Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-04-09
How Large should School District
be, and During what Months
should School be Taught?
AZ v. n nolronD ~ rur Wis. ,ouasAl OF rDvqArIos

| i"6 w Jul puDiiC SOlu uOh ECHOUlS u
which there is more need of calling
the attention of the people than to
the one above, Unless people con-
slider in all their bearings, questions
of much importance to the well.being
of themselves and their neighbors,
they but partially understand the
subject, and their views of il are al
most cure to be wrong, and to lead
them to decide and act contrary to
the best interests of themselves. their
Deighhors and all concerned. So in
school matters as in all things else,
many come TO hasty and inconsider-
ate decisions which oppose the best
interests of all in that and the adioin-
ing districts.
Upon either very stormy or very
cold winter evening, at the return of
small children from school two and q
half miles distant, and wading 10
mud or snow and water, or suffering
from intense cold. many a kind fa>
Their has said, "WelI, | declare, it is
too bad to have little children go so
far to school in winter, and | am GO
ing to try to have our district divid-
ed, so that we have a school house
nearer home And "Do, father,
do has been the exclamation Of
the wife and all the children. Thus,
under the impulse Of the moment,
and after very slight consideration
of only one or two points relating TO
the matter, he has decided upon it,
proceeded TO act, and continued his
action until he has carried out his
plan, divided the district, not too
large before, and succeeded in having
"a school house erected near his own
dwelling. But as he had considered
but few of the many bearings in the
case, he had, OF course, One-sided
view of the matter as a whole, and
Of its effect upon himself and his chill
dren, his neighgors in his district
and their children, and his neighbors
in the adjoining districts and their
children, and his decision and action
has proved Injurious to the school
interests of all these. Because, in
no district in which the amount Of
taxable property and the number of
children between four and twenty
years of age are both too small, can
good school be kept up (house built,
teachers paid, fire kept up, OuU-bous-
es built, charts, cuisine maps, etc,
supplied), at so small an expense to
tax payers as in a district in which
there is from two to three or even
four times the amount of taxable
property and as many times the num-
Der of pupils TO attend the school !;
for it costs far less thaa twice as
much TO build school-house having
! but one room that will accommodate
seventy pupils, as to build one that
will accommodate thirty-five in one
room and less than twice as much
to build one house having two rooms
that will accommodate one hundred
and fifty pupils Can average of seven
ty five pupils to each room), as to
build one having one room that will
accommodate seventy>five pupils ];
and it requires no more charts, out
line maps, etc, etc, to accommodate
from fifty to eighty pupils in one
room, than it does to accommodate
from ten to twenty.
This decision and action has been
iniuriuos because it is impossible "to
secure in small school, or in a small
class, that healthful and proper slim
illus which is almost an incident to
a large school or the large Glass;
One who has himself ever been an
entire class, or one of two or three
constituting class, will remember
| how difficult it was to create in him-
| self any such measure of interest as
would make the labor of preparation
other than a dreary task And this
evil extends to the teacher as well as
the pupils. He, too, needs stimulus"
Hence far better interest can be
secured in a medium sized school
having an attendance of from TWEEN
ty-five to fifty pupils, than in small
school of from five to twenty-five
pupils, and still deeper interest
may be secured in a large school Of
from fifty TO eighty pupils in attend
ance than in the school of from TWEEN
ty-five to fifty pupils so it is better
to have large districts, if not too
| large, than TO have small ones.
Questions similar to the following
have frequently been asked me If
we have district with one hundred
and fifty pupils in attendance, and
which is so large that several have
to come two mites to school and a
few two miles and hall, whichis bet
ter to divide the district. build two
school, hou es-one in the centre of
each tof the new districts and hire
two teachers or to fit the house TO
accommodate all the pupils, divide
the school into two departments, and
employ two teachers in the one dis,
tsict2 To all snch questions would
reply, that it is far better to render
the house fit TO Accommodate the
school divided into two departments,
and employ two teachers for the one
school. Because, in the one district
before division there is the same num-
Der of pupils that there would be in
the two districts after division, and
each district after division would
contain just as many grades ofpupils
as the one district contained before
division. And if the district before
division contains nine grades of pu-
pills, then the two districts after d.
vision would contain nine grades of
pupils each, or eighteen grades for
the two schools and should each
grade or set of pupils recite four times
per day, according to the prevailing
idea of the parent, we should have sc
Rotations per day in the one school
before division, and the average time
for each recitation would be nearly
Nv ny minutes, as they would be
divided between two teachers and
, in the two districts after division.
We should have seventy recita'
! flQua each dav mr. fhirfv.Siw for oar