connection with this work there is an opportunity to teach habits of industry, thrift, neat- ness, and accuracy, as well as technical skill. In cookery the problems should include the simple study of foods, food values, and the need of a balanced ration, from the standpoint of cost as well as from the standpoint of food value. It is important to have the proper classification and understanding in order to select wisely. The proper care of foods is also of great importance. In connection with this work it is well to teach the pupils care of utensils as well as the proper care of foods. Since serving is an im- portant part of a palatable meal, this should be emphasized through means of practical demonstration. The aim of this work should be to develop standards of health, right living, livelihood, and proper application. There are now many books published which give specific outlines both in manual arts and in home economics which are adaptable to the upper grade work, and it would seem well to have a well-balanced guide-book as an outline for the teacher and as a standard for the pupils. Of course it is entirely proper to teach all of this work without the use of any book, and there can be no objection to such a plan if the teacher is thoroughly prepared. The use of the book is suggested because of the fact that in the rural schools the teacher has many other problems, and usually finds a well- selected text of great help in minimizing her arduous tasks and in maximizing the opportunities offered to the children. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. How would you combine academic subject-matter with manual-train- ing classes in order to secure the best results from the child's time in school? 168 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 2. Should parents decide what their child should follow as a vocation, and begin early in life to train him for that work; or should they expect his development and adaptation to determine this better as he grows into maturity? 3. How can we best teach the dignity of labor and the value of service, so that our children will have the right conceptions as to these things? 4. Evidences of a scientific age are portrayed everywhere about us; should this be less adaptable in its application to farming than to other lines of activity, such as business, commerce, etc.? CHAPTER XIX THE HOT LUNCH AND ITS VALUE No discussion of rural school problems is complete without some mention of the hot lunch now served in schools in nearly every State of the United States. The serving of hot food to children in school is not a recent innovation. It began in Europe in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and the custom now prevails in Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. In America the work was begun in Massachusetts. Now the school lunch in one form or another is appearing in all parts of our country, in the schools not only of the larger cities, but also of the more remote country districts. That the custom of serving hot lunches to children at school has spread rapidly and has reached large proportions indicates that it is meeting a universal need. Physicians, school nurses, teachers, and others interested in the conser- vation of childhood have long argued that wholesome food helps materially in the promotion of both the physical and the mental vigor of children, the food supplying the energy not only for bodily growth and play, but also for mental growth and study. It is this strong conviction on the part of those who have studied the problem that has added the hot noon lunch to our schools. The children to whom the lunch basket is a necessity should receive much more careful and thoughtful consider- ation than they do at present. They are often obliged to go a long distance to school, and during the winter days, es- pecially, hurry off with little or no breakfast. They spend 170 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS the greater part of the day in a room not too well ventilated, and as soon as school is out they eat their cold lunch hur- riedly and rush off to play. Hurried eating prevents proper saHvation and conse- quently proper digestion, the mechanics of which are thus forced upon the stomach. This greatly increases the work of the stomach and the chemical changes are postponed. Superimpose upon this the conditions arising from insuffi- cient blood supply — the result of physical exercise begun immediately after the eating — and there is the beginning of digestive disturbances which sooner or later affect the child's efficiency. It ought to be possible for every rural school to make pro- vision to give the children at least one kind of warm food at noon. This might be prepared and served by a committee chosen from the different classes, and would require only a few cooking utensils. No school is too poor to make a be- ginning in this work; and a beginning once made the work will stand on its merits. It is remarkable how money and en- thusiasm will come to the support of a real idea with a real plan for its execution. No adverse criticism has been heard from pupils, teachers, nor patrons where the plan has been tried. All have become enthusiastic supporters of the work. The following is an expression of a mother's appreciation whose five children were attending a rural school where the hot lunch was served at the noon hour. This sentiment could be duplicated many times from expressions of mothers who have learned to appreciate the value of this in connec- tion with school work. My dear Miss Hold en: I want to write you a few words in favor of the hot lunches you are serving to the children, in hopes that I may interest some parents who have not had the opportunity of getting acquainted with the work. THE HOT LUNCH AND ITS VALUE 171 For a year we have been sending five children to the training de- partment of the Normal School at Cheney, where they have re- ceived the hot lunches served there. The benefits they have re- ceived are many. Their physical health has improved and all have gained in ability to do their school work. The training they have received in manners and culture is the most noticeable in home life. When one of them does not eat as he should, another will say "What would Miss Holden say if she could see you do that.'" This is a great help to the busy parent, and at the same time strengthens the relationship between the home and the school — a very desirable thing. The hot lunch has solved the problem of the lunch for the mother, as she can depend upon the school lunch to supplement the cold food brought from home, and, too, she can rely upon it being the kind of food the child needs. The cost is not so great as when the child carried all the lunch from home, because the mother can put up a much more simple lunch to be eaten with the hot food served at school. Our children all enjoy the hot lunch and the opportunity to sit at a table, so much more than they did the cold lunch and the old way of eating it. I sincerely wish that every child who has to carry a cold lunch to school could have such lunch benefits as the children do who are able to have it served to them, as I understand thej^ do in many of the rural schools, and I believe they might if parents only knew of the work carried out by and advocated by the Normal School. I, for one, shall be glad to help in spreading this information by writing to any one who de- sires any further knowledge on the subject if a self-addressed, stamped envelope is enclosed. Mrs. Mary W. Knowles The teacher who has aspirations for her pupils will wel- come the serving of the noon lunch as an opportunity for constructive thinking by means of which children become genuinely sociahzed. She will make use of the opportunity to give lessons in domestic science, which will be full of in- spiration because of their immediate and practical utility. The girl in the country home knows a little about cooking, but usually only enough to make her despise it. It does not appeal to her as something worth thinking about; its appeal is more often from the viewpoint of hard and thankless 172 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS work. To study cooking at school throws a different light upon it, and gives a child a new and lasting interest in it; thus, it produces a more thorough-going and sympathetic cooperation between the school and the home. The cooking itself appeals to a fundamental and universal interest of children and consequently arouses their best effort. It pro- vides an opportunity for an activity that is entirely free from the danger of mental overstrain; it furnishes the oppor- tunity to impart much necessary information in regard to healthful living — in the study of the cleansing process, in the study of the preparation and care of the food, and in the manipulation of mechanical contrivances necessary for the carrying out of these processes; it helps the children under- stand the significance of simple food principles and values which strongly influence their lives and physical develop- ment; it gives training in habits of order, neatness, thought- fulness, helpfulness, and good table usage; and it supphes ample material for self-expression and for training in com- munity life. The noon lunch arouses a vital and intelligent interest in the school garden — an important feature of present-day education — the fundamental importance and far-reaching consequences of which have not reached their highest devel- opment. Lessons in hygiene and table etiquette may be given more impressively in a natural setting; so also may training in conversation, which helps each child to feel that he is an integral part of the community. A recent writer says, "What makes for hygienic living is as well worth knowing from the economic standpoint as what mechanical appliances will most increase the output." Since the habits of children are likely to follow them through life, it is very desirable that they be trained to observe at the table the unwritten code of good breeding. Through active participation in conversation children soon The Hot Noon Lunch in the Rural School THE HOT LUNCH AND ITS VALUE 173 realize that it is the duty of every one to make the daily luncheon hour an occasion of mutual entertainment, atten- tion, and courtesy, as well as refreshment. If, as is generally conceded, the school of to-day is a social organization reaching out and touching life at every other possible point, thus enriching its own life, then it would seem that all things tending to make each member of the school feel his relation to the organization as a whole, and accept his responsibility for the whole, are vital to the life of that organization. Whatever estabhshes in the child the habit of doing work for the profit and pleasure of the community is a great factor in the development of community spirit. The school is a place wherein pupils and teachers Hve together. A large part of every day is spent there, and pupil and teacher interests center about the school quite as strongly as the family interest centers about the home. They are in a measure a family, and their success and unity depend largely upon their opportunities for coming together in an informal way. The noon lunch is a common meeting ground. It is a meal where all the children meet with the teachers, where all cooperate for the pleasure and well-being of the whole, and where all relate their best experiences in the choicest language at their command. This daily as- sembling around the table brings about a truly friendly feel- ing and puts each child and teacher into direct contact with the personality of the other children and teachers. The httle children learn from contact with the older ones, and the older ones get an insight into the interest of the little ones that develops a helpful protecting sympathy. The environment forbids individual selfishness, and each child learns that he is individually responsible for the happiness and interest of the whole group. This is ideal community Hfe. Objection has been made to taking the time of the school 174 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS for cooking, something which should be taught in the home. If scientific and economical domestic economy were taught in the home, the objection would be vahd; but it is impossi- ble for the busy and often overworked mother on the farm to keep abreast of the many changes that are constantly taking place in this great problem of efficient housekeeping. It would require far more time than the average mother has at her disposal to glean from the various sources requisite knowledge of the right kind of home. This brings this work to the school, and every thoughtful mother should recognize that the time spent in the cultivation of the studies for home-making is just as valuable as that spent in the acquisi- tion of book information. Schools are an organic grow^th of society, and represent to a greater or less degree the practical wants of the Nation. While book information was sufficient to meet the educational needs of our forefathers a century ago, it does not meet the needs of the twentieth-century child; therefore, the school of to-day should offer every child an opportunity to receive a practical education — one which may fit him to hold his own in the rough work of actual life, and by means of which he may become socially efficient. The efficient person of to-day must be a doer among others, a laborer in society, a co-worker, a cooperator. The school must adjust its course of study to meet the practical needs of to-day and to send forth into life the best possible prospec- tive men and women. These considerations should dispel the prejudices of those persons who feel that there is no time in school for practical work — especially for the girl whose mission in fife must ultimately be that of the home-keeper. All workers for improvement of the home recognize that the hope of this improvement depends upon better prepara- tion of home-makers for their duties. Cooking in connec- tion with the noon lunch offers an opportunity for a begin- ning in the training of girls that is essential to the success THE HOT LUNCH AND ITS VALUE 175 and happiness of their Hves and the Hves of others in the home. There is sufficient evidence in the world about us that education is incomplete, and that our schools do not yet fulfil their highest function. When our courses of study- are so adjusted that the practical and the theoretical in education supplement each other, idleness will be done away with, and every moment count for growth; then the children of this great land will come into possession of their birthright. A mother recently expressed her hearty approval of our plan in the following language: Those who believe that the duties of citizenship are as important as those of family life, and that the ability to dweU harmoniously in communities and to work for the common good is an important end in education, value the training that is given during the one meal at which all the children of a neighborhood sit down together and at which there is an opportimity to add to the spirit of fellow- ship developed in the home, the spirit of a larger fellowship with all those of the community. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. What good reasons are there for the fact that people desire to have their meals served hot and immediately after cooking? 2. What reasons are generally given for under-nourishment, of mal- nutrition, as applied particularly to children? 3. What effect does indigestion have upon the skin of the individual, as well as upon his physical vigor and strength? 4. What is meant by a well-balanced ration as applied to food for the human family? 5. What means should be used in order to make the cold lunch serve the purpose of giving proper vitality to our children, who must de- pend upon this important midday meal at school? CHAPTER XX HEALTH EDUCATION AND MEDICAL INSPECTION The twentieth century is marked by an awakened interest in the welfare of children. To-day no conference convenes without considering the child problem. The teacher and the social worker are receiving instruction in health matters as a part of their training. Municipal authorities are trying to reach parents through the agencies of school inspection, visiting nurses, public lectures, and exhibits. Many of our States have also recently required the addition of health supervision and instruction in hygiene to the requirements for all village and rural schools, and have required the ap- pointment of county school health ojQficers. With all such efforts the rural trustee should heartily cooperate, and hearty cooperation will follow when school trustees come to have an intelligent conception of the needs for and the purposes of the work. In the public schools the health work is now being carried on with varying degrees of emphasis through the following agencies : 1. Medical inspection, which includes supervision of sanitary conditions and of school hygiene; which provides for examina- tion of teachers and children; for a record of personal and of family history; and for the correction of physical defects. It also urges special classes for mental defectives, and the isola- tion of contagious and parasitic diseases. 2. Instruction in hygiene and physical education as an integral part of the school program. 3. Attention to the hjgicne of instruction. 4. Cooperation of the home and all health agencies. HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 177 School Sanitation The first step in the health program for the school is se- curing an environment as free as possible from unhealthful conditions. School conditions are an index to community welfare. School sanitation considers certain things as es- sential to a well-regulated wholesome environment for teachers and pupils. Many of the faults in school sanita- tion are not within the control of the teacher, such as the system of lighting, heating, sewage disposal, and ventila- tion, which are often wrong by construction. But teachers heretofore have suffered through the neglect of the training school to prepare them for the supervision of health, and to develop in them a health conscience, and a practical knowl- edge of sanitation and hygiene. The failure is due to the fact that we have grown up in schoolrooms where many undesirable conditions exist. We have not been trained in sensitiveness to health conditions, and have not realized that much of the suffering as well as the economic waste may be prevented. The person who can permit himself to become stupid in a warm, poorly ventilated room is suffering from a lack of sense-training in connection with health environment. Every schoolroom must have fresh, clean, moving air, properly governed by heating and ventilating apparatus. In addition to this, the teacher needs to know what consti- tutes good air, and what dangers there are in overheating a room or reducing its proper amount of humidity. The in- jurious conditions of bad air are excessive temperature, un- usual humidity, exhalations and disease germs from unclean clothing and unhealthy bodies, and dust from the floor, blackboard, corners, crevices, and mouldings. The tempera- ture of a schoolroom should not fall below 64 degrees nor exceed 68 or 70 degrees, while the humidity should be be- tween 50 or 60 per cent. 178 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS As said before, there must be air in motion, and for this reason some device must be adopted for allowing the air to come into the room without causing a draught. There are good ventilating systems even for one-room schools, but if such a system cannot be provided, special window boards and a ventilator under the stove will be very helpful. It has been fully demonstrated that by improving conditions of ventilation in the schoolroom there will be less liability to sickness, and consequently a greater capacity for work on the part of both pupils and teacher. The teacher's health is very important; first, for herself, and second, because her health has a great deal to do with the attitude of the school toward health. Nervous ''break- downs" among teachers, so often attributed to overwork, are in many instances the result of wrong sanitary condi- tions, and lack of recreation or proper food. Every teacher should be trained to protect pupils against eye injury and eye strain in the schoolroom. We are told by medical authorities that eyes are often weakened, if not ruined, by glazed paper and blackboard surfaces, lines of the wrong length, unsteady, dazzling light, and prolonged con- centration. Required home study may deprive a child of necessary play and sleep, and by so doing may aggravate the effects of harmful school environment. A teacher should be made aware also of the effects of dry sweeping. This fills the air with dust, and combines with bad ventilation, lack of water, and dust-raising physical ex- ercises, to supply conditions which favor the spread of dis- ease germs, more particularly the tubercular bacilli. Floors should always be cleaned in a way to prevent the scattering of dust. This may be done by the use of the vacuum cleaner, or by sprinkling the floor with " Waxene," "Dust Glow," or a similar preparation. Nor must muscle comfort be disregarded. Seats and HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 179 desks not properly regulated according to a child's size fre- quently deform the spine and the hips, and cramp the lungs. In the matter of school furniture there is httle uniformity in this country. Numerous styles of desks, adjustable and otherwise, are on the market. Some of these are very diffi- cult to adjust. A few are supposed to be so easily manipu- lated that a child can change one himself. At present there is a strong leaning toward hght weight tables and chairs of different heights for the schoolroom. The position at the desk or table that is best for writing is not good for hand- work or reading. The child, however, can be easily taught where to place the chair for the different kinds of seat- work, and should be encouraged to change his position for comfort and bodily rest. Other things needing constant surveillance are the drink- ing cup, towels, and toilets. The common drinking-cup is now almost invariably tabooed, because disease germs are easily transmitted by its use. The plan of having in- dividual cups is open to criticism, because they are not pro- tected from dust. When a bubble fountain cannot be pro- vided, each child should carry an individual drinking-cup in his lunch pail. The common towel is almost as objection- able as the drinking-cup, because of the possibiHty of con- veying skin diseases, and infection of the eyes and of the nasal cavities. While the laundering of many small towels would seem too much of a problem, paper towels have been found very satisfactory, or each pupil may bring his own towel and attend to the laundering of it. The unsanitary toilet is both a physical and a moral menace, and ought to be eliminated as rapidly as possible. Medical Inspection Medical inspection is a department of health education, and its object is to promote the happiness and the efficiency 180 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS of the child by preserving and improving his health. There are several angles from which we may look at the matter of health for the school child: 1. The individual child himself, and the man or woman he may become. The child is biologically the most important mem- ber of society, and should have the opportunity of developing into the best individual possible, with his given heredity. 2. The patrons who trust their children to the school. They should see to it that the environment there is conducive to health of body, mind, and morals. 3. The taxpayer, or the economic viewpoint. As a business pro- position the investment of moneys in the schools should yield the highest degree of efficiency in the lives of the boys and girls educated. This efficiency depends upon good health. Medical inspection includes a careful and thorough exam- ination of the physical condition of children. These exami- nations vary in thoroughness, but in a general way may be taken to mean inspection of nose, throat, skin, chest, joints, and feet; testing of vision and hearing; examination of heart and lungs; for the five primary physical defects are poor vision, nose and throat obstructions, deafness, decayed teeth, and poor nutrition. Boys and girls unable to breathe through the nose because of adenoids or enlarged tonsils frequently fail in their school work because they cannot con- centrate on the work assigned, and many an unthinking teacher has punished children for their seeming neglect when they were really not to blame. If a child be found free from all of these five primary phy- sical defects, he is hkely to remain strong through the school year. Where the work of a child is very poor, or his actions and habits so peculiar that his normality is questioned, a test of his mental powers should be made. As a result of improper schoolroom conditions, revela- tions have been made as to the profound influence which defects of the eyes, ears, nose, throat, and teeth have upon The Wrong Kind of School Toilet This is a ve.-y common kind, but not the right kind for a healthful school (From Healthful Schools, by Ayres, Williams, and Wood) w. >. o >?o 3 X < ^ & ■« -« 4 a Kq S P^ HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 181 the general health, and ultimately upon the disposition and the conduct of a child. For instance, the direct effects of bad teeth are pain, at the expense of time and sleep, foul breath, and improperly chewed food, which causes poor nutrition and lessened resistance to disease. Decay of baby teeth often causes decayed or unsound and crooked perma- nent teeth, and may be the cause of infection of the glands of the neck, or of the jaw bone, or even infection of the mid- dle ear, causing deafness. The child that is anaemic may be found to be undernour- ished because of his inability to chew his food properly. Malnutrition is one of the most serious conditions found in children, and a careful investigation has shown that about eight per cent of the total number of children enrolled in school suffer from it. The poorly nourished child is usually below weight, thin, pale, and of a pinched facial expression. He does not always come from the homes of the poor; for the causes of malnutrition are poor food, bad air, and in- sufficient rest and sleep, — all of which are the exact oppo- sites of the primary requisites of health. Poor food has a variety of meanings. The food may be insufficient and the child half starved. Or it may be im- properly cooked — the frying-pan has ruined thousands of stomachs. It may not have the right ingredients — may lack green vegetables, or fats, or proteids. It may include tea and coffee, which are harmful stimulants having no food value at all. Lack of sunshine and fresh air will produce anaemia in children as surely as a plant will lose its color when placed in the same surroundings. Lack of rest and sleep is another contributory cause. A child from five to six years needs at least eleven to twelve hours of sleep. From six to eight a child should have ten to eleven hours of sleep; from eight to ten from ten to eleven and one haK hours of sleep; from ten 182 HANDBOOK FOR RUR.\L SCHOOL OFFICERS to twelve from nine and a half to eleven hours of sleep; from twelve to fourteen from nine and a half to ten and one half hours of sleep, and from fourteen to sixteen nine to ten hours of sleep. If the child is getting less than this amount of sleep, according to age, if he has formed the habit of staying up late, he is not having a fair chance to grow and develop as he should. There should be on record the family as well as the per- sonal history of each child. The family history shows the nationality and the age of the parents, their health condi- tion, and the number of other children in the family. The nationality of parents helps us to know to what disease the child will have the least resistance. For instance, the South Sea Islanders succumb very easily to measles, because they, as a people, have but recently become exposed to this disease. The negro is not infected with malaria because of acquired immunity as the result of long exposure. His- tory of rheumatism in the life of the parents may explain nervous diathesis in the child. Every inquiry made into the hfe of the child or the parents has some good reason back of it. We might go on and show the seriousness of the different defects commonly found in school children. It is sufficient to say that they are serious, in that each one of them handi- caps the child in some way, and therefore retards his prog- ress at school. Retardation is a heavy expense, and any- thing a community can do to improve the child's ability to go through school at a normal rate is economy. The extent of retardation in schools of this country is on the average thirty-three and one third per cent of the total enrollment. This means that three out of every ten pupils leave school lacking a year or more of work which they should have had. The chief causes of retardation are late entrance, mental deficiency, irregular attendance, and physical disabihties. HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 183 Children with defects make slower progress in their school work. Medical inspection must be constructive. The defect dis- covered, must, if possible, be corrected and the disease treated. In answer to the inquiry as to just how much may be accomplished, one can make no definite statement. In some instances provision may be made for free treatment in clinics or by specialists, when parents are unable to pay but are at the same time willing that the child should be helped. Nothing should ever be attempted without the permission of the parents. Medical inspection was first introduced into the school in connection with the work undertaken to control epidemics — contagious and parasitic diseases — and this still remains one of the important phases of the health program. The more frequent and serious infectious diseases are scarlet fever, measles, smallpox, chicken pox, tonsillitis, diphtheria, mumps, whooping cough, colds, persistent cough, trachoma, pink-eye. The detection of contagious or of parasitic dis- eases in their early stage is important. We no longer say that the child may as well have the children's diseases and have them over with, for we know that the younger the child the more far-reaching the effects of the disease, and that each year he escapes infection improves his chances of not having these diseases at all. We also know that the last few years have disclosed many of the carriers of disease, such as the mosquito, the fly, and the rat. Even the pet dog and the house cat may become carriers. The little girl who brought into the house a stray cat and begged permission of her mother to keep " this per- fectly good cat she found in the ash barrel" developed a crop of ring- worm in a few days. It is necessary to require children who have had any of these diseases to remain at home for some time, after ap- 184 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS parent recovery. Parents sometimes fail to see the wisdom of this, but it may safely be said that while it is not safe for the school to have the httle convalescent back, it is equally true that such additional time is needed for a complete re- covery. Very often a child who has had diphtheria will be a "carrier" for weeks after his recovery. Healthy persons, who are able to resist invasion of the germs, may carry them in the throat or nasal passages and give them off to others who, because they are less strong, will come down with the disease. Prevention of infectious diseases is progressing very rapidly. Small pox has been marvelously conquered by vaccination. Typhoid fever is very greatly reduced, and the crusade against the fly is telling in favor of general health conditions. Against measles, mumps, whooping cough, chicken pox, and scarlet fever, no preventive meas- ures other than the time-honored ones of avoidance, isola- tion of the sick, and final disinfection have so far been discovered. Food inspection is already governed by Federal and State laws. No community should consider their children safe from tuberculosis until they have state-wide inspection of dairy and milk. Vegetables eaten without cooking, as let- tuce, celery, etc., can harbor disease germs if washed or watered with polluted water. Practical Hygiene When the health supervision or medical inspection is to be introduced, the initiatory steps are meetings of parents and patrons of the district at which some one may speak upon the matter of hygiene of the school. If the sentiment of the majority is in favor of some action, it is well to have some one present who is properly qualified to pass upon the condition of the school premises, and to make physical examination of the pupils. If possible, the parents should be present when HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 185 their children are examined. A report of the condition should be made to the parents. The success of the move- ment, thus started, depends upon securing the right person to carry on the follow-up work by bringing the home and school together in considering the importance of the work as it pertains to the health of the children. This supervisor must be specially prepared for the work, and must have, in addition, the tact and wisdom in deahng with people that will make it possible for her to secure the cooperation of the parents and teacher. Rural communities are solving the problem by employing, for a number of schools, one person who divides her time among them. This, v/ith the cooperation of the teacher who reahzes her obhgation and has had training in caring for the whole child organism, is sure to prove a very effective plan. A number of the States have aheady provided special means to meet this need. The medical inspectors encourage, as a part of the health program in the school, the teaching of hygiene and the work of physical education. A valuable part of health education is the training of the pupils to feel themselves a part of the community, and therefore responsible for the protection of pubhc health. This social training is vital in all phases of school work, but particularly so in connection with hygiene. Hygiene is not a subject, and cannot be taught by talk- ing about health alone. Hygiene is a practical force, a method, a way of living; and we are trying to add to the moral code the right and duty to be healthful as well. If we take the matter of posture, which we have thought of as appearing well and as keeping straight, and consider it as the expression of a state of mind, then it can be understood how it comes to be the expression of wide-awake mental willingness to do, to he useful in the world. The ambition of a teacher who is teaching hygiene is the 186 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS inculcation in the lives of the children in school of those habits of Hving, thinking, feeling, and doing th^-t will be for their good, so that later in life they may devote their conscious efforts to something less personal than thinking of their bodily condition. Health is not the end, but the means to the end of living happily and successfully in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Everyone knows that the ways of acting, called habits, are easy to form and difficult to change. Habits are a great economy, carrying on most of our actions for us and leaving us free to think about other things. We should not progress far in this life if we had to think just how to take every step, or guide the muscles in the hand when writing. One noted authority has well said : There should be insistence in schools, as well as in the higher institutions of learning, upon the cardinal principle that the acqui- sition of good habits, and not of information, should be the final test of a successful education. Think of the remarkable gain to our civilization if children were taught fewer subjects, but were assisted to acquire good postural habits, were taught to breathe deeply, to speak without nasal twang, to eat slowly, not allowed to imitate the nervous habits of parents or teachers, nor to crystal- lize into permanent form the undesirable reactions induced by fatigue or protracted study in poorly ventilated rooms. It is because of the difficulty of changing our habits that we find people trying many artificial means for getting health. Health is one of the greatest blessings for the foundation for success and happiness, but it cannot be found at the drug store, nor the patent medicine chest. Neither may it be found in the city nor the country alone. The old idea of the superior healthfulness of the country has been overthrown by recent studies, as the chart on the opposite page well shows. There is even more need for health examination and hygiene teaching for rural schools than for city schools. 40 RO 49.9% Defective Teeth 30.0% Pediculosis Health Defects in City and Country Children Compared Compiled from a study of the health examinations of children in twenty-five American cities and of rural-school children in five American States. Only in- pediculosis (head lice) and in skin diseases do the city children show greater percentage of defects. (From Woofter's Teaching in Rural Schools, p. 299) 188 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS Since the habits of hygienic hving must be formed in the early years of hfe, the school's first concern should be to make all activities of a healthful character. The child's in- terests parallel his awakening instincts, and the hygienic and effective method of teaching gives him just that knowl- edge for which he is ready at that time. Going over material the child already knows is usually not interesting and will cause him to try to find something that is of interest, even if it is classed as mischief. Giving tasks for which he is not ready is equally unhygienic. Lincoln once said, "The sen- sation of inadequacy to one's task is a source of acute suffer- ing and injury. In the muscles fatigue only passes into pain, but in the mind we feel the pain called depression of spirits when we are required to discharge mental function beyond our strength." In children the feelings are in a state of ten- sion and irritabihty rather than depression. Anything that gives rise to anxiety, apprehension, or aggravated feehngs of joy or sadness is unwholesome. Contentment should be the keynote of the schoolroom. Joy is good for mountain- top experience. The more the school activities take on the characteristics of directed play the more natural, hygienic, and efficient is the instruction. An unhygienic mental diet (faihng in interest because unsuited to the child) is probably the greatest cause of retardation and elimination. The greater part of those children leaving school in the grades do so because they find drudgery rather than interest in their required duties. They want to get away from school as a place in which they have failed. Teaching hygiene includes giving the laws of health and their justification, but this is for the sake of carrying them into action. The failure to bridge the gap between what we should do and what we really do grows out of the fact that we have the wrong habits and cannot easily change. If we wait until the pupil is old enough to study formal physiology HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 189 and hygiene, and then expect the instruction to work out in terms of changed habits of hving, we shall be disappointed, for we are not proceeding psychologically. With the advance of civiHzation man has lost the instincts that formerly guided him in caring for himself, and this loss must be made good by training in intelHgent control of the Kfe. The work in personal hygiene in the school is primarily one of securing habits of personal cleanhness of body, teeth, and clothes; and cleanhness in handling material, eating lunch, and in the care of the desk and the room. Cleanli- ness of person and environment, together with clean play and vigorous work, will do much toward keeping the mind alert and the conduct wholesome. A very important adjunct to this is having the school plant sanitary and hygienic, so that the pupils may develop a sense of what is right, and be uncomfortable and dissatis- fied when the surroundings assume any of the characteris- tics of an unhealthful environment. The problem is to secure the practice in right hving that may become a fixed mode of response. Incentives used to get the child to come to school clean and to cooperate with the other pupils in keeping the room orderly will have to be those that appeal to him because they are on his plane. He is not interested in health — he is living in the present, on the physical plane — and a pleas- ant-tasting tooth paste will do more toward securing dental cleanliness than the portrayal of the miseries of toothache, or the display of a chart of perfect morals. A httle later the boy or girl will do what is desired because he wishes to please, and the appeal to the adolescelit is through his pride and his liking to appear well. The incentive must be the best possi- ble to get results. Some of the most fundamental things in education must be got indirectly, and this is particularly true of health instruction. 190 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS The child who is trained to adapt himself happily to his environment is getting the habit of cheerfulness, the great- est of nerve tonics. Just as the physical condition of the organs of the body determines the moods or attitudes of mind, so the mental life stimulates or depresses the func- tioning of the cells of the body. The *' Great Stone Face" gives us a situation with much of the real portrayed, for we really tend to become like what we think. Moral hygiene has to do with improving conduct, with making the willed action social, rather than individualistic. Any part of the school activity, whether it be studying arith- metic, or playing at recess, is morally hygienic if the ideas acquired and the habits formed are such that they will help to decide in favor of right conduct. There is always a cry for moral training in the school. Because of the failure in the home and in the school of the past to give this training, we have had a setting apart of one part of the general hygiene for special study. That this failure should stand out more clearly in connection with the most vital and far-reaching influences in the life of the young is inevitable. When par- ents ta,ke up their responsibility to the child and give him a growing knowledge of himself, and the school ceases to slur over certain phases of the history of all hfe, then will sex- hygiene be unnecessary. All children receive training for thinking and judging about the most sacred things of life. The training is real in all cases, whether it be intelligently planned by parents and teachers, or is purely the result of the accidental environment of the child. The difference is one of kind. The first ten years of hfe is the impersonal age, and the time when facts of hfe are as natural as facts in geog- raphy. This is the golden opportunity for giving him the foundation of reverence for life, respect for rights of others, self-control, and the growing knowledge of himself to which he is entitled. HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 191 SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. What is the relationship between the body and the mind, as it be- comes apparent without scientific investigation? 2. Should the public school in any way be held responsible for the health of our children? 3. Which costs the nation most, physical debility or mental debility? 4.. Does either the picture representing the "Man with the Hoe," or the poem with the same title describing the physical endurance of man, give the correct impression of labor as it is now regarded by our best citizens? 5. Does the New Testament give any examples of man's body, mind, and heart working together in a harmonious relationship? 6. Judging from your own experience, do you believe that the number of necessary physicians will increase or diminish, if health consciousness is made a part of a child's education? CHAPTER XXI CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY To fall short in the required measurements for good citizen- ship is to lose just so much of life's opportunities. It is to fail in reaching the full stature of manhood or womanhood. It is to be lacking in the elements which insure to us the largest measure of happiness. We want our citizenship to have the highest regard for nature and nature's laws, to have an appreciation of the beautiful as well as the good. We want positive character expressed in every individual. We want honesty and truth as typical virtues shown forth in all of our associations and in all of our dealings. We must have honor as the underlying basis of our indi\ddual acts. And there ought to be a conscious recognition of the fact that we largely shape our own destinies through our choosing as our guiding influences the baser things in life or those repre- senting the nobler virtues. The responsibility of citizenship ever increases as the gov- erning powers are placed in the hands of the people. In a democracy all must share alike in the duties of formulating a "government of the people, for the people and by the people." Individual responsibility does not end with the exercise of the right of franchise. This is important and should be universally exercised, but the influences which bring about the decision of each voter who secretly voices his own sentiment when he places his vote in the ballot box represent conditions which have affected him both directly and indirectly for months and possibly for years. In other words his vote does not represent an immediate decision, but rather represents a conviction of long standing. In CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY 193 national affairs it may represent his political views rather than an individual choice. In such cases principles of gov- ernment take precedence over the personal representation. This is necessary because a knowledge of people through acquaintanceship is limited, and because we know men at a distance better through the principles they advocate than through their personal qualities. For local offices men are often supported because of per- sonal acquaintanceship. Voters have the opportunity of knowing directly of the candidate's ideas and ideals. The choice is determined more largely because of a knowledge of the candidate gained through association than because of party principles. So every voter finds himseK confronted by these two means affecting his voting decision. Both plans are partly right and both are partly wrong. It is not possi- ble for national principles to be carried on equally well by executives chosen even by the same political parties. Indi- vidual qualities of judgment, reason, decision, reliability, and honesty have much to do with determining an officer's worth. Most of us frankly acknowledge that all men are not endowed with the same power of comprehension, with the same abundance of foresight, with the same fundamen- tal conception of life and living. We know full well that through the violation of nature's laws man's mental vigor may be arrested or retarded just as his bodily vigor may be hindered by thoughtless violation. Then, too, success or failure is often determined by adaptation or the lack of it in connection with the work in charge. Using these things as the basis of our decision, we ought not to cast our ballots for any officer wholly because he represents a political principle in government nor wholly because he possesses likable quali- ties and has gained popularity through such. No democratic nation can ever recognize one man as su- perior to all others. This idea has passed away with the 194 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS divine right of kings and with the autocratic form of govern- ment. But while we do not recognize any one man as su- premely superior, we do recognize that some men have bet- ter qualifications and larger adaptation for specific work than do others. This fact necessitates our choosing wisely the man to whom we delegate our power as a governing officer, who in turn must shape the policies best suited to the welfare of the whole people. If we allow prejudice to govern our choice, we are sure to reap the reward of our own follies. If we apply the highest principles in making our decisions — and still make a mistake — there is satisfaction in our honesty of purpose. But few mistakes will be made if every voter considers well his duty and recognizes his act as a sacred privilege. If we believe in liberty for all men, we also believe in equality for all men. We believe, too, that fraternity must become one of the trinity in our new democracy if we are to make this a safe governing process for an intelligent progres- sive nation. But each of these three terms needs to be de- fined in order to be understood. Liberty in an unrestricted sense means anarchy, means bolshevism. In its better sense it means *'The greatest good for the greatest number" with highest respect for the rights of the minority. Equality cannot mean and does not mean that all men are endowed by nature with equal physical strength, with equal mental power, with equal moral courage. It does mean that all men should be given an equal opportunity for development, for achievement, for service, for happiness. Fraternity does not mean that we should recognize in every man the same lova- ble qualities that we now recognize in our closest friends and companions. It does mean that we should respect each man's rights; that the strong should not take advantage of the weak; that the rich should not scorn the poor. It should recognize in each man potentialities akin to our own, and CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY 195 should desire to have his latent powers developed into the largest possible living force. It bespeaks our personal in- terest for all mankind and a desire for their best welfare. It has been truly said that a nation is characterized by the thought, by the actions, by the ideals of its citizenship. Equally well does this principle apply to the home and the members of the family, to the community with its united home influences, to the school with its close associations. Reasoning adversely, then, it may be said that a good school must represent a community of good homes. Or it may be said with the same degree of fairness that the school typifies in a large measure the ideals found in the home life and therefore stands as a criterion of what our nation ought to be. Good homes and good schools then are both fundamen- tally necessary to a good nation, and money rightly expended on either one ought to bring the largest returns upon the in- vestment. Every child should learn to love his home so well, and to respect his parents to such a degree that the cardinal principles of his life be formed about these early associations. The school home, too, should stamp in his hfe so much of good that his memory through the years will be surcharged with the vital interest of lasting value which came to him during this period of his life. Through these agencies the guiding principles of our citi- zenship are formed, but this is a small inner circle, and the youth of our country must quickly step outside of the influ- ences of these two organizations. The community adds its might, and within it there may be many influences for good. The church is probably the largest contributing factor of the community because it is organized with a very definite pur- pose in mind. Secret societies and lodges, too, are impor- tant because they offer social opportunities as well as a means of close cooperation. Public business of every kind has a bearing upon the complete environment, and may con- 196 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS tribute in a valuable way to the complete setting of our com- munity's influences and interests. From all these sources then comes the complete education which must function in the life of every individual. The fundamental basis of government in a democracy de- pends upon individual understanding and individual think- ing. But we usually think of it as a great association of peo- ples, who in the aggregate initiate policies and determine all plans of procedure. We emphasize majority rule because in this we see an opportunity for every man to express his own personal wishes. This theory is correct in principle, but in practice it has not always given the results expected. The fault lies in the fact that one man often does the think- ing for a group and that public sentiment is often an out- growth of minority thinking. If we could always be sure of the unqualified integrity of our leadership, and could always have the assurance that this leadership would think and act in the interests of the whole people and not be swayed by selfish interests, then and only then would it be safe for the few to do the thinking for the many. But even if this could be assured it would not be advisable because a few leaders cannot make a great nation. Plutocracy as well as autocracy has failed to satisfy the needs of a progressive world. Democracy as it exists is in- finitely better than either of the old forms of government; but it has not yet realized its greatest potentialities because we still cling to some of the old traditions, and because we have not yet reached the place where individual thinking and individual decisions can be depended upon. The important question, then, is how can we secure ma- jority rule based upon majority thinking and understanding. For by so doing we shall be able to eliminate individual selfish motives. By this it should not be inferred that men ought not to cooperate, nor that they ought not to discuss CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY 197 matters fully and freely together for the purpose of arriving at a conclusion. These are the very things that we desire to have done in order that there be better understanding and greater cooperation. What we do want, however, is that each man shall investigate earnestly and honestly for him- self, and that his final decision be based upon intelligent un- derstanding and honesty of purpose representing the innate qualities lying within himself. In other words, we cannot have any considerable number of men of the "rubber stamp " type and still boast of our majority rule. Neither can we have men swayed by personal prejudices and selfish interest, dominate by means of position or of wealth the individual responsibilities incumbent upon each man of the whole Na- tion. All men's decisions are equal when measured by the power of their individual ballots. But the value of the final decision arrived at by the aggregate count of all the votes depends upon how intelligently and unselfishly each indi- vidual has considered the matter. Should we deny the possibility that all men of the Nation can be made personally responsible, then we have over- thrown the governmental principles of a real democracy. If we agree that this is necessary and yet acknowledge the fact that it has not been fully accomplished, we are compelled to make this achievement a necessity in the realization of our vision which would "make the world safe for democracy." Now that the last autocratic ruler has been forced to yield to the rights of the people, and that the intelligent nations of the earth have declared their implicit faith in democratic rule, we ought conscientiously to look forward to that greater democracy which must first abound in the minds and in the hearts of all of the people. For, indeed, democracy must first become a personal matter in order to have it work out through majority governmental control. It has been said before that literally men cannot be made 198 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS altogether equal, but this does not bar the necessity of devel- oping all men to their individual highest degree, thus bring- ing them just as nearly as possible to the commonly accepted equality basis. We may not be able to change nature's laws, but we can change the conditions under which those laws operate, and in a manner to insure better results. This caniiot be overlooked when we consider the necessity of making such individual units in our plan just as strong as possible. Some one has said that the chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and we can apply this principle profit- ably to the links of the chain in our governmental control. Kipling has said in his The Jungle Book that the wolf is no stronger than the pack, and the pack is no stronger than the wolf. This is simply another way of making an analogy which governs the same principle, and it too may be applied to our proposition of individual development and its effect upon collective decision. If we are agreed upon the neces- sity for individual development, it then becomes necessary to turn to the means which we have at hand for bringing this about. It has been truly said that men are developed through education as metals are refined by means of the blast furnace; but, since much depends upon the proper heat of the blast furnace, so also does much depend upon the kind of education. So it is upon the kind of education that the emphasis should be placed. And in this connection it should be remembered that book knowledge secured in school is one of the fundamental bases of education, but it does not rep- resent the broad education which must be considered in this connection. In its largest sense this *' broad educa- tion" must have its beginning in infancy and ever increase through the years, gathering from every source the knowl- edge of greatest worth and applying it unselfishly to the principles of noble living. The ideal of our democratic education was recentl}^ well CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY 199 expressed in a resolution adopted by our National Educa- tional Association, which declared that: Education is the means through which democracy establishes social justice. In a democracy where majorities both think and rule, education, however fostered and guided by leaders, must be so directed as to meet the needs of all. The fact that we are rapidly approaching the time when the masses of the people will assume large control of the affairs of government emphasizes anew the responsibility of the public schools in a democracy. The pro- gram of education to meet new and increased demands must be comprehensive enough to promote the physical well-being of all citizens, to eliminate illiteracy, to teach the English language as the common means of communication, to fit all individuals for vocational efficiency and for the wise use of leisure, to cultivate democratic habits of social relationship, to develop in all a high sense of the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship, and to equalize and enrich educational opportunity throughout the Nation. When the masses are educated in accordance with this program there will be no danger to democracy from them and less danger from the idle rich and idle wise. The ideal of democracy is for the masses to work so well and think so clearly that their w^orking together and thinking together will form effective factors in orderly progress. In the working-out of such a system of American public education the rural and village schools of our land play a very important part, and the rural and village school trus- tees occupy positions of importance if they intelligently and efficiently perform their duties. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 1. State as briefly as possible the conception you have as to the meaning of citizenship as applied to free peoples under a democratic form of government. 2. What different forms of government have the peoples of the world tried since the beginning of our historic record? 3. What principles are necessary to maintain if the people are to have 200 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS equal rights in determining the policies of life, liberty, and the pro- tection of property? 4. To what extent has the natural laws governing mankind's existence endowed them all equally? 5. Enumerate all the organizations that you know of which promote the best things for civilization; and also make a parallel list of those which tend to lower our standards of citizenship or which create a distrust among free peoples. 6. Distinguish between equality before the law under a democratic form of government, and individual inequality. APPENDICES 1. LIST OF BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING Ayers, :May, Williams, J. F., and Wood, T. D. Healthful Schools. 292 pp., illustrated, $1.50. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, New York, and Chicago, 1918. A simple and helpful presentation of the essentials as to school building construction, and the provision of a healthful environment for school children. Caeney, Mabel. Country Life and the Country School. 405 pp., illustrated, $1.50. Row Peterson & Co., Chicago, 1913. A very practical treatise on the rural-school problem. CuBBERLEY, Ellwood P. Rwal Life and Education. 367 pp., illustrated, $1.60. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, New York, and Chicago, 1914. A study of the rural-school problem as a phase of the rural-life problem. The first part of the book presents the new rural-life prob- lem which has developed within recent years, and the second part shows how this can be solved by so reshaping the rural school as to make it minister more fully than it now does to country life needs. Dresslar, F. B. Rural Schoolhouses and Grounds. 162 pp., illustrated. Bulletin No. 12, 1914, of the United States Bureau of Education. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Offlce, Washington, D.C., 50 cents. May also be obtained from Congressmen or Senators by writing. A well-written and illustrated book, describing the best in rural- school buildings, equipment, and grounds. Contains 44 plates, as well as many drawings. WooFTER, Thos. J. Teaching in Rural Schools. 327 pp., illus- trated, $1.40. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, New York, and Chicago, 1917. A very useful volume on the organization and management of a rural school, with simple statements as to the essential principles involved in teaching each of the common school subjects. All of the above books should be found in every rural-school library, for the use of teacher and trustees alike. 202 APPENDICES 2. SCORE CARD TO BE USED IN MEASURING SCHOOL SUCCESS This Score Card has been used by many County Superintendents in Washington in connection with their school visitation, and has proved very helpful to such school officers. It contains many sug- gestions that may prove useful to rural-school trustees in estimating ths efficiency of their school. I. Schoolroom appearance (a) Attractive Disorderly (b) Artistic Repulsive (c) Comfortable Uncomfortable (d) Well lighted Poorly lighted (e) Cleanly Uncleanly n. Personality of teacher 1. General Appearance (a) Vigorous Weak (b) Well poised Nervous (c) Neat Sloven (d) At ease Embarrassed. 2. Voice (a) Pleasing Harsh (b) Clear Indistinct . . . (c) Low High III. Spirit of schoolroom Does the teacher appear to (a) Stimulate Suppress (b) Be courteous Be rude (c) Encourage Nag (d) Cooperate Antagonize (e) Be firm Be weak (f) Be sympathetic Be harsh (g) Be tactful Be blundering. . . (h) Be strict Be lax (i) Be enthusiastic Be diffident . . . . (j) Be tempered Be irritable (k) Be quick to react Be slow to react. APPENDICES 203 (1) Be reasonable Be unreasonable (m) Be quiet Be noisy (n) Be tolerant Be intolerant (o) Be systematic Be disorderly (p) Be dignified Be undignified (q) Be resourceful Be dependent IV. The recitation 1. To what extent are pupils in class (a) Responsive Passive . . . . (b) Interested Indifferent (c) Energetic Lazy (d) Independent Dependent 2. To what extent are pupils responsive (a) Fluent topical recitations (b^ Word or phrase responses (c) Single sentence responses (d) Incoherent responses (e) Failing to answer 3. Pupils in room not reciting (a) Industrious .Indolent . . (b) Orderly Disorderly 3. GENERAL RATING-SHEET FOR STANDARD RURAL SCHOOLS This General Rating-Sheet has been used quite effectively as a suggestive means, and has proved of value as a stimulus to activity on the part of many rural communities. I. School grounds (a) Entire premises must be sanitary and in good condition. (b) Schoolhouse and all auxiliary buildings must be in good condition and well painted. (c) There must be a good flagpole. Preferably on the grounds with flag flying. (Government regulations.) (d) Trees and shrubbery must be well pruned and cultivated. (e) Walks must be provided when necessary. (f) Premises must be fenced where stock are permitted to run at large. (g) For suggestions see chapters VI and VII and VIH. 204 APPENDICES n. School buildings (a) Rooms used for instruction purposes must be properly lighted, heated, and ventilated. (See chapters VII and VIII.) (b) The interior should present a pleasing and artistic appearance. (c) There must be good window-shades well adjusted to light. (d) Window-boards for ventilation must be provided unless some other approved method is used. (e) Sufficient blackboard must be provided with good erasers. m. Necessary equipment (See chapters VIII and IX.) (a) Good desk and chair for teacher. (b) Single desks for pupils. Desks should be properly ad- justed and free from marks. (c) Stove, with jacket, properly situated or approved system of heating. (d) A large clock placed at the front of the room. (e) Suitable pictures properly framed and hung. (f) Maps, globes, and charts approved by the County Superintendent. IV. Desirable equipment (a) A good musical instrument — piano or organ preferred. (b) Small Victrola with well-chosen records. (c) An adaptable library carefully selected from books ap- proved by reliable authority. (d) Well-selected bulletins adapted to the community taken from the state and national lists. (e) Dust-proof cases for books and bulletins with loaning record giving specified rules. V. Sanitation (a) Proper drainage for all buildings. (b) Pure drinking-water, either fountain or covered tank and individual drinking-cups. (c) Sufficient lavatory facilities, with family or individual towels provided. APPENDICES 205 (d) Good brooms and brushes for cleaning floors and win- dows. (e) Dusteen, Dustglow, or some approved dust-allaying ma- terial, provided for sweeping. (f) An eraser cleaner for blackboard erasers. (g) Separate toilets for girls and boys. Toilets should be sanitary and free from marks. (h) Dust cloths and mops for special cleaning. VI. Outbuildings (a) A teacher's cottage should be provided whenever it is difficult to secure good board and living in a private home. (b) A gymnasium or playroom should be provided when weather conditions in winter make it desirable. (c) A neat well-built shed should be provided for horses or for automobile if pupils find it necessary to provide conveyance to school. (d) A fuel room should be provided where fuel can be kept dry and ought to be built in connection with the main building, or means provided in the basement. (e) If outside toilets are necessary, they should be well built, placed on different portions of the grounds, and should each be provided with a shield. VII. Teacher (a) The teacher must have had special training in a teach- ers' institution, or must have had at least two years of experience and hold a First-Grade Certificate. (b) Must take interest in community activities as well as school work. (c) Must be neat in attire and orderly in habits. (d) Must maintain good order in the schoolroom at all times. (e) Must provide some means for organization of and su- pervision of playground. (f) Must have well-arranged program posted in the room so that it can be easily read by pupils. (g) Daily register must be kept neat, with all records ac- curately made. 206 APPENDICES VIII. Pujnls (a) Pupils must show an interest in the regular work of the school. (b) Must take part in special exercises when requested. (c) Attendance must average at least ninety per cent for each term. (d) Tardiness must not exceed two per cent for the term. IX. Length of school year (a) School must be kept at least eight months during the year. (b) Means must be provided to keep buildings and grounds in wholesome condition during months school is not in session. X. Cooperation of patrons (a) School patrons must show their interest in the regular school year. (b) They must take part in the community activities or- ganized under the school's direction. (c) They must be willing to provide the necessities to make the school successful and progressive. (d) They must encourage wholesome leadership both in school and out. (e) They must be boosters always. APPENDICES 207 4. STANDARD RATING-SHEET FOR RURAL SCHOOLS This Standard Rating-Sheet has been used in checking up and evaluating all the rural schools in a number of counties, and then by comparative study of the results determining lines of necessary action. Approved copies may be given to and posted in each school, so that each may see the points of strength and weakness. Name of School District Number Name of Teacher Date of Visitation Name of individual giving rating I. Grounds Maximum Points points allowed (a) Good sanitation and drainage 2 (b) Trees and shrubbery well kept 2 (c) Good flagpole with flag flying 2 (d) Suitable plaj^ground apparatus 2 (e) Sufficient ground for all play activities 2 io II. Buildings (a) All buildings well painted and in good repair 5 (b) Heat, light, and ventilation standard. (See chapter VII) 5 (c) Inside toilets and outside toilets sani- tarj^ well kept, free from marks .... 3 (d) Adjustable shades for all windows. . . 1 (e) Interior attractive and artistic 2 (f) Good janitor service (buildings cleanly) 2 18 m. Equipment (a) Single desks of proper size, one fourth number adjustable 4 (b) Teacher's good desk and chair 2 208 APPENDICES Maximum Points 'points allowed (c) Well-kept blackboard having at least ^ twenty linear feet 2 (d) Three large well-framed pictures of approved school tj^pe 3 (e) Library chosen from approved book lists 2 (f) Suitable maps, gloves, charts, pro- vided for the primary as well as the upper grades 2 (g) Water fountain or covered water- cooler having spigot, and provided with individual drinking-cups 2 (h) Lavatory facilities with family or individual towels 2 (i) Musical instrument and provision for singing 2 (j) Large wall clock 1 22 IV. The school (a) Each teacher with special training for her work 4 (b) Not more than thirty pupils to the teacher 2 (c) Teacher retained for more than one j^ear of service 2 (d) Daily program posted in room so it can be read by pupils from seats .... 2 (e) Teacher's manual and course of study on desk 1 (f ) School visited by all of the directors . . 3 (g) Homes of neighborhood visited by teacher 4 (h) Cooperation of teachers and pupils . . 2 20 V. Community activities (a) Agricultural or industrial club work bringing the home and school into cooperation 4 APPENDICES 209 Maximum Points points allowed (b) Local school exhibit resulting from club work 4 (c) Community meeting held in cooper- ation with the school 3 (d) Hot lunch for the school planned in cooperation with the mothers of the community 3 (e) Health education in cooperation with the homes _4 18 VI. Additional points which ought to be required Name each point definitely and separately 1^ Total 100 5. SUGGESTIONS FOR COUNTY TRUSTEES' MEETINGS OR FOR COMMUNITY MEETINGS This list of topics has been used extensively in the work of the Cheney State Normal School with the rural schools of Washington and Idaho, and seems to contain practical and helpful suggestions. 1. How can the County Physician assist the rural communities in their health problems? 2. Is it important to insist upon Agricultural and Industrial work in all rural communities? 3. How can school grounds be planted in a manner to make them artistic and at the same time usable? 4. Are school revenues, as apportioned, equable for all classes of districts? 5. How can an old school building be remodeled to meet the requirements of heat, light, and ventilation? 6. Is it an economic advantage to furnish free textbooks to all the children of the district? 7. When the school raises funds for entertainment, what may be considered legitimate uses for which money may be expended? 8. What are the advantages of compulsory attendance, and how can this best be enforced? 210 APPENDICES 9. What number of months can the school be conducted with profit to the children and community at large? 10. How can wholesome and beneficial community pride be aroused? 11. How can effective team work be organized? 12. What stimuli may be gained through local and county ex- hibit work? 13. Is the present plan of taxing public service corporations equable to all districts? 14. What is the best plan for making an annual school budget? 15. Is it important to have one hundred per cent of accuracy in determining the school census? 16. What is the best means of securing a special trained teacher for the school? 17. When a Board Member is forced to work for a district, how compensated? 18. What is the best plan for supplying the necessities for the school so that no delay will be encountered? 19. Is it legitimate to use fuel, purchased by the district, for general gatherings aside from school work? 20. What is the best plan for installing a modern water system on the school grounds? 21. Are the present contracts equally binding to district and teacher? 22. What improvements can be made to insure better health conditions in school? 23. What use is made of all reports made by teachers and school trustees in the annual report of county and state superin- tendents ? 24. Is there any way to estimate the real value of education to a community? INDEX Adaptation, 150. Administration; the unit of, 14. Administration versus supervision, 127. -^ Advantages of Arbor Day, 48. Advantages of securing trained teachers, 52. Aim of manual-arts teaching, 162. Alhance of home and school, 119. Anaemia common among children, 181. Annual budget system, 40. Apparatus, school, 80, 81. Application of knowledge, 159. Attractive school grounds, 45. Ballot-box means of expression, 192. Bids and contracts, 105. Birthright of child, 3. Bonds necessary to financing, 39. Budget system, 40. Building details, 63. Buildings, used for other purposes, 30; and equipment, how to pro- vide them, 38. Calendar of official events, 103. Care of defective youth, 107. Carriers of disease, 183. Change in requirements, 4. Changes in school plans and policies, 148. Child's social needs, 151. Child welfare, 176. Choosing or improving school sites, 43. Church, imported agency, 152. Citizenship, intelligent, 1. Civic responsibilities, 2. Color scheme, 66. Combining associated subjects, 116. Combining courses for grade, 156. Common mistakes in organizing school boards, 25. Community topics, 209. Consolidation of rural schools, 134. Constructive criticism, 154. Coordination of study and work, 149. Contracts, 105. County, unit of school administra- tion, 14. Criticism, 159. Curriculum well balanced, 158. Daily program, 109-17. Defective youth, 107. Defects cause retardation, 182. Developing aesthetic tastes, 85. District units, 15. Drinking-fountains, 72. Early education defined, 154. Eating, effects of hurried, 170. Education, evidence of worth of, 1; faith in, 2; explained, 4; evolution of, 134; must include, 153; and the growth of nations, 159. Efficiency, meaning of, 174. Facts, disclosed in school election records, 21 ; and interest combined, 150. Family history, 182. Financing of schools, 35. Five primary defects of children, 180. Fountain for drinking-water, 72. 212 INDEX Free government, 1. Furniture, harmonious effect, 85. Good organization, 26. Government inventory of educa- tion, 1. Gymnasium for school, 55. Habits valuable, 186. Health and work, 176. Health education, 176. Health supervision in school, 176. Home, responsibilities of, 16. Home study and health, 178. Hygiene made practical, 184. Joint responsibilities of home and school, 76. Keeping public records, 42. Keeping the register, 107. Keynote of manual training, 164. Knowledge applijed, 152. Lavatories, 72. Lawful contracts, 107. Life-story of school pictures, 90. Limitations of one-room school, 138. Local district tax, 37. Local welfare versus national inter- est, 130. Lunch-basket a necessity, 169. Manual arts, 163. Manual training, 161. Maximum efficiency, 103. Means for transporting pupils, 143. Means of political expression, 18. Men characterized, 193. Minimum time, 103. Mistakes of board members, 25. Moral hygiene, 190. Mothers' appreciation, 170. Nation, responsibility of, 11; how characterized, 195. National responsibility, 11. National use of school, 1. Need for larger subsidies, 7. Need for trustees' policy, 30. Normal school a training center, 95. Official forms, 108. Official regulations, 105. One-room school, limitations of, 138. Opening of school, 106. Opportunity, noon lunch, 171. Organization, 26. Parent-teacher movement, 121. Personal association, 120. Pictures for decoration, 89. Plan for hot lunch, 169. Plans, suggestive, 131. Poor food, 181. Pottery, its use, 92. Program for school, 110. Program of education, 199. Program of health work, 177. Public records, 42. Pure air ventilation, 67. Reception of teachers, 101. Recommendation for school, 125. Records, accuracy important, 42. Redirected education, 147. Remedies suggested, 23. Representative government, 18. Requirements changed, 4. Resources and finances, 35. Results from study, 161. Retardation, 182. Roads, an advantage, 131. School, its beginning, 3; how admin- istered, 8; inspection of, 31. School comforts, 76. School decorations, influence of, 86. School furnishings, 76. School grounds, 45. School officers, 25. INDEX 213 School opening, 106. Schoolroom decorations, 85. School site, improving, 43; size of, 46. School spirit, 33. Score card, 202. Seat work, direction of, 117. Sense-training, 177. Social needs of child, 151. Standard rating sheet, 207. Standardization, 100. State Board, 13. State school officer, 13. Study and work, 149. Subjects alternating, 116. Subsidies, 7. Sunshine and sleep, 181. Support of education, 131. Surroundings of school, influence of, 47, 48. Tax, local, 37. Teacherage or school cottage, 51. Teachers, influence of, 94; liow to secure goom^ \ 02 731 589 A «; ,'ll r}