The New Education

ll of th

cast in their lot with the throngs of city dwellers. Yet the city proves so unsatisfying that thousands are turning from its rows of brick houses and lines of paved streets to the f

ountry, as are the fragrance of flowers, woods and mown grass; the stars are brilliant by night, and by day the birds sing, and the cows and barnyard fowls talk philosophically together. The children have room to run and play between their periods of work, which is very near of kin to

on thee, l

oy, with c

urned-up p

erry whis

ed lips, r

trawberries

verwork in some country places, the rur

wakes in la

mocks the do

ever learne

s than through any other agency, this promise may be fulfilled. There are two possibilities in the development of the country school. On the one hand, several one-room schools may be

Bricks w

changing, however, and out of the old desolation of rural individualism there is arising the spirit of wholesome, virile co-operation, which has transformed the face of many a country district a

o the district school. Rather, the consolidated school permits organization, and the district sc

the one-room school is in the same class with a lot of other old-fashioned machinery-good in its day, but not good enough for them. That is why over eighty per cent of our schools have been consolidated. You see it's this way: The farmers need labor badly,

oking, agriculture, manual training, drawing and music, have all been introduced, because the teachers have time for them. High school work has b

hat it means to the teacher. Her day is so split up with little periods of class work that she can never

y Pr

RE

Class

ning Exe

eading

eading

eading

eading

eading

rammar

rammar

rammar

rammar

rammar

Readin

eading

Rece

eading

Readin

Number

Number

rithmet

rithmet

ithmetic

rithmet

Readin

Noo

fternoon. Forty-five times each day that teacher must call up and teach a new class. The college professor is "overloaded" with fourteen c

he time which the teacher may devote to each class. Note the contrast between that schedule of a

's Dail

RE

Class

ning Exe

Des

honeti

honeti

Readi

eading

st Exer

Natu

5 Re

Word

Word

Number

Hist

he teacher in the consolidated school has eleven; but the time per recitation is: district, thirteen minutes; consolidated, twenty-nine minutes. The number of minutes which the district teacher may give to each grade is fifty minutes; the consolidated teacher has one hundred and seventeen minutes per grade. B

ce in the instruction of the community. The big brick or stone building, well constructed and surrounded, as it usually is, by well-kept grounds, furnishes the same kind of local monument that the court house supplies in the county seat. People point pr

hundred inhabitants, is equipped with gas from its own gas-plant; with steam heat; ample toilet accommodations;

nty-four acre campus, lying a mile and a half from the nearest village, and ten miles from the nearest town. The agitation for consolidation in Putnam County led John Sw

science kitchen, and a basement play-room. The building is lighted, heated, and ventilated in the most modern fashion. The John Swaney School th

d teachers and possessing unique facilities, the school carries boys and girls through a series of years, in which intellectual, expe

matter for a course in horticulture. The fertile land is turned to agricultural use, an

he teaching staff, and makes a background for the social life of the entire school. There are two strong literary societies, including all of the pupils in the school. Each year plays are presented

sequently farm renters and farm buyers alike seek the locality because of the educational opportunities which the school a

to Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Idaho, Washington, and a number of other states,-East, West, and South. In every progressive rural communi

ulation far outnumbers the urban population, and it is in these districts, therefore, that the consolidated school can have its greatest influence. By 1912, the state of Louisiana alone was able

ers, are still good enough for them. Secondly, there are the technical difficulties involved in transporting pupils from distant localities to the school center. Roads are bad at certain times of the year. Wagons

ools, has convinced even the most reactionary of the old-time group that there are, at least, certain things in the new generation which surpass, in their economic and social value, the like things of the old. The inroad

ap and effective. State and local authorities are actively engaged in the improvement of roads. The near future promises a standard of transportation facilities that will far surpass any that the consolidatio

raded school and high school privileges under adequately paid teachers to the inhabitants of rural communities. Again the consolidated school is the only method of securing a school attendance sufficiently large to provide the incentive arising from competition and emulation f

people who support it. Secondly, it is at the door of farm houses and is wholly available, even more available, when public transportation is provided, than the present one-teacher school. Third, every child in the farm community is reached by it. All children may attend because of the transportation facilities afforded. Fourth, the cost of the school is reasonable. Fifth, it accommodates all grades, including the high school. The country high school,

dation movement seems uniformly good. First, because the children get to school;

x consolidated schools. Some of the children are brought as far as five miles in wagons, or on the interurban electric cars. The wagon calls at stated hours, and the children must be ready. Tardiness is therefore reduced, until one count

away from school constitute twenty-nine per cent. of the population in the consolidated schools, as against sixty-three per cent. in the district schools. The Vernon

of the children. In order to show its extent Superintendent Hall, of Montgomery County, Indiana, asked one thousand children (five hundred in district schools and five hundre

rofessio

s Cons

ho

ing 1

ess 1

ing

55

nics

cine

stry

breedi

llane

l 50

ols, at the expense of teaching, business and law in the district schools. While such figures do not pr

ylvania, voices the spirit of the c

tronger, its service to the community more pronounced, and, best of all, it holds the children. Progressive rural communities have wake

ne-Room Country

ways there will be districts so sparsely settled that the consolidated school is not feasible. In such localities the one-room school, transformed as it may be by enlightened effort, must still be relied upon to provide education. No

d dangerous insects and emphasizing their beauty and cheerfulness, she concludes: "The question is, does it pay the farmer to protect the birds?" The only answer is that anything that adds to the attractiveness of the farm is worthy of cultivation. Happily a farmer who protects the birds secures a double return-increased profit from his crop and increased pleasure of living. Viola Lawson, writing on the subject, "How to Dust and Sweep," makes some pertinent comments. "I think if a house is very dirty, a carpet sweeper is not a very good thing. A broom is best, because you can't get aro

owing corn, sugar beets, Alaska peas and potatoes; the boys making axe handles and the girls weaving rag carpet. During the summer Miss McDonald wri

ou hoe your r

do you ho

fair, do you

it the be

u do upon it." In reply one girl writes: "My corn is a little over five feet high. My tomatoes have little tomatoes on, but mamma's are just beginning to blossom. My beets are growing fi

lly helps his father. Here is a Wisconsin English lesson, and a proof

f Schools in Oconto County, Wisconsin, publishes a column of school news in each of the three county newspapers. Here is one of her contributions, in the

r Miss

several ears from the same field and at the same time, and dried them on the corn tree at school. Upon testing them this spring papa's corn does not sprout at all, while mine is sprouting just exactly as good as the Golden Glow sent out to the school children. This morning I am testing some more of papa's, and if that fails he will have to buy his seed, a thing he has never had to

the board computing potato yields, milk yields, the contents of granaries, the price of bags and the cost of barns and chicken houses; y

s of the township and of the county are matters of universal interest and concern. Every school in Berks County, Pennsylvania, is prov

r work, nearly all of which tends to flatten the chest. Whether or not that is the explanation, the fact remains, and with it the no less evident fact that it is the business of the school to correct the defects. In an effort to do this we have worked out a series of fifty games which the children are taught in th

He believes in activity for children, too. "If the school appealed as it ought to the motor energies of children, instead of having to drive them in, you would have to drive them out." To

the work was done in recess time and after school. They made their own tools, cabinets, book-cases, picture-frames, clock-frames, and anyt

ed over by a live teacher, may be made worth while. Social events, sports, contests in farm work and domestic wo

the Little R

The course of study may establish a standard in rural thought. The rural s

-time country scho

e school-hous

beggar

still the

rry vines a

n of the poet and the romancer, the modern one-room school is painted, and the school yard, instead of being filled with a thicket of blackberry and sumac,

h side, where there is one big window from near the floor to the ceiling, these buildings, costing from two thousand dollars up, provide in every way for the health and comfort of the children. The superintendent may go farther than to suggest

all of the other necessaries for a well-kept yard. No longer crude and unsightly, the Rockford school yards are models which any one in the neighborhood may copy with infinite advantage. As the school becomes the center of community life local pride ma

and of Rur

e indifferent scholars, which are so appallingly numerous; if you had read in the report of the investigating committee which has just completed its survey of Wisconsin rural schools the statement that in many districts the hog pens were on a better plane of efficiency than the school houses; if you had seen the miserable

un, do the work and grow up strong and kind. Each school has its song, its social gatherings, its clubs, and its teams. How you would have pricked u

they would be at a county fair. Further, it was the time when the prizes were to be awarded to the boy having the best acre of alfalfa, of corn and of potatoes. (Queer, isn't it, but last year a girl got the first prize for the best crop of potatoes.

to judge seed corn. "This year we're going down there to Clarinda for all that's in it." If he hadn't meant what he said he would scarcely have been spending h

he boys regarding their corn-judging and their models of farm implements and farm buildings, while the women give lessons galore in the

re class visits the home of one of the girls, prepares, cooks and eats a meal. What an opportunity to inculcate lessons in domestic econo

ed by the county, circulates from school to school, enabling the children to test the productivity of their cows. Teams of boys, under the direction of the school, make their own road drags, and care for stretches of road-from one to five miles. The boys doing

g, sometimes they have a "Parents' Day." Anyway, the boys decorate the school, the girls cook cake and candy, and the parents come and ha

hool is th

test an

ol is mor

r than t

ghways a

rms from

ads and

ve come

or

le, our

r, we'll p

l work f

corn is s

ane is

ers are s

al's har

and whose

e, grand

e for the

ever d

often the parents take part as well as the children. The things are interesting, too,

ody pays

you'l

y earns a

r he o

or

now has

u know,

rains and we

s well

ty's just

is, th

ity needs ho

it rig

ity has it

them, I

ity must ha

house b

akes the law

too, a

often see

an-mad

ounty seat for a summer camp, where, between attending classes and lectures, playing games and reveling in the joy

children alike on the bigger things in rural life, and the ways in which a school may help a countryside to appreciate and enjoy them. So the boys and girls

of the Cou

hool in Berks County was qui

he born?" s

Ge

e is Geno

anean Sea," repl

usiness?" was h

red a bright boy. "A sai

lor, Edith?" Edit

, Ge

se he lived

te. Do many of the boys from

from t

o they

lass, hissing the "f"

go to school. How absurdly easy the task of the school-to determine that they shall be intelligent, progressive, enthusiastic, up-to-date farmers. The

mers and farmers' wives? What proportion of physical education, of mental training, of technical instruction in agriculture, of suggestions for practical farm work, of dressmaking, sewing and cooking, enter into the making of farmers' boys and farmers' girls w

what are the needs of the country; then, manned by teachers whose training has prepared them to appreciate country pro

TNO

found in "Country Life and the Country School," M

ra, pp.