The Republican journal., 1900-01-11
A Plea for the Rural SCHOOLS.

Some weeks ago we received com
munic alton signed Gan Observer" but
the writer did not comply with the re-
/ quirement of all well regulated newspa-
pers by giving his name, and the letter
was not published 1t was not, however,
consigned to the waste basket, the usual
procedure in such cases, because it dis
cusseG a matter of general interest. The
writer assumes to speak from personal
knowledge of the condition of the school
houses of Waldo county, He says that
any one who will take drive across the
country and note the condition of great
er part of the schoolhouses into which
children are obliged to go if they get an
education, will not wonder that SO many
of our young people drop into early
graves; that these schoolhouses are un-
suitable even for cattle to live in. And
further:
"Why dom the parents compiain?' |
hear some one say. What good will it do
to complain? They have been complain
ing for the past ten years, and what has
been the result? They have been defeat
ed everytime by a class of people who OPP
pose everything which would make our
schoolhouses more respectable. When a
new schoolhouse is proposed, or repairs
are called for, they say, sob! the old
schoohouse was good enough for me
when | went to school, and | guess the
children of to day are no better than they
Ipr l1ar1 No thnv 20,
to consider the great changes that have
taken place since they went to school;
that we are living in an age of progress.
Sion? Why then should not the matter
of school buildings advance with the
others?
We suspect that our correspondent in
tended these structures to have local an
plicatior. but, unfortunately, they will
apply generally. Every community has
a class which talks in this strain, but we
believe that they are diminishinsi in num-
befs as enlightenment on educational and
sanitary matters advance. We recall one
ease IN which an elaborate array of Stats
les was presented TO show that it costs
more to-day to educate less number of
children than it did some years ago. That
was readily conceded, and teacher aptly
remarked that some years hence the cost
would be greater still. For this increased
cost we have better facilities for educa-
ton: better buildings, better instructors.
This is true of the city schools generally;
but in many places there is room for i'm
provement.
AS to the condition Of the country
schoolhouses we fear that our correspond
ent speaks only too truly, and it is dis
grace to the communities in which such
buildings are found that it should be so.
The cost of putting these schoolhouses in
repair would be trivial in most cases, and
new building where needed would not
appreciably increase the tax. Are not
the lives of the children of some value
II the statistics of those whose lives have
been sacrificed to lily warmed. lighted
and ventilated schoolhouses, or who have
been made invalids by unsanitary sur
soundings, could be given in detail the
figures would be appalling. But to re-
turn to ''An Observer who closes his
letter as follows:
Prior to the enactment of the present
school law the supporters of the law
claimed that it would be great help to
the rural school Has it been much help
thus far? The law is all right so far as it
goes. but does not 90 far enough A law
compelling towns to combine md employ
superintendent who VIII have thirty or
forty schools under his care rather than
i've or SIX is the only law which can help
the rural schools to any extent Then.
with our schoolhouses repaired and sup
erintendent who can spend all his time
working for the schools and receive good
pay for his services better teachers can
be secured, We must remember that
from the rural schools have come the best
scholars we have ever lad; that is. |
mean they make a better mark In life as a
general thing than the boy OF girl from
the city. 50 we should try and do every
thing possible to make school life in the
rural district more enjoyable and more
profitable, and this can be done b. giving
them better schoolhouses, better super
vision and better teachers. Give them
schoolhouses which will be the pride of
the town rather than the reverse.
The journal invites correspondence
from all who are interested in school mat
tiers.
1t is the purpose of the Democrat to
tell all the local news, but it might be even