ii-- Class L j_^ /sz-^ y Book J~ Y-^ Cop\iiglit"N ° COPWUGHT DEPOSIT. THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA - SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK IN COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP, IN SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION, AND IN MASTERY OF THE SCHOOL SUBJECTS BY HAROLD WALDSTEIN FOGHT SPECIALIST IN RURAL SCHOOL PRACTICE, UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION ; AUTHOR OF " THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL," "RURAL DENMARK AND ITS SCHOOLS," ETC. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1917 All rights reserved .Viz Copyright, 1917, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published July, 1917. JUL 12 1317 Xortooot) T^xttt J. S. Cll^thlll^^ ^"o. - lliTwhk \ Sinltli C' Norw..o of of f icers of Organization £ Chair- men of Sub-Commiliees ;er supply, milk, flics, Bosqultoi household peats. eports adapted ral ooBnunitiea, auoh back riding, "hiking," To proaote rural feo- tlTltleB. coDblnlng threBhing, huaking. aotton plowing, and other seasonal work proper uae of paint on fara build- inga, artiatlo oon- atraotlen of bridges. of chuTQb and school grounds, esBctcrles, To doTelop taste for the Deans at hand for asathstie enjoyment, of field I Sty! .KOTICATIOH AKD TRAflS- sethoda of road making and oonatroatlon, e»- peelally in schools. Each Bohool to care for pi Kim: botvton BohoolB Rl^lry 1 To organise fan nolgta- borhooda for road in»- prOTenent an4 not to ask for goTomacnt fundi To encourage haTlng a telephone in eyery aohoolhouse and mutual telephone lines in •Tcry neighborhood. HOaSEBOLD BC0n(miC9. . better 1 Ing and ploabing sya- tens, nse of gas and tleeirlolty. ooopera- tlTc laundries, bak- •rlcc, loe houses, and eold storage planta. To study foods, balane- lo promote the stand- Outline Plan for tKe Organization of a Rural Community Fig. I. fully followed, it will give the countryside both the business organization and social interests needed. The Place of the Teacher in This Reorganization. — The teacher is one of the two or three natural community leaders and should take the initiative in community organization. If he is the right kind of teacher, he will have had all neces- 42 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK sary preparation for the work, and no one has greater faciH- ties for this purpose than he. He is in charge of the school plant, from which radiates many community interests, and is its natural gathering place. He is in 'touch with the leading men and women of the community, with the county agent and agricultural representatives of the state and even Federal Government. All this presupposes maturity and thorough preparation on the part of the teacher. If he does not possess these primary requisites for successful leadership, he should not be in the community at all. Question Studies Suggested by the Text Why should every rural life leader be conversant with the Report of the Country Life Commission? Is the book on your "rural hfe shelf"? What is meant by the rural life movement? How should it be dis- tinguished from the " back-to-the-land " movement? Show from a study of the 19 lo Census how urban communities are outgrowing rural communities. What is the relation of this to the ''high cost of living"? Explain clearly wherein the rural problem is not essentially a question of larger population but of the right kind of population. What two things are necessary before we can expect a permanent rural population ? Wherein is it largely a bread-and-butter problem ? Do you think it is hard work, or the monotony coupled with work, that drives people from the farm ? Prove that "isolation " is the real underlying factor in rural life. What does the power of suggestion do for the race ? How can school education hope to organize rural interests "in spite of the drawbacks of natural environment"? Have you studied carefully the needs of rural communities as suggested in Dr. Carver's outline? How many of these needs can you as a teacher help to improve? Is your community ready for organization on the Carver plan ? When will you enlist in helping to launch it ? Show what teachers can do to create sentiment for improved means of communication. Have your boys organize a "road drag club " to improve the roads between their homes and school. Why not? THE RURAL COMMUNITY PROBLEM AT CLOSE HAND 43 Special Studies Prepare for successful survey work by studying the following literature on the subject : ^ (i) Bailey's The Survey-Idea in Country-Life Work; (2) Galpin's A Method of Making a Social Survey of a Rural Community ; (3) Taft's Community Study for Country Districts; and (4) the report of rural surveys made by the Department of Church and Country Life of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. "The Social Nature of the Problem."' — Gillette's Constructive Rural Sociology, Chapter V. "Triumphs of Scientific Agriculture." — Fiske's Challenge of the Coun- try, Chapter IV. "The Importance of Cooperation in the Danish Agricultural System." — Foght's Rural Denmark and Its Schools, Chapter III. "The Rural Problem" and "The Solution of the Problem. "— Butter- field's The Country Church and the Rural Problem. "The Organization of a Rural Community." — Carver in 1914 Year Book, Department of Agriculture. * See Bibliography for complete address. CHAPTER III Fundamental Agencies in Rural Life : The Home Introductory Statement. — The three great fundamental institutions in rural life are the home, the church, and the school. The redirection of the rural community must come about through a proper relationship and successful coopera- tion of these three institutions and their supplementary allies. The latter, including the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, the Grange, the Farmers' Union, the Rural Press, the Farmers' Institute, and many other organizations must be clearly distinguished from the great fundamental agencies. They " may be supplemen- tary," says a good authority in this field, " but they may never supplant, they may be cooperative, but they may never be competitive." ^ The farm home is the heart of the community. The greatness of the latter is measured by the sum of its efficient homes. The church and the school, as institutions, came into existence to minister to the needs of the family group at a time when its organization had become too complex for the immediate members of the group to look after all the spiritual and educational phases of family life. In their relations the three institutions react on one another. The attitude of the home determines largely the activities of the church and the school. The church should inspire the family group to moral life and noble thought ; the school ^ Roberts, Albert E.. Rural Church Message, p. 62. 44 FUNDAMENTAL AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE : THE HOME 45 should supplement the teachings of the home and help it to develop noble manhood and womanhood, and especially to furnish such preparation for life as home environment cannot conveniently provide. This chapter is devoted to a more intimate study of the central one of these institutions — the rural home. The Old-time Home Group. — It has already been shown in a former chapter how the old-time family group was practically self-sustaining. It produced its raw materials from the soil and forest, and manufactured them into food and clothing and shelter. There was plenty of hard work, but somehow the tasks had a unifying influence. The sturdy boys labored side by side with their father to clear the forest and prepare the land for the plow, or they bound the grain as he wielded the scythe ; the girls spun the flax and wool and helped their mother make the winter's store of candles. There is a certain charm to the modern reader in such a description of our forefathers at work, though no one should harbor the idea that farm work in early days was anything but hard and exacting. For conveniences of a modern kind were unknown and everything had to be made and done by hand. But the multitude of tasks had a wonderfully unify- ing influence on the family group. It was a moral and spiritual unity, springing out of the close relationship of parents to children. The home tasks in which all the chil- dren had a share taught them to be helpful to one another, persevering and kindly, and above everything else loyal to the family circle. Nor was it all work on the old-time farms ; for there was less to do in winter time than now. During the long evenings when chores were done, the family group gathered at the fireside and the story- telling began, and the few books it possessed were brought out and reread. There 46 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK could be nothing frivolous about a group of people which depended upon the Bible, "Pilgrim's Progress," and ** Robin- son Crusoe" for its sources of inspiration. Says Dr. King, '' The children had not only their taste for enduring literature developed, but they acquired also in this way a fund of sound moral principles, which were bound to find expres- sion in their work-a-day lives." ^ The early home, more frequently than now, had its family altar, and church attendance was regular and enforced. Moreover wholesome rustic recreation was not lacking. Young and old would gather for their " play-games," their huskings, and their quiltings, and in some communities for the dance. The school meant much to the family circle as a social center, with its singing-school, its lyceum, and its spelling bee. Such, in brief, was the home of the house- hold economy farmer. The Farm Home as It Emerged from the Transition. — The average home as we have seen it emerge from the transi- tion in American rural life was a place where work pre- dominated. The mortgage had to be cleared, and there was a neighboring quarter-section of land to be bought. Hard, back-breaking labor much of it was, without any of the recompense which came to the earlier group through intimate and thoughtful cooperation. For under the new dispensation the home, altogether too often, has been a place only in which to eat and work and sleep after an ex- hausting day's labor in the fields. The transition farmer did not find much to console him in the rural church. It had lost much of its old-time vital force. The revival no longer appealed as it did of yore. The preacher, too, had moved to town and so could not minister to the farmers as in former years. Then the 1 In Education for Social Efficiency, pp. 80-81. FUNDAMENTAL AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE : THE HOME 47 school had become retarded, and found itself unable to be the socializing agency it used to be. The sturdy sons ceased to bring their brides to the paternal home. As nestlings almost, they shifted for themselves, eager for their share of Western land or for the romance of the city. The struggle meanwhile continued at home on the land. Hired men took the place of the departed, and the unsocial ex- istence continued until, perhaps, the women folk — mother and daughter — declared against the unequal struggle from starlight to starlight, and in their despair forced the abandonment of the farm. The Great Awakening. — But now the great awakening is here. The era of husbandman farming is being ushered in. , Subtle forces are felt at work to strengthen the farm home in its central place in the community. The mother of the family and her daughters are being recognized in the new system of economy as wage earners on equal terms with the men who work in the fields. Through education the new point of view is beginning to take hold of the people. Labor-saving devices for the home, and new social attractions of a wholesome nature are making it possible for these members of the family group to find leisure to commune with members of their own sex — yes, the neiw dispensation is making it possible for an average farm woman to sit down occasionally in the midst of her flowers, without needing to worry about the cabbages and onions and pigs. This is, indeed, a first great result of rural uplift ! The Farm Home and the Farm to Keep Their Agricul- tural Earnings. — So long as farming continued to be looked upon as a sordid, money-getting business without any relation to the mystery of the earth and its holiness, suc- cessful farmers would invest their incomes in urban enter- 48 THE RVRAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK prises instead of using them in rural districts to upbuild great homes, strong churches, fine schools, and farmers' cooperative enterprises of every kind. In many sections of the country this period of reorganiza- tion has already been reached. Instead of moving to the nearest large town the farmers begin to erect modern homes on the land, equipped with all the latest appliances in heat- ing, lighting, and water supply. The kitchen is made an up-to-date laboratory in household economics, delightful to work in, reducing labor to a minimum. In many homes churns and washing-machines are being operated by power from the barns. Many a farmer has equipped an office for himself with rolltop desk and filing case ; from this, as headquarters, he superintends the work on the farm and extends an encouraging hand to every promising enterprise. In rural Denmark where agricultural life has been suc- cessfully reorganized through a remarkable system of ed- ucation, the farm place and farm home are both managed on a scientific basis. The farm woman's work, for example, has been lightened so that it is a delight to preside over a modern Danish farm home. All the farm products, as milk, hogs, and cattle, are manufactured in the cooperative farmers' creameries and packing-houses near by. There is little churning or butchering at home. Huge windmills are utilized to generate electricity to light the farm place and turn its machinery. The washing is now seldom done at home, but is sent to the farmers' own laundry to be returned clean and fresh at the close of the week. Here, too, the American farm home may see its oppor- tunity. The big family washing and ironing has driven many a good farm woman to despair. One community, at least, to the author's knowledge, seeing the folly of the old system, has established an up-to-date cooperative laundry FUNDAMENTAL AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE : THE HOME 49 for the entire countryside. This is at Chatfield in south- eastern Minnesota. Here the community school has a strong hold on the people. Largely through its influence the farmers organized a stock company on the " man vote " principle and constructed their laundry in connection with the already established creamery. Now the Chatfield farmers can get their fresh laundry, the flat pieces nicely mangled, on the wagon that returns the skim milk for the calves ! The New Farm Home to Retain Its Strong Sons. — Now that agriculture is becoming a world business on a scientific plane the strong men with conquest in their souls will be glad to remain on the land. They are needed there. As soon as agricultural earnings become expended more fully in the rural community and the rural leisure class learns to remain on the land instead of moving to town, there will be both means to do with and brains to plan with in the country. Then the capable young man of rural mind will get his opportunity. The boast of many a rural community of the past has been the large number of lawyers, physicians, and statesmen that have gone forth from it into the world. Little have the boasters understood that this system of economy, en- couraged by a wrong kind of education, has been draining the very lifeblood out of the farm community. Some rural people will always go to the cities where they are needed ; but these will find their way easily enough without being deliberately *' pointed away " from the land. The whole question of rural life will be solved as soon as the strong sons and daughters of the family group are satisfied to remain on the land. For they must found the homes from which shall come our permanent agricultural population, thereby perpetuating a satisfactory rural civili- zation. 50 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The Teacher and Rural Idealism. — There can be no ideal rural civilization till we succeed in developing higher ideals in the rural group life. No person can rise above his ideals. " Give to any people a vision of something better than they have known," says Dr. Henry Wallace, '' and it is at once a better occupation. ' For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' There must be heroes in the country as well as in the city ; for where a boy's heroes are, there will be his interests also. In order to idealize rural life, it should be pictured with all the at- tractiveness that it should possess." ^ Here the new education spans the gap which has been separating the home and school. The new teaching digni- fies agriculture as the primary calling of the American people, and the home of the modern agriculturist as the normal American abiding place. The teacher who is charged with this work of surpassing worth must know how to idealize rural life. He should know its heroes and sing their praise. For our rural life has its real heroes — men who have con- quered nature ; who have made things grow where nothing grew before ; who have improved grain and fruit and beasts ; who have organized the very children to become lovers of nature and producers of its first-fruits ; who have proved by their deeds the best lesson of all — that the land is holy ! Question Studies Suggested by the Text Explain just how the home is the fundamental rural institution. Show the intimate relation of home, church, and school. Describe the home group of the household economy farmer. Contrast it with the farm home of the transition period. Defend this statement: "The farmer's work is from sun to sun, but that of his wife is never done." ^ Rural Church Message, p. 45. FUNDAMENTAL AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE: THE HOME 51 Has the "great awakening" come to your community yet? What are you doing to hasten the day? Explain, in detail, the importance of keeping the agricultural earnings as well as the rural leisure class in rural communities. Enumerate a variety of household conveniences that are quite possible in the average rural community. Show, in your own way, how a new outlook on rural life — a new rural "idealism" — will help to keep the strong young men on the land. Have you ever known the teacher who set the children against rural life by his own wrong attitude towards this life ? Why are the following leaders ranked as rural heroes : Luther Burbank, Seaman A. Knapp, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Justin S. Morrill, O. H. Kelley, and Stephen M, Babcock? (See Bureau of Education Bulletin 1913, No. 43.) Special Studies "Woman's Contribution to the Country-Life Movement." — Bailey's Country Life Movement, pp. 85-96. "Social Life of Rural Denmark." — Foght's Rural Denmark and Its Schools, Chapter IV. "The Farm Home" — Carney's Country Life and the Country School, Chapter 11. "The Farm Partner" — Crow's The American Country Girl, Chapter XIX. "The Character-Forming Possibilities of Home Life." — King's Education for Social Efficiency, Chapter V. CHAPTER IV The Church and Allied Agencies in Rural Life The Place of the Church in Rural Life. — As the farmer works his land he leans for support with one shoulder on the schoolhouse and the other on the church. No good old saying is truer than this. From the beginning of organized society it has been so ; for no rural community can prosper which neglects either institution. As for the church, a community is indeed in a bad way that minimizes the im- portance of this institution, albeit often poorly organized, badly financed, and narrow in the conception of its work. In religious betterment the church has always been the one supreme institution ; while in social betterment none has been its superior. '' The community needs nothing so much as a church," says Dr. Wilber Anderson, *' to interpret life; to diffuse a common standard of morals ; to plead for the common interest ; to inculcate unselfishness, neighborliness, coop- eration ; to uphold ideals and to stand for the supremacy of the spirit." ^ The rural church is in much the same category to-day as the rural school. It, too, has suffered much from changing national life. In many communities it is decadent, in others it is being able to readjust itself to the new conditions of life and is regaining its leadership in religious and social service. ^ In The Country Town, p. 299. 52 THE CHURCH AND ALLIED AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 53 Transition of the Rural Church. — The rural church has passed through all the four periods of evolution explained in earlier chapters. In pioneer times, westward of the AUeghanies, meetinghouses were few, the settlements being satisfied with the occasional circuit-rider who came to exhort the people, to baptize, to marry, and to bury their dead. The pioneer period was marked by its emotional revival and camp-meeting, which was a natural thing for men living in the midst of danger on the edge of forest and prairie. The second period coincides with that of the household economy farmer in agricultural life and the district school in education. The church had by that time become well- established at the cross-roads. As the community pros- pered, it prospered and grew in numbers. Denominational rivalry began, and the cross-roads soon were able to boast two, three, and often more churches. This denominational rivalry was stimulating in its early stages, but led to over- churching, and later to a losing struggle against the burden of debt when the rural transition began to be felt. The third period in church transition coincides with the period of exploitation in our agricultural life. The churches began losing in membership as people moved west or to town. Often the old families who had supported the church of their denomination for generations moved away and no new " pillars of the church " came to take their place. Churches that had faced a struggle to keep their work going now closed their doors, one after another. Rural districts proved over-churched ; and as they weakened, the churches were less and less able to offer the service needed by the reorganizing agricultural communities. What Religious Surveys Show. — Leading church de- nominations are keenly awake to the importance of saving 54 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK the rural church. The salvation lies in making it a social service church as truly as the school must be a social serv- ice school. As a first step, rural churches are being sur- veyed — a study is being made of their assets and liabilities. The Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States has been the pioneer in this new field. It has made surveys in Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and is now in a position to go about reorganizing the churches in a practical businesslike manner. The significance of the change from the old to the new is depicted well by Dr. Warren H. Wilson in the introduction to his report on the Missouri Survey in which he says, speak- ing of the work of the church in the past and forecasting its future : "It has done everything in its power to pave the farm- er's road to the Celestial City, but it has paid little atten- tion to his road to the nearest village. It has given great sums to alleviate poverty, but given little thought to the causes that make for poverty — the American system of farm tenantry, the robbing of the soil of its fertility, and stripping the hillside of its trees. It has pictured the beauties of heavenly mansions and taken no account of the buildings in which men and women must spend their lives here and now. It has been a faithful steward in caring for the Elysian fields, but it has allowed the riches of blue grass and corn and wheat fields to be squandered with prodigal hand. It has made a glorious and untiring fight to teach the children God's word in the Bible, but it has left God's word in the rivers and hills, the grass and the trees, without prophet, witness, or defender. Hereafter it is going to know something about the communities it attempts to serve — of what stufT they are made, what their needs THE CHURCH AND ALLIED AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 55 and their aspirations. It will take an interest in the every- day affairs of the farmer — his crops and stock, his buildings and machinery, his roads and school, his lodge and recrea- tion. The spires of the little cross-road church will still point to the skies, but its footstone will lie on the common- place work of the day. It will ' preach the worth of the native earth,' and it will look upon American land as holy land to be guarded as a sacred trust from the Almighty for His children of future generations." ^ Change in Church Ideals. — This points to a new idealism in the church. Its tasks like those of the new school have broadened. It must do more than seek the solution of the individual soul and minister to the saints within its own congregation. The great business of the church is to get the religion of Christ into the whole community and thence out over the world. The old, emotional revival will no longer suffice, although this probably answered well enough its purpose while the nation lived a primitive life. A church which is satisfied with periodic outbursts to save souls in- stead of utilizing well -organized plans for continued effort cannot long remain a vital community force. The simple ideals of the past, calling for occasional " protracted meet- ings " with their emotional conversions followed by " back- slidings " and " re-conversions," can no longer suffice. The appeal must be to intelligence and to the will, and growth of noble Christian character, which is a continuous process. Neither will the old rivalry of sect or denomination be possible under the new dispensation — each struggling for largest membership and greatest local influence. The new ideals call for cooperation of churches on the broadest Christian lines to lift the whole community and to make it ^ A Rural Survey of Missouri, p. 3. 56 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The Winning' of the West After S4yeans of organi2:ed Ghurch work 13.1% of the total populationCexckiveof Eu^n.) are Membens of the Local (Churches ^=,^ne (^£i/d^, ^re^o/L. Fig. 2. — Illustration from " A Survey of Lane County, Oregon. THE CHURCH AND ALLIED AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 57 morally and socially wholesome. The new rural church, in other words, will not alone have the priestly functions and mediate between God and men ; it will mediate be- tween man and man as well and will help the farmers to live useful, wholesome lives in the community, by taking an interest in their work-a-day life — in their social and recre- ational affairs, in their institutes and granges, and their cooperative creameries and fruit-growing associations. The American people of to-day are above everything else prac- tical. To make a winning appeal to strong men the church, too, must be practical, and learn again to preach, as Moses did of old, the holiness of the land. Community Service the Test of Church Efficiency. — The rural surveys, as said above, disclose a lack of leader- ship in the country. The church and school must supply -this leadership. The efficient rural church will lead in all worthy enterprise in the community. The final test must be an ability to serve. Its first labor is to teach the love of God in every heart, and its second, to get this love of God into everyday life to make justice and fair-dealing part of our business relations. The church will stand for clean rural politics ; it will encourage sanitary living and take an active part in the new sensible recreation and playlife needed in the open country ; it will take active part in increasing farm production and soil productivity, and cooperate with the teacher to give the community efficient school education. Interdenominational Cooperation a Solution. — " Waste- ful sectarianism," says Dr. G. Walter Fiske, " is a sin in the city but it is a crime in the country." ^ The full force of the statement is felt when the reader realizes that 190 dif- ferent sects or denominations are struggling for position within ^ In The Challenge of the Country, p. 192. 58 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK the Christian church in our country. This great wasteful- ness has long been the regret of sensible, thinking people. A hopeful sign for the immediate future is seen in the seriousness with which leading denominations are beginning to face the problem. Two means of solution are under trial : denominational cooperation and denominational fed- eration of churches. Of these, the former seems to promise the greatest immediate results. Under this plan thoughtful leaders lay aside their doctrinal differences and denomina- tional prejudices to meet on the common ground of faith in one God. The plan provides for (i) a business under- standing whereby the denominations will halt church competition in communities already sufficiently churched, by refusing home mission aid to newly planned congregations in such places ; (2) an interdenominational clearing-house commission to plan and enforce a closer cooperation of local churches both for evangelical advancement and social im- provement. Cooperation of this kind will eventually lead to federation of churches in many communities. Church Federation. — The drawing of a rural com- munity in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, which appears below, shows an area of exactly twenty-one square miles with 662 souls, served by eight churches, all of different denominations. Three of these churches lie within a fraction of a mile of one another. In Center County, Pennsylvania, a similar survey discloses sixteen churches within a radius of three miles and twenty-four churches within a radius of four miles. Several other churches fall just beyond the larger radius, making in all twenty-nine churches in a small sparsely-settled community. This pitiable splitting up of rural churches makes of religion a laughing-stock. Churches like these can do little or nothing fof spreading the Gospel, as their time and energy THE CHURCH AND ALLIED AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 59 Ckiirclv FederatioiL the Next Step. "Each SquaT^e TX^p^<^scnts t sq -rmfe Methodist 66^ people in. GorrLraixrtity 8 (Zhjujrchjzs ICSll T^lxis Gommuni^ has consolidaiedL its schools Fig. 3. — Reproduced from a chart in the possession of the Country Church and Country Life Department of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, New York City. 6o THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK are taken up with keeping themselves ahve. This was illustrated recently in the author's old home county and two adjacent counties in Missouri, where, according to the sur- vey by the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, the average church — village and open country — spent ninety-two cents out of every dollar collected, to keep itself alive, seven cents for missions and church boards, and only one cent for local benevolence. Under such conditions it is not surprising that rural churches have been dying. The fine old state of Missouri has at least a thousand dead rural churches, and Illinois, the richest among agricultural states, has closed the doors of at least seventeen hundred ! Leading men within the evangelical churches are working to the end of federating the religious institutions in these over-churched communities. This form of church co- operation provides for closing down all superfluous church buildings, whose membership and other church-goers in the community are expected to rally to the dominant de- nomination. These people may under the federation retain standing in their own denominations or, preferably, become members of the denomination with which they federate. Naturally, such a federation has its drawbacks, and in many communities where denominational creed and sentiment are strong, is impossible to enforce. In some sections of the country, and notably in New England, real progress has been made in church federation. It is also interesting to know that this movement has a national exponent called the Federal Council of Churches of Christ, which counts in its organization nearly all the evangelical churches in the United States. The Commission of Country Church and Rural Life within this great national body is especially charged with improving religious conditions in rural districts. THE CHURCH AND ALLIED AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 6i Most Hopeful Improvement through Revitalization with- in the Various Denominations. — Unquestionably the most promising feature is revitalization coming from within the several church bodies — this and the practical business cooperation spoken of above. Such revitalization takes the form of community service. The churches become community builders as truly as do the best of the new schools. The new program calls for a well-prepared pastor, a man of God who has seen the vision of rural needs, who dwells in the midst of his flock, instead of residing at some distant county-seat town. The church is planned as a social service church. Provision is made not alone for the preaching service, but for social gatherings, recreation, play life, and meetings of an economic nature. The new church and the new school must divide this leader- ship. The author was present, several years ago, at the annual meeting of a cooperative bacon factory association in rural Denmark. The local schoolmaster presided over the meeting, and this was opened with prayer by the rural pastor. Then followed a religious hymn in which every farmer present joined. In this can be seen the secret of success in Danish cooperative organizations. There the two great rural life institutions, church and school, are organized for service. Reorganized rural churches are becoming quite numerous, and nearly every section of the country can point to some prominent rural parish doing splendid work for local evangelization.^ ^ Study especially The Making of a Country Parish, by Rev. Harlow S. Mills, and Modern Methods in the Country Church, by Rev. Andrew B. McNutt. These brief narratives are typical respectively of the rural village as parish center out- reaching evangelization, and the church of the open country as the center of a modern community service. 62 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Teacher and Pastor in Cooperative Service. — Now what shall be the teachers' attitude toward the rural pastors and their work? Shall they stand aloof as their prede- cessors in the schools have done, or shall they throw them- selves heart and soul into the parish work? The answer to these queries is really self-evident. Every well-poised rural teacher will naturally participate in local church activities as would any other member of the community. But the teacher must take an active interest in the religious life of the community as well because of the inseparableness of the church and school as the fundamental institution in community life. Teachers should study this question as earnestly as they would the school question, and when they come into a new community seek the co- operation of the local pastor — if there is one — and, In case church Interests are unorganized, work to the end of getting a resident pastor in the community. This chapter has been written particularly to show the teachers the naturally intimate relation of the two institu- tions and to explain how the two have suffered together, in the great rural transition, and how they must stand together and cooperate if the best results are to be attained. Further suggestions on how the teacher may best prepare for this relationship are given in the readings at the close of the chapter. The Young Men's Christian Association, an Important Ally. — The most efficient ally of the rural pastor and rural teacher Is the county w^orker of the Young Men's Christian Association. The term ally Is good, for the Young Men's Christian Association neither can nor wishes to be more. As we have already learned above, this great organization supplements but does not supplant ; it cooperates but does not compete. The county workers never Interfere with THE CHURCH AND ALLIED AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 63 the established, legitimate fields of religion and education ; but the Young Men's Christian Association is in a position, by reason of its unique organization, to encourage, aid, and stimulate both institutions through direct appeal to the youth of the countryside in a way that it alone is capable of doing. The Young Men's Christian Association was for years essentially a city organization. But in 1889 a small begin- ning was made to embrace in the organization the boys of the one-half of the nation living in the country. The county work — as the rural organization is known — has made a particularly marked advance the last five or six years. The national rural organization is under the immediate direction of the rural work secretary, who is one of the secretaries of the International Committee. Under him are state and county secretaries and local committees, the latter comprising select groups of influential men giving moral and financial assistance to the work. The map of the United States included herewith gives a fair idea of the scope of state activities up to 191 3. The vertical dark gray areas represent states in which county work is being done under local subcommittees of the state committee with a state secretary of county work. The diagonal dark gray shaded areas show states in which county work is being done under general state committee supervision. The diagonal light gray areas give states in which work in charge of a state secretary is just being perfected, while the horizontal light gray area give states which have re- quested such organization. The county, rather than the village corporation or school district, has been made the unit of organization. Each unit is in charge of a county committee, headed by a care- fully-trained county secretary who i§ charged with the 64 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK 4. — Map showing activities of the Rural Y. M. C. A. Reproduced, with permission, from "Rural Manhood." Fig. immediate work among the young men and boys. Seventy- nine counties in twenty-seven states had been organized up to 1914, with a membership of 16,000 and many workers not counted in actual membership. The counties are sub- divided into 773 working communities which reported for the year, 1914, 18,981 in physical work, 50,899 in attendance on lectures, and 120,042 in Bible study. The graphic chart shown below gives a good idea of the rapid increase of these county activities. The chief task of the county organization is character- building. With the decline in rural church and school, and loosening of home discipline, the urgent need for such an organization has become recognized. The county secre- taries, who receive their preparation at the summer as- semblies at Silver Bay, Lake Geneva, Estes Park, and else- where under religious workers and rural life leaders of THE CHURCH AND ALLIED AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 65 Five Years' Advance Graphically Told OF ACTIVITIES IN COUNTY WORK Operating in Communities 1909 > 1910 02 [embers ft I 1913-1914 „ 7,513 INCREASE I39>S Total Lecture Attendance 1909-1910 7,886 INCREASE 545/0 1919 -1914 50,899 I9I3-I9I 15^21 INCREASE IN Physic I9($9-I9I0 2,855 INCREASE 564 /o Total Attendance Countu Committees Boifs'BihleStudif witft Secretaries ..SBSS5BSK io;o County Committees Spend 1913- 1914 79 INCREASE lOT/o IN Aaricultural ontests 1911 1072 ii^osE 456X Fig. 5. — A story of the growth in Y. M. C. A. county work. (From "Rural Manhood.") 66 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK national repute, first build up in the county a sound busi- ness organization called the county committee, comprising business men of all kinds known for their integrity and public spirit. These become the local assistants in the religious, educational, and social work. The kinds of activities pur- sued depend largely on local needs. In general they in- clude those which will make the most ready appeal to youth and at the same time are wholesome and character-building. They include athletic meets, summer camps, play festivals, agricultural contests, conferences, lectures, and Bible study. The association work is non-denominational and yet in- terdenominational. It is a layman's movement, enrolling in its Bible-study classes many who are not church members, but a large number of these young men are each year won for Christ, chiefly through the personal contact with the strong men in charge of the work. The County Division of the Young Women's Christian Association. — It is" only natural that the successful work among the young men and boys in rural communities should at an early date be organized for their sisters also. This has recently been done under the leadership of Miss Jessie Field, formerly county superintendent of schools in Page County, Iowa, and other capable associates. The work of the new organization is in principle and method largely patterned after the brother organization. Because of this similarity and its more recent origin it is not neces- sary to go into further details of its activities here. Question Studies Suggested by the Text Show clearly what is the place of the church in American rural life. Give the story of church transition in rural America. What do you mean by the change in church ideals mentioned in this chapter ? Explain . THE CHURCH AND ALLIED AGENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 67 HELPING TO MAKE COUNTRY LIFE MORE SATISFYING. Tbe Rural Y.M.G. A. Work COVERS WINDSOR COUNTY. HEADQUARTERS WHITE RIVER JCt. DO ANY OF THESE LINES TOUCH YOU? IF NOT, WRITE THE SECRETARV. Fig. 6. — Cover page of a folder circulated by the Windsor County, Vermont, Y. M. C. A. 68 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Can your church stand the efficiency test of community service ? Does it have a resident pastor ? How is its social service organized ? Distinguish between church cooperation and church federation. Which is practiced in your community ? Can you see why the most hopeful outlook is for revitalization of church service from within the different denominations, rather than through immediate federation? Explain why all well-poised teachers should cooperate with all their soul in the work of the social-service church. What is meant by saying the rural Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association are allies of the church and school ? Explain fully. Has your county an organized rural Young Men's Christian Associa- tion ? If so, tell of the relationship between its leaders and the teachers. Do you read Rural Manhood, the valuable magazine published by the County Work Division of the International Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation ? If not, send for sample copy to the Editor, 124 East 28th Street, New York City. Special Studies "Rural Christian Forces." — Fiske's Challenge of the Country, pp. 173-222. "The Call of the Country Parish. " — Butterfield's The Country Church and the Rural Problem, pp. 131-153. "The Church at the Center." — Wilson, Entire book, 98 pp. "The Making of the Country Parish." — Mills, Entire book, 126 pp. CHAPTER V Other Educational Agencies and Organizations Adapted to Cooperation with the Rural Teachers This chapter is devoted to a brief discussion of other agencies, or organizations, which should be famiHar to the teacher because of the important part they have in rural improvement. Some of the organizations are essentially social in aim ; others are primarily for business purposes ; but all of them afford excellent opportunity for cooperation on the part of the teacher to the end stated above. AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS FOR ADULTS The Grange, a Social-Educational Agency. — The Grange, or Patrons of Husbandry, as it is officially known, is essen- tially a social-educational organization of farmers. The society was organized in Washington, D.C., in 1867, to advance the general interests of agricultural life. The originator was O. H. Kelley, a clerk in the Department of Agriculture. In 1866 he was deputed by the Government to make a tour of inspection in the Southern States to ascer- tain the true condition of agricultural life and the best means for its improvement. The deplorable state of the farming population resulting from freeing the negro slaves and the subsequent struggle for readjustment convinced Mr. Kelley " that organization was vitally necessary, as well for the farmers' self-protection as for their advancement by use of scientific methods of cultivation and the enact- 69 70 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK ment of laws favorable to them." Soon after his return to Washington, therefore, he, with six others who had caught the fire of his zeal, organized the National Grange of Patrons of Husbandry. From a humble beginning the order grew by leaps and bounds, until in 1875 when the high tide of its early growth was reached the na- tional organization boasted 21,697 subordinate granges with a membership of 320 in each 100,000 of agricultural population. Soon after its organization the order drew up a Declara- tion of Purposes which, for clearness and forcefulness in enunciation of vital principles, has seldom been equaled. These purposes were, briefly, to bring all farmers together, through organization and cooperation, to the end of secur- ing their mental, moral, and social advancement. All personal, local, sectional, national prejudices and un- healthy rivalry and selfish ambition were to be suppressed. To promote their material interests, producers and con- sumers were to be brought into as friendly and direct relations as possible, through the elimination of all super- fluous middlemen. The purposes were further : to en- courage a better relation between the farmers and public transportation companies ; to strive to remove existing antagonism between capital and labor ; to advance the cause of education among farmers and their children by all just powers ; to refrain, as an order, from political or- ganization or participation ; to encourage members as American citizens "to do all they can in their own party to put down bribery, corruption, and trickery " ; and to in- culcate a proper appreciation of the abilities and sphere of farm women. Quite naturally, an order conceived in such lofty motives would draw self-seekers of all kinds into its fold. Some OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 71 sought its alliance in order to gain political preferment, others for material ends. Sufficient to relate, that the high tide of power in the early 70's found many local and state granges breaking away from their early faith and plunging into politics and gigantic schemes for the control of trade, both domestic and international in character. The Grange of the Middle West, particularly, was unwise and accord- ingly suffered the penalty. But while many granges in the West died or at least fell into ill-repute, most of the order in the New England and Middle Atlantic States had remained true to their pledge and continued to prosper. Since then, there has been a rebirth of the Grange every- where. It has become tempered by the fire it went through and is likely hereafter to adhere faithfully to its original declaration of principles. In recent years the Grange has been instrumental in securing many acts of greatest value to agricultural progress. Among them the Interstate Commerce Act, the Oleomargarine Law, the Hatch Act or Experiment Station Act, the law making the head of the Department of Agriculture a Cabinet officer, the estab- lishment of pure food laws, and the more recent Parcel Post Law. As discussed in former chapters, American rural folk must learn to cooperate as do the agriculturists of con- tinental Europe. The early efforts of the Grange were certainly of this nature, but, unfortunately, not always animated by the true cooperative spirit. But the dearly bought lessons have had both a sobering and a clarifying effect. The great schemes for trade conquest are things of the past. A new conservative and wholly legitimate business field is now being promoted with success by state and local granges. This includes mutual fire, hail, and tornado insurance ; mutual telephone companies ; coopera- 72 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK tive creameries and cheese factories ; with occasional farm- ers' elevator companies, and other organizations for buying and selling. But the social and educational service of the Grange is, after all, of chief importance. It is the social organization par excellence of the rural community. Being a secret order, it does not reach all the people of the community. This has sometimes been held against it. The member- ship is open to all worthy people, as it is not limited to men, but includes, as well, women, and children over fourteen years of age. Unquestionably, this feature of including in the social group the hard-worked farm wife and the children who have reached their years of discretion, is the strongest point in the organization. The weekly meetings of the local grange are social. There are music and readings, plays and other forms of entertainment. The programs are also educa- tional in a more restricted sense, as they always contain definite discussions in agricultural and rural education. At all these meetings the farmers have opportunity to learn to think on their feet and master the simple parliamentary ways that stand them well in hand elsewhere. Here they have the opportunity to plan the educational improvement of the community, as for example in standardizing the small schools, in reorganizing them as consolidated schools, or in establishing rural high schools for the community. Wherever local granges flourish, the schools- are usually organized to teach the children in terms of everyday life activities. In organization the local grange is the unit. Three or more subordinate granges — generally including all the organiza- tions within a county — may form the larger unit, known as the Pomona Grange. From the latter are organized the OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 73 state granges, being delegate bodies, and from the state masters again the National Grange, which meets annually and shapes the policies of the state and local granges. Many of the local orders own their own grange halls, reared in the community near the school and the church, helping thereby to centralize the consciousness of the community at its own natural center. The Teacher as a Granger. — The Grange invites into its membership rural teachers, preachers, and physicians. Certainly it is difficult to conceive of a better way for the teacher to reach the heart of rural community life than through the medium of the grange. To be an active granger does not preclude the teacher from leadership in other rural organizations. Scores of community-leading teachers are grangers. Many hold the important office of " lec- turer " in the local grange, which gives them opportunity to plan and direct the social-educational programs of the weekly and occasional meetings. At the State Normal School, Kirksville, Missouri, by way of illustration, the local grange includes, besides the farmers of the community, members of the faculty of the Rural School Division of the Normal School and student- teachers who are preparing to go out as rural teachers. The meetings of the grange are held in the Model Rural School on the Normal School campus, where the teachers are also initiated into the beautiful mysteries of the order. A faculty member is master of the Pomona Grange and lecturer of the state grange. Other Farmers' Organizations of Interest to Teachers. — The Farmers' Union is the leading agricultural organiza- tion of the South. While organized primarily to improve the economic condition of its patrons, the order lays great stress on improved educational and social facilities among 74 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK rural people, as may be seen from the by-laws which con- tain the following: '' To labor for the education of the agricultural classes in the science of crop diversification and scientific agriculture ; to constantly strive to secure entire harmony and good will among all mankind, and brotherly love among ourselves ; to form a more adequate union with those in authority for a more rigid and impartial enforcement of the law, that crime, vice, and immorality may be suppressed." The order was organized in Texas, in 1902. Since then it has spread to every Southern State, and to som.e in the North and West. At the time of writing the Farmers* Union claims a membership of approximately 3,000,000, thus considerably outnumbering any similar order. The Farmers' Union, like the Grange, welcomes cooperation with rural teachers. Many of the most successful schools in the South and West have become the effective institu- tions they are through the loyal support and constant en- couragement of the Union. Unattached Fanners' Clubs. — Some people are preju- diced against secret organizations and do not care to join such orders as the Grange or Farmers' Union ; others may be disqualified, for some reason, from holding membership in them. It is essential that these people take active part in community organization of some kind as suggested in a former chapter. The city has its business men's club or commercial exchange. It becomes the business men's clearing house and, in a more limited sense, the social home of its membership. Similar clubs are springing up among the farmers in many sections. They have come into ex- istence usually as a result of the good work done by national and local extension workers, including in its list county agents, rural teachers, ministers, and Young Men's Chris- OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 75 tian Association workers. Clubs of this kind promote community social life through public gatherings devoted to amusement, rallying all its men, women, and children for the basket dinner, which is followed with music, readings, games, and athletic sports. The more serious economic problems are considered in special business sessions, when questions of cooperative enterprise — of community buying and selling, of organizing cow-testing associations and stock- breeding societies and the like — come up for consideration and action. Some farmers' clubs have taken on the force of a distinct movement as the '' Hesperia Movement " in Michigan or the " Amenia Annual Play Festival " in New York State. Many clubs limit their activities to social- educational betterment, as in the instance of the last men- tioned ; although some endeavor to cover the more inclusive field of economic, educational, scientific, social, and pro- motive activities. Home and School Improvement Associations. — As sug- gested in the name, these associations are restricted to an intimate relation of school patrons to the teacher in a co- operative endeavor to improve the schools. This often begins in a small way with a public " clean-up " day of the school premises. Out of it comes organization. Trees and flowers are planted. Interest grows, and with it a pride of accomplishment. To demand better school support is a next step, and, if the teacher is judicious in nurturing the new educational consciousness, great results may ensue. The South, more particularly than other sections, has accomplished remarkable school reforms by means of home and school improvement associations. The explanation of this is probably the comparative poverty under which many schools have been obliged to struggle, coupled with the remarkable renaissance of the Southern school systems, to 76 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK make them as thoroughgoing and progressive as in any sec- tion of the nation. This demanded a general stirring up of indifferent patrons, and their organization into associations to promote school improvement, by further influencing public opinion, by actually meeting at the school premises and cleaning them up, painting them, planting trees and shrubs, and, in a pinch, by supplementing school taxes with their own personal funds to make the improvements possible. Virginia furnishes a good illustration of these home and school activities. In 1906 the state organized a Coopera- tive Education Association of representative men and women throughout the state, which works in conjunction with the State Department of Education. The central as- sociation has organized its '' School and Civic League " over the entire state. The purpose is to meet at the school- houses of the state not less than once a month to consider questions of vital importance to the school community and to take steps to improve where improvement is needed. The leagues have done much to create sentiment for good schools and to coordinate them with farm life ; they have, moreover, had the effect of socializing the communities where they are well-organized, through literary and social programs. Rural Parent-Teacher Associations. — The improvement associations just discussed include in their activities the children as well as parents and teachers. In some places more restricted rural parent-teacher associations are being formed, similar in purpose to the national parent- teacher association, now well-established in city communities. The parent- teacher association in America is an outgrowth of the National Congress of Mothers, a great organization formed at Washington nineteen years ago to promote civic and social betterment, through intelligent study and care of OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 77 the nation's children. The aims of the Mothers' Congress are well stated in their constitution, which reads in part : " to raise the standards of home life ; to give young people opportunities to learn how to take care of children ; to bring into closer relations the home and the school, that parents and teachers 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 that will develop good citizens instead of law- breakers and criminals ; to use systematic and earnest effort to this end through the formation of parent-teacher associations in every public school and elsewhere." Gf recent years the responsibilities of the school in child training have multiplied, since the home and church find this task more difficult of accomplishment under the pressure of modern conditions than it was in the old household- economy period. But even now, parents and teachers must share in the guidance of the children. The past lack of cooperation and mutual understanding has been detri- mental to the children. To remedy this, the parent- teacher association came into being. Parents and teachers mingle freely in their meetings, and exchange views on child rearing and child training. The new information enables parents to become better home- makers for their children, and the teachers to understand better the educational needs of the individual children under their care. Home and school are drawn into a new heart-to-heart relationship, making of the parents ardent champions of school education and all school improvement ; while the teacher, encouraged and cheered by the new partnership of home and school, is enabled to project the school's activities into the life of the community in a way hitherto unknown. 78 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK There should be a parent-teacher association in every rural community. Rural teachers must depend largely on their own ingenuity. They have no supervisor at their elbow to lean on. They have the choice of shutting them- selves up in their own little chamber after school, or of organizing their supersensitive, critical patrons into an association where good-fellowship, harmony, and under- standing of purpose shall prevail. In communities where rural teachers have organized these associations the schools usually prosper and the teachers prosper with them. Dis- tricts that formerly were too poor to repair the old school- houses have erected new buildings, and means have been found to increase the teachers' salaries. Rural teachers can do no better than to begin planning such associations at the earliest convenience. As a first step it would be well to study the literature on the subject.^ ORGANIZATIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Rural Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls. — The Boy Scouts of America are beginning to find representation in rural districts under the name of rural boy scouts. The organization takes advantage of the tendency among adolescent boys to form gangs. This craving for associa- tion is turned to noble uses. Through his troop the scout learns to love his fellow man and respect the rights of others. As he passes from tenderfoot rank through second class to first class scout, he learns to live the scout law — he must be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, brave, clean, reverent. Rural teachers bear testimony to the value of scout organizations in their ^ Send for "How to Organize Parent-Teacher Associations" to the Correspond- ing Secretary of the National Congress of Mothers, Washington, D.C. OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 79 schools. Discipline becomes simple through the tacit understanding of helpfulness bet^veen scouts and scout master. The study of nature environment, of geography and history, of agriculture and farm sanitation, takes on a new charm and interest. The scouts, wherever carefully organized, promise much for the new leadership repeatedly mentioned in these pages. The corresponding organization for girls is the Camp Fire Girls, and more recently also the Girl Scouts. Both teach those things which are broadening and vital in the girl's life. The camp fire girl is taught to love nature's ways and to be domestic. The whole aim may be summed up in the camp fire law, which is ''to seek beauty, give service, pursue knowledge, be trustworthy, hold on to health, glorify work, be happy." The Blue Birds is a sister organization of the camp fire girls, for those between six and twelve years of age. Under the leadership of their guardians the smaller children are given the " true inheritance of childhood's joy and experi- ences " in the play, the folk dance, and the fairy tale. From " nestling " in the local group, they become " fledgling," and finally " flyer," after which they may be advanced to the senior organization. Farm Defenders is a new organization to parallel the Boy Scouts for the younger boys like the Blue Birds for the Camp Fire Girls. It is planned for boys under twelve years of age who are banded to defend the farm home and countryside against its natural enemies, in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, as they are the loyal protectors of its friends in birds and insects and toads. ^ ^ For a full statement of the Farm Defenders of Rural America, see Kirksville State Normal School Rural School Messenger, Kirksville, Missouri, Vol. Ill, No. 5. Write for a copy of the magazine. 8o THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Boys' and Girls' Industrial Clubs. — No organization, combining school and home activities, has been of greater value in awakening community interest than have the boys' and girls' industrial clubs. They are organized primarily to teach the dignity of honest labor and to give instruction intended to master the vital phases of agricultural life. The range of club activities is almost unlimited, beginning with corn and tomato clubs and including the whole gamut of activities as potato-growing, fruit-growing, poultry- raising, baby beef-raising, sewing, cooking, implement- making, and many others. The industrial clubs are promoted by national and state governments, by local organizations of all kinds, granges. Young Men's Christian Associations, churches, and schools. The rural teacher has no greater means at his disposal to coordinate home and school activities than just such clubs as these. How this is being done throughout the country will be told in detail later in the book. NATIONAL AND STATE AGENCIES The United States Bureau of Education and Educational Extension. — This Bureau was created by Act of Congress in 1867, in answer to a public demand for a general agency which could furnish state and local educational authorities with accurate information in regard to education in this and other countries, and could make investigations of vital educational problems, and otherwise be an educational clearinghouse for the nation. The Bureau is under the direction of a Commissioner of Education, and its activities are classified under sixteen divisions in charge of specialists and collaborators attached to educational institutions over the country. The chart OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 8i S *s 5 2 i i IISI § o 1 I 1 J s iMit s iUi I -f <^ J ^ s s .1 13 § .1 '! 1 1 i -5 5 ^ S u3 .^ l« -^ ?Xk i 111 i^%n %nm% ili^ii mn nm :?^ ^^ filial u c ~~ 1 1 1 3 o s i 1 1 1 1 !r: S «r» ^ l3* 1^ •i ^ 1 S I 1 2.i I § i ^1 :t I o -s -:; -5 T-^ S •= "w I "? 4 .1 2-=? ^ 2 o "^ £ .III. Hill 82 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK on page 8i gives some idea of the comprehensiveness of the work of the educational arm of the Federal Government. Of greatest interest to the present discussion is the Rural School Division, established in 1912, which serves the 243,000 rural schools of the nation. From small beginnings the Division has grown until it has a well-organized staff of specialists and assistants with nearly a hundred collaborators in the field. It is organized to give expert information and advice on questions pertaining to rural life and education. Rural teachers can get direct assistance by addressing this division of the Bureau. Perplexing questions on school organization, the rural school course of study, school con- solidation, and the like may be referred to it for aid. Every country-life teacher should be on the mailing lists of the Bureau of Education for its many free bulletins on rural school and rural life topics and occasional rural school letters. Recently the Bureau has organized a National Rural Teachers' Reading Circle, which is explained in the next chapter of this book. Federal and State Governments Cooperating for Agri- cultural Improvement. — Every rural teacher should under- stand how the nation and the several states have joined their forces to improve the nation's agricultural life. The county agricultural expert, where does he come from ? And the institute workers who appear occasionally in the community? And the moving school for rural uplift? They should all be familiar to the teachers, who will soon be expected to cooperate with these workers in school and out of it. The Extension Service. — A great national extension service has been organized through Federal, state, and local cooperation. The United States Department of Agriculture has a thoroughly equipped States Relation OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 83 Service, working through a number of department bureaus, which culminates in a great field service for the North and West and a separate service for the South. The Govern- ment field workers, it will appear from the chart, cooperate with the extension service of the state agricultural colleges. ORGA/\//ZAWA/ OFAGf^CUnU/ML EXTEA/iS/ON mRK/A/7?/£ON/7ED ST/ITES. I D£W/?rMENr OF /K^R/CUL7V/?E. I I COLLEGE OFAGRfCUL7U/?£\ SPEQMUSrS. STATE LEADER. Fig. - Chart prepared by the U. S. Department of Agriculture for the Educational exhibit at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. The state colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts were established under the Morrill Act of 1862, which set aside large tracts of land from the public domain for their main- tenance. This was further strengthened by a second act in 1890 which provided liberal financial assistance to the land-grant colleges, as these schools are now called. Much of the Federal aid has gone for extension work. The state colleges of agriculture are organized for three main purposes : teaching, research, and extension. The first is a natural function of all schools of this class. Agricultural research is accomplished through the experiment stations, organized in connection with the agricultural colleges, under the 84 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Hatch Act of 1887. Finally comes the college extension service which is largely Federal-aided. The Smith-Lever Act. — The year 19 14 marked a monu- mental stage in agricultural reorganization through Federal aid. In that year the Smith-Lever Act went into effect. It is reasonable to believe that when the large sums provided under the act become fully available, agricultural extension in the United States will have as great facilities for thorough organization as in the best organized nations of Europe. The Act provides for cooperation between the Federal Gov- ernment and the state governments, under which one school in each state receives an annually increasing sum to be expended for scientific agricultural extension work. By this is meant instruction and practical demonstration in agriculture and home economics to persons not in college attendance. It is intended for the busy man and woman, and is given in various communities throughout the states in farmers' institutes, lecture courses, correspondence courses, one-week movable schools, and in other ways in- cluded under extension teaching. Under the Act each state receives $10,000 annually, without any condition attached. The additional annual increases are based on the ratio of rural population in the state to the total rural population of the country, and all the additional amounts must in- variably be duplicated by the states. Agricultural Extension Agents. — The ultimate work of the agricultural extension service is in the hands of county agricultural agents who carry the new propaganda direct to the farmers' doors. One of the many reasons for the remarkable success of Danish agricultural organization is the intimate relation of just such government experts with small groups of farmers. As much can reasonably be ex- pected in the United States from this new movement. OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 85 About eleven hundred county agents are already in the service in many sections of the country. The origin of the farm demonstration movement in the United States dates back to 1902, when it was organized by the United States Department of Agriculture at a time when the Mexican cotton boll weevil was just beginning its devastation. Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, at that time established the first demon- stration farm at Terrell, Texas, for the purpose of showing that cotton could be grown to advantage in spite of the pests, and that in any case a diversification of crops would solve the problem for the farmers. In 1906 the General Education Board entered into an agreement with the De- partment of Agriculture, under which it financed the dem- onstration work in certain states while the Government financed it in others. The demonstration agents, however, were all under Government direction. From these begin- nings the movement has spread over the entire country. In may counties the agents do much of their work through the schools. And wise indeed are the teachers who take this opportunity to get expert assistance in club work, gardening, and other forms of elementary agriculture.^ The Smith-Hughes Vocational Education Act. — Mean- while, the President has just signed — February, 1917 — the so-called Smith-Hughes Act, which extends Federal aid for the promotion of vocational education to pupils above 14 years of age. The purpose of the law is to encourage secondary schools, both rural and urban, to offer well- planned courses in agriculture, the trades, and in industrial ^ The teacher should communicate with Dr. P. G. Holden, Director of the Agricultural Extension Service of the International Harvester Company, Chicago. This corporation loans to teachers and others a large variety of lecture charts, lantern slides, motion pictures, and industrial exhibits of great educational value. S6 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK subjects, including home economics. This aid is granted for the purpose of cooperating with the States in paying the salaries of teachers, supervisors, and directors of agricultural subjects, and for the purpose of paying the salaries of teachers of the trades, home economics, and industrial subjects. The Government appropriates $500,000 the first year for salaries of teachers in agricultural subjects and a similar sum for teachers in the trades and industries. These amounts increase, year by year, so that when they finally mature in 1926, $6,000,000, will be available for these purposes. In a similar way, $500,000 is set aside the first year for the purpose of preparing teachers, supervisors, and directors of agricul- tural subjects, and teachers in trades and industries. This amount will increase, year by year, till by 1921 it reaches the sum of $1,000,000, which will be paid annually thereafter. The total appropriation for salaries and teacher- training will thus ultimately reach $7,000,000 a year. A national commission of seven, including the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, and the Commissioner of Education, together with three persons appointed by the President, cooperate with state boards appointed by the several states in administering the federal funds. The actual utilization of the funds will be through the agricul- tural colleges in most states, and the normal schools in a few others. THE RURAL LIBRARY AND THE RURAL PRESS The Reading Community and Rural Progress. — Foreign students of rural life are often struck by the fact that Ameri- can farm folk do not read as they should. No better evi- dence of this is needed than a casual examination of the collection of books and periodicals to be found in many rural homes. Unquestionably the old system of schooling OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 87 is largely responsible for this. For it furnished the mere mechanical tools of reading without inculcating a real love and craving for continued reading beyond the school. But the school must not get all the blame. The agricultural population of a young nation like the American will first seek the so-called necessaries of life. Reading — which, if correctly understood is a necessity — has with us been classed as belonging to the leisure class, of whom there are yet comparatively few in the open country. It is a noticeable fact that broad reading and community progress are inseparable. The leaders in every community have learned to read broadly and to think deeply on ques- tions of vital importance. The new schools must see their opportunity for service in this truth. There is no better illustration of this influence than the Danish folk high schools. These institutions are " culture " schools pure and simple. The subject matter is devoted mainly to history and literature, with some time for rural sociology and economics. The love of cultural study of the right kind inculcated in the schools, more than the practical agricul- tural courses, has made the Danes thinkers and leaders among agricultural nations. The Teacher's Twofold Opportunity. — The teacher must himself be well read and know how to transmit this ability and desire to others. His opportunity may be said to be twofold, since he has not alone the children in school to guide, but their parents at home to assist as well. In school his function is to teach the children to read broadly the best books, teaching early that textbooks are mere compendiums to be supplemented on every hand. Liberal reading leads to independent thinking. It inspires the child to extend his search for knowledge beyond the narrow confines of the schools so that it eventually becomes a life 88 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK process, to be pursued throughout Hfe. Beyond the school the teacher's task is to direct the attention of the adult population to the best and most useful reading. He has opportunity to assist in sifting out the trash so often read and to suggest and assist in procuring what agricultural folk need in general and practical literature. In this work the wise teacher finds an ever-ready agency in modern library organization.^ Rural Library Extension. — The old idea of a library as a collection of fiction, juveniles, and so-called classics is passing away. Neither is the library nowadays a repository where books are kept to be handed down for future genera- tions. It is organized to be used. The most important feature in library extension of the last quarter century is the organization of traveling libraries within the reach of all people. The book collections are sent out by state library associations and by township or county library organiza- tions, and placed at the disposal of schools, women's clubs, farmers' clubs, granges, rural Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, and other active agencies. In the new collections may be found the latest literature on alfalfa and septic tanks, county unit organization and road construction, better school buildings and consolida- tion, house furnishing and home sanitation, school lunches and farm health. The best in general literature is also included. The library even supplies programs for club meetings and entertainments, or pictures of costumes for plays and pageants, and in other ways furnishes aids to its readers. The success of the modern organization is due largely to the excellent work of the state library commissions which ^The teacher should send to the Home Education Division, U. S. Bureau of Education, for its suggestive lists and helps on reading for the farm home. OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 89 now exist in thirty-six states. The commissions carry on campaigns for the estabHshment of new libraries and the improvement of methods of operation. In New York State, by way of illustration, the commission holds regular institutes for rural library workers in different parts of the state. The commissions encourage better reading and the purchase of better books and assist state departments of education in selecting lists of books for school libraries, pupils' reading circles, etc. In several states they attend to the distribution of a state fund among small libraries which come up to a standard of book buying and manage- ment. Traveling Library Organization. — Successful traveling libraries are in operation in many states. Their organiza- tion may be exemplified in New York, one of the states that has made special progress in this direction. In New York there is no commission, but the work is carried on by the Division of Educational Extension of the New York State Library in the Traveling Library system, which sends out from headquarters collections of from twenty-five to two hundred or three hundred books to small communities. There they are placed in a store or in the schoolhouse, or perhaps in the village hall or clubroom. The headquarters offtce appoints some one in the com- munity — very often the local teacher — to be responsible for the books, to see that they are properly loaned and returned, and that the records are properly kept. The books sent out to each station may be borrowed without charge, usually for two-week periods, a fine being charged when they are kept overtime. At the end of a stated period, perhaps every three months, the case of books is sent back to headquarters, or to another station, and is replaced by a new selection of books. In this way people go THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK in each locality are able to enjoy a constantly changing variety of good recent books on every subject, as well as fiction. Local readers may request special books from the headquarters, through the station. In general the regular shipments are made up from a rotating series of lists, so that in time every book from the headquarters will reach every station. The County Library System. — This is the latest and by far the most successful type of rural library work. It originated in Ohio, and one of the best known activities of Van Wert County, Ohio, is the Brumbach Library. This library, whose building was given by Mr. Brumbach several years ago, is supported by county taxation, and is the center for a library service which reaches all parts of the county. Fifteen country storekeepers are its '' branch librarians," and loi rural school teachers are the custodians of its schoolroom stations. In 1913 there were 115,550 registered borrowers, besides 2435 school borrowers. Over 90,000 books were loaned in one year. In Oregon the county library system has also been most successful. In Multnomah County, the Portland Public Library acts as the central headquarters, and carries on a system of traveling libraries to a chain of country stores and schoolhouses. Several of the other counties have organized the service. It is in California, however, that the county system has been carried out on such a large, carefully planned, and satisfactory scale as to excite the interest of the whole country. The entire state will soon be covered by the system, each county catching the enthusiasm from its neighbor. The county is the unit, and each county or- ganizes on its own desire, taxes itself, appoints its own librarian, buys the books it wishes, and carries on its work OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 91 without let or hindrance. CaHfornia started with a state system of traveHng Hbraries several years ago, but distances are great, and the difficulties of operating one service in a state which is 700 miles long, proved the need of a plan which would bring the organization nearer to the patrons. In the county system, the county headquarters is within a day's ride of the stations in nearly all cases. The chief point of excellence of the California system is that it operates under a state law so full and complete as to cover every contingency that may arise ; allows for a flexible cooperation and even consolidation between county and public libraries, as local needs may suggest ; and, best of all, provides that when a county adopts the system it must automatically levy a tax upon itself, just as it does for public schools, sufficient to carry on the service in an adequate manner. This tax may be as much as one mill on each dollar of assessed valuation of the county. Instructing Rural Teachers in Library Economy. — Many training schools for teachers and state and local library organizations offer instruction in library economy. Some normal schools, indeed, place such value on this work that they will not permit any teacher to graduate until he has completed certain phases of library economy. Naturally such teachers become familiar with the whole gamut of library progress and know how to procure the books their communities need, and, better still, know what is needed. They will know how to get traveling library collections for their school ; how to secure good reading for the young people beyond ordinary school age ; how to get books and periodicals for mothers' organizations and for the agri- cultural clubs. The Rural Press and the Teacher. — A powerful influence in rural life is the agricultural press. The increase in the 92 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK circulation and excellence of farm papers and magazines since rural free delivery was instituted has been quite re- markable. As an instrument through which to reach his patrons, the teacher cannot find its equal. Originally devoted largely to crops and stock and other problems of farm production, the agricultural periodicals have lately begun to devote much space to rural organization and social life. Its great institutions — the church and school — are freely discussed, and the columns of all the leading papers are open to discussions of vital rural educational problems. Consolidation of schools, vitalization of school subjects, agricultural club work, rural improvement associations, and the like are familiar to the readers of farm journals and local weeklies nowadays. Many of the latter, partic- ularly, solicit the teachers' assistance in keeping the schools before the public. Unfortunately, too many teachers have utilized this privilege — if at all — to catalogue mere local trivialities and gossip instead of using it to place the real problems and needs of the schools before their patrons. He is a judicious teacher who makes liberal use of the local and state agricultural press to keep the public informed on progress in school affairs — both as to needs and wants, successes and failures. Question Studies Suggested by the Text What is meant by cooperation of rural teachers with such agencies as are discussed in this chapter ? Does it really pay to take time for work of this kind? Explain. Show why rural teachers should be members of the grange or similar organizations. Is there a farmers' club in your school district ? What will you do to aid in its work? Distinguish between the "home and school improvement association" and the "parent-teacher association. " Give the story of one of the former as organized in the South. OTHER EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 93 Give a brief history of the origin and progress of parent-teacher asso- ciations. Have you organized your association? Are you a scout master or camp fire guardian? Wherein hes the real value of these organizations ? The boys' and girls' industrial clubs are organized as the most practical method of mastering the vital phases of agricultural life and to awaken community interest. Explain. Tell what the United States Bureau of Education is doing for the rural schools. Are you on the permanent mailing list for rural publications? If not, send your name to the Editor of the Bureau at once. Give a brief sketch of federal and state cooperation in agricultural extension service. Give the particulars of the Smith-Lever Act. How much federal aid does your state get under this act? In what way can you best cooperate with the county agricultural agent ? Explain the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Act. How does it encourage teacher- training ? How does it grant aid to vocational schools ? How is the International Harvester Company promoting a great exten- sion service? Which of its charts, folders, and stereopticon slides have you used in the school and community ? State, briefly, the relation of good reading to deep thinking and, hence, to progress in the community. Have you overhauled the school library recently? What steps have you taken to add new books? Tell the story of the Brumbach County Library. Why does the county library seem the most satisfactory system for the dissemination of good literature? What does the ''rural press" include? Do you keep the local papers posted on school progress in your district ? Enumerate the rural periodi- cals kept on file in your school. Special Studies "Organization of the Patrons of Husbandry." — Buck's The Granger Movement, Chapter II. "Some Forms of Extension Service." — Leake's The Means and Methods of Agricultural Education, Chapter X. "The Brumbach Library," by Saida Brumbach Antrim. Especially Chapters XI, XII, and XIII. CHAPTER VI Preparing Teachers for Rural Leadership Significance of the New Leadership. — It is evident from what has been said in preceding chapters that the new educational leadership demands real men and women who have both training and capacity for work. The success or failure of the entire movement to reorganize agricultural life through school education will rest almost wholly on the teachers, who must direct the work. When the Kingdom of Prussia lay prostrate before Napoleon after its crushing defeat at Jena, in 1804, it was the schoolmen, preachers, and poets that came to the rescue and helped to remake the state; when Denmark, in 1864, lost to the Prussians and Austrians a similar miracle took place. The teachers, preachers, and philosophers set to work to remake the schools, and then revitalized in turn the nation's entire national life. While we as a nation have not suffered from disastrous war or similar calamity, we have reason to pause and give the problem of rural reorganization most thoughtful consideration. The demand is for a generation of teachers to go into rural communities and remain there and grow into the hearts of the people. In this way only can they become leaders of rural folk and teach them to help themselves. At this juncture the question forces itself to our attention, just who are the teachers to whom the nation has intrusted the important task of carrying its agricultural transition 94 PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP 95 to a satisfactory issue? What is their preparation? And how do they meet the issue ? Who the Rural Teachers Are. — The large army of ap- proximately 267,000 rural teachers in the schools includes, fortunately, some well-prepared, mature men and women, able to uphold the reputation of the profession anywhere. But their number is too small to influence school practice United States.. North Atlantic North Central, Wjestern South Atlantic. SoxTTH Central . '^mmmm^A 25.7 per cent. 20.7 '^^i^^^SM^Zl^j 13.7 13.6 17.7 18.9 '^m^fSmZ^S^A ^g^ss^gg^s^^ ^4^i^iiZl7iS0^^^^^^Si^A VAf^^7/AVXyj^AO^^O^Ayj7/M 37.2 43.1 33.9 Men teachers In rural communities. Total men teachers— urban and rural— according to the 1910 census. Fig. 9. — Distribution of men teachers by geographical divisions, according to the study made by the Bureau of Education. to any marked degree. The schools are dominated by immature teachers, most of them of limited experience. The study of the Efficiency and Preparation of Rural School Teachers, referred to in the introductory chapter of the book, discloses that 74.3 per cent of all rural teachers are women. In the North Atlantic States only 13.7 per cent are men. The comparatively large percentage of men — 43.1 — in the South Central States alone, saves the average for the nation from being much lower than it is. The majority of rural teachers will probably always be women, which is in itself no calamity. But a complete feminization of the 96 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK schools would be highly unfortunate, since there is a time in the lives of all pupils when it is best for them to come in contact with men teachers. The establishment of con- solidated graded and high schools, with good housing facili- ties, is a remedy which is already making itself felt in some sections of the country, as under these conditions it is pos- sible for mature men teachers of experience to reestablish themselves permanently in the country with their families. At the present only i8 per cent of the rural teachers are married. The average age of the teachers reporting, when beginning to teach, is 19.2 years. This would unquestionably have been materially reduced in the Survey had all teachers reported. In any case, a person of 19 years or less cannot have had either the preparation or the experience to direct the youth of rural communities to become scientific farm- ers and practical farmers' wives. The average tenure of the teacher for each school in rural United States is a trifle less than two school years of 140 days each, or considerably less than one calendar year. This average is very much less for a majority of the teachers, the few permanent, professional teachers alone bringing it up close to the two-year level. So long as teachers con- tinue to be peripatetics, the best results in community leadership cannot be expected. As may be seen from the diagram giving the teachers' residence, only a very small number actually live in the community. It is evident that a teacher who spends only six hours each day for five days in the week in the school community will be unable to accomplish anything for com- munity leadership. His labors are limited by the four walls of the schoolroom ; he can neither understand nor sympa- thize with outside interests. The teachers who reside PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP 97 (Eaob dot represents 10 or a fraction of 10 teachers.) Home pro- vided Tjy district. Boarding and lodging in the district. Boarding and lodging outside the district. United States • • • * • • • • mil •• *. • • . • • * • • * . *• • • » • . • • • • • • North Atlantic • • • • • South Atlantic • • * • » • • ' * * % • * • • • • « • • SOT'TH flFNTRAT ^ ^^ * • • • * • . *. ♦ • • North Central • • * * * .* •* *' *. .*' • • Western. •...••........,■■••.. • • ' • • * * r » • Fig. 10. — This diagram gives some idea of the comparatively small number of teacherages in use in rural communities. in the community throughout the school week do better, though many of them are Hkely to have their sympathies and vital interests in the village or city where they spend their week ends. On the other hand, the teacher who has a permanent home provided by the community finds it possible to become a permanent community leader. In 98 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK the few communities reporting permanent homes, the teachers are usually able to project the school into the home and draw the home close to the school. Where teachers' cottages are provided, these, aside from making the teachers' own lives more attractive, naturally become the rallying centers for community activities. Importance of Thorough Academic Preparation. — The new education demands teachers with broad academic preparation — men and women who are well read and intimate with the modern science that is beginning to enrich the course of study and the lives of the people who come' within its benign influence. The rural population is suffer- ing more to-day from want of this broadening culture, founded on modern science, than for the want of ancient language arts. Unfortunately, not many rural teachers have this desideratum of academic preparation. The Bureau of Education finds that 4 per cent of the rural teachers have had less than eight years of schooling, i.e., they have completed less than the traditional elementary schools. In some states there is no academic standard of require- ments aside from ability to pass an examination before a local county superintendent or other supervising oflicial. As a result many half-taught young people, with little or no real academic attainments, without the slightest com- prehension of the needs of country life, hold places in the schools and keep down the standards of efficiency. On the other hand, 45 per cent of the teachers' reporting are high school graduates and many others have had part courses in high schools. This statement would be more encouraging were it not known that in an inquiry of this sort the better-prepared and successful teachers reply more readily than those less well-prepared and less successful. On general principles, no teacher should be permitted to PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP 99 teach in the schools who has not completed a high school course or its equivalent. Without this preparation the teacher cannot have the necessary reserve store of informa- tion to draw from as occasion may demand. He is in constant danger of getting into ruts ; and his educational vision is likely to become narrowed and indistinct. A few teachers report complete college courses or academic courses in normal schools. This is encouraging as a beginning to better things. Soon, it is hoped, the public will begin to feel its responsibility as well as opportunity in modern school education by encouraging teachers to become more thoroughly prepared than now, by paying better salaries and in other ways dignifying the profession. Scarcity of Professionally Prepared Teachers. — The most serious, though not unexpected, disclosure in the government study was the low professional status of rural United States ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 32.3 Westebn ____^^^^__ ^^^ North Central hIH^HIHIIh ^^'^ Atlantic ^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 34 South Atlantic ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 39'6 Central ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 42.9 ^^^^1 Having no professional preparation. Fig. II. — Professional preparation of rural teachers. From the study made by the Bureau of Education. teachers. One- third of all the teachers reporting — and these the best of those addressed — have had no professional preparation whatever. Under " professional preparation " were included not only regular courses in the professional schools, but also summer courses and other short courses in reputable institutions. Only the briefest and most super- lOO THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK ficial institutes and review schools were excluded. Probably if complete data were available, one-half of all the teachers would be classed as professionally unprepared. More- over, the professional education considered here leaves out of consideration the specific preparation essential to suc- cessful rural life leadership. Awakening the Public Conscience. — European schools are considered more thorough than ours and pay better salaries. They demand high professional preparation, but realize their responsibility by paying living salaries to the teachers. More than this, the teachers' calling is held in the highest popular esteem. While Americans profess to do the same, the naked truth is that the nation is too prone to judge success by money standards. The average income of all public school teachers in the United States was only $490 in 1 91 6. Rural teachers received considerably less — probably not to exceed $300. This places them in a cate- gory with common laborers and below public cab-drivers and automobile chauffeurs. Under these conditions it is time for the public to realize its responsibility to the men and women who are engaged in the most important business of the nation. A people which will set its house in order by providing thorough practical education for industrial organization and effi- ciency has the best form of " preparedness " against the outside enemy. It is well that thinking men in private life and in public organizations of state and nation are al- ready seriously at work to awaken public interest in the rural schools, and in a more adequate and better rewarded teaching-staff. National Conferences for Rural Teacher Preparation. — A first nation-wide conference of educators interested in a better preparation for rural teachers assembled at Chicago PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP loi in the fall of 1914, called by the United States Commis- sioner of Education. Delegates were present from all sections of the country, representing every kind of secondary and higher educational institution which can be adapted to the preparation of rural teachers. These leaders, after three days of continued sessions, formulated a set of clear- cut resolutions urging state departments and state boards of education, normal schools, colleges, and universities, agricul- tural colleges, county normal schools, and high school teacher- training departments and classes to do everything consistent with their organization to unite in offering facilities for training rural teachers — of whom 95,000 are needed annually to fill the ranks of those who abandon the profession. A second conference has recently closed at Nashville (October, 191 5), which was of even more far-reaching in- fluence, in that it adopted a declaration of principles as the working constitution of the body. This document has been circulated throughout the country. It outlines in detail what may rightly be expected of the different teacher- training bodies represented. The most encouraging fea- ture of these conferences was the earnestness with which state superintendents of schools, presidents of normal schools, professors of teachers' colleges, and others labored together to reach practicable results. The recommendations of the two conferences are largely embodied in the discussions in the following paragraphs on what is being done by the schools for teacher-training, and what they should do. State Normal Schools Reorganizing Their Work to Meet the New Demands. — The normal schools should, theo- retically at least, be able to prepare teachers for all kinds of schools. Practically, however, they have not always been able to do so. The demand for trained teachers in the I02 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK city and village schools has, in most sections of the country, been so great as to absorb all the energies of the schools, leaving little or no time to consider the needs of rural com- munities. Certain geographical sections of the country, notably the North Atlantic division, have now little genuine agricultural life. Here, naturally enough, the normal schools do not devote much of their time to rural teachers. In such agricultural sections as the North Central and South Central divisions, on the other hand, rural teachers are in the majority. Now that educational ideals are undergoing great changes in these sections of the country, it is reasonable to expect that the normal schools will be prompt to respond to the new needs. These schools have always been ready to adapt themselves to prevailing con- ditions. In a sense they are so near to public thought all the time as to be '' more nearly to-day an actual exponent of public sentiment than any other public institution of equivalent magnitude." The best evidence of this is that the normal schools situated in the agricultural sections of the country are now straining every energy to be of greatest assistance in rural teacher preparation. Importance of Special Departments for the Preparation of Rural Teachers. — Normal school presidents and other leaders in the schools have begun to see clearly the need of a specialized preparation for rural teaching. The first step in answer to the new demands is usually to offer a special course for students desiring it. The class work of the rural courses is often in charge of the regular instructors of the professional department in the school who have had little particular preparation for rural-life phases of educa- tional work ; consequently, the special courses are not always satisfactory in results and not much sought after by the students of the school. PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP 103 More satisfactory results are apparent where the normal schools have organized distinct departments in this field. The plan usually followed is to place a carefully prepared rural school expert at the head of the department. Other assistants are added from time to time as the development of the department may require. The plan of the organiza- tion is to group the school subjects around a study of the problems of rural life, including rural sociology and rural economics. Much emphasis is placed on rural school methods of teaching and rural school management. Pref- erably, there is a model rural school connected with the department and under its direction. The plan is, further, for the department to extend its services to the country communities which receive the teacher product of the school. The Rural-School Department in the Missouri State Normal School at Kirksville, an Illustration of This Develop- ment. — Well-organized rural-school departments are now to be found in sixty or more leading normal schools. Among the oldest and best-known are Kalamazoo, Michigan ; Normal, Illinois ; Cheney, Washington ; Lewiston, Idaho ; Natchitoches, Louisiana ; Kearney, Nebraska, and Kirks- ville, Missouri. In the latter school a professor of rural education, who is well versed in rural-life conditions, de- votes all his time to the work of the department. He has personal charge of the more important classes and supervises the activities of the model school and the field work. The latter is in immediate charge of a school-extension expert who carries the activities of the department into the country communities through lecture courses and informal meetings with the patrons. Possibly his most important work is to aid beginning teachers to become adjusted to their new en- vironment and to select the right teacher for the right place. I04 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The model rural school, which is only " a stone's throw " from the rural department classrooms, is constantly in use as a practice school by the student teachers and also as a place where model lessons of all kinds are studied. It is also used as a model of the best and latest in rural school architecture. The study course in this and similar rural-school depart- ments emphasizes, (i) the vital problems in rural life — rural sociology and farm economics, (2) the special methods and management of rural schools, (3) the new subjects necessary in this age of commercial agriculture — nature study-agriculture, home economics, handwork, school music, school and personal hygiene, and supervised play, and the revitalization of the literary subjects by eliminating the " dead timber " and giving them a direct application to ever3^day life. (See Part III, Chapter VII.) Teachers who entered upon their occupation before these special departments were established should, if possible, return to them, if only for a summer term, to gain new inspiration and direction. Several of the schools are also offering correspondence courses and extension courses in rural school organization and other important subjects. Place of the Rural Model School and the Rural Practice School. — Probably forty-five normal schools have estab- lished model rural schools on or near the normal school premises, and about an equal number of schools utilize regular rural schools of the vicinity as practice schools for the student teachers in the training classes. Educators are somewhat divided in their opinion as to which of the two schools is the more effective in practice. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. The model school conducted on the campus of the normal school, say some, can generally be counted on to exert a greater in- Practical Features of Rural-Teacher Training The upper illustration shows teachers at work making school gardens at the Purdue University Summer School ; the lower is a class in home economics at the annual Teachers' Institute, Santa Fe County, New Mexico. PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP 105 fluence with the student teachers, because it is a part of their daily working laboratory. The students become in- timate with its architectural advantages through daily con- tact, and will later strive to duplicate these in their own schools. In a similar way the teachers save time and energy by being able to attend frequent model-lesson periods at the school and to do their practice teaching without going into the country. On the other hand, the advocates of the rural practice school insist that rural teaching can best be done in the open country, where the right environment for such teaching can only be found. There is much force in this, and to overcome it the advocates of the model schools located in town convey the pupils of the schools from the country and provide them with an environment as much as possible like that of the open country. Several of the normal schools which adhere to the prac- tice school of the open country, but which have come to the conclusion that the energy and time expended in coming and going to and from the schools is out of proportion to the good gained, have reorganized their plans in such a manner that they now send groups of students, comprising four or six to the group, under a competent critic teacher, to the rural practice schools, where they spend several weeks at a time doing practice work and assisting in com- munity center work. The Normal Schools and Preparation of Teachers in Agriculture. — Many states have recently made the study of agriculture in the public schools compulsory, and most of them require teachers of rural and village schools to pass an examination in this subject before granting certificates to teach. Much of the early agriculture teaching has, for good reasons, been poor and limited to textbook work. This was because the teacher had had little opportunity to io6 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK make proper preparation, and the schools offering such courses to teachers were Hmited in their equipment. One of the most remarkable adaptations to new needs in the normal schools is seen in the organization of strong depart- ments in agriculture and household economics ; sixty- three normal schools have reported distinct courses for teachers in agriculture, which are open as well to the rural teachers- in-training. In most of the schools the departments are in charge of experts with liberal agricultural college train- ing. The departments have, as a rule, sufficiently large, outdoor laboratories at their disposal — school farms, ex- perimental plats, and greenhouses. A few of the schools are not equipped with farms, but all are able to supply some outdoor work. These courses vary from one to four years in length and include all the subjects essential to instruc- tion in educational agriculture. Rural Teacher Preparation in Agricultural Colleges. — Nearly all reputable agricultural colleges have recently established divisions of agricultural education to meet the demand for teachers in the new industrial subjects. The new chairs aim primarily to prepare teachers of agriculture and other industrial subjects for secondary and higher schools, such as high schools, normal schools, and other agricultural colleges, as also for the new consolidated rural schools. The product of long-course teachers has not yet been sufficiently large to reach many of the smaller rural schools. It is to meet in some measure the demands for the latter that summer school courses of a large variety are offered. These are proving of great value to rural and village teachers. Only a few of the agricultural colleges — and these mainly in the southern states — have yet seen their way clear to organize special departments or courses for general rural teachers. The Nashville Conference sets PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP 107 forth in its declaration of principles the urgent need for larger numbers of rural teachers trained in the wholesome agricultural college atmosphere. This is not now a question as to the wisdom of invading a school organized primarily to promote scientific farming ; but one of expediency, since experience has taught that many of the strongest of the broad- visioned rural teachers come from the agricultural colleges. Rural Teacher-Training in Secondary Schools. — There has been considerable difference of opinion among educators as to the wisdom of preparing rural teachers in academic institutions of secondary rank. Many have feared that this might result in lower standards of academic work, while others have insisted that such teacher preparation would add dignity and a new sense of responsibility to the tasks of the secondary schools. The whole matter, however, is not so much a question of wisdom as it is one of expediency when one recalls that an army of close to 95,000 recruits go into the rural schools each year. Some educators, again, have hoped that this " invasion " of the secondary schools may be temporary only, while others who have made a careful study of it are satisfied that, if anything, it strength- ens the secondary school in its academic work and ought to be made permanent. Rural teacher-training in secondary schools is not an innovation, having been operative in private academies in New York State since 1834. By legislative enactment of that year eight academies were established to prepare common school teachers. In these academies can be seen the beginnings of the present teacher- training classes in New York. Eventually they became public high schools, retaining their early granted normal school privileges. The growth in secondary school teacher- training has been rapid during the last few years. At the present time this kind of io8 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK work in secondary schools is carried on in twenty-one dif- ferent states ; this includes the so-called county training schools and teacher- training departments in connection with high schools and teacher- training as a part of regular high school courses. Wisconsin is the only state in the group that has genuine county training schools in every respect separate from the public high schools. New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, and Ohio have what are called county training schools, or classes or separate depart- ments more or less closely connected with the public high schools and using public school buildings and equipment for their work. Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Mis- souri, Nebraska, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin have training classes as a part of the ordinary high school courses, leaving all except the professional work in charge of the regular high school instructors. Maine offers teacher- training in its accredited academies ; North Carolina and North Dakota have similar courses in a number of high schools, although there is no legal enactment directly authorizing their organization. Finally, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Florida have recently passed laws to organize teacher- training departments in high schools which went into effect in the fall of 191 5. The total number of schools in the twenty-one states preparing teachers for rural communities through secondary institutions is 11 19, with an attendance of about 25,000, graduating, in 191 5, 11,088 students. In several states, notably in the Middle West, the work has taken such strong hold on the states that within three or four years all rural teachers should be in possession of such academic and professional instruction as is offered in the first-class high schools of their states. This will be fraught with greatest consequences in rural communities. PREPARING- TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP 109 The Wisconsin County Training Schools. — This state has the only true county training schools, i.e., schools which are in every respect distinct and separate. They are organized under separate boards of education and have their own instructors specifically prepared for this kind of work who devote their whole time to the preparation of this kind of teachers. Twenty-eight county training schools have been established in as many counties. At the present time the schools receive state aid depending somewhat on their organization and number of teachers. Those with the smallest corps of teachers receive a maxi- mum of $3000 from the state annually, those with the larger staff, $3500 a year. One thousand four hundred and thirteen teachers-in-training were enrolled in 19 14, seventy- seven per cent being young men and women country bred and born. They were, upon the whole, a sturdy lot of young men and women, used to home responsibilities and work, many of them making their own way in the world. Of the total enrollment for 191 2, three-fourths of the students were reported as having distinct home responsibilities, and one- fourth were obliged to work their way through school. Teacher-Training in High Schools. — A majority of the high schools in which teacher- training is given as part of the regular course require four years of work for graduation, leaving most of the professional work for the last year, when these subjects are taken in lieu of other academic subjects. The training classes in Michigan accept students of sopho- more rank, although a majority of those who apply for admission are four-year graduates, holding them only for one year which is devoted to the study of professional subjects and practice school work. Under the Minnesota system, while usually the matriculants are of senior rank, it has been possible to enter the training class at any time above sopho- no THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK more rank. This system, however, has recently been strengthened so that within a year no one will be able to get a training certificate from the Minnesota schools who has not completed the entire four-year course of the state high schools. Nevada and Ohio have perhaps the most satisfactory re- quirements. In Nevada and almost entirely so in Ohio, while high school property is used for housing purposes, the county training school is virtually a separate institution under county regulations, accepting as students in the main only graduates from the local four-year high schools and retaining them in a one-year post-graduate profes- sional course. The state of New York has recently modified its system so that hereafter in this state also the training class will constitute a graduate fifth year. The same is true of the new Oklahoma training classes. It is not the purpose of these pages to go into the details of high school teacher preparation in the several states where this work is done. It is sufiftcient to state that where the system has become well-established the new kind of teachers, while their academic standards are still generally lower than they ought to be, are able to accomplish much more than their untrained predecessors, and many find that they are doing just as good work as are the graduates from some normal schools, many of them, indeed, doing better work than the regular course graduates from the latter institutions. This is due chiefly to the fact that the county and high school trained teachers are more apt to get the correct point of view as to the needs of rural life and rural pupils. Whether this kind of training shall continue a temporary expedient or become a permanent and lasting part of the professional training schools of our country, the future alone can say, although certainly this must depend largely on the future ability of normal schools, agricultural PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP iii colleges, and other institutions to fill the demand for well- trained rural teachers. Courses for Rural Teachers and Other Leaders in Cer- tain Schools of Education. — The Nashville Conference urged in its declaration of principles that the college for teachers should embrace in its organization a school or division to train principals and special teachers for rural high schools, county superintendents of education, state and county rural school supervisors, directors of extension work for rural communities in agriculture and home econom- ics, and especially teachers of rural education and allied subjects in normal schools and county training schools. The division should include, in addition, an extension serv- ice to keep the members of its faculty in constant touch with the real problems of the rural community and to bring assistance to the teachers in the field. The courses offered in the school of rural life in the teachers' college should in- clude agriculture, rural sociology, rural economics, rural industrial arts, rural sanitation, and rural recreation. This division of the college for teachers should include in its facilities, also, one or more experimental and observa- tional rural schools to be used by the faculty and students for purposes of research as well as for observation and practice. It is of interest to energetic young teachers to know that . a number of the best-known teachers' colleges in the country have already extended facilities for advanced work in all the leadership studies included above. It is possible now for teachers to spend a summer quarter at Teachers College, Columbia University, or a year in graduate work at George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee, and in long and short courses at many other schools of similar organization, under the direction of rural experts gathered 112 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK from every part of the nation. In this way will the power of leadership grow. Improving Teachers in Service. — The task of redirecting the rural schools will depend largely on the teachers who are now in the profession. When one speaks of a new kind of teachers, it is not the intention to discard the teachers now at work, but rather to help them to redirect their efforts to better advantage by assisting them through all possible means to become more efficient in their rural leadership than they now are. There are many agencies through which teachers are able to grow in community leadership even if they cannot attend professional schools during the regular school year. Among these, summer schools organized in strong professional institutions naturally come first. Noth- ing further need be said about these schools at the present time. Other well-known agencies are annual teachers* institutes, national, state, and local teachers' meetings, and teachers' reading circles. These are all so well-known that it is unnecessary to discuss them in detail. It has long been felt that more effective assistance should be given teachers in service to encourage them in their community leadership work. Several interesting and effective schemes of organization to this end are under way in different sec- tions of the country. The Iowa Plan of Extension Service for Rural Teachers. — An effective plan of such state-wide extension service for rural teachers has been in operation in Iowa for several years under the direction of Iowa State Teachers' College at Cedar Falls. The preliminary work of this service was begun in 19 13 when several counties were organized with teachers' study centers to demonstrate the feasibility of this plan as a means to assist teachers at work in the rural schools. The study centers were at first voluntary classes PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP 113 of rural and other teachers who met on Saturdays and gave the entire day to study. This work, which began as an experiment, was continued at a very large number of centers during the next two years. By 1 91 6 practically every county in the state was included, with fully five thousand teachers organized for extension work of this kind. The last General Assembly of the state, seeing the great possibilities of the new extension work, made a large appropriation to be expended annually for its further promotion. The extension service has been placed in charge of a " Director of Extension Service," who, al- though a member of the Teachers' College faculty, devotes at least one-half of his time to the extension service work. An able corps of extension instructors is chosen for work under the personal direction of this director. An important phase of the Iowa system is its demon- stration schools, conducted and supervised by the rural education department of the Teachers College. These demonstration schools are twenty in number, all of them typical rural schools in which the young teachers-in-training from the Normal School have excellent opportunities for practice teaching and observation work. These demon- stration schools form excellent study centers for other teachers, to whom they are always open. The Iowa extension service is, therefore, twofold in nature. It carries the Normal School direct to the teachers who are unable to do residence work, and it gives the teachers-in- training opportunities for real practice work in an ideal rural environment. The National Rural Teachers' Reading Circle. — An- other medium through which rural teachers may receive assistance while in service is the National Rural Teachers' Reading Circle, mentioned in the preceding chapter. The 114 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK plan of organization was first broached at the National Education Association meeting in St. Paul in 1914. The final plans have recently been put into operation and teachers throughout the country have been invited to its membership. More than three-fourths of the states are already enrolled in the membership of the Reading Circle. The work is entirely without cost to the rnembers, except for the purchase of books. There is no restriction as to who may become members. The books read in the study course for the years 1915-1917 are classified under five heads as non-professional books for cultural value, educational classics, general principles and methods of education, rural education, and rural life problems. The work is organized as a two-year course, although it may be completed by the industrious teacher in a shorter time. To those who give satisfactory evidence of having read not less than five books from the general culture list, and not less than three from the other lists — seventeen books in all — within two years from the time of registering will be awarded a National Rural Teachers' Reading Circle certificate signed by the United States Commissioner of Education and the chief school ofificial in the state in which the reader lives at the time when the course is completed. Question Studies Suggested by the Text State all the reasons you can think of why so few teachers remain permanently in rural schools. Suggest three or four remedies which would attract well-prepared teachers to rural school leadership. Do you reside in the school district seven days in the week ? If not, where do you spend your week-ends? Are you able to do anything for your school community under such conditions? Can you see any relation between low public estimation of teaching as a profession and teacher preparation? PREPARING TEACHERS FOR RURAL LEADERSHIP 115 What were the Chicago and Nashville Conferences on Rural Teacher Training ? Show the importance of special rural school departments in normal schools. What is meant by rural model schools, or rural practice schools? Why do you, consider the agricultural college as having an ideal atmos- phere for preparing rural teachers and other leaders ? Distinguish carefully between county training schools and training departments in high schools. Wherein does the Wisconsin county train- ing school show its advantage ? Its disadvantage ? Enumerate some leading professional schools not far from home which offer good courses in rural school work, in their summer sessions. Study their announcements. Why is the demand for teachers made on ''all schools which are at all adapted to this end"? What is the Iowa plan of extension work and practice teaching ? Are you a member of the National Rural Teachers' Reading Circle? If not, address the U. S. Bureau of Education for their printed materials on this subject. Special Studies "Teacher and Community." — Betts and Hall's Better Rural Schools, Ch. X. "Preparation of Teachers to Teach Agriculture." — ^vick.er^s Agricul- tural Education for Teachers, Chs. V and VII. "The Rural School Teacher — His Training." — Foght's American Rural School, Ch. V. Prepare a theme on rural teacher-training based on one or all of the following publications of the U. S. Bureau of Education: Bulletin 1913, No. 2, Training Courses for Rural Teachers; 1914, No. 49, Efficiency and Preparation of Rural School Teachers; 191 7, Preparation of Rural Teachers in County Training Schools and High Schools. (In preparation.) PART II THE TEACHER AS ORGANIZER AND ADMINISTRATOR CHAPTER I Rural School Organization and Administration Importance of Understanding the Different Systems of School Organization. — It would be difficult to master the rural school problem in its entirety without having a clear understanding of the typical systems of school organiza- tion used in the different states. Nearly every phase of school reorganization is bound up in some way with the geographical unit utilized as the basis for school main- tenance, supervision, and general administration. If the unit of organization is very small, it becomes impracticable for school taxation and supervision ; if too large, its super- vision is difficult and generally ineffective. The growth in school education for entire sections of the country has been retarded because of bad school organization, while other sections, less fortunately situated in other ways, have been able to make exceptional progress in school reorgani- zation because favored by modern laws on this subject. The present chapter is devoted to a brief discussion of those phases of school organization only that are of greatest importance to rural teachers at this time. For more com- plete statements, readers are referred to the special studies at the close of the chapter. Brief History of School Organization. — School organi- zation in the United States has developed from the needs of community life in the different sections of the country. In pioneer days school organization was wholly a community iig I20 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK enterprise, each group of families organizing and supporting its own school as best it could. From these often far- separated group centers, school organization began as an outward development, coinciding, as a rule, ultimately, with the geographical unit established for civil adminis- tration. Historically, this has given the country three distinct types of school organization — district, town (township), and county. The district was the original pioneer organization and generally preceded school legislation. It began as a neces- sity on the edge of the New England wilderness long ago, and was later continued for much the same reasons in the westward march into the interior of the continent. The town (township) system for school purposes also originated in New England and prevailed from the very beginning in all organized towns. The district organiza- tion, it will be understood, came into existence where there was no town organization for civil purposes. County organization originated in the South. Here plantation life prevailed, agricultural areas were large, with a widely scattered population and little village life. This called for a larger unit of organization for civil purposes, which was supplied in the old English county. The latter also be- came the unit for school purposes. As the nation expanded westward the local district unit has kept well in the vanguard of civilization, becoming permanently established in many states of the Middle West and in nearly all of the West. The compact township organization eventually drove the district system out of New England and gave several of the Middle Western States a marked bias for this organization. Meanwhile, south of the Mason-Dixon line, county systems of organ- ization prevailed. In the Middle West, where the town- RURAL SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 121 122 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK ship and county are both used in civil administration, there is a strong movement under way at this time to supplant the pioneer district organization with one or the other of township or county unit, with the latter generally in the ascendency. Decline of the District Unit. — The term school "dis- trict " is used in the present discussion to mean a small geographical area served by a single school, with occasionally two or more schools, under one local board of education. This board has general charge of the local school, including care of the school premises, choice of teacher, the right to fix the teacher's salary, and establishment of the policy which shall govern the school's work. The board is ame- nable to the annual school meeting which elects its member- ship, votes the taxes, — except in states without local taxation, — determines the length of the school year, etc. The small district, which has been considered more demo- cratic than the other forms, is beginning to show marks of decline in every section of the country, for the obvious reason that it was organized as a pioneer system when it was the only feasible plan. But with the passing of pioneer conditions and the development of modern industrial life, a larger and more centrally controlled system of organ- ization seems desirable. Reasons for the Decline. — Massachusetts was the first state to legalize the district unit, and was likewise the first to abolish it. This was in 1882. The other New England states soon followed suit and changed to the larger town (township) system. The reason for the change in New England is simple. The great westward agricultural ex- pansion had led to a general disintegration of the rural population, which was intensified by the influx of some of those who remained to the growing factory towns. This RURAL SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 123 left many of the one-time populous districts all but bereft of population and too impoverished to support long-term schools under well-paid teachers, hence the union of all the small districts in a town system. COLORADO RURAL SCHOOLS. 1725 Third Class Districts. An Eight Year Survey 1906-1913 Inclusive. Averag-e Enrollment. 64,385 i- Did Not Crraduate. kiki Gr9. ~s; B w 2*80' c -« A B C D 1914 Corn Soybeans Oats & Clover Cowpeas 1915 SoybYis.&Cowjis Wheat & Oats Clovers Corn 1916 Wheat & Oats Clovers Corn Soyb'rife.&Cowp^. 1917 Clovers Corn Soyb'ns.&Cowp^Wheat&Oats Plat E-Corn 1914 — 1917 Plat F- Alfalfa Plat G- Fruits Fig. 17. — The above cut shows the Porter School grounds, orchard, and demonstration farm. 156 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK furnace, pressure water tank, drinking fountain, lavatories, and complete kitchen outfit for community rallies. The main classroom is well appointed and restful to the eye. It has all that can be desired in community library, musical instrument, and other equipment — nearly all the volun- teer offerings of patrons and friends. The grounds, as may be seen from the accompanying plat, have been planted to trees, shrubs, and flowers. Prac- tical homemade play apparatus has been set up and, best of all, is used early and late. Perhaps no part of this community school is more interest- ing than the school farm of five acres, adjoining the school grounds on the east. The land was leased to the district for a term of years, free of cost, by an enthusiastic member of the comimunity, who was himself formerly indifferent to the school. The State College of Agriculture plotted the farm and gives it occasional expert attention. It is other- wise worked cooperatively by the school and the adult farmers' club, under the direction of the teacher and the State College extension service. The extreme left of the cut, marked S. H., represents the school and yard. The area marked G is an interesting school orchard, the trees all being donated by an interested Missouri nursery. The six demonstration plots are planned for a practical four-year rotation of greatest value to the entire community. The Teacher age and Garden. — The genius of the teacher has converted an old tenant house — half a mile from the school — into a pretty little teacherage where she and her mother live the year round to bless the community. Here is also the school garden in which vacation-time studies are kept up zealously by the teacher and children. The garden contains a variety of wholesome vegetables formerly little Activities at the Porter School The upper illustration shows some of the machinery used in the agricultural tests which are a feature of the annual '"short course." The lower illustration shows a group of children at work in the Porter School garden. THE REDIRECTED ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL 157 known in the average grain-growing and stock-raising sections of Missouri. The Movable School of Agriculture. — The Porter School was first to convince the State College of Agriculture of the possibilities of agricultural short courses at the one- teacher schools. Such a course is now held annually. The crowds in attendance upon the practical demonstrations have been so great that a large tent has recently been used to take care of the crowds. Community Activities. — The following gives in part the 1 91 5 summer schedule for the use of the schoolhouse, when many schoolhouses are given over to bats and cobwebs and other unsightly things : Wednesday and Saturday nights Band Practice. Thursday nights, alternate weeks Farmers' and Women's Clubs. Monday nights (study of algebra and ancient history (H. S.) unfinished work of graduates because of farm work). 6 weeks. Friday nights Music class. Wednesdays, vacation school ; nature study related to the activities of children attending, the reading, spelling, arithmetic, etc., adapted to same. Reports from journals of those doing work in individual gardens, and with poultry, are heard weekly. The Junior Audubon Society meets twice a month on Wednesday. (23 members.) Space allows no further details of this brown mouse teacher and her work. A book could be written on how the Porter School prepares for life, how Mrs. Harvey's probable successors are even now working as apprentice teachers in the school ; how the clubs hold their meetings and what they do ; how Porter celebrates the Nation's Independence Day and other holidays ; and how it finds 158 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK time to celebrate seed time and harvest, work time and rest time Increasing the Small School's Efficiency through ''Stand- ardization." — State educational authorities in many states have accomplished something for the one-room schools by " standardizing " them. The average community, it is reasoned, does not realize the true condition of its school, as there is no accepted standard to measure it by. The school- house is probably as good as, and perhaps better than, the one a majority of the adult population had attended — so what more could be desired ! It is oftener pure ignorance of modern educational requirements than niggardliness that keeps people satisfied to drag along with the old one- room school. They need to be awakened to the new educa- tional requirements. This may be accomplished in a measure where a well-built, well-taught school is organized in the vicinity of the self-satisfied community. The only reason to fear the results of the sort of school standardiza- tion going forward now, is that it is likely to stop short of that complete revitalization so essential in a real farm community school. The Usual Plan Followed in Standardization. — The State Departments of Education in Illinois, Oregon, Alabama, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and many other states in their efforts at improvement have adopted uniform rules of measurement for the standardiza- tion of small rural schools in their respective states. Rep- resentatives of the state departments, or others delegated for this purpose, usually make a study of the school grounds, of the building and its physical equipment, of the teacher's preparation, and the general school practice. A definite score card is used by some, each item under consideration receiving a percentage valuation. In Oregon, the standards THE REDIRECTED ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL 159 are printed on a large card and posted in the schoolroom, and the inspector on his visits pastes a star opposite each item attained until the school is ready to receive state recog- nition. In Illinois, the schools may attain distinction as " standard " or '' superior " schools, the requirements for the latter being much more severe than for standard schools. What has been Accomplished. — School standardization has undeniably done much for many small schools. It has been instrumental in getting larger, more sanitary and well- kept school grounds ; it has enforced the improvement of school architecture ; it has given the school a better physical equipment ; it has lengthened the school year, and has increased teachers' salaries ; finally it has provided the schools with better teachers and an enriched course of study. But here the process usually stops — and stops short, un- fortunately, of securing a real farm community school, unless, to be sure, an exceptional teacher happens to be in charge of the school. A state like Illinois has several thousand schools of the " standard " type, but only a score of the " superior " kind. If the state can, by degrees, make over the former group of schools into the latter, the outlook will be bright indeed for its efficient one-teacher schools. Here is the crux ! the '' standard " school is an improved pioneer school and no more, while the '' superior " school goes far enough in redirecting its work to make it fit reason- ably well into community needs. A careful study of the average standard school discloses that, notwithstanding its general improvement over the original type, it is seldom able to offer the larger boys and girls the vital interests that will keep them in school till the prescribed course is completed. The superior school of the Illinois type makes provision for teaching the elements of agriculture, manual training, and i6o THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK EXPLANATIOfl:- • STANDARD SCHOOL ♦ SUPERIOR SCHOOL Fig. 1 8. — This map shows graphically how the rural schools are becoming standardized in Illinois. The crosses indicate the "superior" schools. THE REDIRECTED ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL i6i household arts. With these are usually coupled other activities that help to draw school and home together. It has frequently become the social center of the community, and interesting school and home projects get their inspira- tion from the school. Suggested Requirements for a Really Effective Standard One-teacher School. — A truly effective one- teacher school must be standardized around such educational essentials as these: (i) a teacher with specialized preparation and willingness to make rural community teaching his permanent occupation ; (2) a school plant equipped to provide an education related to rural life and its needs ; (3) a course of instruction and methods of teaching in accord with the needs and nature of agricultural people. The teacher is the chief factor in the new standardization. He should preferably have his professional training from one of the special schools for rural teachers ; in any case he must be rural-minded, must love rural life, and understand its difficult problems. He must be willing to cast his lot with the country people, living in their midst the year round. The school plant required is almost as essential as a prop- erly prepared teacher. The grounds should contain at least five acres, and preferably more. Mrs. Harvey's school, it will be recalled, has six acres — not any too much — one acre being used for playground and parking, the other five acres for orchard and school farm. The school building should comply with rigid hygienic requirements in lighting, heating, and ventilating ; and should, in addition, provide ample room and equipment for experimental agriculture and gardening, household eco- nomics, and manual training. Several of the rooms should be arranged so that they may be thrown together to form an assembly room to provide space for community rallies. i62 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The chief departure in the new school plant is the teacher's cottage, or teacherage. Without a permanent home in the school community at his disposal, it is difficult to conceive of a permanent rural teacher. The home should be erected on the school grounds and be kept up at community ex- pense. A portion of the school grounds should be set apart for a teacher's garden. Such a school plant as contemplated in the standard sug- gested would hold out real inducements to strong, married teachers to take charge of the school, and would make it quite possible for the teacher to continue many outdoor activities of his school during the summer months. The course of instruction is the third essential in the new standard. It should, in brief, embrace all the cultural and practical things that the farmer and his wife ought to know, in order to live healthy, wholesome lives in the com- munity ; to be ready to accept their responsibilities and opportunities as citizens of the republic ; to know how to make a good living ; and, finally, to understand how to use a well-earned leisure to their own ethical and esthetical advancement. These phases of the problem are outlined in detail in Part III of the book. Probably considerable legislation would be necessary in some states before such standards can be reached. Among other things, special state aid could well be voted as induce- ment to standardize the schools. The states should also offer special inducements to teachers to remain in the same community by scaling up their salaries — adding each year an increasing sum to the amount paid by the local com- munity. Such laws are already in use in Wisconsin and Indiana. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to a more detailed statement of a few vital phases of the one- teacher school plant. THE REDIRECTED ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL 163 Some Oft-Repeated Suggestions. — Many excellent trea- tises have been produced recently on the subject of improved buildings and grounds for rural schools. Particular atten- tion is called to a small brochure entitled Minimum Health Requirements for Rural Schools, prepared by Doctor Thomas D. Wood, Chairman of the Committee on Health Problems for the National Council for Education. Seven hundred and fifty thousand copies have been dis- tributed free through the United States Bureau of Education. If school officials and teachers would follow the suggestions of the pamphlet, new '' standards " would speedily be forth- coming. Another valuable bulletin on the subject is Doctor F. B. Dresslar's Rural Schoolhouses and Grounds, published as Bureau of Education Bulletin 1914, No. 12. This also should be in every teacher's hands. The wealth of easily obtainable materials on schoolhouse construction, equipment, and upkeep precludes the necessity for repeating in this book the common arguments for im- proved school grounds, well-heated, lighted, and ventilated buildings, etc. Only those phases of the school plant are discussed which bear immediately on the school as a re- vitalized community school. The School Plant, an Educational Laboratory. — In the new conception of the rural school, it is the purpose ever to keep before the teacher's consciousness a vision of the ideal school plant, or, as it is called here, the " school laboratory." This is no misnomer, because the new school is a place where vital experiments are tried and real problems are solved. A one-room school set in a small half-acre lot and used for six to nine months annually does not fill the require- ments of the new conception. A permanent teacher and a school utilized twelve months in the year are part and parcel in the new school. Modern 164 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK community needs shape the work of the school, and this, again, dictates the shaping of the school plant. The school plant shown in the accompanying illustration gives the teacher a good idea of the new ideals. It is an all- year-round social and educational center, and an enduring model for the best farming and best living. The model. Fig. 19. — Ground plan of an ideal rural community school prepared, in miniature, by the Bureau of Education for the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Provision is made for housing the teacher and in other ways making the school a real farmers' school. THE REDIRECTED ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL 165 while primarily planned as a consolidated school, will answer the purposes of the one-teacher school as well, with some modification in the school building. This laboratory may have from five to an almost indefinite number of acres of land. In the central foreground lies the school building in a chaste setting of lawn, flowers, and trees. This is flanked on either side by playgrounds for tennis, basketball, and other games. The large central area in the picture is used for baseball and track athletics ; on either side of this, and sep- arated from it by planted trees, are the school's large experi- ment fields. At the left background is the teacher's home and large grounds and garden. To the right of this can be seen the school barn and poultry pens, used jointly by the school and teacher. Finally, at the right of this again can be seen the horse sheds where the farmers stable their animals while in attendance at the week-end school rallies. It needs little imagination to picture the significance of such a school to any community. In charge of a permanent teacher it would rouse the pride and quicken the initiative of the patrons. The young people would find here interests unknown in the other one- teacher schools, and the old people would seek in it practical instruction and social recreation. The Teacher's Cottage. — The importance of providing a home for the teacher cannot be overestimated. In the first place it would mean a long stride toward permanent teaching ; because it would induce strong, well-prepared men and women to settle down to a life-work in the district, determined to give the people there the best of which they are capable. In the second place, the teacherage with its land and outbuildings would naturally draw married men teachers back into the profession, — not in sufficient numbers to force the women from the profession, but enough to put a leaven of masculinity into the teaching force. 1 66 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The writer has often visited districts where it was im- possible for the teacher to procure a suitable lodging and boarding place. Either people are so well-to-do that they do not care to bother with the teacher, or they are so poorly housed that the teacher experiences nothing but discomfort and inconvenience. Very often the teacher has little pri- vacy. He may likely as not have to room with some member of the family. The room is often unheated in winter, so that if there is to be any studying it has to be done in the family living room amid annoyance and in- terruption. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that many capable teachers hesitate to remain in the rural communities. The movement to house the teachers is not new in our country. In the day of the household economy farmer it was, as a matter of fact, quite common. But more recently the practice has fallen into disuse. Now, however, a re- vival of good proportions is under way which bids fair to revolutionize prevailing practices. Teachers' Cottages in European Countries. — In Euro- pean countries teachers' homes are as much a part of the school plant as are the classrooms. They may be seen anywhere in England, Germany, France, Scandinavia, Den- mark, Switzerland, either as separate cottages or as a suite of rooms in the school building. In Denmark, for example, there is legal requirement that every school shall have ample housing facilities. These range from three-room suites in the case of unmarried women teachers to seven or eight rooms for married men. The suites are built, as a rule, in connection with the main school building, using either the second floor or a wing on the first floor. Where more than one teacher lives in the build- ing, each suite of rooms invariably has its own separate THE REDIRECTED ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL 167 -^tl ^ 1 .5 -^ ^ Tl ? <« ^ 1 — H- .1 -4-1 1-+- -H-H r. "^5 I «■ I I I : IH^ ■ : I B ■ . , ^ <§ • 1 '■ -- i t>l 1! 5^1 : : ^^ "I Sc? : ; ~ iiL i^ ■ 1 ^ ^ 6$ \ • a : • ?> p 6 • ^«^ " "S 4^ « ^ — -O +J W) C v„ C ci O I f W) S (U tn o g .2g '" in its simplest form, showing the liquefjing and effluent tanks. extent to which this neglect has been carried. Investiga- tions by health authorities in many states have disclosed that rural school toilets are often a disgrace as well as a menace to public health. Doctor Dresslar, by way of THE REDIRECTED ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL 173 illustration, quotes these figures in his Rural Schoolhouses and Grounds. In 631 out of 1232 rural schools examined or reporting, the toilets were adjudged insanitary. In 3572 rural schools inspected by the Pennsylvania State Board of Health at least 50 per cent of the toilets were found to be Varadt. Line formTil* 1 I _ • ' " ■ -"^^"'"^ f Fig. 24. — Sectional view of a satisfactory septic system constructed by the Kentucky State Board of Health. insanitary. Similar conditions prevail in other sections of the country. National, state, and local medical authorities have begun a consistent campaign to eliminate this form of public nuisance. The United States Public Health Service has per- fected several forms of sanitary toilets now before the public through pamphlets and public demonstrations. The most effective is the so-called " L. R. S. privy " (devised by Doctors Lumsden, Roberts, and Stiles). It is a septic- tank 174 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK disposal system and may be seen in its simplest form in figure 21. For a detailed study of this inexpensive system the teacher is referred to the bulletins of the United States Health Service. The septic system described above is a great improve- ment on the old dry-closets generally in use ; but the ideal system, after all, is the flush-tank system which should be installed wherever water pressure is available. A simple pressure tank set in the basement, or buried in the ground outside the building, can be attached to the well pump as indicated above in figure 22. The tank should measure about 200 gallons to a 30-pupil school, grading up or down according to requirements. Such water systems have been installed in many modern farm homes, so why not also in standardized modern schools? Question Studies from the Text Distinguish between a "one-room" school and a modern "one-teacher" school — both as regards physical plant and educational accomplish- ments. Wherein does the average one -room school fall short of meeting the needs of an average agricultural community? Do you know any rural teacher of the Brown Mouse type? If so, tell the teacher's story. Enumerate the salient features of Mrs. Marie Turner Harvey's school. Could not many more teachers do what this teacher has done ? What have you settled upon this year for home and school project work ? Would a movable school or agriculture short course be practicable ? Explain the significance to the community of having vacation school activities similar to those in the Porter School. Discuss the requirements for standardization of rural schools in Illinois ; in Oregon ; in Alabama ; in Pennsylvania. Does your own school come under any such accepted standard? If so, how does it satisfy you? How does it satisfy the patrons? What are the essential factors in the author's plan of standardization ? Give your views on the subject of teachers' cottages. THE REDIRECTED ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL 175 Special Studies Read Herbert Quick's Brown Mouse and report to the class. Prepare a special study on Teachers' Cottages. See Preston's Teachers' Cottages in Washington, and Teachers' Cottages prepared by the American Lumber Association for free distribution by the United States Bureau of Education. Read " School Buildings and Grounds," Foght's Rural Denmark, Chap- ter VHL Make a report on one of the following topics from Dresslar's Rural Schoolhouses and Grounds: (i) Sanitary and Convenient Water Supply for Country Schools; (2) Sanitary Privies for Rural Schools; and (3) Health Program for Rural Children. CHAPTER IV Coming of the Real Rural Community School Modern Rural Life Demands a Thorough Reorganiza- tion of the Old-Time Schools. — The great national in- dustrial transition going on round about us is forcing upon the country — whether it will or not — a reorganization of the educational system. The requirements for success under modern commercial agriculture are as varied and different from the old-time hit and miss methods of land tilling as are the implements of this — the modern grain harvester and steam thresher — different from the tools of that — the hand cradle and the flail. To perpetuate the pioneer school would be to meet the educational prob- lems of world-wide commercial agriculture with the edu- cational equipment of the day of the hand cradle and the flail. If people would give these facts more serious thought, the work of educational reorganization would probably meet with less opposition from the unthinking. An educational process is needed which can reach clear down to the roots of things, strengthening character, and teaching the rights of fellow men, loyalty to the state, and fear of God, even while it supplies the youth and old people, without distinction, with practical training for bread-win- ning on the God-given land. Such requirements are be- yond all but the exceptional one-teacher schools, which must always continue a part of the school system where a larger reorganization is out of the question. The real solution, 176 COMING OF THE REAL RURAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL 177 however, lies with a new type of school — the consolidated farm community school. Reorganization through Modern Centralization. — There is nothing forced or artificial about the movement to cen- tralize, or consolidate, the small schools now in process of realization throughout the United States. It is indeed the most natural kind of movement. It began in Massachusetts as long ago as 1869 because it appeared to be the only prac- tical solution of a perplexing problem. The movement has since then spread contemporaneously from hundreds of centers far removed from each other and has taken on a great variety of forms, though the impulse back of it all has ever been the same — necessity or at least a desire to pro- vide time-serving educational facilities in a practical, busi- nesslike way instead of the outworn and ineffective. Brief History of School Consolidation. — The movement is too well known to require a lengthy historical sketch. Books and pamphlets in large number have been written on the subject,^ which give, in detail, the stock arguments for and against consolidation. Most of these may be passed by, as the experimental stage in school consolidation has long been passed. The movement is now, in fact, ac- cepted as good national policy. What school people must concern themselves with, is that the new school shall come to the community in its best form — otherwise the old schools had better been left as they were. But, first, it is desirable to note historically the encouraging growth of consolidation. There are probably 10,500 consolidated schools In the United States, deserving the name. A mere union of several schools making of them a larger one-teacher school is not considered as falling within the definition. It con- ^ See Bibliography for the best available material on this subject. 178 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK templates the union of several — preferably three or more — schools, to provide the facilities of a well-graded school. To say that 50,000 one-room schools have been absorbed by the new schools is not to overstate the facts. It is easy to see what this leavening must mean to the 212,000 small schools still untouched by the movement. Massachusetts passed a law authorizing consolidation of schools as early as 1865, and four years later added efficiency to this step by enacting another law providing for the con- veyance of school children at public expense. The first school to take advantage of this provision was the town (township) of Quincy, in 1874. Perhaps the first successful experiment at consolidation in the state was the three-school consolidation in Montague, in 1875. The largest early experiment of this kind in the state was in the town of Concord, the twelve schools of which united as one strong central school in the course of the years 1 870-1 880. Since then schools have been consolidated wherever practicable. The great increase in conveying children to school at public expense in Massachusetts may be observed in the growing annual expenditure for this purpose. This amount was $22,118.38 in 1888 and $384,149 in 1912, and fully $400,000 in 1915. The example set by Massachusetts was in time followed by all the rest of New England. Connecticut began con- solidation in a small way in 1889. The other states fell in line somewhat later and are making considerable progress in spite of topographical and other difficulties which conspire to discourage the movement in this section of the country. The Middle West and West. — From Massachusetts the new plan of school organization spread westward and south- ward, until consolidation, in some form, is now practiced in every state. It is an outstanding fact that consolidation COMING OF THE REAL RURAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL 179 has been most successful in states with large administrative school units. The small intrenched district unit has always been a hindrance to consolidation, as shown elsewhere in the book. In the Middle West, Ohio, Indiana, and North Dakota have made marked progress because these states are or- ganized on the township plan — in North Dakota, in all except five counties. Similarly, the Southern States that have shown the greatest progress are organized on the county plan. Ohio consolidated its first schools at Kingsville, Ash- tabula County, in 1882. Now the state has more than four hundred such schools, many serving entire townships. Indiana has unquestionably the most satisfactory system of consolidation to be found anywhere. Consolidation laws are very effective here. No school, for example, is per- mitted to run with less than twelve pupils. All such are closed and the children conveyed elsewhere at public ex- pense. The township high schools have had a remarkable growth, which is quite natural in a township unit state. In 1912, there were 589 consolidated schools in Indiana; in 1 91 6 this number had reached nearly seven hundred. Of the district unit states that have attained good results in consolidation, may be mentioned Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Washington. But it should be noted that this progress is wholly due to liberal state aid measures. The great state of Illinois, on the other hand, offers no such inducements to its small districts, with the expected result that its consolidated schools can be counted on one's fingers. Utah changed to the unconditional county unit plan in 191 5, and boasts having consolidated all its rural schools — there being at this writing not more than a hundred of i8o THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK one-teacher schools in the state. CaHfornia is liberal with its school expenditure, and has organized many fine con- solidated schools, among them a number of great agricul- tural high schools. Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona have some notable consolidated graded and high schools in the irrigated belts. Nebraska emphasizes particularly its strong rural high schools. Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas are making some progress, particularly so in the last-mentioned state, where consolidation is comparatively new. In the South. — Nowhere in our country has this form of school reorganization meant more for school progress than in the Southern States. Public school systems are of more recent origin in this section. The white population is com- paratively sparse, and the natural resources are not yet fully developed. To this must be added the heavy burden of a double school system — one for the white population, another for the colored. But with all this, school education in the South rests more seriously on the minds of public- spirited men and women than in almost any other section of the country. It has become a patriotic motive to many — and the new plans for school centralization have offered avenues along which to realize these hopes and needs. Consolidation has been brought about in a variety of ways. Some of the Southern States emphasize county high schools, others agricultural high schools, still others a com- bination of the graded elementary schools and high schools. Tennessee, since its adoption of the county unit, has made remarkable headway in establishing consolidated schools equipped with experiment farms and homes for the teachers. North Carolina is doing as much under the name of farm life schools, and Virginia, under the name of rural high schools. Of all this group of states, Louisiana has perhaps accom- COMING OF THE REAL RURAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL i8i plished the greatest results. This is directly due to the cen- tralized parish (county) unit organization.^ It is now time to consider the important types of school consolidation. These are discussed below as, (i) associated schools, (2) partially consolidated schools, (3) complete consolidations, (4) village consolidation, and open country consolidation. Associated Schools, or Schools of the Trading Center. — In many communities the common practice of consolidating small rural schools into strong central plants is objected to as doing violence to time-honored ideals and traditions. Because of this feeling, the weak, one-teacher schools have, in many places, continued to persist in the face of repeated efforts at consolidation. The proposed remedy has seemed too radical and has been voted down. Minnesota has worked out a compromise that has proved satisfactory in most instances. This is the so-called asso- ciated schools, or schools of the trading center. A rural trading center, speaking generally, embraces the central village, with its various emporiums of trade and ex- change, and all the surrounding country that can con- veniently use the village as a clearing-house for its agricul- tural products and as a social recreation center. The schools of such an area, including the central village school and some or all of the outlying rural schools, may by law as- sociate themselves for mutual educational purposes. The striking feature of this system is, as already indicated else- where, that all the districts that enter into the association retain their independent organization for local purposes, including the general control of the home school. At the ^ For a complete survey of the consolidation movement in the United States and Canada, see Bulletin 1914, No. 30, U. S. Bureau of Education, by A. C. Mona- han. i82 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK same time they become merged into one large district — the associated district — for all matters of common educa- tional interest. The school officers of all the associated districts, three members from each, form a board with authority to levy a special tax for associated purposes. In addition to this there is formed an associated board com- prising the six members of the village board and one member each from the associated districts. The duty of this board is to manage the affairs of common interest, such as dis- bursing the funds voted by the larger board and employing the special instructors in industrial subjects provided by law. General Advantages of School Association. — The Minne- sota system provides adequate supervision for all the rural schools, since the superintendent is charged with responsi- bility for all the work done in the associated schools. The industrial teachers are employed by the associated board for all the schools, and while their work centers in the village high or graded school they must direct the industrial sub- jects in all the schools. Such a system when fully developed embraces many activities, all directed from the central school. It may include: (i) The central school, having the usual eight grades and a four-year high school ; (2) as many locally independent schools as there are districts in the associa- tion ; (3) well-organized industrial courses, including a variety of short courses ; (4) an experimental plat or farm of five or more acres ; (5) agricultural extension work, usually in conjunction with the State College of Agriculture extension division ; and a local training school for rural teachers. This kind of organization makes possible a real com- munity school. It goes far beyond ordinary schoolroom practices and utilizes all the great out-of-doors. It com- COMING OF THE REAL RURAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL 183 bines the resources of town and country to the end of harmonizing townfolk and country folk, enabhng them to reaHze that they are members of one common body who must work together in harmony to mutual ends. The Spring Valley, Minnesota, Associated Schools, a Concrete Illustration. — Spring Valley is a village of two thousand people, situated in a rich farming community in the southeastern part of the state. The people are noted for thrift and conservatism. In spite of the latter, the past few years have seen marked changes in the system, espe- cially so since the adoption of the policy of association, which, according to Supt. F. E. Maxon, who was instrumental in organizing the system, has wrought great things both for the town and near-by country. Central School and Farm. — A modern high-school building was erected four years ago and equipped for in- dustrial work — agriculture, manual training, and household economics. This enabled the school to draw annual state aid of $2500 under the association act. At the present time three large rooms are used exclusively for agriculture work, two large rooms contain the manual training and forge work, and two are equipped for domestic science. It is interesting to note that of the two hundred students of high-school grade pursuing the industrial subjects more than fifty per cent are from the associated rural districts. This speaks volumes for the influence of the system in keeping the rural children in the small schools and " point- ing " them for the central school. The school maintains a farm of sixteen acres in a high state of cultivation. The produce from this farm has, year by year, sold for more than enough to pay all running expenses. All agriculture students are expected to learn the practical phases of the subject, doing work on the farm. i84 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Beginnings of Association. — In 191 1, twenty rural dis- tricts were invited to associate with the central district for industrial purposes under the so-called Putnam Act. Four- teen districts voted for association, seven by unanimous vote. No district has ever expressed a desire to withdraw _n n_j Fig. 25. — The Chatfield, Minnesota, Associated School District. Plere eleven outlying districts have associated themselves for educational purposes with the Chatfield district. from the association, and others which at first refused to enter have made request for admission. Work of Supervision and Cooperation. — The superin- tendent makes an effort to reach each school at work and consult the teacher about the general school work. Regular reports are expected from all rural teachers, and from time to time they are called to the central school to consult with the industrial teachers. The latter also make regular rounds of the outlying schools and send each teacher type- written lesson-guides for the daily industrial work. COMING OF THE REAL RURAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL 185 Each district is provided with uniform textbooks and school equipment at cost. This means uniformity and great saving. So well has the plan worked that non- associated districts are seeking to get their books and equipment through the office of the association. In all schools where there are two or more boys over ten years of age a double bench and sets of tools are placed — pro- viding the district agrees to pay for the lumber used. The benches and tools remain the property of the association and can be transferred from one school to another according to the need. Likewise, w^here there are two or more girls old enough, and the board agrees to furnish the supplies, a two-burner kerosene stove, oven, and complete cooking outfit are placed in each rural school making the formal request. Rural Pupils at the Ce^ttral School. — During three months in the fall and two in the spring, pupils ten years of age and over spend Friday afternoon of each week at the central school, engaged in industrial study. The agricul- ture teacher meets all the pupils for forty minutes in agri- culture work ; after this the boys spend a second hour in the manual training shop under the direction of the manual training instructor, while the girls are at work in the do- mestic science rooms. The work begun on Friday after- noon at the central school is expected to be continued throughout the week in the home school, and to be ready for report at the next Friday meeting. The Short Courses. — The first of these is a three months' course, open to young men and women above fifteen years of age. During the past year thirty-three students took advantage of the course, almost all of them coming from the open country. Instruction is given in English, farm arith- metic and accounts, civil government, farm sanitation, 1 86 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK agriculture, cooking, sewing, carpentry, forge work, spell- ing, and penmanship. A junior short course and contest Is also an annual feature. At this, liberal prizes are awarded for various exhibits, among which the corn exhibits usually take first place. Special prizes are also offered for the best displays from the rural schools. The local commercial club holds a well-patronized market day while the junior short course is in session. The Agricultural Instructor the Local Farm Adviser. — The instructor who has charge of agriculture and the school farm acts as adviser to the entire farming community. He holds himself in readiness to plan farm buildings and silos, and often drives long distances into the country to instruct in types of dairy and beef cattle, hogs and sheep, and in a thousand and one ways assists in bettering agri- cultural conditions. Such, in brief, is the story of the Minnesota associated schools. Other states, and notably Washington, utilize the same idea, but less completely worked out.^ Partial Consolidation. — Communities of the conservative kind often compromise the matter by closing only certain ones of the small schools within the consolidated area, or by retaining the small schools for the pupils in the lower grades. Where people object to parting with the time-honored one- room school, or fear to have the younger children conveyed to a central school several miles from home, this plan proves satisfactory, or is, at least, a first step towards complete consolidation. This kind of consolidation is being practiced in many states, notably in the more conservative. In Missouri, for ^ For a complete statement of the associated schools, see Bulletin 1915, No. 20, U. S. Bureau of Education, by H. W. Foght. COMING OF THE REAL RURAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL 187 example, a recent legislative enactment permits both this and complete consolidation. Before the new law went into effect it was practically impossible to get the people to consolidate their schools. Now it is a comparatively easy matter. Under the new law it is common to consoli- date a number of small districts, say from four to six or even more, and send all the children above the fifth or sixth year to a school erected at a strategic center. This organization provides good grammar school and high school facilities for the older pupils, at the same time that it allows the teachers retaining the younger children to do their tasks better than formerly by reason of the smaller number of classes. Another important fact is this, that the partial system — which is really more expensive than complete consolida- tion — prepares the way for the latter. Once the farm folk of the community have become habituated to gather at the large central school for their community meetings, the smaller schools begin to lose their significance, and are closed one by one. Complete Consolidation. — As indicated in the name, this contemplates centralization of all the small schools of the consolidated district at a central point. This affords opportunity to grade the school thoroughly, and, if enough small districts have joined, to organize a real community high school. In this form consolidation reaches the ideal. Here it can get sufficient funds to provide trained teachers, good equipment, and ample land for laboratory purposes. The ideal consolidated school is organized preferably in the open country or on the edge of a rural-minded village. In architecture it is as modern as the best town school. The children's health is considered in the sanitary arrangements. 1 88 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Proper lighting, correct heating and ventilation, flowing water, and indoor toilets are all given careful consideration. There is provision for agricultural and general science lab- oratories. The assembly hall is arranged with a view to using it for all kinds of community gatherings. The course of study continues to give the universal ele- ments of education first place, as in the past ; but it gives, in addition, a new emphasis to local community needs. Nature study, agriculture, domestic science, manual train- ing, music, and even art are finding prominent place in the day's work, while all the old subjects are taking on more and more of a '* farm flavor." The fundamental principles remain the same, but the local application is directed to the needs of the agricultural community. All the school work is not done indoors, however. The school is set in a large outdoor laboratory. This should never be less than five acres. Many schools have grounds and experimental plats ranging from twenty to sixty-five acres. Here is room for play and athletic grounds, for parking, individual gardens, experimental plats, and larger fields and orchards. It stands to proof that the most practical schools of this kind, so far as local application is concerned, give the most thoroughgoing instruction in the general cultural elements, language, literature, history, etc. It is quite feasible to combine the education of the great out-of-doors with indoor study so as to bring about a satisfactory coordination of head, heart, and hand. The Consolidated School at RoUo, Illinois, Typical of Complete Consolidation. — The significance of this kind of school can best be shown through typical illustration. The one here given has resulted from consolidating the seven small schools of Paw Paw Township, De Kalb County, Illinois. The school is placed in a working laboratory of COMING OF THE REAL RURAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL 189 twenty-six acres. This is laid off as ornamental parking, with shrubbery and trees, playgrounds, and athletic field, individual gardens, experimental plats, and school fields. The main building is an attractive two-story and basement brick and terra-cotta structure, which was built and equipped at a cost of $30,000. It has every convenience that can be found in a city school. A pressure-tank system provides flowing water in abundance, thereby making it practicable to have indoor toilets, baths, drinking fountains, etc. The school is steam heated, and lighted with gas generated on the premises. The school is in charge of six professionally-prepared teachers. It offers a well-organized course of work for the eight grades, and a strong four-year high-school course. The laboratory equipment for physics, chemistry, and agri- culture is very complete. Worthy, also, is the school library of 1500 bound volumes and many pamphlets. The community has recognized the value of the teacher as a factor in permanent community life by erecting, on the campus, a beautiful modern home, at a cost of nearly $10,000. The home is directed by a housekeeper, who has full charge of boarding and lodging the teachers, none of whom happens to be married. All modern conveniences are provided. The teachers of the school are unanimous in their statement that they much prefer life in the Rollo community to teaching — as several had formerly done — in the town schools. The Rollo School enrolls a large number of sturdy farm youth, such as are seldom found in the one- teacher schools near by. This alone speaks volumes for consolidation. These children are well-organized in their play life, having their baseball, basket ball, and tennis teams. A thriving athletic association has charge of all these activities. IQO THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The entire student body is organized as an active Lit- erary Society. Sixty of the students have organized an Audubon Society, for the study and protection of birds. The home is brought into closest touch with the school by means of granting credits for home work. At the close of each week the parents hand in industrial cards which state the amount and nature of the children's home work. School credits are granted for all worthy work of this kind. Three things are stressed by the school : (i) home work, (2) regu- larity of school attendance, and (3) high grade of class work. The school does not limit its activities to the school premises. Neighborhood orchards are pruned and sprayed by the advanced pupils. Milk cows are tested for tuber- culosis. So successful has the senior agriculture class been in its work of assisting the stock feeders of Paw Paw Town- ship, that many of these have the agriculture teacher and his class ' ' top off ' ' the fattening steers during the last week or so before marketing. This and much similar work has become part of the regular routine, and has made the school indispensable in the new agricultural evolution. To have part in the activities of such a school is an in- spiration in itself. Instead of the customary round of twenty-five or thirty-five classes daily, there is a carefully arranged program of few classes. The very force of num- bers adds to the social attractiveness of the school. An abundance of social-center interests will keep the teachers contented and happy in their work. Such schools are beginning to help professionalize rural teachers by offering abundant inducements for thorough preparation and con- tinued improvement. Open Country vs. Village Consolidation. — It is not out of place at this juncture to impress on the teacher the im- Two Illustrations from Tennessee Which Tell the Story of the New Farm Community School The main building of the Carter consaUdated grade and high school, Knox County, erected at a cost of Si 5,000. The teacherage at the Belle Morris School, erected at the cost of $1000. Ten similar cottages were erected in Knox County durmg the year. COMING OF THE REAL RURAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL 191 portance of the place where the consoHdation ought to be made. Shall it be in the open country, or in town — which ? The Rollo School lies in the open country. At the same time, many of the best consolidated schools are built on the edge of some rural-minded village. Location means much, but is not the only factor to be considered. The writer has found some of the poorest consolidated schools im- aginable in the open country — in spite of the ideal environ- ment — because the teachers and patrons responsible for them had no conception of their own needs. The schools in question had aped the town schools and borrowed their entire course of study from Latin to solid geometry. Such a wholesale moving out of town schools can never save the open country. It is safe to say that successful consolidated schools may be organized in or near rural-minded villages ; but no con- solidated school should ever be built in city-minded places — this is sure to work irreparable loss to rural people. Some Ideals for Which to Strive. — A fatal mistake in much consolidation is its appeal to the cheap and shoddy. If this great work is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well. Where a community contemplates consolidation, its advocates should strive with might and main toward the highest ideals in school perfection. Here are some of the things to be considered : The grounds chosen, aside from being centrally located and easily accessible, should be sightly, well-drained, and large — so large, indeed, as to afford room for good-sized experiment plots, school gardens, playgrounds, lawn, and ample space for buildings. Five acres and upward should be the standard. The school structure should be built as a permanent farm school plant, have a large assembly room, well-equipped 192 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK classrooms, and agricultural laboratories, be sanitary, at- tractive, and in every way as good as the best town school plant. No steps should be taken towards building until /V.»- T'-aa^ /iorfh Wa^-Z^r>a Trough V V o u i^ a X537 > Q^ /b f"? o O tb n Tj fy - ? - i a j - j CT n rj t-; tT c? «; rr-r"^'^ is la o & « © «B O O O 0000 E:/3 Periods Soils and Fertilizers Mathematics . . Feeds and Feeding Farm Machinery . Chemistry . . . Total .... Parallel Reading Course : Community Improvement. Class Lab. English 5 3 3 3 3 3 23 Periods RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS IQQ Rural High Schools in the South. — A discussion of the North Carolina course of study opens the subject of the present trend in high school education in the Southern States. The South has many problems bequeathed to it by a social and economic regime fast passing away. Its people are convinced that school education alone can achieve a solution of these difficulties. To establish good schools — elementary, secondary, and higher — within reach of all the people, has become a patriotic motive in many Southern States. Public taxation and private benevolence are in- voked to the cause. The old private secondary schools with their conventional studies are rapidly being sup- planted by high schools of a practical sort within the reach of all the people. Perhaps the General Education Board ^ should have credit for much .of what has been accomplished the last few years for secondary education, through its liberality in paying the salaries and expenses of the professors of secondary education established in connection with eleven Southern States ; and in appropriating funds for establishing high schools. On the other hand, this work would have been futile except for the stimulating propaganda long carried on by the Conference for Education in the South, the Southern Education Board, and the Peabody Board. Fear has been expressed that the new schools' may depart in their work too far from the good old-fashioned literary curricula ; for which there may be some foundation, as the pendulum of change is prone to swing from extreme to ex- treme. To reconcile the immediately practical with the broadly intellectual and spiritual is the great problem of Southern educators. ^ See its Proceedings : The General Education Board, 1912-1914. 200 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Agricultural life holds important place in the educational reorganization. Virginia appropriates annually large sums for agricultural and manual training departments in rural and town high schools ; Tennessee duplicates out of the State fund all local appropriations for the teaching of in- dustrial subjects to the amount of $1500 annually ; Georgia has created congressional district agricultural high schools, each with annual state appropriations of $10,000 ; Missis- sippi and several other states have county high schools ; and North Carolina, finally, has its county farm-life schools. North Carolina Farm-Life Schools. — County and even township high schools are often objected to in the Northern States because they draw the children too far from home, some of them being in reality boarding schools with dor- mitory plans. Let this be as it may, in the South the sparse population and the two races make this system often the only feasible one in practice. The North Carolina farm- life institutions are county schools — one, and in an ex- ceptional case two or more, to the county. The general county law provides for a special county election by which the community may bond itself to provide the necessary funds for buying a school farm and other equipment. After this has been done, bids for the location of the school are advertised. The school is then placed in that community within the county of a population not exceeding 1000 which offers the largest financial aid for maintenance and equipment. The community getting the school is generally expected to provide some, if not all, the land for grounds and experiment farm and a large part of the funds for school buildings, including dormitory facilities, barns for stock, etc., at an outlay of from $15,000 to $25,000, and also to provide a maintenance fund of $2500 a year. On these conditions the state will supplement the maintenance fund Farm Life School in Craven County, North Carolina Building and group of students. This type of school offers educational oppor- tunities to the "grown-up" young people who are beyond elementary school age. RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS 201 of the school by $2500 a year. The law provides further that in case a county bond election fails to carry, any town- ship or two or more contiguous townships may issue bonds for equipment and levy special tax for maintenance. The influence of the schools is already marked in North Carolina community life. They provide a practical train- ing in the problems and pursuits of everyday life. The courses of study are centered about scientific farming and home making. The teaching staffs of the schools promote a definite and vigorous extension work throughout the county, giving instruction to grown-up people as well. The trained experts of the faculty extend the influence of the school through demonstration work and by organizing adult clubs throughout the county. In a similar way, the teachers of the farm-life schools wield a progressive in- fluence over the general body of rural teachers. The teachers of the small rural and village schools meet for demonstration and instruction at the school farm and in the school laboratories. The head of the agricultural de- partment of the farm-life school is often the county super- visor of vocational subjects. Gonzales Union High School, California. — The West has many types of excellent rural high schools. No state is doing this educational work more thoroughly than is California. Gonzales Union High School, the story of which is told briefly in the next paragraph, does not lay claim to being among the largest and costliest of this group. It is, indeed, a small school ; but chosen for the present purpose because it meets admirably all the needs of its own section of Salinas County. The school is accredited to the State University ; but it has not permitted this to interfere with the development of a study course based on modern science. It utilizes in 202 • THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK fullest measure the pupils' sense perception, and trains them " to see and hear correctly, to touch deftly and rapidly, and to draw the right inferences from the testimony of their senses." The motto of the half-hundred husky young men and women enrolled is, '' Learning by Doing." This is demon- strated vividly in their everyday work. The school is constructed on the open-air cottage plan surrounding a court planted to grass, flowers, and trees. The development of the school plant has rested almost wholly with the students. Recently the school acquired nine acres of land for experi- mental purposes. This is now being improved as one of the school tasks. The students assisted in removing some old buildings from the land and in other ways made it fit for cultivation. In their catalogue of activities are included many things : they have planted twelve hundred trees and a large number of shrubs ; they have planned and planted the lawns, and sown and harvested annually three or more acres of beans. They have laid out and improved a good-sized athletic field and built the grand stand. In a similar way the students have constructed a complete sewer system for the school, including two septic tanks, and laying and fitting the pipe. More recently, some of the young men have built a concrete swimming pool, one hundred by thirty feet in size. The water to this is supplied by an electric power-pump and all the overflow is utilized for irrigation purposes. Gonzales school has won high recognition in the state through its noted agriculture club. All high ranking con- testants of the past year spent three days at the Panama- Pacific Exposition and the University farm as the guests of the University of California. The club winner was sent on the annual trip to Washington, Boston, and other Eastern RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS 203 cities, at the expense of his home community, which has already learned that $250 expended in such a cause is money well spent. Jordan Consolidated Rural High School, Utah. — This is a type of rural high school unique to Utah. The people of the state live largely in irrigated valleys, in homes clus- tered about the village churches and schools. The unirri- gated sections are barren and have little organized life. Accordingly, small one- teacher schools have never been numerous in the state. At the present time there are less than forty such schools left. Graded schools of high charac- ter are found in all the organized communities ; but, as many of them are too small to maintain well-organized high schools, a number of village centers find it convenient to maintain one central high school. It will be recalled that Utah has the county unit for school organization, which facilitates centralization of this kind. The Jordan Rural High School lies in the open country and draws its attendance from the dozen or more villages of the large Jordan High School district. The accompanying map shows the distribution of the village centers. The children are conveyed to school in transportation wagons, or come in their own vehicles or on horseback. The school plant forms quite a contrast with the inex- pensive, open-air plant of the California school described above. The main building was erected at a cost of $165,000, and when the plan is fully realized will reach an outlay of $200,000. It contains thirty spacious rooms, including laboratories and workrooms for agriculture, domestic science, manual training, and other industrial activities. Many of the school's interests center about a large auditorium, planned for a thousand people ; for this is a true com- munity school, intended for all the people. 204 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS 205 The grounds embrace twenty-three acres, devoted to agricultural experimentation and play activities. A small model dairy is operated in connection with the agricultural department. This reminds one of the local agricultural schools in Denmark, which provide similar practical facili- ties. A large area is equipped for games and athletics. An extensive parking, devoted to trees, shrubbery, and flowers, is now nearing completion. A neat little cottage has been erected at one corner of the grounds for the prin- cipal ; at another, is the home of the school agriculturist who is engaged the year round, as he has charge of the school farm and grounds. More than four hundred students are in school attendance, coming from villages at distances ranging from one to twelve miles ; but as the roads are good the distance traveled is of little consequence. The course of study forms a sen- sible blending of the cultural and practical elements. It is certain to produce thinkers and doers. Some idea of the subjects included may be got from the student registration for the year (i 914-15), which in- cludes music 147, sewing 116, cooking 78, science 117, mathematics 188, English 337, oral expression 78, stenog- raphy 15, typewriting 51, bookkeeping 60, German 52, history 45, review of common subjects 13, woodwork 118, sociology 32, drawing 24, agriculture 120, physical educa- tion 231. It is well to point out again that a school organization such as the Jordan High School would be practically im- possible of realization in other than county unit states. Instead of the forty or fifty board members that managed the group of villages formerly, a county board of five men now administers the affairs of all to the relief and satisfac- tion of all concerned. 2o6 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Rural high schools afford a subject for fruitful discussion. However, the present chapter need not be unduly lengthened since several phases of high school work are treated in Chapter VI following, on Continuation Schools. Question Studies Suggested by the Text Distinguish between agricultural high schools and high schools with agricultural departments. What is meant by county high schools ? By township high schools ? What objections may be raised to them, if any ? Show, definitely, the importance of having the rural high schools meet modern agricultural needs. Contrast the kind of town high school often attended by country chil- dren with the new community school. Comment on the North Carolina farm-life school course of study. Would you add other subjects ? Would you teach algebra at all ? Why ? Tell the story of some one rural high School with which you are ac- quainted. What is remarkable about the organization of the Jordan Rural High School? What is usually the relation of consolidation and establishment of rural high schools ? Make a census of the boys and girls of high school age in your com- mimity (if rural) who are not in school attendance. Special Studies Study Elliot's Changes Needed in American Secondary Education, and make a report to the class. Discuss the salient features of Flexner's A Modern School. Make a careful study of Secondary Education in the 1902-14 Activities of the General Education Board. Study Brown's Readjustment of a Rural High School to the Needs of the Community (Bureau of Education Bulletin 191 2, No. 20). Note, — The three studies enumerated above can be procured free by address- ing the General Education Board, 61 Broadway, New York. CHAPTER VI Rural Continuation Schools and Extension Courses The Duty of Democracy to Educate All the People. — We have now seen the teachers at work in the modern one- teacher schools, in the well-organized consolidated schools, and in the rural high schools. There is yet another im- portant field of activity for these busy teachers which must be touched before we leave this part of the book. This is the important continuation school and school extension activities which are not classed with ordinarily accepted schoolroom practice. To educate all its people, without exception, is both the duty and the right of democracy. We have in the nation several million men and women who for one reason or another are illiterate. If these people have been deprived of educational opportunities in their youth, it is the duty of the nation to extend this blessing to them now in their years of maturity ; if they have neglected their earlier opportunities, democracy has the right to demand that they correct the deficiency with public assistance at once. There is another consideration entirely aside from these millions of adult illiterates. We find large numbers of young men and women in rural districts beyond ordinary school age who are obliged to work for a livelihood, and whose education has been so meager as to handicap them seriously in the struggle for a living. The same may be said of many of their parents, who grew up, perhaps, on 207 2o8 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK the frontier as pioneers with Httle opportunity for schooling. All these people should have opportunity to make up for what has been neglected. The new conception of educa- tion is so to organize the schools as to reach all the people who need inspiration and assistance to surmount the high and difficult places in life, and thereby extend to them the real blessings of a democratic government. These new tendencies in rural education may be dis- cussed under several distinct heads : 1. Elimination of adult illiteracy; 2. Continuation schools for people beyond ordinary school age; 3. Part-time schools for people who must work for a livelihood ; 4. Educational extension courses for young and old. Extent and Condition of Illiteracy in the United States. — When the Federal Census for the year 19 10 was taken, there were in the United States 5,516,163 persons ten years of age and over who could neither read nor write, including 2,273,603 who were twenty-one years of age and over. " Of these illiterates, 3,184,633, or 58 per cent, were white persons (1,534,727, or 28 per cent, were native-born whites, and 1,650,361, or 30 per cent, were foreign-born whites), 2,227,731, or 40 per cent, were negroes. The rest, two per cent, were Indians, Chinese, Japanese and others." ^ More than two-thirds of all the illiterates come from rural communities. These illiterates are not now limited to race or section of country. The colored illiteracy of the South is almost balanced by the ignorant aliens of the North ; and the illiteracy in the remote parts of the Southern mountain plateau is scarcely greater than the illiteracy in rural life in the Northern Appalachians. 1 See U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin 1913, No. 20; also 1914, No. 22. RURAL CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 209 This illiteracy is found very largely among persons above twenty years of age — men and women who cannot be expected to get their education in the ordinary school. The nation has had its choice between letting this genera- tion of illiterates continue to live and die in their ignorance at a fearful cost to national life, or to organize schools especially adapted to their needs, in which they might get the rudiments of learning, and, in addition, some inspiration to do better, some insight into the highest good in life, something to lift them out of the deadening materialism and indifference for country and their fellow men. The nation has made its choice wisely. Several states have already enacted laws to aid in blotting out all such illiteracy, and devoted men and women, both teachers and lay, have taken up the challenge and are at work with a devotion to duty that promises much for the ultimate elimination of adult illiteracy. Establishment of " Moonlight Schools." — Attempts have been made from time to time by church organizations and individuals to reach the adult illiterates in the several sec- tions where they prevail, and notably in the South Atlantic Highlands. Some of these undertakings have been abortive of results, and others have done great good in limited com- munities. It remained, however, to Mrs. Cora Wilson Stewart of Rowan County, Kentucky, to initiate the great movement known as " Moonlight Schools," which is in a fair way to eliminate adult illiteracy not alone in the moun- tain regions of the South, but elsewhere as well. This great movement began in 191 1. Mrs. Stewart, who was County Superintendent of Rowan County, was driven by the distressing conditions of illiteracy to find some way to help her people. She at last decided the most fea- sible plan to be to open night schools on moonlight evenings 2IO THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK in the public schoolhouses over the county. The regular teachers all responded to the call and made their prepa- rations and issued their invitations. We read, '' It was expected that the response would be slow, but more than 1200 men and women from i8 to 86 years of age were enrolled the first evening. They came trooping over the hills and out of the hollows, some to add to the meager education received in the inadequate schools of their child- hood, some to receive their first lessons in reading and writing. Among them were not only illiterate farmers and their illiterate wives, sons, and daughters, but also illiterate merchants or storekeepers, illiterate ministers, and illiterate lumbermen. Mothers, bent with age, came that they might learn to read letters from absent sons and daughters, and that they might learn for the first time to write to them." The remarkable experiment grew rapidly in popularity. In 1 912 the enrollment in Rowan County reached 1600, out of which number 350 learned to read and write. Mean- while similar schools were established in twenty-five other counties in the state with equally satisfactory results. The determined warfare against ignorance culminated in 19 14 with the establishment, under law, of the Kentucky Illit- eracy Commission, with Mrs. Stewart as State Commissioner. In this more influential position she has set for herself and her thousands of associates — the Kentucky teachers and other public-spirited men and women — the task of blotting out illiteracy before the time of the next Federal Census, in 1920. But adult illiteracy, as was indicated above, is not limited to the remote regions of the Southern mountains. Adult aliens have brought much of it into New England and the North Atlantic States ; the states bordering on Mexico have a similar problem, while the Pacific States have many RURAL CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 21 1 illiterates of oriental origin on their hands. Seventeen states in all are conducting moonlight schools. North Carolina, the first state to follow Kentucky's lead, reports 10,000 adult illiterates in attendance in 191 6. Alabama is struggling to blot out negro illiteracy ; Oklahoma is doing a similar work among its Indians. In New Mexico an earnest campaign is on to educate the large population of Spanish-American origin. The county superintendent of Santa Fe County alone, reports 1500 grown men and women in school, eager for the rudiments of an education. Mean- while, the United States Bureau of Education has asked Congress for an appropriation to enable it to assist in making this a national campaign. When adult illiteracy shall have been conquered, the nation will owe its teachers another debt of gratitude, for the great burden of the evening schools has fallen on them. They are doing the work usually without pay, and en- couraged to do their best by the blessings and prayers of those who have, through their efforts, been set free from the shackles of ignorance. Schools for Adult Illiterates Might be Adapted from the Danish Folk High Schools. — The work of the present moonlight schools is limited naturally to the merest rudi- ments of education, with here and there an attempt of a more ambitious nature. To learn to read and write, to spell and figure, with brief drills in the essentials of lan- guage, history, geography, civics, sanitation, and agri- culture — this is the most that can be expected. But the retarded districts in the eastern highlands and on the south- western mesas crave more than the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The fatalism of retardation, what- ever the cause, has placed a peculiar stamp upon these people which mere elementary academic processes will find 212 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK it difficult to remove. At least it will be impossible to re- move it in the present generation. A new kind of school for grown-up people is needed in these backward regions. They might properly be adapted from the famous Danish Folk High Schools for grown-up people, in which inspirational lecture work is emphasized in addition to the essential rudiments of book-learning. This inspirational communion of inspired leaders with the adult pupils has had the effect of changing a generation of peasants in Denmark into happy, thinking, scientific farm- ers. As an educational force the school reaches clear down to the roots of things, strengthening character, and teaching rights of fellow man, loyalty to the state, and fear of God, even while it supplies the youth and old men, without distinction, with practical training for bread-winning. Simi- larly it might be made of inestimable value in hurrying the Americanization of the alien. These adult schools might well receive all who are not now looked after by the public schools. In some com- munities the schools would include even the public school children. There should be courses for those who are en- tirely illiterate as well as for those who have had some schooling. The schools must, in fact, be ready to meet the problems of all the people, without regard to age or preparation. The poor hillside farms have their problems — these must be looked after. The mountains need their own artisan class to rebuild the homes and reestablish the household arts of the olden time on a modern footing. There should be long courses for the youth and continuous short courses for their parents and grandparents. There should be day lectures open to the whole countryside, and extension lectures should be carried into the remotest coves. RURAL CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 213 Such schools have already been started in a small way in the mountains of North Carolina, and other sections are preparing the way.^ Rural Continuation Schools. — Another important prob- lem is how best to assist the many thousands of farm youth who for economic reasons cannot attend school regularly or who have been obliged to leave school before attaining the degree of learning necessary for most successful living. Shall schools be established to supply the needs of the people, or must the people adapt themselves to the schools, or otherwise go untaught ? This is a question of vital im- portance, and one that has recently been getting consider- able attention. Trimmed of all its verbiage it amounts to this : either the nation must establish practical continuation schools in rural communities on the principle of similar institutions in the cities, or the industrial efficiency of the open country will never reach the maximum of efficiency of which it is capable. At least two states in the Union have acted on this prin- ciple and have established state- wide, state-aided systems of continuation schools for all their people — urban and rural. Several others have done this service for the city population without including rural districts. Occasionally the people in rural districts have taken the matter into their own hands and have formed volunteer organizations to provide what the state had neglected. Volunteer Continuation Schools in Iowa. — Some very unique rural continuation schools have been in operation in Cherokee County, Iowa, for a number of years. They were organized by County Superintendent Katherine Ross Logan, who determined to help in a practical way the " grown- ^ For a complete discussion of this interesting subject see Rural Denmark and Its Schools, Chapter XVIII. 214 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK ups " of the community who could not take advantage of the regular district schools. The Township Special Schools, as they are called, have done much to satisfy popular de- mands. The schools are, briefly, volunteer organizations, which can be adjusted to the needs of the people. They are usually in operation during the winter months when farm folk have their greatest leisure. An inexpensive building is secured — either by lease or construction — with two or three rooms. A simple equipment for handwork and domestic science is necessary, as is also a small agricultural laboratory. Two well-prepared teachers usually have charge of the school, which is small — from twenty to thirty students in all. The latter are all of them people eager for instruction. This is individual in nature, each one continuing study where he left off in the district school. The plan reminds one much of the Danish schools for small- holders ^ which require no entrance examinations and give no graduation diplomas. The small-hold schools, like the Iowa system, aim to fit the studies to the exact needs of the people ; to impart as large a store of culture as possible without giving them a contempt for farm life and work with their hands. The course of study in the Cherokee County schools is planned for seven winters of four months each, although few students are expected to complete the entire course. Each year's work centers about a major subject, as English, history, or science. But it permits of much freedom in electing subjects. In Miss Logan's study scheme the fourth winter, for illustration, is the '' English year," in which language and literature hold important place. This study plan is reproduced below. ^ See Rural Denmark and Its Schools, Chapter XII. RURAL CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 215 Fourth Winter english — major Boys Girls 1. Elements of Journalism i. Elements of Journalism 2. American Literature 2. American Literature 3. Public Speaking 3. Public Speaking 4. Mechanical Drawing for the 4. Mechanical Drawing for the Farm Farm 5. Vegetable Gardening 5. Domestic Hygiene 6. Food and Feeds for Stock 6. Planning a Balanced Meal 7. Sewing 8. Cooking Electives 1. Modern Language 2. Political Economy 3. Observation and Methods of Teaching 4. Penmanship 5. Spelling 6. Manual Training The influence of the township special schools on com- munity progress is quite remarkable. They are reaching scores of young people from fourteen years of age to high up in the twenties who had felt out of place in the one- teacher schools because they were over age or, for one reason or another, had found it impossible to attend high school in town ; or who could spare only a few months each year for further schooling. Similar volunteer organizations can be made especially effective in communities which have not yet been able to organize strong rural high schools with short courses in winter for adults and young people beyond ordinary school age. State-aided Vocational Education in Massachusetts. — No other state probably has been quite so successful as 2i6 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Massachusetts in organizing vocational education for all its people, whether living in town or in the country. These schools comprise not alone day schools for boys and girls, but part-time schools for young people between fourteen, and sixteen years, and also evening schools for grown men and women. The aim is to reach all the people of the commonwealth in need of help. The schools appeal es- pecially to young people who have left the public school at too early an age to be effectively prepared for life responsi- bilities, because the school had failed to make vital appeal to them or because it had failed to offer definite preparation for suitable life-callings. The Massachusetts system is particularly effective, be- cause it has a carefully organized plan of administration. The state is the center of the system. Its Commissioner of Education directs all the work which is in immediate charge of the Deputy Commissioner. Through the latter official, state agents supervise all the agricultural schools, home-making schools, and teacher- training courses estab- lished under the vocational education law. Agricultural Education for Young and Old. — At the present time four separately organized agricultural schools and nine agricultural departments in high schools receive state aid. Many others will probably be aided at an early day. The schools are intended to meet the needs of three kinds of students : (i) Boys and girls, fourteen to twenty-five years of age, who devote the entire day to study and project work. One- half of their time is devoted to productive agricultural work, mainly supervised home projects ; thirty per cent is given to studies bearing directly upon their daily tasks; and the balance of their time is spent on the general culture subjects. RURAL CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 217 (2) Young men engaged in active farming, who give a part of each day or a part of each week to school work. The courses are planned with a direct bearing on the pupils' regular employment. (3) Persons above seventeen years of age, regularly en- gaged in productive agriculture, who devote evenings to study at the schools. This group includes dairymen, truck- farmers, fruit-growers, etc. This new agricultural education makes book-study in- cidental to the vital processes of tilling the soil and producing things. Home projects are held the most important of all student activities. Each student must give much time to a specific project of this kind. During 1914 a Harwich pupil, aged sixteen years, had three-eighths of an acre in garden, and sixty hens ; another, aged eighteen years, devoted his time to three-sixths of an acre in garden, fifteen ducks, and seven chickens. A North Eaton pupil, aged nineteen, had thirty-five '' Reds and Rocks," two cows, one calf, and twelve hundred square feet of ground in potatoes. This carefully-planned educational scheme, it is seen, combines " earning " and " learning " in a most practical way. Thus, during the year 1914, 235 students in the thirteen schools earned $42,060.73 from farm work. Much of the success is due to the thoroughgoing super- vision employed. The state supervisor cooperates closely with each local instructor in securing the highest degree of productive efficiency for the pupils. Each school is the center of a project area, from which the instructors who teach the subject in school go forth to supervise that particular home project. In addition the law provides for the appointment of an advisory committee of farmers who are of great assist- ance in furnishing practical advice and In popularizing the agricultural projects in the community. 2i8 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK This kind of education is not intended to displace other schools ; but to help the many people who are not reached by ordinary schools. Other states may well profit by this great forward movement in Massachusetts. It stands for industrial efficiency and vocational guidance which our country needs as much as any nation at the present time to take the place of the aimless hit-and-miss practices so common in many schools. Continuation Courses in Rural High Schools. — The discussions in the preceding paragraphs have related mainly to special schools. Unquestionably the most far-reaching continuation school work in rural districts at the present is found in connection with the best of the regularly estab- lished rural high schools. This has already been indicated in Part II. The courses are based on the principle repeatedly held before the reader, that education is a life process, and that all the machinery of the state and com- munity should be at the disposal of the public at all times to assist them in solving their life problems. Accordingly, the most effective continuation courses in rural high schools are promoted in cooperation with state educational authorities. This includes the state depart- ment of education and, usually, the extension department of the state college of agriculture. County agricultural agents also lend valuable assistance. The work embraces such activities as formation of farmers' clubs, giving advice in farm home construction, building silos, pruning and spraying orchards, cow testing, inoculation against hog cholera, ridding cattle of the fever tick, milk testing, seed germination, holding farmers' institutes, and encouragement of new social-recreational activities and other cooperative enterprises. In addition to these are the regular short courses which play a vital part in the new schools. RURAL CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 219 Short Courses for the Whole Community. — There is, perhaps, no better illustration anywhere of this work than in the rural high schools of Minnesota. The winter short courses offered by the so-called Putnam and Benson-Lee acts have already become a prominent feature in the state's new community schools. The short courses are intended for people regularly beyond the reach of school. There is no maximum age limit. Students may enroll from fifteen years of age, or thereabouts, and upward. Any one who can profit by the courses is made welcome. The courses are three, four, five, and six months in length, varying in different schools. They are regularly intended for youth of the community beyond school age. Six-day courses for the parents are popular in many places during the last week of the regular short courses. The time is chosen to suit the farmers. The courses begin in November, after the fall work is done, and close in March, before the rush of spring work begins. The school hours are from ten o'clock a.m. to three o'clock P.M., which allows time for chores at home morning and evening. The daily routine includes a general brushing up in the elementary subjects. Farm arithmetic and accounting hold prominent places. Farm law, special phases of agri- culture, blacksmithing, carpentry, cooking, sewing, and other subjects are presented by enthusiastic instructors, many of whom are secured solely for the short courses. Each student does the work he needs the most. The reader may get a good idea of the comprehensiveness of the short courses from the daily program of such an eighteen weeks' course offered by the schools at Milaca, Minnesota : 220 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Animal feeding. Animal breeding. Hash. Ginger- bread. Fruit pudding. Singletree. Doubletree. Forging links. Corset cover. Buttonholes. Liquid measure- ments. Account with fields and crops. Banking. Passbook. Check. Credit slip. 1 g c CO ^1 hi Soup. Tomato sauce. Forging punch. Forging gatehook. Nightgown. Surface measure- ment. Trial balance. 1 Hi Dairy breeds. Feeding. Improvement. Care. Meats. Pot roast. Forge work. Cold chisel. Tempering. Nightgown. Decimals. Ledger. id . < 1 1^ Crop rotation. Crop im- provement. Eggs. Custard. Miter box. Pipe fitting. Dresser scarf. Decimals. Ledger. 1 1 , Potato culture. Cereals. Judging. Rolls. Jelly. Bread board. Sharpening bits. Kitchen apron. Cancellation and fractions Daybook. i 3 u 4th week — Nov. 27- Dec. I. ll Rice. Bread. Feed trough. Hammer handles. File handle. Bread board. Sewing bag. Fractions. Multiplica- tion and division. Daybook. Postal infor- mation. Express money order. Postal money orders. 3d week — Nov. 20- Nov. 24. Corn culture. Selection. Improvement. Testing. Judging. Breakfast foods. Bench hook. Joints. Sewing bag. Fractions. Addition, subtraction. Debit and credit. Bills. Invoices. Statements. Receipts. 2d week — Nov. 13- Nov. 17. a 3 ti Potatoes. Vegetables. Sharpening tools. Timber splicing. Hems. Gathers. Bands. Seams. Rapid calcu- lation. Multiplica- tion and division. Debit and credit. Penmanship. Letter writing. Orders for goods. ist week — Nov. 6- Nov. 10. d ..2 3 Study of foods. Scalloped apples. Hard sauce. Coffee. Sawing. Planing. Stitches. Rapid calcu- lation. Addition, subtraction. General principles. d ill m D Agriculture (Boys and girls). DAILY. Cooking (For girls). DAILY. Manual training (For boys). DAILY. Sewing (Girls). MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND Friday. Business arithmetic (Boys). MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND FRIDAY. Farm accounts CBoys and girls). TUESDAY AND THURSDAY. Business forms and Business law (Boys and girls). DAILY. •«noH '^ 6*' 6 PI \n '?o ": RURAL CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 221 1 ONE WEEK FARMERS' INSTITUTE AND SCHOOL EXHIBIT m o2gS as s PL, "-^ b- i2 l~4 PL, < litl ill 111 la- -II •1- ^ !is in ^ illii 1 , 111 i! W it 0in fu w 1^ 1 1ll lis li 111 1 11 II p s 1 II m |i 1 11.1 a.- -a Pi |MI 111 i ii < iiij ^5 cj 1 1 " i« 11 fti i il 1^1 a Q C/2 Ilg ills (U ni t/i rt--- >* m o aPP ■anoH O o "* M H 1/^ lO 3>o^ ^o8 M ■»-' CO 222 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Question Studies Suggested by the Text Do you agree to the thesis that it is the duty of Democracy to educate all its people ? Explain. Make a census of the young people in your district or neighborhood who for various reasons have not completed the elementary school. Report to class. Why is there so much illiteracy in the South Atlantic Highlands? Why in the southwestern part of the United States ? Explain the cause of increased illiteracy in certain sections of New England. In the Middle Atlantic States. Tell of the work of Mrs. Cora Wilson Stewart. (See Bureau of Educa- tion Bulletin 1913, No. 20.) Are there ''moonlight schools" in your section? Do you think that your community could profit by such a school ? Give your opinion of the volunteer continuation schools in Iowa. Wherein do the Massachusetts vocational schools differ from other high schools? To what extent do schools in your community foster short courses, evening schools, or correspondence teaching? Special Studies Make a thorough study of illiteracy in the United States, based on the Federal Census for 1910. Summarize what the United States Government is doing to blot out illiteracy among our recent immigrants. For information address the De- partment of Labor, and the Bureau of Education, Washington, D.C. Select one of the following states and examine carefully its system of vocational education : 1. Massachusetts; 2. Pennsylvania; 3. Wisconsin. Information can be procured by writing the State Departments of Education at Boston, Harrisburg, and Madison. Make a special study of the industrial club work promoted by the United States Department of Agriculture. PART III THE TEACHER AS MAKER OF THE REVITALIZED COURSE OF STUDY CHAPTER I The Reconstructed Course of Study Based on Rural Needs Influence of Tradition on School Work. — We now come to the third and last phase of the teacher's speciaHzed preparation for rural teaching — the mastery of the new subject matter in the course of study. All teachers must be aware that readjustments are taking place in the materials and methods of the rural schools. But such a hold has tradi- tion on what we teach and on what we learn in the schools, that much of the new subject matter has come as an accre- tion to an already crowded curriculum rather than as the result of genuine growth. Many schools continue with their faces turned backward to the past, clinging to much of the subject matter and methods of teaching pursued by the schoolmasters of the long ago. It is by no means as- sured that what seemed good for our grandparents is good for us. For the world does move ; and it has moved far and rapidly since those days ! No thinking person can deny that there is too much of the abstract, too many empty phrases, taught in school to-day, solely because such things were in the course of study handed down from the past. Popular opinion still has it that what was good enough for the fathers, is good enough for the sons ! What is needed in the schools, it is averred, is not more of the new-fangled subjects, but more of the three R's ! So we have continued to offer children Q 225 2 26 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK the husks, throwing away the kernels for which they are eagerly seeking. Teachers Hampered by Boards and Established State Courses of Study. — In justice to the individual teachers it must be said that if they had been at liberty many would have cast aside the traditional rubbish for which they can see no justification, and have given the children instead the meat of living and present needs. Teachers have repeatedly met the writer with such statements as these : " What shall we do. Our school boards insist that we eliminate all the frills and stick to the essentials^ — the three R's." Or, " we are obliged to follow the state course of study. If we devote our time to teaching what is not in the state course, our eighth-grade pupils will fail in their examinations for promotion to high school." This is, unfortunately, quite true. School officials, par- ticularly in rural communities, often dictate to the teachers what they shall and shall not teach. And what do most of these officials know about school needs? Their own school experience has probably been limited to the pioneer school. This is an inadequate basis from which to judge what children should study nowadays. As to established courses of study : they are generally outlined to suit the textbooks in use, which are themselves cumbered with much that is traditional and obsolete. It is interesting to examine some of the state and local courses and note the unavailing efforts made to satisfy modern demands by patching a little here and a little there, like patches on an old garment, thereby overcrowding an al- ready heavily loaded course. The mistake is to think that such a patchwork will satisfy the demands of a great agri- cultural people striving to set its house in order in the midst of an epoch-making national transition. THE RECONSTRUCTED COURSE OF STUDY 227 Before the readjustments can be realized the course of study for rural schools must be fundamentally recast. New textbooks must be written specifically for the 12,000,000 rural children. State and local study outlines and syllabi must be modified to suit these needs, and educators, instead of laymen, must decide what shall be taught in school and what shall be left out. The Reconstruction Based on What Rural People Ought to Know. — Do the rural schools of our country teach what a modern agricultural population ought to know in order to get the greatest good out of life ? Do the schools provide the kind of instruction required to keep the people in enjoyment of good health and sanitary surroundings? Do the schools prepare them to earn remunerative livings out of the land ? Do they direct them to become useful, responsible members of the larger social group ? Do the schools, finally, so lead the people that they will devote a well-earned leisure to ethical and esthetical pursuits in the country, for the improvement of self and the upbuilding of the community ? If the schools are organized to accomplish these things, they approach the modern conception of education. If they limit themselves to the formal sub- jects of the traditional curriculum, no such end is attainable. What is Meant by the Modern Conception of Education. — What, then, do we mean when we speak of rural educa- tion in the modern sense? Just what ought the modern farmer and his wife know in order to attain the happy, healthy, remunerative life indicated above? In the first place, they must have a good mastery of the ordinary tools of education, in order that they may utilize these to rear the larger, enduring superstructure of educa- tion. They must know how to read fluently and write a legible hand ; they must know how to express themselves 2 28 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK in good English ; they must be able to spell the words of their daily vocabulary ; they must be able to figure correctly and make such simple calculations as fall within the realm of ordinary usage. This is the beginning of their education only — the open sesame, as it were, to the precious and essential things of a full, rich agricultural life. The second stage in the education of an agricultural folk must harmonize their daily lives with the nature environ- ment in which they dwell and labor, so that they will love it and understand its wonders and mysteries. It must make them broad enough to know and care about the great physical and social world lying beyond their own home precincts. In this way will they learn to interpret the phenomena of the nature- world, and gain a comprehension of and sympathy for the activities of the social world around them everywhere. Finally, the second phase of their educa- tion must make of them independent thinkers and leaders to enable rural folk to take their place side by side with the urban population, to do their share of directing, of controlling, of dictating the afifairs of the nation. Lessons from Recent Studies by the Bureau of Educa- tion. — In 1 91 3 the United States Bureau of Education began a study of what our rural population ought to know in order to live wholesome, contented, and profitable lives on the land, or away from it if they should become attracted by the call and move to city places. Rural people in every section of the country were requested to give their views ; agricultural leaders and rural life experts in large number were interviewed on the same subject. The following key- note sounds through all the responses to the government queries : Our rural schools spend too much time in acquir- ing the working- tools of education, because the subject matter is *' cumbered with all kinds of unnecessary timber " THE RECONSTRUCTED COURSE OF STUDY 229 and the methods of presentation are inadequate ; the schools do not devote enough time to the things which serve a real purpose. It is the concensus of opinion that the school should no longer limit its activities by the four walls of the school- house or to the covers of the textbook. Every activity of the community must be reflected in the curriculum. The farmplace, the fields, the streams, and the forests must all become laboratories or, at least, subject materials for the modern school. A Broader Culture Based on Vital Things. — It is un- necessary to show that a curriculum founded on real life purposes may be as genuinely cultural as any based on ancient language and philosophy. We are so accustomed to associate culture with subjects of little immediate avail- ability that the living, vital subjects we have under con- sideration in the modern curriculum are often looked upon as utilitarian and materialistic and, hence, not genuinely " educational." This is, of course, absurd. The only required test for inclusion in the curriculum should be for the subject to serve a real purpose, be this spiritual or material. The great inheritance of literature and art, for example, is certainly not to be excluded from the curriculum ; but some portions of what is called literature and art will be excluded. Language is not to be excluded ; but dead language will have no place in the reorganized course, because it cannot prove the assumption of serving a useful purpose, at least for rural people. In the Danish folk high schools and agricultural schools Latin has never had a place. Yet the folk school is the most cultural of schools. German and English are taught ; but not because of any real value in themselves. Modern languages are offered because they are necessary as a means 230 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK of communication to the young farmers who later go to Germany and England as agents of the cooperative agri- cultural organizations. The Reconstruction, a Gradual Evolution. — The writer's impulse would be to reconstruct the rural curriculum from first to last — at once. Nothing ought to be retained which cannot be shown to serve a useful purpose. The new materials should have to pass a similar test. The old plea that a subject is " good mental discipline " can no longer save it from being discarded. Neither can the plea of affording information of some sort be accepted. Encyclo- pedic wisdom has no place in the schools. All informational materials in the curriculum must serve a vital purpose, immediate or remote, in order to retain a place. However, we will probably have to content ourselves with a more gradual modification of the present curriculum. But this should be carefully planned and fundamental. In the process of reconstruction the following at least must receive consideration : (i) A thorough elimination of every- thing that does not meet the test of useful purpose ; (2) in- troduction of subject materials adapted to help rural people attain happy, healthful, and remunerative life conditions ; and (3) redirecting whatever has been retained in the curric- ulum after the first elimination to give it a more direct application or utility. Textbooks will soon be published, planned on the prin- ciples suggested above. This will greatly lighten the teacher's work. Meanwhile, the teachers will be obliged to use their own ingenuity to best purpose. The following chapters are written for teachers seeking to adjust their instructional work to meet the needs of our present agri- cultural population. THE RECONSTRUCTED COURSE OF STUDY 231 Question Studies Suggested by the Text Suggest some ways in which tradition has influenced our curriculum. Differentiate clearly between the school subjects that are mere tools and so-called content subjects. Why are you unwilling to accept a school subject solely on the ground that it affords "good mental discipline"? Enumerate some subjects which hold their place in the present curriculum on this doubtful assump- tion. Do your school board members ever interfere in what you teach? Does your state course of study contain suggestions of special value to you as a rural teacher ? When we speak of a reconstruction based on what rural folk ought to know, is it our purpose to limit this knowledge to just those things that are necessary to live from day to day on the farm, or does it include more than this ? Explain. Does the modem conception of education call for a change in the way the three R's or formal subjects are taught? Give your explanation. What is the test to determine whether or not a subject is "cultural" ? Special Studies Make a careful study of Gates' The Country School of Tomorrow. Report the results to class. Report on Dewey's "Reorganization of the Curriculum," in his Schools of Tomorrow. Summarize the contents of one of the following reports on Needs of Farm Women : Economic Needs of Farm Women ; Domestic Needs of Farm Women ; Social and Labor Needs of Farm Women. (These are pubHshed respectively as U. S. Department of Agriculture Reports Nimiber 106, 104, and 103, and may be procured free.) CHAPTER II The Traditional Subjects and the New Emphasis The Curriculum of the Early District School. — It is now time to conclude the sketch of our early rural schools, begun in Part I of the book. Noah Webster's "Grammatical Institute," or ''Elemen- tary Spelling Book," as it was later known, which came into general use during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, marked an epoch in the change of school methods. Prior to this, spelling had received little attention. Now it became a craze. A pupil who could " spell down the whole school ranked second only to him who surpassed the rest in arithmetic." Once a week there would be regular spelling matches. In time these were held on winter even- ings and brought out the whole country-side. Neighboring districts would occasionally send their champion spellers to compete in friendly spelling bouts. Declamation, dia- logues, and debates were later added to these evening entertainments and we have the beginnings of the lyceum and literary society which for many years continued as a vital force in the social life of the rural community. Separate readers came into general use during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. These books were written with little regard to the immaturity or limited capacity of the child mind. '' The Franklin Primer," as an illustration, contained " a variety of tables, moral lessons and sentences, a concise History of the World, appropriate Hymns, and Dr. Wells, and the Assembly of Divines' Catechism." It was a miscellany of facts, many entirely 232 TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 233 beyond the comprehension of the child reading the books. Books such as these certainly did not add any to the popu- larity of the early district schools. Nicholas Pike's arithmetic was published in 1788 and early became the acknowledged authority in its field. As in pioneer times, most of the children seldom advanced beyond the elementary processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. A few delved into vulgar fractions, and " won distinction among their mates," says a great authority in this field, " if they penetrated into the Rule of Three ; and to cipher through Pike was to be acknowledged a prodigy." Geography was slow to find its way into the district school curriculum. Jedidiah Morse, the father of geog- raphy, wrote his first school geography in 1783, but geo- graphic study continued long to be considered as "a diversion for a winter's evening " rather than as a useful science. This and the other textbooks in use were crude and full of inaccuracies and imaginative travelers' tales gathered from many sources. The School of Our Childhood. — Now to pass on to the school of our own childhood days. Well do we recall it — not the district school of the 40's, to be sure ! Yet, in many ways a school just as narrow and just as devoid of vital interest to children as was that other school. The work was a matter of drill, drill ! of learning all manner cf abstract things more or less disassociated with our experi- ences as healthy, natural boys and girls of the playground, of field and forest, of farmyard and village street. The formal subjects were not taught as " tools " preparing us for further educational purpose. They were taught as ends in themselves. When we first enrolled at school it was with a hateful 234 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK feeling of being penned up for dreary hours and years, every childish instinct and sense of justice outraged by the new enslavery of dry books. And dry they were ; and no less dry the methods used ! Do we recall the way we learned to read, beginning with the A B C's ? Then being advanced step by step until the fifth or sixth reader was read and reread, all the rest of the course revolving about the readers as a pivot — and no one dreaming then that reading for read- ing's sake might not be the sole end of all these literary gymnastics ! Then the spelling classes ! Long columns of difficult words unassociated with anything in our daily activities. And the children goaded on to commit these lists of words to memory, to spell down John and Mary, and so gain another head mark — and thereupon go home and forget the whole hateful list ! It was much the same with the old deductive grammar — sentences to be analyzed and dia- grammed ; words to be parsed. The whole acquired by such unpedagogical methods that we seldom found the relation of the English of the classroom to the vernacular of the playground ! Then came the arithmetics cunningly planned to make boys and girls miserable, with impossible catch problems and mathematical conundrums. And the geography, cover- full of useless enumerations of facts too remote from rural life to be anything but dead timber. And the methods of teaching it: "Maine is bounded on the north by New Brunswick, on the east by," etc. "Where is Bangor?" " Bangor is on the left bank of the Penobscot River," etc. Finally, the physiology with its catalogue of bones, muscles, and parts of the digestive tract. But, as for rules of health and of sanitary living, they were unfamiliar to us or, at least, seldom practiced in the school. TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 235 This may sound overdrawn and extravagant. But let us be honest with ourselves : have we not even now schools, here and there, little better than these, in which the subject matter used and the methods employed are both dreary and senseless, adapted only to make children dread school and all that belongs with it ? Gradual Accretion to the Old-time Curriculum. — The educational period described above is now fortunately on the whole well behind us. The old-time rural curriculum has recently become enriched with new material, much of a practical nature and some poorly adapted to rural needs. Methods of teaching have likewise improved with the growth in number and efficiency of professional schools. The rural schools are undeniably more attractive to the pupils than were the schools of our youth. New subjects have taken their place in the daily program, and others are in the process of getting recognition. It is unfortunate that this enrichment has come as an accretion and not as a natural growth. With the addition of new subject matter there has not been a corresponding elimination of the old and wornout. This accretion process has given us a curricu- lum with much useless rubbish that must be cleared away to give place for new practical subject material. The grammar, geography, and history of the school of the 40's were early supplemented with physiology. A little later nature study and language lessons were added in the more progressive schools. Drawing and music next sought admission. Finally, come the new industrial sub- jects, — agriculture, manual training, and household arts, — striving to become the pivotal subjects in the new curriculum. Plan of Reconstruction. — Leading educators are giving much time and thought nowadays to scientific tests and measurements in education, to determine the effective value 236 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK of school subjects as they are taught. EHmination of use- less subjects and economy of time in study likewise are receiving much consideration. But the practical applica- tion of all these studies is usually limited to the city and town schools. Very seldom is the influence felt so far downward in our educational systems as the rural schools. A few at- tempts have been made, it is true, to reorganize the great mass of materials resulting from the gradual accretion into a satisfactory course of study for rural folk ; but most of them have been too timid, and, therefore, of little practical value. The final reorganization must be based on the principles outlined in the preceding chapter. In a sentence : We must eliminate all materials no longer serving a useful pur- pose ; we must freely introduce new materials required to meet the conception of modern rural education ; we must readjust whatever is retained of the traditional subject material to meet the new demands. Elimination in the Traditional Subjects. — The first step, then, is to rid the course of study of all useless and cumber- some materials. The test of useful purpose must invariably be applied. In arithmetic, for example, tables of weights and measures belonging to the special trades and professions, complicated problems in percentage, partnership, exchange, and the like can pass no test of present usefulness in rural education, and will accordingly be eliminated. In English, for the same reason, the children will no longer be obliged to struggle with interjections, appositives, conjunctive ad- verbs, formal parsing, and diagramming. In physiology they will omit the old anatomical catalogue of bones, muscles, and parts of the alimentary canal, suitable only for em- bryonic medical students. Similar eliminations will occur in spelling, in geography, and in history as is shown in detail in later paragraphs. TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 237 Inclusion of New Subjects, and a New Emphasis on Old Subjects. — The principles promulgated above require that we include definitely in the program the industrial subjects — agriculture, manual training, and home eco- nomics. Of these, agriculture in the sense meant here is really elementary science combined with practical agri- culture, or nature-study agriculture. Manual training comprises all useful handwork for boys and girls aside from what is included in the term home economics. The latter embraces what is generally known as domestic science and domestic art. The new emphasis on the old subjects has for all practical purposes given us several new studies. The old arithmetic has become or is becoming, rural arithmetic and farm ac- counts, the old physiology is being transformed as rural hygiene and farm home sanitation, and the old civil govern- ment is gaining a more practical sphere as rural community civics. The change in these titles is sufhciently suggestive of the new transformation in point of view and content and does not need any further explanation here. Redirecting the Old Subjects. — When the elimination process is completed, the work of redirection begins. After the destructive process comes the constructive. The funda- mental principles of the average subject are ordinarily re- tained as before the elimination began. The local applica- tion alone is modified to bring the problem within the experience of the pupil's daily activities. In the arithmetic class, for example, it would quicken a pupil's interest and add to his practical knowledge and efhciency to send him with pencil pad and three-foot rule into the school yard to calculate the cost of erecting a hog-tight fence around the premises, using definitely specified materials, or to give him problems in growing farm crops, dairy problems. 238 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK poultry problems, and the like. Nature environment and practical farm-activities can furnish him materials and themes without number for his reading and composition classes. Even the spelling words can be gleaned from the experiences of daily life. Similarly, in his geography class he will begin to spend less time on the location of such places as Timbuktu and Pernambuco, Bankok and Teheran, and more to a study of land andjv^^ater forms of the community, the farm as an industrial center and its commercial relations to the larger community, and other equally suggestive topics. The field of adaptation is wonderfully large, even in these old formal subjects. Since there are not yet many satisfactory textbooks to aid the teachers in their task of redirection, personal in- genuity must play an important part. Farm life readers have appeared on the market, although not very satisfac- tory in arrangement and selection of topics. Several rural arithmetics have been published ; but most of them unfor- tunately adhere slavishly to the plan of the old arithmetics. It is good news to teachers that several large publishers of school books have recently planned complete series of text- books for rural schools. Meanwhile, let teachers use the teaching materials ready and waiting to be used. What better reading materials are there anywhere, for example, than the gleanings from the standard agricultural and other rural periodicals? What better geography text than the school yard and farm place, the hills and valleys, the fields and forests? What finer topics for the study of citizen- ship than country roads and bridges, division-line fences, and schoolhouse upkeep and beautification ? The Language Arts in the Rural Schools. — No subject in the rural curricukmi has been so badly taught as the English language ; particularly composition and grammar. It is a TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 239 proverbial saying that rural children dislike both these subjects and shirk them whenever they can. If rural pupils enter town schools for advanced work, their English prepara- tion is very often below grade, even though they may be well abreast of the town children in other subjects. The reason is not far to seek. Our schoolmasters have sought to convey this language ability to their pupils through the dreary rounds of formal grammar, with its elaborate classi- fications, its close distinctions, and highly specialized ma- chinery. Inductive language lessons which should grow out of the fertile language materials found in every school subject have been neglected. Oral and written composition, through which language content takes form, have been limited mostly to occasional purposeless essays. Finally, reading and spelling — the tools of language ^- have been taught as things apart from the language arts, not so much to aid the pupil to attain a deep appreciation for and lasting understanding of the mother-tongue as to acquire a facility in verbal gymnastics. English Grammar in the Schools. — Grammar is the science of speech rather than the art of speaking. Since the art of language antedates language as a science, it is illogical to expect mere children to gain a mastery of gram- mar. Men had been conversing in the vernacular and were writing it for ages before the logician formulated his science of language. Children learn to speak the mother- tongue by a natural process which is inductive. Grammar violates this natural method. It is an excellent means by which to clarify and definitely fix our standards of language- accuracy, to be sure. But instruction in grammar should come later, after the child has learned to express himself in reasonably good English, orally and in writing. Formal grammar has little or no place in the elementary rural school. 240 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Grammatical forms should be introduced incidentally by the teacher in connection with the language lessons. The simple essentials of grammar may be taught advanta- geously during the last half-year of the elementary school course, in connection with the language work, as a means to help the pupils to clarify their impressions and to fix defi- nitely in their minds the few fundamental principles that every one should be familiar with. The following list ^ of grammatical terms may be omitted from class discussion. They are both useless and cumber- some to elementary pupils : Exclamatory sentence, inter- jection, appositive, nominative of address, objective complement, indefinite pronouns, classification of adverbs, conjunctive adverbs, nominative absolute, formal parsing, and diagramming. Language Teaching. — The chief purpose of language teaching is to train the pupils to express themselves in good, forceful, accurate English, both spoken and writtem In the process of achieving this universal art the pupils are also trained to think, for no one can express himself clearly and accurately without making use of his powers of thought. Furthermore, they are taught appreciation of good litera- ture, and ultimately their vocabulary becomes enriched and enlarged so as to enable them to give words the exact shade of meaning. Teachers generally concede that lan- guage instruction will accomplish all of this for the pupils ; but either the preparation for this kind of instruction has been faulty in the professional schools or else the old " gram- mar way " is too firmly fixed in the average teacher's mind to be readily thrown over. For certain it is that teachers, whether they realize it or not, continue to emphasize gram- ^ See Course of Study in Grammar Based upon the Grammatical Errors of School Children, Charters and Miller, University of Missouri, Bulletin, Vol. i6, No. 2. TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 241 matical machinery to the serious loss of practical language teaching. The Methods of Language Lessons. — Children learn to use language by imitating the speech of others. Every language expression that appeals to the child is stored up in memory and later reproduced. In other words, the child must depend on the spoken and written language of his elders for his own. He copies the speech of his father and mother, and of his playmates. He learns new words from the stories that are told him and the books that he is taught to read. How well he learns his mother tongue depends en- tirely upon the environment in which he lives and the ability and painstaking care of the teachers under whose instruction he comes. It is evident from this that language, to be taught well, is much more than a book subject. Language books should be used as guiding-threads from the third school year up- ward ; but aside from this the average language lesson should grow out of the actual daily needs of the children. These vary in different communities. The common errors of speech discovered in conversation or during recitation, or on the playground or at home, can be classified and organized as regular school language work. Eternal vigi- lance on the part of the teacher has its rewards in language teaching as in no other subject. Language, then, should be considered not only a phase of every industry and activity in and out of school, it is equally a distinct and important phase of every school subject. Only as it is so valued by the teacher and pupils will its teaching result in permanent good. Language is closely correlated with every subject in the daily program. It is so necessary to clear thinking and to adequate expression in each of them that a criticism of its teaching is at the same 242 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK time a criticism of the teaching of the various school sub- jects. Moreover, the first and most logical place to apply the principles learned in the language lesson is in the other school subjects and in the other activities of the school and home. If they are not applied there, it is unreasonable to expect their application elsewhere. Every subject has advantages for some particular kind of language training. Arithmetic helps in precise and exact expression. Reading presents a fine opportunity for imita- tion and permanent ideals — a chance to compare our own efforts with the efforts of those more expert than we. History is excellent for narrative and argument, both oral and written, and only poor history does not lend life to com- position and only poor composition does not give clarity and interest to history. Geography and arithmetic can scarcely be surpassed for description and exposition. What the child knows well in these subjects he expresses clearly; he readily learns the relationship between understanding a topic and his ability to express himself in regard to it. Composition Work in Rural Schools. — The average rural school has given very little time to oral and written composition, as a part of language work. Composition, too, should be looked upon as a phase of every school sub- ject, rather than as a separate study. Composition is a natural practice and begins as soon as a child talks. The teacher's task is to draw out the child's natural abilities to compose, to aid him to deepen his impressions, and to find a satisfactory means of expression, on any theme or subject that may appeal to him. Instead of helping the child to find the right kind of outlet for his own little thought- world, teachers are prone to repress the children's little efforts at spontaneous expression, and so forever throw a pall over their desire for individual effort. TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 243 The teacher must take the child in its own thought- world, and, while directing him, should be careful not to impose his composition themes on the child, who must be permitted to " say " what is in his heart to say. The fields and hills, and woods and brooks, the school and home garden, the home projects, the children's play life, their chickens and calves — all are full of vital interests that may serve as themes for oral and written composition. In the nature-study agriculture class, by way of illus- tration, we have an abundance of such themes as these : " Birds that I know " ; " Some insect friends and foes " ; " My home garden " ; "The poultry club " ; and " The tomato canning club." Mary will select for her eighth grade theme, we will suppose, the first title in the list. Immediately the correlation of subject study begins — nature, natural history, geography, agriculture, and English. She will study the birds and their habitat first hand ; she will read up on them in the encyclopedia and in books pro- vided by the teacher. Periodicals will be studied, and pictures of familiar birds, probably gathered from various sources for the booklet w^hich should grow^ from day to day as the work progresses. This is an illustration of the possibilities of the longer compositions. All, certainly, need not be of such length or depth of study. While the weightier theme is under way, oral and written composition of the paragraph kind continue a part of every subject in the program. Place of Spelling in the Rural Schools. — Spelling also must be considered a form of composition. Its function is to provide the correct forms of words needed in everyday composition — particularly written composition. Both oral and written spelling are valuable. But since the pupil needs to spell the word only when he wishes to write it, oral 244 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK spelling is less important than written spelling, and is valu- able chiefly for review, for giving variety, and because a large number of children are " ear-minded " rather than " eye-minded." The first principle in spelling which should receive the teachers' careful consideration is, that only such words as are needed in the pupils' written exercises from day to day — i.e. their own vocabulary — should be included in the spelling classes. The average spelling book contains from 10,000 to 15,000 words, all of which the pupils are expected to spell before getting through school. Careful tests ^ have demonstrated that the average adult uses only between 350 and 550 words in his written vocabulary. Similar tests made of school children ^ give like results. Very few of them use more than 350 words in their daily tasks. Under these conditions we can see the folly of forcing pupils to learn indiscriminately long lists of words, grouped by columns without reference to use. The disastrous results are clearly demonstrated in the drawing set forth below. The child too often fails to get a good grasp of the simplest everyday words because he has to struggle with long lists of words lying almost wholly outside his own vocabulary. One may ask, should spelling books be used at all ? Or, should spelling lists be prepared by the teachers and used instead? If all teachers had the necessary power of dis- crimination, unquestionably the better method would be for them to select their own lists exclusively. But the average teacher has not the training necessary to do this delicate task well ; hence it will be necessary to continue to ^ See Leonard P. Ayres, The Spelling Vocabularies of Personal and Business Letters. 2 Franklin W. Jones, Concrete Examination of the Material of English Spelling. TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 245 depend on spelling books. The books, however, should only supplement the written spelling exercises, not supplant them. The teachers must be clear in their own minds on this point. The best method of presenting words for spelling is in context, instead of in lists of isolated words. A paragraph, Attempting to learn these: — While misspelling these:-" spectacle halo legacy gossamer sluice lurid buoyant linear aggrieve superlative romantic obstinate Fig. 28. Reproduced from the Elimination Report of the Iowa State Teachers' Association. stanza, quotation, or letter, for example, may be selected in the book or placed on the blackboard, with the words to be learned emphasized in some way — perhaps underlined. They may then be taken out from the context, carefully visualized, written, pronounced correctly with meaning clearly understood, special difficulties pointed out, and study directions given. In countries whose languages are purely phonic, spelling is seldom treated as a separate class subject. The English language, as Charles B. Gilbert puts it, " is a strange medley of the labors of philologists, pseudo-philologists, ignorant printers, and equally ignorant writers who have attempted 246 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK to follow some real or imaginary auditory analogy." For this reason our schools must continue to maintain separate classes in spelling. At the same time it is just as important to deal with spelling as a vital phase of every class exercise. Many successful teachers draw their spelling lists from every class subject. For example, in the agriculture class or civics class the pupils may falter in the pronunciation of certain words — an evidence of faulty visualization, or the meaning is not clear to the pupils, or the words are mis- spelled in the written exercises. All such words should be listed immediately on the blackboard and kept there as a part of the agriculture or civics exercise until definitely mastered. Reading, a Means to an End. — Reading will always continue as a most important subject in the rural curriculum. Success or failure in teaching reading depends, of course, wholly upon how it is taught. Does the teacher have a clear comprehension of the aims and purposes of teaching reading? Does he understand what the children of the different grades or groups should read? Does he know how to correlate reading with the other subjects in the program? Does he utilize the rich wealth of information of a social-economic nature available in supplementary readers, and the current periodicals — particularly the rural press? Reading has for its aim more than mere ability to convey to the mind the thought contained in the printed page. The process of learning must give ability to judge the worth of what is read, to discriminate between what is good reading and what is bad ; to create a taste for the best in literature; and to establish the reading habit, that it may become a life process. Good reading is inseparable from a certain attainment in oral expression ; but the mechanics of read- TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 247 ing is not the aim and end of reading. Reading is valuable only as it appeals to a child's instincts and interests, as it stirs him to action, and opens for him channels through which his budding activities can find an outlet. No reading materials should be used which cannot stand the test of useful purpose. That is, do they appeal to the child's instincts, interests, and understanding at the same time that they appeal to his social, ethical, and esthetical nature ? If the selections stand this test of useful purpose, they should be included ; if not, they should be rejected. The reading course, both in method and selection of material, should lead the child by natural steps through mere formal word mastery to thought mastery, till ulti- mately formal reading blends with the content subjects, and so ceases to be of further use as a separate teaching- subject. Teaching Writing in Rural Schools. — Very little need be said on the subject of writing in rural schools. So long as writing was taught as " penmanship," the schools were inclined to feature it as an accomplishment with emphasis on flourishes, scrolls, and complicated monograms. Writ- ing is a mechanical process, with little or no esthetic or intellectual value. The sole purpose of writing in school should be to enable the pupil to record his thoughts with legibility and speed. Any system that stresses these two essentials and en- ables the pupil to learn the art with the least expenditure of time and effort, may safely be used by the teacher. Several methods have come and gone, all with many good points to recommend them. The Spencerian system and the vertical system have had, and still have, many warm advocates in the schools. Both have their excellent points, and some natural faults. The Palmer Method is popular 248 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK in most sections of the country at the present. A com- mendable feature of this system is the assistance rendered teachers by the pubHshers in mastering its essentials, and the interest in class progress demonstrated by the pub- lishers through writing contests based on quality and speed tests. The teacher had best adopt some one good system or method ; otherwise failure is likely to befall. But, how long should pupils be expected to do writing as a distinct class exercise? Only long enough to attain a reasonable standard set by the teacher. As soon as this standard has been attained, the pupils should be excused from class drill, with the understanding that they begin again any time they drop below the teacher's standard. After this, language and composition work in other subjects will provide ample opportunity for writing drills. In all written exercises the teacher must insist on accuracy and neatness. Herein lies the secret to success in teaching writing. It would be well for every teacher to study one or more of the recent methods for measuring writing so as to be able to judge for himself what may be termed a reasonable re- quirement. Among these probably none are more instruc- tive than Thorndike's or Ayres' scales of measurement.^ What Mathematics Must be Taught. — Mathematics in the rural school course should not be regarded so much as a science as the science of number applied to useful activi- ties. It is no longer tenable to proceed on the theory that the value of a mathematical calculation lies in the mental power it produces. In methods of instruction, likewise, stress is no longer placed on memory alone, with its drill, * See Thorndike, Scale of Handivnting, Teachers College Record, March, 1910; and Leonard Ayres, Scale of Handwriting, Educational Bulletin, Russell Sage Foundation. TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 249 eternal drill ! Emphasis is laid on practical and useful problems. We must therefore be guided by these funda- mentals while selecting the study topics for rural schools. A complete course in mathematics for rural schools should include practical arithmetic, farm accounting, and simple phases of plane geometry dealing with measurement and land surveys. All this, however, should be taught under the single head of arithmetic. The eliminations must first be made. The following list of topics has been agreed to by several leading educational authorities.^ Teachers can safely accept it as the ex- pression of the best progressive thought on the subject. These topics may be omitted : Greatest common divisor ; complex fractions ; Troy weight, apothecaries' weight, sur- veyors' measure, tables of foreign money, annual interest, compound interest, true discount and partial payments, stocks and bonds (as usually taught), and foreign exchange ; compound proportion ; cube root ; and metric system (until the government enforces its use). The constructive work falls under these captions: (i) Fundamental processes, and (2) Practical applications. Under the first head there should be thorough work in ad- dition, subtraction, multiplication, and division ; in common and decimal fractions, and factoring; tables of simple measurements and United States money ; and practical rules in mensuration. Under the second head the problems should be based on daily activities. Many farmers fail because they do not know how to keep account of receipts and disbursements. They cannot point out with certainty ^ See Frank M. McMurry, What Omissions are Desirable in the Present Course of Study, 1904 N. E. A, Report (Department of Superintendence) ; Iowa State Teachers' Association, Committee on Elimination of Subject-matter, 1915 Report, and Minn. Educa. Assoc, Report Elimination in Elementary Course of Study, 1914. 250 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK ] where the financial leaks are. They can seldom borrow money to advantage. They are often helpless in matters of organizing cooperative enterprises which call for mathe- matical calculation and some business preparation. The necessary constructive problem material may be summarized as, simple business practice and farm accounting ; banking problems ; fire, hail, and life insurance ; taxes ; school and district bonds ; problems involved in organizing coopera- 1 tive creameries, • elevator companies, etc. ; fundamental \ problems in soil-building, crop production, shipping, and ' market conditions ; in stock-raising, dairying, and poultry j production ; thrift problems in machinery upkeep and i depreciation, and upkeep of farm buildings and surrounding premises ; and other problems in farm and home manage- ^ ment that will suggest themselves to teachers and pupils from day to day as they are needed. ! A New Emphasis on Geography. — In the next chapter : we learn how the nature environment forms the background ! out of which springs the entire rural curriculum. The first ! facts of geography grow gradually out of nature study^^-^j So intimate, indeed, is this relation that all the nature phe- | nomena, whether called nature study, agriculture, or geog- j raphy, ought to be considered as a systematized whole to be treated in horizontal section, and not in distinct vertical section, with all the facts pertaining to a subject crammed into its own little section. Geography is a study of the earth's relation to man — ' a study of how man lives upon the earth, how he gets his living out of the earth, and his social and economic inter- course with other men. For/oiese reasons the phases of geography studied by rural children should be related to their daily life as children and as grown-up people. The rural schools have been slow to make use of the vitally inter- TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 251 esting geographic facts abounding in every rural community. Instead, they have contented themselves with teaching the common terms and definitions used in describing land and water forms from the printed page of the book rather than from the hills and valleys, brooks and ponds, lying at the heart of the school community ! Even yet are rural children obliged to spend their time in memorizing defini- tions of capes and headlands, peninsulas and isthmuses, located somewhere on the map ; their time is taken up with " bounding " states and countries and hemispheres, with locating state capitals and state metropolises and countless other facts just as dreary and profitless. Geography teaching should not begin with the earth as an "oblate spheroid " — as far removed from the child's experiences as possible — but with the home region, known to him from infancy. Home geography provides a vast store of local information of much importance. The chief reason for emphasizing it is, however, the aid it furnishes through local experiences to the general study of geography. To begin with the familiar things and work outward to the less well-known or strange affords opportunity to utilize the children's apperceptive powers. An excellent place to begin such a study is the school- room. /The teacher may begin by teaching directions as related to the schoolroom and the schoolroom as related to the out-of-doors. Next, it is well to locate the school- house and grounds m relation to other points of interest in the community, as shown in the brief outline below. The children should by degrees be made familiar with local topography and through it gain a comprehension of the varied features and vast proportions of the earth. Then should come a study of the history of the farm ; a study of its soil ; its drainage ; the roads that bound it and lead 252 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK away from it, out into the world. Next, it is essential to know the products of the farm, — what are to be used at home and what exchanged for products of remote places and countries. From this study of the farm we may turn to the whole community and its trading center, from which our outward exploration of an interesting, mysterious world continues. There is a vitality in this because the children play a real role in a living world. Their own community activities provide them with living interests that make children realize that they are a part of a real throbbing world. Following are a few suggestions as to how a rural teacher may begin this interesting geography study : 1. Begin always with the known and seen. a. First lessons at school — teach directions as related to out-of- doors. Use section lines in relation to polar star. 2. School and Home Geography. a. Locate and draw schoolgrounds and school — locate in relation to home farm, to other farms and the near-by trading center. b. Complete a study of all the space between school and home with proper appreciation of distance. c. Make a study of local topography. Utilize hills, creeks, ponds, etc., for classifying land and water forms. Use effects of rainstorm to teach origin of river-systems, land erosion, etc. 3. History of the farm. a. Have children secure details of its history, making it a com- position exercise. 4. Produce of the farm. a. Draw map of the farm — designate various field crops, meadows, woodlot, pasture, orchard, etc. 5. Industries of the farm community — this should include the "trading center." a. Study the railroads and highways ; study such industries as dairying, mining, lumbering, quarrying, shipping of stock, grain and other produce. TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 253 6. Trip ta the trading center. a. What becomes of farm produce brought to town ? h. What is the origin of the coffee, tea, oranges, etc., that are brought home to the farm ? 7. The larger study. a. On these known experiences build a superstructure of geog- raphy, using what in the mass of geographic materials is useful, eliminating all that is useless and encumbering. What Phases of History to Emphasize. — The purpose of history teaching is unquestionably the same whether undertaken in town or in the country. The primary aim is to develop intelligent patriotism and responsible citizen- ship. If history in its teaching fails to influence children in the schools to nobler living and higher ideals, to eager desire for places of responsibility in the citizenry of their country — the instruction has failed of its primary pur- pose. But history study should have other aims, also. History is a " record of past events." The panorama of races and nations as it unfolds before us is bound to broaden our minds and widen our horizons ; the solidarity of the race, the relation of the past to the present, the present to the future, by degrees must become apparent to us ; the examples and struggles of great men as they strive for high ideals in state and nation cannot but aid us in forming our own judgments and setting standards for our own ideals. Many of these aims, however, are not very marked in the early years of the child's life. The questions of immediate concern to us are: What history study has a rightful place in the rural schools ? What demands in history study can we make of the children ? What topics should be emphasized ? What topics eliminated ? History in our schools held an unimportant place prior 254 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK to the opening of the Civil War period. The great national cataclysm aroused national patriotism as nothing before had been able to do. It was natural that the strong sec- tional feeling should be reflected in the way history was taught in the schools. New history textbooks came into use which laid undue emphasis on the Civil War with its causes, its bloody struggles, and the military heroes it pro- duced. Much of the study was partisan and fraught with sectional prejudice which, unfortunately, fanned the smol- dering fires of sectional feeling for many years. As might be expected, this new emphasis given military history had its effect on earlier periods of history as well. The Mexican War, the War of 1812, and particularly the Revolutionary War became reclothed with a new glamour. Every battle, every skirmish, was studied in detail. King George's Red Coats were painted in the darkest hues and children were taught exaggerated notions of American prowess in war and peace. Speaking frankly, the schools were not then, and have not always been since that time, truthful in the way history is taught. Often we have enlarged upon our na- tion's story, at other times we have found it convenient to suppress. Both textbooks and teachers have had a share in this. The scope and detail of the work in history has increased much the last half century as a result of this method of teaching. The periods of discovery, exploration, and settle- ment have been elaborated and magnified out of proportion to their present value. Within our own time has come the new national expansion with foreign colonization and great commercial and industrial growth. This has already forced a reduction in the number and details of battles and other unimportant facts, although the elimination process is merely begun. TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 255 Perhaps the greatest mistake in history teaching is the incHnation to feed immature children on the same kind of history stuff that we mete out to grown-up people, only in smaller portions and somewhat diluted. The writer has upon his desk at this moment half a dozen elementary school histories which contain such topics as tariff and currency reforms, party platforms, regulation of trusts, and the government of our insular possessions. These are topics for history specialists, not children. Very few of us in mature life are able to give a clear exposition of these topics without careful delving into books. Certainly, we should not expect the children in elementary schools to worry their minds about them. The citizen of to-morrow should have a good understand- ing of his nation's story, including its struggles against physical obstacles and the forces of nature, the great men that it has produced, with the lofty ideals for which they have striven — not alone the men of war but the men of peace, the men who produced our art and literature, our great labor-saving machines, who built up our industries, who spanned our continent with railway and telegraph lines, who are to-day conserving our natural and national resources and by their examples teach real patriotism. Just enough of the history of discovery, settlement, and early Colonial history should be given to furnish an intelli- gent basis for the later and more important epochs. This should be taught in the light of European backgrounds to American history. Only as the child understands the relation of European nations to the growth of the United States can he get a comprehension of the real significance of national events and their relation to the great brotherhood of man. Unimportant dates should be eliminated. Only the chief personalities of the early periods should be intro- 256 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK duced into the story. The textbook can never be more than a leading thread to be placed in the hands of the children. It is a skeleton. The real flesh and blood of narrative, description, and biography must be given the children in the form of supplementary reading. The abbreviated summaries contained in the average textbook are sure to be more or less meaningless to the children without further reading. If, on the other hand, the discerning teacher selects the history topics of vital importance to the children and enlarges upon them by sending the pupils to the school library for further light, great things may be accomplished. Every rural school library should provide supplementary reading materials in history, including first of all biographies of our great men, and such other enriching materials as will create interest and satisfy the hunger of the child who has been starved on meaningless political campaigns, monetary panics, and foreign policies.^ Community Civics. — The rural community suffers from lack of government. Whatever government it has is scarcely adequate to modern conditions. There may be a township constable and a justice of the peace, chosen from the local electorate ; an assessor, perhaps, and road over- seers. Then the jurisdiction of the county sheriff extends to rural communities. But the system has proved wholly ineffective in our day. The government needed is not so much to protect life and limb as it is to protect the health and morals of the people, both for the country's sake and the city's sake. Rural communities are not policed at all. Social depravity and loose morals are the result in many rural places in spite of their naturally wholesome atmos- phere. Sociologists have repeatedly shown that rural ^ For further suggestions on elimination in history, see the Iowa and Minnesota reports. TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 257 vil-ages and the smaller towns have more vice than the cities where the social evils are segregated under police control. Rural communities usually lack health inspec- tion. Contagious disease is seldom properly controlled there. Nobody is charged with inspecting the sewage disposal of the farms. Occasionally carcasses of dead animals are permitted to contaminate the streams. If the milk supply is inspected at all, it is because the city has brought it about as a protection from its country neighbors. Rural America urgently needs government to make it physically wholesome and healthful ; to protect it from the social vice which finds, in the rural community's unprotected condition, an opportunity to debauch the unsuspecting youth ; to give it efficiency and economy in the manage- ment of its schools ; the construction and upkeep- of its public highways ; and in the organization of its quasi-public social-economic institutions and organizations. The rural school has not done what it can towards train- ing for citizenship. There is too much talking about citizen- ship in the schools, but too little living it from day to day. The writer, in his time of early school, was obliged to begin his preparation for citizenship by committing to memory the entire Constitution of the United States, beginning with the Preamble and ending with the last amendment. There is no objection to the children learning the essential points in their national and state constitutions ; but all this be- comes dead and meaningless if the study ends there. In the writer's class at school was a fine young fellow who memorized and explained the United States Constitution as ably as any one in the class. He could repeat and ex- plain the Article in the Constitution which prescribes the punishment for counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States — and eight years later he was 258 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK convicted of making counterfeit half-dollar pieces and sent to the Federal penitentiary for many years. This unfor- tunate youth had learned civil government out of a book, but he had never been taught his duties, responsibilities, and opportunities in the civil community. Citizenship must be lived in the school from day to day. It can be made a part of every school subject, and really need not be taught as a separate subject, or, if it is, a prac- tical community civics should be used. The history period generally provides time enough for the book phases of the study in the one- teacher school. Geography, when well taught, emphasizes section lines and highways and road- overseers ; agriculture brings in division fences, windbreaks and questions of drainage areas ; arithmetic concerns itself with assessors and taxes ; and so on indefinitely. He alone is a great teacher of civics who is able to imbue his pupils with their great responsibilities and opportunities so that they will not fail later in life to respect the rights of their neighbors and keep out of all unjust disputes over line fences and drainage ditches and private roadways ; so that they will not revert to absent-mindedness when the assessor comes to value their real and personal property ; nor shirk their duty in road building and its upkeep, or insist that their own section line be graded before those of their neighbors. Men and women so trained will be ready, when time calls, to fill with ability the positions of school trustee, highway engineer, sanitary inspector, township supervisor, county commissioner, and other places of trust in a rejuvenated rural government. Music in Every Rural School. — In the days of the old singing-school master there was probably more song in the rural community than nowadays. To begin with, rote singing was considered an important part of school work ; TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE NEW EMPHASIS 259 and all the young people joined the winter singing class at the schoolhouse as an important part of community social life. The '' song-birds in the heart " of our rural folk have been dumb, it is said, ever since the close of the district school period when the singing master departed for other fields of activity. The writer made a study of a large number of Danish elementary schools a few years ago, and found that no teacher could, under law, be licensed to teach who was unable to sing, or lead the singing. As a matter of fact, every teacher in the schools visited led in the song on a violin — and, it was not 2i fiddle. Every daily program in our schools has Its opening ex- ercises, which should comprise song. Scripture reading, and practical current topics — all made so attractive that the children will be eager to reach school In good time for the opening. Music should, of course, be an important phase of the opening exercises. The teacher can also find a little time in the afternoon for a singing exercise. Many schools now set aside twenty minutes for the study of music, three days a week immediately before closing school. If the teacher can read music — and what teacher should not know how? — he should teach the subject as a regular class exercise. Only in case of the teacher's inability to instruct in reading notes should rote singing be used. Question Studies Suggested by the Text Describe the curriculum of the early district school. What did Noah Webster's spelling book do for the schools ? What do you think of the "school of our childhood " ? To your mind, is it overdrawn ? Have you read the " Hoosier Schoolmaster " ? If so, how- do the two schools compare ? Show how the school curriculum is the result of gradual accretion in- stead of natural growth. 26o THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK What is the plan of reconstruction ? Does it seem too radical ? How far should the elimination process be carried? What do you mean by a new emphasis on the old subjects ? State concisely what is meant by the redirection in the old subject matter. Give illustrations. Discuss the relative importance of language study and technical gram- mar in rural schools. Why has there been too much grammar and too little real language study in rural schools ? Do you agree to the suggested eliminations in grammar ? Explain. How do you make the language lessons interesting and vital? Do you correlate language work with other subjects? What is the place of spelling in rural schools ? State how you organize the spelling work. Give a full list of the supplementary reading materials that should be used in the schools. Do you use all of these? Is there danger of overdoing "writing" as a formal school exercise? Explain. What mathematics ought to be included in the rural course? What elimination of material would you make? State what you mean by a new emphasis on geography as taught in the school. Special Studies Summarize the early school curriculum as found in Johnson's Old- time Schools and School Books. Report to class on McMurry's What Omissions are Desirable in the Present Course of Study. Study Elimination of Subject Matter from either of the following reports : Iowa State Teachers' Association Committee on Elimination of Subject Matter; Minnesota Educational Association — Report of the Committee on Elementary Course of Study. Report on Pickard's Rural Education, Chapter VIT ; or Leake's The Means and Methods of Agricultural Education, pp. 67-72. Analyze the contents of any one of the following rural textbooks : Barnes' English in the Country Schools. Lewis' Farm-Business Arithmetic. Field and Nearing's Community Civics. CHAPTER III Nature Environment the Background of the New Curriculum The Right to a Living from the Land. — We have learned that the modern curriculum must be organized to prepare rural people for happy, healthful, and remunerative living on the land. For our present purpose it is best to reverse the order of these three and consider the last mentioned first. Food, clothing, and shelter come first in the list of human wants. Until they are provided, a people, whether savage or civilized, will pay little attention to the other desirable things in life. If modern agricultural people, there- fore, are to live well-rounded lives, they must first of all be put in position to make a good living out of the land. In the United States about seventy-five per cent of the nation's wealth comes immediately out of the land, in one form or another. The farmers are the greatest wealth- producers we have, although not the greatest wealth- keepers ; for, under the present system of agricultural organization, the farmers are able to keep only a small portion of this wealth for themselves. The schools must teach new things not alone in agricultural production, — acre for acre, — but must be of real assistance in preparing the products for the markets, and in their ultimate market- ing. When economic care shall have been lifted from the agri- culturist's heart and shoulders, he will be more ready than 261 262 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK , now to devote his leisure moments to the ethical and estheti- i cal sides of life. j The Naturalist Fanner, Our Greatest Farmer. — The writer once heard a great agriculturist say: ''You send i me a boy who knows nature and loves it, and I will return j him to you in a short while a great farmer ; for it takes a i lover of nature to make a real farmer." In making our j study of remunerative agriculture, we must begin with the nature environment in the midst of which the future agri- \ culturists dwell. Certainly it is true that there cannot be j really successful living in the country if the individual ! happens to be out of harmony with the wonderful phenomena \ of nature round about him. Those who get the most out of country life live close to nature. They know and love the created things — know field and stream, weather and soil, ' fish and birds and insects. The really good farmers are great naturalists. With us, rural children have lived largely in the very i heart of nature and yet remained strangers there. The Danish children study blade and leaf and flower from j earliest infancy. This is the work of the school and is begun I while the child mind is plastic, and sympathetic and loving. '. Such children are never in danger of being turned out by 1 the school, shrewd, calculating men who own the soil chiefly j for the money they can wring out of it. In our country i we are unfortunately prone to judge things by the com- | mercial. standard. The so-called " practical " traits are | inherent in us. Here begins the work of the new teacher.^ i He must be able to take the rural child in its own little i world and lead it along the pathway of life, directing its ] native adaptabilities, sentiments, and powers, and there i develop in the child breast a sympathy with its environ- j ^ See The American Rural School, pp. 14-15. • i ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND OF CURRICULUM 263 ment, and in the child mind an understanding of nature's ways — then, once awakened to the surpassing beauties of rural environments, the American boy and girl will no longer be in danger of deserting the farm for the man-made glitter of the city. Study of Nature the Background on Which to Build. — Nature study should form the background for the greater part of the rural school curriculum. This may be made clear by outlining briefly the specific values of the subject, viz., economic, esthetic, social-ethical, religious, and edu- cational.^ Economic. By the time they are ready for concrete agriculture the children will be familiar with the common goods in nature and with its evil things. They should by that time know the value of pure air and pure water, the influence of sheltering forests and shade trees, the impor- tance to life on the farm of beneficent birds, insects, and batrachians. They should, on the other hand, be familiar with the pests constantly menacing farm life, such as destructive insects, birds, noxious weeds, and dangerous vegetable diseases. This phase of nature study appeals strongly to farm interests, and the effect is to draw ever closer the ties which bind the school and home through kindred interests. This will give us naturalist farmers. Esthetic. The teacher must bring the children under the spell of the sublime in nature. The still, small voice of nature should be permitted to commune with teacher and children through beautiful flowers and waving grasses, sheltering shrubs, and spreading trees. This can be realized only through the teacher's digging and planting side by side with the children. Here, amidst the earth smells and the calling of nature, they will become strong in their love ^ The American Rural School, pp. 156-161. 264 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK to live close to nature's heart. This will give us permanent country dwellers. Social and Ethical. A deep-seated respect for social and ethical law is needed in our country. The sooner children learn that they have social and moral obligations which are bound to be respected, the better it is for them. Girls and boys have a certain amount of energy which is bound to get an outlet somehow ; if early led to love nature, they will become its protectors. Such children will not vandalize nature ; when grown up they are sure to become good, law- abiding members of society. This makes for a morally sound citizenship. Religions. To love nature is to love nature's God. The teacher's manifest opportunity is to take advantage of the still voice in nature to reach the inner recesses of the child soul, to instill there a love for well-doing in looking after the happiness of God's created things, thereby attaining the child's happiness and for himself the crown of life. This makes for a religious country folk. Educational. While the naturalistic tendencies in edu- cation have been the slow growth of ages, we have at last come to realize that scholarship for scholarship's sake alone is untenable. The arts and sciences that do not affect the minds and habits of children in a way to furnish them with an increased disposition for service can no longer be upheld. Nature study is doing more than any other subject to over- come this disproportion between the theoretical and practi- cal in school life. This fits education to the needs of the child, instead of the child to the school. The discussion of values reveals the comprehensiveness of nature study. The first five years in school should gen- erally be devoted to the inspirational and general phases, leaving the more concrete work to the last three years of ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND OF CURRICULUM 265 the course. This may find expression in beautifying school grounds and home grounds, in making school and home gardens, and school experimental plots, and in practical agriculture. Nature-Study Agriculture us. So-called '* Practical " Agri- culture. — Agriculture as it is often taught in the schools gets too much emphasis on the " practical " and '' use- ful " phases of the subject, to the disparagement of its all- important background — the nature environment. We can never lay too much stress upon this fact. There are those who have taken up agriculture as a concession to farmers and farming when, by very nature, it should always have been part of the school curriculum. Such teachers have hastened to make it a dollars-and-cents study ; regardless whether or not the children had the preparation, gleaned from contact with the great out-of-doors, to make their study from the point of view of little naturalists. Doctor L. H. Bailey, speaking on this subject, says: *' I would not approach the subject primarily from the occupational point of view, but from the educational and spiritual ; that is, the man should know his work and his environment. The mere giving of in- formation about agricultural objects and practices can have very little good result with children. The spirit is worth more than the letter. Some of the hard and dry tracts on farming would only add one more task to the teacher and the pupil, if they were introduced to the school, making the new subject in time as distasteful as arithmetic and gram- mar often are." ^ It was suggested above that the general phases of nature study should occupy the pupil's attention for the first five years in school, to be followed in the last three years with agriculture, or, more correctly speaking, nature-study agri- 1 The Nature-Study Idea, p. 98. 266 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK culture. It would be unfortunate at any time to lose sight of the nature-study phases ; although, of course, the agri- cultural application must become more and more apparent as the years advance. The entire eight years' course may be considered as a cumulative growth, unmarked by any break to show where nature study ends and agriculture begins. The teaching cannot be limited to a textbook or manual, although these are essential enough as leading- threads for the last year or so. Agriculture must be taught in the great laboratory of nature. The school ground, including ex- perimental plot and garden, must come first. Then there are orchards and cornfields and meadows which can be used ; and corn and cereals, barnyard fowls and other animals, to be brought to school and studied. Many find time to make their grounds beautiful, test all seed corn for the district, bud all the peach trees required to plant the orchards of the whole countryside, grow corn and vegetables for the annual contests, and still have an abundance of time for the other school tasks. The School Laboratory and Informal Instruction in Agri- culture. — The statements in the last paragraph are based on the premise that the school is part of a great agriculture laboratory, or, better still, nature laboratory. This in- cludes large school grounds, ample for play, with room for flower beds, shrubbery and trees, a common experiment plot and garden with individual plots for all the children. If, for any reason, such as short school year and difficulty of caring for it during the summer vacation, a school garden should prove impracticable, a home garden may be made to answer the purpose. In any case the instruction must be informal. There is no real objection to using a textbook as a manual, but mere New Educational Activities in Rural High Schools Horse judging, class of agriculture at the RoUo, Illinois, consolidated school; and milk testing in a smaller rural high school in the Middle West. ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND OF CURRICULUM 267 textbook courses in agriculture are proving futile and should be discouraged. Indeed, it is just as practical to teach chemistry and physics from books alone as to teach a love and understanding of nature and its wonder works from within the covers of textbooks. Agriculture Teaching in the Schools of Ontario. — Agri- culture as a school subject is usually quite well organized in the better consolidated schools. In the one-teacher schools little has been accomplished. This is because we still lack teachers of peculiar preparation for their work ; because the school year is poorly planned ; and because agriculture is seldom considered as basic and vital in the course of study. Ontario and other provinces of the Dominion of Canada have succeeded better than our states have in teaching agriculture in the small schools. They were unsuccessful until textbook courses were abolished. Recently the sys- tem was changed. The study of agriculture has become attractive as a part of the daily experience of each child — an experience lived in the home and at school and on the highway between school and the home. The new agricul- ture, to quote a member of the Ontario Department of Education, " shaped itself from the nature study that was introduced into the schools about nine years ago. It is the common sense nature study for the country. Its text- book is the home, the garden, the field, the orchard, and the school farm or garden. Its course of study is the common plants and animals, the common work and interests of the common people who send their children to the common school. Its method is a natural one ; instruction is based on the pupil's natural interests, his present and prospective environment and his own activities." Ontario Agricultural Work Taken Seriously. — In On- tario agriculture through school gardening is no longer 268 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK looked on as a fad or side issue to be cared for or neglected at the whim of the teachers and pupils. It is a serious part of the schools' tasks. When the work is first organized the secretary of the board of trustees and the teacher are both obliged to file separate notifications of their intentions to teach agriculture in the schools. This makes all parties concerned feel their responsi- bility. The school trustees must also make the necessary arrangements for its introduction and support, sharing with the teacher both the labor and interest. A definite time must be allotted to agricultural instruction. It must have a definite place in the program, and be taught not less than one hour each week. Needless to say, much more time than this is usually devoted to it. Complete accounts must be kept of the cost of the school garden work and be submitted at the close of the year to the department of education. The teacher must keep a record from week to week of just what phases of the work have been tried out, on special blanks provided for the purpose. The school register, indeed, contains such forms for every week in the year. At the close of the year the forms are forwarded to the minister of education through the local inspector. The report must show also how the garden has been planned ; how it has been cared for in the summer holidays ; and the condition it was in at school opening in September. The following outline shows the topics suggested for the instruction to be given in the fall and early winter months. The teacher is not expected to cover all of these themes, but to use those which are best suited to the local interests of the farming community. The teacher's report to the minister of education shows just what has been accomplished with each topic. ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND OF CURRICULUM 269 September Plant studies. — i . Weed-study excursion — Preparation of mounted collections — Seed collections — Identification tests — Methods of eradi- cation. 2. Pupils' selection of corn in standing crop for seed and exhibi- tion. School fair. — Display of Progress Club's products (homemade articles, poultry, potatoes, oat sheaves, etc., by boys, and sewing, cooking, and canning by the girls), garden produce, collections, demonstration of experiments carried out at school — Judging and awarding of prizes of books, bulbs, etc. Insect studies. — The house fly, its structure, habits, life history, and siippression — Estimation of damage of codling moth. Reading. — Selection and purchase of agricultural books for school and home libraries. A farmer's library — Winter's reading plans. October Plant studies. — i. Collections of apples and other fruits for competi- tion and judging — Talk by local fruit grower — Testing pupils' ability to recognize varieties — Methods of packing and shipping. 2. Collections of injured or imperfect fruit — Causes and remedies. Farm and orchard work. — i. Thrashing — Storage of crops — Model barns — Silos — Estimates of yields — Determination of weights of bushels of grain. 2. Fall preparation of soil — Implements used and problems on cost of plowing, etc. 3. Fall pruning — Practice on neglected trees — Cover crops. Garden work. — Taking cuttings and plants from garden for school or home windows or wintering over — Planting bulbs in school border or forcing for winter bloom — Fall preparation of school garden, cleaning, manuring, and plowing. November Corn fair. — Collections of selected corn for competition — Judging competitions — Reading prize essays. Farm work. — Wintering the farm animals — Good stabling and up- to-date appliances — Feeding — Care of poultry — Best henhouses. Reading. — Class debates ; discussions on agricultural topics. Physical science. — Simple experiments on air. 2 70 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK December Animal studies. — Breeds of farm poultry — Visits to poultry or live stock shows — Survey and census of local poultry industry — Marketing poultry. Reading. — Reviews of subjects read up by pupils in books, papers, or bulletins. Physical science. — Practical exercises with thermometers — Use of dairy thermometer — Weather records. Imperative Need of Reorganizing the School Year. — The most prevalent cause of failure in school gardening and agricultural experiments in our small schools is the short school year and its time of * beginning and ending. In the United States the school year usually begins in September and ends too early in the spring to permit vege- tation to gain a satisfactory growth before school closes. To this may be added the generally short tenure of the teacher. One or the other, or perhaps both, of these reasons may be persistently pointed to as the real cause of failure. In Ontario the school year begins January i of each year and closes in December. Under this arrangement the teacher in charge of the school when summer vacation begins will be back in the school next September. This makes possible a vital interest in the agricultural work. More than this, the Provincial Government pays teachers and school boards special grants ^ for maintaining the school gardens during the midsummer vacation. It would be well to change the time of opening our school year and have it begin with the close of the New Year holi- days. The school year should be at least ten months long — some day, no doubt, the nation will see the folly of the wastefully long vacations — and the teacher in charge of ^ See Bureau of Education Bulletin 1915, No. 32, The School System of Ontario. ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND OF CURRICULUM 271 the school should be held responsible for the gardens and experiments during the vacation months. The Smith-Hughes Act for industrial education could wisely use some of the funds it carries to promote agri- cultural education through school garden grants as in the Ontario system ; and, for that matter, to remunerate teachers taking special agriculture courses preparatory to devoting their energies to rural teaching. The Alternative of Home Gardens. — While educators are waiting for conditions to become more favorable, they have the alternative of organizing home gardens. If the teacher is judicious, he can accomplish a world of good for the home and school through this kind of gardening. This form of home work should be done entirely by the pupils, under directions from the teacher, who cooperates with the pupils' parents, who in turn lend guidance and encourage- ment to the children. The success or failure of the home garden depends largely on the ability of the teacher to organize and realize his plans. The teacher must have both enthusiasm and initiative. The work had best be entirely voluntary, no pupil being permitted to become a member of the garden club until his parents' cooperation has been secured. A full record of the garden work is to be kept by the teacher, including an outline drawing of the garden which should, if possible, be of uniform size for all the children. The vegetables to be grown should be limited to three or four varieties each season, all the children growing these sorts. A complete record of cost of production, yield, etc., should be kept by each child. The growing season should finally be crowned with a harvest home festival at the school, at which simple prizes may be awarded the winners of the best and largest yields. 2 72 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK An outline for such a children's home garden is given below : ^ 1. Location of plot: a. When — Preferably the preceding fall. h. Where — Some sunny well-drained place. c. Size — 9 feet by 15 feet, or 15 feet by 30 feet. 2. Work: a. Preceding fall : (i) Clean up weeds, sticks, and stones. (2) Fertilize with well-rotted manure. (3) Spade. h. Spring : (i) Plan early what to grow. (2) Spade when frost is out of ground. (3) Work the soil well. (4) When weather is warm enough, sow seeds. (5) Determine depth of planting — small seeds, large seeds. (6) Determine distance apart — the rows. (7) Weed. (8) Thin. c. Summer : (i) Cultivate frequently. (2) Water — thoroughly when necessary — mornings, evenings. (3) Gather vegetables for table use ; keep account. d. Fall : (i) Harvest the crop. (2) Exhibit the best at a school fair, county fair, farmers' in- stitute, state fair. (3) Sell product. (4) Store away for winter. 3. Friends of the garden — birds, toads, insects. 4. Enemies of the garden. a. Chickens, grubs, cutworms, etc. h. Weeds — kind. Home and School Projects. — Home gardening is one of a large number of home and school projects which have 1 From the Wisconsin State Common School Manual. ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND OF CURRICULUM 273 recently become potent in making agriculture teaching concrete and practical in the schools. In many states agri- cultural life has been practically revolutionized through these industrial projects, and an efficiency unknown before has come to many a farm boy and girl. These industrial clubs had their origin, as told in another chapter, in the Southern States, under the fostering care of the Federal Government and the General Education Board. More recently it has spread to every section of the country. Successful industrial clubs are found almost everywhere ; some sustained by the Federal Government ; others under the direction of state departments of education ; and still others under local educational or other authority. The Federal Government has been more than liberal with its funds in organizing these projects. The only objection that might be raised is whether this important educational work ought not ahvays to be directed immediately through the schools. In several states and counties the home proj- ects are managed directly by the state departments of education or by the county superintendents. The states of Oregon and Iowa, and Cook County, Illinois, are notable examples of the latter class. Boys' and Girls' Industrial Work in Oregon. — This state puts its dependence in revitalized one-teacher schools rather than in consolidated schools. They are first stand- ardized ; then industrial clubs are organized to give them vital interest. '' Through these clubs," says State Super- intendent J. A. Churchill, '' the standard school plan, and the playground movement, the rural schools of Oregon are developing a happy, healthy, efficient group of boys and girls in every section of the state who are going to revolu- tionize country life in this state and make the farm home the most delightful place to live." 274 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The work of organization is done by the State Depart- ment of Education through assistants who devote all their time to organizing clubs, holding community meetings, local industrial fairs, etc. The State Agricultural College lends assistance by publishing bulletins for the guidance of the club members. The United States Department of Agriculture is a third cooperating agent, which assists in planning the work, sends occasional speakers to important club rallies, and the like. But the important fact remains that the work has grown outward through the schools, binding them intimately to the farm homes. Twelve thousand rural children were club members the past year. A few of the club projects for boys and girls are : 1. Canning. The canning of fruits, vegetables, etc. for home use or for sale. Enrollment not later than March 15, 191 7. 2. Vegetable gardening. The growing of the greatest possible amount of vegetables at the least possible expense. Div. I. — A garden area of at least one square rod, but not more than fifteen square rods. Div, II. — A garden area of at least 16 square rods. Enrollment not later than March 15, 1917- 3. Poultry raising. Div. I. — The care and management of five or more laying hens for a period of at least six months. Enrollment not later than January i, 1917. Div. II. — The incubation of at least three settings of hen's eggs, and the care and management of the chicks for a period of at least eight months. Enrollment not later than March 15, 1917. Div. III. — The management, for breeding purposes, of two turkey hens and one gobbler. Enrollment not later than March 15, 191 7. Div. IV. — The incubation of at least one setting of turkey eggs, and the care and management of the young turkeys for a period of at least six months. Enrollment not later than March 15, 191 8. 4. Dairy herd record-keeping. Obtaining the milk, butter fat, and feed record of two or more cows for a period of at least eight months. Enroll- ment not later than January i, 191 7. School-Home Projects in Cook County, Illinois. — Prob- ably no county in the United States has so satisfactory a Home Projects in Oregon In the upper illustration an Oregon schoolboy is putting the finishing touches on a brooder for his mother's chicks; in the lower a schoolgirl is making her own dress. This new school work is doing much to draw home and school together. ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND OF CURRICULUM 275 system of school-home projects as Cook County, IlHnois. Every school child in rural districts adjacent to Chicago, over ten years of age, is expected to take a course in school- home projects as a part of his regular school course. In this practical obligation lies the secret of success. There is nothing faddish in the way the projects are organized ; they are indeed a most serious part of school activities. County Superintendent Edward J. Tobin, the originator of the Cook County System, has been surprisingly successful in promoting the new kind of education under the very shadows of Chicago, because he has wisely limited his projects to the ordinary things of life, in the midst of which the children of Cook County grow up. Many a task which formerly was pure drudgery has become filled with a new dignity, a new meaning ; and is prosecuted with an energy and enthusiasm unknown in other school work. The thoroughness with which the projects are supervised further explains Mr. Tobin's success. For purposes of supervision, the county is divided into five districts, each in charge of a well-paid country life director, who does his work in cooperation with the children's parents. In addition, three or more of the most efficient teachers in each district are appointed to assist the directors in visiting and supervising the projects during the summer vacation. The agricultural school-home projects are classified as field and garden, poultry, and cow-testing projects. Others, intended particularly for girls, are cooking and sewing, and music projects. In addition to these there is an interesting course in business school-home projects for suburban chil- dren and for others who may elect them. If one should take a ride with a Cook County rural life director into his district, the first thing of interest to the 276 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK visitor would be the uniformly large sign boards, marking the project plots that vary in area from one- tenth of an acre — the standard size — to one acre. The sign board may read, *' Betty Smith, member Cook County School Field Garden Club." Probably hers is an onion-growing project. In any case she is a happy girl, for she has found her vital interest in education. Her father and the super- visor have located her plot. The latter has checked up her own measurements of the plot. On their advice, too, she has selected onions as the most suitable crop. She first studied market conditions carefully. Now she knows that her crop will be in demand. Our little agriculturist must keep an itemized account of all receipts and expenditures, besides keeping records of daily observations, including time of planting, transplant- ing, thinning out, and maturing. In order to obtain a " school achievement credit " she is obliged to complete her project, and show a net profit on the basis of one dollar per square rod or less. It is well worth notice also that the profits belong to the little worker. They must be " banked, loaned or wisely expended." Once a year, on achievement day, valuable prizes are awarded the most successful project workers by one of the leading Chicago newspapers. Teachers who wish to know more in detail about this new form of education in Cook County should procure the little projects pamphlet issued by the county superintendent.^ The Iowa Plan of Industrial Clubs. — A discussion of boys' and girls' club work is hardly complete without a brief statement of how the new education is influencing school life in Iowa. The " Iowa Idea " in club work is well-known over the country as thoroughgoing and com- ^ Address County Superintendent Edward J. Tobin, Court House, Chicago. ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND OF CURRICULUM 277 prehensive in scope. In this state the leadership has been taken by the State Agricultural College at Ames, the state club leader being a member of the school's extension staff. From small beginnings as corn-growing organizations the clubs have increased in membership and variety of projects until many thousand boys and girls in every Iowa county are now engaged in one or more of the twelve recognized projects divisions. '' The activities," to quote Mr. E. C. Bishop, the state leader, '' include home project work, and duties of the house, shop, barn, garden, and field. It pro- vides work and study with plant and animal life, with the objective, and with materials and processes in their natural surroundings. It combines activities in their relation to the life interests of the individual in his home and com- munity associations. The work is practical because it deals with actual things, conditions, and accomplishments. It has high ethical value due to the reflexive effect of work enthusiastically undertaken, and performed with intelli- gence and a high degree of efficiency." The Iowa system is noted for the thoroughness of its organization. It embraces the club worker, his teacher, father, and mother, and the local and state leader. That the work is vastly more than utilitarian can be realized from a casual study of the projects divisions which are organized as club projects (with twenty-four subdivisions), agriculture, home economics, manual training, home duties, health habits, self-culture, sunshine work, business practice, thrift credit, home and school record, and community wel- fare. Among the most suggestive of the twenty-four club projects are acre corn club, garden and canning (tomato) club, poultry club, cooking club, baby beef club, bee club, farmer boy club, home girl club, and father and son club. 278 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The details of this remarkable work cannot be given in these pages. Detailed information can, however, be pro- cured from the Iowa State club leader.^ Question Studies Suggested by the Text Show just why food, clothing, and shelter must be provided before a human being cares to devote much time to the other good things in Hfe. How do you explain that while our agriculturists are great ''wealth- producers" they are poor "wealth-keepers"? What is your definition of a naturalist farmer? Teacher, were you reared in the country? Have you a genuine love for your nature environment? Are you in honest sympathy with farm life ? How do you set about increasing this love of environment ? Is it true that American rural children are less in harmony with nature than the children of Continental Europe ? How do you account for this ? What is the remedy? Explain how you teach agriculture. How much is textbook work? Does your school have a terrarium, a window box, or other simple indoor laboratory ? How do you like the term nature -study agriculture ? Point out the chief reasons why agriculture through school gardening has been successful in Ontario, while with us little headway is being made. Give some good reasons why our school year should begin with the New Year and close in December ? Have you organized home gardens for your pupils ? Get and study the following bulletins from the United States Department of Agriculture : No. 154, The Home Fruit Garden. No. 218, The School Garden. No. 255, The Home and Vegetable Garden. Point out some of the educational advantages of club work to the pupils. What kind of club have you organized through your school? Special Studies Read all the poetry you can find dealing with nature — not so much that which talks about nature as that which breathes nature. Use L. H. Bailey's poems found in The Rural Outlook Set, and Bryan's Poems of Country Life. Report to class. ^ Address ]\lr. E. C. Bishop, State Club Leader, Ames, Iowa. ENVIRONMENT THE BACKGROUND OF CURRICULUM 279 Give a detailed exposition of Bailey's "Nature-Study Agriculture" in The Nature-Study Idea, pp. 93-116. Procure United States Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 281 on Correlating Agriculture with the Public School Subjects in the Northern States. Show the class how this pamphlet can be used advantageously in daily class work. Make a careful study of Leake's "Teaching Agriculture in the Rural Schools " in his The Methods and Means of Agricultural Education, pp. 65-83. CHAPTER IV The Manual Arts and Home Economics Education in Relation to Food, Clothing, and Shelter. — The earth responds quickly and abundantly to the agricul- turist who treats it well and respects its holiness. To him it supplies food, clothing, and shelter, or at least the riches with which to procure these necessities. It is altogether too true that many rural people, even though they may be successful in accumulating wealth from the land, do not know how to convert this wealth into proper food, suitable clothing, or desirable shelter. Daily food is a necessity. Our health and length of life depend upon it. Three times a day at least the farmer and his family assemble for their meals, on which they depend for health and other satisfactions in life. Unappetizing, heavy food, of little variety and poorly prepared, plays a greater role than many will believe in ill health, bad temper, and ultimate failure. Rural people have had their full share of these evils. We can see it is not enough to produce abundant crops ; we must know how to manufacture them for the markets and know how to prepare in a wholesome way the bounties of the land that are immediately available for our daily food. The modern school must teach every girl and every boy what to eat, how to eat, and how to pre- pare what they eat. Then comes the question of clothing. Here also health is a consideration, although not the only one. An ex- perienced traveler recently commented, in the writer's 2S0 THE MANUAL ARTS AND HOME ECONOMICS 281 presence, on the way our ruralists dress. '' Of all the civi- lized people that I know," he said, '' the American farmer — wealth and ability considered — is the most improperly dressed." The statement may be a little strong, but cer- tain it is that too little consideration is given to seasonal changes and kind and variety of clothing. It is not unusual to find the same grade of clothing worn both summer and winter, the main difference being in the amount worn. With the passing of the household economy farmer rural people have lost the benefits that come with spinning the yarn and weaving the cloth, and fashioning the homespun into garments. In those days the average person could distinguish the spurious from the genuine, the good close weave from the open worthless weave, and could calculate economy and waste in clothing with reasonable precision. Here, again, the new school has a great opportunity. Every boy and girl should be able to select his own clothing, and get it seasonable and of good quality for the price paid. Every girl should be taught to select the material for her clothing and cut, fit, and make the garments, and assist in making the clothing for the younger members of the family. Finally, the new school will teach all that need be known about human shelter. It will teach how to plan a real farm home, and all that is necessary to know about its arrange- ment, its labor-saving conveniences, and its sanitation. It will teach how to keep the home clean and wholesome, and protect it from disease; and, finally, how to make its sur- roundings attractive and comfortable, so that people will be glad to make it " home." Comprehensiveness of the Industrial Arts. — Industrial arts, in a comprehensive sense, embrace general industrial work, manual training, and home economics. Of these, general industrial work should have a prominent place in 282 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK ; every rural school program for all pupils throughout the ; first five years. Thereafter, for the last three years the ' work may differentiate as manual training for the boys and | home economics for the girls. i It is difficult to find time for a good, constructive course \ of industrial work in the one-teacher school, although some efTective work can be done. In the consolidated school the ' courses may be outlined definitely and taught as success- ; ' fully as in town schools. The two-teacher rural school can i organize its industrial program very satisfactorily, particu- larly if one of the teachers is a man. He can give the work in agriculture and manual training, while the woman \ teacher instructs in home economics and general industrial work for the lower grades. j General Industrial Work. — For some years American ) schools have attempted to meet the demands of pre-voca- ; tional education with various forms of manual training ; ; but in this work too much stress was placed on dexterity : and finish, and too little on the subject matter or content \ side. In the new education, with its emphasis on social \ efhciency, more and more attention is given to interpreting industrial life — the content, the materials and processes, now get the stress, which was formerly placed on skill and ; finish. Probably the most satisfactory outline of industrial work for elementary schools available to rural teachers is found ' in the Baltimore County Course of Study. Here the general industrial work is planned to cover the first five years of the school course. To quote from its pages :^ ''In the | first three grades the work centers mainly around the activi- j ties of the home and the community, and these activities ^ See Course of Study, Public Schools, Baltimore County, IMaryland, 1915, pp. j 590-591. \ THE MANUAL ARTS AND HOME ECONOMICS 283 are imitated in projects made of paper, cardboard, clay, and other materials which are easily manipulated. Too much emphasis should not be placed upon accuracy, precision, or technical excellence of a high order in any phase of construc- tive work in these grades, nor should the industrial idea be the most dominant ; but the chief aim should be the expression of ideas in industrial materials and the growth of interest, intelligence, and judgment in occupational activities going on in the child's immediate environment. In the fourth and fifth grades the industrial motive should receive increasing emphasis and processes employed should be as far as possible typically illustrative of those actually used in the industries." In some schools industrial work is treated as mere busy work. This is unfortunate. A little paper cutting and folding, a little weaving, and a little rafiia work, mean so little if they are taught out of their industrial setting. The important materials of all industry are, (i) foods, (2) tex- tiles, (3) paper, (4) woods, (5) metals, (6) clays and other earth products. Out of these man has built his industrial life. In order to reconstruct this it is necessary that the children, while they cut and weave and mold, learn how these materials are produced, manufactured, and distributed. All of these call for constant correlation with history, geography, nature-study, agriculture, art, and mathematics. Even in the one- teacher school general industrial work should be given the first five years. The program can be arranged to include simple exercises for the younger pupils while the older ones are devoting their time to manual train- ing or home economics. The work should include paper folding and construction, rafiia, weaving, and clay modeling. For details of such a course, the teacher is referred to a list of books given in the bibliography. 284 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Manual Training in the Consolidated Schools. — As the farm lad advances to the sixth or seventh year in school he should begin a practical course in manual training. There should be no mistake about the word " practical " in this connection. Too often manual training has been limited to making some highly finished or elaborated knickknacks as necktie hangers and picture holders. The boy on the farm should have opportunity to try his hand at all the commonly practiced manual activities essential to successful agricul- tural life. The school should teach him to work in wood, in leather, in metal, and in cement. The new training course is not limited to woodwork, nor need mission fur- niture be the favorite outlet for the young woodworker's energies. Every consolidated school should organize its manual training work on the basis of actual community require- ments. The workshop need not be equipped with expensive machinery. Plenty of bench room for woodworking, a small forge, a corner for harness repairs, and some ground space for cement work, are really all that are required. The boys should also be encouraged by their teachers and parents to set up a workshop on the farm to do home projects work and farm-place repairs. The boys should be taught to handle ordinary working tools. They should be taught to repair tools and farm ma- chinery, to construct work-benches, wagon-boxes, non- saggable gates, poultry colony houses, testing screens, etc. The course in metal working should be no less practical. Every farmer can save time and expense by knowing how to temper and sharpen his own plowshares and set his own horseshoes. This kind of work is being offered in scores of large rural schools over the country. For similar reasons, the schools are beginning to give THE MANUAL ARTS AND HOME ECONOMICS 285 instruction in cutting, fitting, sewing, and oiling leather. Every farm boy should know how to repair broken harness, and in an emergency the drive-belt of his stationary engine or threshing machine. Cement as a building material has in recent years become so popular that some people like to think of this as the cement age. Here, also, the rural school should be of direct use by offering simple work in cement mixing, in laying foundations and walks, in molding plain cement blocks, fence posts, drinking troughs, and other useful things for the farm. Manual Training in the One-Teacher School. — But what about the small school ? Can it undertake this kind of work? That depends entirely on conditions. Some small schools are known to do exceptionally good work in manual training ; others have failed utterly. The first requisite is a teacher — usually, though not necessarily, a man — who understands manual training and is able to sense the demands of the farm home in this re- spect. For a tyro to undertake the work is sure to end in failure. Another important aid is the district or county super- visor of industrial work. He can generally visit the school often enough to plan the projects with the teacher and have general oversight of the course. The writer has in mind a county in northern Minnesota, where he visited forty or more one- teacher schools two years ago. Practically every school had two manual training benches set against the wall under the high closely banked windows, or in their own separate rooms. Of eighty-five one- and two-teacher schools in the county fully sixty had benches and good sets of tools. A county industrial super- visor directed the boys and girls in the manual training 286 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK classes. He traveled the rounds of the schools, and re- quired certain definite tasks to be done in his absence, the directions being given in multigraphed sheets sent out from his office. Like work is done in every state of the nation. Further illustrations may be gleaned from another of the writer's books. ^ Home Economics in Consolidated Schools. — The pur- pose of home economics study may be re-stated in the fol- lowing phrases : 1. To teach the girls an appreciation of modern agri- cultural life, and prepare them to become efficient home- makers ; 2. To teach the intimate relation of home sanitation, of proper food and correct clothing, to everyday health ; 3. To train the future housekeepers in the value of time, money, and material ; 4. To aid in forming habits of neatness, orderliness, and industry ; 5. To teach the girls to apply business methods to home- making. The courses of study are organized under three heads : as food, clothing, and textiles. All rural schools can offer home economics in some of its phases, though the larger consolidated schools alone can do the work adequately. If the pupils have taken the general industrial work In the lower grades, they will have had a survey of the entire indus- trial field. Including considerable reference to the three topics of food, clothing, and textiles, which become the specific study topics from the sixth grade onward. It is Impracticable to outline In detail here what the courses should embrace. The following topics are in any case suggestive of the scope of the subject. ^ See The American Rural School, pp. 246-252. THE MANUAL ARTS AND HOME ECONOMICS 287 a. Course in foods} 1 . The three essentials to Hfe — fresh air, pure water, good food. 2. The kitchen. 3. The stove. 4. Fuels. 5. Water. 6. Food — source, the ''five food principles" and their function in the human body. 7. Selection of food. 8. Practice in the preparation of food materials. 9. Preparing food to meet special conditions. 10. Preparation and serving meals. 11. Sanitation and hygiene. h. Course in clothing and textiles. 1. Equipment — history, manufacture, and care of utensils. 2. Physiology and hygiene — personal, hygiene of clothing. 3. Study of textiles — fiber, production and manufacture, tests for identification. 4. Planning garments. 5. Commercial patterns. 6. Making garments. 7. Care of clothing. 8. Simple embroidery. The Hot Lunch, a Means of Approach to Home Economics in Small Schools. — The one- teacher school can at best offer only Informal work in home economics. If a man teacher is in charge, he will probably be obliged to limit himself to informal work in connection with hygiene and sanitation, on such topics as hygienic clothing, and effect on the human body of proper and improper food. He can also do some practical work in a study of textiles in his opening exercises. But the average woman teacher has greater opportunities for effective work. There is certainly not a single rural school where some practical work in sewing cannot be done. As for cookery, is there a single school so ^ Adapted in part from the Baltimore County Course of Study. 288 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK small, so helpless, that it cannot approach this phase of home economics through the noonday hot lunch? Primarily, of course, the hot lunch, in the small school, is popular because we are all learning that a warm meal at midday vitally affects the child's efficiency, and is a wonder- ful aid in the afternoon's study. It is true, at the same time, that in many communities this innocent little lunch has been the means of bringing about a satisfactory cooperation of school and home. In many instances on record the hot lunch has been the first step in organizing a school-home economics course of as great benefit to the farmer's wife as to his children. The following facts in regard to the hot lunch problem should be understood by all teachers : First, it is not ad- visable that an entire meal or elaborate and time-consuming dishes be prepared ; next, much may be accomplished with very little and with very simple equipment ; and in the third place, the work necessary to the preparation and serving of a hot dish affords excellent opportunity to instill habits of consideration, courtesy, order, neatness, deftness, and dispatch, without making any one of these subjects unduly prominent. Last, but by no means least, some- thing of the true value of foods, cost of foods, sanitation, and principles underlying food preparation and preserva- tion may be brought out. Common duties of the home may be inculcated, and simple but good table manners may be practiced each day at school as well as at home. The situa- tion, however, will require a teacher of ingenuity and of enthusiasm in her work. The amount of equipment necessary for successful prepa- ration and serving of a hot dish for the noon hour depends upon the size and equipment of the schoolroom. Some schoolrooms have a cupboard which can be used for uten- THE MANUAL ARTS AND HOME ECONOMICS 289 sils, and have room for a table and a stove. But if no such articles are available, some things must be purchased. The simplest equipment necessary to the preparation and serv- ing of soups, chowders, cereals, stews, and cocoa includes : I 2 -burner blue flame oil stove $6.00 I closed cupboard (home-made) I 2 -gallon granite kettle .50 I cover to fit kettle 15 I granite ladle 10 I teakettle 1.50 I tin measuring-cup 05 I teaspoon 10 I tablespoon 10 I pint bowl 10 I paring-knife 10 I butcher knife 25 I large fork i 10 1 asbestos mat 10 2 dish pans 40 4 dish towels 20 I dish wash-cloth I box salt 05 I box pepper 05 I vegetable brush 05 I cup and one teaspoon for each child Supplementary List I 2 -quart granite pan I quart measure I extra tablespoon, teaspoon, and paring knife I small plate for each child I Dover egg-beater I coarse sieve I potato masher or ricer 1 double-boiler 2 napkins for each child (desirable) 290 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The cupboard and drop shelf can be made by the older boys in their manual training work. The girls can like- wise do their share toward the equipment ; for there are towels and dishcloths to be made. This correlates the hot lunch and simple sewing. After the equipment has been provided the question of procuring food materials must be solved, (i) The school board may pay for all the staple materials, the teacher acting as purchasing agent ; (2) the teacher may axt as purchasing agent, and school patrons pay proportional amounts ; (3) each family may furnish material, as milk, vegetables, cereals, etc., in turn. Such things as salt, pepper, and a small amount of flour should be purchased and kept on hand. The first method is the most businesslike, and in most cases the most satisfactory for all concerned.^ Home Projects for One-Teacher Schools. — Much suc- cessful industrial work is done through the one-teacher schools, as home projects. The foregoing chapter has shown definitely how state departments of education and other agencies have come to the teacher's aid in the home projects. Any wide-awake teacher can get all the advice and assist- ance necessary, by asking for it. Nothing has done more, in a practicable way, to revitalize the small school than just this kind of educational task. Note, for example, the two illustrations opposite page 274. The upper is Guy Staiger, a practical Oregon schoolboy, who worked last year in three projects, — poultry raising, gardening, and manual training; the lower is Ruth L. Dannett of Polk County, Oregon, prize winner in her county sewing club contest. These pupils are beyond the age ordinarily found in the small school — the new interests have held them to their tasks 1 For further information, see " Hot Lunches in Country Schools," Bulletin No. 3, 19 1 2, State Normal School, Cheney, Washington, Send for it. THE MANUAL ARTS AND HOME ECONOMICS 291 and their books, and have been instrumental, in their case at least, in raising the level of school attendance several years. Question Studies Suggested by the Text What can you say of education in relation to food, clothing, and shelter ? Describe a typical farm meal in your community ; the clothing worn. What are your comments ? What is meant by industrial arts? Distinguish between industrial education and vocational education. Can it be said that manual training and home economics as described in this chapter have some "vocational" aspects? Just what industrial work have you planned for your elementary grades ? Make a statement of the possibilities for manual training in your school. If you are a woman teacher in a one-teacher school, you may be ex- pected to do informal work at least in one or more phases of home econom- ics. Do you have daily hot lunches ? What other work of similar nature do you give the pupils? Is it necessary to wait for consolidation before offering industrial work ? (See The American Rural School, pp. 247-252,) Show how cooking lessons in the small school should be the outcome of the hot lunch work. (See Home Education Letter No. i, U. S. Bureau of Education, 191 5.) Special Studies Study the "Suggestions for the teaching of industrial arts in the grades" in the Baltimore County Course of Study, pp. 590-593. Read, "General Industrial Work," in Pickard's Rural Education, pp. 210-216. Summarize the contents of one of these excellent texts in the new manual training : Brace and Mayne's Farm Shop Work; or Blackburn's Problems in Farm Woodwork. CHAPTER V Hygiene and Rural Community Sanitation The Right of the People to Be Healthy. — We have dis- cussed education in relation to man's food, clothing, and shelter. Let us now consider the new curriculum in re- lation to man's health. The reader will recall that the health problem is included in our modern school require- ment — that rural people must be assisted to live happy, healthful, and remunerative lives. Every child has a right to be born into the world of clean parentage and sound of body and mind. The child has a similar right to grow to maturity in wholesome physical surroundings where nature can have full sway, and demonstrate that man is created in the image of God. Unfortunately, ignorance and vice have held the race for ages in a relentless thraldom, thwarting the purpose of nature. Ignorance more than vice is responsible for the appalling waste in life to which humanity has been subject. Even religion has taught that the body is a thing of evil, to be subjected to harsh discipline, to free the spirit for loftier motives. This medieval contempt for the demands of bodily health still prevails in' some places, although as a people we appreciate that the nation's greatness and our share in the world's work will be limited only by the physical fitness of the people engaged in the combat. The average citizen needs to be enlightened on the conditions of national health, and of his own health in its individual and national relations. The surprising amount of disregard for in- 292 HYGIENE AND RURAL COMMUNITY SANITATION 293 dividual and community health is due largely to the in- different methods of teaching hygiene in the schools. Health Conditions of Country and Town Compared. — The economic losses from preventable disease in our country is needlessly large, although modern medical science is making steady headway in the struggle, with a promise of ultimate victory when popular education shall have done its part by dispelling the ignorance and false modesty prev- alent in regard to personal health. The one outstanding fact in the development of public health in the United States is that the rural half of the nation does not keep pace with the urban half. Rural people have presumed too much on the natural healthfulness of their environment, and have neglected to make the most of the advantages they have over the city. From time immemorial writers have pointed out that coun- try people are healthier, more robust, and of longer life than those of the city. In the latter place man has run greater risk of disease than in the rural village and open country. That this has been so, is fully substantiated by facts. But since the establishment of modern medical science and health inspection, conditions have changed materially. Modern sanitary science has wrought wonders in some of the largest cities, which now show lower death rates than neighboring towns and open country districts. Our rural population has gradually filled the land ; meanwhile this fallacious belief in beneficent nature's ability to care for those who live in her fold has done much to hinder the progress of sanitary science in the country. In a popu- lation of 100,000,000 people those dangerously sick in the United States number about 3,250,000, with annual deaths of about 1 ,600,000, one-half being from diseases nearly wholly preventable. 294 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK HEALTH DEFECTS City Children and eountry Children Compared New York City 330. ITS Z30.'\32. 10% Vcrsois TiunJ defective. 1831 l^urol Pistri< of Penns/lvan Z94. 4Z.7 22.1. 785 75% School C/!i/c/ren in 25 Ofies ofVn/teJ States Versus C/}//dren /> :^ural Sckoo/s of Mr. Roosevelt's Commission on Country Life, in 1908, found that '' easily preventable diseases hold several million country people in the slavery of continuous ill health." Be- cause they disregard simple hygienic laws of drainage, water supply, pure air, etc., country people die in large numbers from typhoid fever, pneumonia, malaria, hook- worm, and pellagra, not to mention the enormous economic loss due to impaired health. Graphic Report of the American Med- ical Association. — What is said in the foregoing paragraph is fully corroborated in an investigation by the Joint Committee on Health Problems^ into comparative health defects of city children and country children. The ad- joined chart, which formed a part of the Joint Committee's health exhibit at the recent Panama- Pacific Exposition, is based on two important comparisons — school children in New York City and in rural Penn- sylvania, and school children in twenty-five cities of ^ The Joint Committee on Health Problems in Education of the National Council of the N. E. A. and the Council on Health and Public Instruction of the American Medical Association. Massachusetts -Idaho -Virginia- New jersey- Pennsylvania S 10 IS M fii JO 3S -to 45 SO 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 -'«: 5 fff ~ P ^° Er larked ■ K Counir Cty re<=+K on si Is LY /HI =; ^m ■ 2/.^ fldenc ^e Pef ^Ei ■■i ggH \7J ^ ?r— , Pedi Is ■ /'./ IHa ■§/£ !■ *« "Fa Spina Main SkinO Menta Hearf nlar^e Defe ICur tritioi I'la sease Pefecl JGIan ts ature II Fig. 29. HYGIENE AND RURAL COMMUNITY SANITATION 295 the United States and in rural Massachusetts, Idaho, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In the former case, in 330,179 New York children the appallingly large number of 230,432, or 70 per cent of the children ex- amined, proved to have health defects ; but even worse was the showing of rural Pennsylvania, where in a total of 294,427 children ex- HYGIENIC CONDITIONS inRURALSCHOOIS Survey of 109 Schools in I^ew York - New Jersey - Connecticut Vermont - Marj/land amined 221,785, or 75 per cent, had simi- lar defects. In the latter case, as the chart shows, the country children — represented by the upper black bar — showed a larger per cent of defects in a total of eleven out of thirteen common physical ailments. In pediculosis and skin disease only did the city children get a lower rating. The question next arises, what are the ^^' ^°" facts of the hygienic conditions under which these children are educated ? What are the physical conditions of the average rural schools? To these queries also the Joint Committee has its answer, as is ascertained from the above chart of hygienic conditions in rural schools. The Committee made a painstaking investigation of the hygienic conditions in 109 rural schools in New York, New yniTst/ga/ioii niiiifr III /OI3 %^ l//ie sJoiiit C*>'iiiiiutUr on iftcn/t/i ^yVoM.nii 296 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, and Maryland, with the results shown in the chart. These states have school con- ditions at least as good as the average, yet the condition of the privies — the breeding place of viciousness — was found almost intolerable, and the essentials of proper light- ing, ventilation, and heating proved to be grossly neglected. Health Inspection in Pennsylvania Rural Schools. — Pennsylvania has probably done more than any other state to disclose the true facts of hygienic conditions in its rural communities ; and once found, to remedy the defects. The General Assembly of 191 1 made provision for medical inspection by passing an optional inspection law, letting the local school trustees determine the advisability of making the examination. The work of inspection is in charge of the State Commissioner of Health, and must be done by successful practitioners under his direction. It is of interest to note how, at first, a majority of the directors of the 2236 rural districts ^ " clung tenaciously to the idea that country boys and girls must of necessity he sound and healthy." Many directors went so far as to w^rite the State Health Commissioner, declining to have their schools examined for the reason that " as the majority of children in our district are native born, medical inspec- tion of schools would be a waste of time and money." These school officers have had occasion recently to change their mind on this subject, since the examination shows that 94.95 per cent of the '' native born " children are defective in one way or another. The medical examinations have now become state- wide. During the school year 1914-15, 469,199 children in 17,823 schoolrooms were examined. This covered examina- tions in 2134 rural districts in a possible total of 2236. ^ Each representing a township with all its rural schools. HYGIENE AND RURAL COMMUNITY SANITATION 297 Of this number 335,427, or 71.48 per cent, were classed as defective, 318,484, or 94.95 per cent, were native born, and 16,943, or 5.05 per cent, were foreign born. This definitely disposes of the old claim that our native-born sons and daughters always have the best health as a birthright. Eighty-three thousand seven hundred and forty-eight chil- dren were found to have defective vision; 15,600 had defective hearing; 22,837, defective breathing; 12,322, defective tonsils; and 212,708, defective teeth. Some of the children were afflicted with many of these ailments, others with only one. It is obvious that the Pennsylvania medical inspection had to go hand in hand with a sanitary inspection of the premises where the children attend school. Insanitary or unhygienic conditions in school buildings and their surround- ings invariably foster disease and ill health. The survey, therefore, required the inspector to give particular care to sanitation, lighting and heating, water supply, privies, and the disposition of waste. On the basis of this investigation, 12,336 rural school buildings were declared insanitary ! Pennsylvania has rendered its people and the country at large a marked service by its medical and sanitary survey. For it is well to bear in mind that many other states are no better in these respects than is the Keystone State. The great thing is, that once we have acknowledged our short- comings there is hope for remedy. Compulsory Medical Inspection a Reasonable Require- ment. — The relation of the child's physical condition to school efficiency is of greatest importance. A child who finds it difficult to read or to see what is on the blackboard cannot do good work in school. One whose hearing is bad, or whose breathing is partially obstructed, will be dull and listless. Certainly little should be expected of a child who, THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK by reason of bad teeth, has digestive ailments or suffers from malnutrition. What better illustration can be given to show the impor- tance of medical inspection of school children than this statement of the corrective results in the case of a single rural pupil in Pennsylvania: "She was positively stupid in her recitations and was WELFARE OF THE SCHOOLCHILD states where it is Promoted (?Qntroirm^<^ Jiuthority failing in her grade. Upon the report of the medical inspector of our school she was operated on in our local hospital, and notwithstanding her loss of time, she com- pleted with ease two years' work in less than one year's time ; proving that a bright mentality can be fogged by special conditions that can be remedied." The somewhat lengthy statements of prevailing condi- tions given above are intended to emphasize the reasonable- ness of requiring compulsory medical inspection in all schools, and to help the teacher see the urgency of the need. The appended chart of the Joint Committee gives some idea of the progress made in medical inspection under legal sanction or requirement. The shaded states have medical inspection under control of the boards of education or of Medical I bpection in Ciiyand Country Schools Colotado \ Ataint A^ew J/crk Wafi Medical Inspection in (?it^ Schools Only Arkansas ^f/rd/ana Tforrtana OAio 'Vhshinafan Ca/ffornia yauii/ana A^cw //irm^shire South Oirs/ino 'Hesi i^/rqin/t Ciiifrcficut TiasmJiusdti Abrfl, Datata Urmoni ' "^ ildministration of Medical Inspection in Cities •Percentoge of Cilies Report i n g 74% By Board ef £du cation By^ocrdoffieatt/i Fig. 31 HYGIENE AND RURAL COMMUNITY SANITATION 299 the state boards of health. Nine states in all require medical inspection of rural schools, these being Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Utah, and Virginia. Even in these states the inspection is not always what might be desired. The un- inspected black area in the chart is the richest agricultural section of our country — the only reason that can be offered here for neglecting this public duty is sheer heed- lessness. Assuredly, even in this area there is much local medical inspection, although the state-wide requirement is lacking. The Teacher's Responsibility for Health Standards of the School. — In the near future we will have medical inspec- tion and school nurses in most rural communities. Mean- while, the teachers will continue to be charged with the responsibility of looking after the children's health. They must be both health inspectors and teachers of health. The writer believes that every rural teacher should be required to take a brief course in children's diseases and how to detect them — at least enough to discover by their out- ward signs the common contagious diseases, and, acting upon this knowledge, place the patient under a physician's care. He should be able to detect the common remediable defects in pupils under his care, as, for example, enlarged tonsils, adenoids, and incorrect vision. He should, further- more, feel this responsibility keenly enough to risk con- siderable community upheaval, if necessary, to enforce remedial action. The New Method of Teaching Hygiene. — The old physiology in the schools has availed us little. To commit to memory a catalogue of bones and muscles is of little use in itself ; and to trace the devious processes of digestion is meaningless, unless connected somehow with the pupil's 300 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK everyday life. Under the old plan the study was based on how we live ; under the new we teach how to live. The new problem of health teaching is well defined, as it has a definite purpose. As teachers, we must do what we can to keep the pupils in good health ; do what is possible to make their surroundings at school sanitary and to imbue them with a desire for sanitary living at home. These desiderata may conveniently be treated under the heads of personal hygiene, school sanitation, and home and com- munity sanitation. Personal Hygiene. — Some excellent books have already been written on this important theme. A mere mention of a few important phases of personal hygiene is all that is necessary here. The first essential is to start the pupil right by giving him a thorough medical examination, followed by medical reUef if necessary. The second essential is to keep the child in health by teaching him how to live. The Pennsylvania State Board of Health found 83,748 cases of defective vision in the rural schools. Practically none of these children had ever had their eyes examined. They were found to be straining their vision in vain efforts to do their work. Many were declared by their teachers " backward " in study, as well they might be. For how can they be anything else when they find it impossible to read their books in comfort, and the blackboard figures swim be- fore their eyes ! Every teacher should procure a copy of Snellen's chart for testing vision and use it systematically in school. A much smaller number of children suffer from defects of hearing. The Pennsylvania inspection disclosed 15,600 cases of this kind. It is surprising how often children at home and in school are accused of inattention and indiffer- ence, when in reality they are suffering from impaired hear- HYGIENE AND RURAL COMMUNITY SANITATION 301 ing. Hearing tests are quite simple, and can be made by any teacher. The child should be stationed at one end of the classroom — this should be a distance of about thirty feet — and the teacher at the other. The latter should then make his tests by addressing the child in a low whisper, which will be understood if hearing is normal. Every case proved defective should be placed in care of a specialist without delay. Defective breathing is another common ailment. En- larged tonsils and adenoidal growths are the most common cause of mouth-breathing ; and, if neglected, will cause permanent facial disfigurement, in addition to being pro- lific breeding grounds for diphtheria, scarlet fever, the grippe, pneumonia, etc. The nose and throat must be kept in healthy condition, if for no other reason than as a safe- guard against the numerous diseases which get their first lodgment in these passages. Hygiene of the nose and throat should have an important place in all hygiene-teaching. By far the largest percentage of defects found by the Pennsylvania inspectors pertained to unclean and decayed teeth, and diseased gums ; 212,708 cases were in this classifi- cation. In the past, toothache and loss of teeth has been looked upon as necessary. The " milk teeth " must go sooner or later anyway, so why bother with them? This was common doctrine a few years ago, before dental science had come into its own. The new science teaches that not alone should the permanent teeth be cared for, but the baby teeth as well. Unclean and decaying teeth offer lodgment and breeding ground for all kinds of germs which at the proper time may cause infection and serious disease. Every teacher should emphasize the importance of clean and sound teeth, and urge parents to let their children's teeth be ex- amined regularly by a good dentist. 302 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK School Sanitation. — It is bootless to talk and teach and live hygienically in insanitary schoolhouses. The premises must be in keeping with the teachings of the new gospel of right living. No poorly lighted, poorly ventilated, and otherwise ill-suited schoolhouse can inspire teacher or pupils to hygienic living. The essentials of a sanitary schoolhouse have been given in a former chapter and need not be re- peated here. Instead, are included the minimum sanitary requirements for rural schools formulated by the Joint Committee. These are also known as the " Ten Sanitary Commandments " for rural schools : 1. Heating by at least a properly jacketed stove. (No unjacketed stove to be allowed.) Avoid over-heating. Temperature should never go above 68° F. There should be a thermometer in every schoolroom. Ventilation by open windows when weather permits and opening of win- dows at frequent intervals even in winter. 2. Lighting from left side of room (or from left and rear) through window space at least one-fifth of floor space in area. 3. Cleanliness of school as good as in the home of a careful house- keeper. 4. Furniture sanitary in kind, and easily and frequently cleaned. Seats and desks adjustable and hygienic in type. 5. Drinking water from a pure source provided by a sanitary drinking fountain. 6. Facilities for washing hands, and individual towels. 7. Toilets and privies sanitary in type and in care (with no cesspools unless water-tight) and no neglected privy boxes or vaults. 8. Flies and mosquitoes excluded by thorough screening of school - house and toilets. 9. Obscene and defacing marks absolutely absent from schoolhouse and privies. 10. Playground of adequate size for every rural school. Home and Community Sanitation. — Under the new system will be taught hygienic living in schools which are themselves to be sanitary models. The ultimate effects of HYGIENE AND RURAL COMMUNITY SANITATION 303 this kind of teaching on home and community Hfe can hardly be overestimated. Many farm homes are what they are to-day because the schools have failed to influence the people to better living. Under the new regime, the changes are bound to be many and fairly rapid. The causes of dis- ease and their means of transmission will become familiar to every householder. Then will be remedied the great sources of danger — insanitary water supply, lack of sewage disposal, foul privies, poor ventilation and foul air, in-_ sanitarysfood, exposure to weather and insanitary clothing, and all the"others. In sections of the country where the schools are supplied with pressure tank systems and the conveniences that come with flowing water, the farm homes are learning the value of indoor toilets, shower baths, kitchen sinks, and sanitary sewage disposal. The com- bined effort of the teaching and example of the model school will unquestionably, at no remote date, influence rural sanitation to such a degree that it shall no longer be said that country life is a menace to city health. Question Studies Suggested by the Text What can you say about the right of the child to clean parentage and sound body and mind? Can a well-poised teacher do much to promote sex hygiene, even though not teaching it as a class subject ? What role has ignorance played in the health of humanity ? Explain. Compare health conditions of country and town as we find them to- day. How do you explain prevailing conditions? What is the status of easily preventable diseases in rural communities ? Give a detailed statement of the comparative health defects of city and country children as disclosed in the Joint Committee's investigation. What do you think of the disclosures from the Pennsylvania medical inspection? How would your school and your state probably rank? Have you medical inspection in your community? If not, what are you, as teacher, doing for medical inspection ? Do you believe in compulsory medical inspection? Why? 304 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK How do you teach the subject of hygiene? How far does the teaching apply to community health and happiness ? Special Studies Make a special study of "The Health of the School Child/' Bureau of Education Bulletin, 191 5, No. 4. Report to the class on ''Minimum Health Requirements for Rural Schools," issued by The Joint Committee on Health Problems. Summarize one of the following works : Health Work in Schools, by Hoag and Terman ; or Medical Inspection^ by Gulick and Ayers. CHAPTER VI The Rural School and Community Recreation Dearth of Rural Recreation in the United States. — One of the human elements badly needed by rural folk is a more satisfactory recreational life. Farm people do not take enough time for play and rest from labor. What is more, so much of the recreation that is common to rural life is unwholesome, and is, to a greater degree than the average man imagines, given to bad practices and immoral suggestion. It is well to recall, too, that our twentieth century agricultural life is more completely dominated by labor than it used to be before the old-time rural craftsmen were drawn away by the industrial and commercial life of the city. In earlier times all were not farmers who lived in the open country. Many wheelrights, cabinetmakers, cobblers, weavers, and others of varied occupation dwelt there, giving the country a variety of life, as was reflected in a variety of recreative life. That was the day of the barn-raising, the quilting, the husking, the applebee, the singing school, and the folk dance. Now that farm life has become systematized and reduced to soil-tilling ex- clusively, it is given over to too much of labor and drudgery, with too little time to live, to associate with one's fellows, to enjoy life for its own sake. The hours of labor are both too many and too long. In altogether too many sections it means labor from starlight to starlight. A Fundamental Law of Labor and Recreation. — At this point it is necessary to call attention to a law of labor and X 305 306 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK recreation which must always be reckoned with, whether one Hves in country or town. It can be stated briefly in these words : Systematic labor must always react in or- ganized recreation. That is to say, whenever the human being is tied down to hours of self -repression, his body craves a certain amount of relaxation to be sought in play or amuse- ment of some sort. If this is wisely provided, all will go well ; if ignored as unnecessary and wasteful, the person affected will be sure to seek relief or an outlet for his pent-up desires in questionable ways and places. Acting upon this principle, factory owners and other great corporations em- ploying many laborers are beginning to furnish their em- ployees attractive recreation, such as individual gardens, playgrounds equipped for baseball, volley ball and croquet, swimming pools, reading rooms, and social chat rooms. Unfortunate Results from Lack of Organized Recreation. — Rural people have had very little organized recreation to affect their natural cravings. This has resulted badly for rural life, both in undermining its stability and in its everyday morality. Great numbers of young men and women of the con- vivial type and strongly developed social instincts have abandoned the country for the towns and cities in search of just these things. Let us remember, it is just as much a desire for spiritual things as for material things that at- tracts the youth to city glamour. How often could not the condition that the poet here besings have been avoided had we only recognized the fundamental craving of the youthful soul for recreation : The old farm home is Mother's yet and mine, And filled it is with plenty and to spare, But we are lonely here in life's decline, Though fortune smiles around us everywhere ; THE RURAL SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RECREATION 307 We look across the gold Of the harvests, as of old — The corn, the fragrant clover, and the hay ; But most we turn our gaze, As with eyes of other days, To the orchard where the children used to play. The country towns and villages have responded to the demand for recreation that the country has not known how to furnish, and are now olTering all comers a cheap, artificial amusement life, sometimes immoral and vicious. It in- cludes saloons, poolhalls, cheap theaters, and sentimental moving-picture shows, and other attractions of similar nature. Finally, because the livelong day is spent in work, from Monday morn till Saturday eve, ^- often in hard nerve- racking work at that, — an outlet for the pent-up recreative energy is sought on Sunday. Whether we like it or not, Sunday in the country has become a holiday more than a holy day. Some careful rural-life surveys show that, aside from the many really innocent pastimes summed up in neighborly calls and community gatherings on Sunday, this day is quite generally given over to baseball, horse racing, and, in places, to dancing and carousals reflecting small credit on an otherwise wholesome country life. The Real Significance of Play Life. — Our play life is just beginning to be understood. In the first place it protects the person from the enslavement of labor. It keeps his individuality strong and vigorous. It keeps his physical self in health and safe from too much or too con- tinuous work. It is indeed true that " all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Human beings simply cannot get along without play. Most animals play, and play instinctively. The human being craves play under the same law. Sometimes children play because they have 3o8 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK more stored-up vitality than they have use for. At all times play is a sort of preparation for the activities to be entered upon later in life. We are here speaking of children at play only. In a way the kitten's ball is the old cat's mouse ; the girl's doll and the boy's soldier are just as suggestive. From this may be seen that to interfere with play life is to check some law of natural development. This applies to country and town alike. But entirely aside from its amusement and recreational phases play fosters the social instincts which are at this time necessary to bind the over-individualistic rural people by closer ties, so that they may become willing to cooperate for a fuller and more complete rural life. How the New Recreational Life Is To Be Realized. — In this as in other great rural life tasks the home, church, and school and their natural allies must cooperate. The school can be expected to take the initiative ; although, if it should fail to take advantage of its opportunity, the church, county Young Men's Christian Association, or other allied organiza- tions may take its place, as has been done in many com- munities to the shame of the school. The school must assist the home to regain its central place in recreational life. The fireside must reestablish itself with some of the significance and attractiveness it had in the days of our grandfathers and grandmothers. A new kind of story-telling for the children and even, during the long winter time, the staging of simple rustic plays at home will attain these ends for it. The new community church has begun to see great possi- bilities in rural recreation. By offering the young people wholesome substitutes for the old decadent social existence, the church of the open country is getting a new lease on life. A considerable number of social service churches with THE RURAL SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RECREATION 309 permanent pastors, living in the midst of their people, can be found working in harmonious cooperation with the teachers in socializing rural communities. Besides parents, teachers, and preachers, many other agents share in the work. The organized country Y. M. C. A. is doing remarkable things for rural recreation in some sec- tions. The Grange, which is par excellence the social in- stitution of the rural folk, has accomplished untold good for recreational reorganization. Even the unattached farmers' clubs, whether of an economic or other nature, can be made to help. The Teacher's Great Opportunity. — The supervised play life of the community takes form at the school. Here is the teacher's first opportunity. He takes the children from all kinds of living conditions. By using his knowledge of play supervision he directs their physical energies in cor- rect channels, to make of the children strong, sound beings of highest physical and mental health ; not to mention the joy and satisfaction he gives them through the games well played. The teacher's opportunity by no means ends with chil- dren in school. He is the leader of the whole country- side. The youth beyond ordinary school age need the teacher's assistance almost as much as do the children in school. They have little or no guidance in their search after recreation. It is true that teachers are not legally bound to take upon themselves these added tasks. But the wise teacher will nevertheless accept this opportunity to draw the whole community closer to the school. It is possible to go a step farther and include even the adult membership in the new activities. In some well-organized communities, teachers and thoughtful parents have, for example, cooperated in pro- viding the young men and women with Saturday-after- 3IO THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK noon holidays, which are spent in wholesome sports in the country instead of, as formerly, in flocking to the trad- ing centers. Baseball is popular in these organizations. " Nines " from the whole countryside are organized into a league of teams. The teachers act as managers and um- pires. Vulgarity is prohibited. Sportsmanship is inculcated in the players and audience. The new play life has already done something to inspire a new respect for the Sabbath day. Some of the baseball playing in rural back lots is already disappearing and the teacher leads his players to the Sunday School instead, where he — their umpire and manager — is head of the Bible class ! The adults of the community get their full share of the new recreation. Teachers have begun to organize Friday evening farmers' clubs to take the place of the old-time literary societies. The programs abound in music by the choral society or quartet, trained, or at least inspired, by the teacher. An occasional victrola or graphophone is furnished to cultivate a taste for good music. Simple dramatics, based on farm life, hold an important place in the program. Most of all is the new tendency shown in the kind of questions discussed at the meetings. Where our fathers debated in all seriousness that " the pen is mightier than the sword," that " fire is more destructive than water," the sons are beginning to discuss that ''it is more important for the farmer's wife to have the latest in household conveniences than it is for her husband to have the latest in reapers and riding plows," or that " sanitary appliances in the farm home mean more to rural life than good roads." The parent- teacher association also can be made a source of genuine recreation to the fathers and mothers. Then there is the school-home harvest festival which ought to be THE RURAL SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RECREATION 311 held in the autumn at every school. This should be made the great occasion at which to emphasize the school and home projects and boys' and girls' industrial clubs. The products from the children's gardens and other projects should be assembled at the school and scored by competent judges. The occasion ought to be made a gala day for the whole community. There should be a dinner for all, inter- spersed with music, song, speeches, and declamations by young and old. The Amenia Annual Field-day. — Rural play festivals are beginning to make their appearance in enterprising communities. The first of these were organized by the instructors and students in a few normal schools and by county secretaries of the International Young Men's Chris- tian Association. Probably the New Paltz Normal School, New York, should have credit for being first in the field. Young Men's Christian Association county secretaries are now doing this kind of uplift work in at least ninety counties in many different states. In some places the people of entire counties have become imbued with the new play-spirit and hold annual county-wide play festivals. A notable ex- ample is Amenia in Dutchess County, New York. This enterprise is generally spoken of as '' the Amenia Experiment in Cooperative Recreation," because the little town of Amenia inaugurated the idea. For six years Amenia and Dutchess Counties have pro- moted their great country play festival with wonderful success, much of it being due to the able leadership of the village teachers. The new " show " takes the place of the old " country fair " infested as it usually is with fakers, gamblers, and questionable characters of all kinds. Physical Education in the Schools. — So far, we have dealt with play and recreation in the larger community sense. 312 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK We now come to the more particular problem of physical education in the schools. This phase of education manifests itself through the agencies of manual training, gymnastics, athletics, and play. Manual training, as we have learned, can be made an important factor in the intellectual, moral, and physical education of rural children. It teaches coordination of head, heart, and hand ; it fosters mental, moral, and physi- cal habits of accuracy ; it makes for dexterity and removal of awkwardness. For these reasons manual training is counted an important agency of physical education. Place of Gymnastics in Rural Schools. — Gymnastics is a man-made system of physical exercise. It lacks much of the spontaneity of play, requiring a certain measure of mental strain and will assertion. Because of this, gym- nastics are not engaged in with the natural abandon which marks games and sports ; but it is superior to these in physical development, since every part of the body may receive attention. Rural children are inclined to be awkward and ungainly, sometimes unshapely, bespeaking strength without the requisites of harmony and beauty. The shuffling foot- steps, the ungainly bearing, so common in rural school children is proof of disproportionate physical development. A moderate amount of gymnastics in the schools would be an excellent thing, particularly in the larger consolidated schools which can provide gymnasium space and necessary apparatus. The smaller rural schools will probably get along well enough without formal gymnastics by depending on supervised play. Athletics and Non-competitive Standard Tests. — In most small rural schools there is no interest whatever in athletics. The boys are few in number, and vary in age THE RURAL SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RECREATION 313 and ability so much that there is Httle incentive to friendly competition. If a boy proves his superiority in a particular event, the other boys will no longer compete with him. A satisfactory way to infuse real life into rural school athletics is to adopt one of the following plans : (i) organize the local school on the basis of non-competitive standard tests ; or (2) organize a county- wide school association for athletics. In the small school it is futile to emphasize individual competition. If the school is not a member of a larger athletic association, it ought to adopt a plan of non-com- petitive athletics, using for this purpose the standard tests of the Public School Athletic League of New York,^ or other similar organizations. The fine thing about the standard tests is that they encourage all the children to strive towards a reasonable standard of attainment, in place of keeping before them continually the thought of besting the other fellows. The New York standards re- quire " that the boy under thirteen shall be able to run the sixty-yard dash in eight and three-fifths seconds; jump five feet nine inches standing ; and chin the bar four times." ^ The equipment for the non-competitive tests is simple. There should be a straightaway race course of one hun- dred yards. Longer races ought to be discouraged. A stop watch is an essential part of the equipment. There should also be a jumping pit, horizontal bars, and standards for the high jump. These may usually be procured through the pupils' own ingenuity. County- wide Athletic Associations. — Meanwhile, a new plan of organization has made its appearance, which promises new life to rural school athletics. It is the county- wide 1 Send for Athletic Badge Test for Boys, and Athletic Badge Test for Girls, Playground and Recreation Association of America, i Madison Avenue, New York. Each 5 cents. ^ See Curtis, Education Through Play, p. 194. 314 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK athletic association, promoted largely by the County Work Department, International Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association. As an organization it has already enlisted all the boys of entire counties " in helpful and pleas- urable sports, which are more than pastime or amusement." Dr. John Brown, Jr., of the County Work Department, has published an excellent little brochure ^ on this subject, worthy of a place on every teacher's book shelf. The pub- lication can be used as a guide in promoting the county organization, which, to use Doctor Brown's own words, " would have for its object the development of play and athletics in the schools, and include the organizing and super- vision of the athletic test together with all forms of group games and team games for both boys and girls of all ages." The plan would include every school in the county (or other division) and offers every boy an opportunity to participate, provided he can qualify on these points : He must be sixty pounds in weight or over ; he must be phys- ically fit ; he must maintain a satisfactory standing in scholarship. The boys are further classified by weight into five classes, there being definite athletic events for each weight class. Teachers can get the details of how to organize and conduct such an association by addressing the County Work Department as indicated above. Organized Play and Moral Health. — Of the four agencies in physical education, organized play is the most valuable to the school. Play should be planned and supervised by the teacher just as any other school work. The teacher needs the air and exercise just as much as the children do. For this reason he should spend considerable time on the ^ John Brown, Jr., M.D., Outdoor Athletic Tests for Boys. (Specially designed for rural schools), Association Press, 124 East 28th St., New York. THE RURAL SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RECREATION 315 playground mingling with the children. It is preposterous to suppose, as some do, that the teacher cannot take an intimate part in the children's play life without lowering himself in their estimation, in accordance with the old saying '' that familiarity breeds contempt." The teacher's dignified bearing and ever-helpful suggestion and assistance is exactly what is needed to make the playground a good place to be. One of the most difficult problems in school management is encountered in our efforts to prevent the perversion of natural instincts through immoral suggestion. Teachers who watch closely the physical condition of their pupils are apt to cope with the difficulties. Nothing is so effective in keeping mind and body pure as interesting games and plenty of wholesome exercise. The degree of the teacher's success will be determined by his ability to keep the pupils out of mischief while engaging all in wholesome exercise, in his vigilance and ability to detect every symptom of child depravity, and in his uncompromising severity in dealing with every case infringing upon the laws of morality.^ School Grounds and Play Equipment. — The half-acre lots which comprise the grounds of most one-room schools are inadequate for community play and recreation, not to mention their use for garden and agricultural experiments. Two acres ought to be the minimum size grounds of the small school ; though even these would be too small for such a game as baseball. In areas smaller than three acres, it is advisable to limit the games to indoor baseball, volley ball, basket ball, etc., which require comparatively small space. But we must not forget that the grounds of the modern school are planned as rallying centers for the whole community. They must, accordingly, be large enough to ^ See The American Rural School, p. 301. 3i6 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK accommodate all the children and their parents when they meet for the school rallies. Every well-planned community school — whether of one or more teachers — should aim to approximate the grounds of the ideal school which are shown on page 1 64. The grounds of ten acres are divided into nine distinct areas. Three of these are devoted to games and sports. The largest, lying at the center of the grounds, is the community rallying- ground. It is seated with '' bleachers " and makes pro- vision for baseball and football, and is large enough for the community field-day, for stock shows, harvest home festivals, and other important community gatherings. The two play- areas flanking the schoolhouse are equipped with simple play apparatus, as swings, teeters, slide, sandbox, and the like. There are also courts for basket ball, volley ball, and tennis. The whole is planned for use seven days in the week, under the eye of the teacher who lives on the premises. Minimum Playground Equipment. — Very little money is required to equip a small school ground with play appara- tus ; intelligence and energy, rather, are demanded. The teacher, older pupils, and interested patrons can supply the labor. The materials required are few and need not be expensive. Some of them may even be donated to the community enterprise. The Youth's Companion has recently carried on a cam- paign to provide suitable playground apparatus for rural communities ; to which end it has conducted rural recrea- tion demonstrations, in cooperation with the Department of Recreation of the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Normal Schools at Keene, New Hampshire, and New Paltz, New York. The demonstrations have convinced the ex- perts in charge that every playground ought to be equipped THE RURAL SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RECREATION 317 with this simple apparatus : sandbox, swing, horizontal bar, teeter, and giant stride.^ That it is unnecessary to expend any large amount of money on the equipment is shown in the following compara- tive expense accounts of the equipment at Ardonia, New York, and Keene, New Hampshire, both of which were planned as a part of the demonstration, but each entirely independent of the other : Keene . . $1.17 $ -57 .04 .56 .00 Ardonia Horizontal Bar $2.15 Bar ... $ .65 Bolts . . ** Uprights . ] [.00 Labor . . •50 Teeter . . . 2.37 Plank . . ] [.17 Supports . .20 Pipe and Cap •25 2 Bolts •05 Bowpin ** Boring Holes .20 Labor . . .50 Giant Stride 1.73 Pole . . ** Wheel . . ** Rope . . 1 •23 Wire . . .00 Labor . . .50 Sand Pile . . . ** 2 Boards Joist Nails Cement . . . . 1.29 Totals $7-54 ** Donated. 2.14 1.50 .29 .25 .04 .06 .00 .00 .50 •50 1.77 .20 .00 2.97 1. 12 $7.40 ^ " Neighborhood Play, a Manual of Rural Recreation. Boston. Free. The Youth's Companion, 3i8 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Question Studies from the Text Do you agree with the author that much of our rural recreation is un- wholesome ? Explain. Show what happened to the social life of the household economy farmer when the transition period began. Describe this social life. State the fundamental law of labor and recreation. What unfortunate results have come to rural communities because they have had no organized recreation? State just how the new recreation is to be realized. Can it be accom- plished without cooperation of the chief rural life agencies ? Just what role should the teacher fill in community play-life ? Give your own experience with rural play activities. Tell the story of some successful play-festival, either from experience or from reading. Could a field-day of the Amenia type be held in your community ? Which of the four agencies of physical education do you consider of most importance to the rural community ? Why ? Explain, fully, what is meant by non-competitive standard tests. What is the most valuable feature of the plan? Do you think a county-wide athletic organization would be feasible in your community? Explain. Should the teachers invariably be at the head of these organizations? What about the county and other local superintendents. Or the Y. M. C. A. county secretaries? State clearly the relation of supervised play to children's moral health. Draw a plan of your ideal community playground. Special Studies Make a study of the "Educative Value of Play" in Jo^mson's Education by Plays and Games. Report to the class on the" socializing influences of play and recreation " as found in Scudder's Recreation for Rural Communities. Make a full report to the class of Brown's Outdoor Athletic Test for Boys. Study a copy of "Neighborhood Play" {The Youth's Companion, Boston). What do you think of the plan? Procure a copy of the simple little rural play "Back to the Farm," published by the University of Minnesota, or the play "A Vision of Homeland," published by the Kirksville (Mo.) State Normal School. Why not stage the play for your community ? CHAPTER VII Daily Program and Model Curriculum for the One- Teacher School Difficulties Caused by the Crowded Daily Program. — This concluding chapter is intended especially for the young teacher who is striving to make the most of the small school with its numerous subjects and classes. It is very well to write about the evolution of effective one-teacher schools rooted to the soil, etc., but this requires time, hard work, and long experience. Meanwhile, it is not out of place to offer a few constructive suggestions to beginning teachers on how to organize their daily programs, and to present for their consideration in detail a well-tried curriculum for one- teacher schools. The strength or weakness of the teacher is usually mani- fested in the organization of his daily program and in the degree of ability he displays in using it as a flexible or rigid instrument of daily work. Too many classes is an evidence of poor organization. There was a time when rural teachers were obliged to have almost as many classes as the com- munity had kinds and varieties of textbooks. This is no longer necessary. A reasonable equipment in books and other materials is provided in any average school. It is for the teacher to organize his school to such advantage that (i) the children's time shall be economized as much as possible and (2) the best educational returns be made on the hours spent in school. 319 320 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK In the first place, it is important to remember that a one- teacher school is an elementary school. Eight years of work is the maximum to be considered. Ambitious young teachers — themselves fresh from the classroom in secondary school or college — are often eager to instruct the older pupils in a few high school subjects. This is generally ruinous to the rest of the school. No school which has representatives in all or most of the eight years can tolerate such a practice. To build heavily at the top is to weaken the school at its foundation. If occasional school boards insist on their teachers giving advanced work, these gentlemen should be set right by having it pointed out to them that a one-teacher rural school is neither a second- ary school nor a college, and can never become such an institution. Content of an Average Course of Study. — It is next necessary to consider the subjects that must be included in the daily study course. This should be done as nearly as possible in accordance with the suggestions for course content laid down in former chapters. There are the formal subjects to be considered, with their new rural emphasis ; the great industrial trio — agriculture, household economics, and manual arts — which must be featured ; and music and art, and physical education. All these must have place in the daily program, or the school cannot rank as a modern one- teacher school. How to plan the program and find time and room for all these subjects is the most difficult problem confronting the inexperienced teacher — or old and experienced teacher, for that matter. In some states the teachers are expected largely to follow programs pre- pared for them by local or state authority. Even here no one can object if the teachers improve on what the state's educational authorities have to offer. DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 321 Grade Grouping or Alternation by Years. — To attain the best results in organizing the daily program, the teacher should apply the well-known scheme of grouping the eight school years into three or four groups or sections, and at the same time combine, alternate, and correlate class-subjects liberally. The principle of class-grouping or alternation by years has long been practiced, although many teachers seem unable to utilize it to good advantage. The plan is simply to group the years or grades as in the following form : Recitation D Group C Group B Group A Group Period ist Yr. 2d Yr. 3dYr. 4th Yr. 5th Yr. 6th Yr. 7th Yr. 8th Yr. 8.50-9.00 Opening Exercises — Song, current topics of rural interest, etc. 9.00-9.10 Reading 9.10-9.20 Reading 9.20-9.40 Arithmetic 9.40-10.05 Arithmetic 10.05-10.20 Reading 10.20-10.30 Story hour 1 10.30-10.45 Recess — Supervised play Years i and 2 form group D, years 3 and 4, group C, etc. In a few classes it is clearly necessary to have the years within the group recite separately, as for example the be- ginners' class in reading while mastering the first principles. Later in the morning, it is seen, this year is merged with the second year in the '' story hour." The third and fourth years may form one reading class, but are prohahly separate as arithmetic classes. The two years of group B usually form one class in all their subjects, and may form one group with years seven and eight in industrial work. The exact classification within the several groups must depend largely upon the number of pupils in each year, their capacity for work, etc. The whole should be made very flexible and 322 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK pupils should be promoted from the lower to the higher year in the group within the school term if they give evi- dence of ability and subject mastery. Alternation of Classes. — Beginners' classes should have opportunity for frequent recitation, even though the time allowed for each class be short. With more advanced groups conditions are quite different. It is not necessary, for example, to have daily classes in history and civics, or hy- giene and geography, in the two upper groups. Fewer recitations in a subject per week and longer recitation periods have proved generally economical, as not alone is the time required for class change saved, but the direct teaching- results from the longer period, which allows the teacher to develop the lesson properly, are so far superior as to leave no room for doubt. The classes to be alternated should preferably be closely related, as history and civics, agriculture and geography, hygiene and geography, and the like. The following form illustrates the arrangement in the daily program : Recitation D Group C Group B Group A Grou^ Period ist Yr. 2d Yr. 3dYr. 4th Yr. 5 th Yr. 6th Yr. 7th Yr. 8th Yr. 1.00-1.15 Numbers II5-I-30 Arithmetic 1.30-1.50 Geography MONDAY WEDNESDAY FRIDAY Sanitation TUESDAY THURSDAY 1.50-2.15 History MONDAY W'EDNESDAY FRIDAY Community Civics TUESDAY THURSDAY DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 323 B group here recites geography on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and sanitation on the remaining two days. Similarly A group divides its time between history and community civics. Such an arrangement needs no further comment. Geography and sanitation, history and civics, it will be understood, can be taught in such intimate relation that an alternation like this amounts to correlation, nearly. The plan of alternation by years requires, with a few exceptions, that the two years in a given group do the work of one of the two years in a single class, while the other year is omitted. The next year the work that was omitted is taken up and the past year's work dropped. The pupils will thus get all the subject matter of the study-course, although not all in the same order. The Missouri Plan of Alternation Illustrated. — The Missouri State Department of Education utilizes a very satisfactory plan of alternation in its rural and other ele- mentary schools. The following three pages illustrate the organization and group alternation of this scheme in detail. Page 324 gives the suggested daily program. This is di- vided, as the teacher will observe, into " recitation pro- gram " and " study program." The recitation program dis- closes that the pupils in class D and class C recite by separate grades in most of their subjects, which is quite natural in beginning pupils. Thereafter the two years of each group recite as a single class throughout. The Missouri plan is re- produced to illustrate the scheme used in grouping and in alternating the subject matter by years, as shown on pages 325 and 326, rather than for its content. The latter when compared with the Kirksville curriculum, which is given later in this chapter, will seem quite meager and formal, al- though it offers more industrial work than do most of the state courses now generally in use. It is perhaps safe to say 324 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK . a. Reading. (Basal and Supplementary) b. Language and Spell- ing c. Arithmetic. (Fac- toring denominate numbers and frac- tions) d. Geography and His- tory. (N. and S. America and U. S.) e. Nature Study (Plants, animals, and soils) a. Reading b. Phonics and Spelling c. Language and Story Hour d. Reading, Numbers, and Nature Study a. Reading b. Phonics and Spelling c. Language and Story Hour d. Reading, Numbers, and Nature Study a. ** Reading b. * Language and Spell- ing c. Arithmetic d. * Geography and Na- ture Study. (Prim- itive Life) a. ** Reading b. * Language and Spell- ing c. Arithmetic d. * Geography and Na- ture Study. (Home Geography) DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 325 S g-'J ^ SS rt . - c ^ '^ • S 'El .12 (u"'rt'T3 >, r- C! cS C -a en « >> ^.^ ^b • 2 «l ^IlliillllllC O V > > > > 00000 111 > 00000 .2.2 Lnujin < It hi l-l IH rt rt rt rt iisi rt rt rt rt rt r. or Phys r; or Phys ography raphy ng and ng and ng and metic a rt rf rt cJ S2222 ^ -s-^-S :§ u i4 M u bo so V .>. tuto >o b bS-b ■%i ^^^ u B 333 'Jn'in S— — >^ s ms .^^ 111 PhCL, C/)C/2C/3 pq .s.s.s.s 1 metic metic metic metic . and 3 S 'S-3-3-a .5 •S'S'S'5 w bi bi bb bo bobo rf rt cS ni rt *i .-tt.ti.-ti.-a S88 tJtJ c c c (U ^ 11 1 p <-0 3 3 3 CAlC/2 C/2 H C^ >- 1 coc/iOi cm a (J ■B-B tic tic tic, 4 idNa idNa idNa be be M tj 1) iu u a> g g c 1-Jh-) >-5 tn _c_c_=: g g gggrtrtc^ Manua Manua Manua Manua Dismis: Read Read Read Arith Arith J3 .C -C S£ tr tJO <;<< .-^"^■^ c-^" '^ l-s-g-? "" fe rf " g^^ rt •0 S fe 5 & oT oT Q G Reading Reading, Board w^ Board vv Reading Play Reading, Board vv Seat wor Seat wor Reading Play Read, ar Board w^ Play Manual Manual Manual Languag Languag Dismiss 3 < C M M ^^ ! d en C 2 Exercises , AH metic ing, Grade ing, Grade ing ing imar RECESS eading. Grade ead. & Spell., rithmetic, Gra rithmetic, Gra rithmetic istory and Go NOON .H , and Nat. ., N., &N. or Phys. or Dravvin) . and Hist. ECESS ., Lang, an raphy S. or Phys Hour, Gr, Hour, Gr. . and Spell . and Spell < .s iSlC, rith ead ead ead: ead ram uSS&.gS PS -0 bo . >> >.-a bo J ■g -

o j:;';i;>222°M a M W M W M M M «„„««« VO s s o too 00000 Q m >o m in in tntr, iTi \n ^ coupq « o>d\d\d> d 00"«i-iw P< M M M M l-i Ci M OCitOrOfOfOfO q DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 327 that it contains as much of agriculture and manual work as the average teacher now in the service can handle. The Principle of Correlation Applied to the Program. — To be able to correlate the subject matter effectively is evidence of marked teaching ability. Our limitations as teachers alone make it necessary to divide the curriculum into vertical sections under such titles as geography, civics, and agriculture. Some day, perhaps, the great teacher will appear who shall be able to instruct the children in school by unfolding the educational process as a great connected panorama instead of in the poorly connected, vertical sub- ject sections now utilized. Meanwhile, every teacher can improve his teaching ability vastly by applying the prin- ciple of correlation to all the school subjects. Through this means it is feasible to obliterate largely the line of de- marcation between subjects and to teach them as we live them. The teacher who is a master of geography finds in his subject facts of biology, agriculture, physics, and chemis- try, and utilizes them to good advantage ; in his geography he sees the roots of history and civics, and so on with other subjects. In the curriculum given below of the Kirks- ville Model School, the principle of correlation plays a great role. By teaching lessons of good citizenship through geography, and language through agriculture, etc., the or- ganizers of this course of study have successfully compressed all the subject matter of the up-to-date one- teacher school into a score of classes daily. Curriculum of the Kirksville, Missouri, Model Rural School. — This well-known model rural school is main- tained in connection with the rural-teacher training depart- ment of the Missouri First District State Normal School at Kirksville. It is an experiment station " where," to quote the school's director, " adjustments are being worked out. 328 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK and newer educational ideals adapted to the needs of country boys and girls." The course of study as offered in the school is intended for well-organized one-teacher schools in charge of first-class teachers ; but the course is just as well adapted to two- or three-room schools of the consolidated type. General Plan of Organization. ^ — The Model Rural School follows a course in which the subjects are grouped around two related centers, or, perhaps better, two con- centric circles, of interest. The first is the consideration of the ideal rural life ; the farm home, its sanitation, beauty, and comfort ; the feeding and clothing of the family ; the farm itself, its products, and all of the business concerned therewith. Conditions of the children's own surroundings form the starting point for these studies. The outer circle of subjects broadens the children's horizons by dealing with the life of other peoples in our own and foreign countries and those of former times, considered in their relations to our life and mode of living. In connection with the first group of interests such sub- jects as agriculture, nature study, hygiene and sanitation, cooking, sewing, manual arts and fine arts, home geography, reading, and mathematics make contributions. Literature, history, government, and geography contribute more largely to the second circle of interests. Throughout the children learn to see the relation of all life, past and present, distant and near. Not only are their minds active with these lessons, but their inventive and constructive genius is constantly called into play as they live vicariously the lives of other people or continue im- provements in their own surroundings. Initiative and leadership are encouraged by these enterprises. ' This statement has been prepared by !Mrs. Florence Lane Gerow, Director of the Model School at the time the author had charge of the rural-teacher train- ing department in the normal school. DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 329 Though we are obliged to separate the school subjects for convenience in these paragraphs, a day in the school- room is so much more nearly living than a series of recita- tions, that the whole place throbs with vitality and the children have an at-home feeling, helping one another and moving about the building and grounds more or less freely to pursue their activities. The Subjects : Reading. — This subject is important as a means by which many lines of information may be ac- quired and is given a generous place in the course, fre- quently, however, in connection with history, nature study, or other subjects, and is never considered an end in itself. The aim is to get the younger children to the point of inde- pendence as rapidly as possible by means of phonics and word recognition drills. The beginners read along until they have gained this ability to discover new words. The other children are divided into three groups for reading. Phonics is continued up to the place where word analysis is taken up, developing power to recognize, pronounce, and use words intelligently. In oral reading the pupils who take part feel that they are contributing to the enjoyment of the class. Literary appreciation is given more emphasis as the children advance toward the upper grades. English Language. — The subject is taught in a practical way. Much of the work is given in connection with ac- counts of experiments which the children are trying, and with their work in history or geography. They help one another to use better English upon the playground as well as in the recitation period. Through discussing the reasons for changes in their manner of saying things, they get a foundation for the more formal grammar, which is not studied technically before the eighth year. Spelling. — Written spelling is emphasized, although 330 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK used almost wholly in connection with other subjects. It is made simple because of the background of phonics and word analysis, early acquired by all the pupils. Writing. — This art is practiced by the younger children upon the board, later upon wide-ruled paper, narrower- ruled paper, and finally in connection with writing notes and invitations to invite parents and friends to school pro- grams and parties. These invitations are written upon unruled note paper. Form of letters is emphasized first. Next comes muscular movements for speed, and bodily position which is much facilitated by the adjustable seats and desks used in the school. History and Geography. — These subjects play a large part throughout the entire course. They are closely inter- related. The pupils of the school recite in three groups. The first history-geography cycle covers four terms, or a year and a third. The more mature children in the first three grades then pass on to take work in the middle group. The slower and less mature children repeat the work, which is varied to give the same main points with different illus- trative material. Those who were weak in the old group now become leaders of the younger children, because they have had the work before. As soon as their power to under- stand and think has developed, they can go on into the second group, and continue there until they have mastered that material and gained power for the last group, where the work taxes their ability to a greater degree. Well-developed children who think clearly can progress through the school rapidly while slower minds can continue with the work without feeling that they are kept back in all of their studies. The three groups include roughly the first three grades, grades four to six inclusive, and grades seven and eight, respectively, though some children in their DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 331 fifth year in school are able to take work with the upper group. This system is similar to plans utilized in our more pro- gressive cities where there are two rates at which children can be promoted and a possibility of changing children from the express train rate to that of the ordinary passenger train and vice versa. The history cycle in the upper group is five quarters long, as there the geography, history, and government of our own and adjacent countries are studied. Grades i to 3 first term. The child's home. Work on the farm. Farm animals. Home geography. Homes of other children (showing variation of modes of living due to climatic control). SECOND TERM. The people who used to live here (Indians) . (Sand table, paper cut- ting, and dramatics make this life real.) Their homes. Construction by clay work, basketry, paper construc- tion, weaving, Indian dolls made and dressed, headdresses made and worn by children. Utensils. Reading done by children. Life. Hiawatha Primer, Starr's American Indians. Handicraft. THIRD TERM. How the white man first came to this country. Stories of Columbus and early explorers of our vicinity. Stories of pioneer life. Log house and its furniture. Ways of procuring and cooking food. Lighting (candles). Occupations of people — spinning, weaving, soap-making. Children play at living in those days and make as many of the things which the pioneer used as possible. 332 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK FOURTH TERM. Stories of Industries. Beginning with those in our neighborhood. Stories concerning the sources of our food, clothing, and shelter, studied through reading matter, pictures, samples, experiments, and narration by teacher and older children in the group. Such stories as : Where our bread comes from. How I got my cotton dress. What had to be done before I could have a house to live in. Middle Group, Grades 4 to 6 FIRST term. How the people lived before they had the tools and conveniences which we possess. Great contributions made by early peoples to our comfort and well- being. Tree men — discovered use of fire. Cave men — invented early weapons. Egyptians — associated with primitive agriculture and domestica- tion of plants and animals. Hebrews — type of shepherd people — gave us idea of one God. Greeks — contributed ideals of beauty. Romans — ideas of law and order. Naturally the history of these people cannot be taken in one term with children of these ages. The stories are kept simple, the earlier ones made real by dramatics and the construction by children of primitive weapons and ornaments. Pictures and notebooks or scrapbooks help with the later stories of this term's work. One main point is emphasized concerning each nation studied. The geography of Mediterranean countries is made familiar. Exten- sive map study begins with this group. second term. Life in Europe in the Middle Ages as it contributed to one civilization. Courage and self-government given us by the Teutons. Spread of Christianity laying foundations for modern nations. Education fostered by monasteries. Europeans learning to work together in Crusades. Agriculture protected by the nobles in turbulent times becomes inde- pendent later under kings. DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 333 The aim here is to give enough of the progress of nation building for an understanding of modern conditions, and to emphasize the idea that the common people tilling the land and finding better ways of doing their work were back of all of the progress of nations. The children keep notebooks, draw maps and plans, read in different books and narrate incidents to the class. The physical geography of Europe becomes familiar during this term, as mountains and rivers helped in forming history. THIRD TERM. Modern Europe is studied from two viewpoints : first, as its history influenced discovery, settlements, and development of life in America ; second, in its agricultural phases, and its trade relations with our nation. The countries are studied as follows : Germany — the cradle of freedom in religious thought. Italy — source of art and architectural inspiration. Spain and France as they influenced settlements in America. Holland — type of thrifty farming people. Dermiark — in relation to agricultural education and progress. General political geography of Europe studied. FOURTH TERM. English history in as far as it laid foundations for our life and institu- tions. Stories of the making of the English nation. Stories of King Arthur and King Alfred. King John and the Charter. The growth of power of Parliament. Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh, as related to America (Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare read, and some quotations from actual writ- ings, as from Midsummer Night's Dream, read in this connection). English farming and what it contributed to the world — better breeds of animals. Some valuable plants. Geography of British Isles and English possessions in India, South Africa, and Australia. Third Group, Including Roughly 7th and 8th Grades first term. Story of building of our continent leading up to physical geography which furnishes reasons for many of the events of our political his- tory and for phases of our development. 334 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Early discoveries and explorations, especially the work of Spanish, French, English, and Dutch explorers compared. SECOND TERM. Life of Europeans in America leading to the founding of the United States. Early settlements of various nature as to purpose and consequent suc- cess or failure. English settlements compared as to occupations and life of people. Causes and results of French and Indian War. Cause of Revolutionary War — a struggle for principles long before this time held by the mass of English people. Main plans of campaign. One or two battles in detail. THIRD TERM. Birth and expansion of the nation. Study of the Constitution and organization of government. Acquisition of new territory and development of institutions. Conditions leading up to Civil War. Map study and geography work continues with these history phases. Reading often taken from writers of the period — Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, and others. FOURTH TERM. Saving of the Union and its subsequent industrial development. Main plans of Civil War. Results of the struggle. Agricultural and commercial development of the United States studied by sections : Northeastern states — mainly manufacturing — reasons. Southeastern — agricultural — cotton, rice, and tobacco — reasons. South Central — agricultural — cotton and cattle. North Central — agricultural, grains — how the prairies affected agricultural development. Western — agricultural and mining — fruits, cattle, grain, ore. FIFTH TERM. Later History of U. S., its possessions and neighbors, also government of the State. Alaska Hawaii Philippines Panama > How we got them and what we are doing with them. DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 335 Canada "j „ ^, . . Main geographical facts studied and occupations South Amenca > ^ , , . , ^ or people emphasized. China J The State's Government. Local governments of county or town, and district. What we need to know to be good citizens. This outline covers many points, but it is desirable that only the big related and vital facts be considered — those which will contribute to citizenship. Some may contend that American children should have United States history all through the grades. This is provided to some extent in the school celebrations of na- tional holidays, such as Thanksgiving Day with the story of the Pilgrims, Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays with stories of their lives. Memorial Day with its tribute to those who have defended our nation. The entire school shares in such events. We believe that by getting the background of broader history the children will be more intelligent citizens and farmers, and should they leave school before the completion of the course, they will carry intelligence and reasoning power to meet their life problems in a more vigorous way than they could have done had they been dulled by droning over and over the same stories of our national life through all of their school years. Nature- Study Agriculture. — This subject is presented in connection with reading and home geography lessons in the lower grades and with home projects with the older children. The latter follow some continuous line of in- vestigation concerning a farm animal, a flock of chickens, a garden plot, or a household science problem carried on at home and reported at school. They are frequently used as a basis for language and arithmetic work. Read- 336 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK ing is done along the line of the chosen project and better methods are sought. The children are also encouraged to make nature collections of pressed leaves and flowers or seeds. Bird lists are compiled and the relation of birds to agriculture emphasized. The school garden, which should be an attractive spot to look upon, is devoted in part to experiments in ways of planting and cultivation. Bug pests as well as plants furnish nature-study ma- terial. Above all, the nature-study work aims to culti- vate a love and appreciation of his natural environment in the child's heart. Secondly, these subjects are arranged to lead the children to become better farmers and wiser citizens. Nature-study work is given in connection with the open- ing exercises, the garden hour, reading, geography, and history studies, with an occasional period for special work from a simple textbook on agriculture. Mathematics. — Although there is necessarily a consider- able amount of drill work in the lower grades — given largely in the form of games — and of process work with those in the upper grades, the children are given concrete and practical problems to solve from the first year onward — the younger pupils counting, measuring, and keeping score in games, the older ones estimating farm crops, profit and loss on home projects, and contents of the corn crib or wagon body at home. The younger children are attracted to arithmetic because there is so much of the game element in it, and the older ones like it because it furnishes a practical connection with their interests in home and school. Good reasoning is emphasized above the ability to conjure figures and " get answers." Mechanical Drawing and Shop Work. — The older boys and girls alike learn the essentials of mechanical drawing, DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 337 because, as home makers, the girls should be able to plan and draw articles needed in the house. The boys fairly bristle with projects which they are anxious to carry out for use in home or school. Habits of accuracy and definiteness are encouraged by the requirement that every article made in the shop must be preceded by a careful drawing showing dimensions and construction. Leadership is encouraged by giving reliable boys charge of certain features of the work, as mixing stains or giving out bills of lumber. Boys in the four upper grades have regular shop work. Younger boys may use the shop under direction of a reliable older boy. Noon hours are often spent by eager workers in carrying forward some cherished project. Boys can be trained to estimate the cost of lumber used, and to pay for it in money or by making simple articles for sale, thus developing value sense, mathematical ability, and self- respect. Home Economics. — This includes sewing, cooking, nurs- ing, and hygiene. Boys and girls in the five upper grades have a class in household and personal hygiene. The school provides facilities for shower baths which are much appre- ciated by the children, and for washing hands and faces. That all may regularly avail themselves of the latter priv- ilege two inspectors appointed from among the children keep account of the matter of clean hands, — the boys and girls running a contest on this matter, — thereby saving much possible soiling of school books. Water from the home wells is tested and the importance of pure water on the farm is imprinted on the pupils' minds. Work in home nursing and caring for young children is illustrated to the younger girls by the care of the school doll and to the older girls by a trip in the neighborhood to watch a nurse bathe and dress a young baby. 338 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK The school bed ^ affords opportunity for lessons in bed making and some phases of home nursing. The sewing lessons are related to art by means of em- broidery designs made in the art classes and applied by the girls to pincushions and work bags which they make. Sew- ing is related to the courses in hygiene through the making of an ideal baby outfit for the school doll, and finds another relation in costume making for dramatic and literary pro- ductions. General Housework. — This training is offered in various ways. Each child has a duty to perform about the school- house or grounds, and the workers sometimes change tasks. These tasks include regulation of the furnace, keeping the schoolroom at an even temperature, attending to venti- lation, dusting blackboard ledges, sweeping front steps, etc. Fine Arts. — As has been indicated above, art work and appreciation of beautiful things come in connection with a number of school subjects. This course aims to help the children to appreciate fine pictures, to understand and love the beauty in nature about them, and to devise ways for improving their home surroundings. One lesson a week is given to the whole school. The younger pupils often work on a simpler phase of the subject given the older ones. FIRST TERM. Some basic art principles. Used in borders or spelling book covers, covers for Rhythm written papers, embroidery on articles made in sewing Repetition ) class and woodwork constructions made in shop, Proportion woven baskets made in connection with Indian , studies. ^ This has its nook in the attic, all of which is utilized in this remarkable school. DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 339 SECOND TERM. Representation. Sketching of cylindrical and spherical objects, still life studies in sugges- tive outline. Object — clear seeing and a certain amount of graphic power (using principles learned last term for placing and spacing). THIRD TERM. Study of dark and light. In borders, decorative panels, and landscape. Application made to beauty in the country due to dark and light in natural surroundings and to possibilities for this kind of loveliness in farm buildings. FOURTH TERM. Color. Suitable color combinations studied and applied to landscape illus- trations for geography papers; to end sheets for booklets made in school ; to the planning of a beautiful room for a farm house ; to color combinations in dress design. FIFTH TERM. Picture Study. Stories of famous artists — Raphael, Millet, Corot. Stories of famous sculptors — Michelangelo, Thorvaldsen. Pictures in our schoolroom studied. These subjects form the basis for reading and language work, and for making booklets of lovely pictures. The object is to lead the children to enjoy worth-while things. At other places in the curriculum, art appreciation is emphasized incidentally, as for instance in connection with stories of Greek and Italian people in middle group history work ; and with the upper group in American history and geography, in studying the Boston and Congressional Libraries and their decorations. Much illustrative drawing continues at all times for the younger children to enable them to express their ideas con- cerning stories read and activities connected with their home and school life. This, however, might better be classed as literary than as art expression, since the thought expressed is emphasized rather than form and technique. 340 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK Music. — Sight reading is taught to the entire school and many rote songs are learned. These are often connected with the season, a holiday, some history epoch under study, or a dramatic entertainment given by the children in con- nection with other school work. At times the school is divided into two groups for singing, that the older ones may have more difficult exercises than the beginners, and songs appealing to older or younger chil- dren taught to small groups. In the music teaching the aims are to develop power to read the printed score and ap- preciate choice music, as well as to furnish the child with another means for expressing his emotions. Physical Well-being. — The children have their eyes tested regularly and any who are found to need a physician's or oculist's help are reported to their parents, and, if necessary, other steps are taken to give the pupils a right physical basis. Free play and team games are encouraged at recess and noon. The rural children need as much natural social contact as can be provided for them. On rainy days di- rected play is sometimes conducted in the school building, because the children need to learn to play together. There is much physical activity in the school throughout the entire day, as this is natural to childhood; and textbooks alone cannot educate. Vocational Guidance. — This is everywhere discussed in these days. There is room for it in the rural school as well as elsewhere. Through lessons in nursing given in connection with school work, one girl has recently found her sphere of activity. . Without question the small school can accomplish important results for vocational guidance. It may come partly in connection with other studies such as industrial geography, agriculture, and shop work. DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 341 Books for the Rural School. — In many of these fields, where attempts are made to adapt educational material to the needs of the rural school, few suitable textbooks are yet available. Some helpful material is appearing from year to year, and even from month to month. For the help of those who desire to work along these larger lines for the rural boys and girls, the following lists of books for collateral reading are suggested : Phonics and Word Study Books Gordon — A Manual for Teachers of Primary Reading Cavin — Orthography History and Geography Andrews — Seven Little Sisters Atkinson — European Beginnings of American History Bassett — The Plain Story of American History Bengston and Griffith — The Wheat Industry Bourne and Benton — hitroductory American History Carpenter — Geographical Readers Chamberlain — How We Are Clothed Chamberlain — How We Are Fed Chamberlain — How We Are Sheltered Chamberlain — ■ The Continents and their People Dopp — The Early Cave Men Dopp — The Later Cave Men Dopp — The Tree Dwellers Gordy — American Beginnings Harding — The Story of Europe Harding — The Story of the Middle Ages Kemp — A History for Graded and Rural Schools Nida — Dawn of American History in Europe Reynolds — How Man Conquered Nature Shaler — The Story of Our Continent Starr — The American Indians Werthner — How Man Makes Markets J i 1 342 THE RURAL TEACHER AND HIS WORK j J \ Agriculture and Nature Books ] Comstock — Insect Life French — School Gardening Hodge — Nature Study and Life \ Mann — Beginnings in Agriculture O'Kane — • Jim and Peggy at Meadowhrook Farm Stack — Wild Flowers Every Child Should Know Wright and Cones — Citizen Bird i Household Science Bladerston and Limerick — Laundry Manual \ Kinne and Cooley — Clothing and Health ^ Kinne and Cooley — Food and Llealth \ Kinne and Cooley — Flome and the Family Kinne and Cooley — Foods and Household Management 1 Kinne and Cooley — Shelter and Clothing i Williams and Fisher — Elements of Theory and Practice of Cookery Music Smith — The Common School Book of Vocal Music or ■■ Melodia Book I and some song collection 1 Physical Education and Sanitation i Bancroft — Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium j Bancroft and Pulvermacher — Handbook of Athletic Games '\ Curtis — Education Through Play 1 Curtis — Play and Recreation i Curtis — The Practical Conduct of Play \ Johnson — Education by Plays and Games Lee — Play in Education O'Shea and Kellogg — Health and Cleanliness ■ ' Shea and Kellogg — Hea Ith Ha hits ' O'Shea and Kellogg — Making the Most of Life I O'Shea and Kellogg— The Body in Health \ These books used in connection with any good sets of . readers, arithmetics, geographies, United States histories, ] DAILY PROGRAM AND MODEL CURRICULUM 343 and language texts will enable the rural teacher to find most of the material necessary for teaching this course. There is no book yet which covers the art work, though Sargent's Fine and Industrial Arts in Elementary Schools is suggestive. It is expected that any wide-awake rural teacher will collect clippings, railroad guides, government bulletins, and many other kinds of free or inexpensive ma- terial for use in the various lines of teaching. BIBLIOGRAPHY Readers who would keep abreast of the new literature on rural life must be discerning in their selection of books. They should have their own " country life shelf " compris- ing the choicest and best of the rapidly multiplying litera- ture in the rural field. It has been impracticable to include in the following pages a complete bibliography of country life literature. Just enough has been included to give the progressive reader the most important books in the field. For more comprehensive lists he is referred to the monthly reading lists distributed free of cost by the United States Bureau of Education. The following pages contain first of all three special collections of books ranging in price from $12 to $15 each. These " country life shelves " should be procured first of all, beginning with No. i. In this way the student can build up a valuable collection gradually and at a reasonable outlay. These collections are followed by a general reading list of works referred to in the body of the book and chiefly in the Special Studies. Country Life Shelf No. i 1. Anderson, W. L., The Country Town $1.00 2. Bailey, L. H., The Country Life Movement .50 3. Butterfield, K. L., The Country Church and the Rural Problem i.oo 4. Carney, Mabel, Country Life and the Country School ... 1.25 5. Carver, T. a., Principles of Rural Economics 1.30 6. Country Life Commission, Report .75 7. Crowe, Martha F., The American Country Girl 1.50 Carry forward $7-30 345 346 BIBLIOGRAPHY Brought forward $7-30 8. Field, Jessie, The Corn Lady .50 9. Foght, H. W., The American Rural School 1.25 10. Hart, J. K., Educational Resources of Village and Rural Communities i.oo 11. Qnick^Yierhert, The Brown Mouse i.oo 12. Wilson, W. H., Evolution of the Country Community ... 1.25 $12.30 Country Life Shelf No. 2 To the above collection add the following : 1. Bailey, L. H., Outlook to Nature $1.00 2. ^MttevfieXd^'K. Li., Chapters in Rural Progress i.oo 3. Cubberly, E. P., Rural Life and Educatioji 1.50 4. l£jgg\Q?,tonsin.6.Brvieve, The Work of the Rural School ... i.oo 5. Fiske, G. W., Challenge of the Country i.oo 6. Foght, H. W., Rural Denmark and Its Schools 1.40 7. Gillette, John, Constructive Rural Sociology 2.00 8. King, Irving, Education for Social Efficiency 1.25 9. Leake, A. H., The Means and Methods of Agricultural Educa- tion 1.50 10. McKeever, W. A., Farm Boys and Girls 1.25 11. Men and Religion Movement, Rural Church Message . . 1.00 12. Plunkett, Sir Horace, The Rural Life Problem of the United States 1.25 $15.15 Country Life Shelf No. 3 To the two collections given above add : 1. Bailey, L. K., The Traini7tg of Farmers $1.00 2. Betts and Kail, Better Rural Schools 1.25 3. Coulter, J. R., Cooperation Among Partners 1.00 4. Curtis, H. S., Play and Recreation for the Open Country . . 1.25 5. Culter and Stone, The Rural School : Its Methods and Manage- ment I.oo 6. Daven-povt, Eugene, Education for Efficiency i.oo 7. Fairchild, G. T., Rural Wealth and Welfare 1.25 8. Haggard, H. Rider, Rural Denmark and Its Problems . . . 2.25 Carry forward $10.00 BIBLIOGRAPHY 347 Brought forward $10.00 9. Mills, Harlow S., The Making of a Country Parish ... .50 10. Page, L. W., Roads, Paths, and Bridges i.oo II., Tail, Anna B., Comparative Studies for Rural Districts . . .35 12. Wilson, W. H., The Church at the Center .50 $12.35 I. The Rural Life Movement A. THE RURAL PROBLEM IN GENERAL 1. Anderson, Wilber L., The Country Town, A Study of Rural Evolu- tion; with an introduction by Josiah Strong. New York, The Baker and Taylor Company, 1906, 307 pp., price $1. A careful study, based upon official statistics, of the changes at work in the country town. Valuable to all rural leaders. 2. Bailey, Liberty Hyde, The Country Life Movement. New York, The Macmillan Company, 191 1, 220 pp., price $1.25. A clear statement of the whole rural problem by the Chairman of the Country Life Commission. 3. The Holy Earth, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1916, 171 pp., 50 cents. An inspirational sermon on the holiness of the earth. 4. Butterfield, Kenyon L., Chapters in Rural Progress, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1908, 251 pp., $1. A particularly good discussion of the social side of the rural problem. 5. Carver, Thomas Nixon, Problems of Rural Life, in his Principles of Rural Economics, Boston, Ginn and Company, 191 1, pp. 334-382, price $1.30. An authoritative treatment of the subject by an economist of national reputation. 6. Country Life Commission, Report, Government Printing Office, 1909, 65 pp., 10 cents. Also reprinted by Sturgis, Walton Co., New York, 75 cents. This is the report of President Roosevelt's Commission on Country Life. It should be the first book on every ''Country Life Shelf." 7. Foght, H. W., Rural Denmark and Its Schools, New York, The Macmillan Company, 191 5, 349 pp., price $1.40. An authoritative book describing the remarkably complete system of Danish rural schools and their influence on Danish rural life. 348 BIBLIOGRAPHY 8. Gillette, John M., Instructive Rural Sociology (revised), with an introduction by George E. Vincent, New York, Sturgis, Walton Co., 1915, 301 pp., $2. 9. Hart, Joseph K., Ed., Educational Resources of Village and Rural Communities, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1913, 277 pp., price $1. The book contains 16 chapters on many phases of rural life and school problems written by experts. 10. Men and Religion Movement. Rural Church Message, New York, The Association Press, 1912, 267 pp., $1. A good treatment of the main institutions of country life and their allies from the church point of view. 1 1 . Plunkett, Sir Horace C, The Rural Life Problem in the United States : Notes of an Irish Observer, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1910, 174 pp., price $1.25. "A plan of reconstruction of rural life to bring about 'better farming, better business, better living. ' " A clear statement of the American prob- lem by an Irish authority. 12. Ross, J. B., The Agrarian Revolution in the Middle West in North American Review, September, 1909, Vol. 190, pp. 377-391. 13. Rural Life Conditions and Rural Education in National Education Association, Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, 19 12, pp. 281-313. Six addresses by educators of national renown. 14. Wilson, Warren H., Evolution of the Country Community, Boston, Pilgrim Press, 1912, 221 pp., price $1.25. An excellent treatment of the growth of American community life under the heads of pioneer, landfarmer, exploiter, and husbandman. The book emphasizes the church point of view and contains an excellent treatment of rural religious life, rural morality, recreation, and education. B. THE RURAL HOME 15. Buell, Jennie, One Woman's Work for Farm Women, Boston, Whit- comb and Barrows, 1908, price 50 cents. A charming story of a pioneer woman in Michigan — a woman who has inspired many others to noble living. 16. Crowe, Martha F., The American Country Girl, New York, Frederick A. Stokes Co., 191 5, price $1.50. An inspiring book for the country girl, and her mother, father, and teacher. Should be read by all. BIBLIOGRAPHY 349 C. THE RURAL CHURCH 17. Butterfield, Kenyon L., The Country Church and the Rural Problem, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 191 1, 153 pp., price $1. A concise statement of the church in its relation to the country life problem, 18. Fiske, G. W., The Challenge of the Country, A Study of Country Life Opportunity, New York, Association Press, 1912, 283 pp., price 75 cents. A book written for the Association Press by an authority on the sub- ject. 19. Gill, C. O., and Pinchot, G., The Country Church, New York, The Macmillan Company, 191 3, 222 pp., price $1. This is a careful survey of Windsor County, Vermont, and Tompkins County, New York. From the church point of view. 20. Mills, Harlow S., The Making of a Country Parish, New York, Missionary Education Movement in the United States and Canada, 126 pp., price 50 cents. A charming account of the Benzonia Larger Parish, Michigan. 21. Wilson, Warren H., The Church at the Center, New York, Mission- ary Education Movement of the United States and Canada, 98 pp., price 50 cents. A brief statement of the country church program. D. RURAL ORGANIZATIONS 22. Buck, Solon J., The Granger Movement, 191 3, Harvard University Press, 384 pp., price $2. This is a statement of the organization, growth, and decline of The Patrons of Husbandry. 23. Coulter, John Lee, Cooperation among Farmers, New York, Sturgis, Walton Company, 191 1, 281 pp., price $1. A good exposition of the needs of cooperation among farmers and how this may be attained. E. RURAL SURVEYS 24. Ayer, Fred C, and Morse, C. N., A Rural Survey of Lane County, Oregon. Eugene, The University of Oregon Bulletin, Vol. VIII, No. 14, 1916, 109 pp. 350 BIBLIOGRAPHY 25. Branson, E. C, The Georgia Club, United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin 191 3, No. 23, Washington, D. C., Government Printing Office, price 10 cents. A constructive study in rural sociology by students at the Athens, Georgia, State Normal School. Should be studied by all who are planning to organize rural sociology clubs. 26. Flexner, Abraham-, and Bachman, Frank P., Public Education in Maryland, 19 16, The General Education Board, New York, 176 pp., free. This is the report to the Maryland Educational Surv^ey Commission, being a searching study of the whole school system, together with con- structive suggestions for reorganization. 27. Ohio State School Survey Commission, Report to the Governor by the Ohio State School Survey Commission. A cooperative field study of 659 rural and village schools in 88 counties and an extensive study of 9000 schoolrooms and of 395 school systems, January, 1914, Columbus, Ohio, The F. G. Heer Printing Company. 28. Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Board of Home Missions, Department of Church and Country Life, 156 Fifth Ave., New York. Rural Surveys in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, ^lary- land, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Ohio. These valuable surveys may be procured for a nominal price by address- ing Doctor Warren H. Wilson, Superintendent. II. Rural School Organization A. GENERAL NEEDS AND IDEALS 29. Betts, G. H., and Hall, O. E., Better Rural Schools, Indianapolis, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1914, 497 pp., price $1.25. One of the latest and best of the general rural school texts. Inclined to be a little bulky in its treatment of the problem. 30. Carney, Mabel, Country Life and the Country School, Chicago, Row, Peterson and Company, 1913, 405 pp., $1.25. This is an excellent book. It is written wholly from the rural life point of view, by a broad-visioned country life expert. 31. Cubberley, Elwood P., Rural Life and Education, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914, 362 pp., price $1.50. BIBLIOGRAPHY 351 This book, which is one of the latest in the field, contains a comprehen- sive study of the rural school problem as a phase of the greater rural life problem. The book is treated in two parts, the first giving a good view of the rural life problem, the second being devoted to the rural school problem. This book should be found on every rural leader's book shelf. 32. Culter, H. M., and Stone, Julia M., The Rural School, Its Methods and Management, New York, Silver, Burdett and Company, 191 3, 365 pp., price $1. A general treatise in rural school education, being particularly helpful as a work in rural school methods. 33. Eggleston, J. D., and Bruere, R. W., the Work of the Rural School, New York, Harper and Brothers, 1913, price $1. Written chiefly for the Southern schools. The book emphasizes the school in its relation to the upbuilding of agricultural life. 34. Foght, H. W., The American Rural School, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1910, 361 pp., price $1.25. The book emphasizes three things : Modern school administration, reorganization of the school plant, and revitalization of the course of study. 35. Kennedy, Joseph, Rural Life and the Rural School, Chicago, The American Book Company, 19 15, 186 pp., price $1. A good little book containing a concise statement of rural school needs and ideals. 36. King, Irving, Education for Social Efficiency, New York, D. Appleton and Company, 1913, 363 pp., price $1.25. The book presents in simple language the new social view of education. It is full of concrete illustrations helpful to teachers and parents who strive for the realization of the new ideal of social efficiency as the educational goal. 37. Leake, A. H., The Means and Methods of Agricultural Education, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 191 5, 265 pp., price $1.50. This is one of the Hart, Schaffner, and Marx prize essays for 1913. A very comprehensive treatment of agricultural education in the United States and Canada. B. RURAL TEACHER TRAINING 38. Foght, H. W., Efficiency and Training of Rural School Teachers, Washington, D. C, Government Printing Office, 54 pp., Bureau of Education Bulletin 1914, No. 49. Free. 352 BIBLIOGRAPHY 39. Monahan, A. C, and Wright, R. H., Training Courses for Rural Teachers, Washington, D. C, Government Printing Office, 191 3, 61 pp., United States Bureau of Education Bulletin 1913, No. 2, price 10 cents. C. MODERN SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 40. Cubberley, Elwood P., State and County Educational Reorganization, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1914, 251 pp., price $1.25. This is the revised constitution and school code of the hypothetical state of Osceola. It is a valuable treatise on the fundamental principles relating to administration of public education in the United States. Should be read by all interested in modern organization of rural schools. 41. United States Bureau of Education, County Unit Organization for the Administration of Rural Schools, prepared by A. C. Monahan, Bureau of Education Bulletin 1914, No. 44. D. SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION 42. Cubberley, Elwood P., Consolidation of Schools in A Cyclopedia of Education, ed. by Paul Monroe, Vol. II, New York, The Macmillan Company, 191 1, pp. 185-189. 43. Knorr, George W., A Study of Fifteen Consolidated Schools; Their Organization, Cost, Efficiency, and Affiliated Interests, Washing- ton, D. C, Southern Education Board, 1911, 55 pp. 44. United States Bureau of Education, Consolidation of Rural Schools and Transportation of Pupils at Public Expense. Prepared by A. C, Monahan, Bureau of Education Bulletin 1914, No. 30, price 25 cents. The latest authentic treatise on the subject. E. RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS 45. Brown, H. A., Readjustment of a Rural High School to the Needs of the Community, Washington, D. C, Government Printing Office, 1 91 2, 31 pp., United States Bureau of Education Bulletin 1912, No. 20. This is a noteworthy illustration of the organization of a modern rural high school. BIBLIOGRAPHY 353 46. Eliot, Charles W., Changes Needed in American Secondary Educa- tion, New York, The General Education Board, 1916, free. An interesting statement of the vocational needs in secondary schools by the President Emeritus of Harvard University. 47. Monroe, Paul, Rural High Schools in his Principles of Secondary Education, New York, The Macmillan Company, 19 14, pages 149-154. HI. THE RURAL SCHOOL COURSE OF STUDY A. GENERAL WORKS 48. Course of Study for the PubHc Schools, Baltimore County, Mary- land. Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins Company, 191 5, 653 PP-> price $1.50. This course of study is probably the most complete of any prepared for elementary schools up to the present time. It would be a valuable guide in the hands of any teacher. 49. Gates, Frederick T., The Country School of Tomorrow, New York, The General Education Board, 191 5, 15 pp., free. A good statement of the organization and work of the modem rural school, though somewhat radical. 50. Pickard, A. E., Rural Education, St. Paul, Webb Publishing Com- pany, 191 5, 425 pp., price $1.25. Devoted mainly to the course of study. Very helpful to teachers of one-room schools. 51. Quick, Herbert, The Brown Mouse, Indianapolis, The Bobbs- Merrill Company, 1915, 310 pp., price $1.25. An inspirational story of a modem school teacher who took a small run- down Iowa school, and revitalized its work to answer community needs. The book shows the possibilities of what can be done even in the one- teacher school if the teacher has the vision and foresight. This book should be owned by every teacher. B. MANUAL TRAINING AND HOME ECONOMICS 52. Blackbum, Samuel A., Problems in Farm Wood Work, Peoria, Illinois, The Manual Arts Press, 1915, 129 pp., price $1.00. A valuable manual for country schools. Contains the new virile kind of problems which fit into daily life needs of agricultural people. 354 BIBLIOGRAPHY 53. Brace, George M., and Main, D. D., Farm Shop Work, New York, The American Book Company, 1915, 285 pp., price Si. An excellent manual for teachers and pupils. 54. Gilbert, Charles B., The Motor Activities in Expression, Educa- tional Foundations, 20:7-23, September, 1908. "Our entire scheme of manual training and physical culture must be recast, along the lines of expression of thought and feeling." C. SCHOOL HYGIENE AND COMMUNITY RECREATION 55. Bancroft, Jessie Hubbell, Games for the Play Ground, Home, School and Gymnasium, New York, The Macmillan Co., 1912, 456 pp., price $1.50. A valuable book for all teachers. 56. Brown, John, Jr., Outdoor Athletic Tests for Boys, Association Press, 124 East 28th Street, New York. A valuable little pamphlet published by The Association Press, New York. Should be in every teacher's hands. 57. Curtis, Henry S., Play and Recreation for the Open Country, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1914, 265 pp., price $1. A valuable book for rural teachers. 58. The Youth's Companion, Neighborhood Play, Boston, The Youth's Companion Publishing Co., 191 6. A manual of rural recreation, published in cooperation with the United States Bureau of Education, Washington, by whom it is distributed free upon application. 59. Wood, Dr. Thomas C, Chairman, Minimum Health Requirements for Rural Schools, Chicago, The Joint Committee on Health Problems in Education of the National Council of the National Education Association, 191 5, 10 pp. (Distributed free by the Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C.) INDEX [Figures denote pages] Agricultural Colleges; preparation of rural teachers in, io6. Agricultural Extension Agents (County Agents) ; place of, in the national exten- sion service, 84-85. Agricultural Life ; federal and state agencies cooperating for the improvement of, 82-86. Agricultural Transformation; period of, in America, 22-23 ; effect of, in relation to agriculture in the Eastern States, 23-24. Agriculture- teaching in the Schools; the school a laboratory for teaching of, 266; in the schools of Ontario, 267. Alternation in the Course of Study; grade grouping, or alternation by years, 321; form of, by classes, 322; Missouri plan, illustrating, 323. Amenia, New York, Annual Field Day ; de- scribed, 311. American Medical Association ; cited, 294. Anderson, Dr. Wilber; quoted, 52. Associated Schools; organization of, in Minnesota, 181 ; advantages of, 182 ; work of, at Spring Valley, 183. B Bailey, Liberty Hyde; quoted on nature environment, 265. Baltimore Coimty, Maryland, Course of Study; citations from, 282-287. Bishop, E. C. ; cited as head of the Iowa Boys' and Girls' Club Work, 276. Blue Birds; what they are, 79. Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States; referred to, 54, 60. "Brown Mouse" Teacher; an exceptional teacher, 152. Brumbach Library, The; organization of, in Van Wert Co., Ohio, 90. California Coimty Library Organization; the chief points of excellence m,_9j: . Carver, Dr. Thos. Nixon; quoted on scien- tific agriculture, 30 ; commimity organiza- tion, 40. Chatfield, Minnesota; Farmers' Coopera- tive Laundry at, 49. Cherokee County, Iowa, Continuation Schools; how and why organized, 213. Church, The Rural; its place in rural life, 52; transition of, 53; what church sur- veys show, 53-54; change in ideals of, 55 ; community service, a test of, 57 ; in- terdenominational cooperation of, 57-58; federation of, 58-60; revitaUzation of, from within, 61. Commimity Civics in the Rural Schools; the urgent need for, 256. Community Schools; importance of good understanding in organization and ad- ministration of, II. ConsoUdated Schools; reorganization of the small schools as, 176-177 ; history of, 177 ; progress of, in the Middle West and West, 178; progress of, in the South, 180; par- tial consolidation in conservative com- munities, 186; complete consolidation most satisfactory, 187; illustration of, at Rollo, 111., 188; open country consolida- tion vs. village consoUdation, 190; some ideals to be sought, 191. Continuation Schools for Rural Communi- ties; why needed, 207; the "Moonlight Schools," a form of, 209; adapted from the Danish folk high schools, 211; vol- unteer schools of this type in Iowa, 213 ; vocational schools in Massachusetts, a type of, 215 ; in connection with rural high schools, 218. Cook County, IlUnois, Home-School Proj- ects; plan of organization, 274. 355 356 INDEX Correlation of School Subjects; great im- portance of, 325. County Superintendency ; increasing im- portance of, 139; difficulties of the old system in, 140 ; elimination of, from party politics, 141 ; low salary and tenure of, 142 ; the incumbent of, a rural life expert, 143 ; assistant supervisors for, 144. County System of School Organization, 128; illustrated by the Louisiana plan, i2g; supervision in, 139. Course of Study for Rural Schools; impor- tance of the mastery of, 11; of the pioneers, 18-19; organization of, in the early district school, 20-22; based on rural needs, 225; teachers hampered by established state forms of, 226; recon- struction of, based on rural needs, 227; the reconstruction of, a gradual evolu- tion, 230; in the late 40's, 232; in the school of our childhood, 233 ; in the form of a gradual accretion, 235 ; elimination in the traditional subjects, 236; inclusion of new subjects in, 237; redirecting the old subjects in, 237. D Danish Schools; illustration from, 6; read- ing in, 87 ; folk schools adaptable as con- tinuation schools, 211. District School; work in, in days of the household economy farmer, 20-22. District Unit of School Organization; de- cUne of, 122; reasons for decline, 122. Dresslar, Dr. F. B.; his works cited, 163; suggestions from, 169. English in the Rural Schools; as a subject, poorly taught, 238; in form of Enghsh grammar, 239 ; chief purpose of, in the schools, 240 ; methods in language lessons, 241 ; as composition work, 242 ; in form of spelling, 243. Exploitation and Land Speculation; effect of, on our agricultural life, 26-27. Farm Defenders; what they are, 7(). Farm Home ; the heart of the communitx 44; old-time home group practically self-sustaining, 45 ; how the farm home emerged from the transition, 46; to keep its agricultural earnings, 47—48; labor- saving devices in, 48 ; to retain its strong sons, 49. Farm Tenancy and Absentee Landlordism, effect of, on American agricultural life, 27-28. Farmers' Clubs; as unattached organiza- tions, 74-75- Farmers' Union, The; its educational work, 73-74- Federal Council of Churches of Christ ; re- ferred to, 60. Fiske, Dr. G. Walter; quoted, 57. Fundamental Agencies in Rural Life; what they are, 44. Geography in the Rural Schools; a new emphasis on, 250. Gilbert, Charles B.; quoted on English language, 245. Gonzales, California, Union High School; a practical school for rural people, 201. Grange, The Farmers' (Patrons of Hus- bandry) ; organization of, 69-70 ; its Declaration of Purposes, 70; decline of, and rebirth, 71-72; its educational work. 72. H Harvey, INIrs. Marie Turner; organizer of the Porter Community School, 153-158. History in Rural Schools; what phases to emphasize, 253. Home and School Improvement Associa- tions; what they are, 75; illustration of, in Virginia, 76. Home and School Projects; great progress in, 272; how done by the boys and girls in Oregon, 273'; plan of, in Cook County, 111., 274; the "Iowa Idea" of, 276; in one-teacher schools, 290. Home Economics in the Schools; in con- solidated schools, 286; as hot lunch in small schools, 287. Home Gardens; used as an alternative, 271. Household Economy Farmer; perfection of the family group of, 20; work in district school of, 20. INDEX 357, Husbandman Farmer; when he came into existence, 29. Hygiene and Rural Community Sanitation; important place of, 292 ; health conditions in country and town compared, 293 ; conditions of, as depicted by the American Medical Association, 294; inspection of, in Pennsylvania rural schools, 296; how to teach the subject, 299; teaching as personal hygiene, 300 ; teaching as school, home, and community sanitation, 302. Illiteracy in the United States; extent and condition of, cited, 208. Industrial Clubs for Boys and Girls; their organization and purpose, 80. Industrial Revolution ; effect of, on agricul- tural life in America, 24-25. Iowa Plan of Extension Service ; for improve- ment of rural teachers, 112. Iowa Plan of Industrial Clubs; history of the work, 276. Isolation; a fundamental difficulty in the rural problem, 37 ; efifect on rural organiza- tion, 38. Jordan, Utah, Rural High School; a type of school that is unique, 203. K Kelley, O. H., Foimder of the Patrons of Husbandry; quoted, 69-70. King, Dr. Irving; quoted, 46. Kirk, Pres. John R. ; quoted on sanitary drinking fountains, 169. Kirksville, Missouri; rural-school depart- ment of normal school at, 103. Libraries, Rural; reading and community progress, 86-87 ; use of reading in Danish schools, 87 ; extension of, through travel- ing libraries, etc., 88 ; work of state library associations for, 88; organization of traveling Ubraries, 89; county library system, the success of, 90-91 ; library economy, instructing teachers in, 91. Logan, Miss Katherine Ross; originator of the Iowa township special schools, 213. Louisiana Parish System of Organization; plan of, cited, 129. M Manual Arts in the Rural Schools; impor- tance of, 280 ; comprehensiveness of, 281 ; meaning of general industrial work, 282; as manual training in consolidated schools, 284; as manual training in one- teacher schools, 285. Massachusetts' System of Vocational Educa- tion; a type of continuation schools, 215; provides agricultural education to young and old, 216. Mathematics in the Rural Schools; what phases of, must be taught, 248. Medical Inspection of Rural Schools; in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, 296; a reasonable requirement, to make it com- pulsory 297. Milaca Associated School, Minnesota ; short course of, given, 220-221. Model Course of Study ; effects of a crowded course, 319 ; content of an average course, 320; aid through alternation by years, 321; aid through class alternation, 322; correlation of subjects in, 325; in the Kirksville, Mo., Model Rural School, 325-343- Model Rural School, Kirksville, Mo.; its plan of organization, 328; subjects in the course of study, 329-343. ' ' MoonKght S chools ' ' E stablished ; organiza- tion of, 211. Music and Country People; importance of, in every school, 258. N National Conferences on Teacher Prepara- tion, 100. National Congress of Mothers; referred to, 76 ; note on, 78. ; National Life; recent changes in, 2. ' National Rural Teachers' Reading Circle; organization and purpose of, 113. 1 Nature Study in the Rural Schools ; how it ] forms the background of the new cur- ) riculum, 261; and the naturalist farmer, ] 262; phases of, enumerated, 263. ] 358 INDEX New Jersey "Helping Teachers"; employed in, 14S. North CaroUna Farm Life Schools; course of, study in, 196; history of, 200. O Ohio System of School Organization ; a good compromise plan, 130. One-teacher School; what is meant by it, 150; contrasted with one-room school, 150. Ontario Plan of Teaching Agriculture; his- tory of, 267 ; the work taken seriously, 267 ; outUne of, 269. Oregon Plan of Industrial Club Work; how it has succeeded, 273. Pennsylvania Rural School Health Inspec- tion; cited, 296. Physical Education in Modern Education; forms of, in the rural schools, 311; place of, as gymnastics, 312 ; under county- wide athletic associations, 313; as organized play, 314- Pioneers; educational beginnings of, 17. Porter School, Missouri; the organization of, 153; its teacherage and garden, 156; its movable school of agriculture, 157; its community activities, 157. Press, The Rural ; its influence on rural Ufe, 91-92. Public Conscience; awakening of, in school affairs, 100. Quick, Herbert; his "Brown Mouse," quoted, 152. Reading in Rural Schools ; used as a means to an end, 246. Recreation and Play in Community Life; a dearth of, in American rural schools, 305 ; unfortunate results from lack of, 306 ; real significance of play, 307 ; how it may be reaUzed, 308; plan of, at Amenia, N. Y., 311. Rollo, Illinois, Consolidated School; history told, 188. Rural Boy and Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls; purpose of organizing, 78. Rural Community ; plan for organization of, 40. Rural High Schools; reasons for treating as a separate subject, 194; reasons for organizing, 195 ; new course of study in, 196; organization of, in the South, 199; continuation courses in, 218; short courses in, 219. Rural Life Problems ; a chief factor in teach- ing-success, 10; estabhshment of a per- manent agricultural population, the great- est phase of, 29-30; negative side of, 34; real heart of, 35-36; underlying principles of, 36 ; isolation of, the vital phase of, 37 ; relation to rural organization, 38-40. Rural Model School; place of, in normal training, 104. Rural Parent-Teacher Associations; organ- ization and purpose of, 76-78. Rural Surveys; what they have disclosed, 32-33- Sanitary Toilets ; demanded under the new school standards, 171; the "L. R. S. Privy" explained, 172. School Boards; origin and fvmction of, 132; small vs. large boards, 134. School Ground Equipment; what is re- quired, 315; minimum equipment, 316. School Organization and Administration; importance of understanding, 119; history of, 119. Schools of Education; courses for rural leaders in, 11 1. School, The Rural ; how it fared during the rural transformation, 28-29; sanitary water supply for, 169. Secondary Schools; preparation of rural teachers in, 107, 109-111. Short Courses in Rural High Schools; im- portance of, for the whole community, 219. SpeUing in Rural Schools; how it should be taught, 243. Spring Valley, Minnesota, Associated Schools; organization and management of, 183-186. Standardization of Rural Schools; a means for increasing school efficiency, 158; usual plan of, followed, 158; what has been accompHshed through it, 159; suggested requirements for, 161. INDEX 359 Stewart, Mrs. Cora Wilson ; originator of the "Moonlight Schools," 209. Supervision of Schools; meaning of, 136; history of, 137; in New England towns, 138; state system of, 145; spread of industrial supervision, 145 ; some striking examples of, 146-148; future of, 148. Teachers' Cottages ; importance of providing them, 165; in European countries, 166; recent construction of, in the United States, 168. Teacher, The Rural; not trained for real community schools, 3 ; great opportunity of, in rural leadership, 5 ; the new rural teacher, a professional teacher, 7 ; fitting himself for leadership, 9; his place in rural reorganization, 41 ; his place in rural ideaUsm, 50; in cooperative service with the rural pastor, 62 ; as a granger, 73 ; his opportunity in promulgating good read- ing, 87 ; instructing him in Ubrary econ- omy, 91 ; his utilization of the rural press, 91-92 ; preparing him for rural leader- ship, 94; who the teachers are, 95-96; his academic preparation, 98; his profes- sional preparation unsatisfactory, 99 ; his salary, 100; national conferences and teacher preparation, 1 00-101 ; prepara- tion of, in specialized departments, 102 ; preparation of, in agriculture, by normal schools, 105 ; preparation of, in agricul- tural colleges, 106; preparation of, in secondary schools, 107 ; improvement of, in service, 112; the Iowa plan for, 112; hampered by school boards and established state courses of study, 226; his respon- sibiKty for health standards in school, 299 ; his opportunity in modern play and recrea- tion, 309. Tobin, County Supt. Edw. J. ; cited in con- nection with Home-School projects in Cook Coimty, 111., 274. Town (township) System of School Organi- zation; in New England, 124; in the Middle West, 127; professional supervi- sion in, 138. U United States Bureau of Education ; organ- ization and purpose of, 80-82 ; work of, for rural schools, 82 ; lessons from recent studies by, 228. United States Department of Agriculture; its work for improved agriculture, 82; extension service of, 82-83. Virginia Cooperative Education Association ; organization of, 76. W Wallace, Dr. Henry ; quoted, 50. Water Supply ; sanitary and abundant in all rural schools, 169. Wilson, Dr. Warren H. ; quoted, 26, 54, 55. Wisconsin County Training Schools; prep- aration of teachers by, 109. Wisconsin; "supervising teachers" em- ployed in, 147. Wood, Dr. Thomas D.; his work cited, 163. Writing in the Rural Schools; methods of teaching, 247. Young Men's Christian Association; an important ally of the teacher and pastor, 62-63 ; history of, 63 ; work of its county secretaries, 63-68. Young Women's Christian Association; its organization, 66. Youth's Companion; its campaign for play equipment in rural schools, 316. Printed in the United States of America. T HE following pages contain advertisements of Macmillan books on kindred subjects THE HOME- MAKING SERIES Food and Health AN ELEMENTARY TEXTBOOK OF HOME MAKING By HELEN KINNE Professor of Household Arts Education, Teachers College, Columbia University; Authoi of " Foods and Household Management " and " Shelter and Clothing," and ANNA M. COOLEY, B.S. Assistant Professor of Household Arts Education, Teachers College, Columbia University; Author of " Foods and Household Management " and " Shelter and Clothing." Cloth, 121710, illustrated, 312 pages, $0.6^ " Food and Health " aims to instruct by means of projects taken from daily life, and thus to vitalize the lessons in cookery and sanitation. The lessons center about the problem of the meal — preparing and serving food at school and at home, to- gether with the study of food values and of raising and selling as much as buying food. Such allied topics as water supply, cooking apparatus, and disposal of waste in the home kitchen, and other matters of sanitation, are woven in with the lessons on nutrition and cooking. The story of Marjorie Allen in school, with Miss James, the teacher, and with the girls and the boys of Pleasant Valley, con- nects all the lessons of the series, wins and holds the interest, and builds up in the mind of the pupil an ideal of happy, health- ful school and home life. The dominant thought of the series is to create an ideal of home making and to train boys and girls in rural communities to work for this ideal. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK DALLAS CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA THE HOME-MAKING SERIES Clothing and Health AN ELEMENTARY TEXTBOOK OF HOME MAKING By HELEN KINNE Professor of Household Arts Education, Teachers College, Columbia University; Author of " Foods and Household Management " and " Shelter and Clothing," and ANNA M. COOLEY, B.S. Assistant Professor of Household Arts Education, Teachers College, Columbia University; Author of " Foods and Household Management " and " Shelter and Clothing." Cloth, i2mo, illusirated, j 2 pages, $0.6^ " Clothing and Health " treats largely of the clothing prob- lems and of the elementary work in sewing which precedes garment making. It also includes the subject of the leading textile materials, — where they are grown and how they are manufactured ready for our use. Such topics as the hygiene of clothing, buying materials and clothing wisely, the clothing budget, the use of the commercial pattern, the care and repair of clothing, color combinations, and attractiveness in dress, are woven in with the lessons on sewing and textiles, in a very simple and elementary way. At the beginning of each lesson the project is presented in the form of a question or a problem. Exercises and Problems review the main points and give suggestions for home work based on the lesson studied in school. The plan is new. The method is new. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YCRK DALLAS CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA Agricultural Arithmetic By W. T. STRATTON, A.M. Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Kansas State Agricultural College, and B. L. REMICK, Ph.M. Professor of Mathematics, Kansas State Agricultural College. Cloth, 121110, illustrated, x + 2jg pages, $0.^0 The text provides a brief course in arithmetic for students interested in agriculture. The text is adapted to the require- ments of advanced classes in elementary schools in communities outside the large city, in the agricultural high schools, and in other schools having agricultural courses. The purpose throughout has been, first of all, to present the basic principles of arithmetic. To accomplish this end use is made of the real problems which students meet in their every- day lives on the farm and in connection with the transactions of immediate business on the farm. Agricultural data of the problems are based upon the most recent reports of the various State Experiment Stations and of the United States Department of Agriculture. From the facts so displayed in their mathematical relation, the student not only obtains sufficient material for drill in arithmetical processes, but also is led to a better appreciation of farm hfe. To meet the needs of students differing widely in ability to handle readily the ordinary combinations of numbers, this book devotes some time to a review of the four fundamental opera- tions, common fractions, and decimals. The principles of per- centage are applied to dairy, seed, feeding, spraying, fertilizing, and poultry problems. Commission, gain and loss, interest, business papers, insurance, and taxes are presented with prob- lems within the range of the actual experience of a student in- terested in farming. The text includes specific gravity, levers, balanced rations, silos, and farm accounts. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK DALLAS CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA Community Civics By JESSIE FIELD Formerly Superintendent of Schools, Page County, Iowa, author of" The Corn Lady," and SCOTT NEARING Professor of Social Science, Toledo University, author of" Income," " Social Adjustment," etc. Cloth, i2mo, illustrated^ x + 2^0 pages, $0.60 " Community Civics " is designed to train boys and girls in citizenship. It aims to teach them to see beauty, truth, strength, and opportunity in country hfe ; to understand the meaning and purpose of community institutions — the home, schools, libraries, clubs, associations, and the visible means of public service ; to work for the ideals of country, maxi- mum production, effective methods of business, high stand- ards of living, and thoughtful consideration of life's problems ; and to take an active interest in community, state, and national affairs. " Community Civics " is a moving treatment of civic af- fairs in the community and in the larger community of state and nation. It is concerned with the civic conditions and social agencies of to-day and to-morrow. It is suited for the use of children in elementary schools everywhere except those in large cities. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK DALLAS CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA '^m. 0' -#'^'