The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-07-16
The
NE CENTRALIZED RURAL SCHOOL.

ton to the C0n6raLHou SOAOO4
districts that our readers Will doubt
less find in the following article from
the pen of John Gould, the we'll
known Ohio dairy authority, food
for reflection. We quote the article
entire from the Rural New Yorker !:
It was an early spring morning. A
cold, misty rain was falling, inter
spersed with snow squalls the wind
was strong from the northeast IN
der foot the mud and water were
having a "spat" for supremacy, and
all nature seemed to be having a
spell of ''outs." Yet in the midst of
it came the school wagonette drawn
by a team of stout horses while in
side, protected from storm, wind
and mud, we're nineteen children
bound schColward and all singing
"Coming Thro' the Rye" two
youngsters were added to the load,
the boot was again buckled up, and
the song went IN as the happy dry
little company finished their trip OF
a mile to the centralized school.
When they had passed out of sight l
recalled reading IN address delivered
by a man who spoke of "hauling
down the flag from the little red
school house." of "children carted
to school like calves and pigs Of
"children in a wagonette and in big
schools, losing their individuality"
of Increased expense" of ''thou-
sands of teachers being thrown out
of work." of "poor children being
unable to attend schools because of
poor clothes as compared with that
of the village children" and lastly,
centralized children never came
back to the land" All this in oppo-
sition to the plan of centralized
schools.
What are the facts in practice?
Our township has had centralized
schools on trial, and as a permanency
now for over five years, and none Of
the things alleged above has been de-
tected, and we believe lever will be
in a well-conducted system of rural
schools. The idea of "'taking down
the flag, ETC., is all sentiment. The
flag waves just as prOtectingly owe
our centralized school house, the
flags and emblems in the school
rooms are as educational, and the
patriotic songs sung by the children
have the same inspiring ring, only
deepened in volume, that they did in
the little red school house. AS to
the children losing their Individual
ity more by being taken to school in
a warm, comfortable wagon, with
order and decorum maintained-if
needs be-than by children in groups
tramping through mud, snow, cold
and storm, as we'll as sunshine, to a
school often one and one half to two
miles away, it is hard to see. So far
as good clothes are in evidence, the
centralized school recognizes merit
and proficiency for promotion, rather
than clothes, and it is a fact that in
this school referred to it is the chill
dren of the poorer class of parents
who stand, as a rule, in the highest
lines of promotion for attainment
and intelligence. I know that calico
dresses and patched pants, if coupled
with a1no n1innGC 0n1 GOOD hnhov SO~
work no detriment to any scholar.
The idea that children are ''carted
like calves" is only to involve the
retOrt whether it IS not as applicable
to the children that parents send on
foot through all kinds of weather to
the rural school, where often the
comforts and ''cOnveniences'' are as
primitive as about an Indian tepee
AS to the centralized children not
coming back to the farm, it is on
trial, but they are as likely to remain
in the country as they would be to
return to it after an education &C
qulred in city or some educational
center away from the influences of
country life. Where the education
of mind and hand goes together, as
it does in the country in centralized
education, and the education grows
apace with the participation in farm
work and rural life, and it's independ
ence of shop rules, and freedom from
dependence upon the turns of the
labor market, we think the land will
claim it's full share of the centralized
education. To my mind one of the